The Doppler Weather Radar Nowcasting Tool GSF, Application at the European Spaceport for the Support of ARIANE 4 / 5 Rocket Launches

This paper presents the Nowcasting tool (GSF) installed at the French Guyana Space Center, Europe’s spaceport (CSG). The (EEC) C-Band Doppler weather radar system called ROMUALD “Radar d'Observation Météo d'Utilisation Aisée Localement et à Distance” is used as the sensor for generation of input data for the tracking and forecasting (Nowcasting) process. The GSF software is designed to automatically assist to the real time weather watch and automatic forecast at operational meteorological services. At CSG the GSF is integrated into the multi-user networked meteorological software environment FROG (Fast Radar Observation by GAMIC) designed for real-time weather analysis. This system yields an effective tool to forecast high risk and risk area due to meteorological phenomena (Weather systems causing electrical discharges, severe winds) in the operational rocket launch pad environment at CSG. The installation and adaption of the GSF system resulted from close cooperation between the CSG operational users, the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, CNES, and the contracted company GAMIC each having contributed the specific software and operational meteorological know how.