Using the GOES-16 Split Window Difference to Detect a Boundary prior to Cloud Formation Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-16 (GOES-16) was launched into geostationary orbit in late 2016 and began providing unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution imagery early in 2017. Its Advanced Baseline Imager has additional spectral bands including two in the “clear” window and “dirty window” portion of the infrared spectrum, and the difference of these two bands, sometimes called the split window difference, provides unique information about low-level water vapor. Under certain conditions, low-level convergence along a boundary can cause local water vapor pooling, and the signal of this pooling can sometimes be detected by GOES-16 prior to any cloud formation. This case study from 15 June 2017 illustrates how the technique might be used in an operational forecast setting. A boundary in western Kansas was detected using the split window difference more than 2 h before the first cloud formed. Grant no. NA14OAR4320125