GSD running super-high res model to support cloud and fog forecasts
Photo by Angelo DeSantis (Wikimedia Commons)
September 10-14, 2018
GSD is running a special High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) "nest" with 750-meter grid spacing over the San Francisco Bay area for the NOAA NWS Aviation Weather Center’s Aviation Weather Testbed Summer Experiment. The experiment will largely focus on the evaluation of experimental and prototype products and services to support aviation planning in the National Airspace System. This experiment will also explore super high-resolution forecasts for short-term planning and new longer-range global forecasting models.
Participants will evaluate the HRRR nest and the UK Met Office's near-real-time 330 meter predictions of ceiling and visibility to support San Francisco International airport (SFO) flight operations. SFO has two parallel runways that require arriving planes to be able to see each other for both runways to be used simultaneously. Better forecasts of when fog will burn off or clouds will lift increases airport capacity and efficiency.
GSD researchers will be watching to see if the 750 meter nest provides a better forecast than the 3km HRRR. They will also study the model biases associated with the cloud prediction (does the model always clear clouds too soon or too late?), impacts of boundary layer mixing, and the performance of Graphical Turbulence Guidance (GTG) output from the HRRR.
For more information contact: Susan Cobb 303-497-5093
