Nowcasting Thunderstorms for Munich Airport

The successful demonstration and assessment of the DLR thunderstorm nowcasting algorithms at Munich Airport during two campaigns in the summers of 2010 and 2011 are described. The algorithms Cb-TRAM and Rad-TRAM, that detect, monitor, and forecast up to one hour (nowcast) thunderstorm cells from satellite and radar data, run in real time and provided new thunderstorm products for users at the airport. The products were presented on displays the users were already familiar with as well as on webpages designed by DLR. On the webpages, also additional information like measurements with DLR’s polarimetric radar and model forecasts was shown. Moreover, thunderstorm warnings were is-sued and sent via email to the users whenever a thunderstorm was detected in the terminal manoeu-vring area of the airport of Munich. The nowcasting skills of Rad-TRAM and Cb-TRAM are encouraging, especially for lead times up to 30 minutes, and the user feedback on the DLR thunderstorm products was very positive. The Rad-TRAM and Cb-TRAM products provide a good overview on the situation and its future development, and the thunderstorm warnings were very helpful for the collaborative decision making at the airport. However, some suggestions for improvements were made like the demand for nowcasts beyond one hour. This will be considered within the integrated weather forecast system, WxFUSION, which has been further developed during the campaigns

Cb-TRAM: Tracking and monitoring severe convection from onset over rapid development to mature phase using multi-channel Meteosat-8 SEVIRI data

Cb-TRAM is a new fully automated tracking and nowcasting algorithm. Intense convective cells are detected, tracked and discriminated with respect to onset, rapid development, and mature phase. Finally, short range forecasts are provided. The detection is based on Meteosat-8 SEVIRI (Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infra-Red Imager) data from the broad band high resolution visible, infra-red 6.2 micrometer (water vapour), and the infra-red 10.8 micrometer channels. Areas of convection initiation, of rapid vertical development, and mature thunderstorm cells (cumulonimbus Cb) are identified. For the latter, tropopause temperature data from ECMWF operational model analyses is utilised as an adaptive detection criterion. The tracking is based on geographical overlap between current detections and first guess patterns of cells detected in preceeding time steps. The first guess patterns as well as the short range forecasts are obtained with the aid of a new image matching algorithm providing complete fields of approximate differential cloud motion. Based on the so called pyramid matcher an interpolation and extrapolation technique is presented which can also be used to generate synthetic intermediate data fields between two known fields as well as nowcasts of motion and development of detected areas. Examples of application are presented for thunderstorm tracks over the Mediterranean

Aircraft Wake Vortex Scenarios Simulation Package - WakeScene

Wake-vortex advisory systems and modifications of ATC procedures that aim at increasing airport capacity without compromising safety have been developed in recent years. Prior to the introduction of such systems the associated risks must be assessed. The WakeScene (Wake Vortex Scenarios Simulation) Package allows to assess the encounter probability behind different wake-vortex generating aircraft during approach and landing. WakeScene consists of modules that model traffic mix, aircraft trajectories, meteorological conditions, wake vortex evolution, and potential hazard area. This manuscript introduces the operating sequence of WakeScene, the employed sub-models and data bases, the simulation environment and evaluation tools together with the so far accomplished validation work. Examples of WakeScene applications and an outlook on further developments of the software package conclude the report

Towards A Grid Infrastructure For Hydro-Meteorological Research

The Distributed Research Infrastructure for Hydro-Meteorological Study (DRIHMS) is a coordinatedaction co-funded by the European Commission. DRIHMS analyzes the main issuesthat arise when designing and setting up a pan-European Grid-based e-Infrastructure for researchactivities in the hydrologic and meteorological fields. The main outcome of the projectis represented first by a set of Grid usage patterns to support innovative hydro-meteorologicalresearch activities, and second by the implications that such patterns define for a dedicatedGrid infrastructure and the respective Grid architecture

An Integrated User-oriented Weather Forecast Systen for Air Traffic Using Real-Time Observations and Model Data

This paper presents the Weather Forecast User-oriented System Including Object Nowcasting (WxFUSION), an integrated weather forecast system for air traffic. The system is currently under development within a new project named “Weather and Flying” under the leadership of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IPA) at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). WxFUSION aims at combining data from various sources, as there are weather observations, remote sensing, nowcasting and numerical model forecast data, in order to extract specific information on target weather objects like thunderstorms, icing, or areas with heavy snow fall. The target weather objects are pre-defined including user requirements. The paper gives a short overview on the concept of the system and on-going work

Nowcasting and forecasting thunderstorms for air traffic with an integrated forecast system based on observations and model data

This study presents the concept and first results of the Weather Forecast User Oriented System Including Object Nowcasting (WxFUSION), an integrated system using observations and numerical model data to nowcast and forecast weather hazards for air traffic. WxFUSION is currently under development within the project “Wetter und Fliegen” (“Weather and Flying”) under the lead of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IPA) at DLR. The paper gives an overview on the concept of WxFUSION and on-going work

Nowcasting Winter Weather at Munich Airport

The WxFUSION concept can also be extended to handle winter weather conditions. Of particular importance here is the occurrence of in-flight and ground icing conditions at an aerodrome. Data from surface observations of precipitation type and intensity, of surface conditions (dry, liquid, frozen), of hydrometeor observations within clouds, and of aircraft observations of temperature and humidity can be fused. Work is underway to combine existing in-flight icing algorithms with the additional data sources available to build a corresponding winter weather module within WxFUSION