Developments and Applications of Proxy Data Sets for GOES-R

High-quality proxy data sets have been developed from current satellites and NWP simulations, and are being utilized by the GOES-R Algorithm Working Group (AWG). For the AWG 80% delivery of the integrated algorithms, the proxy data sets have been refined to the 16 ABI channel simulations on the CONUS domain with a spatial resolution of 1-2km and temporal resolution of 5 minutes generated from WRF and WRF-CHEM. In addition, SEVIRI, GOES-12 and MODIS data are also integrated as part of the GOES-R proxy data sets. In ABI visible channel simulations, high resolution (4km) aerosol and ozone data sets have been created over the continental US and used as inputs to WRF-CHEM, and the Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM) is used to compute the ABI visible channel reflectance from WRF-CHEM outputs. It has been identified that the major uncertainties in simulating the ABI imager channels are related to surface bidirectional reflectivity, land surface emissivity in addition to aerosols and cloud optical parameters.

In preparation of assimilation of GOES-R ABI data into NWP applications, the developed proxy data sets from current GOES and MSG imagers are cross-calibrated with hyperspectral measurements and the systematic biases related to instrument calibration are removed before being ingested into the operational forecast models. Also, the GOES and MSG radiance biases relative to GFS and WRF model background are also characterized. Impacts of using GOES and MSG IR channels on forecasts are demonstrated.