GeoNEX: Earth observations from operational geostationary satellite systems

The NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) team at Ames Research Center has embarked on a collaborative effort involving scientists from NASA, NOAA, JAXA/JMA, KMA/KARI exploring the feasibility of producing EOS-quality research products from operational geostationary satellite systems for climate monitoring. The latest generation of geostationary satellites (Himawari 8/9, GOES-16/17, Fengyun-4, GeoKompsat-2A) carry sensors that closely mimic the spatial and spectral characteristics of widely used polar-orbiting, global monitoring sensors such as MODIS and VIIRS. More importantly, they provide observations as frequently as 5-15 minutes. Data from various currently operating geostationary platforms provide a geo-ring of hyper-temporal, multispectral observations. Such high frequency observations, particularly when combined with data from polar orbiters, offer exciting possibilities for improving the retrieval of geophysical variables by overcoming cloud cover, enable studies of diurnally varying phenomena over land, in the atmosphere and the oceans, and help in operational decision-making in agriculture, hydrology and disaster management. Beyond the weather-focused geo-sensors, a number of new spectrometers are scheduled to be launched in the next five years in geostationary orbit to study atmospheric pollution (GEMS, TEMPO), ocean color (GOCI) and carbon cycling (GeoCARB). This talk will highlight new research, data sets, algorithms and computational platforms that utilize data from geostationary satellites to advance our ability to monitor the environment and create climate resiliency.