Forecaster Evaluations of High Temporal Satellite Imagery for the GOES-R Era at the NWS Operations Proving Ground

Abstract

etween February and April of 2015, the National Weather Service (NWS) Operations Proving Ground (OPG) facilitated an evaluation of the usefulness of 1-min satellite imagery for NWS operations in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R (GOES-R) series era. The overarching goal of the evaluation was to provide quantitative and qualitative guidance to NWS management, including the regional NWS Scientific Services division chiefs, on how satellite imagery with a refresh rate of 1 min impacts NWS forecaster decision-making. During the simulations, forecasters evaluated 1- and 5-min satellite imagery while completing tasks ranging from aviation forecasting and wildfire decision support services to monitoring where convective initiation would occur and integrating the imagery into the convective warning decision-making process. Feedback was gathered to assess if the satellite imagery had influence on forecaster decision-making, if the satellite imagery provided them with more confidence in making those decisions, if forecasters could assimilate the data into operational practices, and if there were adverse impacts on forecaster workload. Forecasters overwhelmingly were of the opinion that 1-min satellite imagery improved their ability and increased their confidence to make effective forecast and warning decisions. The majority of participants expressed that they were able to internally assimilate the imagery with ease. However, feedback gathered when forecasters were asked how useful and easy the imagery was to use in convective warning operations was mixed. Some forecasters expressed difficulty integrating both satellite imagery and radar data while issuing convective warnings. Others felt that with ample training and experience the imagery would be invaluable in warning operations.