v21 & Earlier - Total Operational Weather Readiness - Satellites (TOWR-S)
GOES-16 AWIPS RPM June 2018 Release Newsletter
By: the NWS Office of Observations Total Operational Weather Readiness - Satellites (TOWR-S) Team
The NCF has made the June 2018 version of the GOES-16 RPM available in the AWIPS repository, and installation instructions are here. Be sure to review the site prep instructions included therein, which includes important ldm and pqact setting pre-requisites.
RPM Highlights
The TOWR-S team has been working with the NWS/NESDIS Satellite Enhancement Team (SET) on a weekly basis to bring these new AWIPS satellite improvements to you. NWS WFO SOOs, Frank Alsheimer (CAE), Mike Stavish (MFR) Brian Carcione (HUN), Pete Wolf (JAX), Jeremy Martin (GLD), and Dave Zaff (BUF) participate regularly with the SET. Their leadership guides the team to make changes to AWIPS configurations files that allow NWS forecasters to best utilize GOES-16 data. Thanks to their insight, we offer to you the following AWIPS enhancements in the June 2018 version of the RPM:
1) On June 19th, all GOES-E data will transition to the fixed grid format. As a result of this change, additional GOES-16 channel differences and RGBs are available for the CONUS, Mesoscale, and Puerto Rico sectors. Menus have been added to the appropriate locations, as these RGB and channel difference displays used to be only available for the Full Disk sector. They are:
- Natural Color RGB
- Day Convection RGB
- Split Fire Channel difference
- Split Snow Channel difference
- Split Vegetation Channel difference
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2) In preparation for GLM data, menus have been added to AWIPS for both the 1-minute Flash Extent Density and the 5-minute Flash Extent Density products. These products will be available under the "GOES-E and GOES-17" menu under the "Satellite" menu at the top of D2D. The next pull down menu has the "GLM Products" option. In the next set of menus, there are two options to take note of: "GLM East CONUS" and "GLM East CONUS 5min (1min Update)." The product options "1min GLM Flash Extent Density" and "5min GLM Flash Extent Density" are the specific two products that will be populating in AWIPS in July. On or around July 11th, Chad Gravelle from the Operations Proving Ground will be sending instructions to all sites describing how to modify your LDM to begin receiving these GLM products. Following this, Eric Guillot from the TOWR-S Team at NWS Headquarters will be calling each site in July to ensure data is flowing and to answer any questions you may have.
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3) The Volcanic Ash: Detection and Height product has been updated to use a new detection mask, allowing for easier identification of volcanic ash. Also, the default selection displays of the product are only areas of medium and high confidence for both the Ash Height and Ash Mass Loading. The product is still found under the derived products sub-menu. Note this product is Full Disk only.
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4) There has been an update to the method in which satellite RGBs are calculated. This will result in better sampling of individual color values.
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5) The Derived Motion Wind product sub-menu now has the option to display either "Mesoscale 1" or "Mesoscale 2." Previously, there was only a "Mesoscale" option. Furthermore, both Mesoscale scenes can now be displayed together. Previously, displaying both would result in alternating scenes while looping.
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6) There is only one version of the RPM for everyone as of this release. There is no longer a version specifically for WFOs/RFCs and another specifically for National Centers. They are one in the same.
For the sake of continuity, it is not recommended that sites skip these RPM updates.
That's all for this month!
If you have issues installing the RPM, please contact the NCF.
If you have any questions or feedback about the RPM contents, please contact Eric Guillot at NWS HQ at eric.guillot@noaa.gov or 301-427-9250.
See you in August!