Engaging Learners through Scenario-based Training: Expanding Satellite Product Use in Applications for Marine Meteorology and Ecosystems, Forecasting Hazardous Weather, and Other Challenges

Current geostationary (GEO) and low Earth orbiting (LEO) satellites provide expanded capabilities for monitoring Earth’s atmosphere, land and ocean surfaces. New product innovations, including red-green-blue (RGB) composite imagery, probabilistic cloud products from geostationary satellites, soundings, layer moisture products, and ocean ecosystem observations from polar orbiters, offer users of satellite information a large suite of products for observing and monitoring weather events, wildfires, land and ocean conditions, and other phenomena. Selecting the most useful products for a situation and correctly interpreting them requires practice, skill, and training. To aid in these tasks, the COMET Program offers over 140 satellite training resources, including numerous scenario-based case exercises, on the MetEd website (meted.ucar.edu). These lessons are designed to help forecasters and users of environmental information across various sectors apply the latest advancements and science from various observing systems, including GOES-R, S-NPP/JPSS and other environmental satellites, to real-world applications.

Scenario-based case exercises provide forecasters and other audiences with practice integrating the strengths and capabilities of both GEO and LEO observing systems. In these full-length lessons, learners engage with the content as they follow the progression of an event. As they work through the event, they can interact with and analyze products, make choices and decisions, and answer questions. Learners receive feedback incorporating contextually appropriate foundational science, as well as product and observing system information that supports the understanding, interpretation, and application of the products and imagery. To help evaluate the impact of this training, COMET staff gather information from lesson sessions, survey responses, and pre- and post-test scores. This information helps assess how learners are using and benefiting from the training materials, and guides lesson developers toward improving the effectiveness of future lessons.

Freely accessible online training focuses on detecting and monitoring wildfires, precipitation and flooding, microwave analysis of tropical cyclones, convection processes as related to hail, lightning, tornadoes, and other phenomena, applications of Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) data, and forecasting winter weather and marine fog. Training offerings to be highlighted include applications of RGB composite imagery, probabilistic cloud products, and ocean wind products in marine settings, and polar-orbiting products for monitoring sargassum and harmful algal blooms. This presentation will also introduce some shorter, more targeted training lessons that focus on just one or two products for a specific analysis or forecast challenge.

Many of the available lessons incorporate examples for locations beyond the U.S. when possible. The MetEd satellite lessons are linked to relevant World Meteorological Organization satellite enabling skills and competencies. MetEd distance learning courses or learning paths provide learners with access to the training based on these key enabling skills. To further streamline international access, MetEd offers several of these training resources in multiple languages, primarily including English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French.

This presentation will demonstrate newly available offerings and showcase the potential for scenario-based training to help forecasters and other audiences use satellite products for providing decision support for marine and ocean applications, hazardous weather, and other environmental situations.