Flying into a New Era of Advanced Satellite Observations: Transitioning GOES-16 Utility for Aviation Forecasting into Aviation Weather Center Operations

With the launch of GOES-16 in November of 2016, the Aviation Weather Center is now receiving the most advanced satellite observations in roughly a decade. As compared with the legacy GOES-13 and GOES-15 (East and West, respectively), GOES-16 provides five times faster coverage (temporal resolution), four times improved spatial resolution, and three times more spectral bands. Though still in the pre-operational test period, these advanced satellite observations have already shown a great amount of potential for improvement of decision support for various aviation forecast operations. Some include increased lead-time on the cessation of fog and stratus layers, much clearer identification of turbulence features in the atmosphere, identification of hard to see phenomena such as dust, smoke and volcanic ash, new, never before seen lightning information for convective forecasts, and the ability to call for and utilize 1-minute or 30-second mesoscale imagery for various aviation hazards.

This presentation will summarize these advancements and overview a number of case studies already collected from various aviation forecasting entities. Additionally, it will highlight future aviation concepts and research that have stemmed from the pre-operational evaluation of GOES-16 data.