1. NOAA - LAPS
Albers, S., 1995: The LAPS wind analysis. Wea. and Forecasting, 10,
Albers, S., J. McGinley, D. Birkenheuer, and J. Smart, 1996: The Local Analysis and prediction System (LAPS): Analyses of clouds, precipitation and temperature. Wea. and Forecasting, 11,
Birkenheuer, D., B.L. Shaw, S. Albers, E. Szoke, 2001: Evaluation of local-scale forecasts for severe weather of July 20, Preprints, 14th Conf on Numerical Wea. Prediction, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Amer. Meteor. Soc.
McGinley, J., S. Albers, D. Birkenheuer, B. Shaw, and P. Schultz, 2000: The LAPS water in all phases analysis: the approach and impacts on numerical prediction. Presented at the 5th International Symposium on Tropospheric Profiling, Adelaide, Australia.
Schultz, P. and S. Albers, 2001: The use of three-dimensional analyses of cloud attributes for diabatic initialization of mesoscale models. Preprints, 14th Conf on Numerical Wea. Prediction, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Amer. Meteor. Soc. 1

2. LAPS The Local Analysis and Prediction System
running on-site at each National Weather Service Forecast Office (WFO) as an integral part of AWIPS
integrates data from virtually every meteorological observation system hourly into a very high-resolution gridded framework centered on a forecast office's domain of responsibility 2

3. LAPS cloud analysis Steve Albers (NOAA/ESRL/GSD/FAB & CIRA) METAR3

4. Cloud Analysis Flow Chart
Input
Surface
Satellite
Radar reflectivity
Model forecast
output
3D cloud distribution 4

5. 11 micron imagery and Visible Satellite
T(11u) best detects mid-high level clouds
Cloud Clearing Step
Cloud Building Step
Iterative Adjustment Step
Forward model converts cloud-sounding to T(11u) estimate
Constrained 1DVAR iteration fits cloud layers to observed T(11u)
Improving visible with terrain albedo database
Cloud-clearing (done with current analysis)
Cloud-building (now being tested)
Accurate sfc albedo can work with VIS + 11 micron cloud-tops
Visible cloud fraction can be used to correct apparent brightness temperature to yield improved cloud-top temperature

6. Derived products flow chart6

7. Cloud/precip cross section7

8. LAPS analysis on-line http://laps.noaa.gov8