NOAA/NWS Training for User Readiness for GOES 16/17 and JPSS

New instruments on GOES-16/17 and JPSS are providing a great leap forward in environmental observing capabilities. The GOES-16 Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) has provided 5 times faster scanning, a fourfold improvement in spatial resolution, 11 additional spectral channels and improved bit depth resolution over the current GOES Imager. GOES-16’s totally new instrument, the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) is providing a wealth of new stormscale information to NWS forecasters. The JPSS satellite will provide Day/Night Band and NUCAPS soundings of interest to NWS field forecasters. To ensure users are ready, the NWS and their partners in NESDIS and NOAA’s cooperative institutes have developed a comprehensive training plan for operational forecasters.

The plan consists of several phases, Foundation Course, Application Phase, Archived Exercise Cases, Make it Stick and Continuous Learning. Implementing the plan is underway and will continue through the launch of GOES-17 in Spring 2018 and beyond for several more years.

The goal of the training plan is to ensure that forecasters are ready to integrate GOES-16/17 and JPSS data and products into forecast and warning operations. The results of the NWS Foundational training, consisting of 39 mini-modules lasting 8-12 hours will be presented. The plans for ongoing Application training will be outlined, including the GLM training. After forecasters complete the training modules they will be able to: 1) understand the differences between legacy GOES and GOES-R observations; 2) interpret and utilize GOES-R ABI imagery and derived products in the preparation of NWS forecasts and warnings; 3) utilize the GLM in forecast and warning operations; and 4) understand the fundamentals of Red-Green-Blue (RGB) satellite product techniques and apply these to the identification of meteorological phenomena and 5) utilize the JPSS Day/Night Band and NUCAPS soundings.

There are several groups responsible for developing, delivering and updating the training, including the NWS Office of the Chief Learning Officer (mainly the Warning Decision Training Division and the Forecast Decision Training Division), NESDIS, the Virtual Institute for Satellite Integration Training (VISIT), the satellite liaisons at NOAA’s cooperative institutes (CIRA, CIMSS, CIMMS, CICS), NASA SPoRT and UCAR’s Cooperative Program for Meteorology Education and Training (COMET).