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Visible Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer (VISSR) and VISSR Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) Data from GOES 1-7 and SMS 1-2, Version 2024

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Metadata Last Checked: January 27, 2026 | Last Modified: 2024-10-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
The NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) series of satellites goal is to monitor the atmosphere for severe weather development such as tornadoes, flash floods, hail storms and hurricanes. The positioning of the GOES satellites at around 36,000 km (22,000 statute miles) above the equator at a fixed position above the earth allowed them to scan large geographic regions of the Western Hemisphere and as frequently as once every half hour. Coverage is typically provided by two GOES spacecraft, one at -75.0 Longitude (GOES East) and the other at -135.0 Longitude (GOES West). The Visible and Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer (VISSR) was flown aboard NOAA Synchronous Meteorological Satellite (SMS-1 and SMS-2) and GOES-1 through GOES-3 from 1974 to 1989. VISSR was modified to become the VISSR Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) flown aboard GOES-4 through GOES-7 from 1981 to 1996. The MODE A/AA/AAA format were originally stored on Sony U-matic tapes. The process for reading data from these tapes was not stable and resulted in several issues, such as incomplete files, multiple files and corrupted files. The University of Wisconsin developed 'smart' decoders that detected errors in sync patterns (the binary data used to signal start of each scan from the satellite to the ground station). This resulted in restoring missing data to complete full disk images. Also, noisy images were re-rendered to produce noise-free images. This improved, rescued data replaced the previous data publicly accessible from the NOAA CLASS website in 2024 as a cleaned up data archive.

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Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Infrared Wavelengths > Brightness Temperature Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Infrared Wavelengths > Infrared Imagery Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Infrared Wavelengths > Infrared Radiance Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Infrared Wavelengths > Thermal Infrared Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Visible Wavelengths > Visible Imagery Earth Science > Spectral/Engineering > Visible Wavelengths > Visible Radiance Earth Science > Climate Indicators Atmospheric - Upper-air - Cloud Properties Atmospheric - Upper-air - Upper-air Water Vapour Geographic Region > Equatorial Geographic Region > Mid-Latitude Geographic Region > Northern Hemisphere Geographic Region > Southern Hemisphere Geographic Region > Western Hemisphere Geographic Region > Tropics Continent > North America > United States Of America Continent > North America > Central America Continent > South America Ocean > Atlantic Ocean Ocean > Pacific Ocean Ocean > Atlantic Ocean > North Atlantic Ocean > Gulf Of Mexico Vertical Location > Troposphere GOES > Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites VISSR > Visible and Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer VAS > VISSR Atmospheric Sounder SMS-1 > Synchronous Meteorological Satellite 1 SMS-2 > Synchronous Meteorological Satellite 2 GOES-1 > Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 1 GOES-2 > Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 2 GOES-3 > Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 3 GOES-4 > Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 4 GOES-5 > Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 5 GOES-6 > Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 6 GOES-7 > Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 7 1 km - < 10 km or approximately .01 degree - < .09 degree 500 meters - < 1 km UWI-MAD/SSEC > Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison DOC/NOAA/NESDIS > National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Services, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/OSPO > Office of Satellite and Product Operations, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce gov.noaa.class:PRE_GVAR

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