Satellite Data Requirements and the Geonetcast Americas in Region III and IV. (Submitted by Luiz A. T. Machado and Diego Souza, INPE)

Transcription

1 WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION COMMISSION FOR BASIC SYSTEMS OPEN PROGRAMME AREA GROUP ON INTEGRATED OBSERVING SYSTEMS INTER-PROGRAMME EXPERT TEAM ON SATELLITE UTILIZATION AND PRODUCTS IPET-SUP-4/Doc (20.I.2018) ITEM: FOURTH SESSION GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, 26 FEBRUARY 1 MARCH 2018 Original: ENGLISH Satellite Data Requirements and the Geonetcast Americas in Region III and IV (Submitted by Luiz A. T. Machado and Diego Souza, INPE) Summary and Purpose of Document Formulating Region-based requirements for satellite data access and exchange has been recognized by WMO as a priority (see WMO Executive Council Resolution 12 (EC-65, 2013)). The last face-to-face meeting of the Coordination Group on Satellite Data Requirements in Region III and Region IV (SDR) was held in New York in July The Group also held 2 teleconferences since the last IPET-SUP-3. This document describes the initiatives and actions taken in the last face to face meetings and teleconferences meetings, as well the preparation for the new satellite generation and the evolution of the studies to use GEONETCast-Americas (GNC-A) to deliver GOES-16 and JPSS data. The session is invited to: ACTION PROPOSED (a) Take note of the Group s achievements and decisions; (b) To discuss the training needs and agenda; (c) To discuss the SDR evolution and next steps. Appendices: A. Report of the 3 rd Meeting of the Coordination Group on Satellite Data Requirements for RA III and RA IV, New York City, New York, USA, 16 and 19 July Appendices: B. Training Requirements of RA III.

2 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 2 DISCUSSION Introduction In November 2012, the WMO Secretary General asked all Members in RA III and RA IV to nominate candidates for a standing Regional Coordination Group on Satellite Data Requirements (SDR) as a followup step from the successively concluded work of a predecessor Task Team. Since 2013 the group meet twice during the NOAA Satellite Conference (2013 and 2017) and in Curacao in Besides the faceto-face meetings, twenty-three teleconferences were held, and several actions were taken. Among these actions, the group, discussed: the strategies to receive data from the new satellite generation, conducted two surveys, created and updated the list of satellite data requirements for the region, prepared the main topics to be covered in training activities, define the requirements for visualization software and selected the data to receive from the new NOAA geostationary and polar satellites. In this document, we present the main achievements obtained by the SDR Group in 2017 and present an update on the Geonetcast Americas. 1) Satellite Data Requirements meetings After the IPET-SUP-3, the satellite Data Requirements (SDR) meet by Teleconference twice, the 22 th teleconference in 20 June 2017 and the 23 th teleconference in 26 September I addition a face to face meeting, the third SDR meeting, was held during the NOAA Conference in New York the 16 and 19 July All these meetings were very important to users and data providers exchange experience, prepare for the next satellite generation, express their requirements and understand the regional issues. The 22 th teleconference was very important to prepare the face-to-face meeting, this meeting approved the agenda and presented the GOES-16 updates. The face-to-face meeting (see Appendix A) discussed several topics related to the geostationary and polar new satellites generation. There were participants from 18 countries in RA III and IV (see annex A), as well as NOAA and EUMETSAT representatives. The topics covered by the meeting included: a) GOES-16 data distribution, b) Geonetcast, c) data requirements, d) preparation for JPSS, e) visualization software and f) training activities. The meeting was very useful to prepare the region for GOES-16, to discuss the main data to be delivered by Geonetcast Americas, to understand and propose solutions for the regional issues to receive GOES-16, and the discontinuity of GOES-13. The 23 th teleconference discussed the JPSS data to be included in the Geonetcast Americas data stream, the training needs and the data access through PDA. A Table with the training requested for the region was developed and will be used to prepare the next trainings in RA III and IV (see Appendix B). The SDR activities (teleconferences and face to face meetings) are proving to have an important impact in on regional operational weather services related to satellite data. There is an effective improvement in satellite data use, the data and information exchange between services was improved, and discussion channels among data providers and data users were established. The considerable change in new satellite generation, as data format, reception devices and science-operation, was done very smoothly without service discontinuation. This proves the effectiveness of the SDR accomplishing with its goals and providing an example of Region-based organization to foster constant dialogue between users and data providers. However, with the new satellite generation flying and data being broadly used, the SDR should continue be active to maintain this dialogue and to establish new goals. A new strategy plan should be prepared for the next decade. 2) GEONETCast-Americas Community Development The community currently has 78 operational GNC-A stations in 19 countries (Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and USA). Their location and a photo of most stations can be seen at the updated Community Map, below.

3 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 3 Fig. 1: Updated GEONETCast-Americas Community Map (February 2018) New stations are planned for the next months at SSEC (USA), CIRA (USA), SDC (Brazil), MSC (Canada) and SMN (Argentina). SDC, MSC and SMN already have all the equipment. 3) EUMETCast-Americas to GEONETCast-Americas conversion In the last year, four stations were converted from EUMETCast-Americas to GEONETCast-Americas, at DMH-DINAC (Paraguay), LAPIS (Brazil), INPE-DSA (Brazil) and ONAMET (Dominican Republic). We have two more EUMETCast-Americas stations being converted, in Canada and Argentina. The simplified conversion scheme followed by these users may be found at the picture below:

4 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 4 Fig. 2: EUMETCast-Americas to GEONETCast-Americas conversion steps 4) GEONETCast-Americas Bandwidth Increase On April 21th 2017, the GNC-A transmission bandwidth has been increased from 11.6 Mbps to 12.0 Mbps in preparation for GOES-16 and JPSS imagery and products, along with other product offerings. This is the fourth bandwidth increase in the last three years (2 Mbps originally, 6.7 Mbps, 8.7 Mbps and 11.6 Mbps previously). 5) Addition of JPSS Products to the GNC-A Broadcast A proposal for the addition of JPSS-based data was discussed and developed by the RA-3-4-SDR Group. The initial product list and their order of priority are described below: Fig. 3: JPSS Product list proposal, as discussed by the RA-3-4-SDR Group NOAA allocated 20% of the GNC-A bandwidth to JPSS data. The list above occupies less than 14%, so more products that are not in the list will be added in the near future (e.g.: Vegetation Products). The Day- Night-Band and the I5 Band are already being broadcast to specific stations for bandwidth usage validation purposes and the usage percentage is exactly as estimated. In February, the global hourly blended Total Precipitable Water product will be tested as well. The broadcast of the DNB, I5 and TPW products to the public shall begin in March. In order to maximize bandwidth usage, the VIIRS bands are broadcasted only for the GOES-East footprint (the region of interest is set in the PDA subscription for GNC-A). In addition, the geolocation file for each image is condensed, with less latitude and longitude samples in order to have smaller file sizes. On the other hand, the user is responsible to create the complete geolocation grid. Until the JPSS data is declared operational and available to the public, NPP data is being used in the system for validation and testing. The image below shows the plot of a complete daily pass (more than 300 files) received through GNC-A on February 7. We may see the coverage of the JPSS products that will be available in the system:

5 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 5 Fig. 4: JPSS Product coverage in GNC-A 6) Addition of GOES-16 Products to the GNC-A Broadcast Since July 10 th 2017 at 14:00 UTC, the GOES-16 ABI CMI NetCDF files are being broadcast through GNC-A. Currently, the following bands are available to the public: 02, 07, 08, 09, 13, 14 and 15, every 15 minutes. Fig. 5: GOES-16 Bands available through GEONETCast-Americas since July Apart from the CMI Bands, in the next weeks and months we will have other ABI Baseline Products added to the broadcast, as soon as they reach the Provisional maturity level. The latest status (02/06/2018) for the baseline products can be seen in the picture below:

6 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 6 Fig. 6: GOES-16 L2+ Science Product Validation Status 7) User Requests: Addition of the other 9 CMI bands to the broadcast Some GNC-A users requested the addition of bands 01, 03, 04, 05, 06, 10, 11, 12 and 16 to the broadcast. This action was recommended by the RA-3-4-SDR Group, and documented in the Group s Third Meeting Final Report (recommendations 3.1 and 3.2). An official request from the region would help the process to have the additional data, as there is enough bandwidth for this dissemination, at least during the time the region will have to buy, install and operate the direct readout stations. 8) GEONETCast-Americas New Webpage In November 2017 the official GEONETCast-Americas webpage was redesigned in order to follow the modern standards adopted by NOAA. In the new webpage upper menu, users may find information about Products, Receiving Stations and Publications related to the system.

7 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 7 Fig. 7: New GEONETCast-Americas official webpage 9) Community Outreach The GNC-A system Blog, a webpage containing the latest community updates, documentation and tutorials, is receiving an average of 150 views per day, becoming a reference for users along with the official webpage. Since its beginning in January 2017, the Blog had 25,000 views from more than 100 countries. 10) SIGMACast Development The SIGMACast is a software package that consists of a Geographic Information System (GIS) capable of performing manipulation of images and data from environmental satellites, as well as products and services derived from the Global Earth Observation System of Systems System (GEOSS). The design of this application began in 2014 within a multi-institutional Project supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), designed to develop an integrated hardware / software system capable to receiving, managing, storing, processing, manipulating and visualizing data, images and products received by stations belonging to the GEONETCast-Americas network. The large volume of climatological and meteorological data developed and distributed by various institutions in different formats and spatial and temporal resolutions, and placed at the disposal of the user community by the GEONETCast network; naturally aroused the need to develop a tool of the nature of SIGMACast. In 2017 a new version of the software, with includes the new satellite generation data, has been developed, and should be available to users in the first semester of 2018.

8 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 8 Fig. 8: SIGMACast software showing a GOES-16 image in the satellite projection

9 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 9 Appendix: A W O R L D M E T E O R O L O G I C A L O R G A N I Z A T I O N ============================================================== THIRD MEETING OF THE WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION COORDINATION GROUP ON SATELLITE DATA REQUIREMENTS FOR RA III AND RA IV New York City, New York, USA, 16 and 19 July 2017 FINAL REPORT

10 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 10 WMO General Regulations Regulation 42 Recommendations of working groups shall have no status within the Organization until they have been approved by the responsible constituent body. In the case of joint working groups the recommendations must be concurred with by the presidents of the constituent bodies concerned before being submitted to the designated constituent body. Regulation 43 In the case of a recommendation made by a working group between sessions of the responsible constituent body, either in a session of a working group or by correspondence, the president of the body may, as an exceptional measure, approve the recommendation on behalf of the constituent body when the matter is, in his opinion, urgent and does not appear to imply new obligations for Members. He may then submit this recommendation for adoption by the Executive Council or to the President of the Organization for action in accordance with Regulation 9(5).

11 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 11 WMO COORDINATION GROUP ON SATELLITE DATA REQUIREMENTS FOR REGION IlI AND IV Third Meeting - July 16, NOAA Satellite Conference Back Rows: Diego Souza, DavidBradley, Michael William,sJamesPeront,oDwayneScott, Mitch Goldberg, Edison Cruz, AndreJoyeux, JoséManuel Galvez, BryanThoma,sKathy-AnnCaesa,rGlendell De Souza (hidden) Third Row: Marcial Garbanzo, JorgeChira, EstelaCollin,i Manuela Sanchez Marino, Diego Campos, Gregory Gibson, Bernie Connel,lWilliamAbacr a, Hongming Qi, Stephan Bojinski Second Row: JulianBaez Benite,zVanessaGriffin, Rosario Alfaro, Rodolfo Sanchez Gonzales, Carlos Maldonad,oTom Renkevens, WayneMackenzie Front Row: Luiz Machado, Natalia Donoho

12 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 12 THIRD MEETING OF THE WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION COORDINATION GROUP ON SATELLITE DATA REQUIREMENTS FOR RA III AND RA IV New York City, New York, USA, 16 and 19 July 2017 FINAL REPORT 1. OPENING OF THE SESSION 1.1 Opening (Co-chairs L. Machado, D. Bradley; WMO S. Bojinski) The meeting was opened by the co-chairs of the WMO Coordination Group on Satellite Data Requirements for RA III and RA IV, David Bradley and Luiz Machado. Dave Bradley pointed out the importance of the requirements of users in the Americas, the growing NOAA response over the years to these requirements, and the value of working together in leveraging the experiences of all Members. The training events are one mechanism to prepare users and young scientists. S. Bojinski (WMO) thanked NOAA, CCNY and the U.S.-based Secure World Foundation for hosting the meeting and enabling participants from the Region participate. Mark Paese (NOAA) welcomed participants, stressed the value of interaction between users in the Americas and NOAA within the Group, to provide recommendations to NOAA regarding their dissemination of data and products, and related training activities. A tour-de-table followed (the list of participants is available in Annex 1). 1.2 Adoption of the agenda D. Bradley explained the logic of the draft agenda, and participants accepted it as the meeting agenda (Annex 2). 1.3 Working arrangements D. Bradley explained working arrangements for the meetings. All related documents and presentations are available at The RA-3-4-SDR webpage with all reference and background documents is: areq.html The current RA-3-4-SDR membership is listed in Annex SUMMARY RESULTS OF THE 2nd MEETING AND KEY ISSUES (Co-chairs L. Machado, D. Bradley) L. Machado reviewed the achievements of the Group since 2012, in particular the results of the second meeting in Curaçao in 2016: the roadmap for regional satellite data distribution, and the regional plan for training and capacity building. He stressed that GEONETCast-Americas has become a broadly-used, low-cost data reception mechanism for the Region. He recalled the discussion topics for the session. Simulations of GNC-A through showed that the system could have the capacity to transmit all GOES-16 channels. Recommendations and Actions from the second session were reviewed: 12

13 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 13 RECOMMENDATION 1: The Group should use opportunities such as the Hurricane Committee, the Ibero-American meeting of NMHS and AMS to increase awareness of the issues associated with preparing for GOES-R. G. de Souza noted that at the recent session of the Hurricane Committee, Colombia announced to use GNC-A to foster satellite meteorology. RECOMMENDATION 2: NOAA to inform on their plans to put GOES-R data on the WMO GTS. In 2018, NOAA plans to put GOES-16 AMVs in BUFR format on the GTS. RECOMMENDATION 3: Members of RA-3-4-SDR should work with their national regulatory agencies to ensure the protection of the radiofrequency bands that they require for satellite data reception (and other meteorological applications). RECOMMENDATION 4: NOAA to clarify in what way sectors can be made available on GNC-A. This topic is subject to further discussion in the Group. RECOMMENDATION 5: To ensure rapid interaction between NOAA as the operator of GNC- A and users, one or more RA-3-4-SDR representatives (to be determined) should be members of the GEONETCast-Americas User Group. Diego Souza (INPE Brazil) and Diana Rodriguez (SMN Argentina) are on the GNC-A User Group. ACTION 1: RA-3-4-SDR Training Task Team (Lead: Kathy-Ann Caesar and Estela Collini) to formulate a two-year training plan for the Region, taking into account training needs of the Region (at the level of forecasters, IT personnel, trainers and researchers), and using existing resources and events. This is covered under item 8 of the agenda. Regarding converting EUMETSAT-Americas receivers to GNC-A, Martin Medina noted that such conversion requires a new license for the KenCast Fazzt software, with costs at about 500 USD. Import can be difficult in countries with no local vendor. The possibility of a license negotiated for the Region was raised (see item 6). An overview of current and planned GNC-A, GRB and other data reception mechanisms is provided in Annex 4. The Group noted that only three countries currently had GRB systems up and running (Costa Rica, Chile, and Mexico). 3. GOES-16 DATA FOR THE AMERICAS 3.1 GOES-16 Data Distribution Update (N. Donoho, T. Renkevens) N. Donoho gave an overview of the status of GOES-16 data generation and distribution services. The current list of GRB users in the Americas is based on the NOAA database of registered users. There are new project managers for HRIT/EMWIN (NN) and GEONETCast-Americas (Hongming Qi). The acceptance of new users for data from PDA is currently suspended due to capacity issues (scalability, number of users, information security). Data are available in CLASS about 1-2 hours after observation time, however the response time to a data order may take longer and CLASS 13

14 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 14 does not replace a NRT operational service (on CLASS, M. Garbanzo enquired whether data will only be available for 90 days after acquisition. There are services by Unidata for academic institutions. GOES-16 data distribution over websites is yet to be defined.) GOES-16 and its distribution services are planned to be declared operational in November There will be a period of overlap of GOES-13 and GOES-16. The transition plan will be available in August It is likely that GOES-13 will no longer be in operation by the end of Data on GEONETCast-Americas (H. Qi, D. Souza) H. Qi, who took over from Paul Seymour, presented the status of the GEONETCast-Americas system, the system architecture, and a suite of products on the service. On 10 July 2017, first data from seven channels (2, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15) of GOES-16 ABI data were added. The list of products is available here: Americas%20Product%20Catalog%20-%20V pdf NOAA has expanded the broadcast bandwidth to provide data from upcoming satellite missions to support NMHSs. GOES-16 level 2 products will be added at provisional maturity. GOES-16 ABI CMI data have already reached provisional maturity. SNPP products are currently being evaluated. JPSS-1 is due to be launched in the 4 th quarter of 2017 and some its products were recommended for addition to the GEONETCast-Americas data stream. L. Machado requested that all ABI channels be added to GNC-A, at least until 2018 until more countries are in a position to receive data through GRB and PDA. This would enable users to create the full range of RGBs and products. A lot of times, people don t know what they want until you show it to them. (Steve Jobs) All ABI and GLM data will eventually be available through CLASS. W. MacKenzie emphasized the role of visualization tools to produce RGBs. 3.3 GOES-16 Data Impact on the Current GEONETCast-Americas Broadcast (H. Qi, D. Souza) GOES-S and JPSS data and products should have room on GNC-A, and respectively, programme funds were used to fund the GNC-A bandwidth increase. The exact channels distributed over GNC-A could be revisited, for example adding channel 10 rather than 9. On the question on adding all GOES-16 channels, at least on a temporary basis, V. Griffin stated even the current bandwidth may not be sustainable, and GOES-S (-17) data will be added only about 9 months after GOES-16 will be declared fully operational. The point was raised whether mesoscale sectors outside the US will ever have sufficient priority to be considered; in any case the Group felt such sector data would be great to have available over GNC. In fact, it may be tested with the RELAMPAGO field campaign in Argentina in November- December 2018 that Steve Goodman mentioned. In review of recommendations from NSC 2015, Vanessa Griffin mentioned the increase in bandwidth from 2.1 Mb/sec to 12 Mb/sec to support the transition to GOES-16. The SDR team and the wider user community are very grateful to NOAA for making this happen. Since the 2016 SDR meeting in Curaçao when the 7 GOES-16 channels were recommended for broadcast, viewing of the beta and provisional data has started to reveal other channels that offer valuable information in 14

15 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 15 the forecast process. Examples include use of the 7.3 μm channel 10 low-level water vapour band to detect synoptic weather features, full resolution at 0.5 km for the 0.64 μm visible channel to highlight detailed features in local mesoscale applications, and numerous additional channels to support the creation of the EUMETSAT, JMA, and US NWS-recognized natural colour Red/Green/Blue (RGB) composites. On 10 June 2017 when the provisional GOES-16 CMI data started flowing through GEONETCast-Americas, one user in Cuba and one user in El Salvador immediately sent gif images as examples of successfully receiving the imagery and displaying it with their software. In addition, the user from El Salvador asked where are the rest of the channels so that I can create the RGBs I have been reading about?. This demonstrates the excitement of the users to utilize and explore the new satellite data. Throughout the NSC2017 Conference, there were multiple references to users who have found new ways to use the data. These are valid and important reasons to consider including all 16 GOES-16 ABI CMI channels on the GNC-A broadcast, to continue to support the transition to GOES-16 both in checking the data feed and in providing all the channels for users and trainers to use to become more familiar with their capabilities. RECOMMENDATION 3.1: The Group identified the importance of adding GOES-16 channels 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 16 to GEONETCast-Americas, complementary to the current 7 channels, on a temporary basis, at least until other data streams become available (GOES-S, JPSS). This will help Members to transition to GRB and other data access means. The Group considered whether for better sounding of the water vapour profile, Band 10 should in any case be made available on GNC-A. RECOMMENDATION 3.2: On a permanent basis, the Group recommended to add Band 10 to the GEONETCast-Americas. In the event that a mesoscale sector is placed over Central or South America or the Caribbean, the Group requested that the data be made available though GNC-A. K.-A. Caesar stressed the importance of training to teach countries use manipulated data. S. Bojinski gave credit to Paul Seymour s long-standing support to the Group for NOAA, and wished him well during his retirement. He welcomed Hongming Qi on the Group as his successor. 3.4 Summary of Country-specific Updates on Data reception and User Feedback (Cochairs, Secretariat) S. Bojinski gave an update on the list of data reception equipment existing and planned in RA III/IV (Annex 4). 3.5 Discussion D. Scott emphasized the utility of the Group for improving services. In view of the likely termination of GOES-13 services, and the late procurement of receiving equipment in Peru, J. Chira enquired about a Region-based ftp server for accessing GOES-16 data during the transition from GVAR to GRB. Peru will not have a GNC-A station. Other Members are in a similar situation and may need similar help. ACTION 3.1: The Group to assist Members as needed in applying for access to the PDA. 15

16 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 16 ACTION 3.2: The VLab CoEs to organize a training session in Spanish on accessing NOAA data through PDA and CLASS, once these routes are available. ACTION 3.3: INPE to set up an ftp site where basic imagery from three ABI channels would be made accessible in NRT for countries, on a temporary basis. D. Bradley and L. Machado informed that they use CSPP-GEO together with the GRB antenna, which significantly reduced costs. The Canada example of the tender and system architecture should be provided to the Group. 4. PREPARATION FOR JPSS: DATA AND PRODUCTS (Mitch Goldberg, NOAA) M. Goldberg introduced JPSS. The polar MW sounding constellation has a revisit time of about 1 hour, against the backdrop of GOES-16 high revisiting times. Training is provided on how to use humidity profiles (MW and MW+IR combined) for weather forecasters. Overpass times over the U.S. are in early-afternoon where convective development most often occurs. He recommended MW products for adding onto GNC-A (MIRS ). JPSS should use about 23GB/day on GNC-A, corresponding to a 20% contribution to the GNC-A data rate. He showed examples for using VIIRS imagery and the day-night band for fire detection, other light sources (ships, lights), and sea ice. He also showed the use of VIIRS for flood detection. He provided VIIRS-based recommendations on products to be added to GNC-A. The JPSS program organizes monthly science seminars, and regular trainings, e.g. during the NOAA Satellite Conference. OSPO would calculate the impact of some JPSS-based data on GNC-A. Updated product algorithms will be provided through CSPP for direct readout users. The Group highly appreciated the presentation on JPSS and showed great interest in the data and products. The current list of requirements should be reviewed in view of upcoming JPSS products, and a proposal for replacing and adding new JPSS data and products should be developed. ACTION 3.4: Diego Souza, Mitch Goldberg, and Hongming Qi to review the SDR requirements list in light of forthcoming JPSS data and products, and develop a proposal for replacing and adding JPSS-based data requirements for the Group at its teleconference in September ACTION 3.5: The Group to develop and discuss a proposal for new JPSS-based data and product requirements at its next teleconference in September The Group should communicate its JPSS-related recommendations and priorities to NOAA, by about March Recommendations from Hongming Qi regarding the formulation of priorities are as follows: 1) It will be important to have the priority order list of selected JPSS products. The bandwidth for JPSS products is limited so eventually we will add the products into GNC-A based on this priority order. 2) The coverage. For each selected product, it is important to specify whether users need global coverage product or just granules within an area of interest. We may ask all GNC-A users to decide the boundary of the interested area (North, South, East, West). Now PDA has the functionality to get the granule products based on the boundary of area. 16

17 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 17 3) The product format. For some products like vegetation index and ocean colour etc., do users really need netcdf4 format? Is the image format like jpeg and png ok? If so, it would save some bandwidth 4) Time sensitive. If data and products are not considered time-critical by users, we may not disseminate this kind of product in the high throughput period to avoid the competition of resources with other higher priority products. The Group recommended to get the JPSS presentation shared, for discussion on Wednesday. 5. SUMMARY OF THE DAY 6. CONVERSION OF RECEIVING STATIONS (Eumetcast-Americas to GEONETCast- Americas) 6.1 Technical aspects (D. Souza) D. Souza described the needs for converting EUMETCast-Americas receiving station to receive the GEONETCast-Americas beam. An overview of the conversion procedure was provided: (i) repointing the antenna, (ii) change LNB polarization from left-hand circular to vertical, (iii) keep or upgrade the DVB-S receiver; currently, a DVB-S receiver will suffice, but system will likely move to DVB-S2 very soon. (iv) change from Tellicast-EKD to Fazzt. There are reference documents available. Recently, a station in Dominica was converted. There are about 50 stations in Brazil, and some stations in other countries. Costs as well as the need to import equipment in some countries are inhibiting factors. Some externally-funded project would be needed to support the conversion. ACTION 3.6: EUMETSAT to provide the latest list of EUMETCast-Americas receiving stations to the Group. 7. VISUALIZATION SOFTWARE (SigmaCast etc) (D. Souza & L. Machado) D. Souza described the SIGMACast software, developed to use the GNC-A data. The software is free and open source. It allows overlays, animations for a range of data formats, and can be used in a stand-alone as well as in an institution-wide LAN. Updates will be distributed over GNC-A. Version 3.0 for Linux is available in August, and for Windows in October UCAR was supporting this development, and continuing support will be provided. 8. TRAINING ACTIVITIES AND REGIONAL PLAN (K.A. Caesar, E. Collini) K.-A.. Caesar reported on progress in developing a Region-based training agenda over the next two years. She recalled the recommendations from the Group regarding completion of foundational online courses, development of national training plans, nomination of training focal points. IT support is important and dedicated personnel should be nominated. She quoted the WMO Guideline on Satellite Skills and Knowledge for Operational Meteorologists as a guide for designing training programmes. Argentina and Brazil have formulated training plans, while the Barbados and Costa Rica CoEs are in the process of formulating training plans. The Costa Rica CoE in particular will focus on training on the technical aspects related to satellite data dissemination and product generation as well as the necessary tools to share the training material.. There is the idea to organize regular twice-yearly satellite training events in RA III and RA IV, at RTCs. This should build on satellite GOES-R training conducted by Jose Galvez in Buenos Aires and Chile in late 2017, as a classroom component of the Training Program for the New Generation of Geostationary Satellites at SMN Argentina; these courses (given in Spanish) should be virtualized as much as possible and recorded if facilities permit. She recalled the CGMS-WMO VLab and a summary of its activities in Focus is on nextgeneration satellites. 17

18 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 18 L. Machado called for an integrated training plan for the Region, to maximize the utility of training and its effectiveness. More countries need to respond and express their training needs (forecasters, IT personnel on hardware and software), otherwise training. NOAA recently formed a GOES-R International Training Working Group (GITWG), that was established to provide a focal point between NOAA NESDIS/NWS and the international users in responding to training requests from RA III and IV. ACTION 3.7: G. de Souza to coordinate a poll among Members in RA III and RA IV on their satellite-related training needs, through the WMO Presidents of the Region. E. Madsen explained the plan to design a regular training programme for the Region over the next 5-6 years, which should include the regular organization of training events in RA III and RA IV (one in each Region per year). Those events would be announced 8-9 months in advance and be coordinated with other training activities. The training programme would include pre-training mandatory modules, post-training work etc. The GITWG would serve as NOAA s focal point for supporting these training events. WMO is organizing a meeting of Directors of Regional Training Centres (RTCs) in the Region in late 2017 more details are required. ACTION 3.8: WMO to inform the Group about its plans to organize a RTC meeting in the Region in late E. Collini provided an overview of the planned training activities at SMN Argentina, a Training Program for the New Generation of Geostationary Satellites for operational forecasters (see presentation for details on the focus group and Modules). A face-to-face event is planned on November 2017; this event will be conducted by Dr. José M. Galvez sponsored by the WMO expert program in coordination with Dr. Luciano Vidal and Lic. Diana Rodriguez from SMN. The sessions will be recorded. The 2015 Regional surveys results should be used to identify countries training needs. 9. EO SUPPORTING THE UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN THE AMERICAS (Satya Kalluri, NOAA) S. Kalluri reported on a CEOS activity to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There is an inter-agency group to develop progress indicators for the SDGs. Many of these are related to Earth observation (EO). He asked Group members to respond to a survey that is intended to capture the use of EO in support of the SDGs. RECOMMENDATION 3.3: Group members to respond to the survey enquiring on the use of EO in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ( 10. SUMMARY OF RESULTS (Co-chairs) Other items raised were: J. Chira would like clarification about the impact of the change to GOES-16 on the DCS uplink NOAA informed that there will be no change. The UCAR Unidata LDM network has been created to distribute scientific data among mainly academic institutions. Costa Rica (UCR) have set it up, and Belize have set it up as well, as a backup to GNC-A. Unidata, in cooperation with the GOES-R Program, receives full resolution 18

19 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 19 GOES-R/S data through their GOES-R ReBroadcast (GRB) receiving stations. ACTION 3.9: In a Group teleconferences, to focus on the Unidata LDM, and on the DCS system (in Spanish). Scott Rogerson (NOAA DCS manager) should be involved. 11. CONCLUSIONS Participants expressed their gratitude to NOAA and City College New York for hosting the meeting. 12. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned on 19 July 2017 at

20 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 20 ANNEX 1: LIST OF PARTICIPANTS MACHADO, Luiz Augusto Toledo (Co-Chair) INPE, Brazil, BRADLEY, David (Co-Chair) ECCC Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC), ABARCA, William MARN El Salvador, AICARDI, Daniel ARKETT, Mark BAEZ, Julian CAMPOS, Diego CAESAR, Kathy-Ann CHIRA, Jorge COLLINI, Estela CONNELL, Bernadette Laboratorio Energia Solar Universidad de la Republica Uruguay, ECCC Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC), Meteorological Service of Paraguay, President of WMO Region III, Meteorological Service of Chile Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (Co-chair VLab Management Group (VLMG)) National Office of Meteorology & Hydrology (SENAMHI), Peru, Servicio de Hidrografía Naval (SHN), National Meteorological Service (SMN), Argentina estela.collini@gmail.com CIRA, Colorado State University, USA bernie.connell@colostate.edu CRUZ, Edison National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (INAMHI) Ecuador, ecruz@inamhi.gob.ec EUSCATEGUI, Christian GARBANZO, Marcial GIBSON, Gregory JOYEUX, Andre IDEAM Servicio Hidrometeorologico Colombia, ceuscategui@ideam.gov.co, ceuscategui@gmail.com University of Costa Rica mgarbanzopcm@gmail.com, marcial.garbanzo@ucr.ac.cr Bahamas Meteorology Department gregorygibson1969@gmail.com Saint Lucia Meteorological Services andre.joyeux@govt.lc 20

21 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 21 MALDONADO, Carlos INSIVUMEH, Guatemala REBELLO, Expedito SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Rodolfo SANCHEZ MARINO, Manuela INMET, Brazil, Instituto Meteorológico Nacionál, Costa Rica National Meteorological Service (SMN), Argentina SCOTT, Dwayne National Meteorological Service of Belize SOUZA, Diego SOUZA, Glendell de THOMAS, Bryan National Institute for Space Research (INPE), CPTEC, Brazil Caribbean Meteorological Organization, Trinidad and Tobago, Meteorological Services Division, Trinidad and Tobago NOAA Representatives ALFARO, Rosario DONOHO, Natalia UCAR and NOAA/National Weather Service, NOAA/NESDIS, GOODMAN, Steven NOAA/NESDIS, GRIFFIN, Vanessa NOAA/NESDIS, KALLURI, Satya NOAA/NESDIS/STAR, KUTNY, Mary Ann NOAA/NESDIS, MADSEN, Eric NOAA/NESDIS, MACKENZIE, Wayne NOAA/NESDIS, MEDINA, Martin NOAA/NESDIS, 21

22 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 22 PAESE, Mark NOAA/NESDIS, PERONTO, James NOAA/NWS, PICA, Joe NOAA/NWS, QI, Hongming RENKEVENS, Thomas NOAA/NESDIS/OSPO, NOAA/NESDIS/OSPO, EUMETSAT Representative WILLIAMS, Mike EUMETSAT, WMO Representative BOJINSKI, Stephan Scientific Officer, Satellite Utilization and Products, WMO Space Programme 22

23 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 23 ANNEX 2: AGENDA 23

24 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p

25 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 25 ANNEX 3: MEMBERS OF THE COORDINATION GROUP FOR SATELLITE DATA REQUIREMENTS IN REGION III AND IV (STATUS: August 2017) Name Institution Country Estela Collini Servicio de Hidrografía Naval (SHN) and Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (SMN) Argentina Marck Oduber Meteorological Department, Aruba The Netherlands (Aruba) Dwayne Scott Belize Meteorological Service Belize Luiz Augusto Machado (Co- Chair) Wagner de Aragão Bezerra Glendell De Souza Kathy-Ann Caesar David Bradley (Co- Chair) Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies (CPTEC), National Institute for Space Research (INPE) National Institute of Meteorology (INMET) Caribbean Meteorological Organization Caribbean Meteorological Organization VLab Representative Meteorological Service of Canada Brazil Brazil British Caribbean Territories (BCT) British Caribbean Territories (BCT) Canada Diego Campos Dirección Meteorológica de Chile Chile Christian Euscategui Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM) Colombia Marcial Garbanzo University of Costa Rica Costa Rica Fitzroy Pascal Dominica Meteorological Service Dominica Homero Jacome Jorge Chira Instituto Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología (INAMHI) Servicio Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología (SENAMHI) Ecuador Peru Venantius Descartes Saint Lucia Meteorological Service Saint Lucia Bryan Thomas Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service Trinidad and Tobago Julio Cabanerit Caraballo National Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (INAMEH) Venezuela AmeriGEOSS FP Angelica Gutierrez- Magness NOAA NWS, US GEO USA Satellite operators Hongming Qi NOAA NESDIS USA Sally Wannop EUMETSAT International 25

26 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 26 ANNEX 4: OVERVIEW OF EXISTING AND PLANNED SATELLITE DATA RECEPTION INFRASTRUCTURE IN RA III AND IV (OUTSIDE THE U.S.) last updated on 16 July 2017 State / Territory Antigua and Barbuda ftp/http Argentina Present satellite data reception systems GVAR, HRPT; AHRPT, GNC- A (CONAE); DR X-band (CONAE, INTA) Planned or potential future systems GRB, GNC-A, GOES- LRIT DR X-band (SMN project on stand-by); GRB (SMN, CONAE), AHRPT (CONAE), GNC-A (1-2 at SMN), PDA Comments With info from 2015 survey With info from 2015 survey Bolivia Brazil GOES-LRIT; ftp/http; EUMETSAT- Americas (INMET): GVAR, GNC-A, EUMETCast-A, HRPT/AHRPT, DR X-band (INPE): GVAR, GNC-A, EUMETCast-A, HRPT, DR X-band GRB, GOES-LRIT; HRIT/EMWIN; GOES-DCS; GTS; GNC-A (INMET): GRB, GNC-A, DR X-band (INPE): GRB, GNC-A, DR X-band With info from 2015 survey INMET:With info from 2017 survey update Cayman Islands GVAR With info from 2015 survey Chile GNC-A (U la Serena), GVAR; 2 2 HRPT, 2 X-band (Punta Renovation HRPT, 2 X-band, 4 GRB Arenas, Antarctica stand- by) status: 4 sites done, 1 site under way and 1 on stand by Colombia Ecuador GVAR, GNC-A; HRPT (not operational); ftp/http GVAR, HRPT (not operational), EUMETCast-Americas (not operational); ftp/http GNC-A (first choice); Internet data services (under investigation) GRB, GNC-A; HRPT; ftp/http With info from 2015 survey France (Guiana) HRPT (CLS) No plans France (DOM/TOM in RA - - Data sent by IV) dedicated links Guyana GVAR; ftp/http Plans not yet developed Paraguay GVAR, EUMETCast- GRB; ftp/http; GNC-A Americas; GNC-A Peru GVAR Possible GNC-A this year, GRB With info from 2015 survey Suriname No information

27 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 27 Uruguay ftp/http ftp/http; GNC-A With info from 2015 survey Venezuela GVAR; HRPT; GNC-A; HRPT EUMETCast-Americas Antigua and Barbuda - GNC-A possible Bahamas No information Barbados GVAR GRB Belize ftp/http, EMWIN; GNC-A PDA, LDM; possibly GRB; GNC-A BCT GVAR (1 country), EMWIN (4 countries) Canada GVAR; HRPT (X-band), GRB (E, W), GNC-A NOAAport, CMO GNC-A GRB, PDA GRB; share data among all BCT countries Colombia (see above) Costa Rica GRB (NMS); IDD/LDM (UCR); GNC-A (NMS); GVAR (NMS); GTS (NMS); ftp/http (NMS); EUMETCast-Americas (NMS) GNC-A (UCR); IDD/LDM with GOES16 feed (UCR); IDD/LDM (Costa Rican Power Company - ICE) With info from 2015 survey Cuba GNC-A TBC Curaçao and Sint Maarten GVAR, EMWIN GRB; GNC-A Dominica ftp/http, EMWIN GNC-A (TBC) Dominican Republic No information El Salvador GNC-A, GVAR; ftp/http GNC-A With info from 2015 survey France (see above) Guatemala No information Haiti GNC-A, EUMETCast-A TBC Honduras Jamaica Internet GNC-A (TBC) TBC Mexico GNC-A (8+2 stations); ftp/http GNC-A; GRB With info from 2015 survey Netherlands (Aruba) GVAR, IDD/LDM, EMWIN (2) GRB, GNC-A, HRIT/EMWIN (2) Nicaragua No information Panama GVAR GRB TBC St. Kitts and Nevis ftp/http ftp/http With info from 2015 survey 27

28 St. Vincent and the Grenadines IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 28 ftp/http ftp/http With info from 2015 survey Saint Lucia ftp/http PDA, GNC-A; ftp/http With info from 2015 survey Trinidad and Tobago GVAR, HRPT, Internet GRB, PDA, GNC-A 28

29 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 29 Appendix/ices: B Training Requirements RA III (South America) Countries Authoritie s/ Institution s Argentina Dra. CELESTE A. SAULO. Directora del Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (SMN) Usage and Interpretation of satellite data and images requirements Environmental teledetection : Obtain new products for floods and drought monitoring and NBR (Normalize Burn Index). Monitoring and follow up of soil and vegetation variability. Research and Development: 1. Application of products generated by NASA, NOAA, JAXA, ESA, and other sources, for monitoring meteorological events. (Precipitation estimation, inestability index, severe weather and others). 2. Development of apps for basic processing and visualization of data for use in other SMN areas. Requirements for the development and maintenance of satellite data reception systems SMN is registered at PDA. A system for the SMN web page visualization of the products is being developed. Tender to buy 2 (dos) GeoNetCast stations is underway. Tender to buy GRB station is in process. Requirements in IT with respect to satellite data reception systems. The GRB station includes the factory software. Anyhow it is important to develop a software of its own to process GOES- 16 data. The SSEC (University of de Wisconsin) software would be used.to carry out developments Capacity building in Big Data management oriented to optimize the use of available satellite information. Generation of digital repository of Education A course Training program for the new generation of geostationary satellites (SMN, Argentina). 2 (two) component s: 1. Online course (2 stages): Moodle ~50 students per cohort. Total 106 forecasters from the whole country. 2. A presential Workshop focused on the analysis and

30 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 30 Brasil Dr. Francisco DE ASSIS DINIZ Director del Instituto Nacional de Meteorología (INMET) Operational Remote sensing for Meteorological Advisory: Developments of operational products from Goes 16 data (using Python, GDAL, and others) in collaboration with Research and Development. Modern multispectral sensors and scientific methodologies demand a continuous learning on the interpretation and analysis of Multispectral Data oriented to severe weather and other phenomena. One of the requirements of SMN is capacity development in the installation, maintenance and management of GRB stations. Idem for Geonetcast ( GNC- A) stations CONAE (Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales) is another provider of data and products. Currently INMET has 6 operational GeonetCast stations distributed throughout Brasil. Training for the maintenance and operation of this system is needed primary and derived satellite data and programmes for its processing and visualization (Open Source) INMET has great interest in IT training for the dissemination of satellite products and data in real time or in an interactive way. forecast of local case studies based on GOES 16. (SMN+NOAA) November 2017 Total 22 students. With evaluation and presentations. There are plans to extend this course to RAIII countries during 2018 if support is available

31 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 31 Chile (*) Colombia Dr. GUILLERMO EDUARDO NAVARRO SCHLOTTERBEC K Director de la Dirección Meteorológica de Chile (DMC) Dr. ESTEFANÍA SALAS (Cooperación Internacional) Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales (IDEAM ) Requirements on: Advantages,, limitations and measurement errors (resolution, parallax) by remote sensing and RGB products. Recognizing real and spurious characteristics in the images ( low clouds, fog, ice/snow clouds, etc.) Identification of waves using high resolution animations-. Analysis of mesoscale features in satellite images. Visual analysis and digital processing of GOES 16 information ( enhancements): 1. GOES 16 original data processing to obtain meteorological variables. Training related to the installation of the hardware of the reception station including antenna positioning, external equipment, frequent failure studies, diagnosis and solutions. Satellite data formats, computer specifications, storage systems,, associated data base and input for the generation of products (ancillary data, orbital parameters) Capacity building in Big Data management. Recommendation s for the generation of local data repository. Management and storage of information: 1.techniques to optimize formats, long term archives. 2.Big Data processing ( Python and/ or R). 3. Search of 2. GOES 16 DAS in NWP models.

32 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 32 Ecuador CPNV (SP), JOSÉ OLMEDO Director INAMHI (Instituto Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología) 3. Nowcasting techniques using GOES Detection and prediction of thunderstorms. using GOES16 Visual analysis and digital processing of GOES16 information 1. Identification of particulate matter in the atmosphere. 2. Identification of soil moisture content. 3. NDVI index determinatio n. 4. Application of the identification of atmpspheric humidity at diffeent levels- 5. Application for temperatura validation at different levels. Open Source software for the transition into operations and obtain products from GOES 16. Techniques in imagery post processing for combination of bands to identify extreme events, and RGB interpretation for weather monitoring and forecast. alternative sources of satellite data 4. Access to historic satellite data Satellite Information management to transform satellite information into formats compatible with the DPA processing systems like SMARTMET, and Data Assimilation System for Numerical Weather Prediction, i.e. using WRF model. Capacity Building for the operation of Satellite Information management system. Language Python, all levels, for the processing of satellite imagery and/or generation of satellite products. Language R oriented to satellite data applications and generation of products.

33 IPET-SUP-4/Doc , p. 33 Paraguay Dr. JULIÁN BÁEZ Director de Meteorología e Hidrología y de la Dirección Nacional de Aeronáutica Civil - DINAC 6. Applications to identify: possible locations of glaciar melting due to volcanic ash, snow/ ice coverage, floodings, ozone content ( and validation). Raw Data Processing 1. Interpretation of data from all the GOES 16 channels. 2. Best Practices recommended by the NOAA/WMO for satellite data management. 3. Determination of the ranges to be used for each channel. 4. Libraries/frameworks recommended for satellite data processing. Operational Products. Open Source software for the transition into operations and obtain products from GOES 16. Implementation of the available tools. Advice on the selection of the best Satellite Information management system for purchase. Courses for meteorological forecasters, linked to courses focused on severe weather, as well as the events affecting the aeronautical meteorology.