1. Satellite Indicators of Severe Weather

2. What Are The Relevant Scientific Questions And Objectives Related To This Topic? Preliminary considerations: Focus on GOES-R, with eye toward information from new channels, higher spatial and temporal resolution, plus GLM Focus on synergistic use of GOES-R data with airborne and ground-based measurements Relate GOES-R pre-convective environment measurements to severe weather occurrence Relate GOES-R cloud-top information to storm characteristics

3. Broad Science Questions How do the satellite-detected environmental and storm characteristics relate to the occurrence or non-occurrence of severe weather, including tornadoes? How do satellite-derived cloud-top characteristics relate to the evolution of the kinematics and microphysics of severe convective storms?

4. Specific Science Questions What GOES signatures/measurements of the pre-convective environment lead to convective initiation and severe weather? Are there currently unobserved or unrecognized features of the environment that determine whether a storm produces a tornado or not? What atmospheric features/processes produce the observed GOES signatures (e.g., V-shaped pattern, warm and cold regions, GLM lightning) typically associated with severe weather? How does cloud-top structure (CTT, eff. radius, cld.-top phase, OTs) and evolution relate to internal structure (e.g., vertical motion, microphysics) and low-level environmental characteristics (thermo., winds, aerosols)?

5. Necessary Physical Parameters High-resolution brightness temperatures comparable to GOES-R Cloud and precipitation profiles 4-D velocity structure Cloud-top phase and type measurements Temperature, humidity, and wind profiles in the near environment Cloud morphology (via video) Particle type, concentration at the ground Wind measurements for AMVs

6. Necessary Measurements Airborne and ground-base radars (E) Cloud lidar (E) Upsonde in-situ, measonet sfc, or remotely sensed vertical profiles of thermodynamics and winds (E) Lightning array for detailed horizontal and vertical mapping of lightning. (E) Also airborne lightning measurements (counts, electric field, energetics) (E) Airborne time-lapse video of cloud evolution (E) Disdrometers Passive microwave for relating to GPM constellation Ground-based time-lapse video of cloud evolution Ground-based observers for severe weather verificaition E=Essential