1. The National Weather Service “Polar Book Club”
Matt Foster, Chad Gravelle, Jeff Manion, Dave Radell, Mike Stavish
and
NWS Office of Observations TOWR-S Team

2. What is the NWS Polar Book Club?
The NWS “Polar Book Club” (PBC) is a team formed by the National Weather Service Office of Observations
The PBC was established in September 2018 to identify and evaluate polar satellite imagery and products that may have critical usage to NWS CONUS WFO and RFC forecasters
The PBC addresses a new polar satellite product each month, like a book club, get it?

3. Who is a Member of the Polar Book Club?
The PBC has one representative from each NWS CONUS Regions and the OPG:
Eastern Region: Dave Radell
Central Region: Jeff Manion
Southern Region: Chad Gravelle
Western Region: Mike Stavish
Operations Proving Ground: Matt Foster
The TOWR-S team in the Office of Observations facilities PBC meetings, conducts WFO evaluations, and migrates recommended products to NWS operations

4. Why does the Polar Book Club Exist?
NWS requirements for CONUS polar satellite imagery and products have changed
Historically, polar data over CONUS was strictly for weather model ingest
As new satellite products and capabilities are introduced (specifically things that cannot be replicated using GOES satellites) that is no longer the case
The PBC identifies potential polar satellite products that will impact the workflow of forecasters making specific NWS products, evaluates these satellite products with volunteer WFOs, and makes recommendations on which products should be migrated to full operations at NWS
The PBC does not need to address products that are obviously useful (such as NOAA-20 NUCAPS soundings). The PBC is designed to investigate products of uncertain operational utility.

5. How Does the Polar Book Club Accomplish its Mission?
~ 1 Month
~ 2 Months
PBC Approves WFO Evaluation of Product
TOWR-S Establishes Operational Data Feed with Evaluation WFOs via AWIPS DAM
Evaluations WFOs Provide AWIPS & Product Feedback to TOWR-S
Evaluation WFOs Recommend to PBC that Product be Migrated to Operations
TOWR-S Briefs a Polar Satellite Product to PBC
PBC Decides if Product has Potential in Operations
Evaluation WFOs Find No Operational Value,
TOWR-S Migrates Product to NWS Operations
PBC Finds No Operational Value
~ 6 Months

6. What has the Polar Book Club Addressed?
The first product the PBC has analysed is the GCOM-W1 AMSR Sea Surface Wind Speed product
PBC recommended for an evaluation with specific WFOs at the end of November 2018
Dataflow began to these WFOs in January 2019 via the AWIPS DAM
Participating WFOs provided their final feedback in March 2019

7. GCOM-W1 AMSR2 Sea Surface Wind Speed
GCOM-W1 = Global Change Observation Mission - Water
Satellite launched by Japan in May 2012, turned on in July 2012
Satellite carries the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR) sensor
Satellite is part of the “Afternoon Train” (A-Train)
Satellite is at the equator at about 1:30am and 1:30pm local time
Forecasters can expect to get an image time roughly minutes after that

8. AMSR2 Sea Surface Wind Speed Algorithm
Regression algorithm correlates 12 channels of brightness temperatures in the microwave regime to sea surface wind speed
Does not tell you wind direction, speed only
Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document:
Product latency ~3-4 hours
Product not created within 25km of coastline
Product cannot detect winds higher than 90 kts

9. Sea Surface Wind Speed Product Details
Advantages:
Wind observations in data-denied/remote areas
Data available most everywhere since microwave sensor sees through clouds
Caveats:
Masked out within much of WFO Coastal Waters areas
Latency (~3-4 hours)
Unrealistically high values/no data in areas of heavy rain

10. Product Complete Orbit in AWIPS

11. East Coast Sample Image in AWIPS

12. Great Lakes Sample Image in AWIPS

13. Gulf of Mexico Sample Image in AWIPS

14. Sea Surface Wind Speed Evaluation WFOs
Central Region:
WFO Marquette
WFO Milwaukee
Southern Region:
WFO Tallahassee
WFO San Juan
Western Region
WFO Portland
WFO Medford

15. Sea Surface Wind Speed Feedback
WFO Evaluation Meeting occurred on 27 March 2019
What did WR WFOs think?
Improved lead time for Gale/Storm Warnings
Able to better assess model performance in data sparse Pacific Ocean (pick one to go with)
What did CR WFOs think?
Able to modify the National Blend GFE wind grids to be more accurate over the Great Lakes
The wave height model GFE grids are more accurate over the Great Lakes
Difficult to use during the winter due to clouds and ice
What did SR WFOs think?
Tallahassee has no operating buoys offshore, GCOM data improves the coastal zone GFE wind grids
San Juan is able to identify trade wind surges, improving their Offshore Waters Forecast
Why did ER WFOs not participate in evaluation?
Data was made available via ER LDM, but felt latency/product timeliness was too long
Masking of data along coast and Great Lakes limits usefulness

16. Sea Surface Wind Speed AWIPS Improvements
WR WFOs suggested AWIPS improvements:
New color table corresponding to Gale/Storm/Hurricane force wind thresholds
AWIPS banner or text (for alerting) when new data is available to keep the data in a forecaster workflow
CR WFOs suggested AWIPS improvements:
Get data into GFE as a grid (makes it easier to modify the wind grid)
Make the coastal mask smaller
SR WFOs suggested AWIPS improvements:

17. Polar Book Club Tentative Schedule
NOAA-20 VIIRS Active Fires (August - October 2019)
ScatSat Winds (September - November 2019)
NOAA-20 VIIRS 0.64um Imagery (October - December 2019)
NOAA-20 VIIRS 10.8um Imagery (October - December 2019)
NOAA-20 VIIRS Ice Cover/Ice Concentration (November - January 2020)
NOAA-20 ATMS Ice Concentration (November - January 2020)
NOAA-20 ATMS Snow Water Equivalent (December - February 2020)
NOAA-20 ATMS Snow Depth (January - March 2020)

18. Future Polar Book Club(s)?
Is there a need for an OCONUS Polar Book Club?
Different missions and satellite orbits than CONUS offices
Different data dissemination methods
Many of these products are already used by OCONUS
Is there a need for a National Centers Polar Book Club?
Different missions and larger areas of responsibilities than WFOs or RFCs
Contact Eric Guillot at if you’re interested in kicking off either of these groups