The GOES-17 drift to the GOES-West 137.2W position will begin on Wednesday, October 24. Information about the GOES-17 and GOES-15 drifts can be found here, with a more detailed schedule here. In this blog post, the drift is summarized with NWS folks in mind, so please refer to the linked pages for more details.

• GOES-15 (current GOES-West): drifting from 135W to 128W
  • Drift period: 10/29 – 11/7
  • Imagery will remain available before, during, and after the drift
• GOES-17 (Future GOES-West): drifting from 89.5W to 137.2W
  • Drift period: 10/24 – 11/13
  • Imagery not available: 1345 UTC on 10/24 through 11/14
  • Dataflow resumes on 11/15
  • GOES-17 is scheduled to become operational GOES-West on Dec 10
• Thereafter, GOES-15 and GOES-17 will operate in tandem for at least 6 months

Figure 1: 22 October 2018 GOES-17 Full Disk Imagery from 89.5W GOES checkout position. Full res

Bill Line, NWS