About Band 8

6.2 µm - "Upper-level Water Vapor" Band - 2 km resolution - Band 8 will be used for upper-level tropospheric water vapor tracking, jet stream identification, hurricane track forecasting, mid-latitude storm forecasting, severe weather analysis, upper mid-level moisture estimation (for legacy vertical moisture profiles) and turbulence detection.

The imager features three mid-level water vapor bands instead of the single water vapor band on the GOES-13 Imager. The single water vapor band on GOES-13 contained a mixture of water vapor features over many levels of the troposphere, but GOES-16 enables us to focus on water vapor in the upper troposphere (band 8), the middle troposphere (band 9), or the lower troposphere (band 10). The GOES-13 Imager water vapor channel falls between ABI bands 8 and 9.

• For more details, see the Band 8 - ABI Quick Information Guide, (PDF, 672 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.