Special Projects Office

The Special Projects Office (SPO) performs diagnostic studies of weather-related phenomena, including mesoscale convective systems, gravity waves, and clear-air turbulence. A springboard of these studies is the development of diagnostic tools that are applicable to routine observations, data from experimental networks or model grid-point data,and that utilize statistical methods, fundamental dynamical relationships, and derived parameters relating to unobserved variables. These studies often result in products of value to forecasters and are transferred to the National Weather Service (NWS). Research quality datasets of operational sounding and precipitation data and of commercial aircraft atmospheric data are assembled to support FSL modeling and diagnostic activities, and are shared with other NOAA laboratories and NWS research groups. The SPO also conducts field tests and computer simulations to study the impact of balloon-based, in situ observing systems on atmospheric and oceanic monitoring for environmental prediction and climate observations.

Turbulence Forecasts

• Developing, testing, and verifying numerical weather model computer code and parameterizations for forecasting variables of special interest to aviation. One product of particular interest provides Turbulence Forecasts, now based on data from FSL's RUC-2 model.
• Understanding the dynamics and improving the forecasting of heavy precipitation during wintertime and the convective season.
• Understanding the dynamics of gravity waves and bores and potential vorticity streamers.

In-situ Data

• Precipitation Data from several thousand automated sensors that report hourly and daily over the continental United States.
• Upper Air Sounding Data for the past several months from sites in North America.
• Data from Commercial Aircraft including winds and temperature, as well as experimental turbulence and water vapor.

SPO Staff:

Steven Koch, Division Chief
Ligia Bernardet (SRG)
Fernando Caracena
Randy Collander (CIRA)
Brian Jamison (CIRA)
Bernie Johnson
Chungu Lu (CIRA)
Edward Tollerud