The Aviation Weather Center (AWC) is responsible for delivering accurate, consistent, and timely weather information for safe and efficient flight across the United States airspace system along with international obligations.One of the key concerns for forecasters is the prediction and monitoring of convection which directly affects air routes as well as ground operations.Lightning observations are a vital component of available observations helping to confirm the presence of convection and verify forecasts.Up to this time the AWC has relied solely on ground-based cloud-to-ground only detection networks.With the upcoming launch of the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) aboard GOES-R, the AWC has the opportunity to expand the use of lightning observations by observing total lightning (i.e., the combination of both cloud-to-ground and intra-cloud observations).AWC and NASA's Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center (SPoRT) have collaborated to assess a demonstration GLM product, the pseudo-GLM, derived from ground-based lightning mapping arrays.This collaboration has focused on the utility of using total lightning in aviation weather forecasting in preparation for the GLM instrument.This paper presents several small cases identified by forecasters using the pseudo-GLM data in operations and discusses the role of GLM data in the future.

Visible/Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Imagery from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite is the finest spatial resolution (375 m) multi-spectral imagery of any operational meteorological satellite to date. The Imagery environmental data record (EDR) has been designated as a Key Performance Parameter (KPP) for VIIRS, meaning that its performance is vital to the success of a series of Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) satellites that will carry this instrument. Because VIIRS covers the high-latitude and Polar Regions especially well via overlapping swaths from adjacent orbits, the Alaska theatre in particular benefits from VIIRS more than lower-latitude regions. While there are no requirements that specifically address the quality of the EDR Imagery aside from the VIIRS SDR performance requirements, the value of VIIRS Imagery to operational users is an important consideration in the Cal/Val process. As such, engaging a wide diversity of users constitutes a vital part of the Imagery validation strategy. The best possible image quality is of utmost importance. This paper summarizes the Imagery Cal/Val Team’s quality assessment in this context. Since users are a vital component to the validation of VIIRS Imagery, specific examples of VIIRS imagery applied to operational needs are presented as an integral part of the post-checkout Imagery validation.

AbstractThe Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-14 (GOES-14) imager was operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in an experimental rapid scan 1-min mode during parts of the summers of 2012 and 2013. This scan mode, known as the super rapid scan operations for GOES-R (SRSOR), emulates the high-temporal-resolution sampling of the mesoscale region scanning of the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on the next-generation GOES-R series. This paper both introduces these unique datasets and highlights future satellite imager capabilities. Many phenomena were observed from GOES-14, including fog, clouds, severe storms, fires and smoke (including the California Rim Fire), and several tropical cyclones. In 2012 over 6 days of SRSOR data of Hurricane Sandy were acquired. In 2013, the first two days of SRSOR in June observed the propagation and evolution of a mid-Atlantic derecho. The data from August 2013 were unique in that the GOES imager operated in nearly continuous 1-min...