The Utility of JPSS and GOES Fire Weather Products and Applications in the Operational Forecasting Environment

In recent years, new environmental monitoring satellites have launched into orbit providing satellite imagery and products for National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters that are displayable in the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System-II (AWIPS-II). Specifically to the US, there are new geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites that can assist forecasters in weather forecasting applications. Geostationary satellites consist of GOES-16 (a.k.a. GOES-East) and GOES-17 (a.k.a. GOES-West) that contain an Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) instrument on-board each satellite. ABI provides imagery and products at high temporal (i.e. Full Disk: 10 minutes, CONUS: 5-minutes, and Mesoscale: 1-minute), and spatial (i.e. 0.5-2 kilometers) resolution. In contrast to geostationary satellites, there are ‘low-earth’, polar-orbiting satellites that provide users with satellite imagery and products at high spatial resolution, albeit exhibiting coarser temporal resolution. Notably, two polar-orbiting satellites that have data in AWIPS-II for forecasters, are the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-20 (NOAA-20) and the Suomi-National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) apart of the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) series. The polar-orbiters encapsulate identical instrumentation on-board each satellite (e.g. Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) and Cross-Track Infrared Sounder (CrIS)). Satellite data can be used by itself or in complement with other meteorological observations (e.g. radar, surface, model data) especially in areas where observations are poor and or limited. The presentation will highlight 2019 ‘fire weather’ cases over the western United States and OCONUS that demonstrate the utility of geostationary and polar-orbiting data in the operational forecasting environment: focusing on locating fires, interpreting and inferring fire intensity, and identifying smoke plumes. Smoke plume forecasting will also be highlighted via High-Resolution Rapid Refresh-Smoke (HRRR-Smoke). The hope is for forecasters to utilize the new satellite datasets and capabilities to assist them in operational management decisions and Impact-Based Decision Support Services (IDSS), working in synergy with emergency managers to protect lives and property across the United States.