| Knowledge of where thunderstorms may develop in advance can save thousands of dollars in various industries such as aviation. Mecikalski and Bedka (2006) defined a satellite based nowcasting product for use during the daytime. Expanding this algorithm into the nighttime hours is the basis for this study.;Currently, the 3.9 micron channel is not used within the daytime algorithm because the solar reflected component makes use of this channel during the day difficult. However at night, we can examine the usefulness of the emitted component of this channel. To perform this analysis, five independent cases were selected and studied. It was found that the Mecikalski and Bedka (2006) defined interest fields are applicable at night, the 10.7-3.9 micron channel difference field can provide lead-time for convective initiation and the 3.9 micron channel differenced with the other current GOES channels is redundant when compared with the 10.7 micron channel. |
