GOES-18 Interleave Testing
From 1 August - 6 September 2022, you will see that all the GOES-West images published on this site contain a banner that says "GOES-18 Preliminary Non-Operational Data".
As part of the effort to prepare the new GOES-18 satellite for use as the operational GOES-West satellite this coming winter, we are using GOES-18 data to populate the images for this site, and other parts of NOAA are using GOES-18 data as well. This period of substitution and testing is called the interleave period.
Utilizing GOES-18 during August also gives NOAA and our users access to a data stream that doesn't suffer from the seasonal overheating that periodically impacts GOES-17 infrared bands. GOES-18 will eventually become GOES-West when it goes operational, which is expected to happen in January 2023.
We are producing all the same sectors, views, and channels from GOES-18 as from GOES-17, with the exception of Derived Motion Winds.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at NESDIS.STAR.Webmaster@noaa.gov.