An operational Local Data Integration System (LDIS) at NWS Melbourne

The National Aeronautical and Space Administration's (NASA) Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) assisted the National Weather Service (NWS) Office at Melbourne, Florida to implement a Local Data Integration System (LDIS) early in 2000. The LDIS currently uses only the analysis portion of the Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS), entitled the ARPS Data Analysis System, which is available from the University of Oklahoma. In late Spring 2000 the AMU will also provide assistance for implementing LDIS at the NWS Spaceflight Meteorology Group at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Preceding the real-time implementation, AMU personnel identified existing data sources, and an appropriate data assimilation system, and assessed the utility of LDIS by simulating a real-time configuration using archived data. The real-time data ingest at the Melbourne Forecast Office consists of gridded fields from the Rapid Update Cycle model, visible and infrared satellite imagery, Melbourne Doppler Weather Surveillance Radar reflectivity and radial velocity fields, rawindsondes, surface reports, and observations from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). Among the available data at KSC/CCAFS include 47 wind towers, five 915 MHz boundary later wind profilers and one 50 MHz wind profiler. Incorporating all of these data sets, especially from the densely instrumented areas around KSC and CCAFS, has potential to benefit weather forecasting along Florida's Space Coast in numerous ways. For example, the fine resolution data output from the LDIS will likely lead to improved aviation forecasts and space vehicle support.

This paper will illustrate the utility of LDIS by examining analyses during several complex forecast situations. A suite of high resolution graphical products will be shown for each case, which assisted in the mesoscale diagnoses of the wind, vertical motion, and cloud fields. Aviation forecast improvements from utilizing these products in tandem with traditional model output and conceptual models will be highlighted.

Possible future improvements to LDIS will also be discussed. Some of the potential avenues include complementing the current data stream with reflectivity and velocity information from the NWS Tampa Bay radar site and the Federal Aviation Administration Terminal Doppler Weather Radar near Orlando. System enhancement to include a prognostic model component is also anticipated.