RAMMB CIRA 3rd Quarter Report |
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April May June 2007 |
CIRA is providing input for the planning stages of another High Profile Training Event for the Americas and the Caribbean that is proposed to take place in October 2007.
B. Connell attended the World Meteorological Organization’s Virtual Laboratory Management Group Meeting held at COMET in Boulder June 7-8. The main agenda items were a review of the HPTE that took place this past October 2006, status of the regional focus group meetings and directions for future virtual training, including the proposed event in October 2007. (B. Connell)
The WMO Virtual Laboratory Task Team conducted 2 monthly English and Spanish weather briefings through VISITview using GOES and POES satellite Imagery from CIRA (http://hadar.cira.colostate.edu/vview/vmrmtcrso.html) and voice via Yahoo Messenger. The April session was missed. There were participants from the U.S.: CIRA, COMET, SAB at NESDIS, the International Desk at NCEP, as well as outside the U.S.: Argentina, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Panamá, Peru, Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. The participants include researchers as well as forecasters. The discussions were well attended with an average of 22 computer connections and multiple participants at many sites. Mike Davison at NCEP International Desk started the sessions by providing an overall synoptic analysis. Throughout the sessions, participating countries offer comments on the features of interest for their local weather. The sessions lasted 60 - minutes. (B. Connell)
The discussions mentioned above have mainly been coordinated with the RMTC Center of Excellence in Costa Rica. As of this month (June) Barbados has initiated weekly briefings for the Eastern Caribbean to stimulate discussion and collaboration in preparation for the Hurricane season. CIRA is assisting with the logistics of the sessions and providing imagery through the hadar server listed above. (B. Connell)
GOES-12 imagery for March through May 2007 were processed for the Regional Meteorological Training Centers (RMTCs) in Costa Rica and Barbados. The archives are being used to look at cloud frequency during the rainy and dry seasons and detect local variations from year to year. The archived imagery also provides access to examples for use in satellite focused training efforts. The monthly cloud frequency composites for March though May 1997-2007 by 10.7 μm temperature threshold technique for Costa Rica are presented in the figure below. (B. Connell)
Monthly cloud frequency composites for March through May 1997-2007 by 10.7 μm temperature threshold technique for Costa Rica.
A comparison of cloud frequency derived by temperature threshold of 10.7 μm imagery for March through May 1999-2007 for Barbados is shown in the figure below.
Comparison of cloud frequency derived by temperature threshold of 10.7 um imagery for March through May 1999-2007 for Barbados.
The following web pages continue to provide on-line imagery in jpg format over Central and South America and the Caribbean.
They have recently been used by Central American Countries for backup to their RAMSDIS systems as the data has been unavailable through the Costa Rica server.
In addition, we have made some temporary changes to command files for the RAMSDIS systems in Central America to ingest imagery from a UNIDATA server.
http://www.cira.colostate.edu/RAMM/rmsdsol/RMTC.html
http://www.cira.colostate.edu/RAMM/rmsdsol/COS.html (for imagery over Costa Rica and Barbados)
The imagery from these sites is also available for the international weather briefings through VISITView RAMSDIS Online:
http://hadar.cira.colostate.edu/vview/vmrmtcrso.html
http://vesta.cira.colostate.edu/vview/vmrmtc1.html
The following site continues to display satellite precipitation estimates and fire products: http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/sica/main.html (B. Connell, D. Coleman)