Development of Satellite Products for the Battlespace

1. Development of Satellite Products for the Battlespace Stan Kidder and Adam Kankiewicz

2. Objective Develop products based on satellite observations to allow a precise determination of the state of the battlespace

3. Outline • Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) products • GOES Products in support of CLEX-10 • Validation of products using CloudSat and CALIPSO data

4. Meteosat Second Generation Products Reported in November 2005 on products developed for AFWA and delivered via a Lockheed/Martin contract. Recently applied (and updated) the algorithms to the Mideast and developed a real-time Web site (http://products.cira.colostate.edu/MSG/Mideast) for DoD use and comment. Gave a VTC seminar on the products on 12 September 2006

5. MSG Channels

6. Products To Be Discussed MSG Cloud Product 10.8 µm Brightness Temperature Dust Product Precipitating Cores Skin Temperature Cloud Mask Cloud Phase / Icing

7. Daytime MSG Cloud Product • (Red, Green, Blue) = 255*(A1.6, A0.8, A0.6) • Liquid water clouds are highly reflective at all three wavelengths and therefore appear white • Ice clouds are highly reflective at 0.8 and 0.6 µm, but poorly reflective at 1.6 µm. They therefore appear cyan in the resulting image. DoD Relevance: A theater-level awareness of the location and phase of clouds is important for DoD operations

8. Nighttime MSG Cloud Product • 3.9 µm albedo • Liquid water clouds are reflective at 3.9 µm and therefore appear white • Thin ice clouds transmit radiation from below and therefore appear to have a negative albedo (and are black in the imagery) • Some soils (northern Sinai) are bright as is thick cirrus Current Example

9. 10.8 µm Brightness Temperature • A standard product—one of several products that a forecaster might want to look at to interpret the scene • Clouds colder than −20°C are colored in 10 K increments Current Example DoD Relevance: Brightness temperature is a time-tested product to aid EOTDA planning.

10. Dust Product • EUMETSAT Product • R=T12.0 – T10.8G=T10.8 – T8.7 B=T10.8 • Dust is pink and moves • Low clouds, unfortunately, are also pink and they move • Thin cirrus is blue • Thick cirrus is dark red Current Example DoD Relevance: Dust storms continue to be a major problem for DoD operations

11. Precipitating Cores • Identifies deep, cold clouds which are likely to be precipitating. • Water vapor is used to screen out low clouds • Precipitation clouds (green) are those for which T10.8 – T6.2 < 11 K (an empirically determined threshold). Current Example DoD Relevance: Heavy rain is a problem for aviation and for MASINT.

12. Skin Temperature • Uses the algorithm of Price (1984), modified for MSG channels • Tskin = T10.8 + 2.5 (T10.4 – T12.0) Current Example DoD Relevance: Skin temperature is important for infrared background and personnel health

13. Cloud Mask • Uses 8.7 µm channel • The warmest pixel in the previous 10 days is used as a background • Pixels colder than the background are cloudy • Over land, DT = 8 K • Over water, DT = 4 K • Some clouds are missed Current Example DoD Relevance: A cloud/no cloud map is useful for generating other products.

14. Cloud Phase / Icing • Starts with the 8.7 µm cloud mask • Ice clouds (white) are those for which • T10.8 < −30°C (day or night) or • Clouds are “cyan” in MSG Cloud Product (day) • Clouds are “black” in MSG Cloud Product (night) DoD Relevance: Icing continues to be a problem for aircraft and UAV operations.

15. Cloud Phase / Icing • All clouds which are not ice clouds are liquid water clouds • Warm liquid water clouds (>0°C, yellow) are safe to fly in • Cold liquid water clouds (≤0°C, red) represent an icing hazard Current Example

16. GOES Products in Support of CLEX-10:A prototype for specialized operations • If one has access to the satellite data, products to support operations can be quickly set up. • http://amsu.cira.colostate.edu/CLEX10

17. Current Work • CloudSat and CALIPSO offer a golden opportunity to verify cloud algorithms.

18. Mixed-Phase Clouds Viewed By MODIS/CloudSat/CALIPSO A 7/19/06 22:45 UTC MODIS 11 µm Iraq Iran Saudi Arabia Persian Gulf B

19. Mixed-Phase Clouds Viewed By MODIS/CloudSat/CALIPSO A VIIRS Cloud Phase B

20. 10 10 10 5 5 5 Height (km) Height (km) Height (km) 0 0 0 CloudSat Radar Reflectivity (dBZ) A B CloudSat Cloud Mask -30 -20 -10 0 CALIPSO 532 nm Backscatter

21. Summary & Conclusions • A set of cloud products can be quickly developed to support current contingencies • Examination of the real-time products often reveals deficiencies in the algorithms • CloudSat and CALIPSO data offer a way forward

22. Preliminary CloudSat Data AnalysisJuly 2006 Definitions: • Cloud — a range bin with Cloud_Mask >= 20 • Cloud Top— a cloudy range bin with a non-cloudy range bin immediately above it • Cloud-Top Temperature— the temperature in the ECMWF analysis at the same height as the cloud top

23. Mixed-phase defined as cloud tops with temps between 0°C and -45°C from ECMWF fields Few mixed-phase clouds in tropics and subtropics; many in the mid- and high latitudes Latitudinal Distribution

24. All latitudes Fairly uniform distribution in the troposphere Cloud-Top Height Distribution

25. Quite a uniform distribution with perhaps a few more at very cold and very warm temperatures Cloud-Top Temperature

26. Most mixed-phase clouds are thin The long tail is puzzling, perhaps an artifact of the analysis Cloud Thickness

27. Slightly fewer mixed-phase clouds at night (0130 LT) than in the daytime (1330 LT) Day/Night Distribution

28. Cloud = CloudSat Cloud Mask >= 20 Cloud-Top Temp between -5°C and -40°C All latitudes, day and night Probably shows ice crystal growth below cloud top Contoured Frequency by Altitude Diagram (CFAD)

29. Conclusions and Future Plans • We should be able to get a near global picture of mid-level, mixed-phase clouds using CloudSat, CALIPSO, and MODIS data • We will be analyzing CALIPSO data soon (They were released on Monday, Dec. 11) • A detailed study of CLEX-10/C3VP cases will take place • We hope to use these data to improve modeling of mid-level, mixed-phase clouds