Updating the GOES ASOS Satellite Cloud Products for Better Data Maintenance

For nearly two decades, NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) have provided hourly estimates of cloud cover over Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) surface weather stations. These Satellite Cloud Products (SCPs) are available to NWS forecasters and to the public. They supplement surface observations with cloud cover conditions at the middle and upper levels of the atmosphere to support a variety of weather forecasting and aviation needs.

Due to a lack of structured maintenance standards, the list of ASOS stations employed to report sky-cover conditions in the SCPs has often fallen out of date with the closing of airports and other facilities that host the ASOS stations, the start of operations at new facilities, and changes to station identifiers and locations. Furthermore, with additions and updates occurring only through informal channels, errors and omissions have often persisted for extended periods of time.

We are addressing these issues by adapting the AWIPS National Datasets Maintenance (NDM) list of Meteorological Aerodrome Report (METAR) stations for use by Satellite Cloud Products. The NDM list is maintained through an open, transparent process, and is thus kept up to date in terms of new stations, closed stations, and changes in stations identifiers or other details. In order to automate the transformation of the NDM list for SCP use, we conducted a detailed analysis comparing the SCP and NDM lists of stations, and created a script to harmonize the lists without omitting any stations.

In August 2023, the SCPs began using the NDM list of METAR stations: this not only brought the SCPs up to date, but also added over 1,200 additional station identifiers to SCP listings. Moreover, users who wish to add or update an ASOS station can now submit a request directly through a Redmine repository and readily track the change. This will help to ensure the continued accuracy of station locations and identifiers listed in the SCPs. Future changes to the ASOS SCPs may include removing obsolete identifiers and out-of-service stations from the product, and other improvements in data quality or usability.