Selected AMDAR-Related Studies

Impact of upper-air and near-surface observations on short-range forecasts from NOAA hourly assimilation cycles (RUC and Rapid Refresh) Powerpoint presentation by Stan Benjamin and others delivered at the May 2012 WMO Workshop on the Impact of Obs on NWP.

WVSSII-related papers at September 2010 EUMETSAT conference in Madrid, Spain

Advancements in the AMDAR Humidity Sensing Presentation on WVSSII at CIMO -TECO 2010, Helsinki, Finland, August 2010

NOAA RETEST AND EVALUATION REPORT For the SpectraSensors Water Vapor Sensing System II (WVSS-II) October, 2009

TAMDAR and MDCRS Impact on RUC forecasts, by Moninger et al. (2010) Report to the FAA.

Evaluation of Regional Aircraft Observations using TAMDAR, by Moninger et al. (2010). Weather and Forecasting 25 627-645

Relative short-range forecast impact from aircraft, profiler, radiosonde, VAD, GPS-PW, METAR and mesonet observations via the RUC hourly assimilation cycle, by Benjamin et al. (2010) . Monthly Weather Review 138 1319-1343.

Using AMDAR Aircraft Observations at the National Weather Service Forecast Office, Raleigh, North Carolina. Poster by Barrett Smith, Jonathan Blaes, Jason Beaman of NOAA/NWS. Presented at the 2009 NWA Annual Meeting in Norfolk, VA.

WVSS-II Assessment at the DWD, by Axel Hoff, Deutsche WetterDienst, September 2009 [PDF]

AMDAR data sources explained, by Dave Helms, NWS. (Informal document.)

Investigation of Systematic Differences in Aircraft and Radiosonde Temperatures with Implications for NWP and Climate Studies by Brad Ballish and Krishna Kumar. Accepted for publication in BAMS, May 2008.

Papers from the Global Systems Division at the 2008 AMS Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA:
New TAMDAR Fleets and their impact on Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) Forecasts, by Moninger et al. (2008) 13th Conference on Aviation, Range and Aerospace Meteorology January 2008, New Orleans, LA, Amer. Meteor. Soc.
Presents the latest skill results from parallel RUC cycles with and without TAMDAR, and new TAMDAR-GFS comparisons in Alaska. Shows notable positive TAMDAR impact on RUC forecasts of temperature, wind, and relative humitity over the CONUS, and shows that TAMDAR-PenAir observations in Alaska are of generally good quality.

Effect of TAMDAR data on RUC Short-Term Forecasts of Aviation-Impact Fields for Ceiling, Visibility, Reflectivity, and Precipitation, by Szoke et al. (2008) 13th Conference on Aviation, Range and Aerospace Meteorology January 2008, New Orleans, LA, Amer. Meteor. Soc.
Presents several comparisons of these fields between RUC runs including TAMDAR and those that do not. Results are mixed, but RUC runs with TAMDAR appear to be slightly better.
Supplementary Information (Powerpoint, 5.7 Mb).

Relative forecast impact from aircraft, profiler, rawinsonde, VAD, GPS-PW, METAR and mesonet observations for hourly assimilation in the RUC, by Benjamin et al. (2008) 12th Conference on IOAS-AOLS January 2008, New Orleans, LA, Amer. Meteor. Soc.
Presents several Observation Sensitivity Experiments (OSEs) using 10-day period during the Fall of 2006. AMDAR is shown to be the most important data source for 3-h forecasts of wind and temperature, and TAMDAR adds to this impact between 900 and 700 hPa. For relative humidity, TAMDAR, GPS-Precipitable Water, and surface measurements all have significent impact at different levels.

Implementation of the radar-enhanced RUC, by Benjamin et al. (2008) 13th Conference on Aviation, Range and Aerospace Meteorology January 2008, New Orleans, LA, Amer. Meteor. Soc.
Describes Radar, TAMDAR, and other new data sources to be ingested by the operational RUC in an upgrade planned for Spring 2008.

Papers from the Global Systems Division at the 2007 Weather and Forecasting / Numerical Weather Prediction Conferences at Park City Utah:
TAMDAR and its Impact on Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) Forecasts, by Moninger et al. (2007) 22nd Conference on Weather Analysis and Forecasting / 18th Conference on Numerical Weather Prediction, June 2007, Park City, UT Amer. Meteor. Soc.
Presents the latest skill results from parallel RUC cycles with and without TAMDAR. Shows notable positive TAMDAR impact on RUC forecasts of temperature, wind, and relative humitity.
  • powerpoint presentation

    Impact of TAMDAR Data on RUC Short-Range Forecasts by Szoke et al. (2007) 22nd Conference on Weather Analysis and Forecasting / 18th Conference on Numerical Weather Prediction, June 2007, Park City, UT Amer. Meteor. Soc.
    Several case studies of RUC forecast behavior with and without TAMDAR data.
  • powerpoint presentation

    • Papers from the Global Systems Division at the 2007 AMS Annual Meeting in Atlanta:
    TAMDAR/AMDAR Data Assessments Using The RUC At NOAA's Global Systems Division by Moninger et al. (2007) 11th Symposium on Integrated Observing and Assimilation Systems for Atmosphere, Oceans, and Land Surface (IOAS-AOLS), January 2007, San Antonio, TX Amer. Meteor. Soc.
    A study of TAMDAR and AMDAR differences with model background fields. Provides estimates of temperature, wind, and relative humidity errors for TAMDAR and AMDAR fleets.
  • powerpoint presentation

    2006 TAMDAR impact experiment results for RUC humidity, temperature, and wind forecasts by Benjamin et al. (2007) 11th Symposium on Integrated Observing and Assimilation Systems for Atmosphere, Oceans, and Land Surface (IOAS-AOLS), January 2007, San Antonio, TX Amer. Meteor. Soc.
    Presents the latest skill results from parallel RUC cycles with and without TAMDAR. Shows notable positive TAMDAR impact on RUC forecasts of temperature, wind, and relative humitity.
  • powerpoint presentation

    Impact of TAMDAR on the RUC model: A look into some of the statistics by Szoke et al. (2007) 11th Symposium on Integrated Observing and Assimilation Systems for Atmosphere, Oceans, and Land Surface (IOAS-AOLS), January 2007, San Antonio, TX Amer. Meteor. Soc.
    Several case studies of RUC forecast behavior with and without TAMDAR data.
  • powerpoint presentation

    • Paper from the Global Systems Division at the 2006 Severe Local Storms Conference:
    An evaluation of TAMDAR soundings in severe storm forecasting by Szoke et al. (2006) 23rd Conf. on Severe Local Storms, St. Louis, MO Amer. Meteor. Soc.
    A study of several severe storm situations in which TAMDAR soundings revealed important atmospheric characterists.

    Evaluation of the WVSS-II Sensor, Final Report, from CIMMS.

    Evaluation of the WVSS-II Sensor Using Co-located In-situ and Remotely Sensed Observations, from CIMSS (powerpoint).

    Optimization Requirements Document for the Meteorological Data Collection and Reporting System / Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay System, 2006, submitted to NOAA by ARINC.

    FINAL REPORT on the June 2005 WVSS-II Rawinsonde Intercomparison Study (14 August 2006), Petersen, Feltz, and Bedka of the University of Wisconsin Madison Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS).

    Papers from the Global Systems Division at the 2006 AMS Annual Meeting in Atlanta:

    AMDAR Optimization Studies at the Earth System Research Laboratory / Global Systems Division [PDF] by Moninger et al. (2006) 10th Symposium on Integrated Observing and Assimilation Systems for Atmosphere, Oceans, and Land Surface (IOAS-AOLS), January 2006, Atlanta, GA, Amer. Meteor. Soc.
    Subject to many provisos detailed in this paper, it appears that from an NWP model performance standpoint, it may indeed sometimes be possible to optimize, or "thin" the AMDAR data routinely taken over the CONUS while still maintaining many of the benefits of the current AMDAR data density. However, such a thinning would increase the potential of missed local weather events, so we recommend that a portion of any funds saved by optimizing routine AMDAR data be used to "target" AMDAR observations to specific regions where the AMDAR data will be particularly beneficial.
    The paper also contains a detailed taxonomy of the weather forecast tasks likely to be benefited by targeted observations and, conversely, adversely affected by un-thoughtful data thinning.

    Automated weather reports from aircraft: TAMDAR and the US AMDAR fleet [PDF], by Moninger et al. (2006) 12th Conf. on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology (ARAM), January 2006, Atlanta, GA, Amer. Meteor. Soc.
    Compares TAMDAR characteristics: spatial/temporal resolution and wind and temperature errors, with the rest of the US AMDAR fleet.

    TAMDAR evaluation work at the Earth System Research Laboratory Global Systems Division: an overview [PDF], by Moninger et al. (2006) 10th Symposium on Integrated Observing and Assimilation Systems for Atmosphere, Oceans, and Land Surface (IOAS-AOLS), January 2006, Atlanta, GA, Amer. Meteor. Soc.
    This paper provides an overview of the GSD work relevant to TAMDAR, some of which is described in greater detail in the following papers.

    Impact of TAMDAR humidity, wind, and temperature observations in RUC parallel experiments [PDF], by Benjamin et al. (2006) 10th Symposium on Integrated Observing and Assimilation Systems for Atmosphere, Oceans, and Land Surface (IOAS-AOLS), January 2006, Atlanta, GA, Amer. Meteor. Soc.
    A brief summary of results:
    • TAMDAR improves lower tropospheric forecasts of temperature and winds, and during the summer months, relative humidity at 850 mb.
    • The key areas of improvement have been in low clouds, precipitation, frontal zones, and convective forecasts.
    • Through close interaction between GSD and AirDat, some systematic observation problems have been identified and fixed.
    • However some problems remain which AirDat is actively working to fix. The data suggest that TAMDAR will have a larger impact on RUC forecasts once these problems are corrected.

    Impact of TAMDAR on RUC forecasts: case studies [PDF], by Szoke et al. (2006) 10th Symposium on Integrated Observing and Assimilation Systems for Atmosphere, Oceans, and Land Surface (IOAS-AOLS), January 2006, Atlanta, GA, Amer. Meteor. Soc.
    Several case studies of differences between RUC forecasts with TAMDAR and those without, focusing on low clouds and precipitation.

    Assessing two different commercial aircraft-based sensing systems [PDF], by Petersen and Moninger (2006) 10th Symposium on Integrated Observing and Assimilation Systems for Atmosphere, Oceans, and Land Surface (IOAS-AOLS), January 2006, Atlanta, GA, Amer. Meteor. Soc.
    WVSS-II and TAMDAR mearurements of water vapor are compared.

    TAMDAR, The Rapid Update Cycle, And The Great Lakes Flight Experiment [PDF] by Moninger et al. (2004), 11th Conference on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology.
    Discussion of plans for TAMDAR and the GLFE, as they appeared in October, 2004.

    Automated Meteorological Reports from Commercial Aircraft by Bill Moninger, Rich Mamrosh, and Pat Pauley (2003). Published in the February, 2003 issue of the Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. 84, 203-216.
    PDF version (semi-final, at Forecast Systems Laboratory)
    Detailed report on AMDAR, with a focus on US observations, including a history of the development of aircraft-based weather observations.

    A Comparison of ACARS WVSS and NWS Radiosonde Temperature and Moisture Data [PDF], by Richard Mamrosh, Randy Baker, and Tarah Jinkowic (2002)
    This focuses on the WVSS-I sensor, now replaced by WVSS-II.

    A detailed look at ACARS coverage over the CONUS, broken down by time of day and altitude by Brian Jamison and Bill Moninger (May 2001)

    Field Forecaster Evaluation of ACARS data: Results of the NAOS ACARS Assessment [PDF]. by Richard Mamrosh, Rick Decker, and Carl Weiss (2000)
    Seminal early study of how NWS forecasters use AMDAR data in local and regional forecasting.

    Jan 24-26, 2000 winter storm -- effect on ACARS soundings: a first look (Feb 2000)
    A look at how a severe winter storm impacted the amount of AMDAR data taken.

    A brief look at the The Effect of Hurricane Floyd on ACARS soundings (Nov 1999)

    An Assessment of two Algorithms for Automatic Measurement and Reporting of Turbulence from Commercial Public Transport Aircraft (1998) Report to the ICAO METLINK Study Group by J. J. Stickland. (Word doc) ... Appendix (Word doc), by Dean Lockett

    The Use Of High-Frequency ACARS Soundings In Forecasting Convective Storms, by Richard Mamrosh of the Chicago NWS Forecast Office (1997)
    Important early study of how high-frequency AMDAR soundings enable precise timing of thunderstorm initiation forecasts.

    ACARS Quality Control, Monitoring, and Correction, by Moninger, W. R. and P. A. Miller (1994) 10th Conference on Numerical Weather Prediction Portland, OR, Amer. Meteor. Soc 1-3.
    Ancient (1994) study decscribing ACARS (AMDAR) quality control used at FSL/GSD. Our QC remains substantially the same as what is described here.


    Prepared by Bill Moninger, Bill.Moninger@noaa.gov
    Last modified: Thu Mar 10 19:15:58 GMT 2016