GOES-16, the first satellite in the GOES-R series, launched in November 2016 and now provides 16 multispectral bands of satellite data, including CONUS scans every five minutes, with 0.5 kilometer visible imagery resolution and 2.0 km longwave infrared resolution. This lesson harnesses GOES-16’s increased temporal and spatial resolutions to identify convective development and intensity signatures on traditional longwave IR and visible band imagery, and compares the experience to using legacy GOES products. The lesson is geared toward early-career forecasters, those forecasters wanting more experience using high-resolution satellite data to forecast convection, and will be useful to aviation forecasters, meteorology major students and instructors, and weather enthusiasts.
Identify common convective development and intensity signatures on longwave IR and visible satellite imagery.
Observe the difference in resolution between new GOES-16 and legacy GOES-13/15 visible and infrared imagery, and be able to describe convective signature advantages that GOES-16 provides.
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