'DEAR-ABII': GOES-R ABI Offers Practical Advice to the Weather Community

The Advanced Baseline Imagers (ABI) on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R series, now operational as GOES-16 (East) and GOES-17 (West), fulfill long-awaited promises for spectral capabilities on the geostationary platform on par with those of polar-orbiting satellites. With its 16 bands distributed 0.4-14 mm, including multiple bands in the visible and near infrared, ABI provides a 3-fold increase in spectral resolution, a 4-fold increase in spatial resolution, and over 5-fold increase in temporal resolution over the previous generation GOES imager. The rich suite of applications enabled by this revolutionary imagery represents a boon to operational National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters. This presentation highlights results of multi-spectral imagery applications developed for GOES-R ABI, including GeoColor, offering the first geostationary-based true color imagery over the U.S. in 50 years, value-added imagery for lofted dust, snow cover, active fires, and other environmental parameters of high value to forecasters. These developments are part of a recently initiated research project, sponsored by the GOES-R Program Office—Developing an Environmental Awareness Repertoire of ABI Imagery ('DEAR-ABII'). Crafted with the objective of advising the operational weather forecaster, DEAR-ABII takes advantage of the tremendous information content offered by GOES-16 (and the forthcoming GOES-17) in terms of spatial, temporal, spectral, and radiometric resolution. The information is distilled into a suite of visually intuitive and value-added imagery products, displayable on both public websites (e.g., http://rammb-slider.cira.colostate.edu) as well as the operational display systems of the NWS, including the next-generation Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS-II).