Characterizing the Quality of NOAA's Stereo Winds

NOAA has developed a stereo winds capability that enables the generation of stereo winds from various pairs of Geostationary (GEO) and Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellite sensors (ABI, AHI, VIIRS) on board GOES-16, GOES-18, Himawari-9, Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, and NOAA-21. Stereo methods allow for the direct assignment of wind height with the expectation that geometric height assignments are more reliable and accurate than those inferred from IR brightness temperatures and modeled atmospheric thermodynamics. In this presentation we report on results from a detailed analysis of an extended set of demonstration GEO-GEO and GEO-LEO stereo infrared and visible winds generated over the period July 3 – August 14, 2023. Our goal is to quantify and characterize the quality of these stereo winds via case studies and comparisons to winds obtained from rawinsondes, commercial aircraft, operational satellite winds, and NCEPS’s GFS analysis. If available, some results from assessments of these stereo winds done by some Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) centers will be shown.