Simulated satellite imagery in AWIPS II

 

AWIPS II 4-panel display of the NSSL-WRF simulated satellite imagery, showing standard IR window (top left), WV (top right) and 10.35-12.3 micron channel difference.

CIRA and UW-CIMSS are providing the HWT and SPC with synthetic satellite data that is generated from the 4km NSSL-WRF.  This data is available for all GOES-R ABI IR bands and arrives locally by 7am.  This year we made a first effort at bringing the data into AWIPS II, which was successful thanks to Darrel Kingfield at NSSL.  The above image is a 4-panel display of the synthetic IR, WV and 10.35-12.3 micron channel difference, which was described in a previous blog post here.  I spoke with one of the forecasters in detail about the 10.25-12.3 micron channel difference and explained that GOES-R will be able to provide this, as well as other unique combinations of imagery such as RGBs, every 5 minutes over CONUS.  I discussed with her how we expect to combine imagery into unique products to help the forecasters use the ABI channels rather than simply sending all the bands to each forecast office.  The forecaster mentioned that she definitely wants to bring this simulated satellite imagery back to her office and I had her coordinate with the UW-CIMSS representative this week.

In addition, based on forecaster feedback from last year, CIRA provided us with a new color table to better distinguish areas where convective initiation might occur in the 10.35-12.3 micron channel difference imagery.  Forecasters have expressed approval for the new color table and have mentioned that it is easy to detect threat areas.