Infrared measurements from the Hyperspectral Environmental Suite (HES) on GOES-R

The increased spectral, temporal and spatial resolutions of the Hyperspectral Environmental Suite (HES) on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R and beyond will provide a substantial increase in the quantity and quality of the products. The HES-IR, slated for launch in 2013, will offer improved data from an advanced operational, geostationary infrared hyperspectral sounder. HES-IR will make high spectral resolution measurements in order to accomplish two threshold tasks - hemispheric Disk Soundings (DS) and Severe Weather Mesoscale (SW/M) soundings. DS will provide better than 10 km spatial resolution. The spectral region between 4 and 15 ƒÝm will be partly covered with roughly one-hour refresh rate for the full disk (out to 62˘X local satellite zenith angle). SW/M will cover a 1000 x 1000 km area in 4 minutes at 4 km spatial resolution for the infrared (IR) bands. HES-IR will be a very flexible instrument that can multiplex DS and SW/M functions. The latter will be used when there is the potential for severe thunderstorms, hurricanes, or severe winter storms. It can also be directed to take targeted observations in areas where the numerical forecast models have low confidence.

HES-IR high spectral resolution measurements (better than one wavenumber compared to tens of wavenumbers on today's broadband GOES sounder) offer new capabilities. One example is the improved spatial coverage due to a coverage rate five times faster than current GOES. The current GOES sounder only scans the continental U.S. and some surrounding oceans, while GOES-R will be able to cover the land and ocean regions within 62 degrees of satellite sub-point in one hour. Another example is the improved vertical moisture information possible with its high spectral resolution. HES will provide unprecedented timely three-dimensional depictions of water vapor.

HES-IR goals include (1) providing an accurate, hourly three-dimensional picture of atmospheric temperature and water vapor; (2) tracking atmospheric motions in more levels with accurate height assignments; (3) distinguishing ice from water cloud and identifying cloud microphysical properties; (4) providing better viewing between clouds and near cloud edges; (5) enabling accurate land and sea surface temperature determinations in addition to IR surface emissivity estimates; (6) distinguishing atmospheric constituents with improved certainty, including dust, volcanic ash, and ozone; and (7) detecting clear-sky low-level atmospheric inversions.