GOES-R Proving Ground Activities
Pseudo Geostationary Lightning Mapper
Lightning products that mimic the 8km resolution of the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM).
Convective Initiation
A fusion of Numerical Weather Prediction and geostationary satellite data used to produce a 0 to 2 hour nowcast of convective initiation.
RGB Products
RGB composite images offer the possibility of compressing multi-spectral information content for optimum visualisation.
SPoRT has been a funded participant in the GOES-R Proving Ground (PG) since 2008. During that time, SPoRT has made several contributions related to new or enhanced applications of GOES-R proxy data. An early activity included attending the 2009 Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT) Spring Program as a representative of the PG. At this demonstration, SPoRT staff interacted with end users and participated in operations, and hence, was able to understand what improvements were needed for the simulated Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) product as well as potential new Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) proxy data. SPoRT created a Pseudo-GLM product for use in the 2010 and 2011 Spring Experiments that provided a training tool demonstrating GLM-resolution data. This provided a precursor to the official Algorithm Working Group (AWG) GLM proxy. By doing this, the end user becomes involved in the process of product development so that when the AWG proxy data work is complete, a tested product can immediately be produced. SPoRT works closely with users attending the Spring Experiment as well as several National Weather Service Weather Forecast Offices to continually evaluate new total lightning products. As a result, several new applications related to the Pseudo-GLM are in development.
More recently, SPoRT has begun to develop a standard suite of Red-Green-Blue (RGB) composite products, which use MODIS as a proxy to future GOES-R capabilities. This suite is based on best practices documented by the EUMETSAT User Services Group and their operational experiences using the SEVIRI instrument on MeteoSat Second Generation (MSG). The RGB proxy products will initially focus on creating RGB imagery to depict air mass, dust, cloud microphysics, fog/stratus, snow, and true color.
