Topic:
NOAA-18 Reduced Gyro Test
Date/Time(UTC) Message Issued:
April 6, 2011, 2020 UTC
Product(s) Involved/Affected:
All data and products from NOAA-18 (AVHRR, AMSU-A, AMSU-B, HIRS, MHS, SBUV)
Date/Time(UTC) of Initial Implementation:
April 16, 2011, Time 12:24 UTC
Date/Time(UTC) of Expected End:
April 17, 2011, Time 15:34 UTC
Length of Outage:
27 hours and 10 minutes
Details/Specifics of Change:
From 16 April 2011 at 12:24 UTC (orbit 30422) to 17 April 2011 at 15:34 UTC (orbit 30438), NOAA-18 will be placed into the Reduced Gyro Mode for a baseline test. Products may be impacted by slightly larger than normal yaw attitude disturbances. The performance of NOAA-18 instrument L1b data is expected to be similar to the counterpart of NOAA-15, which has been operated in the Reduced Gyro Mode since March 17, 2010.
The test will be ended on April 17th on REV 30438 AOS 15:34:10 UTC, and the spacecraft reconfigured for normal operation. The spacecraft will be commanded back to nominal mode on REV 30440 at 18:39:00.
Backup dates due to a Critical Weather Day Period cancellation are 17 April 2011 to 18 April 2011 roughly in the same UTC times as above.
Products that use NOAA-18 that will be affected:
ATOVS Polar Soundings
Radiation Budget
Fire Identification Mapping and Monitoring Algorithm (FIMMA) for Hazard Mapping system (HMS) input
CLAVR-X
SST and Coastwatch
Microwave Surface and Precipitation Products (MSPPS)
Microwave Integrated Retrieval System (MIRS)
Blended TPW
Ozone: SBUV/2
Ozone: TOAST
Ensemble Tropical Rainfall Potential (eTRaP)
Global Vegetation Index Products (GVI)
AVHRR Winds
Contact Information for Further Information: ESPC Operations at ESPCOperations@noaa.gov at 301-817-3880