1. GOES-R PG Product Usage at WFO Omaha, NE (OAX) (Low Cloud/Fog, GeoColor, and UWCI) Daniel Nietfeld Science and Operations Officer (SOO) dan.nietfeld@noaa.gov

2. OAX History with GOES-R PG Ingesting products since ~ March 2010 – Low Cloud/Fog, GeoColor – CI products since September 2010 (stable) – MODIS/Snow Cover off and on since Jan. 2011 (mostly off due to local LDAD/bandwidth issues) Forecaster usage is largely a function of product timeliness and reliability (availability) - can’t stress this enough Have had diverse weather conditions

3. The WFO “Backdoor” : LDAD Major WFO Challenge: GOES-R Proving Ground Products are not on the SBN so they must get into the WFO via the LDM/LDAD “backdoor” which is getting clogged

4. OAX Forecaster Feedback: Low Cloud/Fog Product Low Cloud/Fog product is superior to the legacy product (or at least it is used more) – One year of forecaster “preference” feedback LC/F product does an especially good job of distinguishing between multiple cloud layers at varying heights LC/F product is the primary imagery used at night

5. March 10, 2011 Fog Formation Legacy 11-3.9 micron image – where is the fog? Low Clouds (mostly MVFR) Note the dense fog report

6. CIRA Low Cloud/Fog Product Highlighting the snow field which is cooling the air to result in patchy valley fog formation Snow has a low reflectivity in the shortwave region

7. METARs Ord, Nebraska KODX 100853Z 32005KT 8SM CLR KODX 100812Z 30004KT 4SM BR SCT001 KODX 100808Z 27004KT 1 1/4SM BR SCT001 KODX 100753Z 00000KT 1/4SM FZFG VV001 KODX 100748Z 00000KT 1 1/4SM BR SCT001 KODX 100711Z 25003KT 3/4SM BR CLR KODX 100706Z 00000KT 1 3/4SM BR CLR KODX 100653Z 00000KT 7SM FEW001

8. GeoColor Products

9. OAX Forecaster Feedback: GeoColor Product Also does a great job of distinguishing between varying layers/heights Need more experience with assessing the opacity of the clouds, but feedback is positive City lights do help with geo-referencing Land colors also help with distinguishing clouds from land and identifying land features Thunderstorm Anvils don’t show detail (OTs, etc…)

10. Legacy Visible CB top details visible

11. Geo Color CB top details less visible But… identification of land features far superior!

12. UW CI Products Ingesting products since summer 2010 When used alone, we “experienced” the stove-pipe Forecasters want this product and want to use it, because CI is very important Two CI challenge scenarios: – Standard afternoon convection – Nocturnal, elevated CI (usually on LLJ) ~ 4am-5am Critical to incorporate other environmental parameters / sources / “ingredients”

13. Positive Detection Case 2210 UTC 10 April 2011

14. Cloud Top Cooling Rate with METARs

15. Thermodynamic Environment Supported Convection: CAPE = 1420 J/KG CINH = -54 J/kg UW CI with RUC CINH field “edge of cap”

17. False Alarm Case 2000 UTC 10 April 2011 No positive buoyancy (zero CAPE)

18. Convective Initiation COMET COOP Proposal with U. of Nebraska Evaluate Statistics on UWCI POD, FAR Incorporate other environmental parameters Explore “fusion” of various data sources – What environmental products are useful ? – What thresholds, etc… lead to best results ? – Can GIS be utilized as a proxy to create the “Artificial Intelligence” ??

19. Conceptual Model for “Intelligent CI” Want to add UW Ice Exclusion Zone to AWIPS Want to layer parameters to determine environments that will often show positive CI Resulting CI inclusion zone Ice exclusion zone CAPE values > 100 J/KG CINH values < 80 J/KG LCL level upward vertical velocity Some other useful parameter Just an example of parameters

20. The “Evaluation Challenge” Forecaster Challenges: – What do we say? (need a useful eval. form) – Too busy with other duties, weather, etc… OAX alternative solution: utilize cheap University Students! Partnering with Universities – Informal (Student Volunteers, SCEPs, etc…) – Formal COMET Project (s)

21. AWIPS II Capabilities OAX “flips the switch” from operational AWIPS1 to AWIPSII on July 17 (2 months from now) Raytheon has been experimenting with enhanced satellite visualization AWIPSII looks promising for satellite data