A Weather Station for Antarctica

Marc DE KEYSER, Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium

Transcript

1. OPERATIONAL WEATHER FORECASTING IN ANTARCTICA 3 ideas to implement a well-performing weather department
2. 1. The importance of an operational weather department in an Antarctic environment
3. 1. The importance of an operational weather department in an Antarctic environment 2. Key requirements for an operational meteorological department
4. 1. The importance of an operational weather department in an Antarctic environment 2. Key requirements for an operational meteorological department 3. Investing in developing of Human Capital
5. - Most important client of the weather dep: AVIATION - Over last 15 years, number of flights to and on the Antarctic continent has increased significantly 1. The importance of an operational weather department in an Antarctic environment
6. Two kind of Flight Operations: 1. Intercontinental Flights: passengers and cargo - Cape Town -> Troll – Novo – Perseus - Punta Arenas -> King George I – Rothera – Union Glacier - Hobart -> Wilkes near Casey - Christchurch -> Mcmurdo Personal note: last season ALE did 47 international flights: - 15 B757: passengers - 32 IL76: fuel and cargo 1. The importance of an operational weather department in an Antarctic environment
10. Two kind of Flight Operations: - Intercontinental Flights: passengers and cargo - Continental Flights: drop-off/pick up of field parties - performed by ski-equiped Twin Otters and Baslers (DC3) - off-strip landings – favourable weather conditions Personal note: last season ALE performed around 150 CF 1. The importance of an operational weather department in an Antarctic environment
13. Flights in Antarctic are VFR: Visual Flight Rules: limits concerning VISIBILITY and CLOUDS - increase SAFETY Flight decisions are made by the Captain of the air crew in coordination with the meteorologist – The meteorologist provides the information in order for the captain to make a confident flight decision. 1. The importance of an operational weather department in an Antarctic environment
14. Conclusion: In order for the captain to make safe and confident flight decisions we need an experienced operational meteorologist and a well-organised meteorological department. 1. The importance of an operational weather department in an Antarctic environment
15. - AWS (Automatic Weather Station) – network Precise/detailed weather observations are key information to prepare flights Reliable AWS are needed at threshold of runway/skiway Webcams are useful if meteorologist cannot be present at runway/skiway Note: It is prefered that a meteorologist is present at the runway/skiway so he/she may see the weather changes happening and may send warnings to to the air crew 2. Key requirements for an operational meteorological department
16. - AWS (Automatic Weather Station) – network - Access to High Resolution Satellite Imagery In polar areas polar orbiting satellites are used: They orbit the Earth at a height of 800km in about 105 minutes - from NASA: NOAA20 (17) – NOAA21 (22) – SUOMI NPP - from EUMETSAT: Metop b and Metop c Satellite Imagery provides information about the exact position of weather systems, fog patches and other weather phenomena 2. Key requirements for an operational meteorological department
19. - AWS (Automatic Weather Station) – network - Access to High Resolution Satellite Imagery - High Resolution Weather Models Most used weather models: ECMWF – GFS – WRF They provide ready-made numerical products such as: - upper-air maps - vertical temperature profiles - meteograms Thes products allow the forecaster to make an estimation how the current atmospheric situation will change in timesteps of 1 – 3 – 6 or 12 hours 2. Key requirements for an operational meteorological department
23. - AWS (Automatic Weather Station) – network - Access to High Resolution Satellite Imagery - High Resolution Weather Models - Experienced and well-trained meteorologists And this brings us directly to the third element of this presentation 2. Key requirements for an operational meteorological department
24. Modern problem: weather apps give easy and quick solutions and they become increasingly more popular: this may lead to disasters if used in an Antarctic environment Therefore we need to maintain confidence in the meteorologist of flesh and blood! Elements that may improve the work of an Antarctic meteorologist: - in depth pre-season training: specific local weather elements/effects of local topography or the vicinity of open water. - on-job training: before working operationally give the meteorologist time to become familiar with local weather/environment – visit specific places – build up a confident relationship with the air crew 3. Investing in developing of Human Capital