Satellites and NWS Aviation Activities Mark Andrews NWS Headquarters OCWWS/Meteorological Services Div. Aviation Weather Services Branch Frederick R. Mosher NWS/NCEP/Aviation Weather Center

GOES Satellite Data GOES data continually used in aviation forecast operations. AWC has a direct readout facility. GOES data is used in conjunction with other observations and forecast data. Local imaging processing of GOES digital data adds to its value

GOES Antennas

GOES Receivers and Ingestors

GOES Ingest Monitors

AWC Forecast Desk

Aviation is Weather Sensitive Thunderstorms Turbulence Aircraft Icing Volcanic Ash Head/Tail Winds Clouds/Restricted Visibility

Thunderstorms 1.GOES data used to integrate and make sense of other observations.

Long Range Lightning Data Alone

Lightning Data +GOES IR Bad lightning data Elongated data

Thunderstorms 1.GOES data used to integrate and make sense of other observations. 2.Pattern recognition of anvil patterns.

GOES IR with Temperature Enhancement

Thunderstorms 1.GOES data used to integrate and make sense of other observations. 2.Pattern recognition of anvil patterns. 3.Derived thunderstorm products such as Global Convective Diagnostic (GCD).

Global Convective Diagnostic (GCD) New GCD method makes use of temperature difference between the infrared and water vapor channels. These channels are available on all geostationary satellites. GCD processed at AWC from Direct Readout digital data.

GCD Thunderstorm Detection Tir=Twv Tir>Twv

GCD Thunderstorm Detection Example (1 deg difference)

Global Convective Product (GCD) now available on AWC web page

South American GCD

Turbulence 1.Overlay of Pilot reports on Water Vapor 2.Pattern Recognition: Jet cores, transverse banding of clouds, water vapor image darkening, location of troughs and ridges, etc. See Gary Ellrod’s papers for details.

Water Vapor Image with Overlaid Pilot Reports and Ellrod Index Jet core Ellrod Index Moderate turbulence

Aircraft Icing In flight icing caused by by supercooled water droplets within clouds. Remote detection is still not solved problem. Current Icing Potential (CIP) product uses GOES cloud information to edit model relative humidity and temperature information.

CIP with Pilot Reports

NCAR Experimental Satellite Icing Product

Volcanic Ash Detection GOES satellite images main tool for detection and tracking of ash. Multiple channels are used to detect the ash depending on the situation. 1.Visible Channel micron difference , 11, 13, visible multispectral products.

Visible Channel Ash Detection

11-12 Micron Difference Ash Image

Ash Product (NESDIS)

AWC Four Channel Ash Product

Winds Affect Flight Times and Fuel Consumption Flight Planning requires accurate knowledge of winds at flight levels. Winds obtained from radiosondes, aircraft, temperature soundings, and feature tracked winds from satellite images. Infrared, visible, and water vapor images used for feature tracked winds.

Water Vapor Winds

Clouds/Restricted Visibility Flying into the ground/mountains is the most frequent weather related fatality for general aviation pilots. Night time Fog image ( micron) has been a major improvement in monitoring fog and low cloud situations.

Fog image at night with surface IFR/VFR observations overlay

Fog Image Just Before Sunrise

Vis Image Just After Sunrise

Vis Image 1 Hr Later

Summary GOES satellite data is widely used in detection of aviation weather hazards. Direct readout facilities allow for local image processing of products for local use. Additional information/programs for aviation related image processing available from