A GOES mesoscale sector is a small, movable box of rapid-update imagery from the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on a Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) of the GOES-R series. Each satellite scans two of these boxes, each about 620 by 620 miles (1,000 by 1,000 kilometers), every 60 seconds, or one box every 30 seconds when both are aimed at the same area.
How it fits the scan schedule
The ABI sees in 16 spectral bands. In routine operation it builds a full disk image every 10 minutes and a continental United States view every 5 minutes, and it fits the two mesoscale boxes in between.
The 1,000-kilometer size applies at the point directly beneath the satellite. A sector placed far from that point covers a different footprint on the ground.
Who moves the sectors
A National Weather Service (NWS) forecast office or a national center, such as the Storm Prediction Center or the National Hurricane Center, can request that a sector be moved to sample a region or feature of interest.
Researchers can also ask for sectors for special events, but any operational request takes priority. In an April 2024 example from the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), one sector was planned to track the solar eclipse while the other watched for possible severe weather.
Which satellites carry them now
GOES-19 took over as GOES-East in April 2025, positioned at 75.2 degrees west longitude, and GOES-16 moved to a backup role. GOES-18 has served as GOES-West since 01/04/23.
Each operational satellite runs its own pair of sectors, so the East and West satellites can cover four different areas at once.
Reading the imagery, and its limits
One-minute frames let you follow growing cumulus towers, spreading anvils and changes in cloud texture that 5- or 10-minute loops can skip over.
Satellite imagery shows cloud tops and upper features, not what is happening beneath a storm's anvil. If a sector moves elsewhere, the area you care about falls back to the slower routine views, so pair satellite with radar and surface observations.