This paper describes the Applied Meteorology Unit’s (AMU) efforts to implement, configure, and test a version of the Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS) Data Analysis System (ADAS) for assimilating all available data within 250 km of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and the Eastern Range at Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS). The objective for running a local data integration system (LDIS) such as ADAS is to generate products which may enhance weather nowcasts and short-range (< 6 h) forecasts issued in support of ground and aerospace operations at KSC/CCAS. A LDIS such as ADAS has the potential to provide added value because it combines data to produce gridded analyses of temperature, wind, and moisture (including clouds) and diagnostic quantities such as vorticity, divergence, etc. at specified temporal and spatial resolutions. In this regard, a LDIS along with suitable visualization tools may provide forecasters with a more complete and comprehensive understanding of evolving weather than could be developed by individually examining the disparate data sets over the same area and time.
The AMU implemented a working prototype of the ADAS which does not run in real-time. Instead, the AMU is evaluating ADAS through post-analyses of weather events on 26-27 July 1997 and 11-12 December 1997. In the July case, wind gusts exceeding 15 ms-1 associated with an outflow boundary originating from thunderstorms to the southwest of KSC/CCAS forced an Atlas launch operation to be scrubbed for the day. For the December case, the presence of a stationary front across central Florida created a challenging forecast situation including heavy rain and strong, gusty winds with imbedded thunderstorms. The case studies were chosen to investigate the capabilities and limitations of a LDIS such as ADAS including the impact of non-incorporation of specific data sources on the utility of the subsequent analyses. The presentation at the conference in January 1999 will focus on results from the case studies and future AMU efforts to assess whether changes to the prototype configuration are required to run a LDIS in real-time.
The 8th Conference on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology