1. N-AWIPS Product Dissemination by SPoRT, CIRA, and CIMAS

2. Background In past years, several products were provided to support Proving Ground activities at NHC. Some were in systems outside of N-AWIPS, which made evaluations more difficult. SPoRT has collaborated with CIRA and CIMAS to provide these products in an N-AWIPS capable display format. SPoRT: NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center, Huntsville, AL CIRA: Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, Fort Collins, CO CIMAS: University of Miami/Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies, Miami, FL

3. Product List Products provided through SPoRT: – EUMETSAT RGB Products from Meteosat-9/SEVIRI Originally provided by CIRA in Google Earth: – Air Mass – Dust – Natural Color – These products are “color quantized” from 24-bit to 94 colors. Originally develoepd by Jason Dunion/CIMAS and provided in Google Earth: – Pseudo Natural Color + Nighttime IR – Saharan Air Layer – Experimental triple split window dust detection over the Sahara » (not officially under GOES-R PG, but welcomed to evaluate it) – Now in N-AWIPS format using quantization or indexed color tables. – GOES Sounder Air Mass RGB Product from CIRA – MODIS equivalent RGB products available over CONUS from Direct Broadcast

4. Product Distribution These products are provided on the SPoRT ftp site: – ftp://geo.msfc.nasa.gov/SPoRT/goesr-pg/seviriRGB All Products derived from SEVIRI, including Jason Dunion’s products. – ftp://geo.msfc.nasa.gov/SPoRT/goesr-pg/goesSounderRGB The GOES Sounder Air Mass RGB provided by CIRA – ftp://geo.msfc.nasa.gov/SPoRT/goesr-pg/modisRGB All products derived from MODIS SPoRT maintains a “Product Status Page” that users can visit to check on the data flow issues at the SPoRT end. – http://weather.msfc.nasa.gov/sport/productstatus/ These products require special color tables and configuration table entries for N-AWIPS – Contact Andrew Molthan (andrew.molthan@nasa.gov) for more information SPoRT can also provide these products via LDM to users, if interested. Some other products are disseminated via FTP or LDM beyond those used in the GOES-R Proving Ground efforts (e.g. VIIRS, NRL passive microwave), contact Andrew if interested.

5. Color Quantization RGB imagery assign values for the R, G, and B color components using 8-bit values. Each R, G, B are from 0- 255, and when combined, provide a 24-bit image. AWIPS and NAWIPS can only display 254 or 95 colors, respectively. Therefore, RGB images in these systems are quantized. R G B In a 24-bit image, pixels occur as all possible combinations of RGB. Quantization selects an ideal subset of colors to represent the image. Some color detail is lost as a compromise to make the imagery available in N/AWIPS.

6. Comparison EUMETSAT 24-Bit Air MassNAWIPS 95-Color Quantized The images are qualitatively similar with some minor differences due to reprojection and reduced number of colors. Interpretation remains the same for both figures. Some graininess due to loss of color depth Limb cooling more prominent due to reprojection of full disk image.

7. Example of the 95-color “Air Mass” Product Derived from the GOES Sounder by CIRA

8. Example of the 95-color “Air Mass” Product Derived from Meteosat-9/SEVIRI by SPoRT

9. Example of the 95-color “Air Mass” Product Derived from Terra or Aqua MODIS by SPoRT

10. Example of the 95-color “Dust” Product Derived from Meteosat-9/SEVIRI by SPoRT

11. Example of the 95-color “Triple Split Window” Product Derived from Meteosat-9/SEVIRI by Jason Dunion. Non GOES-R PG, experiment to improve dust detection over Sahel/Sahara.

12. Example of the 95-color “Pseudo Natural Color” Product from Jason Dunion of CIMAS

13. Example of the “Saharan Air Layer” Product from Jason Dunion of CIMAS