NOAA-21 Algorithms Ready for Operational Use to Support Weather Forecasting and Environmental Monitoring Applications

NOAA-21 has been operating as the primary satellite in NOAA’s advanced Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) since March 2024, with NOAA-20 as the secondary, and Suomi National Polar Partnership (SNPP) as the tertiary satellite in the JPSS constellation. Together, they play a crucial role in global environmental monitoring and forecasting, supporting various land, ocean, and atmospheric applications. All NOAA-21 Sensor Data Records (SDRs) and Environmental Data Records (EDRs) have passed Provisional Maturity and are now running operationally. Significant progress has been made in migrating the JPSS enterprise EDR algorithms to the NESDIS Common Cloud Framework (NCCF), with the migration nearing completion.

This paper will provide an update on the latest status of the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) data products, highlighting the NOAA-21 post-launch validation results. Additionally, it will cover the pre-launch sensor and product characterizations, along with the post-launch Cal/Val plans prepared for the JPSS-3 and JPSS-4 satellites. This presentation will also showcase JPSS products that support critical disaster monitoring applications, such as hurricanes, floods, heat waves, and other severe events. The planned scientific improvements and enhancements for current and new LEO JPSS products, through user engagement and the NESDIS Product Portfolio Management (PPM) process, will also be discussed.