Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites—R Series

A collaborative NOAA & NASA program

Data Products: Derived Motion Winds

GOES-16 derived motion winds product using ABI Band 14 on November 23, 2017. High level (100-400 hPa) winds are shown in violet; mid-level (400-700 hPa) are shown in cyan; and low levels (below 700 hPa) are shown in yellow.

Download product algorithm theoretical basis document (ATBD)

The derived motion winds product is derived from using a sequence of visible or infrared spectral bands to track the motion of cloud features and water vapor gradients. The resulting estimates of atmospheric motion are assigned heights by using the cloud height product. The derived motion winds product provides vital tropospheric wind information over expansive regions of the earth devoid of in-situ wind observations that include oceans and Southern Hemisphere land masses. This product provides key wind observations to operational numerical weather prediction (NWP) data assimilation systems where their use has been demonstrated to improved NWP forecasts including tropical cyclones. In addition, this product provides improved guidance for National Weather Service field forecasters.