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NOAA 2003-031
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: John Leslie
3/19/03 NOAA News Releases 2003
NOAA Home Page
NOAA Public Affairs 

NOAA TO MOVE GOES-9 TO BACK UP JAPANESE WEATHER SATELLITE

Move Ensures Continuity of Weather Information Across Western Pacific
 
After April 19, any powerful typhoon that threatens nations along the
western edge of the Pacific, will be monitored closely by Japanese
meteorologists thanks to an agreement that provides for the Commerce
Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
to operate GOES-9 - a weather satellite that meets Japanese and U.S.
weather forecast and storm monitoring requirements. 

The movement of GOES-9 is an important step in developing mutual
backup meteorological arrangements between the United States and
Japan, NOAA's top official said today. 


Backup Arrangement Critical 

"Typhoon Chata'an showed just how crucial satellite data are when
tracking an active, deadly storm in the Pacific," said retired Navy
Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph. D, undersecretary of
commerce for oceans and atmosphere, and NOAA administrator. "GOES-9
will help forecasters protect residents of Japan and other nations in
the Pacific by providing the latest information on the storm's
movement." 

Last year, powerful Typhoon Chata'an hammered Micronesia, the
Philippines, Guam, the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands and Japan. In the end, 2002 produced a total of 31 typhoons
in the western Pacific, with 11 menacing Micronesia alone. 

"GOES-9 is ready for action just in time for the 2003 typhoon
season," said Gregory W. Withee, assistant administrator of NOAA's
National Environmental, Satellite, Data, and Information Service
(NOAA Satellite and Information). The agency operates NOAA's two GOES
satellites, which are key to forecasting short-range weather events,
including tornadoes, floods and tropical cyclones. 


Moving Toward Global Coverage

Under the agreement, Japan covered the cost of upgrading NOAA's
Command and Data Acquisition Station in Fairbanks, Alaska, which now
enables the agency to control GOES over the western Pacific. Japan
will also pay to move and operate GOES-9. The agreement also lays the
framework to negotiate a long-term mutual back-up arrangement, which
would allow the United States to ask Japan for help if one of the
U.S. GOES satellites has problems.

GOES-9 will back up Japan's Geostationary Meteorological Satellite-5
(GMS-5), which is operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency. GMS-5,
launched in 1995, is past its useful life and has encountered recent
imaging troubles and fuel shortages. GOES-9, also launched in 1995,
was placed in storage mode after it no longer met NOAA's full
operational requirements. The satellite still has sounding and
imaging capabilities and can serve as a limited replacement for the
GMS-5. 

In 1999, Japan planned to replace the ailing satellite with its
Multifunctional Transportation Satellite (MTSAT-1), but experienced a
launch failure. The replacement satellite, MTSAT-1R, is currently
scheduled for launch this summer. 

"When severe weather threatens, an uninterrupted flow of satellite
data becomes a matter of life or death," Withee said. "This agreement
makes that notion possible for storms in the Pacific." 

NOAA Satellite and Information is the nation's primary source of
space-based meteorological and climate data. It operates the nation's
environmental satellites, which are used for weather and ocean
observation and forecasting, climate monitoring, sea-surface
temperature, fire detection, and ozone monitoring. 

NOAA Satellite and Information Services also operates three data
centers, which house global databases in climatology, oceanography,
solid Earth geophysics, marine geology and geophysics,
solar-terrestrial physics and paleoclimatology.

NOAA, which is part of the Commerce Department, is dedicated to
enhancing economic security and national safety through the
prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and
providing environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal and
marine resources.

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