Flying a U.S. Hyperspectral IR Sounder at GEO: New Potential for U.S. Economic Benefits

Abstract:

The flight of a Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) Infrared (IR) Hyperspectral Sounder (HSS) would be in line with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS) 2025 and 2040 vision statements, the 2007 and 2018 Earth Science and Applications (ESAS) Decadal Survey recommendations, and the NOAA/National Weather Service (NWS) Operational Requirements Document for the Evolution of Future NOAA Operational Geostationary Satellites (ORD).

This presentation explores, and quantifies at a high level, the societal benefit potential that these new observations, along with complementary observations from the EUMETSAT’s HSS IR Sounder to be launched in the 2023 timeframe, would offer to the U.S. economy. There are four primary areas where a U.S. HSS flight has the potential to deliver profound societal benefits:

1. Severe weather nowcasting and nearcasting, including decision aids and indices such as Lifted Index (LI), Convective Inhibition (CIB), Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE), etc., and assimilation into Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models targeting NWS Warn on Forecast (WoF) goals—primarily CONUS or a mesoscale subset;
2. 4DVAR direct radiance assimilation to incorporate 3D horizontal wind/momentum information into global NWP models to increase forecast skill—CONUS, northern hemisphere, and full disk;
3. Aviation safety, including high-fidelity observations of SO₂, H₂SO₄, sulphate aerosols, and ash clouds from explosive volcanic eruptions impacting flight lanes—CONUS, northern hemisphere, and full disk;
4. Air quality monitoring and forecasting—improving the Nation’s ability to characterize the 3D distribution of tropospheric trace gases, potentially including CH₄, O₃, and particulates, especially at “nose-level.”

This presentation will describe the development of value chains linking HSS-based products, the users and uses of these products, and the societal outcomes that can be improved through their use. The value chains will provide a framework for quantifying the benefits of HSS, measured in terms of improved societal outcomes. The presentation will also address the information required to analyze economic benefits of HSS.