General Observation Period (GOP)

1. General Observation Period (GOP) Susanne Crewell & GOP Partner Meteorologisches Institut Ludwig-Maximillians-Universität (LMU) München

2. GOP Characteristics • General Observation Period from January to December 2007 • Comprehensive data set suitable for testing hypotheses and new modeling techniques developed within the QPF-Program. • The GOP encompasses COPS both in time and space - to provide information of all kinds of precipitation types and- to relate the COPS results to a broader perspective (longer time series and larger spatial domain)

3. GOP Observations • Optimized exploitation of existing instrumentation - routine measurements normally not available to the scientific community - continuous/coordinated operation of existing instrumentations suitable for statistical evaluation • Focus on measurements which are available in near real-time • Rigorous quality control, cross-checking and error estimation • Easy access to data, quicklooks and analysis • Close connection with COPS activities no funding for instrument development or upgrade near-realtime analysis + first-order model evaluation Provision of coordinatedobservations and modeloutput to SPP projects(VERIPREC, STAMPF, DAQUA, QUEST,... WG "Precipitation Process" & data management Personnel funding for observations only when instruments are moved to other locations

4. GOP Precipitation Observations • High resolution surface precipitation (rain gauges)DWD, various water authorities, environmental agencies and urban networks • 3-D hydrometeor distribution (weather radar)-16 C-band DWD radars- polarimetric research radars: POLDIRAD, DLR; DWD Observatory Hohenpeissenberg- C-Band radar Karlsruhe; X-Band radars Bonn & HH- operational radars in neighboring countries • Rain drop size distribution (RDSD)- network of vertical pointing Micro Rain Radar (MRR)- in situ disdrometer Joint objective of COPS WG3 & GOP Investgation of the differences of the RDSDs over flat terrain including maritime conditions on one hand and over orographically structured terrain on the other hand

5. GOP Organisation LE • WP-GOP-1 Rain gauges • WP-GOP-2 Weather Radar • WP-GOP-3 Drop Size Distribution DSD • WP-GOP-4 Lidar (aerosol, cloud base, mixing layer height) • WP-GOP-5 GPS water vapour column • WP-GOP-6 Lightning networks • WP-GOP-7 Satellite observations (cloud properties, water vapor, aerosol) • WP-GOP-8 Meteorological stations • WP-GOP-9 Management

6. GOP & COPS GOP • to provide information of all kinds of precipitation types • to identify systematic model deficits • to select case studies for specific problems • to relate the COPS results to a broader perspective (longer time series and larger spatial domain) MRR transsect will be coordinated with POLDIRAD RHI scans during COPS

7. GOP Network Observations IWV [kg m-2] • Integrated Water Vapor (GPS)about 180 stations within Germanyabout add. 40 in neighboring countriesprocess more french stationsset-up of 5 stations in COPS area for 6 monthsto get a better estimation in the structured terrain • Cloud and aerosol vertical information(Lidar networks) - lidar ceilometer observations from institutes & DWD > 100 in Germany- coordinated (regular scheduled) EARLINET (Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich, Garmisch, Cabauw, Neuchatel..) with a high quality standard to derive statistical aerosol properties • Lightning detection systems- Conventional lightning detection system (BLIDS)- VHF network in Northern Germany - VLF LINET system in Southern G. July & August 2004 cloud base height [m]

8. GOP Satellites (FUB + Nowcasting SAF) a) spatially highly resolved products (250-300 m, polar orbiters) b) temporal evolution from Meteosat Second Generation (every 15 min.)

9. Near real-time Radar and Satellite The Near Real Time (NRT) processing for the GOP and COPS area. The information at FU Berlin is online with a delay of 2 hours (flight mission planning; near real time assimilation,.... Statistical evaluation of water vapour, cloud and precipitation structure • extraction of station output (rain gauges, MRR, GPS, ..) togetherwith model output and online visualization • diurnal cycle on a monthly basis of all parameters time series at station and maps • convective/frontal • cell tracking • vertical structure (hydrometeor distribution) • regional characteristics • sub-grid properties

10. GOP Stations all Meteorological & Geographical Institutes, Research organisations & NP to contact!

11. GOP Preparation • Establishment of the data base-coordination with DWD and data owners- coordination with COPS campaign data how to set-up and how to get funding • Quality control of the observations- rain gauge estimates (UniBonn)- radar and satellite observations (QUEST)- joint effort of data owners • Tailoring model output to data available from GOP- definition of model domain, horizontal resolution, boundary conditions...- focus on Lokal-Modell-kürzestfrist (LMK) • - preparation of special model output (integration into NUMEX)→ time series in model time step resolution at selected stations→ selected 3D-fields at asynoptic times for satellite/radar comparisons- online visualization of statistical properties from model and observations (diurnal cycle, PDFs,..) MAP Forecast Demonstration Project • long-term evaluation • identification of case studies

12. GOP funding

13. Example Station Bonn