Exploiting Next Generation Satellite Data for Environmental and Tropical Cyclone Characterization at the Naval Research Laboratory

Customized satellite image product algorithms, developed through research at the Naval Research Laboratory’s Marine Meteorology Division (NRL-MMD), have been, and continue to be, demonstrated through near realtime products on two main web sites, NexSat (www.nrlmry.navy.mil/NEXSAT.html) and the NRL-MMD Tropical Cyclone Page (www.nrlmry.navy.mil/TC.html).  These web sites can be accessed by both operational users and the general public.  As new environmental satellites are launched and the associated sensor data become available, NRL-MMD has been in preparations to handle the increased data volume that come with this progress.

Through development of the Geo-located Information Processing System (GeoIPS^tm) at NRL-MMD, Suomi NPP VIIRS product algorithms have been established and imagery demonstrated in near realtime.  Himawari-8 was launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 2014, carrying the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI).  Processing of these high-resolution, high-temporal frequency data sets has been developed for GeoIPS.  With the expected launch of GOES-R and JPSS-1 in the near future (as of this writing), preparations are in place to ingest and process relevant sensor data sets.  Leveraging of previously established product algorithms (derived from MODIS, VIIRS, and AHI sensor data) will be explored.  Once established, resultant products will be demonstrated in near realtime on the appropriate web sites.  Having the capability to produce dust, snow/cloud, and other products through multiple geostationary satellite sensors will be of great benefit to DoD and non-DoD users alike.  Also, the availability of a second day-night band (DNB) channel from the next VIIRS sensor (onboard JPSS-1) will increase the frequency of nighttime visible products in addition to the other VIIRS products.

Himawari-8 AHI sensor products are now available on the NRL-MMD tropical cyclone (TC) web page.  Other current efforts and future plans related to TC products include recalibration of the ice scattering channels to 89 GHz to reduce bias between sensors, remapping (cubic spline interpolation) of SSM/I and SSMIS data (the sensors with the coarsest spatial resolution) to a common oversampled grid with AMSR2 and GMI, and use of CIMSS ARCHER for re-centering.  A standardized database of both digital data and image products will be generated and made available to the TC community to compliment the NRT data.   A study and application of a more sophisticated parallax correction scheme will be performed to provide increased confidence in the initialization of the TC center.  Finally, the color tables used to visualize a TC were subjectively developed based on a small sample of cases observed by the SSM/I.