A Pilot Study on the Application of Geosynchronous Meteorological Satellite Data to Very Short Range Terminal Forecasting

The study assembles a unified body of data consisting of very high space and time resolution reflected radiance measurements from a geosynchronous satellite (ATS-3) along with concurrent meteorological radar, ceiling, visibility and surface pressure reports at selected air terminals in the central United States. This data set allows familiarization with the meteorological potential of nearly continuous observation of cloud conditions from a geosynchronous platform. It may also serve as initial input to quantitative techniques for evaluating the satellite data and/or for testing its usefulness in very short range weather forecasting. In this regard, a second portion of the study presents arrays of statistical descriptors of the satellite data. (Author).