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Fall/Winter 1995 After the Close of the Summer the OWSO and OMWSO Olympics and Use the Same Operations Will Utilize New in Brief

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Fall/Winter 1995 After the Close of the Summer the OWSO and OMWSO Olympics and Use the Same Operations Will Utilize New in Brief NSSL Briefings A newsletter about the employees and activities of the National Severe Storms Laboratory NSSL works with NWS to prepare for Olympic weather support by Susan Oakland-Cobb and J.T. Johnson orld class athletes are not the only ones Laboratory (FSL), the Techniques Development diligently training for the 1996 Summer Laboratory (TDL), the National Center for WOlympic Games to be held in Atlanta, Environmental Prediction (NCEP), and the GA. Fifteen forecasters from around the world National Environmental Satellite, Data, and have spent part of the summer in Atlanta training Information Service (NESDIS) are all working to to provide weather support during the Olympics. help these activities. NSSL's J.T. Johnson has They come from the U.S., Canada, and Australia, been working in Atlanta since January, 1995 to and will begin forecasting July 1, 1996, continuing help with the OWSO set-up. Johnson will remain through the Olympics, closing August 4, 1996. in Atlanta throughout the Olympics to provide A group of alternate forecasters will continue expertise on NSSL's experimental Warning forecast operations through the Paralympics, a Decision Support System (WDSS) and to help Volume 1 No. 2 competition involving physically challenged with the overall hardware, software, and forecaster athletes. The Paralympics are held two weeks training for the OWSO. Fall/Winter 1995 after the close of the summer The OWSO and OMWSO Olympics and use the same operations will utilize new In Brief..... facilities. weather analysis tools that All of these forecasters will have never been combined in be a part of the Olympic an operational setting. NSSL and the Weather Support Office Forecasters will use high - Olympics 1 (OWSO) and the Olympic resolution mesoscale models, Marine Weather Support WSR-88D data, GOES-8 News Briefs 2 Office (OMWSO). The satellite data, and an extensive From the Deputy OWSO and OMWSO were network of surface data Director 2 organized after the Atlanta (mesonet). The NSSL- Committee for the Olympic developed WDSS will serve WDSS in Atlanta 3 Games (ACOG) identified as the radar analysis and TOGA/COARE 4 several weather concerns that warning tool as well as the could jeopardize the safety of lightning display (for more on Olympic Employee Spotlight 6 the athletes, workers, and preparing WDSS for the spectators. Since many of the Games Olympics, see page 3). Prior Polarimetric venue sites measurements 7 events are held outdoors, a to the Olympics, these tools need for weather support were utilized in several case Lightning data services was evident. The OWSO will be respon- analyses of summer thunderstorm events. Through overlay 8 sible for providing weather services for the these case analyses, meteorologists hope to better FASTEX 9 majority of the Olympic events. The OMWSO understand thunderstorms in the southeast U.S. will focus only on the yachting event. environment and will determine what aspects and Daily weather The OWSO and OMWSO are currently in the combinations of these tools will provide forecast- briefings 9 spin-up stage, coordinated by the Southern Region ers with the best information. Mobile doppler 10 Headquarters of the NWS. The National Severe The Olympic Games are one of the largest and Storms Laboratory (NSSL), and other National grandest festivals in the world. From athletes, to NSSL scientist moves Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) spectators, to the weather forecasters, the Olympic to Salt Lake City 12 organizations including the Forecast Systems Games are truly an international event. u For more information contact Mike Eilts at: [email protected] Page 1 NSSL Briefings Fall/Winter 1995 Doug Forsyth NSSL News Briefs email: [email protected] Fax: (405) 366-0472 NSSL receives Gold Medal award NSSL has been honored with the Gold Medal Award by the Department of Commerce. The Gold medal is the highest form of honorary recognition the department bestows and is granted for exceptional contributions to the Department of Commerce. NSSL was recog- nized for its "leadership leading to, and continuous improvement of, a national Doppler radar system, significantly advancing our Nation's National Weather Service." From the Deputy National Weather Association Director's desk: honors NSSL scientist Chuck Doswell received the National Weather Association's (NWA) Research Achievement s we enter the new fiscal year, we can reflect on our accomplishments Award. This award is given to the individual and make plans for another exciting year. We have continued to work whose research has made a significant contribu- A with the spin-up of the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) and are thrilled tion to operational meteorology. The award that this co-location of NSSL and SPC is occurring. Both organizations have was presented at the NWA Annual Meeting in made a few short-term sacrifices to make this happen. Under the fine leader- Houston, TX, in December. ship of Gary Grice, this tremendous task has continued on a smooth course despite the boulders (e.g., protest on the temporary buildings, siting disputes, etc.) laid in our path. Thanks to the SPC and NSSL staffs for their continued Student employee receives support during these turbulent times (i.e., moves, disruptions, less than desirable space, etc.). In particular, the support of the Administrative and national scholarship and OU Central Support Services has been outstanding. The support from the Moun- Outstanding Senior award tain Area Service Center (Lois Arford, and Rick Johnson), Special Engineering Cristina Kaufman, OU Senior in Meteorology Program Office (DeAnn Inskeep), and NWS HQ/EG&G (Phil Dodderidge) and NSSL employee has recently been awarded has been invaluable. A special thanks to John Snow, Dean of the College of the $5,000 Paul H. Kutschenreuter Scholarship. Geosciences at OU, for also helping "clear the road." This scholarship is awarded to a student who is So far our FY96 budget is staying at the FY95 funding level in both the in their final undergraduate year majoring in House and Senate. Although this is not the best news, since we had hoped for atmospheric or related oceanic and hydrologic new initiative funds to support a Research Development, Operation and sciences. The recipient is selected based on Testing WSR-88D with dual polarization capability. This funding level will academic record, achievements, honors, and present some challenges (opportunities) for the coming year but should allow college and community activities. NSSL to continue in its quest to improve our understanding and ability to Kaufman was also awarded Outstanding forecast and warn for hazardous weather situations. Senior of the College of Geosciences at the We are looking forward to our participation in two new Memorandums of University of Oklahoma. The awards are given Understanding (MOU) with the NWS. The NWS Headquarters MOU involves to one outstanding senior in each college and is NEXRAD product improvement and will start moving the WSR-88D to open sponsored by the OU Parent's Association. systems architecture and replacing the current signal processor. The Western Region MOU concerns collaborative WSR-88D evaluation and development in the West and has moved Steve Vasiloff to Salt Lake City, Utah. Steve is working directly with the Western Region Headquarters to assess and improve NSSL News Briefs the WSR-88D capabilities in the Western United States. continued on next page. Finally, as we reflect on our accomplishments and make plans for the future, thanks to everyone who gave something back to our communities by giving generously to the Combined Federal Campaign. u Page 2 Fall/Winter 1995 NSSL Briefings WDSS being tested in NSSL News Briefs Atlanta to prepare for the continued. Olympics NOAA's bronze medal awarded to NSSL employees Lawrence P. Griffin and Dennis E. Nealson, by Susan Oakland-Cobb and J.T. Johnson NSSL electronic technicians, were awarded a bronze medal by NOAA. Griffin and Nealson s millions of people converge on Atlanta next summer, the Atlanta were honored for their work in developing a Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) has some concerns with mobile, truck-mounted Doppler radar - a A the weather including the threat of thunderstorms during outdoor collaborative effort of the University of Okla- events. To provide accurate real-time information on thunderstorms to homa, the National Center for Atmospheric Olympic forecasters, NSSL’s experimental WDSS will serve as the radar Research, and NSSL. analysis and warning tool, as well as provide lightning strike information The fully mobile radar was used during this during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. year's VORTEX tornado experiment. Using the To prepare for the Olympics, NSSL conducted a Proof-of-Concept test of its radar, scientists were able to collect unprec- WDSS in Atlanta this past summer. The goal for this testing was to determine edented close-up, comprehensive data on if there were any differences that might exist in the Georgia environment that several supercell storms and tornadoes. Please may cause problems or biases with the NSSL developed algorithms. We also see the story "Mobile Doppler Radar: A new wanted to collect data to examine the pre-storm environment for indicators of tool to investigate tornadic storms" on Page 10 thunderstorm initiation and movement of existing storms in the Atlanta area. for more information. The Proof-of-Concept test was intended to look at several aspects of the WDSS both in real-time and off-line. Individual performances of the WDSS algorithms were evaluated using algorithm output and ground truth reports. To Scientist on Panel of Independent evaluate the long-term robustness of the algorithms, we are running the International Experts algorithms on a daily basis. OWSO, NWS, and NSSL personnel kept a log of Michael Eilts was invited by the Royal Observa- successes and failures during or shortly following each day. This record will tory of Hong Kong to sit on a three member allow failures to be evaluated and analyzed with the goal of improving Panel of International Independent Experts.
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