11 th Annual High Plains Conference Findings of the Four- Dimensional Storm Cell Investigator (FSI) Alpha Test at WFO Omaha-Valley During the Convective Season Daniel Nietfeld NOAA / National Weather Service Valley, Nebraska

11 th Annual High Plains Conference The (FSI) Alpha Test - Why Omaha ??? D3D evaluation and research GR2AE usage since spring 2006 Attendee of 1 st Workshop on NWS Severe Wx Technology – D.C. July 2005 Expected to have 4 summer students ( got 3)

11 th Annual High Plains Conference To increase warning skill and lead time, and therefore improve public service, 3D/4D visualization will allow forecasters to: –better analyze the signatures which are useful in diagnosis of severe and tornadic storms. –discover new clues and signatures not easily observed using traditional 2D analysis methods. Four-Dimensional Stormcell Investigator (FSI)

11 th Annual High Plains Conference The Lemon Technique (1977) Original storm structure analysis methods infer vertical structure from horizontal slices at different elevation angles

11 th Annual High Plains Conference AWIPS users must infer vertical storm structure using 2D representations of radar data. All Tilts or 4-panels: a series of 2D “horizontal” cross-sections –But PPIs are not horizontal – elevation angles are slanted. AWIPS Vertical Cross-sections (OB7.1) –Not easy to use –Only complete during short period at end of volume scan –Data are remapped to Cartesian space –Not dynamic (must re-draw to get new cross-section) Warning decision making demands quick and rapid assessment of the 3D structure of storms. AWIPS (D2D) 3D storm interrogation shortcomings

11 th Annual High Plains Conference Solution: Four-Dimensional Stormcell Investigator (FSI) Integrate National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) Warning Decision Support System – Integrated Information (WDSSII) 3D/4D display technology into AWIPS –Uses Open GL hardware acceleration on the NVIDIA 3D graphics card on the new LX workstation FSI will be launched via a D2D extension. –Once extension is loaded, mouse click will open FSI application centered on storm of interest

11 th Annual High Plains Conference Requirements for Developers: Provide for quick and easy access to the data (15-30 seconds per storm) Provide linkages between 2D representations and 3D data –Still difficult for users to overcome tendency to view in traditional 2D manner Radar data must be “native” 8-bit resolution polar grids –Z, V, SRM, SW 4D: Animation while slicing and dicing Keyboard shortcuts Processes must be stable and cause minimal impact to AWIPS system resources

11 th Annual High Plains Conference FSI Configuration PPI Plan Position Indicator VDX Vertical Dynamic X-Section CAPPI Constant Altitude PPI 3D Flier Three- Dimensional Flier FSIalpha has a linked 4-panel design:

11 th Annual High Plains Conference FSI Data Handling Data from RPG (must be on RPS list) “Virtual Volume” with each new slice filling in display, replacing old slice ~ 2 hours of data (not based on “frames”) Fairly smart pixel “smoothing”, which is referred to as data “interpolation” Currently single radar only

11 th Annual High Plains Conference FSI Alpha Test FSI alpha tested on AWIPS OB7.2 with new LX: –SR: Melbourne FL (April - present) –SR: Huntsville, AL (July - present) –CR: Omaha, NE (May 7 – present) Missed the May 5 th tornado outbreak Greg Stumpf (CIMMS/NSSL/MDL) installed the software, trained most of the staff –SOO provided additional training Have evaluated on XX severe thunderstorm events

11 th Annual High Plains Conference FSI Alpha Test Objectives To determine the stability of the FSI software during real-time operational warning situations. To gain feedback from operational warning meteorologists on the utility and effectiveness of the FSI display and to suggest improvements before it is deployed into AWIPS. To develop subject-matter expertise within WFO meteorologists that could help guide the development of the training on the concept of operations using 3D radar analysis. Assess the operational impact of advanced radar analysis tools on NWS performance measures.

11 th Annual High Plains Conference Cone of Silence

11 th Annual High Plains Conference

High Wind Event – Harlan IA August 12 th, 2007

11 th Annual High Plains Conference

QLCS Tornado Identification Non-Descending – Quick Spinups

11 th Annual High Plains Conference OAX found that the software is beneficial for… Circulations… depth, diameter, VrShear Core Heights –Ascending Cores –Descending Cores Storm Top Divergence Magnitude Storm Structure –Tilt, Overhang, BWERs, etc… Rear-Front… and Front-Rear air flow thru lines Mid-altitude radial convergence (MARC) sigs.

11 th Annual High Plains Conference Our Preliminary Findings… Cross Section extremely useful –Ability to fully move cross section –Ability to drag Z axis CAPPI extremely useful “Virtual Volume” is most efficient/current Data display is functional Nice to have ~ 2 hours of data (not 64 frames)

11 th Annual High Plains Conference Our Preliminary Findings… A bit sluggish for our liking Would like to have ability for Z and SRM on same display somehow Sampling is critical, and essential Some display errors Color table editing critical

11 th Annual High Plains Conference OAX Wishlist True 3-D volume rendering Multiple Radar mosaics Environmental data overlays WarnGen launched from FSI Storm Motion for SRM easy to set/change Level II data direct from RDA CAPPI on constant surfaces other than Z –-20C isotherm, theta or theta-E, EL, etc…

11 th Annual High Plains Conference FSI Operational Considerations Training on the understanding of storm signatures in 3D representations to be developed by WDTB in concert with MDL. Workload management/human factors –Partnering with Klein Associates, a leading decision science company, to conduct Cognitive Task Analysis. 3D visualization is reaching WFOs via other applications –3D experience is gaining in the field.

11 th Annual High Plains Conference FSI Operational release FSI 1.0 operational release: AWIPS OB8.2 (prior to Spring 2008) Resources did not permit all features to be included in FSI1.0: –No Data sampling –Super-resolution data not supported –TDWR data not supported –Storm-motion for SRM must be changed via D2D and FSI relaunch –No colormap editor FSI 2.0 (tentative – OB8.3): –Super-resolution data; Polarimetric variables –Data Sampling (multi-parameter) –Improved texture drawing (faster, less memory) –Other suggestions from alpha test

11 th Annual High Plains Conference FSI Operational release Beyond: –3D volume rendering and isosurfaces –Data advection (to remove drift) –Display of single radars from multiple locations concurrently –3D grids of mosaicked multiple-radar data –Integration with near-storm environment data from numerical models Add Temperature contours to vertical cross sections Constant Temperature PPIs (CTPPIs). Next-generation AWIPS (AWIPS2): –Common AWIPS Visualization Environment (CAVE) should require fully-integrated support for 3D visualization.

11 th Annual High Plains Conference Findings of the Four- Dimensional Storm Cell Investigator (FSI) Alpha Test at WFO Omaha-Valley During the Convective Season Daniel Nietfeld NOAA / National Weather Service Valley, Nebraska