Forecast Improvements
WDTB Project 10 – Warning Decision-Making Research and Training: Training and Research Toolkit
Funding Type: CIMMS Task II
Objectives
Provide an advanced, effective and flexible platform and environment for
interactive learning and research; design and develop techniques and
tools that can be transferred to the NWS community for operational forecasting
or research, and for use in a simulated operational environment.
Accomplishments
The warning decision making process is multi-faceted, often being improved
directly by analysis tools or data analysis techniques. CIMMS staff has
developed some applications to apply these new tools and techniques into
the operational forecasting, training, and research environment. The
WDTB Research and Training (WRAT) Lab Toolkit is one of those applications.
CIMMS staff successfully developed an advanced, efficient and flexible
platform, LabControlPanel, as part of the application. With this platform,
the time consuming tasks of setting up and managing the lab became very
handy, efficient and flexible. The WRAT Toolkit also provides some new
functions, including pause, resume, forward and group functions to support
and enhance resident training strategies. This tool has been performing
as an important role in setting up the lab’s configuration and
enhancing the interactive learning for workshops, such as the NOAA’s
NWS Distance Learning Operations Course (DLOC) and for foreign meteorologist
visits. This toolkit has made the setting up and configuring of the lab,
after the move to the new building, easier.
The Sounding Toolkit, an application tool released by CIMMS researchers to AWIPS Local Application Database, is an updated sounding analysis program (the current version is 1.6). The new functionality in this application gives operational forecasters more flexibility to generate new convective parameters using D2D (AWIPS display software), allowing for the application of newly developed forecast techniques. The current version of the sounding toolkit includes the tropospheric airborne meteorological data reporting (TAMDAR) data, which allows forecasters and researchers to use more than one hundred airports’ upper air data. The Weather Case Browser, developed by CIMMS researchers, has been a platform for researchers and instructors to view real-time events and archive cases. The latest version Weather Case Browser 2.0 includes a new tool, SmartArchiver. SmartArchiver supports users to archive AWIPS data with flexible and convenient options, such as various case date, location, and data types. This new functionality directly benefits simulation training.
This project is ongoing.
Publications
Sounding Toolkit 1.3: http://140.90.90.253/~applications/LAD/generalappinfoout.php3?appnum=1050
The Weather Case Browser with SmartArchiver.