Basic Satellite and NWP Integration

Basic Satellite and NWP Integration

NWP is one of the most important forecasting tools in our toolbox. Yet identifying when/where it is not capturing reality is difficult. In the short-term forecasting range, it is important for a forecaster to identify when/where NWP output isn’t matching reality. Then they can make appropriate changes to the forecast output.

To find those mismatches anywhere in the world, one of the best tools is satellite imagery. This latest ASMET lesson, published in February 2019, focuses on a few cases using satellite imagery to help identify mismatched features/processes between the satellite imagery and the NWP.

Anyone trying to add value to short-term NWP forecasts could benefit from taking this lesson to learn a process for assessing NWP output compared to observations. This lesson focuses on fog and convection in Africa, however it lesson can apply to many other cases, and is generalised enough to help forecasters from anywhere in the world.

The lesson was prepared by the experts from Morocco, Niger, Kenya and South Africa, in partnership with EUMETSAT and COMET and you can access it here.