Advanced TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder (ATOVS) Products

ATOVS Ended Product Distribution As of Feb 15, 2023, the ATOVS application stopped sending file to the NOAA Product Distribution and Access (PDA) and to NOAA Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS).

ATOVS Products Termination
All the Advanced TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder (ATOVS) systems and data products are scheduled to be terminated at the end of this 2022 calendar year. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns regarding this ATOVS termination.

Metop-A IASI Termination
The IASI instrument on Metop-A (M2) ended operations early October 15, 2021. IASI data and products from Metop-A will no longer update. This is the first step in the planned retirement of the Metop-A satellite on November 15, 2021.

IASI products from other Metop satellites are unaffected.

Currently, no good retrievals are being made from the ATOVS using the MetOp-A (MetOp-2) data due to the degradation of AMSU-A instrument data quality. However, the AMSU-A channel radiances (Brightness Temperatures) included in the ATOVS data file are not affected. The quality of the ATOVS Sounding products has decreased below specification. It is recommended that users should use the available sounding products with caution. We are investigating the problem and a decision will be made whether to terminate the affected ATOVS sounding products based on an upcoming assessment.

The Advanced TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder (ATOVS) consists of High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS), the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A) and AMSU-B for retrieving temperature, humidity and ozone sounding in all weather conditions. The Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS), developed by EUMETSAT, replaced AMSU-B on NOAA-18, NOAA-19, and the European MetOp satellites. Currently the ATOVS is generating products from the NOAA-18, NOAA-19, MetOp-2, and MetOp-1. This instrument package provides information on temperature and humidity profiles, total ozone, clouds and radiation on a global scale to the operational user community.

ATOVS Vertical Statistics

Vertical Weekly Statistics for ATOVS are generated once a week at approximately 7 am (EST/EDT) on Monday morning using previous week of data. The weekly statistics are generated for the regions 90N to 30N, 30N to 30S, and 30S to 90S over both clear and cloudy conditions.

POES Temperature and Moisture Soundings Profiles

The POES Temperature and Moisture Soundings Profiles are displayed in Skew-T Log-P diagram format. These diagrams include both the POES and the first guess (model data). Also included are several derived parameters to the right of each diagram. The POES thermal gradient winds (derived from the Soundings) are also displayed on the diagrams.

GOES Soundings

POES Soundings