Applications of geostationary hyperspectral infrared sounder observations – progress, challenges, and future perspectives

Abstract A hyperspectral infrared (IR) sounder from geostationary orbit provides nearly continuous measurements of atmospheric thermodynamic and dynamic information within a weather cube, specifically the atmospheric temperature, moisture, and wind information at different pressure levels that are critical for improving high impact weather (HIW) nowcasting and numerical weather prediction (NWP). Geostationary hyperspectral IR sounders (GeoHIS) have been onboard China’s Fengyun-4 series since 2016 and will be onboard Europe’s Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) series in the 2024 time frame; the U.S. and other countries are also planning to include GeoHIS instruments on their next generation of geostationary weather satellites. Although availability of on-orbit GeoHIS data are limited currently, studies have been conducted and progress has been made on developing the applications of high temporal resolution GeoHIS observations. These include but are not limited to deriving three-dimensional wind fields for nowcasting and NWP applications, trending atmospheric instability for warning in pre-convective environments, conducting impact studies with data from the experimental Geostationary Interferometric Infrared Sounder (GIIRS) onboard Fengyun-4A, preparing observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs), and monitoring diurnal variation of atmospheric composition. This paper provides an overview of the current applications of GeoHIS, discusses the data processing challenges, and provides perspectives on future development. The purpose is to provide direction on utilization of the current and assist preparation for the upcoming GeoHIS observations for nowcasting, NWP and other applications.