Aviation Weather

A new Aviation Weather Decision Support System is now operational at the Dubai International Airport. The system combines radiometer, wind profiler, radar and satellite data in a WRF model to deliver automated fog, turbulence, wind shear and downburst alerts for air traffic control. The state-of-the-art system, developed by Weather Decision Technologies, is the most advanced aviation weather Nowcast and forecast system available today. The AWDSS delivers critical, timely weather information for safe and efficient modern airport operations.

Real-Time Radiometer Soundings

The German Weather Service (DWD) has been observing temperature, humidity and liquid profiles with Radiometrics Microwave Profilers since 1998. The DWD website posts real-time radiometer soundings and compares them to:

  • Radiosonde temperature, vapor density and relative humidity
  • Cloud radar (click on Lindenberg Observatory and then "Actual results of measurements" arrow, and then "Water Vapor Measurements" arrow)
  • Model temperature, vapor density and relative humidity
  • Laser ceilometer cloud base height
  • Radiosonde and GPS integrated water vapor

NOAA ESRL ingests real-time international radiometer network data into MADIS. The radiometer data are automatically quality checked, converted to netcdf and made available for weather forecast research and operations. For skew-T plots, select the Radiometers button in the Initial data source box and then click Java-based plot. For interactive java point to temperature and dewpoint sounding lines in the skew-T plot . Left-click on the surface temperature data point to display CAPE in the list of real-time forecast indices plotted at upper right. The network includes:

NSSTC -- National Space Science & Technology Center (NASA - U. Alabama) with its Mobile Integrated Profiling System (MIPS), delivers real-time radiometer, numerical weather model, satellite, ceilometer, wind radar and sodar soundings.

NASA -- Glenn Research Center (GRC) delivers radiometer, cloud radar and ceilometer data. The GRC Icing Remote Sensing program supports NCAR Aircraft Icing Research.

Clark County, Nevada -- Las Vegas Ozone Transport Study (SLOTS) delivers continuous thermodynamic and wind soundings for state-of-the-art air quality management.

Chilbolton Observatory -- Rutherford Laboratory (U.K.) measures water vapor profiles, integrated water vapor and integrated liquid water to correct radio astronomy observations.

Beijing Meteorological Bureau -- delivers temperature, humidity and liquid profiles from a radiometer network for state-of-the-art short term weather forecasting and weather modification for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Radiometrics delivers real-time radiometer and radiosonde soundings from its facilities in Boulder, Colorado.