China is developing a new generation of geostationary meteorological satellites called Fengyun-4 (FY-4), which is planned for launch beginning in 2016. Following upon the current FY-2 satellite series, FY-4 will carry four new instruments: the Advanced Geosynchronous Radiation Imager (AGRI), the Geosynchronous Interferometric Infrared Sounder (GIIRS), the Lightning Mapping Imager (LMI), and the Space Environment Package (SEP). The first satellite of the FY-4 series launched on 11 December 2016 is experimental, and the following four or more satellites will be operational.The main objectives of the FY-4 series are to monitor rapidly changing weather systems and to improve warning and forecasting capabilities. The FY-4 measurements are aimed at accomplishing 1) high temporal and spatial resolution imaging in 14 spectral bands from the visible, near-infrared, and infrared (IR) spectral regions; 2) lightning imaging; and 3) high-spectral-resolution IR sounding observations over China and adjacent regi...

Introducing the New Generation of Chinese Geostationary Weather Satellites, Fengyun-4

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R-series (GOES-R) is the next block of four satellites to follow the existing GOES constellation currently operating over the Western Hemisphere. Advanced spacecraft and instrument technology will support expanded detection of environmental phenomena, resulting in more timely and accurate forecasts and warnings. Advancements over current GOES capabilities include a new capability for total lightning detection (cloud and cloud-to-ground flashes) from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM), and improved cloud and moisture imagery with the 16-channel Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI). The GLM will map total lightning activity continuously day and night with near-uniform storm-scale spatial resolution of 8 km with a product refresh rate of less than 20 s over the Americas and adjacent oceanic regions in the western hemisphere. This will aid in forecasting severe storms and tornado activity, and convective weather impacts on aviation safety and efficiency. In parallel with the instrument development, an Algorithm Working Group (AWG) Lightning Detection Science and Applications Team developed the Level 2 (stroke and flash) algorithms from the Level 1 lightning event (pixel level) data. Proxy data sets used to develop the GLM operational algorithms as well as cal/val performance monitoring tools were derived from the NASA Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) and Optical Transient Detector (OTD) instruments in low Earth orbit, and from ground-based lightning networks and intensive prelaunch field campaigns. The GLM will produce the same or similar lightning flash attributes provided by the LIS and OTD, and thus extend their combined climatology over the western hemisphere into the coming decades. Science and application development along with preoperational product demonstrations and evaluations at NWS forecast offices and NOAA testbeds will prepare the forecasters to use GLM as soon as possible after the planned launch and checkout of GOES-R in late 2015. New applications will use GLM alone, in combination with the ABI, or integrated (fused) with other available tools (weather radar and ground strike networks, nowcasting systems, mesoscale analysis, and numerical weather prediction models) in the hands of the forecaster responsible for issuing more timely and accurate forecasts and warnings.

The GOES-R Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM)

The Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) is scheduled for launch in February 2020 to monitor air quality (AQ) at an unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution from a ...

/pdf/new-era-of-air-quality-monitoring-from-space-geostationary-50am51exmi.pdf

New Era of Air Quality Monitoring from Space: Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS)

This review paper summarizes current knowledge available for aviation operations related to meteorology and provides suggestions for necessary improvements in the measurement and prediction of weather-related parameters, new physical methods for numerical weather predictions (NWP), and next-generation integrated systems. Severe weather can disrupt aviation operations on the ground or in-flight. The most important parameters related to aviation meteorology are wind and turbulence, fog visibility, aerosol/ash loading, ceiling, rain and snow amount and rates, icing, ice microphysical parameters, convection and precipitation intensity, microbursts, hail, and lightning. Measurements of these parameters are functions of sensor response times and measurement thresholds in extreme weather conditions. In addition to these, airport environments can also play an important role leading to intensification of extreme weather conditions or high impact weather events, e.g., anthropogenic ice fog. To observe meteorological parameters, new remote sensing platforms, namely wind LIDAR, sodars, radars, and geostationary satellites, and in situ instruments at the surface and in the atmosphere, as well as aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles mounted sensors, are becoming more common. At smaller time and space scales (e.g., < 1 km), meteorological forecasts from NWP models need to be continuously improved for accurate physical parameterizations. Aviation weather forecasts also need to be developed to provide detailed information that represents both deterministic and statistical approaches. In this review, we present available resources and issues for aviation meteorology and evaluate them for required improvements related to measurements, nowcasting, forecasting, and climate change, and emphasize future challenges.

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A Review of High Impact Weather for Aviation Meteorology

Air quality impacts from wildfires have been dramatic in recent years, with millions of people exposed to elevated and sometimes hazardous fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) concentrations for exten...

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10962247.2020.1747802

Wildfire and prescribed burning impacts on air quality in the United States.

The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on board the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R (GOES-R) is America’s next-generation geostationary advanced imager. GOES-R launched on 19 November 2016. The ABI is a state-of-the-art 16-band radiometer, with spectral bands covering the visible, near-infrared, and infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Many attributes of the ABI—such as spectral, spatial, and temporal resolution; radiometrics; and image navigation/registration—are much improved from the current series of GOES imagers. This paper highlights and discusses the expected improvements of each of these attributes. From ABI data many higher-level-derived products can be generated and used in a large number of environmental applications. The ABI’s design allows rapid-scan and contiguous U.S. imaging automatically interleaved with full-disk scanning. In this paper the expected instrument attributes are covered, as they relate to signal-to-noise ratio, image navigation and regis...

A Closer Look at the ABI on the GOES-R Series

The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) is the primary Earth observing sensor on the new generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES-R) series, and provides significant spectral, spatial and temporal observational enhancements compared to the legacy GOES satellites. ABI also provides enhanced capabilities for operational sensor calibration and image navigation and registration (INR) to enable observations of the Earth with high spectral fidelity as well as creating images that are accurately mapped and co-registered over time. Unlike earlier GOES Imagers, ABI has onboard calibration capability for all sixteen bands in the reflective and emissive bands. The calibration process includes periodic and routine views of the internal reflective and blackbody targets as well as views of space and the moon. Improvements in INR are made possible by having a Global Positioning System (GPS) on board the spacecraft and routine measurements of stars through the sensor’s boresight for orbit and attitude determination through a Kalman filter. This paper describes how the sensor data are processed into calibrated and geolocated radiances that enable the generation of imagery and higher level products for both meteorological and non-meteorological Earth science applications. Some examples of ABI images and calibration are presented to demonstrate the capabilities and applications of the sensor.

From Photons to Pixels: Processing Data from the Advanced Baseline Imager

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R (GOES-R) series is the planned next generation of operational weather satellites for the United State's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The first launch of the GOES-R series is planned for October 2016. The GOES-R series satellites and instruments are being developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). One of the key instruments on the GOES-R series is the Advance Baseline Imager (ABI). The ABI is a multi-channel, visible through infrared, passive imaging radiometer. The ABI will provide moderate spatial and spectral resolution at high temporal and radiometric resolution to accurately monitor rapidly changing weather. Initial on-orbit calibration and performance characterization is crucial to establishing baseline used to maintain performance throughout mission life. A series of tests has been planned to establish the post launch performance and establish the parameters needed to process the data in the Ground Processing Algorithm. The large number of detectors for each channel required to provide the needed temporal coverage presents unique challenges for accurately calibrating ABI and minimizing striping. This paper discusses the planned tests to be performed on ABI over the six-month Post Launch Test period and the expected performance as it relates to ground tests.

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Post Launch Calibration and Testing of the Advanced Baseline Imager on the GOES-R Satellite

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R (GOES-R) Series is the planned next generation of operational weather satellites for the United State’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) The first launch of the GOES-R series is planned for 2012 The GOES-R Series satellites and instruments are being developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) One of the key instruments on the GOES-R Series is the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) The ABI is a multi-channel, visible through infrared, passive imaging radiometer The ABI will provide moderate spatial and spectral resolution at high temporal and radiometric resolution to accurately monitor rapidly changing weather 

The ABI will provide sixteen spectral channels compared to five channels on the current GOES I/P Series Imager This increase will allow more comprehensive monitoring of atmospheric conditions such as aerosol concentration, cirrus cloud location, and cloud properties In addition, ABI will provide data products with a spatial resolution of at least half the current imager, down to 05 Km in the visible band With its high temporal coverage, full disk every 5 minutes, and ability to continue operations around local midnight, ABI will provide continuous and timely monitoring of weather This is further augmented by ABI's ability to revisit a specified 1000 Kilometer region every 30 seconds to track severe weather 

This paper discusses the anticipated performance characteristics of the ABI sensor The key data products achievable from the ABI are also discussed

William Lebair

Papers

A Closer Look at the ABI on the GOES-R Series

From Photons to Pixels: Processing Data from the Advanced Baseline Imager

Post Launch Calibration and Testing of the Advanced Baseline Imager on the GOES-R Satellite

The advanced baseline imager: the next generation of geostationary imager