Part III: ROMAN and MesoWest: resources for observing surface weather MesoWest and ROMAN are software that require ongoing maintenance and development to provide access to surface environmental information for variety of operational applications http://raws.wrh.noaa.gov /roman Shoestring budget! San Diego Tribune. 28 Oct. 2003
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Part III: ROMAN and MesoWest: resources for observing surface weather MesoWest and ROMAN are software that require ongoing maintenance and development.
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Part III: ROMAN and MesoWest: resources for observing surface weather
MesoWest and ROMAN are software that require ongoing maintenance and development to provide access to surface environmental information for variety of operational applications
http://raws.wrh.noaa.gov/roman Shoestring budget!
San Diego Tribune. 28 Oct. 2003
MesoWest A cooperative program to collect, archive, and distribute
environmental observations across the Nation with emphasis on the western United States 200+ agencies/commercial firms 1000s of HAM radio operators 9000+ stations nationally (3500+ stations in western US)
Primary support: NWS and BLM Considerable effort placed on basic metadata and MySQL database Delivery of data via FTP,LDM, web portals Traditional COOP reports in separate database Integration of environmental and GIS
information
MesoWest• Observations from 70+ networks• Grown steadily since 1997•Coordination with MADIS• Approx. 3900 temperature obs/hr across the West ingested into ADAS• Variety of user interfaces
States
GACCs CWAs FWZs MODIS regions
ASOS RAWS
SNOTEL OTHER
Metadata provided by station owners is integrated with GIS information to georeference objectively the data relative to: states and counties National Weather Service (NWS) County Warning Areas, forecast
zones, and fire weather zones Land agency Geographic Coordinating Areas and Predictive
Service Areas Locations of fires Topozone and google earth graphics available for every station
Limitations of Observations- All That Is Labeled Data Is NOT Gold (Lockhart 2003)
References: Challenges of Measurements.
T. Lockhart (2003). Handbook of Weather, Climate and Water. Wiley & Sons. 695-710.
Review of the RAWS Network. Zachariassen et al. (2003). USDA Tech. Report RMRS-GTR-119.
GNI
Are All Observations Equally Bad? All measurements have
errors (random and systematic)
Errors arise from many factors: Siting (obstacles, surface
characteristics) Exposure to environmental
conditions (e.g., temperature sensor heating/cooling by radiation, conduction or reflection)
Are All Observations Equally Good? Why was the sensor installed?
Observing needs and sampling strategies vary (air quality, fire weather, road weather)
Station siting results from pragmatic tradeoffs: power, communication, obstacles, access
Use common sense Wind sensor in the base of a mountain pass
will likely blow from only two directions Errors depend upon conditions (e.g.,
temperature spikes common with calm winds) Use available metadata
Topography Land use, soil, and vegetation type Photos
Monitor quality control information Basic consistency checks Comparison to other stations
UT9
How representative can a single observation site be?
-19
• Adequate instrumentation• Good local siting
• Response to synopticconditions can vary widelyover short distances
• Persistent ridging can lead tocold pools in basins and warmtemperature on slopes
•Response dependent on snowcover as well
Sub-NDFD Grid Scale (5km) Variability in Terrain Height
Dark > 200m
Myrick and Horel (2006)
Density of Temperature Observations (A z /#)
METARFor zz = 200m= 200m Green: 1 stn every 50x50km2; Light red: 1 stn every 35x35 km2; Red: 1 stn every 25x25 km2
MesoWest
ROMAN Goals Maintain software that accesses RAWS data in ASCADS and
make that data available for operational users in real time Integrate RAWS, ASOS, and mesonet observations into one
archival and display system to provide real-time weather data around the nation to meteorologists and land managers
Display data in fast-loading formats tailored to the wildland fire community and accessible to: Top-level managers Fire-behavior analysts and IMETs in the field NWS WFO operations
San Diego Tribune. 28 Oct. 2003
How Mesonet Data Are Accessed and Delivered
MesoWestDatabase
@WR
Preprocessing@ WR
Web Server@ UU
DataStreams
UsersROMANDatabase
@WR
Preprocessing@ WR
ROMANWeb Server
@ WRRAWSIn ASCADS
Other WR/WFOApps
Metadata/QCprocessing
@ UU
What Weather Information is Available? Search by: maps (state, CWAs, GACCs, etc.)
What Weather Information is Available?
Search by: zip code, geographic location, latitude/longitude
What Has Been Happening Recently?5-Day Max/Min Temperature, RH, Wind Speed
What Are the Current Conditions?Weather Summary
What Has Changed Since Yesterday?Trend Monitor
What Extreme Conditions Are Underway?Weather Monitor
How Much Precipitation Has Fallen?
Monitor Summary
WeatherNear Fires
Current Weather Near Fires
Archived Fires
Weather Near Fires: 31 October 2003
MODIS Base Maps
October 29October 31
What Do You Do if You Notice a Problem with MesoWest or ROMAN?
BIG problems: Check the ROMAN status page (on left menu) Send email to [email protected] If emergency, follow NWS WR procedures for contacting WR IT staff