GOES Sounder Retrieval Realtime Evalution over South Central US

during GOES-R Proving Ground activities in Spring 2012

(from NOAA/NESDIS/ORA/ARAD/ASPT at UW-Madison/CIMSS)


In 2008, an improved version of the GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) Sounder vertical profile retrieval algorithm was introduced.    [See reference, for version referred to as Li(2008) .]    At the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW), this version is being implemented to run in McIDAS (Man-computer Interactive Data Access System) within the UW's Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC), in a routine, real-time fashion.
As this implementation is verified, and then evaluated with respect to the first-guess, the previous GOES retrieval algorithm, radisondes, and other satellite retrievals (such as the AIRS (Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder) onboard the NASA polar orbiting Aqua satellite), the next step will be to provide this new GOES retrieved sounding information to the National Weather Service (NWS) AWIPS (Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System) as an experimental CIMSS product for further assessment.    The previous CIMSS GOES Sounder retrieval algorithm is here referred to as Ma(1999)


Two aspects of the new GOES retrieval data are presented here. First, the Derived Product Imagery (DPI) of two integrated parameters of the vertical profiles are shown at the full horizontal resolution (nominal 10 km at sub-point) of the Sounder: total precipitable water (TPW) and Lifted Index (LI).    The DPI are shown for both algorithm versions, both with and without imbedded clouds (the GOES Sounder, being an infrared instrument, does not "see" through clouds).
The first-guess fields (contours) are obtained from time-interpolated model (the EMC GFS is used now) forecasts and hourly surface reports.    The first-guess is an integral input to the physical (versus statistical) retrieval algorithms used here.    The radiosonde values (for TPW and LI) are included (along with 850 and 300 hPa winds) and are available a couple hours after their nominal (00 and 12 UT) release times.
Three animations are provided; within any one animation, the user can select/de-select given parameters as well as times (hours) within the 6-hour windows provided, to compare desired aspects (using the toggle boxes and/or forward-backward arrows).


Second, skewT/logP thermodymanic diagrams are presented, when available, at about 15 radiosonde (upper air balloon) sites across the South Central US, for both 00 and 12 UT (standard balloon launch times). These loops compare the following 4 combinations (below) of vertical profiles:
     1-     Ma(1999) retrieval + first-guess
     2-     Li(2008) retrieval + first-guess
     3-     Ma(1999) retrieval + co-located radiosonde
     4-     Li(2008) retrieval + co-located radiosonde
at the following possible locations.    (N.B. Due to obscuring clouds or other measurement problems, there often may be missing comparisons.)


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Last update was 2014-04-09.