GOES-16: A New Tool to Improve Situational Awareness
for Operational Forecasters (149)
Dan Lindsey, NOAA/NESDIS/GOES-R,
Fort Collins, CO
Scott Rudlosky, NOAA/NESDIS/STAR
Abstract:
GOES-16 was launched into geostationary
orbit in November 2016, and after undergoing a year of checkout, was declared
NOAA's operational GOES-East satellite in December 2017. Instrumentation aboard
the new satellite includes the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), a
state-of-the-art upgrade over the legacy imager that provides significantly
improved spatial, temporal, and spectral resolution. Additionally, the
Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) is the first instrument capable of
detecting lightning from geostationary orbit, allowing a constant view of
convection over a majority of the western hemisphere.
This presentation will
highlight several operational forecasting applications for which the ABI and
GLM provide the most benefit to situational awareness. Examples include
monitoring for convective initiation, detecting hot spots and smoke from
wildfires, and tracking lightning throughout the convective lifecycle.