Volume 1, Issue 1 October - December 2015
Suomi NPP VIIRS Fire Radiative Power (FRP) Product in IDEA
Suomi NPP VIIRS smoke aerosol index (light pink to magenta color) shows the smoke plume transport from fires in the western US for 8/30/2015. Fire hot spots are shown as red dots with dot size indicating the magnitude of the FRP. (click to enlarge)
The IDEA website that currently provides aerosol products
from different NOAA and NASA satellites is being enhanced to
provide a VIIRS blended fire and smoke product to the user
community. This enhanced IDEA system is being designed to
incorporate the new VIIRS FRP product which is transitioning
into NOAA operations. Near real time information of FRP, which
characterizes the intensity of the fire, and smoke plume areal
extent as provided by the IDEA system, are useful for allocating
resources by the NWS in fighting fires and providing warnings
for poor air quality. The figure below shows VIIRS RGB image for
August 30, 2015 with fire hot spots / FRP and smoke plume
overlaid. The fires in northwest US were intense and burned
continuously in August 2015. Smoke (pink to magenta color)
originating from these fires moved and spread across the eastern
part of the US and impacted air quality in some downwind
regions.
2015 Ozone hole monitored by products from S-NPP, NOAA-19 and METOP-B
Total column ozone from TOAST - 10/2/2015. (click to enlarge)
Atmospheric ozone product estimates from measurements of the
Suomi NPP OMPS andCrIS the MetOo-A and -B GOME-2; and the NOAA-
19 SBUV/2 are being used to monitor the behavior and evolution
of this year's Antarctic Ozone Hole. The figure below uses the
OMPS Limb Profiler ozone profile estimates along an orbit for
the curtain plot and a daily map or Total Ozone from Analysis of
Stratospheric and Tropospheric components (TOAST) using S-NPP
CrIS for the troposphere and NOAA-19 SBUV/2 for the
stratosphere. This year's Ozone Hole has been particularly large
and deep reflecting the large and stable Antarctic Polar
Vortex.
In the visualization at right, the curtain plot depicts one of
the ozone profile estimates from the OMPS Limb Profiler. The
curtain represents the vertical profile from 10 to 40 km
altitude. (Graphic courtesy of the NOAA Visualization Lab)
GOES-R Research Highlighted on NASA Website
Kevin Gallo (right) with co-investigator Philip Schumacher (NWS, left) at a 2011 storm survey (click to enlarge)
A NASA web page that profiles users of NASA data, features a
GOES-R research project
led by K. Gallo (STAR), P. Schumacher (NWS-Sioux Falls), and J.
Boustead (NWS-Omaha): The profile highlights an ongoing project
partially funded by the GOES-R program that includes validation
of radar products that estimate hail signatures as well as hail
size and spatial extent of hail swaths; compare simulated GOES-R
ABI products to the field surveys, Landsat, and Suomi NPP VIIRS
data to evaluate the GOES- R ABI data for assessment of the areal
extent and severity of hail damage; and to develop potential
GOES-R ABI hail event validation and assessment products.
Suomi NPP VIIRS Observes Airmageddon in China
Urban smog detected as smoke by the VIIRS aerosol detection algorithm (click to enlarge)
In early December 2015, Beijing and other cities in China
came to a standstill due to intense smog generated from
urban/industrial pollution. Most local newspapers have started
dubbing these smog events as "Airmageddon". The true color image
of VIIRS and the Enterprise aerosol detection algorithm have
captured the smog as shown in the image below for December 6,
2015. The aerosol detection algorithm designed to detect either
smoke or dust has picked up regions of smog as smoke that
originates from fires. Smoke aerosol from fires is absorbing and
the algorithm uses various spectral differencing tests in the
visible, infrared, and deep blue wavelengths to detect smoke.
Detecting urban aerosol as smoke is not expected because urban
smog tends to be predominantly scattering rather than absorbing.
However, in China, coal burning in low-tech furnaces reportedly
emits brown carbon that is very absorbing and is being observed
as "smoke" in VIIRS aerosol detection algorithm. Instead of
reporting this as a "data artifact", the Enterprise aerosol
detection algorithm output will be qualified to indicate that it
detects dust, smoke, and absorbing black/brown carbon.
Operational Implementation of New Global Mosaic of Geostationary Satellite Imagery
A representative image from the new Global Mosaic of Geostationary Satellite Imagery product, which combines images from GOES-E, GOES-W, METEOSAT, and MTSAT. (click to enlarge)
A recently developed suite of global geostationary satellite
image mosaics has been implemented in OSPO. New software merges
visible, thermal infrared, and shortwave infrared imagery from
GOES-13 and 15, MSG SEVIRI, and MTSAT into a global composite
image. The global mosaic images are generated at high
resolution, 8 km, and extend coverage to the polar circles (67°
latitude) to satisfy a request from EMC. The global image mosaic
software passed the code review in June, 2015 and the product
passed the operational readiness review in October, 2015. The
decision brief for the Global Mosaic of Geostationary Satellite
Imagery (GMGSI) product was held at the Satellite Products and
Services Review Board (SPSRB) meeting on Wednesday, October 21,
2015. The SPSRB approved operational implementation of the GMGSI
product and the new products will be disseminated from OSPO to
broader user communities.
Attendees of the CEOS Plenary Preparation Meeting in Kyoto, Japan (click to enlarge)
CEOS Plenary Preparation Meeting
November 4th - 6th, 2015 - SMCD members Changyong Cao, Kevin Gallo, and Bob Kuligowski
participated in a briefing on relevant NOAA Committee on Earth
Observation Satellites (CEOS) activities in advance of the CEOS
Plenary meeting in Kyoto, Japan. The briefing was to provide NOAA
Assistant Administrator for Satellite and Information Services, Dr.
Stephen Volz, updates on NESDIS activities within the various CEOS
Working Groups and Virtual Constellations.
Joint CEOS/WGCV/ACSG and GSICS GRWG UVSG Meeting
NCWCP hosted a joint meeting of the Global Space-based Inter-Calibration
System (GSICS) Ultraviolet Research Working Subgroup
(UVSG) and the CEOS Working Group on Calibration and Validation (WGCV)
Atmospheric Composition Subgroup on October 8-9. It was attended by
sixteen researchers and instrument and program scientists with
interests in calibration of US and European satellite sensors
operating in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum. The meeting was
composed of a series of presentation from representatives of NOAA,
NASA, EUMETSAT, the European Space Agency (ESA) and German Aerospace
Research (DLR) addressing six key questions on operational and
research satellite instruments operating in the UV spectrum as
follows:
- What internal measurements do you make to maintain your instrument's calibration in orbit?
- What internal consistency methods do you use to check the calibration?
- What measurement characterizations are most important?
- What external methods and measurements do you use to maintain your instrument's calibration in orbit?
- What external resources, if any, are regarded as reference measurements?
- Does your sensor use vicarious calibration methods?
Poster presentation at National Weather Association annual meeting
A poster titled "Using NDVI Satellite Data to Identify and Document
Destructive Hail Swaths" co-authored by Kevin Gallo was presented at the
annual meeting of the National Weather Association by Josh Boustead (NOAA-
National Weather Service).
Best Paper Award
photo: Yong Chen (click to enlarge)
Dr. Yong Chen - a CICS/UMD Research Scientist working in
NOAA/STAR/SMCD, was given the best proceeding paper award for his
paper titled as "CrIS Full Resolution Processing and Validation System
for JPSS" authored by Yong Chen, Yong Han, Denis Tremblay, Likun Wang,
Xin Jin, and Fuzhong Weng during the 20th International TOVS Study
Conferences, which was held at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin from October 28
to November 3, 2015.
Dr. Chen's paper is focused on the Cross-track Infrared Sounder
(CrIS) - a key instrument onboard on Suomi NPP and future JPSS
satellites, which provides the atmospheric sounding information for
numerical weather prediction models. Dr. Chen has made significant
contribution to develop the NOAA's first-ever full spectral resolution
CrIS data precessing system. The high-quality shown in his paper,
perhaps most importantly, the innovativeness and accomplishments from
the newly-devlopved system are fully recognized by international
community.
5th GEWEX G-VAP Workshop
Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (click to enlarge)
November 4-5, 2015 - Tony Reale (STAR) and Bomin Sun (IMSG) attended the 5th GEWEX G-VAP
working group meeting from November 5-6 held at the Lowell Center,
SSEC, University of Wisconsin, Madison. The major goals of G-VAP are
to quantify the current state of the art in water vapour products
being constructed for climate applications, and support the selection
process of suitable water vapour products for the production of
globally consistent water cycle products. The workshop was attended by
over 25 international participants with presentations spanning the
landscape of global water vapour observations from satellite and
ground based sensors and their application in global weather and
climate modelling applications. Evident was the overall high
correlation of the respective water vapour time series from the
various platforms including against athe variety of global climate
indices, such as El Niņo, and greenhouse gases. Surprisingly, such
correlations were not reflected in many of the climate re-analysis
models supposedly assimilating such observations, for example MERRA
(NASA), CFSR (NOAA) and ERA-40 (ECMWF), a potentially disturbing
"disconnection" within the G-VAP WG. A. Reale provided a presentation
entitled "Quality of instantaneous water vapor profiles assessed with
NPROVS+". An excerpt from this presentation citing the importance not
only of carefully collocating the satellite and ground based
observations, but in also selecting the proper statistical metrics for
comparing performance is shown in the panel below. The G-VAP WG seeks
to leverage the STAR NPROVS+ to help ascertain suitable candidate
water vapour products among the various satellite sensors, derived
products and ground based measurements. Mr Reale has agreed to co-lead
Section 5, Analysis of instantaneous data, of the planned WMO World
Climate Research Program G-VAP Report scheduled for completion in mid-
2016. This includes appending water vapour profile products derived
from HIRS (Shi, NCDC) onboard recent MetOp-A and -B satellites into
NPROVS+ for consideration in the selection process.
6th Asia/Oceania Meteorological Satellites User's Conference
6th Asia/Oceania Meteorological Satellite Users Conference Group Photo, 11-10-2015, Tokyo, Japan (click to enlarge)
The 6th Asia/Oceania Meteorological Satellites User's Conference
was held on November 9-12, 2015, Tokyo, Japan and was attended by 140
people from Asian-Oceania countries. Fuzhong Weng gave a presentation
on building high quality SDR products from NOAA operational satellites
for weather and climate applications. He also chaired a session on
applications of satellite data to numerical weather prediction. This
session includes two key presentations on 1) NOAA efforts on
assimilation of current GOES radiances in Hurricane Weather Research
and Forecast (HWRF) and the impacts on prediction of hurricane tracks
and quantitative precipitation forecasts, and 2) the JMA
demonstrations of positive impacts of assimilation of AHI motion
vectors in its regional NWP on precipitation and typhoon forecasts.
During the conference, Fuzhong Weng met with several JMA colleagues
and discussed the future collaborations on assimilation of AHI data in
NOAA and JMA numerical weather prediction systems.
First Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) International Meteorological Satellite Conference
Retrieved Rain Rates for Typhoon Dujuan 2015 using Himawari-8 data in the GOES-R algorithm (click to enlarge)
B. Kuligowski gave an invited presentation entitled "Demonstration
of the GOES-R Rainfall Rate Algorithm on the Himawari-8 Advanced
Himawari Imager (AHI)" at the First KMA International Meteorological
Satellite Conference (KIMSC) in Seoul, South Korea which was held on
November 16-18, 2015. The talk described ongoing pre-launch
improvements to the GOES-R Rainfall Rate algorithm and showed some
first results from applying it to the AHI in real time, which is the
first real-time application of this algorithm on a sensor with
capabilities nearly identical to GOES-R.
GOES-R ABI Testing at the Vendor Facility
GOES-R Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) (click to enlarge)
Members of the GOES-R Calibration Working Group (CWG) visited the
vendor facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana on December 10-11, 2015 to
support stray light testing of the GOES-R ABI. This test was conducted
for the first time for ABI and is crucial for understanding the
potential for stray light contamination on all flight models. The test
was initially proposed by the CWG and our members attended the test at
the vendor facility to improve our understanding of the test setup and
conditions. The data will be independently analyzed by the CWG to
expand our knowledge and understanding of the potential for stray
light phenomena and develop capabilities for on-orbit anomaly
resolution. This work ensures the STAR GOES-R CWG team continues to
provide technical oversight at the vendor locations during the pre-
launch phase of instrument development to ensure data quality.
Bali, M., & Collins, D. (2015). Contribution of Phenology and Soil Moisture to Atmospheric Variability in ECHAM5/Jsbach Model. Climate Dynamics, 45(9-10), 2329-2336. [10.1007/s00382-015-2473-9]
Crow, W. T., Lei, F., Hain, C., Anderson, M. C., Scott, R. L., Billesbach, D., & Arkebauer, T. (2015). Robust Estimates of Soil Moisture and Latent Heat Flux Coupling Strength Obtained from Triple Collocation. Geophysical Research Letters, 42(20), 8415-8423. [10.1002/2015gl065929]
Folmer, M. J., DeMaria, M., Ferraro, R., Beven, J., Brennan, M., Daniels, J., Kuligowski, R., Meng, H., Rudlosky, S., Zhao, L. M., Knaff, J., Kusselson, S., Miller, S. D., Schmit, T. J., Velden, C., & Zavodsky, B. (2015). Satellite Tools to Monitor and Predict Hurricane Sandy (2012): Current and Emerging Products. Atmospheric Research, 166, 165-181. [10.1016/j.atmosres.2015.06.005]
Han, Y., Suwinski, L., Tobin, D., & Chen, Y. (2015). Effect of Self-Apodization Correction on Cross-Track Infrared Sounder Radiance Noise. Applied Optics, 54(34), 10114-10122. [10.1364/ao.54.010114]
Islam, T., Srivastava, P. K., Dai, Q., Gupta, M., & Jaafar, W. Z. W. (2015). Stratiform/Convective Rain Delineation for TRMM Microwave Imager. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 133, 25-35. [10.1016/j.jastp.2015.07.009]
Kogan, F., Goldberg, M., Schott, T., & Guo, W. (2015). Suomi NPP/VIIRS: Improving Drought Watch, Crop Loss Prediction, and Food Security. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 36(21), 5373-5383. [10.1080/01431161.2015.1095370]
Kogan, F., & Guo, W. (2015). 2006-2015 Mega-Drought in the Western USA and Its Monitoring from Space Data. Geomatics Natural Hazards & Risk, 6(8), 651-668. [10.1080/19475705.2015.1079265]
Moradi, I., Ferraro, R. R., Eriksson, P., & Weng, F. (2015). Intercalibration and Validation of Observations from ATMS and SAPHIR Microwave Sounders. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 53(11), 5915-5925. [10.1109/tgrs.2015.2427165]
Pryor, K. L. (2015). Progress and Developments of Downburst Prediction Applications of GOES. Weather and Forecasting, 30(5), 1182-1200. [10.1175/waf-d-14-00106.1]
Shao, M., Xu, J., Powell, A. M., Jr., Kogan, F., & Guo, W. (2015). Global Land Vegetation and Marine Fishery Responses to Atmospheric and Oceanic Decadal Variability. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 36(21), 5523-5536. [10.1080/01431161.2015.1103919]
Tian, M., Zou, X., & Weng, F. (2015). Use of Allan Deviation for Characterizing Satellite Microwave Sounder Noise Equivalent Differential Temperature (NEDT). IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, 12(12), 2477-2480. [10.1109/lgrs.2015.2485945]
Wang, L., Han, Y., Jin, X., Chen, Y., & Tremblay, D. A. (2015). Radiometric Consistency Assessment of Hyperspectral Infrared Sounders. Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8(11), 4831-4844. [10.5194/amt-8-4831-2015]
Zhang, B., Tallapragada, V., Weng, F., Sippel, J., & Ma, Z. (2015). Use of Incremental Analysis Updates in 4D-Var Data Assimilation. Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, 32(12), 1575-1582. [10.1007/s00376-015-5041-7]
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