The International H2O Project (IHOP) was a field experiment conducted over the Southern Great Plains (SGP) of the United States from 13 May to 25 June 2002. The main purpose of the IHOP was to improve the characterization of the water vapor distribution and its application to improving the prediction of convection. To support the IHOP field experiment, NESDIS took GOES-11 out of on-orbit storage mode on 29 May and returned it to storage mode on 21 June. Both the Imager and Sounder instruments were operated. The Imager acquired images (in five spectral bands) every five minutes, while the Sounder acquired images (in 19 spectral bands) every 30 minutes. The advantages of GOES-11 data over that from GOES-8 with respect to IHOP included improved viewing geometry, better signal-to-noise ratio and better temporal resolution. During the GOES-11 post-launch test in the summer of 2000, it was shown that the GOES-11 Sounder was superior in terms of radiances observed from the GOES-8 Sounder (less noise and less striping) and several derived products (e.g., Total Precipitable Water vapor (TPW)).

At CIMSS (Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies), a number of products were routinely generated and made available during the IHOP experiment from both the GOES-11 and -8 Sounder instruments. These included Derived Product Images (DPI) of profile parameters in clear air, such as TPW, the Lifted Index stability parameter, Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) and Convective Inhibition (CIN), as well as surface skin temperature. In addition, cloud top pressure (CTP) DPI were provided. During the entire experiment, single field-of-view (FOV) resolution products were produced from the operational GOES-8 Sounder. When the data were available, single FOV products from GOES-11 Sounder were also generated. Traditionally, GOES Sounder products at CIMSS have been generated with a 3x3 FOV spatial resolution. The much finer spatial resolution realized with single FOV products is approximately 12 km east-west by 15 km north-south within the IHOP domain.

Examples of these satellite products will be shown for selected days. Comparisons with other data sources will also be presented.