| |June 20188CIOReviewver since the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957, arti-ficial satellites have been sending back streams of information vital to navigation, communications, and as-tronomy. Not least among the data have been observations about Earth's weather patterns. Now, next-genera-tion advances are sending key infor-mation that may soon lead to a better understanding of severe storms. A recently launched satellite known as GOES-16, the first of the GOES-R series of satellites, is bringing sharper insights about lightning and other factors that shed light on the timing, track, and intensity of such storms. But what goes into a cutting-edge forecast, and how do forecasters predict the weather? Later this year, validated GOES-16 data will begin flowing to weather models and fore-casters. The improved reso-lution and higher refresh rate of the GOES-16 imagery--every 10 min-utes or less--should immediately be-come apparent, providing a smooth-er and more revealing depiction of the weather. (Look for those images in weather reports in early 2018.) Somewhat subtler will be improve-ments in weather forecasts, which depend on GOES-16 data. Over time, the higher-quality, higher-res-olution GOES-16 data products are expected to provide improvements in accuracy and lead times for forecasts of critical weather phenomena--im-provements intended to affect pub-lic safety, industry, transportation, and agriculture.Models MatterMany people know that weather fore-casts are based on computer models. The models themselves start with data describing the current atmospheric state, information routinely gathered from surface observations, weather balloons, and satellites. Two key sat-ellites for predicting the weather over the Americas are GOES-13 (GOES-East) and GOES-15 (GOES-West), operated by the National Oceanic and Atmos-pheric Administration (NOAA). The obser-vations from those satellites represent critical informa-tion used by a diverse set of national and international weather forecast centers. (GOES-16 will replace GOES-13 in November 2017).GOES stands for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satel-lite. Geostationary means that the satellite orbits Earth at the same rate Earth rotates around its own axis, so it always appears to be located above a fixed point on the ground along Earth's equator. The GOES pro-gram started in 1975 with GOES-1. GOES-East, located over the equator at a longitude of 75 degrees west, can view the East Coast and much of the Midwest and monitor the tropical Atlantic regions that generate many hurricanes. GOES-West is located at 135 degrees west to view the western states and out into the Pacific Ocean, tracking the powerful Pacific storms that regularly affect the West Coast.More Data, Better ForecastsThe first GOES satellite in the R series launched on November 19, 2016, and was renamed GOES-16 upon reaching orbit. A GOES sat-ellite consists of different types of sensors designed to measure various geophysical properties of the atmos-phere, oceans, land, and space. The advanced GOES-R instrumenta-tion will significantly increase the timeliness, accuracy, and reliability of those measurements. Improved information about clouds and wind from the Advanced Baseline Im-ager (ABI), a sophisticated camera that records both visible and infra-red images, will improve short-term weather forecasts.The Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM), a new type of cam-era designed specifically to record lightning flashes, provides the first-ever continuous, hemispheric-wide measurement of lightning, a key indi-cator of severe storm formation. To-gether, the improved measurements from ABI and GLM will increase the warning lead time for severe thun-derstorms and tornadoes and provide improved hurricane tracking and in-tensity forecasts. Additional sensors will provide information about solar flares and Earth's near-space envi-ronment, leading to warnings about EYE IN THE SKY: CUTTING-EDGE WEATHER DATA CAN HELP ASSESS STORM RISKBy Hilary E. Snell, VP of the satellite programs division & Manager, Verisk Analytics [NASDAQ:VRSK]Hilary E. SnellIN MY OPINIONE
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