As of 1600 UTC on April 2, 2019, 10-minute Flex Mode (Mode 6) has permanently replaced Flex Mode (Mode 3), for both GOES-16 and GOES-17. As has been outlined in previous blog posts, the difference between the two modes is that Mode 3 scanned a full disk every 15-minutes, while the new Mode 6 scans the full disk every 10-min. The CONUS and mesoscale sector coverage remains the same. Continuous Full Disk Mode (Mode 4) will continue to be available upon request. See the chart below comparing how often each sector is scanned in the three scan modes.
| Mode 3 | Mode 6 | Mode 4 | |
| Full Disk | 15-min | 10-min | 5-min |
| CONUS/PACUS | 5-min | 5-min | N/A |
| Mesoscale Sector | 30-sec or 2@1-min | 30-sec or 2@1-min | N/A |
The following tweet displays the coverage provided by GOES-West and GOES-East sectors. Note the mesoscale sectors are movable. These images also exemplify the degradation of pixel size further from the satellite sub point.
Below are examples of GOES-West and GOES-East full disk coverage from the afternoon of 02 April 2019 over a five hour period. Five hours of full disk imagery now includes 30 images with Mode 6, vs 20 images with the old Mode 3.
Bill Line, NWS
Satellite Liaison Blog 