A GIS approach to ingest Meteosat Second Generation data into the Local Analysis and Prediction System

The Local Analysis and Prediction System (LAPS) is modified to ingest Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) data for cloud analysis. A first study is conducted to test the actual performance of the weather analysis software after new satellite bands are introduced. Results show that the system provides high quality cloud products such as cloud mask, cloud top height and cloudiness. A comparison with products from EUMETSAT's Nowcasting SAF shows a general underestimation of the LAPS product although the results are not conclusive. The study shows the potential of MSG data in refining the mesoscale analyses produced by LAPS. Moreover the software tools, based on open source codes for geolocation and geographical information systems, written for the transformation of MSG data into input files for LAPS have demonstrated a great flexibility and ease of use. The study opens up an avenue for successive validation and refinement of the analyses together with their improved implementation for operational nowcasting and very short range forecasting applications.