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Page 1 MDE Profiler Ft. Meade, Maryland MARAMA Monitoring and Profiler Meeting October 24, 2001 Atlantic Sands Hotel - Rehoboth Beach, DE Maryland Department of the Environment
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MDE Profiler Ft. Meade, Maryland
MARAMA Monitoring and Profiler Meeting
October 24, 2001
Atlantic Sands Hotel - Rehoboth Beach, DE
Maryland Department
of the Environment
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Profiler Background• LAP-3000 (Lower
Atmospheric Profiler) and RASS (Radio Acoustic Sounding System)
• Installed in June 1998, operating ever since
• Located at Ft. Meade (half-way between Baltimore and Washington, DC
• Maintained by MDE
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Operating Parameters• LAP Pulsed Doppler Radar
measures wind speed and wind direction using microwaves and the Doppler Effect
• LAP measures for 25 minutes, twice per hour, 24 hours per day.
• LAP has two simultaneous modes:– High resolution, every 60m up
to 1.5km– Low resolution, every 160m up
to 4km
• RASS measures Virtual Temperature using relationship of speed of sound to air temperature
• RASS measures for 5 minutes, twice per hour, 18 hours per day prior to August 7, 2000; edited radarntt.par file to 24 hours per day since August 7, 2000.
• RASS range of 1km
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Radar.par File
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Data Logging and Availability
• Each morning the previous day’s data is automatically downloaded from the profiler site to a dedicated PC at MDE via ProComm Plus.
• The data is QA/QC and copied to an MDE server.
• The QA/QC process consists of checking the file sizes.
• Data is displayed using LAPGraph Version 2.73.
• Data is only posted internally at MDE.
• UMCP, PSU, and NOAA have direct dial-up access
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Data Archive
• FMEYMMDD.T1A• FMEYMMDD.W1A• FMEYMMDD.W4A• DYYJJJA.LOG• DYYJJJA.MOM• HYYJJJA.MOM• TYYJJJ.CNS• WYYJJJ.CNS
Key
FME = Ft. Meade
Y = Year
M = Month
D = Day
J = Julian Day
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Ongoing Research Interests
• Low level jet (LLJ) research
• Ozone forecasting (checking the current situation)
• Ozone episode analysis
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Hardware and Software Support
• Cost of hardware support– $25K annual service support contract– Current contract good through 9/30/02– Support consists of phone assistance– Only hardware service was for an amplifier,
but at the time service contract had expired
• Cost of software support– $10K Y2K fix– Right now no money allocated in the budget
for profiler software upgrades
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Contacts at Vaisala• Service Contract with Vaisala Meteorological Systems, Inc.
(303) 443-2378 www.vaisala.com Radian International, L.L.C. acquired by Meteorological Systems Company, Inc. (MSCI) MSCI subsequently renamed as Vaisala.
• Contractual POC: Dan Donahue Woburn, MA(781) 537-1068 [email protected]
• Operations Manager: Gary Zeigler Boulder, CO (303) 402-4700 [email protected]
• Technical Contacts– John Newschafer (303) 402- 4706– Kevin Hall (303) 402-4708– George Frederick (PM) (512) 989-4308
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Contacts at MDE• Earl Blue (410) 631-3275 [email protected]
• Fran Pluciennik (410) 631-3756 [email protected]
• Matthew Seybold (410) 631-4401 [email protected]
• Michael Woodman (410) 631-3229 [email protected]
• NOAA Leon Benjamin (303) 497-6031• UMCP Charles Piety (301) 405-7668 [email protected]• PSU Bill Ryan (814) 865-9025 [email protected]
Others with Direct Dialup Access
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Discussion
• Great tool but will be better when used in conjunction with open access to other profiler sites.
• Compare MDE’s profiler parameter setup file with other profiler sites (radar.par)– Currently using the profiler default setup
created at the time of installation by Radian
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Discussion (continued)
• To get the most use out of the profiler– Training?
• At MDE no money in budget to update profiler software – Any grant money available?
• How to make data more accessible to all– Secure FTP Site?
