The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center (SPoRT) has been part of a collaborative effort within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Proving Ground and Risk Reduction (PGRR) Program to develop gridded satellite sounding retrievals for the operational weather forecasting community. The NOAA Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System (NUCAPS) retrieves vertical profiles of temperature, water vapor, trace gases, and cloud properties derived from infrared and microwave sounder measurements. A new, optimized method for deriving NUCAPS level 2 horizontally and vertically gridded products is described here. This work represents the development of approaches to better synthesize remote sensing observations that ultimately increase the availability and usability of NUCAPS observations. This approach, known as “Gridded NUCAPS”, was developed to more effectively visualize NUCAPS observations to aid in the quick identification of thermodynamic spatial gradients. Gridded NUCAPS development was based on operations-to-research feedback and is now part of the operational National Weather Service display system. In this paper, we discuss how Gridded NUCAPS was designed, how relevant atmospheric fields are derived, its operational application in pre-convective weather forecasting, and several emerging applications that expand the utility of NUCAPS for monitoring phenomena such as fire weather, the Saharan Air Layer, and stratospheric air intrusions.

During the spring and summer months, the greater Caribbean region typically experiences pulses of moderate to heavy episodes of airborne African dust concentrations that originate over the Sahara Desert and propagate westward across the tropical North Atlantic basin. These dust episodes are often contained within the Saharan air layer (SAL), an elevated air mass (between 850–500 hPa) marked by very dry and warm conditions within the lowest levels. During its westward transport, the SAL’s distinct environmental characteristics can persist well into the Gulf of Mexico and southern United States. As a result, the Caribbean population is susceptible to airborne dust levels that often exceed healthy respiratory limits. One of the major responsibilities within the National Weather Service in San Juan, Puerto Rico (NWS-PR), is preparing the public within their area of responsibility (AOR) for such events. The Naval Research Laboratory Marine Meteorology Division (NRL-MMD) is sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to support the NWS-PR by providing them with an invaluable “one stop shop” web-based resource (hereafter SAL-WEB) that is designed to monitor these African dust events. SAL-WEB consists of near-real-time output generated from ground-based instruments, satellite-derived imagery, and dust model forecasts, covering the extent of dust from North Africa, westward across the Atlantic basin, and extending into Mexico. The products within SAL-WEB would serve to augment the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS-II) infrastructure currently in operation at the NWS-PR. The goal of this article is to introduce readers to SAL-WEB, along with current and future research underway to provide improvements in African dust prediction capabilities.

Visible/Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Imagery from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite is the finest spatial resolution (375 m) multi-spectral imagery of any operational meteorological satellite to date. The Imagery environmental data record (EDR) has been designated as a Key Performance Parameter (KPP) for VIIRS, meaning that its performance is vital to the success of a series of Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) satellites that will carry this instrument. Because VIIRS covers the high-latitude and Polar Regions especially well via overlapping swaths from adjacent orbits, the Alaska theatre in particular benefits from VIIRS more than lower-latitude regions. While there are no requirements that specifically address the quality of the EDR Imagery aside from the VIIRS SDR performance requirements, the value of VIIRS Imagery to operational users is an important consideration in the Cal/Val process. As such, engaging a wide diversity of users constitutes a vital part of the Imagery validation strategy. The best possible image quality is of utmost importance. This paper summarizes the Imagery Cal/Val Team’s quality assessment in this context. Since users are a vital component to the validation of VIIRS Imagery, specific examples of VIIRS imagery applied to operational needs are presented as an integral part of the post-checkout Imagery validation.

Dust outflows off Northwest Africa often propagate westward across the North Tropical Atlantic Basin (NTAB) into the greater Caribbean and US. From a health perspective, weather forecasters in these regions often monitor hazardous air quality associated with this dust. However, forecasters can be constrained by sparse data observations upwind over the Atlantic of the impacted populated areas. Global satellite sounding retrievals can potentially augment and enhance the operational forecasting toolkit for monitoring Saharan dust episodes. The focus of this paper was to examine the skill of the NOAA Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System (NUCAPS) temperature and water vapor profiles within the dust and non-dust conditions during the March 2019 NOAA Aerosols and Ocean Science Expedition (AEROSE). During this time, the NOAA Ron Brown research ship launched radiosondes to coincide with satellite overpasses that served as independent ground truth data for evaluating NUCAPS. Compared to RAOBs from the Ron Brown, the SNPP and NOAA-20 NUCAPS-derived soundings showed skill in profiling atmospheric conditions supporting Saharan dust monitoring. Outside of dust regions, the NOAA-20 NUCAPS surface temperature bias peaks at 2.0 K; the surface water vapor bias is minimal (~1000 hPa), with a small cold bias that peaks at −50% between 742 and 790 hPa. Corresponding temperature RMS values are less than 2.0 K; water vapor RMS values are generally below 70%. Within the dust regions, NOAA-20 NUCAPS temperature soundings show a cold bias peak of 2.6 K at 918 hPa and 113% of a moist bias peak at the same level. Corresponding temperature RMS values maximize at 3.5 K at 945 hPa; the water vapor RMS shows a peak value of 106% at the same level. Weather forecasters can apply NUCAPS across the NTAB in issuing timely and accurate hazardous air quality warnings and visibility alerts to health officials and the general public.