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Applications of Geostationary Satellite Data to Aviation

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Abstract

Weather is by far the most important factor in air traffic delays in the United States’ National Airspace System (NAS) according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Geostationary satellites have been an effective tool for the monitoring of meteorological conditions that affect aviation operations since the launch of the first Synchronous Meteorological Satellite (SMS) in the United States in 1974. This paper will review the global use of geostationary satellites in support of aviation weather since their inception, with an emphasis on the latest generation of satellites, such as Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-R (16) with its Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) and Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM). Specific applications discussed in this paper include monitoring of convective storms and their associated hazards, fog and low stratus, turbulence, volcanic hazards, and aircraft icing.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2

(Source: Lindstrom 2017)

Fig. 3

(Source: Bachmeier 2017a)

Fig. 4

(from Pryor 2017)

Fig. 5
Fig. 6

(Source: University of Wisconsin-CIMSS 2017)

Fig. 7

(UW-CIMSS Satellite Blog)

Fig. 8
Fig. 9

(Ellrod 2005)

Fig. 10

(Bachmeier 2017b)

Fig. 11

(From Ellrod and Schreiner 2004)

Fig. 12

(From Smith et al. 2012)

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Michael Pavolonis (NOAA/CIMSS) for his contributions to the section on volcanic ash detection. Many of the images in this paper were obtained from the University of Wisconsin CIMSS blog pages on the use of improved satellite image data from GOES-R (16) and Himiwari. We also acknowledge the comments of two anonymous reviewers that greatly improved the quality of the paper.

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  1. EWxC, LLC, Granby, CT, USA

    Gary P. Ellrod

  2. NOAA/NESDIS Center for Satellite Applications and Research, College Park, MD, USA

    Kenneth Pryor

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  1. Gary P. Ellrod
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Correspondence to Gary P. Ellrod.

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Ellrod, G.P., Pryor, K. Applications of Geostationary Satellite Data to Aviation. Pure Appl. Geophys. 176, 2017–2043 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-018-1821-1

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