Use of MODIS 16-day albedos in generating GOES-R advanced baseline imager imagery

Abstract

Advanced preparation for satellite data from the next-generation GOES-R advanced baseline imager (ABI) is supported by coupling high resolution mesoscale and radiative transfer numerical models. Calculated GOES-R ABI imagery is produced in a two-step process. First, a mesoscale model is used to simulate an event over a region with 400 m horizontal grid spacings; secondly, output from the mesoscale model is used as input to a second model that calculates top of the atmosphere radiances at selected GOES-R ABI wavelengths. Such radiances or brightness temperatures are referred to as synthetic imagery. In order for the synthetic imagery to contain realistic horizontal variability of values of surface reflectance at wavelengths from 0.44 to 2.25 μm, MODIS 16-day albedos are incorporated in the radiative transfer calculations. One application of synthetic GOES-R imagery is that of algorithm development and testing. Algorithms may focus on, but are not limited to, the detection and retrieval of smoke, volcanic ash, fires, blowing dust, and the state of surface physiography. Proper identification of such features is, at times, dependent on the horizontal variability of surface reflectance values. MODIS 16-day spectrally dependent albedos are a valuable dataset in aiding the generation of synthetic GOES-R imagery.