NOAA is planning a two-satellite operational Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) constellation, plus two replacement satellites. Each spacecraft will carry an imager and a sounder. The first GeoXO satellite, scheduled for launch in 2032, is planned to carry the GOES-R-era Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) and a new GeoXO Sounder instrument. The remaining GeoXO satellites, planned for launch in 2034, 2039 and 2043, will carry the new GeoXO Imager and GeoXO Sounder.
GeoXO includes a visible/infrared imager and a hyperspectral infrared sounder to meet the observational needs of NOAA’s weather mission and the satellite data user community.
To ensure the success of this mission, it is critical for the people who use satellite data to be prepared for the arrival of GeoXO. NOAA is planning user readiness activities that involve using precursor data sources to develop use cases while testing data flows, infrastructure, and visualizations.
While GeoXO spins up its user readiness phase, we will also publish this quarterly User Readiness Update. The update will be emailed to users and posted to the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) website within GeoXO user readiness content in a blog format. You can provide feedback by emailing geoxo.satellites@noaa.gov. The quarterly updates will include program updates, a summary of recent user readiness activities and events, sample data applications and/or use cases, upcoming user engagement events/training/webinars and other events the community can participate in, answers to frequently asked questions, and contact information for users to submit feedback.
Recent user readiness activities and events
Spring 2026 Hazardous Weather Testbed
The GeoXO imager (GXI) will feature two new bands centered at the 0.91 and 5.15 µm wavelengths, targeting total column and low level water vapor (approximately 2-4 km) respectively. Real imagery from these new GXI bands may be years away, but National Weather Service forecasters are already exploring their potential applications in NOAA’s Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT). The Cooperative Institute of Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) created Synthetic GXI imagery daily from the HRRR model, and provided it to forecasters in the 2026 Satellite Proving Ground Experiment. On June 1, testbed participants used the Synthetic GXI Water Vapor Transmittance (WVT) product – a ratio of the 0.91 and 0.86 µm bands – to anticipate where severe thunderstorms might develop. One forecaster described their experience using the Synthetic GXI imagery in the HWT’s blog.
An example animation of the Synthetic GXI WVT ratio product. Higher WVT ratios (black) represent less humid air and clouds, while lower WVT ratios (white) represent more humid air. In this example moisture is being advected northward before thunderstorms develop in western Kansas and northeast Colorado. Credit: NOAA
Outreach highlights: VuSkew multi-source sounding viewer and the Hyperlooper
Inspired by Frank Alsheimer, former Science and Operations Officer at the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office (WFO) in Columbia, South Carolina, VuSkew provides a single application for viewing soundings from multiple sources alongside GOES Advanced Baseline Imager imagery. These sources include radiosondes, GOES derived soundings, Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), model, and commercial soundings, the latter of which are purchased by the National Weather Service, including observations from WindBorne Systems and Urban Sky.
Recently featured by the Lake Charles, Louisiana, WFO in NWS Insider, VuSkew has been incorporated into forecast operations to supplement upper-air observations during severe weather and heavy rainfall events. The tool helps forecasters evaluate model performance and communicate timely updates to core partners through NWSChat and Slack. It also provides an important foundation for exploring how future satellite sounding data could be integrated into National Weather Service operations during the GeoXO era.
Screenshot of VuSkew. The map (left) displays GOES ABI Band 13 imagery along with locations of GOES derived (green dots) and other sounding sources (e.g. radiosonde sites in yellow). Selection of or hovering over a dot on the map draws a sounding on the Skew-T. An atmospheric GOES vertical temperature and moisture sounding is plotted on the Skew-T diagram for the sounding just south of the Sterling, VA (WFO LWX) site. The red and blue lines depict the temperature and moisture profiles, respectively. A selectable timeline appears along the top. Credit: TOWR-S
GEO Program mission scientists Jon Fullbright and Dave Pogorzala, in collaboration with the Total Operational Weather Readiness - Satellites (TOWR-S) team, have also begun working with simulated Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) Infrared Sounder (IRS) data. The team is examining the data format and exploring how hyperspectral infrared observations can be stored and visualized for forecasters, developers, and future National Weather Service mission applications. The team is exploring capabilities to display and interpret satellite soundings, including channel differences, RGBs, histograms and time-series using the Hyperlooper. An initial visualization prototype, called the “Hyperlooper,” is expected to evolve. The example below illustrates the prototype’s current capabilities.
The MTG IRS wavelength spectrum for 16Z on August 18, 2026 is plotted for the point selected over Northern Spain (orange dot). The brightness temperatures of the spectrum covering the whole domain are shown (orange lines). Three components of the Longwave IR spectrum have been selected, shown by the red, green and blue horizontal lines. These three components are combined to create the RGB image over Local Area Coverage Region 4, which portrays the mapped land and atmospheric features. Credit: TOWR-S.
Sample data applications/use cases
As part of the GeoXO satellite system, NOAA plans to include a next-generation hyperspectral infrared sounding instrument, the GeoXO Sounder (GXS). With high temporal cadence observations, GXS will achieve the long sought-after goal of near real-time forecasting, or “nowcasting,” a reality by providing frequent data about the detailed vertical distribution of atmospheric temperature, moisture, trace gases, and winds. The figure below shows how a hurricane is being designed to be seen by GXS.
The improved spectral information of the GXS leads to improved atmospheric vertical information compared to legacy GEO sensors. Each line indicates a different sensitivity to the atmospheric profile. Notice the greater coverage of GXS compared to the simulated soundings from ABI and legacy GOES-N sounder, indicating greater vertical resolution from GXS. Credit: UW/CIMSS
GXS will have many uses over both sea and land and will benefit nowcasting and Numerical Weather Prediction. Credit: NOAA.
GXS will increase the frequency of full atmospheric sensing over the United States by ten times compared to existing low-Earth-orbiting satellites.The improved temporal sampling will improve storm tracking and storm strength monitoring, and forecasting of fire behavior and smoke transport. GXS data will feed advanced numerical weather prediction models and improve short-term severe weather forecasting with some of the uses noted in the above image. As weather disasters continue to worsen, investment in improved severe storm, tornado and hurricane forecasting and nowcasting is critical. The increased temporal resolution sounder data provided by a geostationary orbit is expected to reduce forecast error over the U.S., improve regional U.S. forecasting by up to 40%, and benefit global forecasting out to 2.5 days. This will enable critical early warning time ahead of tornadoes, hurricanes and severe storms.
Key GXS features:
Spectral Resolution: ~0.6 cm⁻¹
Horizontal/Nadir Footprint: 4 km at the satellite subpoint
Temporal Refresh Rate: As frequently as 30 minutes for a Western Hemisphere sounding disk
Vertical Profiling Capabilities: Resolves numerous atmospheric layers from the Earth's surface through the troposphere and into the lower stratosphere, including providing low-level moisture gradients and capping temperature inversions
Future Articles
Over the next few years, this section of the quarterly GEO User Readiness Update will provide users with updates to this instrument and case studies from the new EUMETSAT geostationary sounder, IRS as they may relate to the GXS sounder in the future. The IRS sounder data has now become available to the public. If you are interested in finding out more about access to this data, please contact us through the feedback link at the bottom of this update.
Upcoming user engagement and outreach events
Did you know?
The improved resolution of the GeoXO imager 3.9 μm band from 2 km to 1 km will allow for the detection of fires as small as 0.1 acres – four times smaller than what the GOES-R Advanced Baseline Imager can detect.
All GeoXO User Readiness Updates can be viewed here.
