NOAA News || NOAA Home Page

September 13, 2000 — Hurricane Floyd brought flooding rains, high winds and rough seas along a good portion of the Atlantic seaboard on September 14-18, 1999. On the first anniversary of Floyd, NOAA stands ready with a new backup station for its satellite Command and Data Acquisition Station located at Wallops, Va. The backup station, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., will ensure that data from NOAA's geostationary satellite that watches over the Atlantic Ocean will continue to flow if the primary site at Wallops is disabled by a hurricane.

(Click image for larger view. Note that this is a large file.)

The station at Wallops acquires and distributes a continuous flow of data from NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) to users around the country. NOAA's environmental satellite system is composed of two types of satellites: geostationary operational environmental satellites (GOES) for national, regional, short-range warning and "now-casting," and polar-orbiting environmental satellites (POES) for global, long-term forecasting. Both kinds of satellites are necessary for providing a complete global weather monitoring system. GOES images are seen daily on television weather forecasts, monitoring cloud cover and hurricanes, and providing special imaging of local severe weather systems.

The new backup station in Greenbelt will ensure data from NOAA's GOES satellites continue to flow if the Wallops station is threatened or hit by a hurricane. A new 54-foot antenna, weighing more than a million pounds, is designed to operate through a Category 3 hurricane (130 mph); and can survive a Category 5 hurricane (155+ mph). The antenna has transmitters for sending commands to the satellites, and receivers for collecting information from the satellites.

Click images for a larger view. Note: these are large files.

William Townsend, center, NASA, deputy director of Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., and Greg Withee, NOAA, assistant administrator for satellite and information services, cut the ribbon in front of the new 54-foot antenna at Goddard. Participating in the ribbon cutting are managers and engineers from NOAA, NASA, and their contractors from the private sector. The new facility represents a continuation of the long-standing NOAA-NASA partnership.

William Townsend, left, NASA, deputy director of Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., and Greg Withee, NOAA, assistant administrator for satellite and information services, cut the ribbon in the control center for the new facility at Goddard that will serve as a backup for the Wallops Command and Data Acquisition Station at Wallops, Va., if a hurricane should disable the facility at Wallops. The new facility represents a continuation of the long-standing NOAA-NASA partnership.

The backup station will normally be operated in a standby mode. Engineers, programmers, and operators from the Wallops site will be deployed as necessary when a hurricane threatens Wallops, or for other foreseeable emergencies. For unforeseeable emergencies, a rapid response team from NOAA's Satellite Operations Control Center in Suitland, Md., will initially bring the station on-line until personnel arrive from Wallops.

Relevant Web Sites
The Wallops Command Data Acquisition Station

All About NOAA Satellites

NOAA's Satellite Operations

Hurricane Floyd Report

Media Contacts:
Patricia Viets, NOAA's Satellite Service, (301) 457-5005.