Geostationary Satellites

Kiwiweather captures images from the South Korean geostationary satellite GK-2A. We also work with other people around the world who capture images from a wide range of geostationary satellites covering most of the planet other than the polar regions.

GEO-KOMPSAT 2A

GEO-KOMPSAT 2A (GK-2A) is a South Korean weather satellite in geostationary orbit. It is one of a pair with GK-2B. It was launched in 2018 and provides coverage of most of Asia, India, Australasia and the Pacific.

The satellite broadcasts an infrared image every 10 minutes, which are displayed on the GK-2A page. These image are animated to produce videos. In addition, there are weather data images which are also captured.

The latest images from GK-2A is in the GK-2A Full Disc and the GK-2A Graphics sections of this site, via the link in the banner at the top of this page

GOES 17 / 16 / 15 / 14 / 13

The GOES satellites are the main US geostationary satellites for capturing weather data with the main ones being GOES 17 (GOES West) which covers the Pacific / Western US and GOES 16 (GOES East) which captures the Eastern US and the Atlantic.

GOES 15 and 14 are earlier versions of these satellites which are kept as orbital spares. GOES 15 is normally activated for the hurricane season and GOES 14 gets a semi-annual check out for a few weeks each year.

GOES 13 (EWS-G1) is now positioned over the Indian Ocean.

All these satellite produce a range of images covering full disk and some also provide higher detail images where there are areas of interesting weather.

GOES 17 Meso 1 – Full Colour – California, Nevada, Oregon and Idaho

The latest images from each of these satellites are in the GOES Geostationary section of this site, via the link in the banner at the top of this page.

Himawari 8 / 9

Himawari 8 and are Japanese geostationary weather satellites operated by the Japanese Meteorological Agency. It was launched in 2015 and provides coverage of most of Asia, India, Australasia and the Pacific.

Himawari 9 took over from Himawari 8 in December 2022.

The data download from Himawari 9 is encrypted, with the data being made available to Country level meteorological agencies, however GOES 17 rebroadcasts some Himawari 9 data, so it can be downloaded indirectly.

The latest images from Himawari 8 and 9 are in the Other Geostationary section of this site, via the link in the banner at the top of this page.