Doppler on Wheels Retrospective

As many people know, Doppler on Wheels #7 was in Melbourne, FL, from August 31-September 11.  During this time, Florida Tech faculty, students, and DOW operator Alicia took part in a series of Intensive Operation Periods (IOPs) during that time.  The weather supported IOPs on 6 days, Aug. 31, Sep. 4, Sep. 6, Sep. 8, Sep. 9, and Sep. 10.  Each day resulted in an adventure of some sort.

The purpose was for Dr. Lazarus (Dr. L) and his remote sensing students to get in on the act, but Dr. L opened it to graduate students via a special topics course plus any other students who were interested.

Before sharing some of the fun of the IOPs, let's check out DOW #7 first. 

Extended cab truck carrying a giant plate?

 For starters, it's a bit of an odd sight.  The DOW is essentially an International flat bed truck with extensions to the cab and a giant serving platter on a fancy stand at the back of the bed.  Upon further review, we find this dish to be a full radar!  And this is not just any radar.

Now we see it's a radar.

The DOW is equipped with a full radar and mesonet assembly.  So not only can we look at the atmosphere, we can look at the real time conditions at the surface.  These all work in sync with a series of computers to get the fastest possible data in the hands of the meteorologists on board.

A strange but effective little setup.  You will learn what this all is a little later.

Inside the DOW is all sorts of equipment.  The drivers seat is equipped with GPS and a series of switches that I didn't learn the full use of, but one of those switches is for the leveling jacks.  These jacks are important because the radar must be level to work effectively.  Thus with the push of a few [dozen] buttons, the truck can be leveled as needed to ensure accuracy of data collection.  The best way to do this, of course, is to park in a spot that is already near level.

Inside there are computers all over the place.  There is one screen in the passenger's seat plus there are over 10 screens in the cab.  There are two full stations, each equipped with the same sets of screens and hooked up so that each station is actually running from the same computers.  If a person at station #1 changes the radar setting, the person at station #2 will be able to watch the mouse move and click and see the changes.

Unity and order are of the utmost importance here.  The computers must be synced in the correct order, and the operators must be familiar with the computers.  Run-time errors can occur suddenly and mess up the functioning of the whole system because if one system boots out of order, the rest will not work either.

Monitoring screens

There are two monitors at the back of the picture above.  The lower screen tells many things about the DOW's conditions: equipment temperautres, atmospheric conditions, internal conditions, PRF settings, operating frequencies, etc.  This screen is the center of operations and tells the operator if everything is sync.  Keeping things in sync requires an internal wireless-type connection that communicates between the computers; when that connection goes, all of it goes. Thus the operator must always keep an eye on this.  The screen above has two graphs on it because it's an oscilloscope that measures the frequency of the signals.  If you look carefully, you will see two pulses, because the DOW is dual-pol AND dual-frequency!

Real-time operations, but DOW was down this day.

In the picture above, you will see real-time data collection from the final IOP DOW#7 went through during its stay in Melbourne.  On the screen in the center, there is a gray box; this box contains the radar settings.  These settings control the radars scanning operations, with setups possible for 360° scans, PPIs, RHIs, and sector scans of all sorts.  The screen on the right has the radar output, and this data is real time with information showing up on the screen almost instantaneously.

A weatherman's dream

As can be seen, the output is colorful.  On the left, the two screens are showing the full 360° profile of the radar scanning.  The two on the right show elevation scans.  On the top two are regular reflectivity, and the bottom two show velocity.  These screens, however, can be set to output any radar measured quantities the operator wants to see, which varies from situation to situation.  It is important to not that "north" on the radar output is NOT north, it is actually the direction the DOW truck is pointing toward.  Thus, if the truck is pointing east, then radar north is actually east.  Fortunately, there is software to fix this once data is off the truck and in the hands of the meteorologists.

Through the cage

When all else fails, look out the window; or through the porthole in the top of the truck.  Sometimes, especially with little to know visibility to the outside from the cab, the operators just need to know whats coming.  For this, they have a glass dome in the top for observing the surroundings.  Fortunately, there is a Faraday cage around the dome just in case the truck gets hit by lightning.

The transmitter

The transmitter is where the radar signal originates.  Yes, it is a black box made of steel and plywood, but inside that is a mess of electronics (and TWO 400-volt resistors!).  There are switches and knobs on here.  There are two important switches though: for turning the signal on and off.  The only knobs I actually know the functionality of are the frequency settings, because signals must be fine-tuned especially during a large-scale multi-DOW operation where interference can occur.  Scanning is optimum at a range of 50km or less, but the radar can go out to 100km.  This radar operates at higher frequencies (c-band) than standard NWS radars (s-band) because of this shorter range.

Malfunctions frequently happen, so there is strength in numbers.  When there are storms that a full profile is desired on, data from multiple radars can be combined to form a complete picture.  And experiments have been done on snow, pollution, orographic effects, tornadoes, hurricanes, and even fires!

Procedures for the IOPs were simple but needed to be followed carefully.  There would radiosonde launches from campus along with an on-campus rain gauge.  Lidar would be set up near the DOW to get wind profiles.  Then the rain gauge team would go out to a storm outside the DOW's cone of silence and find a storm to deploy the other rain gauges.

The wrong "Cone of Silence"

Now for some stories...

An IOP in Osceola County

First time I personally got to go out on an IOP was Friday, Sep. 4.  The goal for the day was chosen to park the truck in an open section in Deer Park, in eastern Osceola County.  This spot would allow for scans of just about anywhere within the county, and the chase was on!  And thus four people in a Mazda went exploring the backwoods of Osceola County, looking to drop a rain gauge in front of a storm.  Soon, they had picked their storm and went off in search of an open area in the storm's path.

The perfect spot

Rain gauge setup went perfectly and was completed just in time to get the first drops of rainfall.  The meteorologists checked their radars just in time to see the storm go from a nice bright yellow reflectivity into a fractured green reflectivity.  It was an adventure and worth some laughs, although it turned out we were in unfriendly territory.

During the Tuesday, Sep. 8 IOP, the perfect storm was found: a storm so powerful it would eventually require a Severe Thunderstorm Warning from the NWS.  This was perfect for both DOW data collection and transient luminous events (TLEs).  And then the DOW stopped working.  This is unfortunately one of the facts associated with DOW, so we would just have to keep on trying another day!  And the next two days would be fruitful indeed!

Fast forward to Thursday, Sep. 10 and what would be the final IOP.  Prof. Splitt, Camila, and the students going in the DOW started with rain gauge setup in the south part of campus.

Prof. Splitt puts the hammer down while Camila checks that the gauge is level.

And thus it was time to go into the DOW once again (thank you Dr. L for giving me another chance after the debacle on the Tuesday!).  This time there was success as the DOW caught real time formation and orphaning (anvil being shorn off) of pulse storms

Yes, this picture again.

And then when that was all said and done, we got to watch Dr. Weaver test his new piece of equipment, although this will get used more on Indian River Lagoon research.

 

None of this would have happened without the efforts of Dr. L, Prof. Splitt, Angela, and Alicia, the DOW operator.  They expounded much time and energy so that other people could be involved.  Without Dr. L and Prof. Splitt's grit and determination, there would have been no DOW here.

Thanks to every one of you!

There's a 100% Chance of Science Today

For those of you who haven't noticed, it's hot in Florida.  It has been REALLY hot.  Most days have been in 90s, with some days like yesterday hitting 94°F.  This isn't the only spot that's hot lately.  The ENSO3.4 anomaly for MJJ was +1.0.  In English: The El Niño Southern Oscillation 3.4 anomaly for May-June-July was +1.0°C, relative to the historic mean.  To help you understand, the ENSO3.4 refers specifically to the temperature anomaly here.  Check out the El Niño stats at this link.

The last time ENSO3.4 was +1.0 in for MJJ was in 1997.  In that year, the Atlantic Hurricane Season was at the "D" storm, Danny, by the end of July.  This year, we are at Claudette by the same date, ironically the same list of storms.  The 1997 Atlantic Hurricane season ended in October with Tropical Storm Grace.  The ENSO3.4 for MJJ was +1.1 in 1987, and the Atlantic Hurrican season ended at Floyd.  In fact, for any year that had an ENSO3.4 anomaly of +0.6 or greater the deepest into the alphabet the Atlantic Hurricane season got was Lili in 2002.  Most of those years didn't get past "G."  These years with a +0.6 or greater ENSO3.4 are 1953, 1957, 1958, 1965, 1972, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1997, and 2002.

Now I am not going to speak about the relationship between ENSO and hurricanes.  I am just here to make a correlation to life in East Central Florida.

From 1950-2014 (the years of data stored at http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/), there were 56 tornadoes of F2 or greater strength in the months of January-April in Central Florida, which is for these purposes considered to be the following counties: Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Polk, Sumter, Lake, Marion, Volusia, Seminole, Orange, Osceola, and Brevard.  Of these 56 tornadoes, 27 happened in the 12 years mentioned.  Or 48.2% of the tornadoes occurred in 18.5% of the years.  Of 10 intense (F3 or greater) tornadoes in the same counties in the same months from 1950-2014, 6 of those were in the 12 years following the strong summertime El Niño.

If history holds to the pattern, it's going to be a fun winter for meteorologists.

Acclimating Yourself to Marine and Environmental Systems

Welcome to Florida Tech!  This is going to be your school for the next 4 years of undergraduate study, so get yourself settled in.  Now there are so many things that you will learn in the first few days and then the first couple of weeks, so get used to things quickly.  I will only share a couple words of advise with you about general things.

(1) If you pass the math placement test and are invited to take the test to place out of Calc 1, do it.  If you pass and are asked to try Calc 2, try it even if you don't succeed.  You can't lose.  You could end up getting out of a class, which means there's a gap for you to take Intro to Underwater Basket Weaving later on.

(2) Don't let a few people's opinions of professors be the final word.  Some professors really are jerks.  Others are jerks only if you're texting in class.  Others are only jerks to that kid who keeps asking irrelevant or negatively argumentative questions.  So ask other people, particularly more experienced students who may have had that professor multiple times, if you can.  If you can't secure any positive feedback, run screaming.

So let me get the story in: I graduated from Florida Tech this past may with my Bachelor's in Meteorology.  I am returning for my Master's in the same.  I am a weather guy, and I am that crazy person you will see walking around campus looking up at the clouds taking pictures before, and maybe during, a storm.

You will be studying in the Department of Marine and Environmental Systems.  During orientation, you will meet most, if not all, of the departments professors.  You will quickly see that everyone has a different personality, but they are all likable.  And if you are in this department, there will be at least one professor who shares a common interest in your studies.  When the professors give advice, listen to it and, if it is given outside of class, thank them for their input because they're saying what they think is best for you.  So they will tell different things to different people.

The Link Building is home to some great features.  On the first floor, there are fish tanks and a chemical lab.  The 3rd floor houses a computer lab for the meteorology students.  And last but not least the roof contains a weather station on it and there's a computer in the lab monitoring it.  If research is your thing, you will find professors doing all sorts of stuff: weather modeling, climate studies, marine vessels, water pollution, aquatic life, and more!

And we also have the summer field projects which you will learn more about as you go through the program.  This is a hands on research project (including outdoor work) over the course of a summer semester.  During this time you will strengthen current friendships and make new ones as you all work together to do what needs to be done.  If you are really eager, you could even work one-on-one with a professor on a project of your own design or get a summer internship with a local group that runs concurrent with the field projects.  These projects include pollution studies, marine life, weather, beach profiling (measuring the sand), marine vehicle design, and much more!

Whatever your interests are, you will be sure to find a way to develop it here at Florida Tech.  Welcome to DMES and have a great four years

Balloonatics

For those of you who didn't get the memo, there was a radiosonde launch done right on the FIT campus yesterday, right in the Crawford Green.  For those of you who did but couldn't come, well, I'm accommodating y'all too.

There was a lot of fun in launching the balloon, including the very tedious job of filling the balloon with helium.

Marcus filling the balloon as Dr. Lazarus looks on.

Filling the balloon was a very long job.  It took about 45 minutes just to fill the balloon with the helium.  Nevertheless, it was fun and led to snarky comments about measuring the integral flux of the helium in the balloon.

This isn't the balloon you get at the circus.

Once full, the balloon was big.

FIT graduate David Bishop tanks his turn at the helium tank.  Photo courtesy Andrew Shipotofsky

In all, it was about 4 feet in diameter.  After a complex affair of playing with string, the balloon was ready to launch.

The balloon fully grown was rather impressive as I embarrass myself (blue shirt) by trying to snap a photo of it with my phone.  Photo courtesy Andrew Shipotofsky

Take-off or T-10, 9, 8... photo courtesy Andrew Shipotofsky

Then came the big moment.  The balloon was ready to launch.  Four of us stood there with the balloon ready to go.  We've positioned ourselves away from the trees, building, and phone wires.

And then we're told that we need permission from the FAA.  Once the school safety coordinator graciously got us that permission, the balloon was sent on its merry way.

Bye bye, balloon!  Photo courtesy Andrew Shipotofsky

With lidar, we were able to get minute-by-minute updates on the lower atmospheric conditions.  The balloon went up and out of sight until contact was lost after an hour of flight.

No, that's not a refrigerator.  It's LIDAR used to measure the winds at 10 levels above the ground.

So, in all, it was a day of sunburn, fun, learning, and gaining experience of some of the things done in the real world.  Well worth it, and if you, as a student interested in the weather, can do so, I encourage you to register for Weather Briefing with Dr. Lazarus for next fall.

Fun in the Snow

So looking ahead, the folks in the Northeast have yet more cold to look forward... and with that another 2-5 inches of snow.  So if you're in Albany (like a former FIT student) and wondering if you can make a snowman, you can probably make yourself a village that will last a few weeks.






Or if you're more ambitious


Or if you like the more abstract or are a bit more... adventurous...




Last year, we were used to seeing the familiar omega pattern:
Well, it's trying to return...


Right now, we're not complaining here in Florida.  In spite of temperatures that we locals may be referring to as being "cold," we were actually warmer than normal here in January.

OK, I haven't said much that was serious, but I hope you at least got a laugh out of the snowmen.

We here actually have a chance of thunderstorms tonight due to an approaching low pressure system from the west.  As a result we will have an influx of warm Gulf moisture (relatively warm) that will encourage above normal lows tonight in the mid-60s (°F).  Behind that is a cold front that will keep us from warming up.

Those Pesky Cold Fronts

Every winter, a sort of pattern emerges across the CONUS (Continental United States) with a series of semi-regular cold fronts passing through the nation with effects stretching across the entire nation.  These cold fronts can vary in strength, and they can cause events ranging from tornadoes in the Southeast US to blizzards in the Northeast and Midwest.  As can be seen in the figure below, we have one of those fronts set to pass through Brevard County within the next 24 hours.  With this front we can expect temperatures to drop from the 69°F forecasted for Monday afternoon to 60°F forecasted for Wednesday afternoon.

When it comes to such scenarios, the student meteorologist has several tools to play with there's the AMS DataStreme, NOAA NCEP, various private firms like Weather Bell, programs such as NMAP2 and the Integrated Data Viewer, and university pages like the Penn State Weather Wall.  This only scratches the surface of the incredible domain of tools at your disposal.  I personally prefer the Integrated Data Viewer for my own personal use when looking at models, and NMAP2 for looking at satellite.

Analyzing the systems associated with the cold fronts, however, is a mix of dynamics, synoptics, and everything else you've ever learned about the weather.

 

 

500mb isoheights (white) and absolute vorticity (color shading; red max, dark blue min) for NAM Conus from 1/25/15 1800Z to 1/29/15 600Z, forecast issued at 1200Z on 1/25/15

From the above image, one can see the white 500mb isoheights.  From basic synoptics, one can surmise that is a surface low pressure system to the southeast of the 500mb trough.  Further, from knowledge of vorticity dynamics, a vorticity maximum can be observed located slightly to the right of the base of the trough.  The vorticity increases over the next 18 hours, an indication of a strengthening surface low, with is accompanied by a deepening 500mb trough.

Going again to dynamics and atmospheric physics courses, I provide another image above.  In this image, the purple wind barbs are the 500mb winds, and the yellow barbs are the 700mb wind barbs.  As one can see, the 500mb winds are rotated counterclockwise from the 700mb winds.  In short, the winds are backing with height, an indication of cold air convection.

So be prepared for it to be a bit colder.  Fronts like this one are typical of this time of year, so for the duration of the CONUS winter, pay attention to systems to notice little facts like this.  This was just a small example of the some of the meteorological observations one can make using the Integrated Data Viewer.  Explore what's out there, and see what you can apply to these events!