American meteorologists have written to the US Federal Communications Commission to raise concerns over potential disruptions caused by sharing a particular bandwidth with 5G telecommunication companies.
The American Geophysical Union, American Meteorological Society, and the National Weather Association, have all raised concerns over sharing the 1675-1680MHz band with terrestrial communications because of the likelihood of interference with weather satellite imagery and relayed environmental data to receive-only antennas.
According to the letter, NOAA’s GOES-R satellites have several space-to-earth transmissions in, or adjacent to, the 1675-1680MHz band, most notably, the Data Collection Platform Relay and GOES-R Rebroadcast.
The letter states, “The prospect of rule-making in this band without a fully informed record is deeply concerning because the non-federal weather services resulting from real-time data transmitted in, and adjacent to, the 1675-1680MHz band are crucially important for public safety and scientific research. The proceeding RM-11681 is complete with responses from a substantial number of stakeholders across the weather, water and climate enterprise and weather-sensitive industries that provide a compelling basis to not proceed with a sharing arrangement.”
The letter asks for a ruling on the sale of the bandwidth to be suspended or delayed until further research has been submitted by NOAA.