Application of<i>GOES-8</i>/<i>9</i>Soundings to Weather Forecasting and Nowcasting

Menzel, W. Paul; Holt, Frances C.; Schmit, Timothy J.; Aune, Robert M.; Schreiner, A.; Wade, Gary S.; Gray, Donald G.

doi:10.1175/1520-0477(1998)079<2059:aogstw>2.0.co;2

Cited by 109 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Water vapor images are derived from radiance measurements in the spectral region centered around 6.3µm and provide a measure of the integrated water vapor content above 500hPa with a horizontal resolution of about 8 km×5 km (Fisher et al, 1981). Dark band on these images in midlatitudes are an indicator of significant in situ descent (Menzel et al, 1998) and concomitant high PV values. Indeed there is a strong resemblance between these images and the PV distribution on troposphere transcending isentropic surfaces (Appenzeller and Davies, 1992;Appenzeller et al, 1996).…”

Section: Comparison Between Rams Water Vapor Pseudo Images and Meteosmentioning

confidence: 99%

A LEPS approach to the predictability of intense rain storms in the Central Mediterranean basin

2008

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Abstract. This study investigates a method for best member selection of a Limited area model Ensemble Prediction System (LEPS) with the goal to increase quantitative precipitation forecast. A case study that occurred between 22-24 May 2002 over Calabria, southern Italy, is discussed.Mediterranean storms often develop under upper level disturbances which are usually associated with high values of potential vorticity. Anomalously high values of potential vorticity can be identified by the METEOSAT water vapor channel centered around 6.3 µm because they are associated with dark band on the METEOSAT image. This signature offers a chance to identify the upper level disturbance that can be exploited in data void countries as Calabria.The working hypothesis is that the uncertainty in the representation of the upper-level disturbance has a major impact on the precipitation forecast. This issue is utilized in an ensemble forecast where member forecasts are compatible with the analysis and forecast errors. These members are grouped in five clusters by a hierarchical clustering technique which utilizes the height of the dynamical tropopause to compute distances between members. Therefore the members of a cluster have a similar representation of the upper level disturbance. For each cluster a representative member is selected and its pseudo water vapor image is compared with the corresponding METEOSAT 7 water vapor image at a specific time, antecedent to the rain occurrence over Calabria. The subjective evaluation of the comparison allows to gain physical insight in the storm evolution and to select representative members which are more in agreement with the METEOSAT image.

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Section: Comparison Between Rams Water Vapor Pseudo Images and Meteosmentioning

confidence: 99%

A LEPS approach to the predictability of intense rain storms in the Central Mediterranean basin

2008

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“…The PAF is now ready to be determined. The N x N array is determined to be "totally cloudy" ("unusable" in Figure 12) if (1) TB(11.0 /am)max > GMAX, or (this test is a hold over from the previous Visible Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer (VISSR) Atmospheric Sounder (VAS); sounder data from this instrument were substantially noisier [Menzel et al, 1998] than the GOES sounder radiance information; therefore minimum and maximum threshold tests were required to determine whether the data were usable; because the GOES sounder radiance data are less noisy, this test could be dropped, though its existence is not detrimental) (2) TB(11.0/am)min < GMIN, or (3) the brightness (%) of the visible band for TB(11.0 /am)max is brighter than VIZCLD (where VIZCLD is defined as 25% over land and 7% over water; the limiting factor of VIZCLD over land is increased by a factor of 1.5 if the surface air temperature is less than 273K to account for snow; additionally, over land the limit is multiplied by the cosine of the solar zenith angle to account for low Sun angles), or (4) it fails the "inversion threshold test." An inversion threshold is defined using an arbitrary empirical relationship based on the An image illustrating the distribution of "clear" (black), "unknown" (gray), and "totally cloudy" or "cloudy" flags (white) is shown in Figure 13.…”

Section: Appendix A: Cloud Detection For Goes Product Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The imager scans large geographical areas in a relatively short time period [Menzel and Purdom, 1994]. The sounder can be focused on specific regions and provides radiance measurements used for quantitative purposes [Menzel et al, 1998]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observations and trends of clouds based on GOES sounder data

Schreiner¹,

Schmit²,

Menzel³

2001

J. Geophys. Res.

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Abstract. A 26 month (November 1997 through December 1999) data set of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) sounder-derived cloud parameters has been analyzed to discern annual and monthly trends. An important outcome of this study is the identification of diurnal trends made possible by the geostationary satellite frequent observations over specific locations. The area of coverage is 20øN to 50øN and 60øW to 160øW, which corresponds to the continental United States and the surrounding waters. The satellite cloud observations were compared to manually observed Pilot Reports (PIREPs) and were found to be, on average, 35 hPa lower. Comparing the frequency of GOES sounder observations of high cloudiness with observations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) series of polar orbiting weather satellites reveals a correlation coefficient of 0.79 and a bias of 3.4% for the frequency of occurrence (GOES with a mean higher height). The frequency of occurrence and distribution of clouds, cloud top pressure (CTOP), and effective cloud amount are based on a spatial resolution of -40 km (3 x 3 field of view box) and are shown for eight regions. High clouds (CTOP -<300 hPa) are found to be more prevalent during the Northern Hemisphere summer than winter for all regions. High clouds for 1998 comprise 8.5% of all observations. Also, in 1998 clear conditions are observed -34% of the time. Focusing on the strength of the hourly GOES sounder data, it is found that thin high clouds are most prevalent during the summer and fall seasons, occurring most frequently in the late morning and early afternoon. IntroductionThe current series of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) carry a sounder that observes 1 visible and 18 infrared channels and an imager that observes 1 visible and 4 infrared channels. The strength of a geostationary satellite is its ability to provide frequent observations over a specific location. Therefore an important outcome of this study is the characterization of diurnal trends. A region over the central United States is examined for diurnal fluctuations in cloud cover using the GOES sounder data.This paper also provides background on the sounder-derived cloud product by describing the techniques for determining cloudy fields of view (FOV) and how the cloud parameters are generated along with a description of the data set (section 2). Section 3 provides comparisons of the remotely sensed parameters to PIREPs of cloud top pressure. Sections 4 through 6 focus on annual distributions, monthly variations, and diurnal characteristics of the remotely sensed clouds, respectively. The results and future work are summarized in section 7. Background Detection of Cloud in a Field of ViewDetermining whether a FOV (the area over which the instrument takes instantaneous data) is clear or cloudy is a challenging task. A detailed explanation can be found in Appendix A. A short overview is presented here.The infrared bands (wavelengths) used from the GOES sound...

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“…PWV is commonly expressed in millimetres, in terms of the height to which that water would stand if completely condensed and collected in a vessel with a cross section of 1 m 2 . PWV can be measured by radiosounding balloons, radiometers from both ground (Fowle, 1912;Guiraud et al, 1979;Carilli and Holdaway, 1999;Smith et al, 2001) and satellites (Grody et al, 1980;Menzel et al, 1998;Gao and Kaufman, 2003;Deeter, 2007;Wong et al, 2015), sun photometers (Bird and Hulstrom, 1982;Volz, 1983;Plana-Fattori et al, 1998;Firsov et al, 2013), lunar photometers (Barreto et al, 2013), GPS receivers (Bevis et al, 1992(Bevis et al, , 1994, Fourier transform infrared spectrometers (Kurylo, 1991;Schneider et al, 2006) and others (Schneider et al, 2010). Of these techniques, atmospheric radiosoundings are a direct in situ measurement and one of the most accurate methods of retrieving the PWV.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A semiempirical error estimation technique for PWV derived from atmospheric radiosonde data

2016

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Abstract. A semiempirical method for estimating the error and optimum number of sampled levels in precipitable water vapour (PWV) determinations from atmospheric radiosoundings is proposed. Two terms have been considered: the uncertainties in the measurements and the sampling error. Also, the uncertainty has been separated in the variance and covariance components. The sampling and covariance components have been modelled from an empirical dataset of 205 high-vertical-resolution radiosounding profiles, equipped with Vaisala RS80 and RS92 sondes at four different locations: Güímar (GUI) in Tenerife, at sea level, and the astronomical observatory at Roque de los Muchachos (ORM, 2300 m a.s.l.) on La Palma (both on the Canary Islands, Spain), Lindenberg (LIN) in continental Germany, and Ny-Ålesund (NYA) in the Svalbard Islands, within the Arctic Circle. The balloons at the ORM were launched during intensive and unique site-testing runs carried out in 1990 and 1995, while the data for the other sites were obtained from radiosounding stations operating for a period of 1 year (2013)(2014). The PWV values ranged between ∼ 0.9 and ∼ 41 mm. The method sub-samples the profile for error minimization. The result is the minimum error and the optimum number of levels.The results obtained in the four sites studied showed that the ORM is the driest of the four locations and the one with the fastest vertical decay of PWV. The exponential autocorrelation pressure lags ranged from 175 hPa (ORM) to 500 hPa (LIN). The results show a coherent behaviour with no biases as a function of the profile. The final error is roughly proportional to PWV whereas the optimum number of levels (N 0 ) is the reverse. The value of N 0 is less than 400 for 77 % of the profiles and the absolute errors are always < 0.6 mm. The median relative error is 2.0 ± 0.7 % and the 90th percentile P 90 = 4.6 %. Therefore, whereas a radiosounding samples at least N 0 uniform vertical levels, depending on the water vapour content and distribution of the atmosphere, the error in the PWV estimate is likely to stay below ≈ 3 %, even for dry conditions.

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Application ofGOES-8/9Soundings to Weather Forecasting and Nowcasting

Cited by 109 publications

References 19 publications

A LEPS approach to the predictability of intense rain storms in the Central Mediterranean basin

A LEPS approach to the predictability of intense rain storms in the Central Mediterranean basin

Observations and trends of clouds based on GOES sounder data

A semiempirical error estimation technique for PWV derived from atmospheric radiosonde data

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