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G4ROA > WXSAT 23.03.09 08:53l 465 Lines 15872 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: WX Sat Status report 23/3
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To : WXSAT@WW
WEATHER SATELLITES
================
APT, DIGITAL and GEOSTATIONARY WEEKLY STATUS.
==========================================
Author : Douglas S Deans. dsdeans@tiscali.co.uk
Section 4 has updates.
SECTION 1: POLAR APT/LRPT REPORT -- 23rd March 2009
============================================
Satellite Frequency (MHz) Status Image Quality
NOAA 15 137.500 (APT) on good
NOAA 17 137.620 (APT) on good
NOAA 18 137.100 (APT) on good
NOAA 19 137.9125(APT) on see Note 6
Metop-A 137.100 (LRPT) off see Note 3
CHANGES SINCE LAST REPORT.
None.
THIS WEEK'S POSSIBLE EVENTS.
Possible switch-on of NOAA 19 AVHRR IR channel for APT.
(should happen eventually !).
NOTES.
1. Three of the older NOAA weather satellites which have been
decommissioned and are tumbling freely are know to sporadically put
out
a carrier on 137.500 MHz. The satellites are TIROS-N, NOAA 6 and NOAA
9
When the relevant footprints overlap this will cause interference to
NOAA 15 when active on this frequency.
Latest report below.
22/07/08 - There is some recent evidence that NOAA 9 is once again
transmitting a spurious carrier from time to time. (I am grateful to
John Cooper from Oxford for this report).
2. NOAA 16's APT transmission system failed a few months after launch.
3. Metop-A's A-side LRPT transmitter has failed. Currently the redundant
B-side transmitter is off until further notice (No further service
expected due to interference with HIRS instrument).
4. NOAA 14 was decommissioned on 23rd May 2007.
5. NOAA 12 was decommissioned on 10th August 2007.
6. For several weeks the APT will carry 2 visible images (channels 1 and
2). The infra-red system requires out-gassing before being switched
on and is the reason for the delay (usually about 2/3 weeks) in its
operation. My understanding is that the outgassing prevents
precipitation (and contamination) when the coolers are switched on.
Thereafter the APT format should follow the norm of Channel 2
(visible)
and channel 4 (IR) during daylight passes, switching automatically
to channels 3 (3A) and 4 during darkness.
7. Elements are available from :-
http://www.space-track.org and
http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/
LAUNCHES.
None due.
SECTION 2: POLAR HRPT/AHRPT REPORT -- 23rd March 2009
=============================================
CHANGES SINCE LAST REPORT.
None.
THIS WEEK'S POSSIBLE EVENTS.
None expected.
Satellite Frequency Antenna Mode Image Quality
(MHz)
NOAA 15 1702.5 Omni HRPT Weak
NOAA 16 1702.5 LHCP HRPT Mixed ( note 3)
NOAA 17 1698.0 RHCP HRPT Good
NOAA 18 1707.0 RHCP HRPT Good
NOAA 19 1698.0 RHCP HRPT Good
Feng Yun 1D 1700.4 RHCP CHRPT Good
Feng Yun 3A see note 5
Metop-A 1701.3 RHCP AHRPT Good (note 4)
NOTES.
1. NOAA 14 was decommissioned on 23rd June 2007.
2. NOAA 12 was decommissioned on 10th August 2007.
3. On Friday 19th September 2003 NOAA 16 developed AVHRR synch. problems
similar to those on NOAA 14 (and previously NOAA 15).
Since then reports have been mixed. Some periods of good data, some
poor.
UPDATE: Scan motor performance has recently improved.
4. On 29 September 2008, EUMETSAT commenced a partial Metop-A AHRPT
Direct Readout service. Due to the operational constraints, the
activation of AHRPT is for a limited geographical region covering
the North Atlantic and European area (southbound passes only). This
service is being introduced for a trial period of up to 2 months,
following which the activation scenario will become operational. For
further details on this service see:
http://www.eumetsat.int/Home/Main/Access_to_Data/Metop__amp__NOAA_Servic
es/SP_1117714487826?l=en
5. Feng Yun 3A was declared operational on 12th January 2009. My thanks
to
Johnny Lin for drawing this to my attention.
I am also grateful to Dave Wright of Dartcom for confirming that
unfortunately (as usual) the Chinese have not strictly complied with the
CGMS AHRPT Global Standard so reception using a standard Metop AHRPT
receiver is not possible.
LAUNCHES.
None due.
SECTION 3: CONTINENTAL GEOSTATIONARY WORLD
===========================================
WEATHER SATELLITE REPORT -- 23rd March 2009
=====================================
CHANGES SINCE LAST REPORT.
None.
THIS WEEK'S POSSIBLE EVENTS.
None.
Europe & Africa
------------------
Satellite : Meteosat 8 (9.5°E)
Data : HRIT (digital) and LRIT (digital)
Operational : Yes, RSS and Standby for Meteosat 9.
Satellite : Meteosat 9 (0°) (note 7).
Data : HRIT (digital) and LRIT (digital)
Operational : Yes
North America
----------------
East.
Satellite : GOES 12 (75.0° W)
Data : GVAR (digital) - 1685.7 MHz
LRIT (digital) -1691 MHz
Operational : Yes
West.
Satellite : GOES 11 (135°W)
Data : GVAR (digital) - 1685.7 MHz
LRIT (digital) - 1691 MHz
Operational : Yes
South America
----------------
Satellite : GOES 10 (60°W)
GVAR (digital) - 1685.7 MHz
LRIT - No service.
Asia (Russian Operated Satellite)
--------------------------------------
Satellite : GOMS N2 / ELECTRO-L
Data : HRIT/LRIT.
Operational : Launch date unknown.
Asia (European Operated Satellites)
----------------------------------------
Satellite : Meteosat 7 (57.5°E)
HRI (digital) - 1691 MHz
Wefax (analogue) occasionally for ranging purposes
only.
Operational : Yes.
Satellite : Meteosat 6 (67.5°E) (Note 2).
Asia (Indian Operated Satellite)
-----------------------------------
Satellite : Metsat
Data : None available.
Operational : Present....
Satellite : Insat 3A (Note 3.)
Data : VHRR (digital) 2599 MHz
Operational : Yes.
Asia & Oceania (Japanese Operated Satellites)
-----------------------------------------------------
Satellite : MTSAT-1R (140° E) (note 5.)
Data : HRIT (digital) and LRIT(digital) on 1691 MHz.
(Note 6.)
Operational : Yes.
Asia & Oceania (Chinese Operated Satellites)
----------------------------------------------------
Satellite : Feng Yun 2C (105°E)
Data : SVISSR (digital) and LRIT (digital)
Operational : Yes.
Satellite : Feng Yun 2D (86.5°E).
Data : SVISSR (digital) and LRIT (digital)
Operational : Yes. Parallel operation with 2C.
(My thanks to Johnny Lin for the update).
Satellite: Feng Yun 2E (123.3° E)
Data : SVISSR (digital) and LRIT (digital)
Operational : No. Commissioning.
NOTES.
1. Meteosat 7 stopped its 0° service at 09.00 UTC on 14th June 2006.
2. Meteosat-6 arrived on station at 67.5 degrees East, on the 27 April
2007.
After a short testing campaign, Meteosat-6 is now supporting the DCP
mission over the Indian Ocean during eclipse periods.
3. Insat 3A is a combined data and meteorological satellite.
4. For those interested in EMWIN data, the following sats/frequencies
apply.
GOES 7 (175 W) 1690.725 MHz.
GOES 11 (135 W) 1690.725 MHz
GOES 12 (74.5 W) 1690.725 MHz
For further info. there are many sources but the following is
particularly informative:-
http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/emwin/user-intro.htm
5. This satellite is also known as HIMAWARI 6.
6. HiRID and WEFAX was discontinued on 12th March 2008. It was replaced
with HRIT/LRIT (after many months of dual dissemination).
7. Only LRIT (1691.0 MHz) is provided in direct readout.
Full HRIT and LRIT service from Eumetcast.
LAUNCHES.
GOES O ....... Launch due 28th April 2009.
SECTION 4: EUMETCAST REPORT -- 23rd March 2009
=======================================
Service Status Eurobird 9A Satellite (9° E)
EARS On Transponder TP63: 11976.82 MHz
Meteosat 8 (RSS) On Transponder TP63: 11976.82 MHz
Meteosat 9 On Transponder TP63: 11976.82 MHz
DWDSAT On Transponder TP63: 11976.82 MHz
EPS(Metop-A) On Transponder TP63: 11976.82 MHz
CHANGES SINCE LAST REPORT.
General Note updated.
Meteosat 8 (RSS) Note updated.
Meteosat 9 Note updated.
IODC Note updated.
Metop Note updated.
THIS WEEK AND FUTURE POSSIBLE EVENTS.
General Note.
Due to essential maintenance on 25/03/09 at 08:30 UTC, there will be a 2
hour interruption of the Meteosat-7 Meteorological product generation
followed by a high risk period of 4 hours.
Please note, there will be a change to the MPE product.
Due to essential archive maintenance on 25/03/09 from 09:00 to 11:00 UTC.
During this period, UMARF orders will not be processed, but will queued
for
processing once normal operations have resumed.
Users interested in Archive activities can subscribe to the Message Type;
U-MARF Archive Services News found under the following URL:
http://oiswww.eumetsat.org/UNS/webapps/dataHome.do
Due to essential maintenance on 26/03/09 between 09:15 and 10:00 UTC all
Eumetsat internet based services will experience a few short (about 5
min.)
interruptions.
EUMETCast
Due to sun interference of the disseminating satellites users might
experience lower signal margin or outages on EUMETCast for a short period
(less than 15 min) every day:
- on C band Africa between 23/02/2009 and 06/04/2009
- on C band Americas between 23/02/2009 and 12/04/2009
The exact times and durations of the signal degradation or outages depend
on
the reception location and the used satellite. Please use following link
to
determine the time for your location:
http://www.satellite-calculations.com/SUNcalc/SUNcalc.htm
- enter as satellite Eurobird 9 (Ku band Europe), or Atlantic Bird 3 (C
band
Africa), or NSS 806 (C band Americas)
- enter location, band, season and antenna size and press "Calculate"
Future Event.
On 31 March 2009 EUMETSAT will introduce a registration requirement for
EUMETCast access to all level 2 satellite products generated by EUMETSAT
and
the Satellite Application Facilities (SAFs). After this date, only
registered users will continue to receive level 2 products through
EUMETCast. The registration requirement is being introduced to allow
EUMETSAT and its SAFs greater visibility of product usage.
New EUMETCast users will be able to select their choice of level 2 product
sets (Meteosat, Metop/NOAA, Ocean Sea Ice, Land Analysis
and Ozone & Atmospheric Chemistry) via the online registration form.
Existing EUMETCast user may request a continuation of access
to these products by sending an email to the User Helpdesk via
ops@eumetsat.int.
The registration requirement comes into force on 31 March 2009 and
existing
users are kindly requested to indicate their product requirements before
this date to avoid any unnecessary loss of service.
Meteosat 8 RSS.
Due to essential maintenance of the reception antenna the Meteosat-8 Rapid
Scanning Service will be interrupted from 16:00 UTC on 24/03/09 until
27/03/09 at 12:00 UTC.
Meteosat 9.
Due to a Meteosat-9 Attitude Slew manoeuvre on 23/03/09 at 13:28 UTC,
users
may experience degraded image and meteorological product quality following
the manoeuvre for up to 12 repeat cycles.
FSD.
GOES11_135W eclipse from 09/02/09 to 28/04/09: 09:00 UTC and 10:00 UTC
files
may not be available.
GOES12_75W eclipse from 14/02/09 to 28/04/09: 05:00 UTC and 06:00 UTC
files
may not be available.
MTSAT-1R_140E eclipse from 15/02/09 to 25/04/09: 14:00 UTC and 15:00 UTC
files may not be available.
FY2C eclipse season from 22/02/09 to 12/04/09: 16:00 to 18:00 UTC files
may
not be available.
IODC.
Due to a Meteosat-7 manoeuvre on 24/03/2009 at 01:28 UTC, users may
observe
degraded image quality for up to 6 hours after the manoeuvre.
Due to Meteosat-7 eclipse season from 12/02/09 to 31/03/09, slots 39 to 43
may not be available.
Metop-A.
24/03/2009 Dissemination maintenance. A short data interruption should be
expected.
25/03/2009 09:00 - 10:00 UMARF maintenance. Standing orders will be
interrupted.
ASCAT monthly calibration. Data interruptions can be expected during the
following periods:
Wed 25/03/2009 07:17 orbit 12610
Thu 26/03/2009 18:18 orbit 12631
Fri 27/03/2009 08:16 orbit 12639
26/03/2009 09:15 - 10:00 High risk of temporary outage due to maintenance.
Services affected:
Operational Internet Server
Operational Support Entity
GRAS production might also incur a considerable interruption until
26/03/2009 19:00.
26/03/09 08:00 - 18:00 Processor maintenance. A short outage may occur
during this period.
Services affected:
ASCAT L1b
GOME L1b
ASCAT Soil moisture.
On 31 March 2009, it is planned to introduce new LSA-SAF products on
EUMETCast.
The Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Downwelling Surface Long Wave
Fluxes
(DSLF) based on Metop are disseminated every 3 min (for every PDU)
covering
the European region only. EUMETCast requirements:
Files for Europe will appear on the channel "SAF-Europe" (PID 500,
multicast
address 224.223.222.28).
The filenames are pre-fixed with "S-LSA_-HDF5_LSASAF_EPS" with full
details
provided in the Product Manuals,
see: http://landsaf.meteo.pt/
The following EPS GDS products are available on Eumetcast.
EPS-2 PID 510 Metop AMSA operational
EPS-3 PID 510 Metop ASCAT operational
EPS-4 PID 510 Metop ATOVS operational
EPS-5 PID 510 Metop GOME operational
EPS-6 PID 510 Metop GRAS operational
EPS-7 PID 510 Metop HIRS operational
EPS-8 PID 510 Metop MHS operational
EPS-10 PID 510 Metop AVHRR operational
EPS-11 PID 510 Metop IASI operational
EPS-13 PID 510 NOAA AMSA operational
EPS-14 PID 510 NOAA ATOVS operational
EPS-15 PID 510 NOAA GAC operational
EPS-16 PID 510 NOAA HIRS operational
EPS-17 PID 510 NOAA MHS operational
EPS-18 PID 510 EPS Service News operational
NOTES.
1. Reports for all sections should be sent to :-
Douglas Deans dsdeans@tiscali.co.uk
2. For further information on the Eumetcast service see :-
David Taylor's web site
http://www.satsignal.eu => Weather Satellites, Using EUMETCast
or Satellite Tools, MSG
Data
Manager.
or the Eumetsat web site
www.eumetsat.int
GENERAL
=======
For further weather satellite related information join GEO, Group for
Earth
Observation, and receive the informative quarterly magazine. See :-
http://www.geo-web.org.uk/
To download element sets for all satellites visit the following sites :
http://www.space-track.org and
http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/
==========================
73's - Adrian, G4ROA @ GB7COV
Message timed: 06:24 on 23 Mar 2009
Message sent using WinPack V6.70 (R)
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