Utilizing Heteorogenoeus Radar Systems in a Real-Time Analysis and Short-Term Forecast System in the Dallas/Fort Worth Testbed

The Dallas/Ft Worth Testbed has been established as a region for testing real-time data analysis and short-term forecasting over an urban area. A number of high-density observing networks are being tested in the region, including a diverse mix of radars, namely the S-band NWS/DoD WSR-88D radars, the C-band FAA TDWR radars covering Dallas-Love Field and Dallas-Ft Worth Airport, and several X-band Doppler radars, including those built by UMass for the Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) project, Enterprise Electronics (EEC Ranger), Ridgeline Instruments (RXM-25) and EWR Weather Radar Systems (E700XD). In addition to the radars, the DFW Testbed includes surface data from standard NWS/FAA sources, citizen weather observations, truck-mounted mobile sensors, SODARs, and ground based radiometers.

Building on our experience from CASA in Oklahoma we have configured a 3DVAR analysis system with 400-m grid spacing and an ARPS model system with our Complex Cloud Analysis. The analyses are used in an assimilation cycle utilizing Incremental Analysis Updating (IAU) for 0-2h forecasts with low latency. Besides providing real-time information for local governments and the National Weather Service, the system can be used as a basis for the testing of observation system impacts and Warn-on-Forecast concepts. This work describes the current system including recent developments for the handling of recent changes to the operational WSR-88D weather radars, addition of X-band radars, and reflectivity matching to each microphysics scheme. Recent case examples from the real-time and development systems will be shown.

Figure: Sample initialized state for 2-hr forecast, 0400 UTC 08 May 2015. Surface (10m AGL) reflectivity and streamlines.