| 4.
Operation Plan: Daily Schedule and Conduct of Operations
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This section focuses on decision making, observing
system coordination, responsibilities, and conduct of daily operations.
This includes the daily sequence of events leading up to the
start of HEAT field operations.
A morning meeting starting at 9:00 am local time will
be held on a daily basis at the League City, Texas Weather Service
Forecast Office (WFO). The
on-duty Operations Director will moderate this meeting except during the
transition from one Operations Center Team to the next.
In that case, both the out-going and on-coming Ops. Directors
will share this duty. This
meeting will include a short debriefing of the previous day’s
operations, a presentation of the convective outlook, followed by
reports of the status of the observing facilities.
Scientific plans and priorities for the day and a tentative
schedule will be established. Facility
coordinators or their representatives will update their crews on the
outcome of the morning meeting.
After the scientific operations plan for the day is
decided upon at the morning meeting, an Operations Center Team will then
assume responsibility for implementing this plan, under the overall
direction of the on-duty Operations Director.
4.1
Briefings
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Debriefing of
previous day’s operations: The early morning meeting will start with a short debriefing of the
previous day’s operations. In
the early part of the project, this discussion period will help in
identifying and correcting problems that have been encountered.
An assessment of the results from the just-completed
operations will be made, and modifications to operating procedures based
on this recent experience may be discussed.
On a weekly basis, progress towards overall goals of HEAT will
also be discussed at this debriefing session.
Morning
Forecast Briefing: The weather briefing will include about a 20 min discussion of the
day’s weather as well as a tentative outlook for the following
two-to-three days. A HEAT
forecaster in conjunction with the WFO forecaster assigned for the day
will run the briefing. A
forecast discussion will also be placed on the internet.
A TNRCC specialist will also give a discussion on the pollution
outlook across the HEAT domain.
This briefing will discuss the potential and probable
timing of convective events within the HEAT operations region,
emphasizing the convective mode (i.e., squall line/unorganized) and
location of initiation. The
probability of nighttime convection will also be discussed.
On a daily basis, following the weather briefing and
discussion of the facilities’ status, there will be a discussion of
the best mission scenario given the likely convective developments and
available facilities (see section 4.4).
Those investigators not able to attend the debriefing may forward
their contributions to the Ops. Director or suitable representative, who
will summarize these contributions for those present at the debriefing.
4.2
Conduct of field operations and the Operations Center
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An Operations Center Team located at the Ops. Center
will have responsibility for implementing the day’s scientific plan
that was decided upon at the morning meeting.
However, the Operations Director will have discretionary power to
deviate from this plan when expected weather conditions don’t
materialize or when observing system constraints prevent a full
implementation of the original plans.
During HEAT operations, either the Operations
Director or the Nowcaster will be in communications with the WFO at
League City. This is needed
to facilitate the flow of information between the WFO and the HEAT
Operations Center. However,
this communication must not interfere with the primary mission of the
WFO and can be discontinued at the discretion of the WFO.
The Ops. Center will be located in the CSU-CHILL radar
van at the Sugar Land Municipal Airport about 15 miles southwest of the
Houston Central Business District.
4.2.1
Operations Center Team
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Three Operations Center Teams will be assembled from
qualified HEAT participants, including both research and NWS operational
personnel. Some
participants may serve on more than one team, and not necessarily in the
same capacity.
Each Operations Team will consist of an Operations
Director (OD) and seven Observing System Coordinators (OSC’s): ), two
Aircraft Scientists (one each for the UWKA and the WMI Lear
jet), a
Nowcaster, and a Mobile Unit Coordinator.
All of the Operations Team will be located at the Ops. Center in
the CSU-CHILL radar van except for the S-Pol Radar Scientist who will be
located at the S-Pol remote radar site.
Operations
Director:
Three individuals selected from the HEAT investigators will rotate in
one-week shifts through the position of daily Operations Director (OD).
The OD will be responsible for selecting the target storms and
for overseeing the deployment of the observing facilities to obtain an
optimum data set for meeting the day’s scientific objectives, given
the day’s weather potential and likely storm activity.
Target storm selection will be done in consultation with the
OSC’s who are in direct communication with the outlying mobile units
and aircraft personnel. Assessment
of the local weather conditions, scientific suitability of a storm, and
the ability of both mobile ground-based units and storm-penetrating
aircraft to reach potential target storm(s) will be important
considerations in the storm selection process.
The
Operations Director will have the primary responsibility for
communicating with the League City WFO regarding KHGX participation and
satellite rapid scan operations (RSO).
The WFO will initiate the actual RSO request.
Nowcaster:
The Nowcaster will be responsible for keeping the Ops. Director updated
on changing weather conditions and developing storm scenarios as
convection begins to develop close to or within the HEAT observation
region. To accomplish this
task, the Nowcaster will make use of weather information (such as
satellite, radar, surface obs., profilers and soundings) that will be
available on the web from the RAP real-time weather page (http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather).
He/She
will also utilize lightning data from the NLDN and lightning mapping
system to make a forecast and direct personnel. The Nowcaster will be in communication with the on-duty
forecaster at the League City WFO in assessing the near-term weather
forecasts during the day’s research operations.
The Nowcaster will also direct the taking of environmental
soundings by the two MGLASS units, and interpret these soundings.
The Nowcaster will ensure that these soundings are taken at the
appropriate times (every three hours) and locations.
He/She will also direct the TAOS units.
Mobile Unit
Coordinator:
The Mobile Unit Coordinator will communicate with the outlying mobile
weather observation units (MGLASS and electrical soundings) to get their
impressions of developing convection.
The Mobile Unit Coordinator will then help guide mobile units to
the target storm(s) selected by the OD.
The Mobile Unit coordinator will keep all mobile
units informed of target storms, radar, and aircraft observational
strategies, and potentially hazardous weather that may be coming their
way.
Aircraft
Scientists (2): The three Aircraft Scientists will be responsible for coordinating the University of Wyoming’s King Air research
aircraft (UWKA) and the WMI Lear jet aircraft penetrations of targeted storms.
They will also coordinate pollution measurements conducted by the
UWKA and Lear jet.
The OD will consult with the scientists about possible storm
penetration strategies with due consideration to aircraft safety,
ability to reach the target storm, observed storm structure, and likely
storm evolution.
Radar
Scientists (2): The two Radar Scientists will be responsible for interpreting the radar
echoes, including polarimetric measurements, and for recommending and
implementing proper radar scanning strategies, under the overall
direction of the OD. The
CHILL Radar Scientist will have primary responsibility for ensuring that
the two research radars maintain coordinated volumetric scans of the
target storm(s). The CSU-CHILL and S-Pol scientists will consult in this
process and the CHILL scientist will select scan parameters for the
CHILL radar. The S-Pol
Radar Scientist will be located at the remote S-Pol site about 17 miles
northeast of Houston. The
CHILL radar scientist will be in direct communication with the S-Pol
radar scientist who will be responsible for setting parameters for the
S-Pol volumetric scans.
4.2.2 Chief Coordinators and Representatives for the Major
Components and Observing Systems
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The following participants will be responsible for
overall coordination and representation of the major components and
observing systems. These
are oversight duties that go beyond staffing requirements for daily
field operations.
Operations
Center and the radar scientists: Mike Biggerstaff of OU will serve as the chief
radar scientist/coordinator and Ops. Center manager. As such, he or his delegate will ensure that project
scientists adequately staff the Ops. Center in order that daily
operations can be conducted. Additionally,
when the Radar Facility Representative(s) are not present, he or his
delegate will be responsible for determining the status of the research
radars and Ops. Center and for reporting this at the morning briefings. In this capacity, the chief radar scientist/coordinator will
work closely with the CHILL and S-Pol radar facility representatives in
the operation of the radars and Ops. Center.
Biggerstaff will also be responsible for establishing staffing
for the radar scientists within the Ops. Center Teams.
Radar facility
representatives: A CSU delegate will serve as CHILL radar facility representative, while
a NCAR delegate will serve as S-Pol radar facility representative.
The radar facility managers are responsible for ensuring that
adequate staffing of the separate radars is provided.
They will also be responsible for conveying the day’s expected
operations plan to any radar facility staff involved in operations, but
not present at the briefing.
Aircraft
coordination and representation: A University of
Wyoming delegate will represent and coordinate the UWKA and a WMI
delegate will monitor the Lear jet.
They will be responsible for determining the status of the
aircraft and reporting this at the morning briefings.
They will also be responsible for conveying the day’s expected
operations plan to aircraft crews not present at the briefing.
Another responsibility will be to establish staffing for the
aircraft coordinators within the Ops. Center Teams.
They will work with the Ops. Center Team and other
investigators to coordinate aircraft operations with other field
observations. They also
will be the points of contact between other HEAT investigators and the
aircraft crew as well as contacts for obtaining data from the aircraft
for initial comparisons with data from other observing systems.
Normally, delegates will be physically with their aircraft, which
will be hangered at Ellington Field or at the Ops. Center.
The pilots-in-command of both aircraft will have full
authority to accept or reject requests for particular sampling
strategies and trajectories in particular situations.
Forecasting,
nowcasting, and mobile unit coordination: John Nielsen-Gammon of TAMU will serve as
chief coordinator for forecasting, nowcasting, and the mobile units.
He or his delegate will assure that appropriate personnel are
assigned to the daily forecasting and nowcasting duties, that MGLASS and
TAOS soundings are taken at the appropriate times and locations, and
that mobile ballooning units are informed of target storms and observing
strategies. The chief
mobile coordinator will be responsible for reporting the status of
mobile units at the morning briefing and conveying the day’s
operations plan to mobile unit staff not present at the briefing.
MGLASS and TAOS
representative: A NCAR delegate will serve as the MGLASS and TAOS representative.
Lightning
mapping array representative: A Vaisala-GAI delegate will serve as the lightning mapping
system representative.
Mobile
electrical sounding representative: A NSSL delegate will serve as the representative for
the NSSL/OU mobile electrical sounding system. This representative will be responsible for ascertaining and
reporting the status of electrical ballooning facilities at the morning
briefing, communicating information from the morning briefing to other
balloon crew members, and coordinating with the nowcaster to develop
initial strategies for the day’s deployment of the NSSL/OU facility.
Three-station flat plate antenna
network representative: A CSU
delegate will be in charge of maintaining the network and reporting its
status at the briefings.
HEAT Mesonet
and wind profiler representatives: A TNRCC delegate along with Marion Alcorn from TAMU
will be responsible in maintaining these sites and archiving the data
from the surface mesonet and wind profilers.
They will also be in charge of reporting the status of these
instruments at the briefings.
4.3
Operations center layout
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There will be room for seven workstation positions,
including one to be used as the CHILL engineering display.
4.3.1
Displays and communications
Nowcaster:
Access to the web for weather products from the RAP website.
Communicates with the MGLASS and TAOS sites and directs units to
locations for environmental soundings.
The Nowcaster will also be in communication with the NWS WFO in
League City.
Mobile
Coordinator:
Access to the web for weather radar and other products from the RAP
website. Communicates with
the electrical ballooning and MGLASS units.
May also need access to at least one display of research radar
reflectivity, either CHILL or S-Pol with positions of mobile units
overlaid.
Aircraft
Coordinator:
Must have CHILL and/or S-Pol reflectivity with the aircraft tracks
overlaid. Communications
with aircraft will be done on a different VHF frequency from the one for
the VHF repeater to be used for ground-to-ground communications.
Vectoring of aircraft will be done with VOR/DME coordinates from
a nearby VORTAC station. An
additional PC station will be provided by SDSMT for monitoring the
telemetered T-28 measurements. The
GPS latitude-longitude positions of the aircraft will be telemetered
into the Ops. Center.
Operations
Director:
The Ops. Director will have responsibility for the overall direction of
operations, including selecting storms for coordinated observations and
deciding on proper sampling strategies in consultation with various
OSC’s. Ideally, the Ops.
Director should have access to both the CHILL and S-Pol data sets with
aircraft, mesonet, and mobile unit locations as overlays.
Access to radio and/or phones will be required to communicate
directly with outlying units, ground based and airborne.
The Ops. director also needs to communicate with the League
City WFO.
Primary Radar
Coordinator/CHILL Radar Scientist: This radar scientist in consultation with the S-Pol
radar scientist will coordinate the storm-volume scans to be executed by
CHILL and S-Pol. The radar
scientist at the Ops. Center will have access to the CSU-CHILL scan
optimizer, and will convey such parameters to the CHILL technical staff
member at the engineering position who has direct control of the CHILL
radar. This primary radar
coordinator position should also have access to League City NWS radar data.
S-Pol Radar
Scientist:
This radar scientist will be located at the remote radar site and will
have access to the S-Pol radar data display and scan optimizer.
This scientist will be responsible for interpreting the S-Pol
radar data and specifying the detailed scan parameters for S-Pol.
The CHILL and S-Pol radar scientists will be
responsible for interpreting the radar measurements and setting up
optimum radar scan strategies. The
CHILL scientist will lead this sub-team of two scientists, and will have
communications responsibilities with the S-Pol scientist at the remote
radar site.
CHILL
Engineering Display: Responsible for control of the CHILL radar scans.
All displays should have some sort of lat/lon grid
overlay capability for going back and forth between radar coordinates
and latitude-longitude.
4.3.2
Radio and phone communications
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TAMU will install a VHF radio repeater on a tower in
Houston, Texas. This radio
will be used for ground-to-ground communications.
As a minimum, the Ops. Center will need to communicate with the
two MGLASS, the electrical ballooning units, and the S-Pol radar site.
Ground-to-air radio will be done on the nominal 123.45 MHz VHF
with equipment provided by SDSMT.
4.4
Field Experimental Designs
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Scientific field experimental designs are presented
in this section. These are
generic flight patterns and mobile laboratory positions based on storm
location, character, and movement, and may be adjusted during operations
to accommodate the day’s scientific objectives.
The radars will be run throughout these experiments; for scan
strategies, see section 5.1.4. These
plans are for the following scenarios: I) No storm/Before
Initiation/Before Storm Enters Domain, II) Isolated Urban Storm, III)
Isolated Environmental and Urban Storms in Coexistence, and IV) Storm
System Transgressing Study Area. These
scenarios will be discussed with reference to Sea Breeze and Squall Line
storm systems, as these are the most frequent modes of convection during
the study period.
Urban storms will be diagnosed as within a
geographical box defined by the following coordinates of its lower left
and upper right-hand corners: 29.5 N, 95.7 W; 30.2 N, 94.85 W (see box
in figures). Storms outside
this region, but within the study area (see section 1) will be
classified as environmental.
The Houston urban outline, Harris County, and
Galveston Bay are shown in the following figures.
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