Satellites and NWS Aviation Activities Mark Andrews NWS Headquarters OCWWSMeteorological Services Di

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Satellites and NWS Aviation ActivitiesMark
AndrewsNWS HeadquartersOCWWS/Meteorological
Services Div. Aviation Weather Services
BranchFrederick R. MosherNWS/NCEP/Aviation
Weather Center
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GOES Satellite Data

• GOES data continually used in aviation forecast
  operations.
• AWC has a direct readout facility.
• GOES data is used in conjunction with other
  observations and forecast data.
• Local imaging processing of GOES digital data
  adds to its value

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GOES Antennas
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GOES Receivers and Ingestors
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GOES Ingest Monitors
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AWC Forecast Desk
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Aviation is Weather Sensitive

• Thunderstorms
• Turbulence
• Aircraft Icing
• Volcanic Ash
• Head/Tail Winds
• Clouds/Restricted Visibility

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Thunderstorms

• GOES data used to integrate and make sense of
  other observations.

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Long Range Lightning Data Alone
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Lightning Data GOES IR
Bad lightning data
Elongated data
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Thunderstorms

• GOES data used to integrate and make sense of
  other observations.
• Pattern recognition of anvil patterns.

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GOES IR with Temperature Enhancement
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Thunderstorms

• GOES data used to integrate and make sense of
  other observations.
• Pattern recognition of anvil patterns.
• Derived thunderstorm products such as Global
  Convective Diagnostic (GCD).

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Global Convective Diagnostic (GCD)

• New GCD method makes use of temperature
  difference between the infrared and water vapor
  channels. These channels are available on all
  geostationary satellites.
• GCD processed at AWC from Direct Readout digital
  data.

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GCD Thunderstorm Detection
TirTwv
TirTwv
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GCD Thunderstorm Detection Example (1 deg
difference)
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Global Convective Product (GCD) now available on
AWC web page

• http//aviationweather.gov/gcd/

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South American GCD
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Turbulence

• Overlay of Pilot reports on Water Vapor
• Pattern Recognition Jet cores, transverse
  banding of clouds, water vapor image darkening,
  location of troughs and ridges, etc. See Gary
  Ellrods papers for details.

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Water Vapor Image with Overlaid Pilot Reports and
Ellrod Index
Moderate turbulence
Ellrod Index
Jet core
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Aircraft Icing

• In flight icing caused by by supercooled water
  droplets within clouds. Remote detection is still
  not solved problem.
• Current Icing Potential (CIP) product uses GOES
  cloud information to edit model relative humidity
  and temperature information.

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CIP with Pilot Reports
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NCAR Experimental Satellite Icing Product
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Volcanic Ash Detection

• GOES satellite images main tool for detection and
  tracking of ash.
• Multiple channels are used to detect the ash
  depending on the situation.
• Visible Channel
• 11-12 micron difference.
• 3.9, 11, 13, visible multispectral products.

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Visible Channel Ash Detection
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11-12 Micron Difference Ash Image
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3.9-11-12 Ash Product (NESDIS)
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AWC Four Channel Ash Product
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Winds Affect Flight Times and Fuel Consumption

• Flight Planning requires accurate knowledge of
  winds at flight levels.
• Winds obtained from radiosondes, aircraft,
  temperature soundings, and feature tracked winds
  from satellite images.
• Infrared, visible, and water vapor images used
  for feature tracked winds.

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Water Vapor Winds
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Clouds/Restricted Visibility

• Flying into the ground/mountains is the most
  frequent weather related fatality for general
  aviation pilots.
• Night time Fog image (3.9-11 micron) has been a
  major improvement in monitoring fog and low cloud
  situations.

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Fog image at night with surface IFR/VFR
observations overlay
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Fog Image Just Before Sunrise
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Vis Image Just After Sunrise
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Vis Image 1 Hr Later
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Summary

• GOES satellite data is widely used in detection
  of aviation weather hazards.
• Direct readout facilities allow for local image
  processing of products for local use.
• Additional information/programs for aviation
  related image processing available from
  Frederick.R.Mosher_at_noaa.gov