2012 STAR Seminars

Dr. Keith D. Hutchison has authored many publications and reports that cite his use of manually-generated clouds masks to quantify the performance of automated cloud analysis and forecast systems. In his seminar, Dr. Hutchison will discuss the process he has used to create these manually-generated cloud analyses and show examples with VIIRS imagery. The seminar will focus on the use of these manual cloud analyses from the initial evaluation of the VIIRS cloud mask algorithm, in 2003, through the final pre-launch tuning of the remediated VCM algorithm in 2011. He will discuss, in detail, the results using a unique pre-launch tuning process, which was recently published in the International Journal of Remote Sensing, developed to tune the VCM algorithm for the NPP program. Dr. Hutchison will also overview new applications for these analyses to a variety of scientific investigations, including his plans to quantify the performance of cloud forecasts generated by the WRF model and regional climate models, in conjunction with researchers associated with the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO) at the University of Washington in Seattle.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been flying microwave sounders since 1975 on Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES). Microwave observations have made significant contributions to the understanding of the atmosphere and Earth surface, helping to improve weather forecasts. However, NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) have requirements for all-weather observations that cannot be met due to the unavailability of proven technologies.

Since 2002, OSD has been working with NASA and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), who is developing a geostationary microwave sounder called the Geostationary Thinned Aperture Radiometer (GeoSTAR), with a sparse aperture array. Geo-STAR is the sensor recommended to be flown on a geostationary research satellite mission called the Precipitation and All-weather Temperature and Humidity sounder Mission (PATH). PATH is one of the 15 NASA satellite missions recommended by the National Research Council in its 2007 Earth Science Decadal Survey. Progress and status of the development of GeoSTAR will be presented. The presentation will be followed by an open discussion of how NOAA may partner in a possible satellite demonstration of GeoSTAR in the near future.