4.4 Regional ensemble system for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games

Monday, 11 August 2008: 4:15 PM
Rainbow Theatre (Telus Whistler Conference Centre)
Ronald Frenette, EC, Montreal, QC, Canada

A new Regional ensemble prediction system (REPS) with the limited-area version of the Canadian Global Environmental Multiscale (GEM) model at 33-km horizontal resolution over North America was tested during the month of February 2008.

Special attention was given for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games area by producing ensemble products such as EPSgrams (meteograms) and probability charts for different Olympics sites.

Verification comparing this system against the Canadian global ensemble system was performed for some upper air fields ( geopotential height, temperature, winds and humidity) and surface fields (precipitation, temperature and winds)

From verification results an improved version will be tested in February 2009 and is expected to be implemented for the 2010 Olympics.

A winter case study will be presented to show the strengths and limits of this system over the mountains of southern British Columbia.

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