Cal/Val Activities at CIRA
Don Hillger
NOAA/NESDIS, SaTellite Applications and Research
(STAR)
Regional And Mesoscale Meteorology Branch (RAMMB)
Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA)
Fort Collins CO 80523-1375
http://www.cira.colostate.edu
hillger@cira.colostate.edu
Don.Hillger@noaa.gov
Cal/Val Activities at CIRA
Global Microwave Surface Emissivity Error Analysis
PI: Dr. Andrew S. Jones
Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation and
DoD Army Research Lab Support
• Conduct error analysis
and validation related to
the NESDIS Microwave
Emissivity Model (MEM)
for AMSU and future
sensors.
• AMSU-B antenna pattern
correction developed,
removes a bias for
retrievals and data
assimilation.
Cal/Val Activities at CIRA
Retrieved 23 - 150 GHz AMSU emissivity
Global Cloudiness: Nearly Constant in Time from ISCCP
Observations
G. Garrett Campbell and Thomas H. Vonder Haar
ISCCP
VIS + IR
ISCCP IR
AVHRR
ISCCP Cloudiness (50 N – 50 S)
for 1983 – 2001 shows a
downwards trend of 3 % /
decade. Is this a real trend?
Cal/Val Activities at CIRA
Investigations center on
changing geo view angle
through time and calibration
transfer errors from each
new instrument
CloudSat Data Processing Center at CIRA
CloudSat is a first-ever 94 GHz
cloud profiling radar scheduled
for launch in Sept 2005. It will fly
in formation with the NASA Aqua
satellite, a lidar, and other
satellites. The primary science
objective of CloudSat is to
improve the representation of
clouds in models. CloudSat will
provide a new view of Earth’s
clouds which can be used to
validate other satellite products
as well. CIRA is the data
processing center for CloudSat
and related ancillary data.
http://cloudsat.atmos.colostate.edu
Cal/Val Activities at CIRA
http://cloudsat.cira.colostate.edu
Scientific Stewardship of Water Vapor Climate Data
Records – A Pilot Study
• Goal: Explore stewardship of the NASA Water Vapor
Project (NVAP) global water vapor dataset. Compare with
the new Aqua measurements (AIRS/AMSR) to look for
biases in sensors. Supported by NOAA.
SSMI(3)
ATOVS
AMSU
TOVS
0
SSM/T2
Cal/Val TPW
Activities
0
20at CIRA
40
20
30
40
50
60
70mm
Global Merged Total
Precipitable Water
TMI
60
10
80mm
Talk tomorrow
afternoon by
John Forsythe
Validation of CIRA Tropical Cyclone
Algorithms
Julie Demuth, Mark DeMaria, John Knaff,
Kotaro Bessho, Kimberly Mueller, and Ray Zehr
Additional collaboration: CIMSS, JTWC, NCEP/EMC,
NCEP/TPC, NESDIS/OSDPD, NESDIS/SAB, NRLMRY
Three TC Research Efforts:
1. Intensity and wind radii estimation using AMSU
2. 2-D surface wind retrieval using AMSU
3. Wind structure estimation using IR
Funding for all 3 projects provided by NOAA; the Japanese Meteorological
Agency also provided some support for K. Bessho
Cal/Val Activities at CIRA
Use of GPS for Validation of
Microwave Moisture Retrievals over
Land
Matt Nielsen
Department of Atmospheric Science
Colorado State University
(M.S. July 2005 under Tom Vonder Haar)
• GPS TPW is compared to AMSU retrievals
• GPS aids evaluations of satellite TPW because of
high temporal coverage
Cal/Val Activities at CIRA
GOES-N Science Tests
(Part of GOES-N Post Launch Testing
(PLT))
 GOES-N to be launched in 2005 hopefully (latest date 28 July),
operational mid-2008
 (GOES-O to be launched in 2007, operational in 2009)
 Science Tests led by ORA/STAR thru RAMMB/Ft. Collins (D.
Hillger), ASPB/Madison (T. Schmit), and OPDB/Washington (J.
Daniels)
 Acquire, display, and save PLT radiance data on RAMSDIS at CIRA,
as well as at CIMSS
 Checkout of data quality (noise, striping, etc.) due to better calibration
(colder detectors, longer blackbody look)
 Test GOES-N thru eclipse and keep-out-zones
 GOES-N Science Tests Website:
http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/projects/goes_n/
 NOAA Tech Report summarizing PLT results
Cal/Val Activities at CIRA
hillger@cira.colostate.edu OR Don.Hillger@noaa.gov
Summary of changes:
GOES-N/O/P instrument changes
- GOES-N post-launch check-out is upcoming
- better calibration (longer blackbody looks)
- better resolution of the 13.3 µm on GOES-O/P
GOES-N/O/P bus changes
- no spring and fall eclipse outages
- reduced Keep Out Zone outages
- better calibration (colder detectors)
- better navigation (earth sensor -> star tracker)
GOES-8/12
GOES-N/P
Cal/Val Activities at CIRA
Cal/Val Activities at CIRA