Q&A From Scientists Running the new GOES-R Satellite Mission, Hurricane and Lightning Monitor

[BornFromTheVoid]

We're hosting the Q&A over on reddit.com/r/science this afternoon. Here's the intro/bio:

Hi redditors! We are Steve Goodman and Andrea Schumacher and we are excited to talk to you about NOAA’s GOES-R, a state-of-the art satellite set to launch November 4, 2016 that will transform hurricane prediction for North America.

Steve, GOES-R’s Senior Scientist, will tell you all about the advanced instruments aboard GOES-R, like the Advanced Baseline Imager, which collects high-resolution data faster than ever before, and the first ever Geostationary Lightning Mapper, a revolutionary new instrument that will measure lightning over the Americas and its oceans (lightning is an important indicator of where and when a storm is likely to intensify). As the senior program scientist for the GOES-R Program, Dr. Goodman serves as the primary science authority for the GOES-R satellite series.

Andrea Schumacher, CIRA Research Associate and GOES-R/JPSS Satellite Liaison to the National Hurricane Center, will tell you about how hurricanes work and how scientists and forecasters will be using GOES-R data to predict and track these destructive and fascinating phenomena. As the GOES-R Satellite Liaison to the National Hurricane Center, Andrea assists in the evaluation of new GOES-R satellite technologies so forecasters are ready to use these new capabilities as soon as GOES-R launches.

You can learn more about the GOES-R satellite series and see the countdown to launch here.

We’ll be here from 1:00 pm EDT to 3:00pm EDT (10 am PT, 6 pm UTC) today answering your questions about NOAA’s state-of-the-art GOES-R satellite and its impact on hurricane forecasting…As us anything!

Link to the AMA https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/4twfcl/science_ama_series_we_are_noaa_scientist_dr_steve/