The National Weather Service (NWS) continues to assess the performance of the GOES satellite products and services delivered operationally to NWS forecast centers and forecast offices. Digitial data, products and images from the GOES Imager and Sounder instruments are becoming an integral part of current NWS operations and the ongoing modernization program. GOES products and services continue to have positive impacts on daily forecast products issued by local NWS forecast offices and are used routinely by the national centers.
This paper will discuss specific GOES assessment results and their impacts on all aspects of current and future NWS operations. Specific examples of improving NWS forecast services to its many customers will be provided. GOES products and information on convective stability, total precipitable water, precipitation information, winds over oceanic areas, and the results from the GOES-10 5-minute imagery extended test period will be presented. New capabilities to detect and track volcanic ash clouds are being developed for the aviation community. Local NWS forecasters are using GOES imagery combined with radar imagery to verify the numerical model products during local convective events.
The GOES Sounder produces hourly cloud data for over 800 locations and is used to supplement cloud information from the Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS). These data are distributed to NWS forecast offices nation wide and are used with ASOS data to produce hourly state weather round-up products. Moisture soundings, in the form of total precipitable water, are now delivered routinely to regional numerical prediction models. Layer precipitable water data have been used in the Eta Data Assimilation since September 1997 with small positive impacts in numerical prediction forecasts. In June, 1998 the use of radiances from the GOES Sounder became operational in the Global Data Assimilation system.
The GOES Imager produces images over the continental United States, every fifteen minutes, which are used by the local NWS forecaster for daily weather forecast products to the public and aviation and marine communities. The GOES Imager products, remapped sectors-four per hour, are being routinely transmitted to NWS forecast offices with the new Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) and can be integrated with local radar imagery during severe weather events. High Density Winds products over the Atlantic Ocean continue to make a positive imapct upon subjective hurricane forecasts.