Case Study: Bright Forecast at the National Weather Service

Weather forecasters in today's National Weather Service (NWS) have more data from more sources than ever — and it only makes a tough job tougher. At more than 120 NWS offices around the country, forecasters' detailed reports are relied on by mariners, airlines, farmers, shipping companies, the military, and of course local meteorologists.

Scene of cloud liquid water and winds as viewed from the south looking north of a 9-hour forecast over Bosnia. The small map in the lower left of the images show a pink flight path with a white marker indicating the position along the flight path.

Cloud liquid water at 0.02 g/m3 over northern Colorado,surface temperature ranging from 12F to 46F and vertical cross-sections showing wind speeds as high as 66 m/s.

Developers in Colorado have come up with a faster, more efficient way to interpret this onslaught of data: a next-generation computer system dubbed Weather Forecast Office (WFO)-Advanced. The system's three-dimensional imaging of weather data helps forecasters more quickly locate important weather events to track and evaluate.

AVS/Express served three valuable purposes in the development effort. First, it provided the essential tools to create the three-dimensional imaging application Display 3D (D3D) for WFO-Advanced. Next, it sped up the development process. Finally, it made it easy for developers to involve local meteorologists in the development effort, by letting them try the in-progress tools and then incorporating their feedback.

WFO-Advanced was developed at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL) in Boulder Colorado. Also helping modernize the National Weather Service's systems are Colorado State University and the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA).

"Three-dimensional visualizations bring to meteorology what voices brought to silent films: a vivid approximation of real life," said Philip A. McDonald, one of CIRA's chief research associates for the D3D project.

With traditional 2D visualizations, meteorologists had to mentally stack and analyze 2D "slices" of weather data. Now, with 3D visualizations, meteorologists can virtually surf through the weather, seeing it in a color-coded, high-resolution format. Further, D3D project allows a forecaster to simulate the launch of a weather balloon into a cloud - except that the user has complete control over the balloon's path, sending it exactly where measurements are needed.

"The advantage of working in this environment at FSL is that there are many working meteorologists open to the possibilities that 3D visualization presents. They're very willing to give their time to get what they want out of the product. AVS helps us to work together on improvements."

McDonald first started using AVS products six years ago. "Within days, we got some of our data displayed in 3D. Part of the reason we could do this so fast was the visual development environment. I found it extremely easy and convenient to use," he said. "With AVS, I pull a module down, link it, and try it. It's a very interactive and visual way to build an application. I really love that I can see the results of changes without recompiling and relinking. Without the visualization capabilities from Advanced Visual Systems, this development effort would have taken many more months of research and development time and money. AVS/Express has helped jump-start this entire effort."

As for AVS's customer service, McDonald added, "Advanced Visual Systems responds well to users' input. They listen and respond with evaluations when ideas or requests are made."