Mesoscale Research Future Satellite Studies

A new and improved Severe Weather simulation from 8 May 2003 has been performed, and 9 synthetic ABI channels have thus far been created.  Using these, difference products can be formed from combinations of the various channels.  One example is the longwave difference product, or 10.35 µm - 12.3 µm.  Water vapor preferentially absorbs radiation at 12.3 µm compared to 10.35 µm, so this product provides information about the amount and depth of low level moisture.  In the example below (Figure 1), the darker blue areas in central Kansas indicate regions of enhanced moisture convergence, a sign that convective initiation is possible.  Products of this sort are valuable for short-term severe storm forecasts.  All of these new simulated ABI loops were added to the GOES-R webpage.  (D. Lindsey, L. Grasso, and J. Dostalek)

Figure 1.  Simulated 10.35 µm minus 12.3 µm product from 8 May 2003 at 1835 UTC.

D. Lindsey is serving as a member of the Aviation Algorithm Working Group (AWG).  A meeting was held in November, during which plans for current and future algorithms relating to aviation were discussed.  RAMMB is involved with several AWGs, including the proxy data group.  This proxy data will also be useful for development of aviation-related algorithms.  (D. Lindsey)

The creation of synthetic satellite images from RAMS model output continued this quarter.  In particular, further work was done on a severe weather outbreak that occurred on 8 May 2003.  Figure 2 shows a 2 km, 10.35 μm image from the outbreak.  The synthetic imagery is being created as part of the GOES-R risk reduction project. (J. Dostalek, L. Grasso, M. Sengupta, M. DeMaria)

Figure 2.  Synthetic 10.35 μm image from a RAMS simulation of the 8 May 2003 severe weather outbreak.

The simulations of the 8 May 2003 severe weather event and the 12 February 2003 lake effect snow event were redone. In each case, code modification was needed; as a result, both simulations have produced more realistic results. (L. Grasso)

Synthetic GOES-R ABI imagery for the 8 May 2003 severe weather case was sent to Iliana Genkova of CIMSS last quarter. She is using the synthetic imagery to test a “water vapor derived winds” algorithm. Her work continues while preliminary results look promising. (L. Grasso)

As part of the Algorithm Working Group activities at CIRA, synthetic fire hotspots were added into a synthetic 3.9 µm GOES-R ABI image from the severe weather event (see Figure. 3). This scene has a footprint of 400 m and will be used to generate synthetic GOES-R ABI fire hotspots with a footprint of 2 km with the aid of a prescribed point spread function. (L.Grasso, M. Sengupta, R. Brummer)

Figure 3: Synthetic 400 m GOES-R ABI at 3.9 µm for the 8 May 2003 simulation. The 400 m footprints will be combined with a point spread function to build a new image with a 2 km footprint.

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