The performance of the GANDOLF nowcasting system during the Sydney 2000 Forecast Demonstration Project

GANDOLF is an automated precipitation nowcasting system based on a conceptual model of an idealised convective cell. It ingests radar reflectivity, IR and visible satellite and NWP model data, and generates nowcasts of surface rain rate and accumulations out to 3 hours ahead with a 2km spatial resolution. GANDOLF was one of the systems tested during the WWRP Sydney 2000 Forecast Demonstration Project (FDP), which took place over the period containing the Olympic Games of September 2000. The system ran operationally for 4 months, generating a forecast sequence every 10min. A selection of the system products was delivered to a web server for display and access by forecasters at a number of locations. Other nowcast products were generated and archived by the system for further analysis. This paper presents a preliminary assessment of the performance of the GANDOLF system during the FDP.