WESTERN REGION TECHNICAL ATTACHMENT
NO. 03-03
MARCH 25, 2003
WESTERN REGION IFPS VERIFICATION AND ANALYSIS PACKAGE
Andy Edman, Western Region-SSD, Salt Lake City, UT
Recently two components to Western
Region's effort to support IFPS verification have been delivered to
Western Region Forecast offices.
First, an analysis system developed
by Tim Barker (SOO, Boise) and Les Colin (Lead Forecaster, Boise) that
was initially presented at the Western Region IFPS workshop in January has been
made available for download on the IFPS smartTool Repository (http://140.90.90.253/~applications/STR/index.php3
), however it hasn't been advertised beyond it's mere availability on the server.
The MatchObsAll analysis system written by Tim Barker consists of a series of
GFESuite procedures and smartTools that run on an office's local GFE development
computer. This system uses both a model background field and previous analysis
as well as METAR, mesoWest and marine observations to produce an analysis on
the same grid being produced by local IFPS/GFE. Observation correction is done
using the SERP algorithm (based on the SERP smartTool), producing two analyses
at each hour, one based on the model background field and one based on the previous
hours analysis. These two analyses are averaged together, producing the final
analysis, which limits the affect of observational data used in the observation
correction. In addition, the system is set to rerun several previous hours of
analysis at each time step to take advantage of new data and minimize data latency.
Because this analysis system is run at the local office on the same grid (i.e.
same domain and resolution) it can easily be used for both support of IFPS operations
as well as gridded verification of the Official gridded forecast.
Second, as an action from the Western Region IFPS workshop in January I have completed the redesign of the IFPS verification system that I put together and sent out to WR offices last Fall. The redesigned system is based on work done by Jeff Davis (WFO Tucson) that utilizes separate mutable databases in the GFESuite to archive forecast, observed and error grids based on the the Fcst database. Because this system represents a complete redesign, the procedures and smartTools that were made available last Fall have now become obsolete. In addition to changing the underlying database structure of the system, the system will now compute error grids for MaxT, MinT, QPF and Winds and can easily be configured to add more weather elements. Importantly, this system has also been configured to take advantage of the above MatchObsAll analysis system developed by Tim Barker. The installation of the system has been simplified greatly in order to compartmentalize the configuration and to minimize the amount of hands on work needed. While there some manual configuration is required (site id, host id, etc...), most of the setup is automated using an install script.
In response to the decision to make
this system mandatory at the IFPS workshop, all Western Region forecast
offices will have the system install and running by May 1st, 2003.
Two Western Region Technical Attachments that describe both systems are: