Advanced Nowcasting Application for Next Generation GOES

Data and products from the next generation of NOAA geo-synchronous earth observing platforms (GOES-R) will aid in the development of new short-term forecasts or nowcasts applications/tools. One such application is the use of rapid refresh GOES-R cloud products (e.g., top, base, phase) to assist in forecasting cloud cover and state. Cross-correlation of cloud features in discrete altitude bands across time-sequential images provides the basis for an advection forecast algorithm operating in the 0-3 hour timeframe. Coincident NWP wind data are used to quality control derived feature-track trajectory vectors. This presentation describes a real-time implementation of this approach, and presents results obtained using calibrated VIS/IR observations from the SEVIRI instrument aboard the Meteosat-8 second-generation satellite and high resolution MM5 forecast fields.