Revisiting satellite sounder applications: Reimaging how to connect complex products to stakeholder applications and decision making

Translating complex NASA satellite products to user-centered solutions that enable stakeholder decision-making requires innovation, creative thinking, and diverse teams that can build bridges across communities where a shared understanding is developed and fostered. Not all satellite products are alike - many can be readily visualized and interpreted as imagery, while others require specialized knowledge and services. One such complex product is infrared (IR) satellite soundings that observe the Earth’s atmosphere in three dimensions. In our experience, the transition of IR soundings into stakeholder applications and decision-making environments requires a diverse and coherent team; a team that can support the research-to-applications (R2A) cycle with roles for developers, scientists, educators, facilitators, innovators, and the decision-makers. On the one end are algorithm developers engrained in technical methods and data nuances, and on the other are expert stakeholders with real-world knowledge of Earth systems and decisions to be made. A successful virtuous R2A/A2R cycle depends on a team’s ability to translate across these different knowledge systems with the goal of developing a shared understanding of how the data gaps can be addressed. One example is how NASA’s Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center partnered with NOAA, academia as well as industry to transition satellite sounder products to the National Weather Service (NWS). Another example is how a NASA algorithm principal investigator partnered with the stakeholder community to develop new science applications. Keys to the successful translation of complex satellite products to applications include data evaluation with respect to user needs, development of a shared language to facilitate effective, honest communication, creative thinking to drive user-centered innovation, and iterative experimentation to build robust data pathways and accurate product interpretation. This presentation discusses the virtuous cycle of translating science products to stakeholder applications, lessons learned, and how the process can evolve for the next generation of NASA missions such NASA’s Planetary Boundary Layer Decadal Survey Incubator to carry out Earth Science to Action in the age of open science.