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NASA NTRS2012

Lightning Jump Algorithm and Relation to Thunderstorm Cell Tracking, GLM Proxy and Other Meteorological Measurements

The lightning jump algorithm has a robust history in correlating upward trends in lightning to severe and hazardous weather occurrence. The algorithm uses the correlation between the physical principles that govern an updraft's ability to produce microphysical and kinematic conditions conducive for electrification and its role in the development of severe weather conditions. Recent work has demonstrated that the lightning jump algorithm concept holds significant promise in the operational realm, aiding in the identification of thunderstorms that have potential to produce severe or hazardous weather. However, a large amount of work still needs to be completed in spite of these positive results. The total lightning jump algorithm is not a stand-alone concept that can be used independent of other meteorological measurements, parameters, and techniques. For example, the algorithm is highly dependent upon thunderstorm tracking to build lightning histories on convective cells. Current tracking methods show that thunderstorm cell tracking is most reliable and cell histories are most accurate when radar information is incorporated with lightning data. In the absence of radar data, the cell tracking is a bit less reliable but the value added by the lightning information is much greater. For optimal application, the algorithm should be integrated with other measurements that assess storm scale properties (e.g., satellite, radar). Therefore, the recent focus of this research effort has been assessing the lightning jump's relation to thunderstorm tracking, meteorological parameters, and its potential uses in operational meteorology. Furthermore, the algorithm must be tailored for the optically-based GOES-R Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM), as what has been observed using Very High Frequency Lightning Mapping Array (VHF LMA) measurements will not exactly translate to what will be observed by GLM due to resolution and other instrument differences. Herein, we present some of the promising aspects and challenges encountered in utilizing objective tracking and GLM proxy data, as well as recent results that demonstrate the value added information gained by combining the lightning jump concept with traditional meteorological measurements.

Schultz, Christopher J.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Recent Weather Technologies Delivered to America's Space Program by the Applied Meteorology Unit

The Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) is a unique joint venture of NASA, the Air Force and the National Weather Service (NWS) and has been supporting the Space Program for nearly two decades. The AMU acts as a bridge between the meteorological research community and operational forecasters by developing, evaluating and transitioning new technology and techniques to improve weather support to spaceport operations at the Eastern Range (ER) and Kennedy Space Center. Its primary customers are the 45th Weather Squadron at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), the Spaceflight Meteorology Group at Johnson Space Center and the National Weather Service Office in Melbourne, FL. Its products are used to support NASA's Shuttle and ELV programs as well as Department of Defense and commercial launches from the ER. Shuttle support includes landing sites beyond the ER. The AMU is co-located with the Air Force operational forecasters at CCAFS to facilitate continuous two-way interaction between the AMU and its operational customers. It is operated under a NASA, Air Force, and NWS Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by a competitively-selected contractor. The contract, which is funded and managed by NASA, provides five full time professionals with degrees in meteorology or related fields, some of whom also have operational experience. NASA provides a Ph.D.- level NASA civil service scientist as Chief of the AMU. The AMU is tasked by its customers through a unique, nationally recognized process. The tasks are limited to development, evaluation and operational transition of technology to improve weather support to spaceport operations and providing expert advice to the customers. The MOU expressly forbids using the AMU resources to conduct operations or do basic research. The presentation will provide a brief overview of the AMU and how it is tasked by its customers to provide high priority products and services. The balance of the presentation will cover a sampling of products delivered over the last 18 years that are currently in operational use. Each example will describe the problem to be solved, the solution provided, and the operational benefits of implementing that solution.

Bauman, WIlliam, H., III↗
NASA NTRS2016

The Quality Control Algorithms Used in the Process of Creating the NASA Kennedy Space Center Lightning Protection System Towers Meteorological Database

The methodology and the results of the quality control (QC) process of the meteorological data from the Lightning Protection System (LPS) towers located at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) launch complex 39B (LC-39B) are documented in this paper. Meteorological data are used to design a launch vehicle, determine operational constraints, and to apply defined constraints on day-of-launch (DOL). In order to properly accomplish these tasks, a representative climatological database of meteorological records is needed because the database needs to represent the climate the vehicle will encounter. Numerous meteorological measurement towers exist at KSC; however, the engineering tasks need measurements at specific heights, some of which can only be provided by a few towers. Other than the LPS towers, Tower 313 is the only tower that provides observations up to 150 m. This tower is located approximately 3.5 km from LC-39B. In addition, data need to be QC'ed to remove erroneous reports that could pollute the results of an engineering analysis, mislead the development of operational constraints, or provide a false image of the atmosphere at the tower's location.

Orcutt, John M.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evaluating Meteorological Dust Events and Machine-Learning Based Dust Identification in Geostationary Satellite Imagery

NASA scientists in the Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center (SPoRT) developed a physically-based machine learning approach to identify dust in satellite imagery with a focus on night-time dust detection (Berndt et al. 201; DustTracker-AI). NASA/NOAA Geostationary Environmental Operational Satellite-16 (GOES-16) imagery was used for training and model inputs. The training, testing and validation data set consists of 28 events in the Southwest United States, capturing dust and null events in the region from 2018-2020.With 83 distinct images and millions of pixels a random forest model was trained and validated, correctly labeling 85% of dust pixels.For the first time, the model was run in near-real time production during the spring of 2022 and dust probability visualizations were made available to NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters to assess its utility for dust forecasting. Results indicated the model helped increase the confidence in the presence of dust and enabled dust tracking for a longer period of time into the night-time hours. Forecaster assessment and running the model in near real-time allowed for the team to determine the types of events missed, captured, and false alarms. To gain additional context on model performance,the SPoRT team sought to gather more detailed information on the training database(e.g., meteorological characteristics and drivers). The goal of this project was to identify the meteorological drivers for the dust events and create a database which synthesized information from observations, forecaster discussions, and analyses pertaining to the dust events to understand the types of events currently used to train the model. A more detailed meteorological synopsis was created for each dust event in the training, testing, and validation datasets. Following the completion of the database and documentation, the classification details revealed that 88% of the dust events were synoptically driven while mesoscale events were less prevalent in model datasets. Meteorological conditions found such as mixing layer depth and wind velocity had mean values of 645mb and 21kt respectively.With conditions of deep mixed layers and moderate to strong surface winds a mesoscale thunderstorm outflow event was considered and subsequently added to the model training data set to test the impact of additional mesoscale training data. The model was retrained and then qualitatively tested on a sample thunderstorm outflow case that the original model was unable to identify. Preliminary results showed potential that the addition of more mesoscale events included in the training data could help to better identify indistinct and localized dust events.

Connor Welch↗
NASA NTRS1963

Meteorological and Geoastrophysical Abstracts

Meteorological and Geostrophysical Abstracts is a monthly publication devoted to current literature in meteorology, geophysics and astrophysics. Part I contains abstracts of current literature in the fields of meteorology, etc. Part II of each issue comprises of an annotated bibliography of important references on a special subject.

METEOROLOGY↗
NASA NTRS2016

Meteorological Support in Scientific Ballooning

The weather affects every portion of a scientific balloon mission, from payload integration to launch, float, and impact and recovery. Forecasting for these missions is very specialized and unique in many aspects. CSBF Meteorology incorporates data from NWSNCEP, as well as several international meteorological organizations, and NCAR. This presentation will detail the tools used and specifics on how CSBF Meteorology produces its forecasts.

meteorological Support in Scientific Ballooning↗
NASA NTRS2020

NASA Global Satellite and Model Data Products and Services for Tropical Meteorology and Climatology

Satellite remote sensing and model data play an important role in research and applications of tropical meteorology and climatology over vast, data sparse oceans and remote continents. Since the first weather satellite was launched by NASA in 1960, a large collection of NASA's Earth science data is freely available to the research and application communities around the world, significantly improving our overall understanding of the Earth system and environment. Established in the mid-80s, the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), located in Maryland, USA, is a data archive center for multidisciplinary, satellite and model assimilation data products. As one of the 12 NASA data centers in Earth Sciences, GES DISC hosts several important NASA satellite missions for tropical meteorology and climatology such as the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission and the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA). Over the years, GES DISC has developed data services to facilitate data discovery, access, distribution, analysis and visualization, including Giovanni, an online analysis and visualization tool without the need to download data and software. Despite many efforts for improving data access, still quite a number of challenges remain, such as finding datasets and services for a specific research topic or project, especially for inexperienced users or users outside the remote sensing community. In this article, we list and describe major NASA satellite remote sensing and model datasets and services for tropical meteorology and climatology along with examples of using the data and services, in hope that may help users better utilize the information in their research and applications.

tropical meteorology and climatology, data, servic↗
NASA NTRS1971

Multidisciplinary studies of the social, economic and political impact resulting from recent advances in satellite meteorology, volume 1

The multidisciplinary studies explore and evaluate the impact of the meteorological satellite and the concomitant impact of the data derived from it on various user groups. As expected, the primary impact related to those who would use satellite data for weather prediction and related purposes. A secondary impact was in the area of international concerns where GARP and other international meteorological activities were affected and international law was developed. A tertiary impact was exemplified by satellite photographs utilized in advertisements and related materials. The case studies, supporting studies, and independent studies all emphasize the potential of the meteorological satellite.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1973

Compendium of meteorological satellites and instrumentation

Pertinent information is presented for 98 launched and planned satellites of the U.S., U.K., U.S.S.R., and France, as well as their over 200 meteorological experiments or instruments. Summary information is provided for both operational and research satellites. Three major sections include: (1) an overview by country, of the various series of meteorological satellite programs; (2) brief descriptions of the satellites and their experiments; and (3) an extensive bibliography. A glossary of acronyms and two indexes for cross-referencing are also included. In addition, various tables and figures presenting satellite operating times, data coverage, location of launch sites, and descriptions of the launch vehicles used to orbit the meteorological satellites are given.

Stoldt, N. W.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Some problems in coupling solar activity to meteorological phenomena

The development of a theory of coupling of solar activity to meteorological phenomena has to date foundered on the two difficulties of (1) devising a mechanism that can modify the behavior of the troposphere while employing only a negligible amount of energy compared with the energy necessary to drive the normal meteorological system; and (2) determining how such a mechanism can effectively couple some relevant magnetospheric process into the troposphere in such a way as to influence the weather. A clue to the nature of the interaction between the weather and solar activity might be provided by the fact that most solar activity undergoes a definite 11-year cycle, while meteorological phenomena undergo either no closely correlated variation, or an 11-year variation, or a 22-year variation.

Dessler, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Commercial aircraft as a source of automated meteorological data for GATE and DST

Specially-equipped wide-body commercial aircraft which are flying tropical and Southern Hemispheric routes are providing a new and unique source of meteorological data with a 100 km spatial resolution. Data have been gathered for the GATE, and the planning for a similar effort for the DST is in progress. These aircraft not only provide synoptic data in critical areas devoid of conventional data, but are, in effect, meteorological research platforms that can provide valuable information on mesoscale phenomena. By 1976 it is anticipated that there will be over 80 such aircraft flying global routes. These specially-equipped jets could also be effectively used for EGGE by providing the nucleus of a supplementary observing system for gathering world-wide meteorological data.

Julian, P. R.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Some problems in coupling solar activity to meteorological phenomena

The development of a theory of coupling of solar activity to meteorological phenomena is hindered by the difficulties of devising a mechanism that can modify the behavior of the troposphere while employing only a negligible amount of energy compared with the energy necessary to drive the normal meteorological system, and determining how such a mechanism can effectively couple some relevant magnetospheric process into the troposphere in such a way as to influence the weather. A clue to the nature of the interaction between the weather and solar activity might be provided by the fact that most solar activity undergoes a definite 11-yr cycle, and meteorological phenomena undergo either no closely correlated variation, an 11-yr variation, or a 22-yr variation.

Dessler, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Automated meteorological data from commercial aircraft via satellite: Present experience and future implications

A low-cost communications system to provide meteorological data from commercial aircraft, in neat real-time, on a fully automated basis has been developed. The complete system including the low profile antenna and all installation hardware weighs 34 kg. The prototype system was installed on a B-747 aircraft and provided meteorological data (wind angle and velocity, temperature, altitude and position as a function of time) on a fully automated basis. The results were exceptional. This concept is expected to have important implications for operational meteorology and airline route forecasting.

Steinberg, R.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Automated meteorological data from commercial aircraft via satellite - Present experience and future implications

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has developed a low-cost communications system to provide meteorological data from commercial aircraft, in near real-time, on a fully automated basis. The complete system including the low profile antenna and all installation hardware weighs 34 kg. The prototype system has been installed on a Pan American B-747 aircraft and has been providing meteorological data (wind angle and velocity, temperature, altitude and position as a function of time) on a fully automated basis for the past several months. The results have been exceptional. This concept is expected to have important implications for operational meteorology and airline route forecasting.

Steinberg, R.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Artificial stereo presentation of meteorological data fields

The innate capability to perceive three-dimensional stereo imagery has been exploited to present multidimensional meteorological data fields. Variations on an artificial stereo technique first discussed by Pichel et al. (1973) are used to display single and multispectral images in a vivid and easily assimilated manner. Examples of visible/infrared artificial stereo are given for Hurricane Allen and for severe thunderstorms on 10 April 1979. Three-dimensional output from a mesoscale model also is presented. The images may be viewed through the glasses inserted in the February 1981 issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, with the red lens over the right eye. The images have been produced on the interactive Atmospheric and Oceanographic Information Processing System (AOIPS) at Goddard Space Flight Center. Stereo presentation is an important aid in understanding meteorological phenomena for operational weather forecasting, research case studies, and model simulations.

Hasler, A. F.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Meteorology impact on future aircraft design

Meteorology impact on future aircraft design is discussed. Upcoming changes in both design and operations that will be influenced by the meteorological environment are outlined. Future and more nonconventional designs and meteorological impact brought about by operational changes over the next few years are examined.

Stickle, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Meteorological satellites: Past, present, and future

Past developments, accomplishments and future potential of meteorological satellites are discussed. Meteorological satellite design is described in detail. Space platforms and their meteorological applications are discussed. User needs are also discussed.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1983

An interactive meteorological display and analysis system

The GEMPAK system, a general meteorological software package being developed at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center to support mesoscale meteorological research programs, is described. The primary purpose of the system is to provide analysis support and data integration techniques for conventional and satellite derived data sets. Current capabilities of the system range from data listing and editing to interactive objective analysis procedures and coordinate transformations. Output graphics use a graphics subroutine package designed to support meteorological plotting functions. A flexible diagnostics package is currently under development.

Desjardins, M. L.↗