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Forwarded as a community service: 684 NOUS72 KNCF 141648 ADMNCF PLEASE PASS TO MIC/HIC, ESA, ITO, AND SOO SUBJ: AWIPS GOES IMAGERY INTERRUPTIONS DUE TO SOLAR KEEPOUT EFFECTIVE NOW UNTIL APRIL 30, THERE WILL BE PERIODS OF TIME ROUGHLY AS MUCH AS THREE HOURS WHEN THE GOES-E AND GOES-W SATELLITES WILL NOT BE PRODUCING IMAGES DUE TO THEIR POSITION IN RELATION TO THE SUN. BOTH SATELLITES WILL NOT BE AFFECTED AT THE SAME TIME. THE SPACECRAFT WILL ALTERNATE TAKING FULL DISC IMAGES TO ACCOUNT FOR THE ONE AFFECTED. WHILE TAKING FULL DISC IMAGES, RAPID SCAN OPERATIONS WILL NOT BE POSSIBLE. IT IS NECESSARY TO TURN OFF IMAGERY FROM THE GOES SATELLITES DURING THESE TIMES TO PROTECT THE IMAGERS FROM INTENSE LIGHT GOING INTO AND COMING OUT OF THE ECLIPSE PERIODS AND TO CONSERVE ENOUGH ENERGY TO POWER HEATERS DURING THE TIME WHEN THE SOLAR PANELS CANNOT ABSORB SUNLIGHT. THIS IS A NORMAL OCCURANCE EACH SPRING AND FALL. THE EXACT OUTAGE TIMES ARE POSTED ON THE WEB AT http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/SATS/eclipse.html. SUBJ: AWIPS SBN INTERRUPTIONS DUE TO SOLAR RF INTERFERENCE BEGINNING FEBRUARY 22 AND CONTINUING THROUGH MARCH 15, THE SUN WILL ALIGN WITH THE GE-4 SPACECRAFT IN SUCH A WAY THAT SOLAR RF ENERGY WILL DEGRADE OR INTERRUPT RECEIPT OF AWIPS SBN TRANSMISSION OF THE NWSTG, GOES-EAST, GOES-WEST, AND NOAAPORT_OPT CHANNELS FOR MANY SITES. THIS INTERFERENCE WILL LAST ABOUT 20 MINUTES AND WILL OCCUR BETWEEN 1800Z AND 2000Z OVER A PERIOD OF 10 DAYS. THE PLACEMENT OF THE 10-DAY PERIOD WITHIN THE FEBRUARY 22 TO MARCH 15 TIMEFRAME WILL DEPEND ON THE LATTITUDE OF THE RECEIVING SITE. THE 10-DAY PERIOD WILL BEGIN SOONER FOR SOUTHERN SITES, LATER FOR NORTHERN SITES. THE AWIPS SBN AUTOMATIC RETRANSMISSION FEATURE WILL ENSURE THAT AWIPS SITES DO NOT EXPERIENCE DATA LOSS FOR THE NWSTG AND NOAAPORT CHANNELS. THERE IS NO RETRANSMISSION CAPABILITY FOR THE GOES-E AND GOES-W CHANNELS. Ncf/kbb
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