Regional and Mesoscale Meteorology Branch

Weaver, Combs, Dostalek, Grasso, Motta, Winston

• The new GOES-10 satellite was operated in a nearly continuous 5-min interval scanning mode from March 16 through April 12, 1998.  The test period coincided with an unusual weather pattern in which several major tornado outbreaks occurred over the southeastern US.  So far in 1998 there have been 122 deaths compared to the national 45-year average of  64.  Fifty-seven of theses deaths occurred during the GOES-10 test period, all but 2 of which were in the southeast US.  The other two occurred during an out-of-season Minnesota event.  During the test period there were a total of 9 major tornado days.
• Two case studies are underway using the GOES-10 test data.  One of these is being conducted in cooperation with the Minneapolis NWS forecast office, the other with the Birmingham NWS forecast office.  Thus far for the Minneapolis study we have exchanged GOES-10 5-minute imager data, radar imagery, tornado event chronologies, and video.
• Another GOES-10 case involves the Pleasant Grove, AL tornado of April 8, 1998 which killed 25 people, injured more than 250 others and was rated at an F5 intensity.  There have been only three F5 tornadoes since 1992.  A joint study with Kevin Pence (SOO at Birmingham, AL) is underway.  So far we have created an extended outline, assigned specific areas of responsibility, assigned tasks, and begun writing the first draft of the paper.
• The first VISIT training module (“Detecting Low-level Thunderstorm Outflow Boundaries Using GOES at Night”) of the 31 May 1996 severe weather case has been prepared, reviewed, and delivered to five WFOs, four regional headquarters, and the NWS training center.  Changes were incorporated into the current version which is available via three mediums including; 1) the OPTEL system which is the standard NWS training vehicle for distance learning, 2) on the Web at http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/lto.htmland 3) on an interactive web-based training application which we call VISITview.
• A multi-author journal article on the Fort Collins flood of 28 July 1997 has been reviewed and approved internally at both CIRA and the Dept. of Atmospheric Science.  The manuscript has been submitted to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.   J. Weaver is one of several CIRA and CSU authors.
• GOES-10 assessment was conducted March 16 – April 12 and operated in near continuous 5-minute imagery mode.  The example below shows a thunderstorm outflow interaction during the April 7, 1998 tornado outbreak in Illinois.  The sequence of images runs from 2145 – 2300 UTC (4:45 – 6:00 PM CDT).  This interaction, which was not nearly as well depicted using 15 minute imagery, resulted in a thunderstorm which produced a tornado 2 miles west of Mt. Pulaski, IL.  (Click on image for loop.)

Zehr, Hilgendorf, Knaff, Vaughn

• Hurricane Intensity Programs.  The following programs have been written for use on RAMSDIS:

        – DVOR:  Dvorak intensity algorithm modified to use ASCII rather than Long Word files.

        – DVPLT: Plots DVOR output but is no longer restricted to 4 days of data.

        – DVLST: Lists DVOR output. Modified to use ASCII.

        – CIPLT: Based on DVPLT, this program slows the reduction in intensity to more accurately           account for the effects of inertia during spindown.

• Upper-level wind fields are being created using tropical cyclone super rapid scan (SRSO) imagery.  The purpose is to gain a better understanding of the wind structure of tropical cyclones as it relates to: 1) short-term intensity change, 2) storm life cycle, and 3) comparison with aircraft flight level observations (~700 hPa).  Winds are tracked manually using the 1-min imagery, and heights are assigned by the analyst.
• Recently obtained hurricane reconnaissance data gathered by the Air Force has been utilized for studies combining aircraft observations with satellite data.  Aircraft data are placed relative to the storm every 6 hours, then the relative data fields are azimuthally interpolated around the storm.  Gridded fields of  T, Td, u, v, geopotential height and surface pressure are created.  These can be displayed along with satellite imagery.
• Hurricane Luis 5 Sept. 1995, 19 UTC

Figure explanation:  Displayed are the cloud and water vapor winds at the 250 to 200 hPa layer (provided by CIMSS, U. Wisconsin) (RED), and the more detailed winds  created manually using the SRSO imagery (Blue).  (Click on image for full display.)

• Hurricane Luis 3 Sept. 1995, 18 UTC

Figure explanation: Shown is the 6 h average IR image valid at this time with the storm relative aircraft track in white and the speed of the wind (knots) in magenta .  (Click on image for full display.)

Dostalek
 

• J. Dostalek attended the California Landfalling Jets Experiment (CALJET) workshop and gave a presentation entitled “Satellite Observations of an Eastern Pacific Cyclone During CALJET.”  The talk focused on the heavy California rain event of February 2-3, 1998 and included one-minute GOES imagery.  Examples of GOES cloud/water vapor tracked winds and sounder Derived Product Imagery were also presented.

Weaver, Connell
 

• Evaluation of volcanic ash detection continues using multi-channel imagery as well as Principal Component Analysis.  One of the cases being evaluated highlights the challenges in developing a robust product.  Neither the Visible, 3.9 um, 6.7 um, 10.7 um or 12.0 um imagery alone can detect the full extent of the cloud, but all show some portion of the ash cloud.  Of the derived products and the Principal Component Analysis, the 10.7-12.0 difference and PCI-4 show the largest extent of the Ash plume.  (Click on images for full display.)
  
  

• See “Meetings” under Miscellaneous for a description of a hazards reduction meeting attended by R. Zehr.

Weaver, Dostalek
 

• The Texas Dryline cooperative study went the entire season without one dryline-related tornado occurring in and around Lubbock.  Participants are now considering looking at some historical data so that advantage can be taken of the presence of the Research RAMSDIS at the LBB NWS office.
• No other field experiments are currently in progress.

Hillger, Campbell, Combs

• A new GOES visible albedo product uses solar zenith angle at every image pixel to generate an isotropic albedo independent of sun angle.  The product effectively enhances the visible channel images such that areas which are darker due to low sun angle are brightened.  (Click on images for full display.)

• A GOES 3.9 µm albedo product has also been created.  The product is made by subtracting the equivalent thermal radiance at 3.9 µm using the 10.7 µm temperature.  One advantage is that the same formula is used both day or night, since the surface albedo and emissivity are related.  This product may replace the combined nighttime fog / daytime reflectivity product which uses different formulas night and day.  (Click on images for full display.)

• The surface skin temperature product generated from GOES imagery continues in testing.  The product is generated by adding 2 times the longwave channel 4-5 difference back into channel 4.  The result eliminates atmospheric absorption in channel-4 in cloud free areas.  (Click on images for full display.)

• All three products were run for 2 months on prototype RAMSDIS units at CIRA on imagery from GOES-8 and GOES-9.  They have now been delivered to NWS Western Region HQ for further testing, and are available for distribution to other RAMSDIS sites upon request.  An article on all three techniques has been submitted for journal publication.

• The following loop displays a series of IR images.  Cloud clusters in the images were automatically tracked at ingest time.  The last frame of the loop displays the cloud cluster tracks (in blue) as determined by the automatic tracking software.

Hillger, Campbell, Dostalek
 

• An analysis of GOES sounder and imager DPI was begun at CIRA.  The purpose of the study is to provide quantitative analysis of the performance of DPI with respect to rawindsondes, as well as a qualitative look at the use of DPI as a tool for forecasting convection.
• See also GOES Product Improvement and Development  (RESEARCH Applications Development).

Weaver, Motta, Winston
 

• A new feature was added to the “Detecting outflow boundaries at night with GOES imagery” training session in which satellite can be compared directly with WSR-88D data.  For this product the satellite imagery was remapped into a radar projection.  The comparison was made using a toggle button between the two data sets to avoid losing data from either sensor.  The product was used to compare outflow boundary positions and shows how each data set can supplement the other.

Weaver, Motta, Winston
 

• A new feature was added to the “Detecting outflow boundaries at night with GOES imagery” training session in which satellite can be compared directly with WSR-88D data.  For this product the satellite imagery was remapped into a radar projection.  The comparison was made using a toggle button between the two data sets to avoid losing data from either sensor.  The product was used to compare outflow boundary positions and shows how each data set can supplement the other.

Hillger

• Additional Web pages have been added to the information provided previously on calibration and scaling of GOES imagery.  The new information explains all the steps in the conversion from 10-bit GOES Variable (GVAR) counts into radiances, then into temperatures, and finally into 8-bit brightness (or display) counts.  This material was used as part of a presentation at the Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education, and Training (COMET) SatMet course and is available on the Web at:  http://www.cira.colostate.edu/RAMM/cal-val/calib.htm
• Examples of GOES water vapor (channel-3) images were created to show the difference between imagery displayed in standard 8-bit brightness (display) counts and in GOES Ingest NOAA-Port Interface (GINI) 8-bit counts, those images having first been remapped into the same projection.  Temperature scales on the images highlight the differences.  GINI counts are stretched between -10° C and -60°C, whereas the standard Look Up Table (LUT) covers a much larger temperature range, part of which is never used.  The temperature precision of GINI data is 0.2°C/count, better than the 0.5°C or 1°C of the standard LUT, but some high and low temperatures may be cut off by the conversion to GINI counts.  A Web page explaining this information is available at:  http://www.cira.colostate.edu/RAMM/cal-val/wvgini.htm  This material was used in the presentation on GOES calibration and scaling at the Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education, and Training (COMET) SatMet Course in April.

• All RAMM Team calibration/validation information on the Web has been linked to one location at:

Grasso, Hilgendorf
 

• This quarter there has been collaboration with A. Gruber on the so-called Auto Estimator and other precipitation estimating algorithms.  A  trip to Washington, D.C. is being planned for exchange of ideas sometime during the next quarter.  At that time, we will obtain code for algorithms and test and/or modify them here at CIRA.

Connell, Combs
 

• Two separate sets of US monthly climatology products are being produced; these are large sectors average images and wind regimes, for future use in AWIPS.  The large sector climatologies use GOES 8 and 9 to produce two average image sets, which together cover the continental US.  The image sets include average, maximum, and minimum values for all five channels, and includes daylight hours for visible imagery and every other hour for the others.  So far climatologies for September 1997 through April, 1998 have been completed.  (Click on image for full size display.)

• Wind regime climatologies include 114 small sectors (120 by 320 pixels) taken from large sectors and each is centered around an individual AWIPS station.  Wind regimes include 8 compass points and calm (windspeed less than 5 m/s).  The calculated wind uses the mean wind speed and resultant directions for 1000 to 700 hPa layer calculated by PCGRIDS.  Climatologies for December 1997 through March 1998 have been completed.  (Click on image for full size display.)

Grasso

• Idealized CSU/RAMS model simulations of storm splitting show that the high frequency of splitting often observed by other cloud modelers may be an artifact of the relatively large time interval that the output is examined.  Our study shows that supercell morphology is highly dependent on both time step interval and initial conditions.  The left mover can be completely eliminated by reducing the physical size of the thunderstorm trigger.

Vaughn, Campbell
 

• Different satellite combinations have been tested.  GOES 10 shows that 5 minute interval data is better for tracking  middle and low clouds.
• An automatic cloud selection and tracking scheme has been developed and it works well with the 5 minute interval data.

Weaver, Motta, Zehr
 

• An automated cloud tracking algorithm designed at the NSSL is being tested at CIRA during the 1998 severe storm season.  The algorithm will be used by the AWIPS-SCAN (System for Convective Analysis and Nowcasting) program which is currently under development.

Zehr, Grasso, Molenar, Weaver
 

• J. Weaver completed his involvement with a joint effort by the CSU Atmospheric Science Department and CIRA to document the Fort Collins flash flood of 28 July 1997.  A paper has been submitted to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
• Continued cooperative work with Dr. William Gray’s project includes participation in project meetings, data management consultations, real-time tropical weather discussions, and class lectures.  Daily weather briefings during the hurricane season using tropical RAMSDIS are organized by CSU graduate students and attended by a diverse group of faculty, students and staff.

Dostalek, Motta, Winston, Molenar, Weaver
 

• See  Severe Storms (RESEARCH Meteorological) for current joint research projects.
• J. Weaver met with the Warning Coordination Meteorologist  and Hydrologist at the Denver, CO NWS forecast office as part of the new NWS partnership with Fort Collins program.  The purpose of the meeting was to design a joint presentation format for public awareness talks in Larimer county.  For future public severe weather presentations, Weaver will present material on weather awareness tailored for Larimer county (as the local representative), and the Denver WCM and Hydrologist will each present segments on the NWS role in the awareness process.   

Connell, Vaughn
 

• Ongoing Interaction with the Regional Meteorological Training Center in Costa Rica continues.   Projects include the on-going development of satellite-based climatologies.  Colleagues in Costa Rica are also interacting with CIRA to develop composites of the reflectivity product that highlight fire locations over the period of a month.  Composites of April 1-30  for 1997 and 1998 at 20:15 UTC show similar regions where burning has occurred.  The 1998 composite indicates that the fires were  larger and more persistent.  (Click on images for full display.)

• Planning is well underway for the RMTC training course to be held in Barbados in October.  The  Regional Training Seminar on the Use of Environmental Satellite Data in Meteorological Applications   will focus around the RAMSDIS system capabilitites and exploit the “Virtual Laboratory”.  Participants for the WMO course will be drawn from South America, Central America and the Caribbean.  A syllabus has been drafted for the 10 day training event and case studies are being developed.

Molenar, Watson, Dostalek, Weaver, Zehr

Meetings:
 

• Ray  Zehr served as Team Leader for Tropical Cyclones at the Committee Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS)/ Integrated Global Observing Strategy (IGOS) Disaster Management Support Project workshop.  The workshop was held in Silver Spring MD, from March 31- April 2, 1998.  The topics discussed included satellite applications to hazard reduction issues related to wildfires, drought, oil spills, volcanoes,  flash floods, earthquakes and tropical cyclones.  An Executive Summary of the Tropical Cyclones Hazard Team and additional information on tropical cyclones resides on the CEOS disaster information web page which can be found at http://www.ceos.noaa.gov/findex.html
• D. Hillger participated as Acting RAMMT leader and as a CIRA Advisory Council member in the CIRA 5-year Review on April 21 and 22.  After the Review, the CIRA Advisory Board met in executive session to discuss the progress of CIRA’s expanding research over the last 5 years, including the large increase in CIRA representation at the Environmental Research Laboratory in Boulder CO.
• A meeting was held the week of May 29 for CIRA personnel involved in tropical cyclone research and computer support in preparation for the upcoming hurricane season.  New data archival and analysis were discussed to support research with NOAA-15 satellite applications with tropical cyclones, which is a project directed by Stan Kidder.  In addition, changes to Tropical RAMSDIS, new products, and support of the RAMSDIS at Hurricane Research Division, Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, and NESDIS Satellite Applications Branch were discussed.
• D. Hillger gave a presentation on RAMM Team activities at the annual CIRA retreat on June 25 at the Pingree Park mountain campus of Colorado State University.  At the Retreat L. Grasso was asked to coordinate mesoscale modeling activities using satellite data within CIRA.  Also participating in group meetings were R. Zehr, B. Connell, J. Knaff, and C. Combs.

Visitors:
 

• J. LaDue, of the National Weather Service Operational Support Facility, Norman OK, visited CIRA/RAMM to transfer-in material from the Doppler radar training course which he teaches at the Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education, and Training.  He also helped with a brief course outline so that the material can be set up in varying length, electronic presentations depending on user need.
• A demonstration of RAMSDIS was given to several visitors on May 14 at CIRA.  The visitors were from the Interagency Program Office, Ball Aerospace, Raytheon, and AIL Systems Inc.  Their main focus is the development of instruments for NPOESS.  For several of the visitors this was their first introduction to image and product development from geostationary satellites.  The visitors were given handouts with the Web address and directions for accessing RAMSDIS Online via their own computers.
• Dr. Chris Landsea of NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Atmospheric Laboratory visited CIRA on May 27-29 to discuss cooperative research and RAMSDIS use at Hurricane Research Division.
• Ken Gould, National Weather Service in Tallahassee, FL, visited CIRA on June 4.  Ken has been working on summer sea-breeze regime climatologies for the past few years using GOES-8 imagery on their Regional and Mesoscale Meteorology Team Advanced Meteorological Satellite Demonstration and Interpretation System.  He gave examples of how the NWS is integrating the satellite information with other information such as precipitation.  Ken also obtained more information on climatology development work at CIRA.  Plans were made to put together Web-based examples of ongoing work in this area.

Hillger
 

• A Principal Component Image (PCI) analysis was preformed on a set of data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Aircraft Simulator (MAS) provided by Chris Moeller at UW/CIMSS.  Selected MODIS channels were analyzed in bands similar to those to be available on Meteosat Second Generation.  The PCI analysis generates image products from the channel combinations (sums and differences) that contain significant variations in signal among all the available channels.  One interesting finding was significant use of the 8.5 µm channel due to scene variations because of its low emissivity.  GIF images of this preliminary analysis were requested by J. Purdom and were sent to him via e-mail.

Phillips, Weaver, Zehr, Watson
 

• 5-minute interval GOES-10 imaging data, covering one of the most ferocious tornado outbreaks to hit the southeast U.S., was collected and archived at CIRA.  The imagery was focused on Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, where 44 people were killed and hundreds more were injured. These data were made widely accessible through the CIRA-RAMMT’s Virtual Laboratory and constituted its seventh specialized dataset.

Dostalek, Staff

• The on-line, daily training and discussion effort known as Picture-of-the-Day continues to be well received by the user community and continues as a regular activity of the RAMMT.  To review recent discussions, you can visit http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/picoday/archive.html

Phillips, Dostalek, Hilgendorf, Motta, Weaver, Hillger
 

• A new tutorial entitled “Advanced GOES Imagery Applications” is complete.  This latest in a series of educational products has been under development and refinement for more than a year.  It uses RAMSDIS capabilities as its focus, but descriptions are generalized for more widespread comprehension and utility.  The material has been extensively reviewed by authors and by non-participating peers.  The tutorial will be  available in two formats: one via the world-wide web, and the other as an executable module suitable for installation on individual Windows-based PCs.  Availability and access instructions will be publicized very early next quarter, after a few remaining minor details are addressed.

Molenar, Connell, Dostalek, Gosden, Smith, Hillger
 

• A success in using the RAMSDIS system to test the GOES-10 5-minute data ingest and of the data assessment.  Twelve NWS forecast offices with RAMSDIS systems reconfigured their systems to retrieve the 5-minute datasets during the GOES-10 science test.  The test was fully successful and forecasters impressed with the very-high-time-resolution data.
• An addendum to the RAMSDIS version 5.0 that includes modified programs, configurations, and command files was released to all RAMSDIS sites.  These files were remotely installed and implemented via the Internet.

Motta, Winston
 

• A VISIT training session entitled “Detecting Low-level Outflow Boundaries Using GOES At Night” was reviewed,  practiced, tested, and revised.  The session uses the GOES fog product to identify clouds produced by thunderstorm outflows together with WSR-88D full-resolution radar data.   The session is available on the Internet at http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/visit/lto.html, and has also been completed in National Weather Service OPTEL format.  A  JAVA-based version which uses local-disk files for the graphics but Internet for interactive drawing, pointing, and advanced looping features is also being developed.  Students are voice-linked via a standard telephone conference call.  So far this version has been tested with NWS OM, NWS WRH/ERH/SRH, NWSTC  and  NWS Local Offices  Minneapolis, La Crosse, North Webster, and Great Falls.

Weaver, Dostalek, Hillger, Molenar, Zehr
 

• COMET University Faculty Course, week of June 1 through 5.  RAMMT participants were  J. Dostalek, T. Smith, and D. Watson.
• RAMM Team members, J. Dostalek, D. Watson, T. Smith, J. Weaver, D. Hillger, and B. Motta, presented lectures and workshops as part of the Satellite Meteorology Class at COMET in Boulder, CO, April 13-24.

Weaver
 

• J. Weaver made the first in a series of severe weather awareness talks to a variety of Fort Collins city officials as part of a government-to-government initiative between NOAA, CIRA (State of Colorado), and the city.  The plan is one facet of a larger plan to make Fort Collins into a more disaster resistant community.  A shorter version of the same talk was presented to a large group of safety team leaders from the Hewlett Packard Corp., Fort Collins plant.
• J. Weaver helped design and setup the Fort Collins, CO Office of Emergency Management booth in the local shopping mall for Flood Awareness Day, May 9.  He and B. Motta helped staff the booth throughout the day.  The booth featured flood videos, NOAA/Red Cross pamphlets, and an operating NOAA weather radio display.  Interest was exceptionally keen in the wake of the city’s flash flood of 28 July 1997.
• On May 13, J. Weaver gave a tornado spotting course to the guards at Hewlett Packard Corp., Fort Collins, CO plant.  The course was extremely well received and promotion by the students has lead to an even greater number of expected students for the next class.  E. Hilgendorf of CIRA was in attendance as a student.
• J. Weaver presented talks on severe weather awareness to Poudre Fire Authority company officers on May 12 and 13 in Fort Collins, CO in support of severe weather awareness month.
• On May 20, J. Weaver gave a second tornado spotting course to security guards and several safety managers at Hewlett Packard Corp., Fort Collins CO plant.  At this point all of the guard staff at the plant have attended at least one weather spotter talk.
• J. Weaver gave a one-and-a-half hour presentation entitled “Use of Internet Remote Sensor Data by the Non-meteorologist” to the staff  of the Fort Collins Stormwater Utility the week of June 19.  Materials discussed included both satellite and radar products.

Connell, Vaughn
 

• A new  World Wide Web Page containing real-time satellite imagery has been set up for the Barbados RMTC.  The loops are centered on Barbados and allow the user to analyze large scale features with the Water Vapor channel, down to the diurnal and topographical characteristics with the VIS and longwave IR.  There is also a large-scale Visible loop to observe oncoming easterly waves.  Since there is no ingest RAMSDIS system at this location, this “Barbados Online” will provide real-time imagery that they have not had in the past.
• Compilation of climatology data over the Barbados area continues.  CDs are mailed at the end of each month and reviewed by the RMTC.  They have found the monthly minimums, maximums, and averages to be of value during the convective season.  In the near future,  regime averaging based on daily soundings will replace the conventional method

Fryer
 

Received:

• H. Gosden attended a Hewlett Packard Network Administration course in Denver, May 18 through 22.
• D. Hillger and D. Molenar attended the all-day NOAA Managing Diversity Symposium in Boulder CO on June 16.  The symposium speakers helped explain the diversity issue with good examples, other than gender and race differences normally thought of as diversity.  The material from the symposium was shared with other RAMM Team members not able to attend at that time.

Given:

• See COMET.

Watson
 

• RAMSDIS Online was successfully used to display  real-time GOES-10, 5 minute data during the science check-out period.  Setup included the configuration of a RAMSDIS system to ingest data from the CIRA ground station.  Products included Satellite channels 1-4 covering both an eastern USA and a western USA sector.
• RAMSDIS Online has also been updated to allow the viewing of the latest image for each product  available.
• The RAMSDIS Online web page has been updated to contain real-time satellite images of the fires burning in Florida.  This effort was made at the request of  Florida officials interested in more accurately assessing the extent of their forest fire problem.  Loops and the latest image are available for a 1 km visible channel and a blown up 1 km fire/reflectivity product.  Users can also choose to flip between the latest images of the two products comparing the ‘hot spots’ in the fire product and the smoke plumes in the visible channel.  View the fires at http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/rmsdsol/main.html.

Fryer
 

Submitted:

Campbell, G.G., 1998: Practical satellite cloud heights from shadows.  Accepted for publication in Mon. Wea. Rev.

Campbell, G.G. and J.F.W. Purdom, 1998:  Asynchronous stereo height and motion retrieval from satellite observations: demonstration.   Submitted to the J. of Atmos. and Oceanic Technology.

Petersen, W.A., L.D. Carey, S.A. Rutledge, Jason C. Knievel, N.J. Doesken, R.H. Johnson, T.B. McKee, VonderHaar, T. H., and J.F. Weaver, 1998: The Fort Collins flash flood of 28 July 1997: A meteorological overview.  Submitted to the Bull. Amer Meteor. Soc.

Weaver, J.F., W.A. Peterson, and N.J. Doesken, 1998: Some unusual aspects of the Fort Collins flash flood of 28 July 1997.  8th Conference on Mountain Meteorology, 3-7 August, Flagstaff, AZ,  American Meteorological Society, 310-316.

Molenar, Gosden
 

• Several software and hardware upgrades are underway for the RAMM Team HP’s.  These upgrades will support the installation of WFO-Advanced software, the software currently being deployed as AWIPS Build 4. 

Molenar, Fryer, Grasso, Phillips
 

• A draft of the 1999 VISIT proposal has been completed.
• Arrangements continue to be made in anticipation of a visit to RAMM Team by two Chinese scientists from the National Satellite Meteorological Center in Beijing.  Mr. Yang and Mr. Zhao are scheduled to arrive in Fort Collins on August 31.  CIRA is finalizing housing and transportation accommodations for their stay.  Their visit will be part of the US-PRC Protocol on Cooperation in the Field of Atmospheric Science and Technology.  Both scientists will be involved in the development and transfer of new satellite data display and analysis capabilities for PC-based workstations.
• General Workforce Performance Appraisal System (GWPAS) midterm reviews were completed by RAMMT members on April 6 and sent to F. Holt, Chief, ARAD.

Gosden, Smith, Watson, Molenar
 

• Several hardware upgrades are underway.  New hardware to upgrade RAMM Team servers to state of the art Pentium II processors with massive disk storage has been ordered.   A Pentium II 266 MHz portable computer has also been ordered.   Old systems replaced by the upgrade will be used to upgrade RAMSDIS Online servers and staff research computers.

Fryer

AMS:  American Meteorological Society

AMSU:  Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit

AOML:  Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory

ARAD:  Atmospheric Research and Applications Division

ASOS: Automated Surface Observing Stations

AVHRR: Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer

AWIPS: Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System

CALJET:  California Landfalling Jets Experiment

CEOS:  Committee on Earth Observation Satellites

CIMSS: Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies

CIRA: Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere

COMET: Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education, and    Training

CONUS: Continental U.S.

CSTAR: Collaborative Science Technology and Applied Research

CSU:  Colorado State University

DPI:  Derived Product Imagery

ETA:  Estimated Time of Arrival

ETL: Environmental Technology Laboratory

FASTEX:  Fronts and Atlantic Storm Tracks Experiment

FPDT: Forecast Products Development Team

FTP: File Transfer Protocol

GIF:  Graphics Interchange Format

GINI: GOES Ingest NOAA-Port Interface

GOES: Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite

GRID:  Gridded Data (McIDAS file type)

GVAR: GOES Variable

hPa:  hectopascals

HRD:  Hurricane Research Division

IGOS:  Integrated  Global Observing Strategy

INSAT:  India Satellite

IOP:  Intensive Observing Period

IR: Infrared

IWTC-4:  International Workshop on Tropical Cyclones (WMO)

LUT:  Look Up Table

McIDAS: Man Computer Interactive Data Access System

MD:  Meteorological Data (McIDAS file type)

MET ED:  Meteorological Education

METAR:  Meteorological Weather Code

MOBY:  Marine Optical Buoy

NASA:  National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NCEP:  National Center for Environmental Prediction

NESDIS: National Environmental Satellite Data Information Service

NOAA:  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NPOESS: National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System

NWS: National Weather Service

NWSFO: National Weather Service Forecast Office

OAT: Operational Algorithm Team

OM:  Office of Meteorology

OPTORA:  Operating Plans and Tasks for the Office of Research and Applications

ORA:  Office of Research and Applications

OSF: Operational Support Facility

PCGRIDDS: Personal Computer Based Gridded Interactive Display and Diagnostic System

PCI:  Principal Component Imagery

POP: Product Oversight Panel

PRC:  Peoples Republic of China

RAMGIF:  Regional and Mesoscale Graphics Interchange Format

RAMMT: Regional and Mesoscale Meteorology Team

RAMS:  Regional Atmospheric Modeling System

RAMSDIS: Regional and Mesoscale Meteorology Team Advanced Meteorological Satellite Demonstration and Interpretation System

RMTC: Regional Meteorological Training Center

SCAN:  System for Convective Analysis and Nowcasting

SeaWiFS: Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor

SMC: Satellite Meteorology Center (Beijing, PRC)

SOCC: Satellite Operations Control Center

SOO: Science Operations Officer

SRSO/RSO: Super Rapid Scan Operation/Rapid Scan Operation

SSEC: Space Science and Engineering Center (University of Wisconsin)

SWPI:  Severe Weather Prediction Initiative

USWRP SAC: United States Weather Research Program Science Advisory Committee

UTC:  Coordinated Universal Time

VISIT: Virtual Institute for Satellite Integration Training

WMO: World Meteorological Organization