Overview of Maryland s Upper Air Profilers

Transcription

1 Overview of Maryland s Upper Air Profilers Dave Krask, Manager MDE Air Monitoring Program EPA/NACAA Monitoring Meeting January 10, 2013 Martin O Malley, Governor Anthony G. Brown, Lt. Governor Robert M. Summers, Ph.D., Secretary

2 Topics Covered History of MDE s Upper Air Profilers Current Upper Air Profiler Network Overview of Costs Types of Data Collected Data Sharing Data Applications Advantages of Profiler Measurements 2

3 History of MDE Upper Air Profilers 1st Profiler Installed at Ft. Meade Sept 1998 Ft. Meade, MD Ft. Meade Profiler Moved and Upgraded Sept 2004 Ft. Meade Profiler Moved Ft. Meade Profiler Relocated to Piney Run 2nd Profiler Installed at Beltsville May 2005 Piney Run at Frostburg, MD Howard University at Beltsville, MD 3 Systems Upgraded at Piney Run & Beltsville 3rd Profiler Installed at Horn Point April Horn Point at Cambridge, MD

4 MDE Upper Air Profiler Network MDE RWP/RASS Network Horn Point at Cambridge, MD Currently have three Radar Wind Profilers (RWP) with Radio Acoustic Sounding Systems (RASS) Upgraded Lower Atmosphere Profiler (LAP) Pulsed Doppler Radar Howard University Campus at Beltsville, MD Piney Run Reservoir at Frostburg, MD Velocity Azimuth Display Boundary Layer (VAD-BL) Horn Point at Cambridge, MD New technology developed by DeTect Inc. Source: DeTect Inc. 4

5 Overview of Costs Purchasing the Upper Air Profilers LAP-3000: ~ $100,000 (purchased used in 2004) VAD-BL: ~ $300,00 (purchased new in 2009) Upgrade of two Used Profilers: ~ $200,000 (in 2004) Recent Upgrade of the Data System ~ $70,000 (Piney Run and Beltsville) Maintenance of the Profilers Annual Service Agreement with Contractor: ~ $20,000 per profiler Includes routine site visits, some replacement parts, and hardware/software support 5

6 Types of Data Collected RWP/RASS can measure a variety of different parameters Wind speed and direction Virtual temperature (T v ) Signal to noise ratio (SNR), similar to lidar s backscatter Radial velocity (V R ) Additional parameters can be derived by subjective analysis and/or automated algorithms Boundary layer heights Snow level, snow/rain transition (Past pilot project at Ft. Meade) 6

7 Data Sharing Participation in the NOAA Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System (MADIS) Cooperative Agency Profilers (CAP) network MADIS logs into MDE profilers and downloads data files Data is accessible to the public Real time and archived data ( Archived data can also be downloaded a variety of other ways ( Data is also shared with universities (UMBC, UMD, Howard University) and other interested parties (NASA, NWS) 7

8 Applications of Upper Air Data Strong winds aloft from the southwest Winds about 60 mph Measurements are used in: Weather and air quality forecasting Case study analyses Identification of weather phenomena such as mixing height evolution, frontal boundaries, nocturnal low level jets (NLLJ), recirculation, sea/bay breezes, precipitation events, etc. Development of the Maryland s Ozone Conceptual Model Supporting field campaigns such as NOAA NEAQS and the NASA DISCOVER-AQ Mission Validating meteorological modeling used as input into photochemical modeling UTC 8

9 Weather and Air Quality Forecasting Wind Profiler at Beltsville, MD: Wind Speed & Wind Direction July 6, 2012 at 9 PM July 7, 2012 at 8 PM Air Quality Forecasting Presence of the NLLJ on mornings prior to ozone exceedance days NLLJ 2 AM 8 AM Grows to 1.5m in the afternoon Low PBL in the morning 9 Evolution of planetary boundary layer (PBL) heights with an algorithm developed by UMBC

10 Weather and Air Quality Forecasting NWS used MDE profilers for a look back at Post-Tropical Storm Sandy NWS Article: _Sandy/ 10

11 Used in MD s Ozone Conceptual Model Howard University launched 4 ozonesondes on July 12-13, The 10:30 PM (Saturday, July 12th) and 2:30 AM (Sunday, July 13th) occurred during a Nocturnal Low Level Jet (NLLJ) event, as captured by the Upper-Air Radar Wind Profiler. July 12 July 13, :30 AM 10:30 PM Ozone Spike at NLLJ Core Midnight (EDT) NLLJ Near Code Red Ozone (22+ mph for 14+ hours) Air traveled 300+ miles 11

12 Validating Meteorological Models Height (m) BLTMD UTC Profiler blk px myj ysu Wind Speed (m/sec) Model validation with upper air profiler measurements Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model will be used for the next round of State Implementation Plan (SIP) modeling Model results from a variety of parameterization schemes were tested Wind speeds at Beltsville were compared against the four schemes CALGRID modeling platform is being updated Testing performed to compare against profiler winds 12 Source: OTC Modeling Committee Technical Support Document on WRF Sensitivity Testing

13 Comparisons with Other Instrumentation A Vaisala CL51 ceilometer trial at Beltsville was carried out during NASA DISCOVER-AQ CL51 s boundary layer height detection was tested against boundary layer heights derived from profiler signal to noise ratio (SNR) and UMBC lidars Leosphere Wind Cube comparisons at Edgewood, MD, Beltsville and Horn Point Wind direction and speed comparisons are performed with ozonesondes to test profiler accuracy 13

14 Advantages to Upper Air Measurements MDE has found measurements from our three upper air profilers with RASS to be extremely helpful in various ways Weather and air quality forecasting Development of Maryland s Ozone Conceptual Model for explanation of Mid-Atlantic weather and pollutant transport phenomena affecting air quality Observing the occurrence of the nocturnal low level jet (NLLJ) over Maryland Validation of meteorological modeling used in Maryland SIPs Collaborations with federal agencies and universities 14

15 Contacts Dave Krask Program Manager Air Monitoring Program Air and Radiation Management Administration 15 Maryland Department of the Environment 1800 Washington Boulevard Baltimore, MD TTY Users: Martin O Malley, Governor Anthony G. Brown, Lt. Governor Robert M. Summers, Ph.D., Secretary