GOES-West Mesoscale view - Band 16 at 36°N - 107°W - Sandoval County, NM*

About Band 16

13.3 µm - CO₂ Longwave IR Band - 2 km resolution - Band 16 is used for mean tropospheric air temperature estimation, tropopause delineation, and as part of quantitative cloud products for cloud opacity estimation, cloud-top height assignments of cloud-drift motion vectors, and supplementing Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) observations.

Band 16 corresponds approximately to the old GOES-13 longwave IR channel.

• For more details, see the Band 16 - ABI Quick Information Guide, (PDF, 769 KB)

*GOES-17 Infrared Image Quality

During post-launch testing of the GOES-17 ABI instrument, an issue with the instrument's cooling system was discovered. The loop heat pipe (LHP) subsystem, which transfers heat from the ABI electronics to the radiator, is not operating at its designed capacity. The consequence of this is that the ABI detectors cannot be maintained at their intended temperatures under certain orbital conditions. This is preventing adequate cooling for some of the infrared (IR) channels on the instrument during parts of the night, leading to partial loss of ABI imagery. Learn more.