NWC SAF ENTERING A NEW PHASE Pilar Fernández Agencia Estatal de Meterlgía (AEMET) Lenard Priet Castr, 8; 28040 Madrid, Spain Phne: +34 915 819 654, Fax: +34 915 819 767 E-mail: mafernandeza@aemet.es Abstract The Satellite Applicatin Facility n supprt t Nwcasting and Very Shrt-Range Frecasting (NWC SAF) entered the Secnd Cntinuus Develpment and Operatins Phase (CDOP-2) in March 2012. The bjectives are t cntinue prviding t Natinal Meterlgical Services, Scientific Institutins and, in general, meterlgical users frm EUMETSAT member states and wrldwide with an advanced, rbust and reliable system t supprt bth peratinal and research activities in Nwcasting and very shrt range frecasting activities, by means f: The prductin and prvisin f a sftware applicatin fr the near real time generatin f a set f meterlgical prducts t supprt Nwcasting activities, and The prvisin f supprt services t final users t allw the maximum explitatin and benefit f the sftware applicatin and the transfer f knwledge frm the NWC SAF cnsrtium t its users. In rder t achieve these bjectives, NWC SAF currently relies n user-friendly, flexible, stable and well validated sftware packages with a variety f peratinal prducts, als well validated, knwn t be a unique surce f prducts. NWC SAF als prvides a very gd user service via helpdesk. Taking int accunt the accumulated experience and lessns learnt frm past phases, the main changes fr CDOP-2 are as fllws: T extend the perability f its packages t ther satellites and t get prepared fr MTG and EPS-SG. T develp new prducts and imprve the current nes accrding t Nwcasting state f the art and user requirements. T strengthen crdinatin with Central Applicatins Facility (CAF) and the ther Satellite Applicatin Facilities (SAF) thrugh dedicated cperatin and federated activities. This presentatin attempts t describe the gals attained at the end f the CDOP phase as well as t present the preliminary CDOP-2 activities and prspects. INTRODUCTION The NWC SAF belngs t the EUMETSAT Satellite Applicatin Facilities, dedicated centres fr satellite data prcessing as part f the distributed EUMETSAT Grund Segment. The Nwcasting Team is led by AEMET with participatin f the meterlgical services f France, Sweden and Austria. OBJECTIVES AND PHASES The general bjectives f NWC SAF are the develpment f Nwcasting prducts derived frm bth gestatinary (GEO) and plar platfrm systems (PPS) data, distributed t the users as sftware
packages. The Team is then respnsible fr the develpment and maintenance f bth prducts and sftware and als fr the user supprt. Cncerning the phases, after a develpment phase between 1997 and 2002, 48 users were licensed at the end f the Initial Operatins Phase (2002-2007), when the distributins started. Between March 2007 and February 2012, the Cntinuus Develpment and Operatins Phase ended with the NWC prducts in a very gd shape and 96 users licensed. The CDOP-2 started in March 2012 and since then 77 users have already updated the license. CDOP-2 OVERVIEW Accrding t Figure 1, the CDOP-2 will have five imprtant landmarks cincident with the SW distributins. Tw Plar Platfrm Systems versins will be released n 2014 and 2016 and three gestatinary versins in the dd years (2013, 2015 and 2017). Frm v2015 the GEO applicatin will be able t perate ther gestatinary satellites, new prducts will be available and we will start preparatins fr the future Eurpean satellites. Three users wrkshps will be held, tw f them devted t engineering issues and ne fr assessing the prducts applicability and fr cllecting user requirements fr the next phase. Figure 1: NWC SAF CDOP-2 planning PRODUCTS The NWC prducts at the end f the CDOP can be cmpiled in grups f Cluds, Precipitatin, Cnvectin, Clear Air Instability, Wind and Meterlgical Systems. The fllwing paragraphs refer t the current status f these prducts as well as the imprvements t be implemented in the new phase and an verview f the new prpsed prducts. The clud prducts fr the GEO package, Clud Mask (CMA), Clud Type (CT) and Clud Tp Temperature and Height (CTTH) have been well cnslidated with relevant imprvements alng the CDOP, f which an example is displayed in Figure 2. Figure 2: NWC/GEO Clud example 2
Fr the current phase, better detected and classified cirrus, cumulus and stratus separatin, multilevel cluds, and CTTH perfrmance near trppause will be sme f the imprvements. A new prduct based n clud tp micrphysics prperties is als being develped f which an early prttype is displayed in Figure 3 applied t precipitatin. The precipitatin prducts, Precipitating Cluds (PC) and Cnvectin Rainfall Rate (CRR), are being imprved by using the mentined clud micrphysical prperties. The Figure 3 shws in the left hand side the radar image and the current perfrmance fr the Cnvectin Rainfall Rate. On the right hand side, the new CRR image using the physical prperties shws a mre realistic perfrmance cmpared t the radar ne which is ur grund truth. Figure 3: New micrphysics algrithm applied t precipitatin The imprvements fr the Clear Air prducts (SPhR), Precipitable Water and Instability Indices, will be based amng ther, n the Numerical Weather Predictin hybrid levels management f which, sme preliminary tests are displayed in Figure 4 (Martinez M.A., 2010). Figure 4: Spatial distributin f the TPW RMSE. January-December 2009 The High Reslutin Winds (HRW) is a well cnslidated prduct that in the current versin can use up t 7 SEVIRI channels and the height assignment has been imprved thrugh the CCC methd in cperatin with EUMETSAT (Figure 5). This prduct can easily be run and has great advantages as standalne sftware fr Autmatic Mtin Vectr calculatin. 3
Figure 5: Cmparisn between the HRW based n 7 SEVIRI channels (right) and 2 SEVIRI channels (left) The new prduct in the wind grup, the Extraplated Imagery, is a kinematic tl allwing the extraplatin f prducts and ther images up t 1 hur. Fr the Meterlgical Systems, the Autmatic Satellite Image Interpretatin (ASII) will evlve t a New Generatin prduct prviding Prbability Fields and Clear Air Turbulence Predictin. Fr Cnvectin, the Rapid Develpment Thunderstrm (RDT) prduct will generate tw new utputs, a Cnvectin Warning and a Cnvectin Trajectry, taking advantage f ther NWC SAF prducts. A new prduct strngly requested by the users is the Cnvectin Initiatin. This prduct calculates a cnvectin prbability based amng ther parameters n the instability indices, clud infrmatin and wind frm the NWC SAF package (Figure 6). Figure 6: Cnvectin prbability scheme using instability, clud and wind NWC SAF prducts The PPS Clud prducts, Clud Mask (CMA), Clud Type (CT) and Clud Tp Temperature and Height (CTTH), include in the current versin the recently peratinal Clud Physical Prperties (CPP). Fractinal water cluds detectin, multilevel cluds and clud height estimates will be sme f the imprvements. The PPS precipitatin prduct (PC) will als be imprved taking advantage f the clud physical prperties as well as using a retrieval algrithm based n Micrwave data. A new rainfall rate utput is als expected. These prducts apply t NOAA, Metp and NPP systems. GEO EXTENSION Fllwing a strng request by a number f NWC SAF users, we intend t extend the current MSG package t prcess data frm ther gestatinary satellites. This GEO applicatin, able t prcess the 4
bservatins frm a generic gestatinary satellite, is expected t be available in versin 2015. The NWC SAF prducts are als intended t be scientifically tuned afterwards taking the maximum benefits f the spectral and spatial reslutin f the selected platfrm. The pssible candidates fr the scientific adaptatin are GOES-R and Himawari-8, depending n the launch schedule and instrument characteristics (see Figure 7). Figure 7: Candidates fr the NWC SAF GEO scientific tuning Sme adaptatins have already been made by users in cuntries utside f the MSG cverage, as the Autmatic Satellite Image Interpretatin adapted t the Krean satellite COMS by the Krean Meterlgical Agency. MTG & EPS-SG PREPARATIONS The gestatinary applicatin will be prepared fr MTG Flexible Cmbined Imager data thrugh simulatins and similar satellite channels (MODIS) and assessment activities fr the MTG clud prcessing in the EUMETSAT central facilities will als be perfrmed. An active participatin in the MTG Infrared Sunder Science Team (MIST) as well as early studies fr the Infrared Sunder data cntributes t MTG-IRS preparatins. There will als be sme studies f precipitatin sensrs fr EPS-SG. CONCLUSIONS The NWC SAF sftware packages and the peratinal prducts have entered this new phase in a very gd shape. An imprtant upgrade will take place with the 2015 versin which will extend the MSG applicatin t ther gestatinary satellites. V2015 will als include new develpments such as Cnvectin Initiatin, Extraplated Imagery, Clud Micrphysical Prperties and a New Generatin f the Autmatic Interpretatin prduct. Ging nwards int the future, we intend t adapt the sftware and the prducts fr the frthcming Eurpean satellites in clse cperatin with the EUMETSAT Secretariat. REFERENCES Martinez M.A., J. LI, R. Rmer, (2010), NWCSAF/MSG PGE13 Physical Retrieval Prduct Versin 2010, Prceedings, 2010 EUMETSAT Meterlgical Satellite Cnference, Córdba, Spain 5