Products

Aviation & Verification

  • INSITE

    Image of INSITE User Interface

    INtegrated Support for Impacted air Traffic Environments (INSITE) provides a weather decision service for common situational awareness and forecast preparation.

  • NEVS

    GSD worked with the NWS to transition the Network-Enabled Verification Service (NEVS) to support the initial operating capability of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). Upgrades to the NEVS framework will occur through 2025 with intermediate transitions at 2016 and 2018, and 2020. In the near term, GSD is linking current verification capabilities provided by the Real Time Verification System (RTVS), and the RTVS-TAF tool to the NWS Stats-on-Demand verification system.

  • VRMC

    Image of VRMC Computer Display

    The objectives for the Verification and Requirements Monitoring Capability (VRMC) are to: 1) provide an ongoing historical performance record of forecast quality as a baseline for evaluating advancements in aviation weather forecast products, 2) a tool for supporting the QA PDT in-depth forecast assessments, both in developing and testing new innovative verification methodologies and for providing an easy-to-use capability for scientific analysis, and 3) a platform for assessment and methodology configuration management and statistical baseline control.

  • Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS)

    The Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS) provides the most complete source of aviation-related weather information on the Internet. In addition to providing conventional products and observations, ADDS provides state-of-the-art graphical forecasts for icing, turbulence, and convection, along with advanced interactive methods for viewing those forecasts. ADDS is being developed jointly by ESRL/GSD, the Research Applications Program of NCAR, and the NWS Aviation Weather Center; funding is provided by the FAA Aviation Weather Research Program.

  • Volcanic Ash Coordination Tool (VACT)

    Collaborative decision-making tool for forecasting dispersion of volcanic ash.

Decision Support

  • AWIPS

    Image of AWIPS Workstation

    For more than 30 years, GSD has researched and developed the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS), the cornerstone of the NWS Forecast Offices. AWIPS integrates weather, water, satellite, and radar data to help forecasters prepare and issue time-sensitive high-impact warnings.

  • MADIS Research

    Image of MADIS Logo

    MADIS now consists of two parts: MADIS Operations, which has been transitioned to National Weather Service (NWS), and MADIS Research, which still resides at GSD. The role of MADIS Research is to improve data ingest schemes, integration of additional datasets and providers, quality control and distribution methods employed by MADIS Operations at NWS.

  • DPA

    Image of AWIPS Workstation

    The MADIS Data Provider Agent (DPA) project is part of the second phase of the National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Weather Information Processing System (AWIPS) Technology Infusion efforts known as AWIPS-II Extended Data Delivery ("smart push - smart pull").The objectives for the AWIPS-II Data Delivery project are to develop an operational robust infrastructure to support "intelligent" access to non-local data provider datasets such as MADIS.

  • Hazard Services

    Image of IHIS User Interface

    The Integrated Hazard Information Services (Hazard Services) works to integrate NWS hazard tools while fostering collaboration among stakeholders. Hazard Services works to provide comprehensive services for issuing timely and accurate hazard information while enabling two-way communication among all decision-makers.

  • HFIP

    Image of HFIP User Interface

    The goals of the Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program (HFIP) are to improve the accuracy and reliability of hurricane forecasts, to extend lead time for hurricane forecasts with increased certainty, and to increase confidence in hurricane forecasts. We contribute to this work through Web tools for model output visualization.

  • CAT/FXC

    Image of CAT User Interface

    The CAVE Annotation Tool (CAT) is a graphic annotation capability designed for AWIPS II. It provides a wide range of annotation capabilities for creating web graphics and presentation material. It has many of the graphic capabilities of PowerPoint™ and additional capabilities such as the creation of animated graphics (gif) and the export of KMZ (Google Earth) display files.

  • MSAS

    Image of MSAS User Interface

    Surface data is crucial for mesoscale weather forecasting because its time and space resolution is unmatched among in situ observations. The Mesoscale Analysis and Prediction System (MAPS) and the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) Surface Assimilation Systems (MSAS/RSAS) exploit the resolution of surface data by providing timely and detailed surface analyses.

  • NGITWS

    Five Images of Data Displays

    The NOAA Integrated Dissemination Program (IDP) NextGen IT Web Services (NGITWS) Project will provide enhanced weather forecast information required for integration into an air traffic management system. This investment supports aviation industry and stakeholders including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

  • GTAS

    Image of GTAS Banner

    The Geo-Targeted Alerting System (GTAS) project is a prototype implementation of the latest developments in plume modeling, high resolution weather models, and network enabled operations. GTAS will build upon established relationships between local NWS WFOs and local EOCs by providing shared situational awareness of vital data, so that emergency managers can quickly determine the impact and provide mitigation and response plans to the public and other local and state EOCs.

  • Clarus

    Image of Snow Plows

    Clarus is a research and development initiative to demonstrate and evaluate the value of “Anytime, Anywhere Road Weather Information” provided by both public agencies and the private weather enterprise to transportation users and operators. The objective is to give Clarus transportation users and operators capabilities they have grown to rely on to help with transportation decision support issues.

 

Evaluation

  • EVENT

    Image of EVENT User Interface

    Event-based Verification and Evaluation of NWS gridded product Tooluses our foundational principles, which include: forecast quality must be measured relative to how the forecast is used to make decisions, within the same assessment framework so that forecast comparisons are meaningful, and relative to the current operational forecast baselines so that forecast improvements can be measured.

  • In-Depth Forecast Evaluations

    In-depth forecast evaluations are performed in order to assess the quality and accuracy of an experimental aviation weather product that is expected to transition into NWS or FAA operations. The evaluations are done independently of the product developers and tests are performed that allow a measure of forecast quality as it compares to an operational forecast standard. The evaluations are conducted in the context of the products use in making operational decisions that may be affected by weather.

  • Consumer-Specific Evaluation Research

    Consumer-Specific Evaluation Research is research into the connection between the forecast weather quality and the application of the weather information to specific operational decisions. The Forecast Verification Section is aggressively developing assessment techniques that provide a measure of forecast quality in the context of operation decisions. These operational measures provide the bridge between the forecast weather and the integration of the weather information into automated operational decisions. Evaluation concepts in the context of aviation strategic planning are the focus for current Forecast Impact and Quality Assessment Section efforts. These include: incorporating strategic planning decision points for accumulation of the statistical measures; introducing operational spatial domains, such as ARTCC boundaries, high level altitude sectors, and aviation flow control boundaries (e.g. AFP and ground stops) into the assessment mechanics to bring together the forecasts and observations in an operationally meaningful way; and developing metrics that link forecast quality directly to operational constraints such as air space capacity for feeding assessment information directly to automated NextGen decision tools.

Models

  • FIM

    Image of FIM Model output

    GSD’s Flow-Following Finite Volume Icosahedral Model (FIM) uses a unique 20-sided mesh grid to model the motion of large weather systems around the world.

     

  • NIM

    Image of Earth with the icosahedral model overlay

    GSD is working on the next new global model, NIM (Non-Hydrostatic Icosahedral Model) designed to improve tropical cloud predictions, a major source of uncertainty in extended weather predictions.

     

  • WRF-Chem

    Image of WRF-Chem model output

    GSD leads the development of WRF-Chem (Weather Research and Forecasting - Chemistry), a next-generation coupled weather and air quality prediction system based on the existing Weather Research and Forecast Model.

  • Nowcasting

    Image of the All-Sky Model with real-time image for comparison

    GSD scientists are focused on the application of Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI) to nowcasting applications including RTMA (Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis) and its 3-d counterpart, the Rapidly Updated Analysis (RUA).

  • RAP

    Image of the Rapid Refresh Model Output

    The Rapid Refresh (RAP) is NOAA’s North American hourly-updating model system that ingests data from a network of ground and satellite-based sensors, radar, and aircraft.

     

  • HRRR

    Image of the HRRR Model Output

    The High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) is the only hourly updating model that can predict individual thunderstorms on a 3km grid over the U.S.

  • WRF Developmental Testbed Center

    DTC Logo

    The Developmental Testbed Center (DTC) is a facility where the NWP (Numerical Weather Prediction) research and operational communities interact to accelerate testing and evaluation of new models and techniques for research applications and operational implementation, without interfering with current operations.

Visualization

  • SOS®

    Image of the SOS Display at the Annual AMS Meeting

    Researchers at NOAA developed SOS as an educational tool to help illustrate Earth System science to people of all ages. Animated images of atmospheric storms, climate change, and ocean temperature can be shown on the sphere, which is used to explain what are sometimes complex environmental processes, in a way that is simultaneously intuitive and captivating.

  • SOS Explorer

    Image of a laptop computer displaying the SOS Explorer tool

    SOS Explorer™ uses the NOAA-developed Terraviz™ visualization engine to create an interactive Earth for a flat screen display including those projected on walls, computers, tablets and phones, providing teachers and students in the classroom access to a library of over 500 SOS datasets and movies. The visualizations show information provided by satellites, ground observations and computer models and rapidly animate through real-time global data.

  • Terraviz

    Image of the Terraviz User Interface

    The TerraViz platform powers multiple projects within GSD including SOS Explorer and the NOAA Earth Information System. It supports a variety of use cases ranging from public outreach to scientific analysis. Designed for a world where everything is in motion, TerraViz allows fluid data integration and interaction across four dimensions, providing a tool for exploring NOAA's vast collection of information. Watch the Terraviz Demonstration Video >>

  • NEIS

    Image of NEIS with earth image on the left and weather data overlayed on the earth image on the right

    The NOAA Earth Information System (NEIS) is a framework of layered services designed to help the discovery, access, understanding, and visualization of data from the past, present, and future. The goal is to ingest "big data" and convert that information into efficient formats for real-time visualization, providing a tool for everything NOAA does and the people NOAA affects.