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CIRA National Satellite Training Activities

Presented by: Dan Bikos & Jorel Torres
Date: October 15, 2024 12:00 am
Location: In-person in the CIRA Commons (Coffee and light refreshments provided just prior to the presentation)

We will discuss satellite training activities at CIRA with a focus on the national audience (NOAA users).  National satellite training efforts began in the late 1990s with a focus on live teletraining and were a collaborative effort between CIRA, CIMSS, NESDIS and the NWS.  CIRA developed training on a wide variety of topics, including GOES Rapid Scan Operations (RSO) which was foundational to the current usage of GOES Mesoscale Domain Sectors.  As time passed, asynchronous types of training gained popularity, particularly with NWS forecasters who work rotating shifts.  CIRA played a key role in the development of the Satellite Foundational Course for GOES-R (SatFC-G) and the Satellite Foundational Course for JPSS (SatFC-J). The courses consist of training modules that update NWS forecasters, the scientific community and others on the latest capabilities from geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites. Additionally, we will discuss various types of asynchronous and synchronous satellite training delivered by CIRA. Some of the satellite training materials and resources encompass satellite blogs that help users discover the utility of GOES and JPSS applications in an operational setting. Numerous GOES and JPSS Quick Guides (1-2 page product reference documents) and Quick Briefs (3-5 minute product application videos) have been produced to assist users in the comprehension of the data that include the applications, limitations, and imagery and product interpretation. Currently, CIRA continues to offer weekly GOES and JPSS product teletraining sessions with NWS users and have also been involved in the development of satellite short course webpages for users to access training materials. In complement with the training activities, satellite liaison interactions with users will also be discussed, highlighting the variety of ways to capture user feedback on datasets to help improve the research-to-operations process.