WSO Pago Pago headquarters. Photo: National Weather Service

[Via Satellite 06-14-2016] SES Government Solutions (SES GS) and O3b Networks have jointly completed the first O3b managed services installation for NOAA’s National Weather Service Office (WSO) at Pago Pago, American Samoa. This remote station is responsible for providing tropical weather alerts and cyclone warning information to a large part of the Pacific.

The task order is part of the NOAA Worldwide Satellite Communications Systems 2 (WSCS 2) contract. The O3b service will provide a link for passing weather information between the NSWO in Pago Pago and the NWS headquarters office on Ford Island in Honolulu, Hawaii, enabling forecast model updates and safety warnings in near real-time. As a result, NWS can now rapidly deliver large weather files from observation offices in American Samoa to scientists and meteorologists in Hawaii and across the U.S. mainland.