Value of Future GOES to USAF Operations

1. Value of Future GOES to USAF Operations John Zapotocny Chief Scientist, Air Force Weather Agency GOES-R User’s Conference - May 2004

2. Overview • AF Weather mission and customers • Imager interests • Space environment interests • Sounder interests • Specialized sensors • Satellite operations • Deployed vs. Central users

3. AFW Mission “Air Force Weather, as part of the Joint team, delivers accurate, relevant, and timely environmental information, products, and services, anywhere in the world. We directly impact decision superiority by enhancing predictive battlespace awareness and enabling commanders at all levels to anticipate and exploit the battlespace environment, from the mud to the sun.”

4. AFWA Backup for NOAA • Storm Prediction Center (NCEP/SPC) • Aviation Weather Center (NCEP/AWC) • Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers (VAAC) • Washington DC • Anchorage AK • NCEP regional modeling (NCEP/EMC) • Space Environment Center (SEC)

5. AFW Customers Air Force and Army Warfighters National Command Authorities Base/Post Weather Units Intelligence Community US Army US Navy US Air Force USPACOM USEUCOM USSPACECOM NORAD USSTRATCOM USTRANSCOM USSOCOM USCENTCOM USSOUTHCOM USARPAC USACOM USAFE USCINCPAC Coalition Allies

6. AFW Organization • Relevant/Timely Support to All Levels National Command Authority to Air Force and Army Units Integrated Aerospace Capabilities (Terrestrial and Space) Data Available Globally Same Ops - Peace and War Tiered Production Collaboration Among Weather and C2 Nodes Strategic Center • Global Data Collection • Global Analyses/Forecasts • Global Dissemination • Global/Mission Tailored Apps AFWA-Offutt (Aerospace Weather) AFCCC JTWC • Theater Data Collection • Theater/Regional Analyses/Fcasts • Theater/Regional Dissemination • Theater/Mission Tailored Apps 8 OWSs Worldwide Warfighter USAFE OWS Sembach AB, Germany Mission Information • First-in/Small Footprint • Mission Tailored Applications • Mission Tailored Wx Support • Local Weather Sensing • Local Dissemination ~219 CWTs Worldwide Mission Exploitation/Impacts AF, Army, Special Operation Forces Aviano AFB 16 AF/South Weather Data/Products Command Posts FCF (ATC, FO) Fixed and Deployed Ops

7. AFW Areas of Responsibility

8. Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) • AFW has similar interests and priorities as other users of new ABI capabilities • Aviation forecasting, severe weather, etc. • Detection of aerosols/thin cirrus/volcanic ash important to USAF operations

9. Gridded Analysis of total cloud amount ABI Interests • Automated cloud depiction (CDFS II) • Hourly analyses and forecasts of 3-D cloud layers worldwide from polar and geo satellite data • Additional channels and better resolution will improve detection and characterization • Fine-scale numerical modeling improved by direct radiance assimilation to specify cloud and moisture patterns

10. Low-light Imaging • AFW has long experience with low-light visible imaging on DMSP • DMSP provides visible cloud images into twilight and with lunar illumination (>25%) • Low-light imaging on GOES can • Extend useful visible data by 2-3 hours/day • If sensitive enough nighttime fires or other anomalous lights can be detected (aurora, etc)

11. GOES-East 1 Sept 00 0915 UTC (scan start) 0925 UTC (image time) Atlantic Ocean Approximate terminator Brazil 600 n. mi. GOES-East near dawn

12. DMSP F-13 1 Sept 00 0926 UTC Atlantic Ocean Approximate terminator Brazil 600 n. mi. DMSP near dawn

13. DMSP Nighttime Image 89% Lunar Illumination Fishing fleets Lunar Illumination

14. MAGNETOSPHERE 30+ Satellites S E A M L E S S E N V I R O N M E N T DSP MILSTAR DSCS RADIATION BELTS 25+ Satellites Electromagnetic Radiation GPS Geomagnetic Storm THERMOSPHERE 25+ Satellites DMSP Scintillation High Energy Particles SHUTTLE MESOSPHERE IONOSPHERE STRATOSPHERE U-2 Solar Radio Burst TROPOSPHERE Space Environment

15. Space Environment Solar Corona Solar Wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Ultimately depends on what’s happening on the Sun

16. Solar X-Ray Imager Interests • AF Weather has mission to provide space weather analyses, forecasts, and warnings to DoD operators and decision makers • Continued reliance on X-ray and energetic particle sensors for real-time warnings • Solar X-Ray Imager (SXI) improves AFW capabilities for monitoring and forecasting solar events

17. Advanced Baseline Sounder (ABS) • ABS will provide RAOB-quality soundings with very high temporal and spatial resolution • Direct radiance assimilation into NWP models will be in wide use by GOES-R+ era • Ensemble methods  Targeted observation processing • Better for training missions in US, operations over Western Hemisphere, Homeland Security, backup for NWS centers

18. Special Events Imager (SEI) • High-resolution (300m) multi-spectral depiction of short-term events • Volcanic plumes, dust, fog, floods, clouds, etc. • Reasonably short reaction time (notification to first data) important • Offers details and temporal coverage not available from other satellites

19. Volcanic Ash Plume Analysis Volcanic Ash Cloud Kyushu Sakura-jima Volcano DMSP F12 Fine Imagery

20. Dust/Fog/Aerosol Monitoring

21. Lightning Mapper • AFW interested in intra/inter-cloud (IC) lightning for flight safety • Thunderstorm forecasts required for areas outside of current detection equipment • Most systems only detect cloud-to-ground (CG) strikes in/near CONUS • Need IC lightning detection, OCONUS coverage

22. Scan Strategy Impact • AF Weather often forecasts for regions with limited conventional data and relies heavily on satellite obs • Reduced scanning of South America has negative impacts on forecasting ability • US Southern Command users can’t receive data for their areas of responsibility • Southern Hemisphere cloud analyses and forecasts have reduced input data • Full-disk every 15 min meets MJCS 154-86 DoD requirements

23. Strategic Center Users • Require best data available • High-rate Imagery Transmission (HRIT) or GVAR equivalent • More flexible on antenna size and complexity

24. AFWA Metsat Data Sources AF Satellite Control Network Sites: Thule, Greenland (POGO) New Boston, NH (BOSS) Kaena Point, HI (HULA) NOAA CDA Site:Fairbanks, AK (FAIR) NOAA Command and Data Acquisition Sites: Fairbanks, AK (FAIR) Wallops Island, VA (WALL) NOAA DMSP Polar DOMSAT-E/W AFWA NESDIS DOMSAT-E DOMSAT-W NASA Wallops Island, VA(NOAA) Lannion,France(EUMETSAT) Fairbanks/NOAA Site Indian MetDept Geostationary Meteosat-5 GOES-P GOES-W GOES-E INSAT-1D Meteosat-7

25. Deployed Users • Lightweight, portable, rugged equipment for remotely deployed units lacking reach-back connectivity • Receive antenna should not require tracking and be easily aligned • Low-rate Imagery Transmission (LRIT) likely to be signal of choice • Data will also be available via network reach-back (JMIST concept) • Key downlink nodes with HRIT ingest/processing capability stage data for network access

26. JMIST Support Concept Direct Read Out NIPRNET Polar Geo Unclass SATCOM Inject site Unclass SATCOM Receive site MIVB Data Server MIVB Processor Recorded Read Out Client Workstation OWS Webs MIVB Data Server AFWA Worldwide DB Deployed User Workstations JAAWIN Guard OWS Classified Server C2 Classified Server Deployed User Workstations Secure SATCOM Receive Site Secure SATCOM Inject Site SIPRNET C2 Users

27. JMIST Client Software All Mission Capable!

28. Summary • Air Force Weather requirements similar to NOAA/NWS and NOAA/SEC for GOES data • Continued importance of direct readout capability by lightweight ground systems but future emphasis on network reach-back to key downlink nodes • New terrestrial and space environment sensors (LM, SXI, SEI) will have significant operational benefits within USAF

29. Questions?