Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites
The POES and GOES satellites are given numbers when they become operational. Operational satellites as of September, 2001 are NOAA-12, NOAA-14, and NOAA-16 (POES); GOES-8 and GOES-10; and DMSP F-12, F-13, F-14, and F-15.
Julian Date
Modified Julian dates are sequential numbers of the days of the year (using GMT time) beginning with January 1. From year to year, the Julian dates are the same for the same calendar dates, with the exception of leap years when one digit needs to be added for all days past February 29.
Time
Times are given in "Coordinated Universal Time" (UTC). These times are the same at any given instant over the entire world. For major U.S. time zones: UTC = EST + 5 hours, UTC = CST + 6 hours, UTC = MST + 7 hours, and UTC = PST + 8 hours.
POES: LAC: Local Area Coverage: Recorded HRPT AVHRR: 1-km Resolution data GAC: Global Area Coverage: Reduced Resolution Recorded AVHRR: 4-km Resolution data
GOES: Sector: Image data at resolutions ranging from 1-km to 8-km depending upon channel selection and satellite.
Channel Band
GOES 7:
Channel 1: 0.55 - 0.75 microns
Channel 2: 3.84 - 4.06
Channel 3: 6.40 - 7.08
Channel 4: 10.2 - 12.0
Channel 5: 12.5 - 12.8
GOES 8/9/10:
Channel 1: 0.52 - 0.72 microns / Visible
Channel 2: 3.78 - 4.03 microns / Short Infrared Window
Channel 3: 6.47 - 7.02 microns / Water Vapor Channel
GAC : All Channels: 4-km resolution (reduced by sampling and averaging techniques)
Orbit Number
Orbit numbers are used with POES satellites. For data acquired outside the Satellite Active Archive, the number provides specifics for acquiring POES data.
Entity ID: CCSSMMDDYYTTTTTT
The Entity ID is a 16 character code given to all satellite scenes derived from the Satellite Active Archive (SAA).
CC = AH, AL, or AG
AH (HRPT): High Resolution Picture Transmission / Direct Readout AVHRR AL (LAC): Recorded HRPT AVHRR AG (GAC): Reduced Resolution Recorded AVHRR
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/satellite/satelliteseye/topics/explanation.html
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Last Updated Wednesday, 20-Aug-2008 12:41:27 EDT by Sam.Mccown@noaa.gov
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