The primary objectives of the 2008 EWP Spring Program are as follows:
· To evaluate the accuracy and the operational utility of new science, technology, and products in a testbed setting in order to gain feedback for improvements prior to their potential implementation into NWS severe convective weather warning operations.
o The Hazardous Weather Testbed serves as a primary vehicle for transitioning new research, knowledge, and concepts into NWS operations. It is designed to provide forecasters with direct access to the latest developments in meteorological research while imparting scientists with the knowledge to formulate research strategies that will have practical benefits for operations.
· To foster collaboration between NSSL scientists and operational meteorologists.
o The WFOs are our primary customers. We want to work with you to understand your requirements and improve warning accuracy and services. This will also allow for continued scientific collaboration on application development, and on informal and formal publications. The interaction between scientists and operational meteorologists will provide a synergy that will lead to improvements in future products.
The overall objectives of the specific projects to be conducted during the 2008 EWP Spring Program are:
·
To evaluate the operational utility of Phased Array Radar (PAR) technology during real-time operational
warning situations.
o
Assess
the strengths and limitations of NEXRAD and PAR data in the analysis of severe
storms.
o
Evaluate
how characteristics of PAR scanning strategies affect the understanding of
severe storms.
o
Describe
how using PAR data to make warning decisions impacts warning decision-making.
o
Comment on how PAR data may be of benefit to NWS
operational responsibilities and to the public.
·
To evaluate the operational utility of Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) dense radar
networks during real-time operational warning situations as well as through
playback of archived cases.
o
Evaluate
how CASA data could help with the severe weather warning process.
o
Evaluate
the strengths and limitations of CASAs technical capabilities?
§
High
resolution data
§
Lower
troposphere coverage
§
1 minute
refresh rate
§
Adaptive
scanning strategies based on user rules.
o
To
evaluate the potential benefits of NWP forecasts that incorporate CASA data.
o
To assess
how forecaster might incorporate real time 3-D var
wind products into warning decision making.
· To evaluate the utility and effectiveness of gridded probabilistic severe convective weather warnings before consideration into NWS warning operations.
o Assess the new concept and technologies we will use to issue gridded warnings and how they may eventually be implemented into the NWS Next-Generation Warning Tool (NGWT).
o Qualitatively evaluate the management of warning team workload in the issuance of gridded warnings.
o Provide feedback on the science of adding probabilistic information to warnings, how various probabilities might be determined by forecasters in the short-fused NWS warning environment, and how these probabilities might eventually blend with larger scale severe weather probability forecasts.
o Consider how gridded probabilistic warnings may be of benefit to users of severe convective weather hazard information.
For more information on the Experimental Warning Program, email Greg Stumpf .
