GribStream Blog
GOES-19 ABI expands to 61 satellite fields
GribStream adds 34 GOES-19 ABI fields for cloud properties, atmospheric stability, smoke, dust, snow, radiation, and land surfaces.
GribStream's two GOES-19 ABI datasets now expose 61 satellite-observation fields. The 2 km goes19abi dataset grows from 24 to 46 fields, and the 10 km goes19abi10km dataset grows from three to 15.
The 34 new fields add cloud-top thermodynamics, cloud phase and optical properties, cloud amount by altitude, atmospheric stability, smoke and dust flags, snow cover, land temperature and reflectance, and reflected shortwave radiation. They extend the same GOES-East full-disk record that begins April 8, 2025.
The new 2 km fields
| Observation group | New fields |
|---|---|
| Cloud-top properties | HT, PRES, TEMP |
| Cloud phase, optical properties, and masks | COD, CPS, Phase, ACM, BCM, Cloud_Probabilities |
| Aerosol-scene flags | Cloud, Dust, Smoke, SnowIce |
| Land, snow, and radiation | LST, FSC, LSA, RSR, BRF1, BRF2, BRF3, BRF5, BRF6 |
These fields share the native 5,424 by 5,424 GOES-East fixed grid, with sampling of about 2 km at nadir. Most update at roughly 10-minute intervals. The 2 km land-surface temperature, fractional snow cover, and some other surface retrievals are hourly.
The cloud fields make it possible to inspect more than a spectral image. TEMP, PRES, and HT describe the retrieved cloud top; Phase identifies categories such as liquid water, supercooled water, mixed phase, and ice; COD and CPS describe cloud optical depth and effective particle size. ACM, BCM, and Cloud_Probabilities expose NOAA's cloud-mask results.
Smoke, Dust, Cloud, and SnowIce are binary source flags: 0 means absent and 1 means present. They are useful for screening and context, but they do not replace the source product's quality information or expert interpretation. Daylight, cloud cover, surface type, and viewing geometry can limit many of these retrievals.
The land and radiation additions include clear-sky land-surface temperature, fractional snow cover, broadband albedo, top-of-atmosphere reflected shortwave radiation, and bidirectional reflectance factors for ABI bands 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6.
Stability and cloud layers on the 10 km grid
The 10 km dataset adds five atmospheric-stability fields—CAPE, KI, LI, SI, and TT—and seven cloud-layer fields: CF1 through CF5, CL, and TCF.
CF1 through CF5 describe cloud amount in layers from the surface through 5,000 ft, 5,000–10,000 ft, 10,000–18,000 ft, 18,000–24,000 ft, and above 24,000 ft above sea level. TCF describes total cloud fraction, while CL is NOAA's cloud-layer category field.
The stability fields are satellite-derived estimates of the pre-convective environment. They can add useful spatial and temporal context between conventional soundings, but they should be interpreted alongside radar, lightning, surface observations, soundings, and numerical-model analyses. Clouds and the profile retrieval itself can leave gaps or reduce confidence.
Explore the field inventories
The 2 km inventory and 10 km inventory list every available field, level, description, source unit, and coverage period. Exact observation times can differ among fields because NOAA publishes the source products on different schedules.
Authoritative sources and related data:
- NOAA GOES open-data registry: https://registry.opendata.aws/noaa-goes/
- NOAA GOES-R Level 2 product guide: https://goes-r.noaa.gov/products/docs/PUG-L2%2B-vol5.pdf
- NOAA/NESDIS geostationary satellites: https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/our-satellites/currently-flying/geostationary-satellites
- GOES-19 ABI 2 km products
- GOES-19 ABI 10 km products
- MRMS radar and multi-sensor analyses
- RTMA hourly surface analysis