Sounding Products

Climate Record Products

CLIMCAPS

CLIMCAPS (Community Long-Term Infrared Microwave Combined Atmospheric Product System) was developed to provide continuity across AIRS and CrIS to generate a long-term data record to study the feedbacks and processes of the climate system. CLIMCAPS is used to process satellite soundings in the vertical (e.g., temperature, moisture, and trace gases). Infrared measurements from instruments such as CrIS and IASI and combined with microwave sounders ATMS (Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder) and AMSU (Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit) respectively to retrieve high-resolution soundings under clear to partly cloudy conditions.

Operational Products

Operational sounding products are processed and delivered to the public, weather forecasting, and scientific communitiesy without fail or interruption. NUCAPS is operationally implemented at NOAA OSPO for delivery to NOAA CLASS, NESDIS PDA, and NWS forecast offices in near real-time for every measured track (i.e., global coverage), day and night.

NUCAPS

NUCAPS is the NOAA Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System used to process satellite soundings in the vertical (e.g., temperature, moisture, and trace gases). The NUCAPS algorithm is the NOAA operational algorithm for satellite soundings from hyperspectral infrared sounders such as CrIS (Cross-track Infrared Sounder) and IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer) and is based on the AIRS Science Team version 5.9 algorithm. Infrared measurements from instruments such as CrIS and IASI and combined with microwave sounders ATMS (Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder) and AMSU (Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit) respectively to retrieve high-resolution soundings under clear to partly cloudy conditions.

Gridded NUCAPS


Provides horizontal plan-view and cross-section views of temperature, moisture, thermodynamically-derived fields, and ozone-derived products. Operational in AWIPS beginning with 19.2.1-29. Product descriptions, training, colormaps, and instructions for display are available on a public NOAA NWS Vlab webpage. As NUCAPS Soundings are delivered and ingested in AWIPS, the data are gridded for display on single levels, layers, or cross-sections. The data are on a 0.5 degree lat/lon grid with minimal horizontal interpolation and vertically interpolated to standard pressure levels. The advantage of gridded fields is the ability to qualitatively assess spatial gradients and observe features that are not represented in model analyses. The team is working on Gridded NUCAPS visualization outside of AWIPS.

Precipitable Water


Precipitable Water represents the water vapor contained in a vertical column of unit cross-sectional area extending between any two specified levels. It is commonly expressed in terms of the height to which that water substance would stand if completely condensed and collected into the same unit of area (mm or inches). NUCAPS mixing ratio is used to calculate the precipitable water, given by:


where ρ is the density of water and g is the acceleration of gravity. Precipitable water fields include the Total Atmosphere, sfc-800 mb, 800-500 mb, and 500-300 mb are available for display in AWIPS. There is a general correlation between high precipitable water and heavy precipitation in storms.

NUCAPS Haines Index


The Haines Index is frequently used to determine the potential for large fire growth (Werth and Ochoa 1993) where the lapse rate and dew point depression represent the stability and moisture of the environment. The pressure levels for the Haines Index calculation are adjusted based on elevation and chosen to negate the impact of diurnal surface temperature changes and surface inversions. The Haines Index is available as a gridded field in AWIPS and could be plotted with python or other tools.

Haines Index = Stability + Moisture



Ozone Products


Total Ozone, Ozone Anomaly, and Tropopause Level to diagnose the potential for tropopause folding and cyclogenesis as well as hurricane tropical to extratropical transition. While these products are available on the SPoRT web-page (CrIS/ATMS, IASI/AMSU), they are also included as part of the operational Gridded NUCAPS in AWIPS.
Berndt et al, 2016: Development and Application of Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Ozone Retrieval Products for Operational Meteorology [Available Online]
Total Ozone:
Tropopause Height:

Experimental Products

The following products are derived from NUCAPS, primarily for use by the National Weather Service Forecasters. These products have been tested at the Hazardous Weather Testbed Spring Experiment and are under continual development. Contact us if you are interested in access and beta product testing.

Modified NUCAPS


The lowest levels of NUCAPS retrievals are updated with a boundary layer profile of temperature and dewpoint temperature based on real-time GOES-16 data and RTMA surface observations. This improves the boundary layer representation, which is relevant to severe weather forecasting. The modified NUCAPS Soundings have been tested at the Hazardous Weather Testbed Spring Experiment since 2016.

JPL Forecast Product


Based off of Kalmus et al. (2019) the HYSPLIT trajectory model advects NUCAPS Soundings forward in time in 1-hour increments for a total of 6 hours. This new product was first tested at the Hazardous Weather Testbed Spring Experiment in 2019 and is undergoing further development based on end user feedback.
Kalmus et al, 2019: Trajectory-Enhanced AIRS Observations of Environmental Factors Driving Severe Convective Storms.

CLIMCAPS work funded by NASA, grant award number 80NSSC18K0975.
NUCAPS Work funded by the NOAA Joint Polar Satellite System Proving Ground/Risk Reduction Program.