Forecast Improvements
WDTB Project 10 – Warning Decision-Making Research and Training: AWIPS and WSR-88D Improvements
Funding Type: CIMMS Task II
Objectives
Improve understanding of warning-related issues.
Accomplishments
The warning decision makers within each NWS office rely heavily on computing
systems that need to run both quickly and efficiently, display data in
an easy to view and navigate format, and have zero down time. With these
goals in mind, CIMMS staff have aided in the training, testing, and development
of two of the primary systems used in NWS warning operations: The Advanced
Weather Information Processing System (AWIPS) and the Radar Product Generator
(RPG) for the WSR-88D.
CIMMS staff working as subject matter experts with colleagues at WDTB has aided NOAA’s NWS in many ways regarding the AWIPS program. In Operational Builds (OB) 7.1, 7.2 and 8.1 of AWIPS, CIMMS researchers were heavily involved in the design review, implementation, and training for the AWIPS software.
As part of the AWIPS software development process, beta versions may contain bugs or various performance issues which then could affect a forecaster’s ability to make warning decisions. To help prevent these limitations from reaching the operational community, CIMMS researchers were invited to participate in thorough testing of the AWIPS software builds OB7.2, OB8.1, and OB8.2 well before they were released to the field. Their expertise in tracking down bugs or other performance-related problems was invaluable to the testing process. The testing also fed back into the development of all AWIPS training.
In addition to AWIPS related training, another vital system in each NWS office is the RPG. CIMMS staff assisted WDTB in the development of training for RDA/RPG Build 9 by assisting WDTB instructor staff in developing prototype material for training, developing training support materials, (i.e., animations and graphics), and helping instructors prepare the training for web delivery.
This project is ongoing.
Publications
Web guides: http://www.wdtb.noaa.gov/buildTraining/Build9/index.htm