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Contents

3 President’s Column 20 Where the Blows… 4 At m o s p h e r ic Instrumentation Resear c h 22 Weat h e r - c o n t r o l l e d E18 Road: Inc . Joins Vaisala Group Have a Safe Journe y ! 5 The t h e r e d Meteorological Tow e r 25 Kuusamo Near the Arctic Circle: The section of the E18 European Highway Safety First for Operations that runs through Finland is controlled by 6 Di g i C O R A III: The New Open an effective traffic management system devel- Ge n e r a t i o n 26 MI DAS IV: The Fou r th Generation of Airport Meteor o l o g y oped by the Finnish National Road 8 Valentia Observatory Benefits from Administration (Finnra). Vaisala’s road Ad v a n c e d Tech n o l o g y 28 Vietnamese Rely on Vai s a l a stations along the E18 have been networked with Finnra’s system. 11 Focus on Customer After Sales Service 30 Vaisala Prepared for the Year 2000 14 NOAA Flying in 32 79th AMS Annual Meeting: the Storm and Global Change 17 for Weat h e r 35 Comprehensive Modernization Rec o n n a i s s a n c e of U.S. Weather Services 18 Vaisala Wins USAF TACMET Award 37 13th Professor Vilho Vaisala Award 18 Major Off-shore Oil Drilling Project in 38 Honorable Order of Saint Barba r a Au s t r a l i a

Kuusamo Airport is located near the Arctic Circle in Finland, and attracts many tourists every year. It has been equipped with Vaisala’s aviation weather instrumentation.

The theme of the 79th AMS Annual Meeting, held in January 1999 in Dallas, was “Climate and Global Change with a Focus on the Americas.” Vaisala in Brief

Ed i t o r - i n -C h i e f : Design and Artw o rk : Ma r it Fin n e No n - Stop Studiot Oy Pu b l i s h e r : Pri n t e d in Finland by Vaisala Oyj, P.O. Box 26 Sä v y p a i n o , Fin l a n d FIN-0 0 4 2 1 Helsinki, FINLA N D Phone (int.) : (+358 9) 894 91 - We deve l o p , manufacture and marke t - We focus on market segments where we Tel e f a x : products and services for environmental can be world lead e r s , the preferred suppli- (+358 9) 894 9227 and industrial meas u r e m e n t s . er . We pay high attention on customer sat- - Purpose of those measurements is to is f a c t i o n . Our main quality discipline is Prod- Int e rn e t : provide basis for better quality of life, uct Lead e r s h i p . Competitive advantage is ht t p : / / w w w. v a i s a l a. c o m ISSN 123 8 - 2 3 8 8 cost savings, protection of environment, en h a n c e d by economies of scale and im p r o v e d safety and perfo rm a n c e . sc o p e .

2 150/1999 ■ ■ ■ President’s Column ■ ■ ■

Wea t h e r Ob s e r va t i o n Ne e d s

ai s ala is committed to greater extent by outside re- formance and usability by up- se r ving professionals so u r c e s , specialized in that work. g r a d i n g, without needing to in the meteorologi- At Vai sa l a , we consider it a cha l - change the whole system. We V cal field and solving lenge. We have therefore starte d are therefore taking upgrading their weather observation needs. to actively develop our after- aspects into consideration al- We aim to fulfil this task as per- sales functions, to be ready to ready in the product platform fectly as possible. In order to im- react to the challenge when the phase. We are also developing prove our service to the weather customers wish us to do so. upgrade packages for extensive pr o f e s s i o n a l s , we reorgan i z e d We have acquired the busi- product entities, to allow users our distribution cha n n e l , kno w n ness operations of Atmospheric to concentrate on their own as Weather Observations or Instrumentation Research Inc. wo r k , aided by modern equip- WOBS for short, at the begin- (A I R), which is especially well- me n t . ning of 1998. We are also con- known among upper air re- There are a host of compe- tinuously expanding our prod- se a r ch e r s . The new office estab- tent and hard-wo r k ing people in uct selection in order to sat i s f y l i s h e d, known as Va i sa l a the weather observation field. It an even wider range of custom- Bo u l d e r , will continue product is right and proper that their er needs. development in the field that excellent research results are We believe that our custom- AI R is known for. The Tet h e r e d publicly ackno w l e d g e d . It is re- ers – professionals in the mete- Meteorological Tower is a com- warding not only for them, but orological field – want to concen- pletely new product in Vai sa l a ’ s is a good example and stimulus trate more on serving their own product selection. for others. My cordial congratu- customers in the future, and will With the advance of software lations go to the winners of the therefore increasingly focus re- pr o d u c t s , product updating has Professor Vilho Vai s ala Award. sources on improving their own become an important concept ■ core competence. At the sam e – not related merely to the elim- time, many new types of tech- inating of bugs. Because of the nology are being utilized in ob- ma n y environmental factors in- se r vation systems. Now a d a y s , vo l v e d , users’ needs are cha n g - equipment is more reliable and in g . Sometimes it may even its service, upgrading and main- happen against their will, as was tenance is becoming more the case when the OMEGA complicated and demanding. It na v i g ation network ceased. The is clear that the future mainte- new ideas, materials, etc. of users nance of the weather observa - and product developers make it Pek ka Ketonen tion network will be done to a possible to improve product per- President and CEO

150/1999 3 he Tethered Meteorol- hour by one person – even at ogical Tower (TMT) remote sites. was introduced in its T earliest form in 1975 In t u i t i v e, eas y - t o - u s e T ® as the Tet h e r s o n d e . It traces its so f t wa r e roots to the Boundary Lay e r Ronald E. Shellhorn Profiler System (BLP ) devel- The system soft- Director of Sales oped at the National Center for ware is intuitive and easy to use and Market i n g Atmospheric Research (NCAR ) with real-time graphic and tab- Vai s ala Boulder in 1974 and to the University of ular displays. Print-outs of both Co l o r a d o , USA Wisconsin Boundary Layer In- numeric and graphic data are strumentation System (BLI S) available. Tethersonde data is in 1972. have been stored on hard disk and 3.25 a useful tool for the atmospher- in c h floppy disk in standard ic research community for over DOS files for easy post flight 23 years. In addition to meteo- an a l y s i s . The software allows rological research in all condi- the user the choice of opera- tions from arctic ice fields to tion with one to six Tet h e r - de s e r t climes, it is also used in sondes using one ground sta- agricultural studies, forestry, ti o n . acoustic research and air pollu- Dave B. Call tion studies. Se l e ctable frequ e n c y Senior Scientist Tethered balloon systems com- Vai s ala Boulder plement Vai s ala’s The Tethersonde uses a fre- Co l o r a d o , USA te ch n o l o g y . meas- qu e n c y synthesized FM trans- ure the atmosphere from the mitter that is switch-s e l e c t a b l e su r face to 30 km, but provide a in 50 kHz steps. A switch al- single “snapshot” profile of the lows user selection of 256 trans- we a t h e r . The TMT system pro- mitter frequencies in the vides a cost-effective way to 39 5 – 4 10 MHz meteorological measure continuous data at ba n d . Under automatic com- several levels over many hours. puter control, multiple Tet h e r - This high resolution in time sondes (maximum six) are time and space is important to re- and frequency- multiplexed to Atm o s p h e r i c se a r c h in the atmospheric bound- provide pressure, , ar y layer. relative , and direction sequentially. In s t r u m e n ta t i o n Digital high-resolution Dynamic deletion of a Tet h e r - da t a sonde allows the continued Re s e a r ch Inc. collection of data without The system includes a 400-406 retrieval of the balloon in order MHz receiver, aerodynamic to achieve faster data acquisi- Joins Vai sa l a ba l l o o n , electric winch with tion of the remaining instru- tetherline, Tet h e r s o n d e s , per- me n t s . Powered by a single nine Gro u p sonal computer, and system volt alkaline transistor radio ba t - software. The system acts like a te r y, Tethersondes operate for up tower in that it can measure the to six hours. atmosphere at up to six levels si m u l t a n e o u s l y , measuring PTU One to six-balloon ai s ala has acquired the business of Atmos- and , and then transmit- op e r a t i o n pheric Instrumentation Research Inc. ting the data to an automated (A I R) of Boulder, Colorado, USA . ground station. The TMT can be operated as a V Developing and manufacturing met- Precision sensors make fast re- single tower with six Tet h e r - eorological instrumentation for professional re- sponse measurements with sta- so n d e s , or, with an additional se a r c h scientists, AI R has become well known for bility and durability. The ground balloon and winch, as two tow- its upper air and boundary layer observation sys- station will sequentially process ers of three Tet h e r s o n d e s . The tems and its line of barometric pressure products. digital data from up to six only limitation is a require- The company was founded by David B. Call in Tethersondes attached at vari- ment for line-of - sight telemetry 1975. Following the merger with Vai sa l a , Mr. Call ous heights along the tether- between the ground station will remain with the company to continue the line, at up to three kil o m e t e r s and the Tethersondes on the development of the unique technology that AIR is of altitude. They can be at- ba l l o o n . known for. ta c hed at any point along or The tethered balloons are The acquisition means that Vai s ala will now be removed from the tetherline in available in sizes of three, five, able to offer an even broader range of products and se c o n d s . The entire system is seven and nine cubic meters to achieve greater efficiency, which will benefit all ec o n o m i c a l , portable, and op- with payload capacities of up customer groups. In addition, Vai s ala will have a erable by one person. With a to seven kg. Manufactured permanent presence in Boulder, the recognized total system weight of less than from 0.04-mm urethane plastic, capital of atmospheric research in the USA . ■ 40 kg, it can be transported eas- they can be flown in winds of ily and installed in less than an up to 15 m/s.

4 150/1999 AIR - Vaisala merger introduces the Tet h e r ed Me t e o r ol o g i c a l Tower

An invaluable tool for sonde and their data transmitted In March 1999, Atmospheric re s ea r c h … to the ground station. Sample r s can be placed at a predeter- Instrumentation Research, With its many applications, the mined height and operated for In c . (AIR) joined the Va i sa l a TMT System is a valuable tool a specific time and air volume. Gr o u p . Their combined tech- for researchers the world over. Pollutant samples are then nologies and assets will create A Tethersonde is an ideal plat- retrieved for analysis with the form for experimental sensors most sensitive and accurate lab- new opportunities for AIR, measuring a variety of atmos- or a t o r y instrumentation. Vai s ala and their customers. pheric properties and provides Air pollution research de- Vai s ala will gain a broader the critical boundary layer pends particularly on accurate weather data for the evaluation meteorological measurements range of products, including of experimental sensors. Over in the boundary layer. How air the Tethered Meteorological its long history, its sensors have masses flow over urban areas as Tower (TMT). seen remarkable innovations, the sun heats and night cools limited only by the imagina- the atmosphere is critical to the tion of scientists. study of air pollution. Many Tethersondes have carried cities use a network of expen- acoustic sensors to study shock sive pollution sampling sta- wa v e s . Tet h e r e d balloons have tions and networks of automat- been used to measure the noc- ic weather stations to continu- turnal migration patterns of ously monitor the concentra- insects and to capture insects tion of pollutants. Interpreta- for study. Aircraft icing condi- tion of the pollution data tions in cloud have been stud- requires knowledge of the ied with special sensors. we a t h e r , and especially of the Fo r e s t r y applications include winds affecting the urban area. controlled burns and studies of A Tethersonde can provide the the forest canopy. Rad i a t i o n , ve r tical dimension in meteorol- airborne parti c l e s , temperature ogical measurements. turbulence, optical atmospher- ic properties for laser research, …and for teac h i n g and ozone studies are but a few of the Tethersonde’s applica- Universities operate Te t h e r- ti o n s . so n d e s , controlled by students, Chemical sensors and vari- to bring to life the “real” atmos- ous forms of grab sam p l e r s phere that they study in text- have been carried by Tet h e r - bo o k s. When they profile re- s o n d e s. Real-time measure- peatedly through a temperature ment sensors can be connected in version by winching the aero- to spare channels in the Tet h e r - dynamic balloon up and down, they can see that the atmos- phere really does behave as The Tethered Meteorological Tower has been a useful tool for the they’ve been taught in the class- meteorological research community for over twenty years. ro o m . ■

150/1999 5 Vai s ala is launching a new PC -based radiosounding system, the DigiCORA III. The system provides a new, simplified user in t e r face and vastly improved system management, while employing the familiar terms and functions of previous mo d e l s . Customer sat i s f a c t i o n was the guiding principle in de s i g n .

DigiCORA III sounding system TheThe NewNew OpenOpen GeneratGeneratiioo nn

a i sala is currently provides new functions and op- MPS2 10 introduced along with l a u n ching a ne w - erating options that reach far the DigiCORA III, certain leg- ge n e r a t i o n , PC-ba s e d into the future of radiosound- ac y systems can also be con- V ra d i o sounding sys- in g . This makes DigiCORA III ve r ted or used as is. For exam- tem – the DigiCORA III the perfect long-term solution ple, the DigiCORA (MW 11 A) , (MW 2 1). The new system has in the DigiCORA family of MA RW I N (MW 12 A ) and Digi- ma n y benefits. sounding systems. CORA II (MW 1 5) are all suitable Use of the personal comput- for the task – as are the RT2 0 A Jouni Hult, M.A . er as the processing platform Main system components Radiotheodolite and in the fu- Product Manager for the DigiCORA III software ture even the AUT OSONDE Upper Air Division results in good usab i l i t y , lower The sounding system compri- in s t a l l a t i o n . Vai s ala Helsinki training and maintenance costs ses two main components – a Sounding data on air pressure, Fi n l a n d and a wide range of connectivi- PC which runs the DigiCORA temperature, humidity (PTU ) ty options. Furthermore, Digi- III software and acts as the col- and wind is gathered by the CORA III’s modular design pro- lector and repository for mete- sounding processing subsystem vides an easy upgrade path from orological data from the sound- and sent to the PC, where the earlier DigiCORA generat i o n s , in g s , and a sounding process- Di g i C ORA III software col- and thus keeps the inve s t me n t ing subsystem which receives l e c t s, presents, analyses and requirement under control. the data and preprocesses it. stores it. The PC can also create The new, simplified user The sounding processing sub- and relay meteorological mes- in t e r face vastly improves sys- system can be any Vai s ala system sages to customer-appointed lo- tem management, while em- that has ARCNET networkin g cations by means of serial con- ploying the familiar terms and ca p a b i l i t i e s . While the preferred ne c t i o n s , telephone services or functions of previous models. solution is the new Meteor- various network protocols. But the sounding software itself ological Processing Subsystem

6 150/1999 The general configuration of the DigiCORA III sounding syst e m . From the AR C N ET connector, and the le f t, RS90 Radiosonde, GC24 Ground Check Set , a PC with a printer, PC requires a separate ARCNET Di g i C ORA III, RB2 1 UHF Ant e n n a , GA20 GPS Antenna and CA21 network card. There can be sev- VLF Ant e n n a . eral MPS2 10 subsystems con- nected to a single PC, with e a ch MPS 210 housing two wind processing cards. The MPS2 10 collects the in- formation for the PTU and wind calculations via a radio re c e i v e r and local antennas conne c t e d to corresponding cards within the subsystem. The collected and processed data is then passed to the DigiCORA III software for analysis and storage.

In c r e ased customer val u e During the design phase of the PC installation in g . In this mode, the user only allow customers to make and Di g i C ORA III, special atten- supports flexibility needs to enter the surf a c e use customized data processing tion was paid to the customers’ ob s e r vation values and the type and analysis tools to suit their vi e w s . As a result, Vai s ala devel- The DigiCORA III software is of sonde used in the sounding. specific requirements. oped an open system, based on delivered preinstalled on a PC. Once the sonde has been launch- Data and message creation in d u s t r y standards. Compared The present PC configuration ed , the user does not need to and relayig are based on Digi- to an embedded system, the contains a Pentium II processor operate the system in any way. CORA III’s integration with PC architecture provides signi- (400 MHz or higher), 128 MB An occasional che c k to ensure Windows NT. Although the ficant benefits for the custome r , of RAM , a 6 GB hard drive, an that the sounding is progressing software has a number of pre- in terms of both cost and main- SVGA graphics card and a as planned is all that is required. de f i n e d , editable message for- ta i n a b i l i t y . The user interfa c e mo n i t o r . The sounding system The advanced mode allows ma t s , customers can also define was specifically designed to runs on a Microsoft Win d o w s access to all parameters. In this their own message formats with allow the simplest possible op- NT 4.0 platform. mode, the user has complete the built-in message editor. er a t i o n , thus lowering operator The DigiCORA III is native control over all aspects of the These messages can be trigger- training requirements. 32 - bit Windows NT software, station and system configura- ed manually or automatically Do w n ward compatibility and w h i ch utilizes the advanced ti o n , as well as the sounding at predefined stages during or upgradeability – the traditional m u l t i -t a s king properties of operating capabilities. The ad- after sounding. They are then Vai s ala hallmarks – are essential Windows NT. This allows the vanced mode can be password relayed forward using Win d o w s pr o p e r ties of DigiCORA III. software to run multiple sound- pr o t e c t e d . NT’s networking capabilities, All the MW generations – ing sessions concurrently, each Di g i C ORA III uses both text including serial connection, MW 1 1, MW12 and MW15 – of which can access a common and visual prompts to guide the di a l - up networking and various can be used as such or upgrad- data source. The soundings can user through the various stages LAN protocols (TC P/IP, ed for the new MW 2 1. The new be live or simulated, using pre- of preparing and launching the SPX /IPX , Net B EUI). Conse- Me t e o r o l o g i c a l Processing Sub- viously saved sounding data. radiosonde. The text prompts qu e n t l y , a network of Digi- system MPS2 10 provides a plat- Although only one live sound- are all translatable into any lan- CORA III-based stations can form for both present and ing can currently be handled at guage, provided the language be configured to constitute a future sounding capabilities. one time, the architecture will does not use a double-byte cha r - scalable, automatic data and The DigiCORA III PC can be allow multiple simultaneous acter set. Certain visual prompts meteorological message relaying upgraded as PC tech n o l o g y live soundings to be operated can also be substituted with cus- infrastructure, useful for local, ev o l v e s , along with the operat- from a single workstation once tomized versions. national and international needs ing system and the DigiCORA the hardware capability becomes al i ke . III software. av a i l a b l e . Im p r o ved data Customer satisfaction was management Met eo r o l o g i c a l the guiding principle in design- User-friendly solution Processing Subsystem ing the DigiCORA III. Al- D i g i CORA III provides the (MPS2 10) though highly innovative, it is The software integrates sound- user with a very extensive col- a simple system at heart. It is ing control, archiving and mes- lection of data from each The MPS2 10 is a separate unit easy to set up, use and main- sage creation under one user so u n d i n g , as all the received containing the PTU processor ta i n , and its operating require- in t e r face (UI). The UI has a data can be saved and stored UPP2 10 with customer-se l e c t e d ments have been set at the min- number of important enhance- for later analysis. Here it is wind processing cards: the GPS im u m . While it contains all the ments for the end-us e r , notably wo r th noting that the database Processor MWG201 or Navaid components necessar y for a the configurable access level for storing the soundings uses Processor MWV201. The sub- basic off-th e - box sounding sys- and the translatable user the Microsoft Access format. system is remotely controlled te m , it is easily configurable for pr o m p t s . Customers can therefore query by the DigiCORA III software. the most demanding require- The DigiCORA III user in- the database with standard The subsystem and the PC me n t s . In fact, DigiCORA III te r face offers two levels of ac- Microsoft Office 97 tools, such use ARCNET network proto- is the definitive sounding sys- ce s s . The standard mode restricts as Excel 97. In the future, a sep- col for data and control mes- tem for the new millennium. ■ user access to those features arate data access API will be sage transfer. The MPS2 10 power needed for operating a sound- made available, which will supply contains the subsystem

150/1999 7 Met Éireann’s Valentia Observatory located in Co Ker r y , Ireland.

Marit Finne Ed i t o r -i n -C h i e f Met Éireann / Irish Meteorological Service Vai s ala New s Vai s ala Helsinki Fi n l a n d Valentia Observat o ry Be n efits from Adv an c e d Tec h n o l o g y

Met Éireann, the Irish Meteorological Servi c e , he Valentia Observa - to r y is a part of Me t has been a customer of Vai s ala for many years. Éi r e a n n , the Irish Met- The Valentia Observa t o r y, one of the most T eorological Servi c e . westerly stations in north western Europe and Employing 21 people, it is lo- an important source of upper air data, is a part cated on the Atlantic seaboard on the southwestern coast of of Met Éireann. “We have used a wide range of Ir e l a n d , at coordinates 51° 56’ N Vai s ala equipment at our observa t o r y,” say s and 10 ° 15’ W. The observa to r y Ge r r y Murphy, Chief Scientist. The latest carries out surface weather and installation is a new semi-automatic Balloon upper air meteorological meas- ur e m e n t s , as well as a wide Lau n ch e r , operational since January, 199 9 . range of other scientific activi- ties including ozone monitor- Gerry Murphy works as the Chief ing and geomagnetics. Scientist at Valentia Observatory. Focus on upper air mea s u r e m e n t s “Met Éireann has been Vai sa l a ’ s customer for many years,” say s Ge r r y Murphy, Chief Scientist at the Valentia Observa t o r y and the man who is responsible for all scientific data gathered there.

8 150/1999 A balloon being launched by the new Balloon Launcher at Val e n t i a .

An ozonesonde about to be la u n c hed by Paud Mah o n e y (in the front) and Joseph Gav i n .

“In addition to the wide range became our primary sounding of equipment at our observa t o - sy s t e m , and a new MW201 pro- ry, we are using Vai s ala sensors cessor was installed to allow the and systems – including ceilo- system to gather ozone data met e r s , and auto- and wind data, using Loran-C, ” matic weather stations – at a says Mr. Murphy. The Loran-C number of our stations through- na v i g ational system has been out Ireland.” The systems at used for wind finding from Valentia include DigiCORA September 19 97, when the and PC-CORA ground equip- OMEGA system was closed me n t , radiosondes, and Vai sa l a ’ s do w n . in t e r face for ozonesondes. “Yes , “ D i g i CORA has operated and we recently installed Vai - sat i s f a c t o r i l y , without excessive sala’s ASAP-type, semi-au t o m a t - maintenance costs. Over many ic Balloon Lau n c her and a dig- ye a r s , the Valentia staff have ital . These new sys- gained a vast amount of experi- tems have been operational since ence in upper air measurements, Ja n u a r y, 1999,” says Murphy. and much expertise in workin g The Valentia Observa t o r y has with Va i sala ground station a long history of upper air meas- equipment and sensors.” ur e m e n t s . Its location on the Atlantic seaboard makes it one Need for automated of the most strategically posi- and cost-effect i v e tioned stations in northw e s t e r n op e r a t i o n s Europe, causing it to be cho s e n for upper air climate tasks. Its In January 199 7, it was decided radiosonde measurement re- to review balloon launching op- cords date back as far as 194 6 . erations at Valentia and to ex- The first Vai s ala system, us- amine the possibilities to auto- ing RS2 1 radiosondes, was in- mate them. “It soon became troduced in 1977. RS80 radio- apparent that there were only sondes with OMEGA wind two realistic possibilities, bo t h finding and the DigiCORA produced by Va i sa l a,” sa y s ground station were introduced Mu r p h y. in 1988. A PC-CORA system The pros and cons of the two was installed in 1993, with the Vai s ala launche r s , the ASAP introduction of ozonesonde and the AUT OSONDE, were measurements at the observa t o - thoroughly inve s t i ga t e d . “We ry. “With the imminent closure had to be able to launch the of the OMEGA network in system reliably at wind speeds September 19 97, DigiCORA greater than 45 m/s.” Win d

150/1999 9 Ves a Koivula, M.S c . (En g. ) Tec hnical Support Manager Ozone meas u r e m e n t s Close cooperation Upper Air Division for research needs with Vai s a l a Vai s ala Helsinki Fi n l a n d Measurements of ozone There has been close coopera- amounts and ultraviolet radia- tion between Vai s ala and Met tion (UV) levels are importa n t , Éireann for many years. “In if we are to monitor the effects ge n e r a l , we are satisfied with the of ozone depletion. Both of Vai s ala equipment in operation Unl o ading a Bal l o o n these measurements are made at Val e n t i a . The new Balloon La u n c her at Val e n t i a . by Met Éireann at the Val e n t i a Lau n c her has performed well Ob s e rv a t o r y. Total ozone con- so far. It is safe and simple to centration and UVB irradiance use and has cut operational are measured by a Brewer spec- co s t s , because it needs only one tr o p h o t o m e t e r , while verti c a l person to launch a balloon. It ozone profiles are obtained from has not yet been possible to soundings with ozonesondes. test the ability of the Lau n ch e r The Brewer spectrophotome- to operate in extremely strong ter was installed at Valentia in wi n d s , as we have not had wind 1993. The collected data is sent speeds in excess of 25 m/s since regularly to the World Ozone Ja n u a r y 199 9 . and UV Data Center in Canada “ We have worked closely (WOUDC), which forms pa r t with Vai s ala in the purcha s e of the Global Ozone Observin g and commissioning of new in- System (GOOS), run by the st r u m e n t s . The company pro- World Meteorological Organ - vides good customer support ization (WM O). Data is also for our equipment and we have sent daily in winter and spring a good working relationship to the Total Ozone Mapping with their upper air sales and Center in Greece for use in te c hnical support teams,” say s European ozone maps. Th e Mu r p h y. ■ total ozone monitoring is whol- speeds at Valentia can reach ly funded by Met Éireann. this level. The chosen solution Since 1994, ozonesonde is based on an Automatic measurements have been made Shipboard Aerological Pro- using an ozone sensor inter- gramme (ASAP) type launche r , faced with a Vai s ala RSA 1 1 wh i c h is semi-au t o m a t i c . Thi s in t e r face card and a modified type of launcher is used on RS80 radiosonde (type E) . and is suitable for balloon Hu m i d i t y , pressure, tempera- la u n c hes in high wind speeds. ture, geopotential height and “But launching at high wind wind speed and direction are speeds was not the only factor. measured simultaneously with The ASAP launcher is simple the ozone sam p l i n g . and safe to operate and re- Ge r r y Murphy explains that, quires little routine mainten- at the observa t o r y, ozone sound- ance. Since Valentia is manned ings are made once a week from 24 hours a day, we don’t need a December to April, and that fully automated system.” ex tra ascents are on alert for var- Vaisala’s DigiCORA MW11 ground equipment and wind Concerning the Balloon ious projects. To date, over 200 recorder in the operations room. La u n cher at Va l e n t i a, Gerry ozonesondes have been flown Mu r p h y concludes: “With the and Valentia has played a very introduction of the Lau n ch e r active role in EU funded re- and the centralization of opera- s e a r ch pr o j e c t s , including the tions at the observa t o r y, one Second European Stratospheric person can now safely take care and Midlatitude Ozone Exper- of both the surface and upper iment (SESA M E), the Tro p o - air operations simultaneously. spheric Ozone and Stratos- This inevitably leads to sav i n g s ph e r ic - Tropospheric Excha n g e in staffing costs. The money (T OAS T E ), and the Fronts and saved has been used to reintro- Atlantic Storm Tra c king Exper- duce the 0600Z sounding, iment (FAS T E X). “We are cur- wh i c h has not been done for rently participating in the Thi r d some years. This brings our European Stratospheric Ozone compliment of ascents to four Experiment (THESEO). ” per day and enhances our abili- Data from ozone ascents are ty to provide high quality sent to a European database in upper air data to the meteorol- Nor way and to the WOUDC in ogical community.” Ca n a d a . Mi c hael Gill at the control panel of the Balloon Launche r .

10 150/1999 Vaisala’s AUT OSONDE in Coba r , Aus t ra l i a , in May 199 7.

Upper Air Observations ai s ala’s high-qu a l i t y customer support is an essential part of V the service concept Focus on Customer wh i c h aims to offer complete solutions to customers’ meas- urement needs. Af t e r - sales ser- After Sales Ser v i c e vice is becoming steadily more i m p o rt a n t, which demands continually improving data av a i l a b i l i t y , faster responses to i n q u i r i e s, shorter response Comprehensive after-sales service has always been one times in the repair service and of the key aspects of Vai s ala’s operations. Va i sa l a ’ s of f -t h e - shelf spare-pa r t deliver- Upper Air Division is launching a new Full Servi c e ie s . In cases of system failure in and Maintenance concept to expand its customer ser- complex meteorological equip- m e n t, short downtimes are vice level. The benefits are short turnaround times, especially importa n t . Full Ser- high data availability and extensive service options. vice, together with software The new service concept is particularly well suited to maintenance and hardware up- re m o t e - controlled AUT OSONDE systems installed in gr a d e s , will maintain a high level of performance and reliability distant sites and harsh weather conditions. throughout the product’s life- cycle and will even extend it.

150/1999 11 “The new Full Service and Maintenance concept covers all upper-air products, but it is particularly well suited to the remote-controlled AUT OSONDE operational advice to techn i c a l The Help Desk can access our The Help Desk sys t e m . The benefits are short de t a i l s . If necessar y, a Vai sa l a re m o t e - control computer sys- Database System turnaround times, high excellent System Engineer will visit the tem to che c k customers’ AUT O- data availability and extensive cu s t o m e r . We believe that the SONDE configurations. Thi s Our Team manages the custom- service options, says Jan new contract will bring the ben- helps in troubleshooting proce- er service work flow with the Hö r ha m m e r ,” UAD Division efits of our professional kno w - du r e s . Tec hnical Support’s staff aid of the Help Desk Database Di r e c t o r , Vaisala Hel s i n k i . how to customers, who, espe- are specialists in system engine e r - Sy s t e m . When our Tec hnical Sup- cially in the long run, will also ing fields, including AUT O- po r t Help Desk is contacted (by get added-value with cost-ef f i - SONDE and other upper-air ob- e- mail ‘helpdesk@vaisal a. c o m ’ ) , ci e n c y, and availability of accu- se r vation product kno w -h o w . the e-mail query automatically rate and reliable data. Communication is mainly in creates a new Case to the Help En g l i s h , but French, German, Desk Database System. All our The Full Service and Sp a n i s h , Swedish and Finnish team members can see each Case, Maintenance Contract can also be used. classified by products, responsi - bi l i t i e s , etc. The Front Line per- Vai s ala’s Full Service and Main- UAD Technical Support son (on duty carrying a Help tenance Contract offers our Team operates the Help Line phone) takes care of in- customers the following servi c e De s k coming questions and new op t i o n s : Cases are easily delegated to The Full Service and The Tec hnical Support team from the team. We are very close to Maintenance Concept 1. Basic Service, including Vai s ala’s Upper Air Division beating the global time zones (UAD ) plays an essential role in by cooperating with other Vai - We intend to provide our cus- • Annual Maintenance af t e r - sales processes. The team sala offices around the world. tomers with the highest quality Se r vice (Vai s ala’s engineer operates a Help Desk that pro- In addition, the System pro- of aerological data for their visits sites once a year) vides all customers with techn i - vides daily reminders about changing , • Complete Help Desk cal assistance. The Help Line is Cases and the main tasks re- meteorological research and Se r vices (including mobile pa r t of the customer assistance quiring attention. defense meteorological needs. phone support 24 hours, 7 available within the Help Desk All data and conve r sa t i o n s Vai s ala Upper Air Division da y s /w e e k ) se r vice to all upper-air custom- between end users and Vai sa l a (UAD ) offers its customers the er s . are stored in the Help Desk op p o r tunity of a new form of • Vai s ala Tec hnical Support Clients can call the Help Database, for the possible fu- Full Service and Maintenance On - site Service (Vai sa l a ’ s Line or contact Vai s ala’s operat- ture use. The Database is a cus- Concept with several servi c e engineer on-site support is or , who will connect them to tomer data log. We can reuse operation options. Though the available in emergencies, if the Line. It is staffed during the data as an input to our se r vice concept covers all upper- su c h support is needed) office hours, night callers being product development and qual- ai r pr o d u c t s , it is parti c u l a r l y • Monitoring and Reporti n g able to leave a message in the ity processes, for example, giv- well suited to the remote-co n - Se r vice vo i c e - mail box. All messag e s ing our customer further long- trolled AUT OSONDE system. are answered as soon as possi- term benefits. Vai s ala’s sal e s Vai s ala’s new service concept (T he monitoring includes ble. Customers wishing to ex- teams too have access to the gives customers a response from preventive and corrective pand service options can con- Da t a b a s e . our Tec hnical Support Team to maintenance, and cus- clude a Full Service and Main- This gives the Tec hnical Sup- vi r tually any system problems. tomer alarms in case of tenance Contract with Vai sa l a . po r t Team a wider perspective fa i l u r e s ) on field operations, and case by Cooperating with • Guaranteed Response ca s e , we learn from each other. cu s t o m e r s Tim e s ■ In winter 199 7/1998, we inter- 2. Software Maintenance vi e w ed key customers to deter- Agreement (SMA ), includ- mine both appropriate areas for in g UAD Technical i mprovement and customer • New S/W versions Su p p o r t ‘s Help Desk ne e d s . To support our customers, Tel: (office hours) our ultimate goal is even better • S/W HelpDesk Support +358 9 8949 789 data availability without reduc- (24 hours, guaranteed Telefax +358 9 8949 790 ing accuracy. Response Tim e s ) E-mail: [email protected] After signing the contract, • Installation service during callers can contact Upper Air annual visits Tec hnical Support at almost an y time. The mobile phone 3. Guaranteed spare-pa r t se r vice, always staffed by our av a i l a b i l i t y Systems Engineer, is available • Requests for Depot Spare to contact customers 24 hours Pa r ts are usually dispatche d a day, seven days a week. The within 24 hours se r vice number is notified when a customer signs a contract. The • Guaranteed Response s e rvice support ranges from Tim e s

12 150/1999 Introducing Technical Support: Co m p r e h e n s i v e Service for Upper Air Weather Systems

The Technical Support team from Vaisala’s Upper Air Division plays a key role in the after-sales process. The team helps cus- tomers with technical issues related to the installation, opera- ti o n , use and maintenance of their upper-air systems. Customer fe e dback is critically important to the entire team , which is co m m i t t e d to providing comprehensive service and support to customers world w i d e .

Ex t e n s i v e testing process

Thorough testing is conducted before a product or system is re l ea s e d for customer use. During the release test, which takes se veral weeks, the Technical Support staff of Vaisala’s Upper Air Division checks and tests the new software and carries out soundings with the complete ground equipment system and all The Tec hnical Support team members, from the left: Jar m o combinations of wind meas u r e m e n t s . Every effort is made to Fra n s s i l a , Jarmo Mononen and Vesa Koi v u l a . ensure that all products have been thoroughly tested before de l i v e r y to the customer’s site. The release test is also an inte- gral part of Technical Support’s internal training procedu r e . After completion of these tests, in-house studies and interna l training by our R&D speci a l i s t s , the next step is to provide train- ing courses. These courses are conducted by Vaisala’s system engineers at Vaisala Helsinki or the customer’s premises. Before a delivery, the Technical Support team also parti c i - pates in the Fac t o r y Acceptance Test perfo rm e d at Vai s a l a . If an installation is neede d at the customer’s site, a system engi- neer travels to the sounding station to install the system and ca r r y out the Site Acceptance Tes t . Most of the team’s system engineers put in more than 100 days of travel a year .

Equipment upgrades wor l d w i d e

The UAD ’s Technical Support team has installed and upgraded customers’ sounding equipment throughout the world – in From the left: Mikko Niininen, Minna Leskinen and Mar k o Europe, Asia, Afric a , and the Americ a s . Typically, the Sun d s t r ö m . sounding system upgrade takes just a few hours, depending on the ground equipment model and level of customization. Ver y of t e n , it involves the installation of other systems, such as PC’s with Metgraph software. The upgrade procedure, which covers both hardware and software, is very well documented in the upgrade manuals. All the standard features of Vaisala’s latest software release are also included in the upgrade. The system engineer always makes sure that the sounding station is operational after modifi- ca t i o n s , the first test soundings being made during his visit. The Technical Support of the Upper Air Division consists of eight System Engineers. The team members are Olavi Alanko, Ja r mo Fra n s s i l a , Markku Järvinen, Ismo Kupiainen, Jarmo Mononen and Mikko Niininen. In addition to them, two new me m b e r s , Minna Leskinen and Marko Sundström joined our te am in October 199 8 .

Customer training From the left: Olavi Alanko, Markku Järvinen and Ismo Ku p i a i n e n . The Technical Support of Vaisala Upper Air Division provides our customer with training courses, arranged at Vaisala Helsinki or the customer’s premises. Besides the general product train- in g , our courses include the following elements:

1. System operators training 2. System maintenance training 3. Installation training, and 4. System training

150/1999 13 Marit Finne Ed i t o r -i n -C h i e f Vai s ala New s Vai s ala Helsinki NOAA’s WP-3 Orion Hurricane Research Aircraf t are among the most Fi n l a n d advanced airborne environmental research platforms for the study of seve r e storms and global climate chan g e . NOAA ‘Hurricane‘Hurricane Hunters’Hunters’ Flying in the Storm

Specially equipped NOAA aircraft r o u n d b r e a king re- ously low altitudes. The ‘NOAA se a r c h and im p r o v - Hurricane Hunters’ Captain play an integral role in hurricane ed forecasts have al- David Tennesen and Lieuten- fo r e c a s t i n g . NOAA’s Hurricane G re a d y emerged from ant Commander Sean White Re s e a r c h Scientists fly a Gulfstream the data gathered by RD9 3 are NOAA Corps officers sta- G-IV Jet beyond hurricanes at high GP S dropwindsondes in hurri- tioned at the Aircraft Opera- canes and winter storms. The tions Center at MacDill Air altitudes (40,000–45,000 feet) and dropsonde data have improved Force Base in Tam p a , . two WP-3 Orion turboprops into the mean hurricane track fore- Captain Ten n e s e n , a pilot since hurricanes at low altitudes casts from the Geophy s i c a l 1968, is the senior aviator at Fluid Dynamics Lab o r a t o ry ’ s AO C while Lieutenant Com- (1,5 0 0 – 1 0,000 feet), to collect (GF DL) hurricane model by as mander White, a meteorolo- re s e a r c h data. During their mu c h as 32 per cent and the gi s t , has been Project Manager mi s s i o n s , these aircraft release intensity forecasts by as much for the NOAA Gulfstream IV Vai s ala RD93 GPS dropwindsondes as 20 per cent.*) since its acquisition. Specially equipped NOAA used for weather reconnaissan c e , Pilots trained to aircraft play an integral role in hurricane and weather research. fly hurricanes hurricane forecasting. Data col- lected during hurricanes by NOAA Corps pilots, who sup- these high-flying meteorologi- po r t the civilian scientists and cal stations and from a variety engineering staff of the Aircraft of other sources are fed into Operations Center (AOC), are numerical computer models, to among an elite group of pilots help forecasters predict how who are trained to fly into hur- intense a hurricane can be, and ri c a n e s , sometimes at danger- where it will make landfall.

14 150/1999 Hurricanes Have a Mind of Their Own

Satellite images of hurricanes show a unique and characteris - tic cloud forma t i o n , signaling an intense tropical weather sys- te m . The powerful storms spawned in the tightly coiled sys- tems produce heavy rain and winds with maximum sustained sp e e ds of 74 mph/64 knots (33 m/s). The United States has a significant hurricane problem. There are already some 45 million permanent residents along The NOAA G-IV plane flies the hurricane-prone coastlines – and the population is still hi g h - altitude tracks, between gr o w i n g . 41,000 to 45,000 feet (12, 4 9 7 A hurricane is a type of – a general term –13 , 716 m), to release the GPS for all weather systems circulating (counterclockwise in the dropsonde at predetermined No rt h e r n Hemisphere) over tropical waters. lo c a t i o n s . Using the specific Hu r r icanes are products of the tropical and atmos- mission systems onboard the phere. Pow e r e d by heat from the sea, they are steered by the ai r c r a f t , the information meas- eas t e r ly trade winds and the temperate westerli e s , as well as ured by the GPS dropsonde is by their own ferocious energy. Around their core, winds grow co l l e c t e d , analyzed, processed, to a great velocity, generating violent seas . Moving ashore, formatted into a message and they sweep the ocean inward while spawning tornadoes and transmitted via Com- producing torrential rains and floods. Each year an average Lieutenant Commander Sea n munications (S ATCOM) to of ten tropical storms (of which six become hurricanes), deve l - White is Project Manager of the the ground, almost in real time. op over the , Carib b e an Sea, or Gulf of NOAA Gulfstream G-IV Jet , seen These atmospheric vertical pro- Me x i c o . Every three year s , about five hurricanes strike the files are used to initialize in the bac kground with the Mup p e t s Un i t e d States coastline. Two of the five will be major hurri- numerical models providing char acter logo. canes (catego r y 3 or great e r , on the Saffir-Simpson Hurric a n e data otherwise not available in Scale. The scale from minimum to maximum is 1 to 5). the ’data void’ regions over the oc e a n s . Captain Tennesen say s , “Since NOAA’s Corps pilots fly the the 199 7 hurricane season, the Gulfstream G-IV Jet at high G-IV jet complements the work altitudes (41,000–45,000 feet) of the WP-3s. Data from drop- and two WP-3 Orion turboprops sondes measuring barometric at lower altitudes (1,5 0 0 – 2 5 , 0 0 0 pressure, temperature, humidi- fe e t ), to collect research-m i s - ty , and wind flow are transmitt- sion data. Lieutenant Com- ed to a satellite, which then mander White explains that he transmits the data to the Na- coordinates field operations tional Hurricane Center in Mia- and crew activities (pilots, mi , and the National Envi r o n - me t e o r o l o g i s t s , engineers and mental Satellite, Data and In- te ch n i c i a n s ) in all the phases re- formation Service outside Was h - quired to accomplish each mis- in g t o n , DC. ” si o n . Air missions DR93 GPS dropsonde relay storm data me asures critical atmospheric conditions During hurricane synoptic sur- veillance missions, the NOAA The Airborne Ver tical Atmos- G-IV flies in the envi r o n m e n t pheric Profiling System (AVAP S) of the hurricane. The tracks usu- was developed by the U. S. ally target specific areas around National Center for Atmos- the hurricane, concentrating on pheric Research (NCAR), in cooperation with the German PHOTO COURTESY OF NOAA, USA. Aerospace Research Establish- ment (DLR) and the NOAA Co r p s . NCAR has licensed the production of the RD93 GPS dropsonde, which is a key com- ponent of the AVAP S, to Vai - sal a . The Airborne Ver tical At- mospheric Profiling System, wh i c h incorporates a Vai sa l a RD93 GPS dropwindsonde, is Lieutenant Commander Sean White, with Vaisala’s DR93 GPS an advanced tool for weather Captain David Ten n e s e n , the Sen i o r Dropsonde, coordinates field operations and crew activities in all the re c o n n a i s s ance, hurricane and Av i a t o r , with his favorite aircraf t, ph ases required to accomplish each mission in the NOAA aircraf t. weather research. NOAA WP-3 Orion.

150/1999 15 synoptic features that influence This picture shows the lightning rod protruding from the front of the aircraf t. its track. For winter storm recon- *) Ref e r e n c e s na i s s ance, the aircraft flies in [1] Ho c k, Terrence F., and sensitive areas over the No rt h James L. Frankli n , 199 9 : Pacific two to five days upstream The GPS Dropsonde, The of the weather development areas Bulletin of the American affecting the United States. The s e Meteorological Society, predetermined sensitive areas Volume 80, No.3, are chosen to provide the nu- Ma r c h 199 9 . merical models with crucial data that otherwise would be [2 ] Ab e r s o n , Sim D. and James un a v a i l a b l e . L. Frankli n , 1999: During the acquisition pro- Impact on Hurricane Tra c k cess and instrumentation of the and Intensity Forecasts of NOAA G-IV, the Atmospheric GP S Dropwindsonde Tec hnology Division (ATD ) of Ob s e r vations from the the National Centers for Atmos- Fi r s t - Season Flights of the pheric Research was chosen to NOAA Gulfstream-IV Jet design and develop the new Ai r c r a f t , The Bulletin of GP S dropsonde. The NCAR / the American ATD chose Vai s ala’s PTU sen- Meteorological Society, sor and GPS components for Volume 80, No.3, their design of the new GPS Ma r c h 199 9 . dropsonde. “T hough I was only indirect- ly involved in the enhancement process that further improved be a success. This includes the the GPS dropsonde, I have dr o p s o n d e s . The accuracy of nothing but high praise for the Vai s ala instrument and the Vai s ala’s efforts to respond to information it collects directly our needs and the tight deliver y affects the weather forecasts for sc hedule. Along with individu- the entire No rthern Hemi- als within NOAA, NCAR and sp h e r e . ” the Air Force’s We a t h e r Lieutenant Commander White Re c o n n a i s s ance Squadron, Vai - says his most memorable expe- sala’s commitment to quality rience was a flight into Hur- has provided the GPS drop- ricane Hugo as the navigat o r sonde that will enable the on a WP-3 aircraft in Sep- NOAA G-IV to enter the 21s t tember 1989, during a mission Ce n t u r y as the premier high- originating from Barbados. altitude platform,” Sean White “During this low-level research say s . m i s s i o n, the aircraft experi- enced extreme turbulence upon Res e arch flying is entering the eyewall of Hur- a team effort ricane Hugo, at an altitude of making landfal l , September 22, 198 9 . Charleston rad a r 1,500 feet (452 m). After a pre- The Aircraft Operations Center image. Photo courtesy of NOAA, Hurricane Research Division, USA. ca u t i o n a r y shutdown of one of (A O C) was created in 1983 to the engines during the -wa l l consolidate the aviation assets penetration and the subse- of the National Oceanic and quent entry of the calm eye at Atmospheric Ad m i n i s t r a t i o n. about 800 feet (243 m), the 3- Its versatile aircraft collect the engine, 1-hour climb to a saf e r en vironmental and geographic altitude in the small eye of data essential to NOAA hurri- Hu g o , together with the pene- cane research. “Our aircraft tration of the eyewall to exit operate in some of the world’s and the subsequent ferry back most remote and demanding to Barbados formed the most flight regimes – over open ocean, sobering experience of my life.” mountains and coastal wet- The center, or eye, of a hurri- la n d s , in and around hurricanes cane is relatively calm. The most or other severe weather,” Cap- violent activity takes place in the tain Tennesen points out. area immediately around the David Tennesen stresses that eye, called the eyewall. At the the research flying they do is top of the eyewall, (about ve r y much a team effort. “Eve r y 50,000 feet /15,240 m), most of crew member and the research The graph shows the vertical motion the NOAA Hurricane Hunters fly the air is propelled outward, in- instruments they operate must through on one of their research flights. As can be seen, this is not a smooth creasing the air’s upward motion. work together for each flight to airline ride. ■

16 150/1999 Vaisala’s RD93 GPS dropsonde. The dropsonde data have improved the mean hurricane track forecasts from the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory’s (GFDL) hurricane model by as much as 32 per cent and the intensity forecasts by as much as 20 per cent.

1998 UCAR Outstanding Performance Awards Dropsonde for Weather

he Technology Ad- ceived the award for the devel- Reconnaissance vancement Award is opment of the GPS dropsonde given each year at system. In just over two years, T UCAR/NCAR (Uni- this NCAR/ATD design has versity Corporation for At- become one of the most mospheric Research / National important observing tools on Center for Atmospheric Re- 18 research aircraft in the USA, search, USA) for the most sig- Germany, Canada and the UK. nificant technical development The GPS dropsonde has pro- In December 1998, a ten-man develop- in support of Atmospheric vided order-of-magnitude im- ment team from NCAR/NOAA was Science. This award honors provements in data quality and awarded the Technology Advancement major individual or group cre- reliability. ations of the past five years that To build this next-generation Award for development of the Global represent outstanding technical dropsonde, the development Positioning System (GPS) dropsonde. achievements in engineering, team made a series of key deci- This NCAR/ATD design has become computer science, or applied sions, including the use of a science. low-cost Vaisala codeless GPS one of the most important observing Terry Hock, Hal Cole, Dean receiver module and the new tools on 18 research aircraft in four Lauritsen, Ken Norris, Ned RS90 PTU sensor module. The countries. Groundbreaking research Chamberlain, Errol Korn, and telemetered dropsonde data and improved forecasts have already Chip Owens from NCAR’s uses the aircraft data system for Atmospheric Technology Divi- position calculations. The new emerged from the data gathered by sion (ATD), and James Franklin, dropsonde also uses a unique GPS in hurricanes and Alan Goldstein, and Jeff Smith cone-shaped parachute that re- winter storms. from the National Ocean- duces the opening shock and ographic and Atmospheric allows fragile sensors to be Administration (NOAA) re- dropped safely and quickly

Group picture of the ten-man development team from NCAR/NOAA which won the Technology Advancement Award. From the right: Chip Owens, Ned Chamberlain, Hal Cole, Ken Norris, Errol Korn; (seated) Dean Lauritsen and Terry Hock.

150/1999 17 from high-altitude jet aircraft. Ro b e r t Ireland Gr o u n d b r e a k ing research and Systems Engineer improved forecasts have al- Vai s ala Melbourne ready emerged from the data Au s t r a l i a gathered by GPS dropsondes in Vai s ala Win s hurricanes and winter storms. The dropsonde data has im- proved the mean hurricane USAF tr a c k forecasts from the Geo- ph ysical Fluid Dynamics Lab o r a - to r y’s (GF DL) hurricane model TACME T by as much as 32 per cent and the intensity forecasts by as much as 20 per cent. Awa r d Ton y Baldwin Project Consultant Old award tradition Special Services Unit Bureau of Ea c h December a select group Au s t r a l i a of UCAR /NCAR staff have Vai s ala has been awarded a contract been recognized with the insti- from Raytheon Tec hnical Services / tution’s most prestigious hon- Indianapolis to supply the USA F or s , the annual Outstanding oodside Australian Per formance Awards. There are with Tactical Meteorological Energy is an Austral- five awards given: (1) the Out- (TA C M ET) Observation Systems. ian resource compa- standing Publication Award, The TAC M ET is based on Vai sa l a ’ s W ny specializing in the (2) the Tec hnology Adv a n c e - Co m m e r c i a l -O f f -t h e - Shelf (COTS) ex p l o r a t i o n , development and ment Award, (3) the Tech n i c a l production of oil and gas . Act- Su p p o r t Award, (4) the Adm i - pr o d u c t s . ing in a partn e r s h i p , Woo d s i d e nistrative Support Award, and operates the Nor th West Shelf (5) the Education Award. he TAC M ET system is a field-de p l o y - gas project off the coast of The ceremony is traditional, able, compact , capable . To date this dating back to the awards’ in- of monitoring three general types of is Australia’s largest resource auguration in 196 7, but the T en vironmental parameters: meteorolog- development project. selection process in 1998 was a ical parameters (air temperature, wind, humidity, The discovery in late 1994 of new one. It is part of a two-ye a r pressure, accumulation); ground/ the Laminaria oil field in the transition meant to raise the lighting conditions (soil moisture, soil tempera- Timor Sea provided Woo d s i d e profile of the awards and bring ture, ambient illumination); and aviation support with the opportunity to devel- them more in line with the real- parameters (cloud height and cover, / pre- op its second crude oil project ities of how science is conduct- cipitation type, / lightning). The sys- – and its first project outside ed today. Awardees receive a tem is designed to be capable of quick deployment the Nor th West Shelf. Woo d - cash award and a bronze worldwide, and operate in tactical situations under side has a 50 per cent stake in me d a l . various envi r o n m e n t s . the AC/P8 Exploration Per m i t , The TAC M ET systems are based on Vai sa l a ’ s wh i c h contains the Lam i n a r i a New dropsonde MA WS Mobile Automatic Weather Station. Up to and nearby Corallina oil fields, tec h n o l o g y three systems can be connected to the Windows NT and is the Permit Operator. BHP based workstation via hardwire and / or radio mo- and Shell own 25 per cent each. Designed for weather reconnais- de m s . The workstation takes care of numerical and The major project invo l v e s sance, hurricane and weather re- graphical data display, coding of aviation weather the construction of a Floating se a r c h, the Airborne Vert i c a l re p o r t METAR, archiving and transmitting data Pr o d u c t i o n , Storage and Off- Atmospheric Profiling System for further processing. Also a hand held display loading (FP SO) facility which (A VAP S) incorporates a Vai sa l a can be used for viewing measured and calculated will be permanently moored RD93 GPS dropsonde. This ad- data in the field. ■ between the Laminaria and vanced research system was Corallina fields in some 390 developed by the U. S. Na- metres of water depth. It is tional Center for Atmospheric expected that this will be the Re s e a r c h (NCAR) in coopera- world’s largest such facility. tion with the German Aero- space Research Establishment Ob s e r v ations networ k (DLR) and the National Oce- upgrade needed anic Atmospheric Adm i n i s t r a - tion (NOAA). NCAR has li- Late in 199 7, Woodside Off- censed the production of the shore Petroleum Pty Ltd re- new GPS dropsonde, which is a quested the Bureau of Meteor- key component of AVAP S, to ology to upgrade the meteorol- Vai sa l a . ■ ogical observations network in

18 150/1999 from high-altitude jet aircraft. Ro b e r t Ireland Gr o u n d b r e a k ing research and Systems Engineer improved forecasts have al- Vai s ala Melbourne ready emerged from the data Au s t r a l i a gathered by GPS dropsondes in Vai s ala Win s hurricanes and winter storms. The dropsonde data has im- proved the mean hurricane USAF tr a c k forecasts from the Geo- ph ysical Fluid Dynamics Lab o r a - to r y’s (GF DL) hurricane model TACME T by as much as 32 per cent and the intensity forecasts by as much as 20 per cent. Awa r d Ton y Baldwin Project Consultant Old award tradition Special Services Unit Bureau of Meteorology Ea c h December a select group Au s t r a l i a of UCAR /NCAR staff have Vai s ala has been awarded a contract been recognized with the insti- from Raytheon Tec hnical Services / tution’s most prestigious hon- Indianapolis to supply the USA F or s , the annual Outstanding oodside Australian Per formance Awards. There are with Tactical Meteorological Energy is an Austral- five awards given: (1) the Out- (TA C M ET) Observation Systems. ian resource compa- standing Publication Award, The TAC M ET is based on Vai sa l a ’ s W ny specializing in the (2) the Tec hnology Adv a n c e - Co m m e r c i a l -O f f -t h e - Shelf (COTS) ex p l o r a t i o n , development and ment Award, (3) the Tech n i c a l production of oil and gas . Act- Su p p o r t Award, (4) the Adm i - pr o d u c t s . ing in a partn e r s h i p , Woo d s i d e nistrative Support Award, and operates the Nor th West Shelf (5) the Education Award. he TAC M ET system is a field-de p l o y - gas project off the coast of The ceremony is traditional, able, compact weather station, capable Western Australia. To date this dating back to the awards’ in- of monitoring three general types of is Australia’s largest resource auguration in 196 7, but the T en vironmental parameters: meteorolog- development project. selection process in 1998 was a ical parameters (air temperature, wind, humidity, The discovery in late 1994 of new one. It is part of a two-ye a r pressure, precipitation accumulation); ground/ the Laminaria oil field in the transition meant to raise the lighting conditions (soil moisture, soil tempera- Timor Sea provided Woo d s i d e profile of the awards and bring ture, ambient illumination); and aviation support with the opportunity to devel- them more in line with the real- parameters (cloud height and cover, visibility / pre- op its second crude oil project ities of how science is conduct- cipitation type, thunderstorm / lightning). The sys- – and its first project outside ed today. Awardees receive a tem is designed to be capable of quick deployment the Nor th West Shelf. Woo d - cash award and a bronze worldwide, and operate in tactical situations under side has a 50 per cent stake in me d a l . various envi r o n m e n t s . the AC/P8 Exploration Per m i t , The TAC M ET systems are based on Vai sa l a ’ s wh i c h contains the Lam i n a r i a New dropsonde MA WS Mobile Automatic Weather Station. Up to and nearby Corallina oil fields, tec h n o l o g y three systems can be connected to the Windows NT and is the Permit Operator. BHP based workstation via hardwire and / or radio mo- and Shell own 25 per cent each. Designed for weather reconnais- de m s . The workstation takes care of numerical and The major project invo l v e s sance, hurricane and weather re- graphical data display, coding of aviation weather the construction of a Floating se a r c h, the Airborne Vert i c a l re p o r t METAR, archiving and transmitting data Pr o d u c t i o n , Storage and Off- Atmospheric Profiling System for further processing. Also a hand held display loading (FP SO) facility which (A VAP S) incorporates a Vai sa l a can be used for viewing measured and calculated will be permanently moored RD93 GPS dropsonde. This ad- data in the field. ■ between the Laminaria and vanced research system was Corallina fields in some 390 developed by the U. S. Na- metres of water depth. It is tional Center for Atmospheric expected that this will be the Re s e a r c h (NCAR) in coopera- world’s largest such facility. tion with the German Aero- space Research Establishment Ob s e r v ations networ k (DLR) and the National Oce- upgrade needed anic Atmospheric Adm i n i s t r a - tion (NOAA). NCAR has li- Late in 199 7, Woodside Off- censed the production of the shore Petroleum Pty Ltd re- new GPS dropsonde, which is a quested the Bureau of Meteor- key component of AVAP S, to ology to upgrade the meteorol- Vai sa l a . ■ ogical observations network in

18 150/1999 Weather observations network upgrade for Major Off-shore Oil Drilling Project in Aus t ra l i a

Late in 199 7, Woodside Offshore Pet r o l e u m PHOTO COURTESY OF W O O D S I D E . requested the Bureau of Meteorology to upgrade The Laminaria oil field in the meteorological observations network in the the Timor Sea . Timor Sea, Australia, to provide more accurate forecasts for helicopter operations servicing their drilling operations in the Laminaria oil field. Vai s ala’s MILOS 500 Automatic Wea t h e r Station with cloud height CT25K and visibility sensor FD1 2 were installed in 199 8 .

the Timor Sea to provide a base conditions warrant it. Prior to for better quality forecasts for tr a n s m i s s i o n , the data messag e helicopter operations servi c i n g can be edited by an operator to their drilling operations in the include non-measured data Laminaria oil field. su c h as the sea state. The obser- The prime considerations vations are transmitted via were both safety and financial, Mi n i - M satellite phone to the as the helicopters were required Bureau’s aviation forecasting to fly from Troughton Island office in Darwi n . The Bureau (Western Australia) to the then issues Woodside with La m i n a r i a -based Sedco 70 3 fo r e c a s t s . MODU (mobile offshore dril- The Automatic Weather Sta- ling unit) some 300 km out to tion was installed and commis- The Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FP SO) fac i l i t y se a . At this range, helicopter sioned by Alan Thomas from permanently moored between the Laminaria and Cor allina fields. operations are difficult. the Bureau, and a Darw i n - based technician Bob Reid, with Vaisala equ i p m e n t remote assistance by Va i sa l a supports helicopter Melbourne, in early August 199 8 . op e r a t i o n s Later in 1999, the Automatic Weather Station is to be trans- The solution offered to Woo d - ferred from the Sedco 703 dril- side by the Bureau was a Vai - ling rig, to the Nor thern En- sala MILOS 500 Automatic d e a v o u r, the world’s biggest Weather Station fitted with floating production, storage cloud height CT25K and visi- and offloading (FP SO) facility bility sensor FD 12. At the (capable of storing 1.4 million request of the Bureau of Mete- barrels of crude). The FPSO will or o l o g y , the MILOS 500 was be moored for up to 30 years in configured to include the the Laminaria field. Bureau’s own sky cover algo- It is anticipated that Alan ri t h m . This allows sky condi- Thomas and a Vai s ala Melbourne tions to be reported automatic- engineer will reinstall the weath- ally from the site, without as- er station onboard the Nort h - sistance from a trained human ern Endeavour in Singap o r e , ob s e rv e r . where it is currently being top- Measured and calculated data si d e -f i t t e d . ■ is displayed locally on DDP 25 and WIND30 data displays for use on the rig. The MILOS 500 compiles a number of WMO The system configurat i o n , r e p o rt s. SYNOP reports are including the platform with sent every three hours, METAR the local weather station, re p o r ts every thirty minutes visibility and cloud height and SPECI messages when se n s o r s and displays.

150/1999 19 Wind instruments for sailing club applications Whe r e the Wind Blows. . .

20 150/1999 Jonathan Lister, M.S c . (Me t. ) Managing Director Vai s ala Birmingham United Kin g d o m

The WIND20 display is an economic solution for displaying in s t a n t , short-averaged values of wind speed and direction.

isting structures that are suit- Wind speed units: Vai s ala’s WMS3 0 1 -1 ably exposed to unobstructed ms , kts , kmh, mph wind speed and wind winds from all directions. A direction sensor is a pole that can be easily lowered Wind speed averaging time: compact and durable to ground level is ideal. After 0… 25 seconds solution for sai l i n g aligning the sensor to the Nort h , offset: the supplied cable is connected -1 80 … 180 degrees club applications, and you are ready to install the where low power con- display unit. Wind direction aver a g i n g : sumption is impor- Three different display units 0 … 25 seconds ta n t . Combined with are available, offering increas- Wind speed alarm: ing degrees of sophistication – 0 … 50 ms-1 , 0 = disab l e d the Vai s ala WIND2 0 the WIND20, WIND30 and di s p l a y , they are low- WI ND50. The WIND20 display cost and easy to install is an economic solution for dis- For more complex situations playing instant, short-a v e r a g e d or larger sites, multiple displays and maintain. values of wind speed and direc- can be interconnected, or trans- t i o n. The WIND20 display mitters added to allow the sen- meets the needs of most sai l i n g sors to be located far from the cl u b s . This display unit is very di s p l a y . ■ s the weather suitable neat and compact with auto- for sailing today? matic variable brightness, and What conditions can needs only a simple 12-v o l t I be expected on the power supply. open sea? It can be easily installed in a It is very important to kno w variety of different locations. the conditions – especially the The WIND20 display is sup- wind speed and direction – if plied with brackets to allow you are planning to go out in installation on a panel, wall or your sailing boat. Sometimes ce i l i n g . After connecting the the wind conditions may vary cable from the sensors and gr e a t l y , depending on the sea- sw i t c hing on the power supply, son and location. the system is ready to use. The Vai s ala’s WMS3 0 1 wind speed default values set in the factory and direction sensor is ideal for will be suitable for most users. the wind measurement needs of H o w e v e r, because the sailing clubs. The rotating cup WI ND20 display is micropro- anemometer on the top of the ce s s o r - controlled and has intel- unit provides isotropic and lin- ligent software, there are a wide ear response to wind speed. range of parameters that can be Fast response to wind direction adjusted to configure the dis- is provided by the vane at- play to meet more specialized ta c hed to the body of the unit. ne e d s . The wind sensor core, which is If you wish to change the con- made of anodized aluminum, fi g u r a t i o n , simply connect a PC provides a watertight enclosure to the serial port and use the sup- The WMS3 0 1 wind speed and direction sensor, for the electronics. plied maintenance disc. The key with durable and rugged structure. Ma n y sailing clubs will find parameters that can be adjusted the WMS3 0 1 easy to fix on ex- in c l u d e :

150/1999 21 As part of European Highway E18, the stretch of main road No. 7 between Siltakylä and Summa (Fi n l a n d ) is an excellent example of an effective traffic management system developed by the Finnish National Road Administration (Fi n n r a) . With its weather-controlled traffic signs, it is a unique solution, even internationally. Va i sa l a road weather stations along the E18 Road have been networked with Finnra’s road weather monitoring system.

Weather-controlled E18 Road in Finland Ha v e a Saf e Journey!

Marit Finne eather has a major crossing the Finland’s eastern Ed i t o r -i n -C h i e f impact on traffic in bo r d e r . Vai s ala New s F i n l a n d, especially E1 8 Highway is also part of Vai s ala Helsinki W in winter. Research ‘the Scandinavian Tr i a n g l e ’ , Fi n l a n d and development have made wh i c h is one of 14 most impor- Finnish winter road mainte- tant traffic plans being devel- nance with the most advanced oped in the European Union. te c hnology more effective than By improving traffic conditions ev e r . on E18 Road, transport costs, accident frequency, emissions, In c r e ased traffic and travel times and their vari- ation will all decrease. on E18 Road From the left, Mr. Yrjö Pilli-Si h v o l a The E18 runs for a total of 350 Finnra’s 18E test road and Jukka Annala from Finnra’ s km in Finland, one-third of with new telematics southeastern Traffic Man a g e m e n t wh i c h is currently at motorwa y Centre, located in Kou v o l a . st a n d a r d . The E18 Road forms Finnra has developed a unique the backbone of southern Fin- telematics system, including land’s east–west transport sys- w e a t h e r -controlled signs and te l e m a t i c s . All of the road has te m , servicing all ports on the modern equipment, to provide been networked with Vai sa l a ’ s south coast. Some 80 per cent effective traffic and road weath- road weather stations and of Finland’s total international er management. The transport Finnra’s traffic monitoring sta- passenger traffic and 70 per telematics is used in Finnra’s tions at 30 km interva l s , in cer- cent of its international freight test area, the E18 Road in Fin- tain sections at 1 to 5 km inter- traffic use this corridor. In addi- la n d . A weather-controlled sys- va l s . Thermal mapping, which ti o n , the corridor is essential for tem increases traffic safety by offers an accurate road surfa c e domestic traffic. reducing average speed and temperature forecast of the The European E18 Highwa y speed variation. road network, has been carried st a r ts from Craigavon in Nort h - During 199 6 – 1 998, develop- out along the E18 test area. ern Ireland, runs through Nor - ment activities for the test peri- Finnra’s telematics applica- way and Sweden, and conti- od concentrated on E18 Tur k u tions were designed to solve nues in Finland through Tur k u – Helsinki – Vaalimaa road in tr a n s p o r t problems. There are and Helsinki to Vaa l i m a a , near Fi n l a n d . two kinds of problems in the the Russian border. The increase Threehundred and fifty kil o - test area. In the Helsinki area, in traffic volume on the E18 meters of the E18 test road, 150 congestion is a recurring phe- Road is primarily due to the rapid km of which is motorway or nomenon and frequent flow growth in road traffic, parti c u - du a l - carriageway road, is equip- disturbances make driving un- larly transit truck transport, ped with Finnra’s transport pl e a sa n t . Elsewhere in the test

22 150/1999 A weather-controlled information sign indicates that the air temperature is –3 °C and the road surface is –1 °C on the Kotka Highway.

fic signs match winter speed weather stations collect data limits with actual road condi- ev e r y 5 minute for storage and ti o n s . This is an effective way an a l y s i s . to influence driving behavior Finnra’s road weather system’s and improve traffic safety with- central unit collects informa- out reducing the motivation of tion on weather conditions from drivers to obey posted speed the road weather stations, ana- li m i t s . lyzes the road conditions and On the southern coast of recommended speed limit based Fi n l a n d , this stretch of a road on this information, and tr a n s - consists partly of motorw a y mits a recommended speed and partly of a single-lane main limit to the traffic signs’ control Mr. Ossi Pilli-Sihvola che ck i n g ro a d . It features 67 automatic logistics equipment. A regulat- the information on weather speed limit signs varying from ed time lag is used in cha n g i n g conditions on the computer at 60 to 120 kph (60–120 km/h) conditions so that the speed the Traffic Management Centre. w h i ch change according to limit does not vary back and weather conditions. There are fo r th over a short period. 13 automatic warning signs giv- In addition, Finnra has also ar e a , great variations in weather ing information on bad weath- equipped the road section from and road-s u rface conditions er conditions or other traffic Summa to Siltakylä with two of cause transport problems, espe- ha z a r d s , for example a slippery their road weather monitoring Fi n n r a’s traffic systems maintenance cially in winter. Traffic safety is road surface or other dangers. video cameras, while five traffic cr e w: Esa Tarkiainen (on the left) also regarded as a severe prob- The automatic road signs are monitoring stations collect traf- and Markku Lemmetti. lem on E18 Road. controlled using the data pro- fic flow data in both directions. vided by Finnra’s automatic The station transmits volume Unique weat h e r - road weather system. and speed data to the Tra f f i c controlled signs The section of road from Management Centre. Statistical Si l t a k ylä to Summa has five data is also available. fic Management Centre, locat- On the section of the E18 Road Vai s ala automatic weather sta- ed in Kouvola. It operates between Siltakylä and Summa tions with two integrated visi- Finnra focuses strongly under the Finnish National (25 km) in Finland, weather- bility meters FD12 P , which col- on development project s Road Administration (Fi n n r a ). controlled traffic signs and in- lect data on road and weather Finland has been divided formation signs advise drivers co n d i t i o n s . These stations meas- Modern society is built on tim- into nine regions, each with its of changing weather and road ure wind speed and direction, in g , and delays in the transport own road maintenance organ i - conditions in real time. The y air temperature and humidity, of goods and people can cause za t i o n . Yrjö Pilli-Sihvola and represent a unique techn o l o g y , road surface and road structure major problems. Winter road Ju k ka Annala work at the Tra f - wh i c h is most advanced in the temperature, precipitation in- management in southeastern fic Management Centre of wo r l d . Wea t h e r - controlled traf- tensity and amount. The road Finland is directed by the Tra f - Ko u v o l a . With a background of

150/1999 23 twenty years as a meteorologist, Mr . Pilli-Sihvola works as the Head of Traffic Servi c e s . He has participated closely in the international development of advanced monitoring techn o l - ogy and in Finnish winter main- tenance systems. The Centre has pioneered many new sys- tems in their area since the early 198 0 ’ s . The part of the E18 test road area and weather-c o n t r o l l e d traffic signs are controlled and A weather-controlled traffic sign on the Kotka Highway. maintained by Finnra’s South- eastern Centre. They also have cooperated closely in their de- Locations of Va i sala road ve lopment projects. weather stations are determin- Wor k ed five years at Finnra, ed using thermal mapping to Ju k ka Annala is in charge of enable the immediate detec- traffic service operations at tion of problematic weather Kouvola’s Traffic Management cha n g e s . This helps with the ob- Centre, including traffic moni- se r vation of unexpected cha n g e s t o r i n g, communication and in road conditions caused by other public information ser- la ke s , sea and other conditions. vi c e s . The information is dis- Especially in early spring and tributed via TV, radio, phone late autumn, rime and black ice and internet. are cold facts on roads near lakes Ensuring traffic safety during and the sea in southeastern Fin- the winter is a major cha l l e n g e la n d . to the region’s road authorities. “When the weather gets cold- Road conditions can vary from er , bl a c k ice presents a major dr y to cold rain, sleet or snow, ha z a r d ,” continues Mr. Annala. with unexpected icy patche s , “In these conditions, it is essen- all winter long. To keep trans- tial for drivers and the traveling po r t running every day, it is public to be even more careful critically important to monitor than usual.” road and weather conditions, During several years of co- treat the roads and keep the operation between Finnra and public informed. Vai sa l a , Yrjö Pilli-Sihvola has been actively involved with ma n y Cooperation project s projects designed to improve with Vaisala winter maintenance systems. St i l l , he says that, when devel- Finnra’s southeastern Tr a f f i c oping new features and increas- Management Centre has coop- ing accuracy for new traffic erated with Vai s ala since 198 6 , monitoring equipment, the key when construction of the weath- words are reliability and co s t - er station network began in Fin- ef f e c t i v e n e s s . la n d . Tod a y , the main road net- The Finnish National Road work comprises more than 270 Administration is in charge of Vai s ala road weather stations public roads and road condi- throughout the country. The r e tions to ensure the safe and are 36 Vai s ala weather stations smooth flow of traffic in Fin- in the southeastern operations la n d . These objectives are as- ar e a . Installed since 198 7, the sisted by the use of road weath- same weather stations are still er stations and the weather mon- in use, according to Mr. Pilli- itoring system to support win- Si h v o l a . He says that in general ter maintenance and traffic con- cooperation with Vai s ala has ditions communications to the One of Vaisala’s road weather been very fruitful. pu b l i c . ■ stations on the Kotka Highway.

24 150/1999 Kuusamo Airport is located near the Arctic Circle. Marit Finne Ed i t o r -i n -C h i e f Vai s ala New s Vai s ala Helsinki Fi n l a n d

Kuu s amo Airport is located near the Arctic Circle, which attracts ma n y tourists every Kuusamo Airport – near the Arctic Circle ye a r . Accurate real- time aviation weather monitoring is one of the most cost-ef f e c t i v e Saf ety First for ways to ensure airport safety and flight ope- ra t i o n s . Vai s ala’s avia- tion weather instru- Ai rport Operat i o n s mentation was installed at Kuu sa m o Ai r p o r t.

ith pure, driven snow, freezing and the spectacular W Nor thern Lights above deep forests, Kuu s amo is one of the best known tourist and natural resorts in Finland. The increasing tourism in recent years has led to a rapid growth in the number of pas- sengers using Kuu s amo Airport, even during the recession. In 1998, the airport handled more than 90,000 passengers; in the year 2000 they are expected to be over 100,000, many of them from abroad. Airport Manager Ari Salmenkor va say s , “Main- taining safe flights is our great- est challenge which we share with all our team members. Most of them have more than 10 years experience in the fi e l d .”

Challenges of winter weather “Ku u s amo Airport is responsi- ble for ensuring the smooth and safe arrivals and departu r e s of flights,” says Reijo Huotari, Aerodrome Flight Information Se r vice (AFIS) Manager, con- cerning duty in the air traffic control tower. “When ensuring flight saf e t y , especially during the winter, it is critically impor- tant to monitor runways and Kuusamo airport has been equipped with Vaisala’s ROSA surface analyzer for runways. weather conditions.”

150/1999 25 Ab out 20 km from Kuusamo lies Ruka, one of Finland’s most popular ski resorts.

Airport operations extending from November until are team work Ma y . Other winter activities in- clude snow-mobile saf a r i s , which Winter weather conditions vary st a r t from Kuu s amo Airport. widely in Kuu sa m o , with pre- The new Kuu s amo Hall has cipitation ranging from cold recently opened to develop the rain and sleet to snow with high area as a conference and con- w i n d s, all winter long. Mr. vention center. Ku u samo is Sa l m e n ko r va say s , “Operating also popular for summer activi- an airport with a small person- ti e s , such as hiking and fishing. nel is a team effort. We main- tain the runwa y , electrical sys- ■ t e m s, building and airf i e l d. Because winter operations at Kuu s amo Airport are an added challenge, we have to be able to rely on each other’s help.” Teuvo Hannola is a techn i - cian at the airport, in charge of all the equipment, including its installation and maintenance. “Keeping flights running saf e l y is based on accurate and reli- AFIS Manager Reijo Huotari able information from the works at the air traffic control tower. monitoring systems. We take care of their installation and maintenance by ourselves.” He says that most of his experi- Kuu s amo Airport has been ences with Vai s ala’s aviation equipped with Vai s ala’s ROSA weather systems have been pos- Airport Manager Ari Sal m e n k o r v a su r face analyzer for runwa y s , it i v e . (l e f t) with Osmo Ronkainen. Vai s ala’s new MIDAS two runway sensors, a MILOS 500 weather station, an FD12 P Kuusamo attracts IV paves the way for visibility meter, and a Ceilo- to u r i s t s the next generation of meter CT12K for cloud cover weather observa t i o n me a s u r e m e n t . Accurate infor- Kuu s amo Airport has prepared systems by improving mation on runway surface and for increases in tourism. Prior weather conditions allows main- to the latest renovation in system perfo r m a n c e , tenance personnel to take an Fe b r u a r y 1999, the passenger scalability and saf e t y . active approach to operations. terminal has been enlarged Based on an object- This provides a better level of twice in recent years. In 199 7, se r vice and keeps operational the main runway was also ex- oriented software costs to a minimum. tended to 2,500 m, allowing ar c hitecture, MIDAS Osmo Ronkainen takes care direct international flights to IV applications range of clearing snow from the run- Kuu sa m o . from airstrips to wa y . According him, Ku u sa m o Tourism is one of the main gets the heaviest snowfalls in businesses in Kuu sa m o . About capital airports . Fi n l a n d , and has several winter 20 km from Kuu s amo lies Ruka, Tec hnician Teuvo Hannola is storms in a year, with gusting one of Finland’s most popular responsible for all the equipment at winds of 25-45 meters/second. sk i resorts , with a skiing season the airport.

26 150/1999 Ab out 20 km from Kuusamo lies Ruka, one of Finland’s most popular ski resorts.

Airport operations extending from November until are team work Ma y . Other winter activities in- clude snow-mobile saf a r i s , which Winter weather conditions vary st a r t from Kuu s amo Airport. widely in Kuu sa m o , with pre- The new Kuu s amo Hall has cipitation ranging from cold recently opened to develop the rain and sleet to snow with high area as a conference and con- w i n d s, all winter long. Mr. vention center. Ku u samo is Sa l m e n ko r va say s , “Operating also popular for summer activi- an airport with a small person- ti e s , such as hiking and fishing. nel is a team effort. We main- tain the runwa y , electrical sys- ■ t e m s, building and airf i e l d. Because winter operations at Kuu s amo Airport are an added challenge, we have to be able to rely on each other’s help.” Teuvo Hannola is a techn i - cian at the airport, in charge of all the equipment, including its installation and maintenance. “Keeping flights running saf e l y is based on accurate and reli- AFIS Manager Reijo Huotari able information from the works at the air traffic control tower. monitoring systems. We take care of their installation and maintenance by ourselves.” He says that most of his experi- Kuu s amo Airport has been ences with Vai s ala’s aviation equipped with Vai s ala’s ROSA weather systems have been pos- Airport Manager Ari Sal m e n k o r v a su r face analyzer for runwa y s , it i v e . (l e f t) with Osmo Ronkainen. Vai s ala’s new MIDAS two runway sensors, a MILOS 500 weather station, an FD12 P Kuusamo attracts IV paves the way for visibility meter, and a Ceilo- to u r i s t s the next generation of meter CT12K for cloud cover weather observa t i o n me a s u r e m e n t . Accurate infor- Kuu s amo Airport has prepared systems by improving mation on runway surface and for increases in tourism. Prior weather conditions allows main- to the latest renovation in system perfo r m a n c e , tenance personnel to take an Fe b r u a r y 1999, the passenger scalability and saf e t y . active approach to operations. terminal has been enlarged Based on an object- This provides a better level of twice in recent years. In 199 7, se r vice and keeps operational the main runway was also ex- oriented software costs to a minimum. tended to 2,500 m, allowing ar c hitecture, MIDAS Osmo Ronkainen takes care direct international flights to IV applications range of clearing snow from the run- Kuu sa m o . from airstrips to wa y . According him, Ku u sa m o Tourism is one of the main gets the heaviest snowfalls in businesses in Kuu sa m o . About capital airports . Fi n l a n d , and has several winter 20 km from Kuu s amo lies Ruka, Tec hnician Teuvo Hannola is storms in a year, with gusting one of Finland’s most popular responsible for all the equipment at winds of 25-45 meters/second. sk i resorts , with a skiing season the airport.

26 150/1999 New MIDAS IV Automated Weather Observing System The Fourth Generation of Ai r p o rt Meteorol o g y

IDAS IV is Vai sa l a ’ s applicable ICAO and WMO re - users who want a truly open of the world’s most modern air- latest integrated air- com m e n d a t i o n s , and supports system interface. Similarily, data po rt s , was opened to the public po r t weather obser- measurements of nearly twenty communication is based on in October 1998. The new air- M vation system, based differerent meteorological vari- open standards: workst a t i o n s po r t was designed to handle 17 on close to three decades of ab l e s . Based on the measure- use TCP /IP to communicate million passengers a year, and ex p e rience of automated weath- me n t s , MIDAS IV calculates over a Local Area Net w o r k . its air traffic control tower can er obs e rvations at airport s. f u rther meteorological data, The new Gardermoen Inter- manage 80 air transport move- MIDAS IV acquires data from su c h as pressure values, Runwa y national Airport, in Oslo, Nor - ments an hour. meteorological sensors, vali- Visual Range, METAR /SPECI wa y , chose MIDAS IV as its MIDAS IV is also in daily dates data quality, processes and SYNOP reports . weather observation system. operation at various smaller air- data according to ICAO and The first of its kind in com- The first runway went in opera- p o rt s. Teesside International WM O recommendations, stores mercial off-th e - shelf systems, tion 199 7, the second runwa y Ai r p o r t in the United Kin g - data and visualizes it for vari- MIDAS IV offers an optional being commissioned right on dom chose MIDAS IV in 199 8 . ous users. MIDAS IV’s object- relational database, Oracle 8. sc hedule in the fall of 199 8 . Integrated with Vai s ala’s Air- oriented design permits expan- Sensor data, alarms and warn- Only positive feedback has po r t Terminal Information Sy s - sion from a single-ru n way RVR in g s , and weather reports are been received since the installa- tem (ATI S), the system auto- system to a full-feature multi- stored in the database, where tion of the first runwa y , this matically transmits METAR and ru n way system fit even for the they can be queried by other major installation proving the SPECI messages to Air Tra f f i c largest international airports . ap p l i c a t i o n s . A relational data- robustness of the MIDAS IV Control and directly to pilots MIDAS IV conforms with the base in the ultimate choice for ar c hitecture. Gardermoen, one using synthetized voice. ■

150/1999 27 Marit Finne Ed i t o r -i n -C h i e f Vai s ala New s Vai s ala Helsinki Fi n l a n d Vie t n a m e s e Ai r p o rts Rely on Vai sa l a

The airports in he opening up of the Vietnamese econo- Vietnam have starte d my, with the conse- to modernize their T quent higher de- measurement and mands for quality, has prompt- ed the modernization of weath- ob s e r vation systems in er observation systems in the recent years, and the c o u n t ry. Va i sala has worke d demand for increas- ve r y closely with its local repre- ingly complex systems se n t a tive, Schmidt Vietnam Co. Lt d. , to supply and instal new is on the rise. In 199 7, meteorological equipment in Vai s ala delivered a Vie t n a m . meteorological Airport Weather Observa t i o n Refurbishment of System (AWOS) to Da Nang airport the Da Nang “Da Nang international air- International Airport. po r t, with its two runwa y s , is the most advanced airfield in It is a computerized Vie t n a m . In November 199 7, MIDAS 600 system, Vai s ala’s MIDAS 600 for weath- designed to provide er condition monitoring was weather information installed at the airport. Accord- ing to the customer, the equip- for air traffic con- ment has worked well,” says Mr. tr o l l e r s , pilots and Vu Anh Tuan from Schm i d t other users. Vie t n a m . The project was a joint one between Schm i d t Vie t n a m , Vai s ala and the customer. Vai s ala’s MIDAS 600 is the central processing unit of an Ai r p o r t Weather Observa t i o n System (AWOS). The airport instrumentation also includes a MILOS 500 data collection sy s - te m , a WA2 1 wind system (two se n s o r s ) with WAD 2 1 wind di s - pl a y s , two CT25K ceilomete r s , two single baseline MIT RA S tr a n s m i s s o m e t e r s , and an LM11 ba c kground luminance meter. Three Weather Display Mon- itors (WD M) provide weather One of Vaisala’s AV1 1 Aviation of f i c e r s , air traffic controllers Re p o r t e r s installed in Vietnam. and pilots with real time weath-

28 150/1999 er briefings and me s sa g e s . with Vai sa l a . Schmidt Vie t n a m , Coded messag e s , such a s wh i c h has a 100 per cent for- METAR and SPECI, are trans- eign investment license, was es- mitted to remote users via an tablished in 1992 with a staff of A FT N, WDM and Data fo u r , and has rapidly grown to Storage Computer (DSC) line. more than 300 employees. To The WDMs also receive con- meet the demand for effective tinuously updated Met Reports se r vice and application sup- and SPECIAL texts (on the po r t, the company has establish- regional screen). ed its head office in Hanoi, The MIDAS 600 Central with regional offices in Ho Chi Computer was installed in Me- Minh City, Vung Tau , Da Nang teo for the use of observe r s . and Quang Ninh. Furt h e r The system collects data from a br a n c hes are planned for the number of environmental sen- next two years. Schmidt Vie t - so r s . It polls, samples and pro- nam has a large local customer cesses data for the Met Ob- base and works closely with se rv e r , who che c ks the data Government and industry. validity and adds his own o b s e rv a t i o n s, comments and The training group of the Civil Aviation Strong bonds with re m a r k s. The collected data is local customers Ad m i n i s t r ation of Vietnam in July 199 8 . distributed on PC-based Wea t h - er Displays within the airport. The continuous relations be- The MIDAS 600 stores all sen- tween Vai s ala and Schmidt Vie t - sor data and messages in the nam have led to the develop- Data Storage Computer for fur- ment of close cooperation and ther utilization. strong bonds with their mutual The MIDAS 600 System col- cu s t o m e r s . Mr. Tuan notes that lects data on wind speed and the Vietnamese customers have di r e c t i o n , air temperature, rela- been satisfied with Va i sa l a ’ s tive humidity, atmospheric pres- products and service. “Vai sa l a sure, precipitation counter, has always been reliable and cloud height, visibility and prompt with its deliveries and b a ckground luminance. Th e customer support.” The main sensors have been installed by customer groups are the avia- the runway and in the Met tion authorities and the Hydro- Ga r d e n . Meteorological Service. All messag e s , operational and According to Mr. Tua n , qua- t e chnical alarms and sensor lity issues have been a signifi- mode changes are printed in cant factor in the mutual suc- the log printer and stored for cess too. “It is very importa n t fu r ther analysis and processing that Vai s ala’s Quality System is on the hard disk of the MIDAS ce r tified to meet the ISO 9001 600 computer for 30 days. st a n d a r d s . In addition, as they conform with ICAO, WMO Distributor plays and FAA recommendations a key role and regulations, our customers consider Vai s ala’s airport sys- Sc hmidt Vietnam Co. Ltd. has tems safe and reliable.” He adds been Vai s ala’s local distributor th a t , as he was a service engi- since 1996. Mr. Vu Anh Tuan is neer earlier, he has had an op- Vai s ala’s contact person, and is po r tunity to see and evaluate responsible for telecom and me- Vai s ala’s systems from that side teorological systems. He has an to o . “They are easy to install, engineering background and operate and maintain,” he say s , wo r k s in the Telecom and Tes t emphasizing that Vai s ala’s sys- & Measuring Equipment Depart- tems have now operated for five me n t . to ten years without any major The Schmidt Group of Com- problems in Vie t n a m . pa n i e s , founded in 1896, is a The airport modernization leading value-added distributor pr o j e c t , including all upgrading of high technology products in and refurbishing will continue Vie t n a m . Being a part of the until 2005, as planned by the Gr o u p , Schmidt Vietnam is a Civil Aviation Adm i n i s t r a t i o n high technology leader in sev- of Vietnam (CAAV). Vai s ala has eral fields, but focuses on envi - already supplied several airport Periodic maintenance of the AV1 1 Aviation Reporter at the Dien Bien ronmental monitoring and avi- systems to Vie t n a m . ■ ai r p o r t . From the left: Mr. Vu Anh Tuan and a techn i c i a n . ation systems in its cooperation

150/1999 29 The challenge of a new millennium Pr e p ared for the Year 2000…

Vai s ala Prep a r ed for the Year 2000

In anticipation of the s a leading supplier of and time required for their Yea r meteorological meas- 2000 compliance projects and new millennium, urement systems an d upgrade projects are still in Vai s ala has reviewed A in s t r u m e n t s , Vai sal a ’ s progress at several existing field and verified the Yea r pr o d ucts are used in combina- in s t a l l a t i o n s . 2000 (Y2K) compli- tion with hardware, software, and firmware from many other Our latest Y2K info ance of its products, ve n d o r s . All reasonable steps on the Internet Ju k ka Lyömiö, B.S c . (En g. ) as well as of its inter- have been taken to ensure the R&D Quality Engineer nal information and Year 2000 compliance of our For the latest information on Vai - Vai s ala Helsinki pr o d u c t s . Our customers are re- sala’s Y2K project, please visit our Fi n l a n d logistics systems. The sponsible for verifying the Y2K website at http://ww w. v a i sa l a. c o m complexity of the compliance of applications that More detailed product infor- mo d e r n , networked use Vai s ala products in their mation has been added to our society made the latter systems in conjunction with site, as has updated contact other hardware and software. information for our product a great deal more We have been happy to assist and system specialists, who will tedious than the verifi- in this process, and received be happy to answer your spe- cation of only our encouraging feedback from our cific questions. own product portf o - cu s t o m e r s . Many organ i z a t i o n s have taken a very professional Vaisala’s Year 200 0 li o . and active attitude and can Compliance Statement now approach the next millen- nium with a relatively small A Year 2000 compliant product and controlled risk. Unfortu - from Vai s ala should not pro- na t e l y , some organizations have duce data processing errors underestimated the resources resulting from the date cha n g e

30 150/1999 Failures in these functions can If the che c k shows that the product being Year 2000 com- lead to one of two scenarios: PC behaves as in scenario 2., pl i a n t , or not, are not open to the BIOS or the whole PC will debate. From the user’s per- 1 The system fails to auto- need to be updated. spective, a product either is matically roll over to the A successful transition to the Y2K compliant, or it is not. If next century at midnight Year 2000 will require firmware, other requirements or envi r o n - December 31, 1999, but can operating systems, and applica- mental factors are added to the be manually reset by the tions that are ready for the Yea r compliance requirements, then user or a program at a 2000. the question becomes much po w e r - up or reboot after more complex. the transition has occurred. Different products, If everyone used the same plat- The system will then cor- different applications.. . fo r m , the same operating sys- rectly retain and interpret te m , the same application, the the new century indicator; Year 2000 compliance means same date routines, the sam e different things to different date tests, the same date struc- - or - us e r s . These differences occur tu r e s , and the same standards, because products are different, then one might be able to cer- application requirements are tify a product as being compli- 2 The system fails to auto- di f f e r e n t , computing envi r o n - ant for all date processing. A matically roll over to the ments are different, and users pr o d u c t , without reference to next century and will not are different. Vai s ala Oyj has its specific implementation or retain the correct date after been using the definition of de s i g n , either produces the cor- December 31, 1999 even if Year 2000 compliance accord- rect results or it does not. from December 31, 1999, to Jan- manually set. In such situa- ing to the U.S . Government’s Ho w e v e r , it is both time con- ua r y 1, 2000. This statement is ti o n s , the year will likel y Federal Acquisition Regula- suming and expensive to prove contingent on the proper use reset to 1980 or the BIOS tions (FAR): th i s . ■ of the date data in accordance will report nonsensical with the product documenta- dates to the operating sys- “Year 2000 compliant, as used ti o n . It applies only if all other te m . in this par t , means, with respect to software, firmware, and hard- information techn o l o g y , that the ware used with the product can Compliance at the PC-BIOS information technology accurat e l y also process the changeover to level is relatively easy to che c k, processes date/time data (includ- 2000 correctly. A Y2K compli- even if PC and/or BIOS manu- in g , but not limited to, calculat- ant product from Vai s ala will facturer compatibility data is in g , compar i n g , and sequencing) recognize the year 2000 as a not available. There are several fr o m , into, and between the twen- leap year. handy test programs, which tieth and twenty-first centuries, All currently available prod- can be downloaded from the and the years 1999 and 2000 and ucts are Y2K compliant. An corresponding Internet sites. leap year calculations, to the upgrade project for some previ- One good (free) example is the extent that other information tech- ously installed systems is un- “2000.exe”, available from no l o g y , used in combination with de rw a y . With a history of more ht t p : / /w w w. n s t l. c o m / h t m l / n s t l the information technology being than 60 years of product gener- _y 2 k. h t m l a c q u i r e d, properly excha n g e s PC -BIOS and RTC (real time at i o n s , some discontinued prod- PC’s operating according to date/time data with it.” cl o c k) year 2000 compliance can be ucts may not be Y2K compli- scenario 1. might not need any che c ked quickl y . The test results show an t . Details are available from attention other than a decision This is the essence of the core th at at least this machine is a solid your local Vai s ala distributor or to manually adjust the year after requirements described in this platform for year 2000 compliant from our website. the millenium has cha n g e d . ar ticle. Users’ perceptions of a application program s .

The PC hardware check Ma n y meteorological data pro- cessing systems, like airport weather data collection and dis- pl a y , run on PC techn o l o g y - based workstations and serve r s . The most critical elements at the PC hardware level are the BIOS and the RTC (real time cl o c k) circuit. The BIOS must be capable of adjusting the cen- tu r y indicator when appropri- ate. The BIOS must also be capable of reporting the correct time to the operating system when called upon to do so, after w h i ch the operating system maintains its own system clock.

150/1999 31 Marit Finne Ed i t o r -i n -C h i e f 79th AMS Annual Meeting focuses on Vai s ala New s Vai s ala Helsinki Fi n l a n d Climate and Global Change The 79th Annual Meeting of the AMS was held at Wyndham Anatole, in Dal l a s , Texas in January 199 9 . The theme of the 79t h AM S Annual Me e t i n g , held this Ja n u a r y in Dallas, was ‘Climate and Global Change – Focus on the Americas.’ While meteorologists empha- size the importance of global perspectives to an understanding of regional , a more limited geo- graphical focus is ne- c e s sa ry when interpret- ing and applying re s e a r c h results to spe- cific regional prob- le m s . The meeting also marked the first appearance of Dr. Ronald D. McPherson in his new position as Executive Director of the American Me t e o r o l o g i c a l So c i e t y .

32 150/1999 A photo ‘roundup’ of the 79th AMS Annual Meeting in Dal l a s .

During the 79th Annual Mee t i n g , Dr . Eugene M. Rasmusson (left) performed his last duties as President of the AMS before passing the mantle to Dr. George L. Frederick Jr. (right).

ow successful are El st r e t c hing back 6,000 years), Niño predictions? lightning and forest fires, tur- Where do we stand bulence and boundary layers in H on assessments of the atmosphere, remote sens- global climate change – nation- in g , advances in numerical mod- ally and internationally? Do ex- el i n g , the impact of severe weath- treme weather events give evi- er on agriculture, and educa- dence of climate change? How tional programs. mu c h do we know about hurri- canes? These burning issues, 1999 holds great along with others concerning promise for the Society the impact of weather on agri- culture, aviation, space and a During the meeting, Dr. Eugene wide variety of other subjects, The Executive Director since 198 8 , The meeting marked the first M. Rasmusson performed his were under close scrutiny at the Dr . Richard E. Hal l g r e n , retired in ap p e a r ance of Dr. Ronald D. last duties as President of the 79th Annual Meeting of the January 199 9 . Mc P h e r son in his new position as AM S before passing the mantle American Meteorological Soci- Executive Director of the American to Dr. George L. Frederick Jr., a ety (AMS). Meteorological Soc i e t y . project manager and senior The 79th AMS Annual Meet- staff scientist at Radian Interna- ing was held from 10 to 15 Jan- tional Meteorological Systems ua r y 1999 in Dallas, Tex a s . As in Austin, Tex a s . Dr. Ras m u s s o n us u a l , it provided an opportu - has been a senior research sci- nity to arrange conferences and entist in the Department of symposia (13 of them), short Meteorology at the University courses (6 of them) and a pro- of Maryland in College Park fessional exhibition. Altogether, since 1986. more than 1,900 papers were pre- In concluding his one-ye a r se n t e d . term as president, Dr. Ras m u s s o n According to Yale Schi f f m a n , noted that 1998 had been an AM S Director of Development, exciting and successful period total meeting attendance includ- for the Society and expressed ing exhibitors reached an all- his conviction that 1999 holds time high of 3,400. The Meet- great promise. ings Department staff processed Dr . Frederick has just com- 1,800 abstracts and 2,800 con- pleted a ‘Ten - Year Vision Study’ The NOAA Gulfstream IV ‘Hurricane Hunter’ was on display at Dal l a s ference attendees representing wh i c h he described as a tremen- a broad cross section of scien- Love Field, courtesy of the NOAA/NWS International Activities Office. dous effort. “I believe it reflects ti s t s , engineers and academians the direction the membership in the fields of meteorology, would like to see us go. We are oc e a n o g r a p h y and the related the GARP Atlantic Tropical Ex- hydrologic and oceanic sci- a multidisciplinary society.” hydrologic sciences. periment (GAT E ), special ses- en c e s , and many of the broad- The theme Dr. Frederick has sions were held to commemo- er aspects of climate science. chosen for the 2000 Annual Global perspect i v es and rate this landmark experiment. While the major thrust of Meeting is ‘Applying Envi r o n - re gional climates The 1998 theme, ‘Maturing our the Annual Meeting was climate mental Science to Societal Predictive Capability’, was con- change, various other areas of Needs in the New Millenni- The theme for this year, ‘Cli- tinued as it applies to seasonal- weather science came to the um’. In Dr. Frederick’s words, mate and Global Change with interannual climate prediction. fore. Each day, interesting de- “the AMS is a great melting pot a Focus on the Americas’, had A global perspective is requir- velopments were reviewed in for atmospheric and related sci- been chosen by AMS President ed in order to understand re- tropical meteorology (hurri- ences and their application to Eugene Rasmusson in 1998 and gional climate. However, a more canes and flooding), hyd r o l o g y solving the problems we face. was highlighted in the Special limited geographical approach (new flood prediction success- The next annual meeting will Symposium on Climate and So- is needed for specific regional es , drought, water management) ta k e place in January 2000 in cietal Issues. In addition, as 199 9 weather problems, invo l v i n g paleoclimatology (ice core, tree Long Beach, California. The ma r k s the 25th anniversar y of ma n y elements of atmosp h e r i c , ri n g , fossil studies for periods general program, specialty meet-

150/1999 33 Dr . McPherson announced th e m , to formulate recommen- plans for the American Meteor- dations for the Council to con- ological Society to begin a si d e r . Preliminary recommen- major new initiative this year, dations are anticipated by Sep- to be called the AMS Atmos- tember 1, 1999,” he sai d . pheric Po l i cy Program. Th e Active in the AMS since he Program will have three com- first became a member in 196 0 , po n e n t s . First, there will be a Dr . McPherson has served in a This was complemented by re s e a r c h component in which a variety of positions, including Prof. G.O . P . Obasi, Secretary- group of Research Fellows will president in 199 7. In addition, General of the WMO with do scholarly research on key he has been extensively in- ‘Hydrology and Water Re- questions of public policy volved with the World Meteor- sources: a Global Challenge for i nvolving the atmosphere. ological Organization (WM O) the WMO’. In addition, Dr. These include the international in Geneva, Switzerland. For in- Carlos A. Nobre, Director of data exchange issue, the rela- stance, he is a U.S . delegate to the Brazil Center for Wea t h e r tionship between public and the WMO, where he served on Forecasts and Climate Re- private sectors in providing its Commission on Basic Sys- se a r c h, talked on ‘Land Use weather and climate servi c e s , tems in 1988. Change in Amazonia: Regional and the question of public sec- and Global Impacts;’ while Dr. tor purchase of observa t i o n s Symposia of Edmo Campos, University of from privately-owned and op- common interest Sao Paolo, Brazil, led a discus- erated observing systems. sion on ‘The Inter-Am e r i c a n Se c o n d , the Program’s educa- Among the symposia of com- Institute for Global Change tion component will seek to mon interest at the AMS Re s e a r c h.’ ensure that atmospheric scien- Annual Meeting was one ar- Jussi Åkerberg from Vaisala Hel s i n k i tists are continually exposed to ranged by the National Oce- Gu l f s t r e am IV gave a presentation on ‘Aut o m a t i c po l i c y questions, from under- anic and Atmospheric Adm i - ‘Hurricane Hunter’ on Lo ra n - C Chain Sel e c t i o n .’ graduate level through to mid- nistration (NOAA), entitled Display at Love Field career and beyond, and that, ‘Th e Second Hayes Symposium co nv e r s e l y , policy experts are on Seasonal to Interannual Cli- Star of the show was the constantly exposed to atmos- mate Variability – the 199 7/9 8 NOAA Gulfstream IV (G-IV ) ings and symposia will help us pheric science. Th i r d, the ENSO (El Niño Southern ‘Hurricane Hunter’ on display focus our scientific kno w l e d g e Program will provide a forum Os c i l l a t i o n ) Cycle’. The inau- at the Dallas Love Field, cour- in an interdisciplinary way on for debate of difficult and con- gural Hayes Symposium, held tesy of the NOAA /N WS In- the great challenges that lie tentious issues, such as the in Seattle in 1994, had com- ternational Activities Office. ahead of world society. In par- global warming issue. memorated the completion of The highly instrumented jet air- ti c u l a r , the Second Symposium According to Dr. McPherson, Stan Haye’s vision of an ob- cr a f t , with its eight work sta- on Environmental Applications the AMS Council has approv- se r ving system to document and ti o n s , could be viewed at the will bring together scientists for ed this program and allocated enhance our understanding of AM S Combs Facility at Love an exchange of views. I look some seed money to get it start- the evolution of the coupled Fi e l d , with its 13- person crew fo r ward to an exciting time.” ed . The next step is to appoint o c e a n -atmosphere system in hosting an open house and a Director, and begin develop- the tropical Pacific. This year, tours of the plane. Dr . McPherson named ing it. the Second Hayes Symposium Used mostly for hurricane new Execu t i v e Direct o r Turning to the Ten - Year Vis i o n included discussions on the s u rveillance in the Atlantic Study as “my major tasks this impact of the recent ENSO Ocean and Gulf of Mexico Dr . Ronald D. McPherson has year are all associated with it,” ev e n t , the predictability of the areas from June to Nov e m b e r been selected as the new Exe- Dr . McPherson pointed out 199 7/98 cycle, the physics of ea c h year, the aircraft is also cutive Director of the American that the Vision identifies four the coupled system in the tro- employed for winter storm sur- Meteorological Society, and major themes for the next de- pical Pacific during the 199 7/9 8 veillance in the Pacific from has retired from his post as Di- cade: (1) greater emphasis on cycle, and observa t i o n s . December to February. After rector of the National Wea t h e r mu l t i d i s c i p l i n a r y activities, (2) Dr . D. James Baker , NOAA Ad- the exhibition, the G-IV left Se r vice’s National Centers for more inclusiveness of members, mi n i s t r a t o r , and Ants Leetmaa, Dallas for Hawaii, where it will E nvironmental Prediction in pa r ticularly with respect to dis- Director of NOAA’s Climate ca r r y out winter storm opera- Camp Springs, Maryl a n d . A ci p l i n e s , vocations, ethnic/gen- Prediction Centre, focused on ti o n s . Its home base is NOAA’s widely respected scientist and der diversity, and international the degree of success achi e v e d Aircraft Operations Center at ad m i n i s t r a t o r , Dr. McPherson scope, (3) more aggressive out- by forecasts for the 1997 – 19 9 8 MacDill Air Force Base, Tam p a , assumed his new position in re a c h with respect to public El Niño event, the role of Fl o r i d a . ■ the Society in January 1999. po l i c y makers as well as the ocean data simulations in fore- He was selected by a search general public, and (4) greater casting and the contributions committee that had been re- use of modern communica- that observing systems have viewing candidates since 199 7, tions and computing techn o l o - made to the prediction and when the then executive direc- gy in conducting the Society’s intensity of the ENSO event. to r , Dr. Ric hard E. Hallgren, bu s i n e s s . The international topics in- announced his planned retire- “ We have identified th r e e cluded a presentation by Dr. ment in January 1999, having areas where all four of these John Zillman, President of the held the post since 1988. Dr. themes intersect to some degree World Meteorological Organ i - Hallgren will continue to serve – the AMS meetings, the Bul- zation (WM O) in Switzerland, the Society in a variety of l e t i n, and member services who spoke on ‘International Co- capacities for an additional two – and have therefore established ordination of Observing Sys- ye a r s , however. ad hoc committees for each of tems for Weather and Climate’.

34 150/1999 Marit Finne Ed i t o r -i n -C h i e f Vai s ala New s Vai s ala Helsinki Fi n l a n d

AMS Exhibition draws attendees Co m p r eh e n s i v e The latest software, hardware, systems and services in the fields of meteor o l o g y , and hydrology were exhibited at more than 300 stands at the AMS Exhibition. The exhibitors Modernization re p r e s e n t e d government agencies, universities, research institu- tions and private firms . “T he exhibit program at the AMS Annual Meeting has seen substantial growth over the past ten years from the initial, of U.S. Wea t h e r rather modest participation of six companies to over 125 orga- nizations today, encompassing more than 300 boo t h s ,” said Dr. Eugene Rasmusson, President of the AMS in 199 8 . Vaisala’s exhibition stand showcased a number of product Ser v i c e s in n o v a t i o n s . The upper air equipment on display included the latest family of radiosondes, the RS90, which features complete- A session on modernization of weather servi c e s , ly new pressure, temperature and humidity sensors for making reference quality meas u r e m e n t s , along with new environmental- pa r t of the 79th Annual AMS Meeting, and ly - f r iendly housing. Other upper-air equipment on display held in conjunction with the IIPS Conference in c l u d e d GPS radiosondes, for accurate, high-resolution wind (15th International Conference on Interactive me asurements anywhere in the world , the AUTO S O ND E , Information and Processing Systems) drew a which fully automates the radiosonde observations, and the compact MW15, DigiCORA II Rawinsonde Set that provides large and enthusiastic crowd. The directors of GP S, LORA N -C, VLF and RDF- b a s e d windfinding. In addition, the three U.S . weather services spoke about their an RD93 GPS Dropsonde was displayed for accurate aircraft- respective modernization programs. de p l o y e d soundings, using the AVAP S (Ai r bor ne Vert i c a l At m o s p h e r ic Profiling System) receiving and processing system. Su r face weather equipment included the new MAWS mobile we ather station, the new WD wind display units, and the SA2 0 he United States ex- commanding officer of the U.S . th u n d e r s t o r m sensor. Also on display was the CT25K laser periences more severe Na v y Meteorology and Ocean- ce i l o m e t e r , representing a new standard for cloud-height meas - storms and floods og r a p h y Center. In addition, ur e m e n t s , as well as a full line of sensors for accurate and reli- T than any other coun- several invited speakers out- able surface observations in civilian or military applications. try in the world. In a typical lined their visions of the future, Jussi Åkerberg from Vaisala gave a presentation entitled ye a r , people can expect a stag- as we prepare to enter the twen- ‘Automatic Lor a n - C Chain Selection’ at the Meeting. Hannu gering assault by the elements – ty - first century. Kankaanpää gave a poster session presentation on some 10,000 violent thunder- Several themes emerged from ‘Perf o r mance Evaluation of the Vaisala RS90 Radiosonde Using st o r m s , 5,000 floods, 1,000 tor- the presentations. All agreed that 6-hour For e casts of the Nordic High Resolution Limited Area nadoes and several hurricanes. “we are moving from the revo- Pr e diction Model (HIRLA M) . ’ Along with the periods of lu t i o n a r y period of the last 10 severe drought, hard winters, years to a new evolutionary and heat waves, these events phase, in which advances in pro- translate into considerable loss ducts and services will come of life and annual property about from incremental im- damage. No wonder, then, that provements to existing techn o l - the U.S . weather services are in ogies and numerical models.” the process of a thorough, top- In practical terms, all three to - bottom modernization and se r vices are focusing on provid- restructuring of their organ i z a - ing timely products that cus- ti o n s . tomers can trust and use. A flood inundation map, for ex- Focus on accurate ample, will help local emer- fo r e casts and ge n c y managers in the future to partnerships with see where flood waters will im- Vaisala’s exhibition stand showcased in d u s t r y pact a community or city; a a number of product innovations in Dal l a s . decision matrix will assist air- Sp e a k ing on behalf of the three craft pilots to make ‘fly – no fly’ U.S . weather services at the decisions; a hurricane forecast AM S Meeting were their direc- tr a c k will provide longer lead tors – John J. Kelly, Jr. from the times in which ships can be , Brig. moved out to sea, away from Ge n . Fred J. Lewis from the la n d -a p p r o a c hing storms. U.S . Air Force Weather Agency, Not surprisingly, the need for and Capt. Donald A. Mautner, collaboration was highlighed –

150/1999 35 The United States experiences more seve r e storms – thunderst o r m s , floods and hurricanes – th an any other country in the wor l d .

to leverage limited resources and an t , three-dimensional repre- At the 79th Ann u a l save taxpayers’ money. One ex- sentations of details in the AMS Mee t i n g , ample where this is already hap- atmosphere. Advanced weather pening is the MM5, a high-re s - data processing systems will aid John J. Kel l y , Jr., from olution numerical prediction meteorologists and hy d r o l o- the National Wea t h e r to o l , developed at the universi- gists to rapidly manipulate, dis- Service, spoke about the ties and used by all three servi c e s . play and analyze critical weath- NSW modernization Another is the combining of ci- er data. pr o g ra m . vilian and military weather sat - This modernization has been ellites into a single system that made possible by recent advances will provide unified products in sat e l l i t e s , radar, sophisticated within the decade. information processing and com- In the drive to disseminate munication systems, automat- more accurate information and ed weather observing systems critical warnings in a timely, use- and superspeed computers. ful and far-re a c hing way, the It will involve components NW S is re-emphasizing part- su c h as the new Doppler Wea t h - nerships with industry. As Joh n er Surveillance Rad a r , the Auto- planned for implementation in Kelly noted, “Even the most per- mated Surface Observing Sys- the 2002–2004 time frame, will fect weather forecast or warn- te m , a new generation of Geo- have a generic ground system ing is an academic exercise, if s t a t i o n a ry Operational Env i- de s i g n , capable of being used the public doesn’t get the infor- ronmental , National with various brands of radio- mation and react in time!” Center Advanced Computer so n d e s . Any automated system S y s t e m s, and the Ad v a n c e d would have to accommodate a National Weat h e r Weather Interactive Processing wide variety of radiosonde Service: modernization Sy s t e m . br a n d s .” efforts will pay off Along with all the high tech, The main message of the the NWS is changing their meeting was clear. More uni- The National Weather Servi c e structure of field offices, includ- form U.S . weather services across (NW S) is in the midst of a major ing the Weather Forecast Of- the nation, with more reliable modernization program aimed fices and River Forecast Centers. fo r e c a s t s , will benefit the Amer- at raising the capability to offer And what about radiosondes? ican economy and industries. more timely and precise weath- According to Mr. Kelly, “The Na- And better industry -s p e c i f i c er and flood warnings to the ti o n a l Weather Service will con- forecasts and access to weather na t i o n . This involves introduc- tinue making manual launche s information will aid companies ing the latest state-o f -t h e -a rt of radiosondes twice daily. At to do their business. ■ te c hnologies to take the NWS this time the NWS does not into the twenty-first century. The plan to pursue the capability for information provided by new automated launche s. ” ob s e r vational technologies will He continued: “The new yield high resolution, time vari- radiosonde system, currently

36 150/1999 The 13th Professor Vilho Vaisala Award

Marit Finne Ed i t o r -i n -C h i e f Vai s ala New s Estimation Errors in Vai s ala Helsinki Fi n l a n d Meas u r ement of Prec i p i t ation by the Valdai Mon ito r i n g Sy ste m The paper written by the four winners describes the Val d a i system for monitoring precipitation measure- me n t s , and the method used to esti- mate the meteorologi- cal characteristics of the measurement re s u l t s . The paper gives estimates for 12 -h o u r, ten-day and monthly accumulated precipitation measure- ments in Val d a i , in the Russian Federation. The award ceremony was held on the premises of the State Hydrological Institute in St. Pet e rs b u r g . From the left: Dr . Eduard Sar u k h ajan (WM O), Professor G.O.B. Obas i , Director Hannu Tuominen, Dr. Ser g e y Khodkin and Professor I. Shiklomanov.

he winners of the session that the Valdai system Focus on preci p i t a t i o n 13th Professor Vil h o for monitoring precipitation mea s u r e m e n t Va i sala Award are measurements is a unique in- T D r. V. S. Golubev, stallation that currently pro- It has long been recognized in D r. D.A. Konovalov, Mrs. vides the best determination of the United Nations that water A. Y u. Simonenko, and Mr. actual amount of solid precipi- availability will be one of the Yu. V . Tov m a c h, all of whom tation at an observation point. major problems confronting have been deeply involved in Therefore, VMS measurements man in the 21st century. It is the research work of the State have been used to calibrate the also well-known that precipita- Hydrological Institute of the WM O standard for the Inter- tion is the main means of re- Russian Federation for many national Solid Precipitation newing the earth’s water re- ye a r s . Their joint paper was Measurement Intercomparison. so u r c e s . entitled “Estimation Errors in The monitoring system is lo- It is the task of the Meteoro- the Measurement of Precipita- cated at an experimental site at logical and Hydrological Ser- tion by the Valdai Monitoring Valdai belonging to the State vice of each country to kee p System (VM S)”. Hydrological Institute. It is regular precipitation records. The Commission for Instru- used in conjunction with other Precipitation is measured by ments and Methods of Obser- monitoring equipment to study special methods which can dif- vation (CIMO) of the Wor l d instruments and methods of fer appreciably from country to Meteorological Orga n i z a t i o n precipitation measurement. co u n t r y, as well as from the (WM O) noted at its eleventh past methods used in the sam e

150/1999 37 The Prof. Vilho Vaisala award winners ( from the left): Dr. Dmitry Konovalov, Dr. Valentine Gol u b e v, Mrs. Antonina Simonenko and Mr. Yuri Tov m a c h.

Ea c h year, the U.S . Ar m y Field Arti l l e r y Association honors the member that has contributed the most to the advancement of art i l l e r y techn o l o g y . This year, however, an outsider – Steven Ch a n s k y, President of co u n t r y. Hence, the accumulat- Hydrological Institute in St. Vai s ala Inc. – was ed observational data are not Pet e r s b u r g , Russian Federation awarded the ‘Order of only of different types, but also in November 1998. Professor contain widely differing magni- Ob a s i , Secretary- General of the Saint Barbara’ tudes of systematic and random WM O, officially awarded the Me d a l l i o n . It is also er r o r . four winners. Others present at recognition of the In fact, the errors or discrep- the ceremony included Dr. entire Vai s ala team ancies in source data are so Sergey S. Khodki n, Deputy large that they are unacceptable Head of the Federal Service for that has developed for accurate determination of Hydrometeorology and Envi - innovative products to water and heat balances, for as- ronmental Monitoring; Profes- meet the needs of the sessing anthropogenic cha n g e sor I. Shiklomanov, Director of in global climate and for fore- the State Hydrological Institute; U.S . Armed forces, casting its impact on water and Director Hannu Tuo m i n e n along with the global re s o u r c e s . For this reason, the from Vai s ala Helsinki, Surfa c e mi l i t a r y community. determination of the errors Weather Division. inherent in past and present The Professor Vilho Vai sa l a methods of measuring precipi- Award was established in 198 5 ta t i o n , and the correction of to promote WMO’s work and the accumulated data, form a commemorate the late Profes- large part of the many interna- sor Vilho Väisälä. WMO grants tional programs which focus this award every year to a dis- on climate research or on fore- tinguished researcher who has casting changes in water re- su c cessfully used weather instru- so u r c e s . ments and observation meth- ods to support WMO programs. Aw ard ceremony in The award consists of a diplo- St . Pet e r s b u r g ma , a medal and a cash sum. ■ The award ceremony was held on the premises of the State

38 150/1999 The Prof. Vilho Vaisala award winners ( from the left): Dr. Dmitry Konovalov, Dr. Valentine Gol u b e v, Mrs. Antonina Simonenko and Mr. Yuri Tov m a c h.

Ea c h year, the U.S . Ar m y Field Arti l l e r y Association honors the member that has contributed the most to the advancement of art i l l e r y techn o l o g y . This year, however, an outsider – Steven Ch a n s k y, President of co u n t r y. Hence, the accumulat- Hydrological Institute in St. Vai s ala Inc. – was ed observational data are not Pet e r s b u r g , Russian Federation awarded the ‘Order of only of different types, but also in November 1998. Professor contain widely differing magni- Ob a s i , Secretary- General of the Saint Barbara’ tudes of systematic and random WM O, officially awarded the Me d a l l i o n . It is also er r o r . four winners. Others present at recognition of the In fact, the errors or discrep- the ceremony included Dr. entire Vai s ala team ancies in source data are so Sergey S. Khodki n, Deputy large that they are unacceptable Head of the Federal Service for that has developed for accurate determination of Hydrometeorology and Envi - innovative products to water and heat balances, for as- ronmental Monitoring; Profes- meet the needs of the sessing anthropogenic cha n g e sor I. Shiklomanov, Director of in global climate and for fore- the State Hydrological Institute; U.S . Armed forces, casting its impact on water and Director Hannu Tuo m i n e n along with the global re s o u r c e s . For this reason, the from Vai s ala Helsinki, Surfa c e mi l i t a r y community. determination of the errors Weather Division. inherent in past and present The Professor Vilho Vai sa l a methods of measuring precipi- Award was established in 198 5 ta t i o n , and the correction of to promote WMO’s work and the accumulated data, form a commemorate the late Profes- large part of the many interna- sor Vilho Väisälä. WMO grants tional programs which focus this award every year to a dis- on climate research or on fore- tinguished researcher who has casting changes in water re- su c cessfully used weather instru- so u r c e s . ments and observation meth- ods to support WMO programs. Aw ard ceremony in The award consists of a diplo- St . Pet e r s b u r g ma , a medal and a cash sum. ■ The award ceremony was held on the premises of the State

38 150/1999 Ho n o r able OrderOrder ofof SaintSaint BarbaraBarbara

on reliable and accurate meteor- ological data. Over this period, Vai s ala has become the undi s - puted leader in supplying Uppe r Air Equipment to the Ar m y to meet their ballistic suppo r t re- qu i r e m e n t s . This award is also recognition of the entire Vai s ala team that has developed, market e d , and su p p o r ted innovative products su c h as Vai s ala’s Rad i o t h e o d i l i t e and MARWI N ground equip- ment to meet the needs of the U.S . Armed forces, including the Navy, Air Force and Ma- ri n e s , along with the global From the left, Steven and Linda ac h year, the U.S . mi l i t a r y community. Ch ansky with Ken and San d y Ar m y Field Arti l l e r y There is much folklore relat- Ch i n , were presented with the Association honors ing to this honor. The story goes ‘Order of Saint Bar ba ra ’ E the member that has that a young girl named Barbara Med a l l i o n . contributed the most to the ad- was beheaded by her pagan fa- vancement of arti l l e r y techn o l - t h e r, Dioscorous, when she og y . Occasionally, a recipient refused to renounce Christian- from outside the military is it y . After this execution, Dio- ho n o r e d , and in 1999 this was scorous was killed by a blind- the case. During the Annual ing flash of lightning. Barbara ‘Saint Barbara’s Day’ Dinner then came to be regarded as the Dance, held at Fort Mon- p a t r o n e s s, Saint Barbara, of mo u t h , New Jersey on Febru- those in danger from thunder- ar y 20th, Steven Chansky, Pres- st o r m s , fire, and explosions. Early ident of Vai s ala Inc., Vai sa l a ’ s art i l l e r ymen sought her pr o t e c - Nor th American subsidiary, was ti o n , because of the questi o n - presented with the ‘Order of able reliability of early cannons. Saint Barbara’ Medallion. ■ Steven Chansky received this honor in recognition of his long and valued relationship with the U.S . Army. During his seven- teen years with Vai s ala Inc., he has worked hard to develop and nu r ture strong professional rela- tionships with members of the U.S . Army arti l l e r y that depend

150/1999 39