JP7.17
Nowcasting aircraft turbulence from tropopause folds operationally for GOES-R
Anthony Wimmers, CIMSS/Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI; and W. Feltz
Previous work has established the association between GOES water vapor gradients and tropopause folds. Tropopause folds are layers of stratospheric air that penetrate into the troposphere near a front and frequently exhibit dynamical instability below the jet stream. Aircraft traveling in the upper troposphere often experience clear air turbulence (CAT) when they encounter these areas of instability. Here we present examples and validation of an operational tropopause fold nowcasting scheme developed for the GOES-R Algorithm Working Group. The algorithm has been implemented in the GEOCAT programming environment for easy transition to operations. The wealth of automated observational data from commercial aircraft (eddy diffusion rate – EDR) allows the tropopause folding product to be sensitive to several factors, such as the direction of the fold; angle of incidence between the aircraft and the fold; and location with respect to the fold.
Joint Poster Session 7, Natural Hazards
Wednesday, 14 January 2009, 2:30 PM-4:00 PM, Hall 5
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