Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite — R Series

A collaborative program of NOAA and NASA

Cloud Top Height/Cloud Layer

Full disk 0.63, 0.86, and 11µm false color image from Meteosat-8 SEVIRI for 12 UTC on 17 January 2006 (left). Example of the Cloud Height product (right) as generated by the GOES-R Cloud Height algorithm using Meteosat-8/SEVIRI data on 10 August 2006 12:00 UTC.

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The Cloud Top Height algorithm will use ABI infrared bands to simultaneously retrieve Cloud Top Height, Cloud Top Temperature, and Cloud Top Pressure for each cloudy pixel. These cloud products are a prerequisite for generating other downstream products that include the Cloud Layer product, Cloud Optical/Microphysical products, and the Derived Motion Wind products. Forecasters will be able to use this information to determine areas of cloud growth and likelihood of precipitation. Other operational applications of this product include its use in Aviation Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts (TAFs), supplementing upper-level cloud information to the ground-based Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS), and initialization of clouds in numerical weather prediction models.