A Demonstration of Three-Satellite Stereo Winds

Abstract

Stereo tracking of clouds from multiple satellites permits the simultaneous retrieval of an atmospheric motion vector (“wind”) and its height in the atmosphere. The direct measurement of height is a major advantage of stereo methods over observations made from a single satellite where the height must be inferred from infrared brightness temperatures. A pair of operational geostationary satellites over the Americas provides stereo coverage where their two fields of view intersect. Stereo coverage can be extended to nearly a full hemisphere with a third satellite. We demonstrate this configuration with the operational GOES-R constellation of GOES-16 (east) and GOES-17 (west) augmented by GOES-18 in its central test slot and use the 500-m resolution Advanced Baseline Imager Band 2. We examine the consistency of the pairwise products created from GOES-18 and -16 versus GOES-18 and -17 and create a fused triple-GOES product that spans nearly the full hemisphere seen from GOES-18. We also examine the retrieval of ground points observed under clear skies and compare their retrievals to zero speed and known terrain heights. The results are compatible with a wind accuracy about 0.1 m/s with height assignment uncertainty of 175 m.

A GEO-GEO Stereo Observation of Diurnal Cloud Variations over the Eastern Pacific

“…Notably, the 3D-Wind algorithm has been developed for the pairings between H8/H9 and GOES-West (G17/G18) and GOES-West (G17/G18) and GOES-East (G16). More recently, the algorithm has been demonstrated for H8-GK2A pairing [22] and triple GEO (G16-G17-G18) stereo [23]. The future 3D-Wind developments include the pairing between GOES-East and the newly launched MTG-l1 (Meteosat Third Generation-Imaging 1).…”