UPDATE: As of Thursday evening, the satellite was back online and all products were available. Although the first announcement indicated engineers were investigating the source of the anomaly, no further details were included in any of the updates issued by NOAA.
UPDATE: Thursday afternoon, NOAA updated its report on this issue.
As of noon on Thursday, engineers were still working on the satellite and expected imaging to resume by 7 p.m. Thursday, NOAA reported.
"The recovery process to return all GOES-19 instruments to normal operations is projected to take approximately 8 hours," the report states.
ORIGINAL STORY:
A satellite key to tracking hurricanes in the Atlantic basin is out until further notice, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday, the Times Picayune reports.
GOES-19 is the main instrument used to identify tropical waves as they strengthen and move over the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf, providing real-time tracking for forecasting, the newspaper reports.
The satellite went into a safehold late Wednesday and engineers “are working to recover the satellite and will share a recovery timeline when available,” the NOAA Office of Satellite Operations said in a maintenance report.
The Picayune also reports that GOES-19 is also the main tool tracking weather patterns such as lightning strikes, ocean temperatures and more for Louisiana and other Gulf Coast residents.
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