Assessment of the GOES-16 Clear Sky Mask Product over the Contiguous USA Using CALIPSO Retrievals.

ABSTRACT: Cloud initialization is a challenge in numerical weather prediction. Probably the most relevant observations for this task come from geostationary satellites. These satellites provide the cloud mask with high spatio-temporal resolution and low latencies. The low latency is an attractive option for nowcasting systems such as the solar irradiance nowcasting model MAD-WRF. In this study we examine the potential of using the cloud mask from the GOES-16 satellite over the contiguous U.S. for this particular application. With this aim, the GOES-16 cloud mask product is compared against CALIPSO retrievals during a two year period. Both the GOES-16 data and the CALIPSO retrievals are interpolated to a grid that covers the contiguous U.S. at 9 km of horizontal grid spacing that is being used in MAD

SUBMITTER: Jimenez PA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8243760 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature