NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System's Proving Ground and Risk Reduction (PGRR) Program – PGRR Projects Focusing JPSS Capabilities on Increasingly Complex Environmental Challenges

This presentation will highlight the actions taken by Initiative Teams within the JPSS PGRR Program to optimize the application of JPSS capabilities in response to increasingly complex environmental challenges.  The PGRR Program in its sixth year has successfully maintained an environment where product developers work hand-in-hand with product users to determine how best to respond to real world environmental events.  Here are some examples of 2016 successes.  The Fire and Smoke Initiative teams have successfully assimilated the JPSS Fire Radiative Power product into NOAA’s High-Resolution Rapid Refresh Model providing superb initial conditions for the model run.  The NOAA Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System (NUCAPS) Initiative Team responded to user feedback during the 2015 product evaluation and made changes to the NUCAPS algorithm that received high praise during the 2016 evaluation.  An Arctic Initiative was created to determine what JPSS data or products could be focused this NOAA mission area that is continuing to receive high-level attention.  A brief summary of all the key PGRR Initiative milestones will be provided.