Interpreting Satellite Product Feedback from Forecasters within the Hazardous Weather Testbed

In this presentation, we describe how product developers can communicate with weather forecasters to make satellite products more useful in severe weather forecasting applications. The NOAA’s Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT) and JPSS Proving Ground and Risk Reduction (PGRR) program provide a forum for collaboration to improve products ahead of widespread operational deployment. We found that the utilization of the NOAA-Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System (NUCAPS) soundings was improved when the product developer and forecaster directly communicated to overcome misunderstandings and to refine user requirements. Here we share our adaptive strategy for (1) assessing when and where NUCAPS soundings improved operational forecasts by using real, convective case studies and (2) working to increase NUCAPS utilization by improving existing products through direct, face-to-face interaction.

During the HWT, operational forecasters provide feedback to developers through surveys, blog posts of scenarios they encountered, and direct communication with the developers who are present as testing is underway. This required us to carefully design surveys and to develop effective pre-testbed training. Our goal is to discuss the lessons we learned and to share both our successes and challenges working with the weather forecasting community in designing, refining, and promoting novel products. We foresee that our experience with NUCAPS in the HWT may be relevant to other communities that can build on these strategies to transition their products from research to operations, and from operations back to research.