1 / 16

Weatherflow Hurricane Mesonet

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 62 nd Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference March 3-7 2008 Charleston SC. Weatherflow Hurricane Mesonet. Jay Titlow, WeatherFlow, Inc. Brick Rule, Florida Power and Light Kurt Gurley, University of Florida.

irmam
Download Presentation

Weatherflow Hurricane Mesonet

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology62nd Interdepartmental Hurricane ConferenceMarch 3-7 2008Charleston SC Weatherflow Hurricane Mesonet Jay Titlow, WeatherFlow, Inc. Brick Rule, Florida Power and Light Kurt Gurley, University of Florida

  2. Weatherflow Coastal Mesonet“Communication and Cooperation.” –Government/Private too! • Background • 2008 Weatherflow Hurricane Mesonet Initiative • Stations • Data and Metadata • The Network Today • Challenges • Users and Partners • The Future

  3. Stations Applying 15 years worth of company experience augmenting “incomplete” data collection within the coastal zone • Siting • Based on meteorological need (not just the user’s location). • Comply with WMO standards deviate only when absolutely necessary due to safety or • infrastructure constraints. • Engineering • Satisfying scientific standards. • Incorporating the user’s requirements. • (resolution, cost, etc.) • Knowledge of challenges unique • to the coastal domain. • (access, weatherproofing, etc.) Meeting the client’s needs in a scientifically rigorous and fiscally sound manner

  4. Examples Varying skills and tool kits have been developed over time in response to emerging customer requirements “Small Craft Advisory” Marine Forecasts High station density needed to capture significant spatial variability of moderate wind speeds patterns. In/around San Francisco Bay, 11 public domain sites exist, but 16 Weatherflow sites needed to resolve mesoflows. “Light and Variable” Contaminant Dispersion Light littorial winds, common in the urban coastal domain, Unresolved under current network, pose greatest threat. Seasoned forecasting experience along with extensive siting analysis yields an optimum siting strategy for deployment of network to support the Boston Police Department operations.

  5. Current Challenge: Monitoring extreme events to support safety, effective private and public planning, and long term research “Storm Warning” Major gaps in successfully recording conditions during land-falling hurricanes. Coastal data sources scare to begin with. Data loss due to destructive conditions at landfall. Web activity: Hurricane Isabel Chesapeake Bay map unique page views Sept 15 - 145 page viewsSept 16 - 165 page viewsSept 17 - 928 page viewsSept 18 - 14,939 page viewsSept 19 - 16,449 page viewsSept 20 - 300 page viewsSept 21 - 244 page views HURRICANE ALEX INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER  13BNWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL3 PM EDT TUE AUG 03 2004...ALEX BEGINS MOVING AWAY FROM THE OUTER BANKS...A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM CAPE LOOKOUT TO OREGON INLET NORTH CAROLINA...INCLUDING THE PAMLICO SOUND.  AT 3 PM EDT...1900Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE ALEX WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 35.4 NORTH... LONGITUDE 75.1 WEST OR ABOUT 30 MILES EAST-NORTHEAST OF CAPE HATTERAS NORTH CAROLINA.UNOFFICIAL SUSTAINED WINDS OF 72 MPH AND A PEAK GUST OF 102 MPH WERE REPORTED FROM NEAR CAPE HATTERAS BY TWO PRIVATE FIRMS...WEATHERFLOW INC AND THE HURRICANE INTERCEPT RESEARCH TEAM...RESPECTIVELY. The Weatherflow Hurricane Mesonet is a cooperative initiative to install and operate a network of hardened weather stations to support these objectives

  6. Weatherflow Hurricane Network Station Basics Stations collect Wind Speed and Direction, Air Temperature, and Barometric Pressure. Winds recorded using 3 second sampling intervals (future capability at 1 second intervals). Data transmitted at regular intervals via GPRS radio transmission (“real-time”). Every effort made to adhere to WMO siting standards. Tower heights of 10 and 15 meters based on complexity of surrounding fetch. Complete metadata available for every site, including full panoramas.

  7. Station Hardening All components tested at hurricane wind simulation facilities, including the Florida International University Wall of Wind (shown). Target engineering certification for instruments is140 mph, although expected to survive well beyond that. Instruments mounted on concrete utility poles designed to survive 200 mph winds. Sites located away from known debris sources such as mobile home parks, shingles, and foliage. Battery power can keep unit alive for several days if solar panel rips away. Back-up flash drive can be manually retrieved, stores several days of data in case of communications failures.

  8. Data and Metadata Panorama Available on your local AWIPS (snapshot courtesy of Miami WSFO) Quick-Look Meta/Obs Wind Probability Aerial View Viewable at www.weatherflow.com Current Time Series

  9. The Network Today As of March 1st 55 sites installed and operational (7 in Houston area, 48 in Florida) 2nd Year Goal: add ~ 45 stationsalong Gulf and East Coasts… and Caribbean region

  10. Challenges Established an MOU with NOAA while forging partnerships with other stakeholders (utilities, insurance industry, emergency management, structural engineers etc) Industry Government Academia

  11. Users and Partners: Academia Instrumental in utilities partnership anchored by the Public Utilities Research Center at UF. University of Florida Dr. Kurt Gurley Department of Civil Engineering Provided extensive expertise on the “art” of collecting wind observations during hurricanes.

  12. Users and Partners: Utility Industry Florida Power and Light Mr. Brick Rule Funded deployment of mounting system at sites located on FPL property. Provided guidance on development of the hardened tower. Orchestrated the site selection process for numerous locations on utility property Advised on system design, applying extensive experience in collecting observations in support of all aspects of utility operations.

  13. Users and Partners: Insurance/Re-Insurance Industry Risk Management Solutions Inc. Provided funding for system development. Lent guidance on siting strategies.

  14. Users and Partners: Federal, State, and Local Governments Our arrangement with WeatherFlow is a great example of the public/private partnership that provides weather services to this country every day. The WeatherFlow Hurricane Mesonet offersthe potential to improve data coverage along the U.S. coast withstations designed to survive the extreme conditions that landfalling hurricanes bring, allowing us to provide better services and improve our hurricane warnings,“ - Brig. Gen. David L. Johnson, USAF (ret.), Director of NOAA’s National Weather Service. State of Florida Emergency Management City of New Smyrna Beach City of Boynton Beach City of Cocoa Beach City of Vero Beach City of Naples

  15. The Future: Expansion and Maturation Entergy Mississippi Power Alabama Power New uses • NWS: Forecast Verification, Watch/Warning Issuance, Assimilation • NOAA: Research • Coast Guard Search and Rescue • Wind Energy Resource Assessment • Tourism and Recreation • Oil spill monitoring • ** Tidal Flooding/Inundation ** New regions and partners

  16. through storm,Improved monitoring of the highly variable (and highly vulnerable) coastal zone through a shared cost approach. Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology62nd Interdepartmental Hurricane ConferenceMarch 3-7 2008Charleston SC From calm… Jay Titlow, WeatherFlow, Inc. jtitlow@weatherflow.com

More Related