NOAA GIFTS Demonstration

Excerpted from GIFTS Product Assessment Plan

P. MenzelMay 2002

The long and winding road from ATS to ABS:

Evolving the Geosynchronous Observations of the Atmosphere

ATS, SMS, VISSR, METEOSAT, VAS, GOES, GAP, GHIS, GIFTS, ABS

Getting Ready for Anticipated Capabilities

establish ground reception site (Wallops with UW backup)

establish seasonal suites of routine schedules for GIFTS

distribute level 1b radiances in real time to NWP and research centers via ground com lines

distribute derived product images to NWS FOs in virtual lab

archive all level 1b data and some of the derived products

test NWP assimilation approaches of radiances and winds

study impact of GIFTS images and derived products on forecasting / nowcasting at NWS FOs

establish ABS utilization approaches for day one

NOAA GIFTS Demonstration goals are to

NESDIS/ORA to plan/conduct GIFTS science studies

NESDIS/OSD to infuse GIFTS technology in ABS

NESDIS OSDPD to help plan data distribution

NESDIS Coop Insts to develop algorithms and derived products

NWS NCEP to test GIFTS impactEMC for data assimilation SPC, AWC, TPC, HPC for derived productsFOs for operational real time utilization

NCDC for archive management

NOAA GIFTS Demonstration will engage

NOAA GIFTS Demonstration plan includes* GIFTS Level 0 Data Acquisition primary ground system at Wallops backup at UW access to full data stream at UW* Data and Metadata Archive some raw data (for NMP team) initially all Level 0 data (for NOAA reprocessing to level 1 with improved

algorithms) evolves to Level 1 archive of “golden year” at NCDC* Real Time Data Processing Level 0 to Level 1 using software with real time efficiency provided by NOAA Level 1 to 2+ using algorithms and software developed by largely at UW/CIMSS* Demonstration of Utility of GIFTS Data and Products and Distribution to End-Users participation in cal/val intercomparisons of radiances and products real time distribution of GIFTS radiances (compressed or subset) and winds

to EMC for NWP impact studies real time web access by selected NWS FOs to multispectral and derived product

images of atmospheric water vapor, stability, cloud properties, land surface temperatures,…

research on SST, volcanic ash, ERB, trace gases spans winter storms in eastern Pacific (Feb, Mar), severe storms in Midwest (Apr, May, Jun, Jul), and hurricanes in Atlantic (Aug, Sep, Nov) runs 24 hours per day seven days a week amap during demonstration year* NWP impact & research continues with Australian BofM after drift to Indian Ocean

NOAA GIFTS Demonstration tasks are

Data reception and processing (OSD/SSEC)Archive (NCDC/SSEC)Data Compression (OSD/ORA/CIMSS)Algorithm development (ORA/CIMSS)Data Assimilation (EMC/ORA/CIMSS)GIFTS ABS Synergy (OSD/ORA)Operational Validation (ORA/CIMSS with NASA)Data Assimilation (EMC/CIMSS)Data Transmission (OSD) Model Impact Tests (EMC/ORA/CIMSS)Nowcasting Development (NWS/CIMSS)

NOAA Univ ORAD/

ARAD/ CRAD

NCEP/ EMC

NWS/WSFO

CIMSS CIRA SSEC

Ground System

X

Images X X X X Clouds X X X Soundings X X X X Winds X X X X

Othera X X X

Training X X X X

NOAA GIFTS Demonstration partners and activity areas are

Algorithm development will address GOES products

soundingswindscloud propertiesland surface productsocean productsearth radiation budgetozone / trace gases / volcanic ash

Derived product images will include

3 layers of moisture and total columnatmospheric stabilitycloud temperature and phaseland surface temperature diurnal excursions

Java animation: anigli3m.html

Evolution of stability seen in GOES LI DPI

(12 to 18 UT)

12

14

16

18

Java animation: anisks3m.html

Evolution of profiles retrieved from the GOES Sounder

(12 to 18 UT)

View from ground

View from spaceOK tornado 3 May 99

530 CDT (2330 UTC)

1800 UTC

2300 UTC

GOES axis of high LI indicates subsequent storm track 24 Jul 2000

NWS Forecast Office Assessment of GOES Sounder Total Precipitable Water

Summer 99 Forecaster assessment of usefulness of changes in hourly TPW product for precipitation forecast

Out of 207 weather cases.- Significant Positive Impact (21.3%)- Slight Positive Impact (50.2%)- No Discernible Impact (27%)- Slight Negative Impact (1%)- Significant Negative Impact (<1%)

Figure from the National Weather Service, Office of Services

High Density Windsassociated with

Hurricane Bonnie

Geo Interferometer creates new opportunities for improved AMVs: Simulated Hurricane Bonnie winds by tracking features in water

vapor retrievals from high spectral resolution IR data

Evolving to more capableGeostationary Sounders

(# of channels)

VAS (experimental)

GOES Sounder(operational)

GIFTS(experimental)

(12)

(18)

(~1600)

(~1600)

Advanced BaselineSounder (operational)

time

ABS is next step after GIFTS on path from low spectral resolution

to high-spectral resolution operational sounders.

GOES Sounder Spectral Coverage Current sounder has 18 infrared bands; ABS will have more than 1600

Higher spectral resolution leads to improved vertical resolving power.

GIFTS and ABS’ use the shortwave side of the water vapor band.

The advanced sounder has more and sharper weighting functions

UW/CIMSS

These water vapor weighting functions reflect the radiance sensitivity of the specific channels to a water vapor % change at a specific level (equivalent to dR/dlnq scaled by dlnp).

Moisture Weighting Functions

Pre

ssur

e

Weighting Function AmplitudeWavenumber (cm-1)

Current retrieval strategy:use all channels in a regression for first guess

then use a sub-set of channels for physical retrieval

Simulation of Geo-Interferometer detection of low level inversion

ABS vs GOES retrieval for low level temperature inversion

Significant Findings from Geo-Interferometer OSSE

Geo-Interferometer (Geo-I) sees into Boundary Layer (BL) providing low level (850 RH) moisture information; Geo-

Radiometer (Geo-R) only offers information above BL (700 RH)

OSSE 12 hr assimilation followed by 12 hr forecast

Soundings + Winds 850hPa RH Validation

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

Hour

S1 S

core

CONV

GEO-R

GEO-I

Soundings + Winds 700hPa RH Validation

30

35

40

45

50

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

Hour

S1 S

core

CONV

GEO-R

GEO-I

Possible Nominal Schedules for GIFTS Demo

General ScheduleEvery hour 4*GS (40 min), RS (20 min)

Winter Pacific StormsEvery hour 3*GS (30 min), 3*RI (10 min), RS (20 min)

Severe Spring StormsEvery hour 12*RI (40 min), RS (20 min)

Atlantic HurricanesEvery hour 3*GS (30 min), 3*RI (10 min), RS (20 min)

RI - Regional Imaging over 6,000 km box (at 36 cm-1 res) GI - Global Imaging over 10,000 km box (at 36 cm-1 res)RS - Regional Sounding over 6,000 km box (at 0.6 cm-1 res)GS - Global Sounding over 10,000 km box (at 18 cm-1 res)center of coverage for regional scans adjusted for synoptic situation

* depicts water vapor as never before by identifying small scale features of moisture vertically and horizontally in the atmosphere

* tracks atmospheric motions much better by discriminating more levels of motion and assigning heights more accurately

* characterizes life cycle of clouds (cradle to grave) and distinguish between ice and water cloud ( which is very useful for aircraft routing) and identify cloud particle sizes (useful for radiative effects of clouds)

* measures surface temperatures (land and sea) by accounting for emissivity effects (the improved SSTs would be useful for sea level altimetry applications)

* distinguishes atmospheric constituents with improved certainty; these include volcanic ash (useful for aircraft routing), ozone, and possibly methane plus others trace gases.

Expectations from the Geo-Interferometer