Joint Polar Satellite System's Operational and Research Applications from Suomi NPP

The Joint Polar Satellite System is NOAA's new operational satellite program and includes the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) as a bridge between NOAA's operational Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite (POES) series, which began in 1978, and the first JPSS operational satellite scheduled for launch in 2017. JPSS provides critical data for key operational and research applications, and includes: 1) Weather forecasting – data from the JPSS Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) and the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) are needed to forecast weather events out to 7 days. Nearly 85% of all data used in weather forecasting are from polar orbiting satellites. 2) Environmental monitoring – data from the JPSS Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) are used to monitor the environment including the health of coastal ecosystems, drought conditions, fire, smoke, dust, snow and ice, and the state of oceans, including sea surface temperature and ocean color. 3) Climate monitoring – data from JPSS instruments, including OMPS and CERES will provide continuity to climate data records established using NOAA POES and NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) satellite observations. These data records provide a unified and coherent long-term observation of the environment; the records and products are critical to climate modelers, scientists, and decision makers concerned with advancing climate change understanding, prediction, mitigation and adaptation strategies, and policies. To bridge the gap between products and applications, the JPSS Program has established a proving ground program to optimize the use of JPSS data with other data sources to improve key products and services. A number of operational and research applications will be discussed, including the use of CrIS and ATMS for improved weather forecasting, the use of VIIRS for environmental monitoring of sea ice, smoke, fire, floods, droughts, coastal water quality (e.g. harmful algal blooms), and OMPS for monitoring ozone and aerosol and sulfur dioxide. Demonstrations of the new day night band on VIIRS for enhanced nighttime environmental monitoring will be presented.