NOAA-21 NUCAPS Profiles (and gridded NUCAPS fields) are now in AWIPS
NUCAPS profiles from NOAA-21 are now flowing into AWIPS, joining NUCAPS from NOAA-20 and Metop-C. NOAA-21 and NOAA-20 orbits are similar, and the combination of the two satellites means complete coverage twice daily. That is demonstrated in the animation above over Hawai’i that shows gridded NUCAPS fields of 500-mb temperatures between 1134 and 1331 UTC on 10 May 2024, from two NOAA-21 overpasses and one NOAA-20 overpass. There are no gaps in data coverage! The data shows unseasonably cold 500-mb temperatures (-16oC) to the north of the Hawai’ian Islands. The cold temperatures are associated with a region of convection to the north of Hawai’i as shown in the image below taken from the Geosphere site.
