The Use of Temperature and Water Vapor Profiles for Weather Applications: Recent Activities in the NOAA/JPSS Proving Ground

The NOAA Unique CrIS/ATMS processing System (NUCAPS) is the operational retrieval system for sounding products from the Suomi National-Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi-NPP). NUCAPS produces cloud-cleared radiances from the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) field-of-regard that is co-located with the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) in order to provide information as close to the surface as possible. Numerous environmental data products (EDR) are derived from the cloud cleared radiances including, profiles of atmospheric temperature, moisture, ozone and other trace gases, cloud and surface products.

Recently, NUCAPS products have been made available in both the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) and the Community Satellite Processing Package (CCSP). This presentation will summarize the results from a number of initiatives sponsored by the NOAA Joint Polar Satellite Systems (JPSS) Office (NJO). The first was participation in “CalWater-2015,” a field campaign focusing on variability of the water supply and the incidence of extreme precipitation events along the west coast of the United States. CSPP direct broadcast data was used to support flight planning and analysis of these mesoscale events. The second initiative was the use of AWIPS-II NUCAPS soundings in the Hazardous Weather Testbed 2015 Spring Experiment. Here National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters evaluated NUCAPS in developing convective environments. Many other on-going initiatives will also be discussed.