Hot Items 2003NOAA provides expertise for development of new radar network
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is one of the partners in the development of ground-breaking new sensing technology that could improve forecasts and warnings of tornadoes and flash floods, the National Science Foundation announced recently. The new technology will be at the heart of a new $40 million research center funded in part with a five-year, $17 million grant from the National Science Foundation, called the Engineering Research Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA).
NOAA&'s National Severe Storms Laboratory and National Weather Service are partners in a multidisciplinary team lead by the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Oklahoma. Additional partners include Colorado State University and the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez. CASA&'s industry partners include Raytheon, IBM, M/A-COM, Vaisala, Vieux and Associates, OneNet, Telephonics, and The Weather Channel. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory is an additional government partner.
NSSL scientists will work with University of Oklahoma researchers, who are leading CASA&'s meteorology efforts.
Current forecasting and warning technology uses data from high-power, long-range radars that have helped meteorologists improve forecasts significantly in the past 10 years. However, the radars have limited ability to observe the lower part of the atmosphere because of Earth&'s curvature. This means, for example, that today&'s sensors cannot detect the full vertical rotation of most tornadoes.
CASA will develop low-cost, dense networks of radars that operate at short range, communicate with one another and adjust their sensing strategies in direct response to the evolving weather and changing user needs. These radars are just three-feet by three-feet with electronics that are about the size of a personal computer, and can be placed on existing cellular towers. A new generation of meteorological software will use this radar data to support emergency managers and government and private industry organizations that need weather data for making critical decisions.
The NSSL, considered a leader in the research and development of Doppler weather radar for many years, will collaborate in the development and testing of the CASA radars. At the same time, NSSL researchers are involved in an effort to adapt phased array radar technology to weather detection.
"Our phased array radar research is complementary to the CASA program," said NSSL director James Kimpel. "We will contribute our expertise to the design of the CASA radars, their field testing in conjunction with that of the PAR, the development of algorithms for detecting hazardous weather, and the use of CASA data to initialize forecast models."
The National Weather Service supports the development of the CASA system because of its potential to improve forecasts and warnings of deadly weather phenomena including tornadoes and flash floods.
"CASA&'s technology will contribute to our integrated observing system strategy for the nation," commented Jack Hayes, director of the NOAA National Weather Service Office of Science and Technology. "CASA&'s sensors would capture crucial boundary layer information, better define weather activity, and contribute to a more accurate forecast. These forecasts would significantly extend tornado warning lead times giving the public a greater window of safety."
In addition, the CASA radars could track low-level winds that transport pollutants throughout the atmosphere. The first field test of CASA will be in mid-2005 in Oklahoma and will cover roughly 20 percent of the state - a region that experiences approximately 22 tornadoes per year. The second test will be in Houston, where CASA will deploy a system to predict floods more accurately. A third test, in Puerto Rico, will improve monitoring of hurricanes as they approach land.
UMass, OU and their partners will operate CASA aided by $40 million in funding over a five year period. This funding includes a $17 million grant from the NSF, the independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering.
CASA is one of four new centers created as a result of a recent proposal competition, in which more than 100 teams competed for the prestigious Engineering Research Center designation. The NSF currently funds 24 engineering research centers nationwide. The ERCs advance knowledge and develop new technologies to transform U.S. industry. The center fosters collaboration among researchers from many disciplines and provides an education and research environment that prepares a new generation of engineering leaders.
Relevant Web Sites:
National Severe Storms Laboratory: http://www.nssl.noaa.gov
National Weather Service: http://www.nws.noaa.gov
UMASS Amherst: http://www.umass.edu
University of Oklahoma: http://www.ou.edu
10/06/2003