Tracking Atmospheric Moisture Changes in Convective Storm Environments Using GEO ABI and LEO CrIS Data Fusion

The synergistic use of data from advanced space-borne instruments of different designs onboard different satellite platforms with different orbital tracks provides advantages in various applications over the use of individual data sets alone. For example, high vertical resolution sounding profiles from advanced sounders like CrIS (Cross-track Infrared Sounder) in a low Earth orbit (LEO) and a high horizontal plus temporal resolution radiance measurements from geostationary (GEO) imagers like ABI (Advanced Baseline Imager) can be effectively combined to benefit severe weather monitoring, prediction, and warning systems. The spatial and temporal fusion approach allows LEO products, such as atmospheric moisture, to be created with increased spatial detail at every GEO measurement time, generating a GEO hyperspectral sounder-like perspective. To demonstrate the potential benefit of a GEO and LEO (i.e., ABI and CrIS) data fusion to real-time applications, time sequences of the moisture profile fusion results are presented in two case studies, namely a tornado outbreak in Nebraska on 5 May 2021 and a severe storm occurrence in Texas on 24 May 2022. The implications of the fusion results for nowcasting and warning operations via comparisons to numerical model forecasts and weather radar reflectivity data are discussed.