DOWs for Education

Purdue University Jackson State University University of Oklahoma University of Colorado University of North Dakota University of Nebraska Lincoln St. Cloud State University Penn State University Lyndon State College University of Wisconsin Pre-Facility Acad Years Acad Year Careers in Science University of Illinois Wilbur Wright, Elmhurst, Coll of Dupage North Carolina State University TBD Univ DOW Educational Deployments DOW trackingDOW tracking cswr911:main storm

Requesting DOWs for Education Fill in 2 page form at EOL or CSWR Expedited review procedure Short lead time possible Deployments last about 3 weeks This is limited by ~$20k budget limitation More ambitious educational deployments possible, i.e. PAMREX

DOWs have been engineered to be student-useable After training, students+faculty can operate w/o expensive techs from CSWR Simple, safe, radar start up procedures generator startup leveling transmitter warm up, pressurization signal processor startup, recording, easy antenna control interface DOW Trucks rated at 25,999 lbs = no CDL required DOW Trucks are quasi-easy to drive, like a U-Haul. Biggest risks are branches, low bridges DOW drivers and operators are insured under CSWRs policies

Limited to ~$20k DOWs are delivered to the school by CSWR DOW technician visits for one week: trains operators and drivers DOW scientist visits 1-2 days during 1 st week: teaches a class(es) or classes provide orientation, assists training, etc. public lecture Weeks 2-3 are on their own, or with a junior CSWR driver/operator DOW technician on standby to return for radar failure DOW is picked up by CSWR DOW Educ Deployment Model (so far)

Exact design of lab, length of leash given students, etc., is decided by faculty host Typically students design experiments, scanning and data collection strategies, when to go out, etc. Scanning rates, numbers of tilts, gate lengths, PRT, etc. can be chosen by students What do they do?

Data recorded in DORADE format on internal disks Up to 1TB per data collection Transferred to student labs using esata or usb external disks Students use Soloii, IDV, or other to read DORADE Nearly all schools have some level of computer support sufficient to at least install Soloii. CSWR provides Soloii training CSWR is working on a program bring ~10 Linux computers with Soloii pre-installed to assist schools who have very little infrastructure

Case Study: UNDEO University of Nebraska, Lincoln Small meteorology department Faculty host Adam Houston familiar with radar Radar meteorology course, 14 students 8 grad, 6 ugrad 15 day deployment CSWR technician on site full duration Students crafted research proposals for using the DOW Collected data during 3 IOPs Outreach at elementary school, and public talk The University of Nebraska DOW Education and Outreach (UNDEO) project was conducted in November of UNDEO was an NSF-funded collaboration between the Department of Geosciences at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and the Center for Severe Weather Research that allowed for a 15-day on-campus deployment of a DOW for classroom- instruction and hands-on experience.

UNDEO Proposed student projects o Kinematic structure of a cold front o Comparing environmental variables using Doppler radar and idelaized modeling o Frontal passage and depth: A comparison of DOW and 88D Doppler radars o Manifestation of turbulence withina cold front o Kinematics of frontal motion and structure o Vertical structure of a cold front Actual Deployments o 1: clear air: daytime PBL o 2: clear air: back door cold front o 3: clear air: cold front Not much precip Initial projects canceled. Final assignment: compare fronts 2 and 3

PI evaluation of UNDEO Course preparation was too rushed. Proposals should be submitted >= 6 months before project Clear air was limited due to late fall season 21 days would have been better More scientist presentations over 3-4 day visit would have been better CSWR tech on site was very desirable Prompt uploading of data to local servers needed Wurman talked to fast (too much info in lectures)

UNDEO-2 Proposed for March/April 2011 Recommended by reviewers Approval pending at NSF Changes from UNDEO-1: 21 days to increase wx chances 800 km range to increase wx chances 3 day CSWR scientist visit

Other educational designs TOM CU and NCSU have requested the Rapid-Scan DOW for March 2011 Deployments in snow events in Boulder area Data training and Rapid-DOW orientation by CSWR scientists at NCSU Data sent by Fed-Ex to NCSU for T+48 hour access

PAMREX Very ambitious (also pre-facility, so ~$0 budget) 2 DOWs for dual-Doppler No CSWR support Faculty (Richardson, Markowski, Verlinde) experienced with DOWs Term 1: data collection Term 2: dual-Doppler analysis From BAMS article: …used the DOW radars in the fall months of 2003 and 2004 to study a wide variety of phenomena, such as the interaction of fronts and thunderstorms with ridges and valleys, terrain-induced atmospheric circulations, and phenomena owing to atmospheric interactions with Lake Erie. The complex terrain of Pennsylvania can produce atmospheric circulations capable of triggering thunderstorms, in addition to influencing already mature thunderstorms and their attendant severe weather. Surface temperature roughness differences between Lake Erie and the land surface of Pennsylvania routinely affect small-scale weather as well with lake effect snow bands being perhaps the most widely known of these lake-induced phenomena.

Careers In Science: EOL and CSWR Targeting minority colleges DOW visits colleges for 1 day each EOL and CSWR staff participate Talks on meteorology careers: technicians, planning, communications, engineers, scientists DOW demonstrations and talk by Wurman as a draw due to chasing appeal October 2010: Chicago area (also DC Sci/Eng Expo) March 2011: Mississippi, Alabama, area

DOW demos Classroom Talks/Discussions Outreach at K-12 schools (and DC Science/Engineering Expo

IMAX Outreach March-April 2011 Proposed to have DOW do a tour of IMAX museums timed with opening of Tornado Alley, a film supported by NSF (ISE: Innovative Science Education) VORTEX2 PIs will attend many of these openings, giving talks and demonstrations

Summary Well used program getting NSF facility to smaller meteorology departments Opportunity to feature NSF facility and related careers at minority and small colleges Recommend: Mechanism for proposing more ambitious or out of the box educational/outreach uses of facilities such as PAMREX and IMAX