21OESS Operational Implementation of DoD's WSF-M Satellite at FNMOC

The Weather System Follow-on – Microwave (WSF-M) satellite was successfully launched on April 11, 2024. WSF-M is a Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) microwave imaging system developed and delivered by the United States Space Force Space System Command using the next generation of space-based passive microwave sensing technology to bridge the gap created by the end of Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) operations. The sensors on board the satellite include a Microwave Imager (MWI) radiometer and an Energetic Charged Particle (ECP) sensor. The MWI instrument includes 10.85 to 89GHz imaging channels and adds the ability to digitally create Stokes parameters onboard the spacecraft for the 10.85, 18.85 and 36.5GHz channels. Global environmental monitoring data is gathered, stored and down-linked through the satellite control network and disseminated to Air Force and Navy weather centers. As the U.S. Navy's principle operational WSF-M data ingest center, Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC) processes, generates and distributes WSF-M Temperature Data Records (TDR), Sensor Data Records (SDR) and surface Environment Data Records (EDR) using the Microwave Instrument Sensor Data Processing Software (MWSDPS). The generation of these products specifically mitigates two high-priority Department of Defense (DoD) Space-Based Environmental Monitoring (SBEM) gaps: Ocean Surface Wind Vector (OSWV) and Tropical Cyclone Intensity (TCI), as well as addresses three additional SBEM gaps: Sea Ice (SI) characterization, Soil Moisture (SM) and Snow Depth. The SDR data is assimilated into the Navy Global Environmental Model (NAVGEM) while the EDR products provide U.S. warfighters with essential weather data, including the measurement of OSWV, SI thickness, and snow water equivalent. Additionally, the OSWV measurements have enabled TCI determination by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC). All image products gathered by the WSF-M MWI are posted to FNMOC’s operational TC web pages and Sat-Focus page. Finally, all three data types, TDR, SDR and EDR, are distributed to Air Force 557^th Weather Wing, NESDIS and NASA GSFC for further generation of a wide variety of weather products necessary to support mission planning and global operations. These results will be presented at the meeting.