<p>The Space Environment In-Situ Suite (SEISS) instrument on board NOAA's GOES-17 satellite is successfully sending data back to Earth. This plot shows four days of SEISS data from May 4 through May 7, 2018, when the instrument observed electrons and protons associated with a geomagnetic storm. The source of this storm was first detected by NOAA’s DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) satellite on May 5. 
</p><p>Orbiting a million miles from Earth, DSCOVR observed a high-speed stream of solar wind plasma that had escaped from a coronal hole, a cooler and less dense area of the sun. The high-speed plasma plowed through the slow solar wind ahead of it and 'kicked' the Earth’s magnetosphere, a “bubble” that protects us from the solar wind. This 'kick' started a global disturbance in the magnetic field known as a geomagnetic storm. In response, NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) issued a G2 (moderate) geomagnetic storm warning on May 6. Geomagnetic storms can disrupt power utilities and communications and navigation systems and may lead to increased levels of radiation in the radiation belts that can damage orbiting satellites and the International Space Station. Radiation belts are regions of enhanced populations of energetic electrons and protons surrounding the Earth.
</p><p>The GOES-17 SEISS observed the complex response of radiation belt electrons and protons to this geomagnetic storm starting on May 5. The large increase in the levels of electrons triggered a radiation belt alert by SWPC midday on May 6, half a day after the geomagnetic storm alert. Radiation belts are regions of enhanced populations of energetic electrons and protons surrounding the Earth. The five sensors that make up the GOES-17 SEISS instrument have been collecting data continuously since April 24, 2018. SEISS is better able to detect energy fluxes in the magnetosphere than the previous generation of NOAA geostationary satellites. After GOES-17 is commissioned, SEISS will be used by SWPC to issue the radiation belt alerts.
</p><p>Credit: NOAA/NASA
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Note: This is preliminary, non-operational data as GOES-17 undergoes on-orbit testing.
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/125201706@N06">NOAA Satellites</a>
2018-05-14 15:28
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/noaasatellites/40305079900/">First GOES-17 Space Environment In-Situ Suite (SEISS) Data</a>