Operational high-spectral-resolution infrared radiance measurements from the geostationary perspective will be introduced on GOES-R with the HES (Hyperspectral Environmental Suite). These advanced sounders will have over one thousand channels with spectral widths of less than a wave number, while the current GOES Sounders have only 18 bands with spectral widths of tens of wave numbers. The HES will improve the operational sounding capabilities by expanding the hourly spatial coverage, increasing the vertical temperature and moisture-sounding resolution, capturing atmospheric motions at many more levels, and penetrating the boundary layer to depict small-scale temperature and moisture changes. Improvements will be realized in nowcasting, short-range weather forecasting, and longer-range numerical weather prediction.

HES measurements will have high temporal resolution (1 hour), high spatial resolution (less than 10 km), high spectral resolution (better than single wave number) and wide coverage (hemispheric). These will enable monitoring of the evolution of detailed temperature and moisture structures in clear skies with high accuracy and high vertical resolution that is not possible with the current GOES sounder. HES will be able to see the emergence of temperature and moisture inversions in clear skies; thus marking severe weather potential and possible fog formation. High-spectral-resolution sounder radiances will also improve cloud-top pressure estimates. In addition HES capabilities for trace gas estimation and surface property retrieval are being investigated.

Combining HES and Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) data for better atmospheric and cloud retrievals is also under investigation with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) measurements from Earth Observing System's (EOS) Aqua platform. These investigations are reaffirming that GOES-R HES / ABI will: * Depict water vapor as never before by identifying small-scale features of moisture vertically and horizontally in the atmosphere * Track atmospheric motions much better by discriminating more levels of motion and assigning heights more accurately * Characterize life cycle of clouds (cradle to grave) and distinguish between ice and water cloud (which is very useful for aircraft routing) and identify cloud particle sizes (useful for radiative effects of clouds) * Measure surface temperatures (land and sea) by accounting for emissivity effects (the improved SSTs would be useful for sea level altimetry applications) * Distinguish atmospheric constituents with improved certainty; these include volcanic ash (useful for aircraft routing), ozone, and possibly methane plus others trace gases.