Date/Time of Expected End: Seasonally (Ongoing)
 
Length of Outage: See details below; roughly 8 months
 
Details/Specifics of Change:  NESDIS Office of Satellite and Product Operations (OSPO) engineers will activate switching for NOAA-15 and NOAA-19 AVHRR Channel 3A / 3B for the period of September 15, 2021 to May 14, 2022.  Switching to Channel 3A will occur during this period over the predefined box encompassing the Alaska Region (box coordinates 50°N to 75°N and 173°E to 135°W).  NOAA-15 and NOAA-19 AVHRR will switch between Channel 3B and Channel 3A to support snow and ice detection and monitoring activities over Alaska Region.
 
First NOAA-15 AVHRR 3A/B switch September 15 Rev 21405, 258/04:27:20 to 258/04:34:56 UTC for a duration of 456 seconds.

First CDA contact NOAA-15 F Rev 21406 258/06:08:20 to 258/06:14:24 UTC for a duration of 364 seconds.

First NOAA-19 AVHRR 3A/B switch and CDA contact September 15 F Rev 64959, 258/04:02:50 to 258/04:10:37 UTC for a duration of 467 seconds.

Channel switching will stop after May 14, 2022 for the beginning of fire season.  A reminder notification will be sent.

The coordination for the activation and deactivation of switching for NOAA-15 and NOAA-19 AVHRR Channel 3A / 3B is a collaborative effort between NESDIS OSPO, National Weather Service (NWS) Alaska Region, University of Alaska - Geographic Information Network of  Alaska (GINA), and the NWS Fire Weather Service Manager and is intended to seasonally optimize the Fire Weather and Cryosphere observing posture for Alaska.