Sun Interference(Sun Outage) in Spring 2012

The sun passes behind a satellite as seen from its ground station once a day during equinox season. When this happens, radiation from the sun can cause loss or degradation of communications between the satellite and the ground station. This kind of sun interference, it is called " Sun Outage", can degrade or interrupt their transmission.

The following observation is affected by sun outage (as of February 7, 2012):

1. Observations are Cancelled.
   March 4 - 7, 2012
   F03
2. Possibility of having line error or being halted.
   March 1 - 3, 2012
   March 8 -10, 2012
   F03

Equinox Operation in Spring 2012

Likewise, the sun and the earth can lie in an approximate line with a satellite during equinox season. When this happens, solar light entering the satellite's imager-sensor can adversely affect the sensor's calibration quality and cause deterioration of image data.

Observation time and area of the images affected by solar light are estimated as follows:

• (1) Observations cancelled by cause of solar light on the imager(shown with "X (red box)" in the table below).
  April 2 - 19, 2012
  N14
  April 7 - 18, 2012
  F15
• (2) Other than the observations above, parts of some images at F14, N14, F15 and N15 from February 15 until April 25, 2012 may cause partial degradation by solar light on the image (shown with "XXXXX (grey box)" in the table below).

Updated: 2 February 2012

Observation	N13	F14	N14	F15	N15	F16
UTC	13:00-13:14	13:30-13:58	14:00-14:14	14:30-14:58	15:00-15:14	15:30-15:58
Feb. 14	O	O	O	O	O	O
Feb. 15	O	O	O	FSE13	O	O
Feb. 16	O	O	O	FSE13	O	O
Feb. 17	O	O	O	FSE13	O	O
Feb. 18	O	O	O	FSE13	O	O
Feb. 19	O	O	O	FSE13	O	O
Feb. 20	O	O	O	FSE13	O	O
Feb. 21	O	O	O	FSE13	O	O
Feb. 22	O	O	O	FSE13	O	O
Feb. 23	O	FSW05	O	FSE13	O	O
Feb. 24	O	FSW05	O	FSE13	O	O
Feb. 25	O	FSW05	O	FSE12	O	O
Feb. 26	O	FSW05	O	FSE12	O	O
Feb. 27	O	FSW05	O	FSE12	O	O
Feb. 28	O	FSW05	O	FSE12	O	O
Feb. 29	O	FSW05	O	FSE12	O	O
Mar. 1	O	FSW05	O	FSE12	O	O
Mar. 2	O	FSW05	O	FSE12	O	O
Mar. 3	O	FSW05	O	FSE13	O	O
Mar. 4	O	FSW05	O	FSE13	O	O
Mar. 5	O	FSW05	O	FSE13	O	O
Mar. 6	O	FSW05	O	FSE13	0	O
Mar. 7	O	FSW05	O	FSE13	0	O
Mar. 8	O	FSW05	O	O	O	O
Mar. 9	O	FSW05	O	O	HNE03	O
Mar. 10	O	FSW04	O	O	HNE03	O
Mar. 11	O	FSW04	O	O	HNE03	O
Mar. 12	O	FSW04	O	O	HNE03	O
Mar. 13	O	FSW04	O	O	HNE03	O
Mar. 14	O	FSW04	O	O	HNE03	o
Mar. 15	O	FSW04	O	O	HNE03	O
Mar. 16	O	FSW04	O	O	HNE03	O
Mar. 17	O	FSW04	O	O	HNE03	O
Mar. 18	O	FSW04	O	O	HNE03	O
Mar. 19	O	FSW04	O	O	HNE03	O
Mar. 20	O	FCW03	O	O	HNE03	O
Mar. 21	O	FCW03	O	O	HNE02	O
Mar. 22	O	FCW03	O	O	HNE02	O
Mar. 23	O	FCW03	O	O	HNE02	O
Mar. 24	O	FCW03	O	O	HNE02	O
Mar. 25	O	FNW03	O	O	HNE02	O
Mar. 26	O	FNW03	O	O	HNE02	O
Mar. 27	O	FCW03	O	O	HNE02	O
Mar. 28	O	FCW03	O	O	HNE02	O
Mar. 29	O	FNW02	O	O	HNE02	O
Mar. 30	O	FNW02	O	O	HNE02	O
Mar. 31	O	FNW02	O	O	HNE02	O
Apr. 1	O	FNW01	O	O	HNE02	O
Apr. 2	O	FNW01	X	O	HNE02	O
Apr. 3	O	FNW01	X	O	HNE02	O
Apr. 4	O	FNW01	X	O	HNE02	O
Apr. 5	O	FNW01	X	O	HNE02	O
Apr. 6	O	FNW01	X	O	HNE02	O
Apr. 7	O	FNW01	X	X	HNE02	O
Apr. 8	O	FNW01	X	X	HNE02	O
Apr. 9	O	FNW01	X	X	HNE02	O
Apr. 10	O	O	X	X	HNE02	O
Apr. 11	O	O	X	X	HNE02	O
Apr. 12	O	O	X	X	O	O
Apr. 13	O	O	X	X	O	O
Apr. 14	O	O	X	X	O	O
Apr. 15	O	O	X	X	O	O
Apr. 16	O	O	X	X	O	O
Apr. 17	O	O	X	X	O	O
Apr. 18	O	O	X	X	O	O
Apr. 19	O	O	X	FNE09	O	O
Apr. 20	O	O	HNW01	FNE09	O	O
Apr. 21	O	O	HNW01	FNE09	O	O
Apr. 22	O	O	HNW01	FNE09	O	O
Apr. 23	O	O	HNW01	FNE09	O	O
Apr. 24	O	O	HNW01	FNE09	O	O
Apr. 25	O	O	O	FNE09	O	O
Apr. 26	O	O	O	O	O	O
UTC	13:00-13:14	13:30-13:58	14:00-14:14	14:30-14:58	15:00-15:14	15:30-15:58
Observation	N13	F14	N14	F15	N15	F16

Influence area of solar light

	Full-disk		Full-disk		Hemisphere-disk
FNW01		FSC08		HNW01
FNW02		FNE09		HNE02
FCW03		FSE10		HNE03
FSW04		FSE11
FSW05		FSE12
FSW06		FSE13
FSW07		FCE14

Note
	F : Full-disk observation H : Hemisphere-disk observation S : South side area N : North side area E : East side area W : West side area C : Center area Number : fig Number

Reference

• MTSAT Status