SatCORPS Near-Real Time Global Geostationary Satellite-Based Cloud, Surface Temperature, Radiation, and Marine Aerosol Product Suite for Assimilation and Nowcasting

Multispectral radiances measured from geostationary satellite (GEOSat) imagers are valuable for remote sensing of many different physical parameters that can be used for a variety of applications such as weather, aviation, and energy systems. The NASA Langley Satellite ClOud and Radiation Property retrieval System (SatCORPS) has been retrieving, in near-real time (NRT), many physical parameters from GEOSats around the globe for more than 7 years. The SatCORPS processing continues to evolve, providing more accurate parameters and more variables useful for new applications. Each pixel is first classified as clear or cloudy. For the latter, cloud phase, optical depth, top height, base height, particle effective size, and in some cases, cloud layering are provided. An overshooting top product provides the locations of severe convective weather and a method is available for estimating the vertical profiles of cloud water content for a given pixel. Surface skin temperature, clear-sky reflectance, and, over marine areas, aerosol optical depth are estimated for clear pixels. Top-of-atmosphere and surface shortwave and longwave radiative fluxes are also currently available.  At this time, the data are processed hourly at the native 11-µm channel resolution using inter-calibrated GOES-East and West, Meteosat-10, and Himiwari-8 data. For Himiwari-8, the 2-km data are sampled to 4 km. When Meteosat-8 becomes operational at 41°E, the NRT global coverage will be complete. Currently, INSAT-3D is used over the Indian Ocean with a 24-h delay. Standard processing is for latitudes between 60°N and 60°S, but the bounds are extended for selected areas, such as Alaska where data are analyzed for viewing angles up to 82.5° or latitude 75°N at a maximum. While the cloud data are used for numerical weather model assimilation and nowcasting of airframe icing and engine icing (HIWC) conditions, the other new parameters have many other potential applications such as solar energy, agriculture, and assimilation. This paper describes the dataset and its parameter accuracies, applicability, and availability.