Variational assimilation of web camera-derived estimates of visibility for Alaska aviation

Details

• Journal Title:
  Experimental Results
• Personal Author:
  Carley, Jacob R. ; Matthews, Michael ; Morris, Matthew T. ; De Pondeca, Manuel S. F. V. ; Colavito, Jenny ; Yang, Runhua
• NOAA Program & Office:
  NWS (National Weather Service) ; NCEP (National Centers for Environmental Prediction)
• Description:
  The Real Time Mesoscale Analysis (RTMA), a two-dimensional variational analysis algorithm, is used to provide hourly analyses of surface sensible weather elements for situational awareness at spatial resolutions of 3 km over Alaska. In this work we focus on the analysis of horizontal visibility in Alaska, which is a region prone to weather related aviation accidents that are in part due to a relatively sparse observation network. In this study we evaluate the impact of assimilating estimates of horizontal visibility derived from a novel network of web cameras in Alaska with the RTMA. Results suggest that the web camera-derived estimates of visibility can capture low visibility conditions and have the potential to improve the RTMA visibility analysis under conditions of low instrument flight rules and instrument flight rules.
• Keywords:
  Visibility Analysis Aviation Data Assimilation Meteorology Visibility
• Source:
  Experimental Results, 2
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1017/exp.2020.66
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Alaska
• Rights Information:
  CC BY
• Compliance:
  Submitted
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:29e28ea3246abdfe8c76152667df1f64ace8a029d867e668b69814dcb7af1f81
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/29049/noaa_29049_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.59 MB ]