88th Annual Meeting (20-24 January 2008)

Monday, 21 January 2008: 5:00 PM
Canadian airport nowcasting project (CAN-Now): Preliminary results and plans for future
226-227 (Ernest N. Morial Convention Center)
George A. Isaac, Science and Technology Branch, Environment Canada, Toronto, ON, Canada; and M. Bailey, F. Boudala, B. Clark, S. Cober, N. Donaldson, N. Driedger, S. Gravel, I. Gultepe, D. Hudak, P. Joe, J. Reid, Z. Vukovic, A. Ling, and G. Simard
The Canadian Airport Nowcasting Project (CAN-Now) is developing an advanced prototype all-season weather forecasting and nowcasting system that can be used at major airports. This system uses numerical model data, pilot reports, ground sensor observations (precipitation, ceiling, visibility, winds, etc) as well as remote sensing (satellite, radar, radiometer) information to provide detailed nowcasts out to approximately 6 hours. The nowcasts, or short term weather forecasts, should allow decision makers at airports such as pilots, dispatchers, de-icing crews, ground personnel or air traffic controllers to make decisions with increased margins of safety and improved efficiency. The system is being developed and tested at Toronto Pearson International Airport (CYYZ) with an eventual aim of adapting the resulting concept and forecasts to other Canadian airports such as Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver. The preliminary displays being tested will be discussed along with initial evaluations. Plans for future work will also be described including the difficulties associated with designing the system products, testing and validating them, and implementing them operationally.

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