GOES-R proving ground plans for the 2010 hurricane season at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) and the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) spring experiment

A proving ground is a place where technologies and ideas are tested and proven before they are finalized and incorporated into critical operations. The key mission of the GOES-R Proving Ground (PG) is to demonstrate new satellite observing data, products and capabilities in operational NOAA Offices. This key activity facilitates the transfer of new capabilities into NOAA operations in an efficient and reliable manner. This program directly addresses the concerns raised by various studies that identified the major challenges posed when trying to move new products into NOAA's operational programs, also known as trying to “Cross the Valley of Death”. In the GOES-R PG, developers at the Cooperative Institute of Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) in Madison Wisconsin, the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) in Fort Collins, Colorado, NASA's Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) program in Huntsville, AL, and NWS forecasters are testing and applying algorithms for new GOES-R-like satellite data and products. These products were generated using proxy and simulated data sets, including observations from new instruments (MODIS, AIRS, IASI, SEVIRI, NAST-I, NPP/VIIRS/CrIS, LIS), lightning networks, and computer simulated products. In 2010, GOES-R Proving Ground activities at the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, FL, and in the Spring Experiment at NOAA's Storm Prediction Center (SPC) and Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT) in Norman, OK, will provide the GOES-R Program with opportunities to demonstrate pre-operational data and algorithms associated with GOES-R. These products will include operational readiness trials of products transitioning from risk reduction but with the main focus on demonstrating the official GOES-R Baseline and Option-2 products.

There are four GOES-R products identified to be demonstrated during the Spring Experiment at SPC: (1) Lightning Detection, (2) Enhanced “V”/Overshooting Top Detection, (3) Convective Initiation (CI), and (4) Cloud and Moisture Imagery. In addition to these baseline products, there are also two risk reduction products and decision aids that will be evaluated, including the CIMSS “Nearcasting” Model, and the CIRA hail probability product.

The initial products to be tested at the National Hurricane Center for 2010 were chosen in consultation with NHC, based on feasibility, the similarity to planned GOES-R products and forecaster availability for evaluation. The products include: (1) Hurricane Intensity Estimates; (2) Red-Green-Blue (RGB) air mass product; (3) RGB aerosol/dust product; (4) Saharan Air Layer (SAL) Product; (5) Super rapid scan imagery; and (6) Rapid intensity index (based on Global Lightning Detection Network Data). This presentation will provide more details and samples of the demonstrated products and any product evaluation that is available. Future plans for the Proving Ground activities at SPC and NHC will also be presented.