While it was noted in training materials that the GREMLIN based on 1-minute mesosector imagery would be a bit ‘noisier’, I wasn’t quite prepared for just how much that could show up. This is likely due to the use of the 1-minute lightning data, which will naturally be noisier than the 5-minute data for the CONUS-based GREMLIN. As you can see in the GIF below, this shows up especially strongly in the anvil regions of mature storms, where lightning in the anvil may be less frequent, and thus more noisy in the 1-min data, but the noisy data does show up somewhat elsewhere, too.

Comparison of GREMLIN based on GOES East Meso-1 (left) and GOES CONUS (right)

This would be a case where one would want to have the image looping to make it obvious what was going on, so you could know to ignore those simulated ‘returns’.

The mesosector GREMLIN also tends to have a bit ‘sharper’ resolution in most of its features, and also tends to have higher peak simulated reflectivity, again possibly/probably owing to the 1-min lightning data, which should be a bit less broadbrushed compared to the 5-min data used for the CONUS GREMLIN.

– Marko Ramius