11 th annual high plains conference findings of the four- dimensional storm cell investigator (fsi)...

11th Annual High Plains Conference

Findings of the Four-Dimensional Storm Cell

Investigator (FSI) Alpha Test at WFO Omaha-Valley During the

Convective Season



Convective Season

Daniel Nietfeld

NOAA / National Weather Service Valley, Nebraska

[email protected]


The (FSI) Alpha Test - Why Omaha ???

• D3D evaluation and research 2001-2004

• GR2AE usage since spring 2006

• Attendee of 1st Workshop on NWS Severe Wx Technology – D.C. July 2005

• Expected to have 4 summer students ( got 3)


• To increase warning skill and lead time, and therefore improve public service,

• 3D/4D visualization will allow forecasters to:

– better analyze the signatures which are useful in diagnosis of severe and tornadic storms.

– discover new clues and signatures not easily observed using traditional 2D analysis methods.

Four-Dimensional Stormcell Investigator (FSI)

Four-Dimensional Stormcell Investigator (FSI)


The Lemon Technique (1977)

• Original storm structure analysis methods infer vertical structure from horizontal slices at different elevation angles

• Original storm structure analysis methods infer vertical structure from horizontal slices at different elevation angles


• AWIPS users must infer vertical storm structure using 2D representations of radar data.

• All Tilts or 4-panels: a series of 2D “horizontal” cross-sections– But PPIs are not horizontal – elevation angles are slanted.

• AWIPS Vertical Cross-sections (OB7.1)– Not easy to use– Only complete during short period at end of volume scan– Data are remapped to Cartesian space– Not dynamic (must re-draw to get new cross-section)

• Warning decision making demands quick and rapid assessment of the 3D structure of storms.

AWIPS (D2D) 3D storm interrogation shortcomings

AWIPS (D2D) 3D storm interrogation shortcomings


Solution:Four-Dimensional Stormcell

Investigator (FSI)

• Integrate National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) Warning Decision Support System – Integrated Information (WDSSII) 3D/4D display technology into AWIPS

– Uses Open GL hardware acceleration on the NVIDIA 3D graphics card on the new LX workstation

• FSI will be launched via a D2D extension.

– Once extension is loaded, mouse click will open FSI application centered on storm of interest


Requirements for Developers:

• Provide for quick and easy access to the data (15-30 seconds per storm)

• Provide linkages between 2D representations and 3D data– Still difficult for users to overcome tendency to view in traditional 2D

manner

• Radar data must be “native” 8-bit resolution polar grids– Z, V, SRM, SW

• 4D: Animation while slicing and dicing

• Keyboard shortcuts

• Processes must be stable and cause minimal impact to AWIPS system resources


FSI Configuration

PPIPlan Position Indicator

VDXVertical DynamicX-Section

CAPPIConstantAltitudePPI

3D FlierThree-DimensionalFlier

• FSIalpha has a linked 4-panel design:• FSIalpha has a linked 4-panel design:


FSI Data Handling

• Data from RPG (must be on RPS list)• “Virtual Volume” with each new slice filling in

display, replacing old slice• ~ 2 hours of data (not based on “frames”)• Fairly smart pixel “smoothing”, which is

referred to as data “interpolation”• Currently single radar only


FSI Alpha Test

• FSI alpha tested on AWIPS OB7.2 with new LX:

– SR: Melbourne FL (April - present)– SR: Huntsville, AL (July - present)– CR: Omaha, NE (May 7 – present)

• Missed the May 5th tornado outbreak

• Greg Stumpf (CIMMS/NSSL/MDL) installed the software, trained most of the staff

– SOO provided additional training

• Have evaluated on XX severe thunderstorm events


FSI Alpha TestObjectives

• To determine the stability of the FSI software during real-time operational warning situations.

• To gain feedback from operational warning meteorologists on the utility and effectiveness of the FSI display and to suggest improvements before it is deployed into AWIPS.

• To develop subject-matter expertise within WFO meteorologists that could help guide the development of the training on the concept of operations using 3D radar analysis.

• Assess the operational impact of advanced radar analysis tools on NWS performance measures.


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High Wind Event – Harlan IAAugust 12th, 2007


QLCS Tornado IdentificationNon-Descending – Quick Spinups


OAX found that the software is beneficial for…

• Circulations… depth, diameter, VrShear• Core Heights

– Ascending Cores– Descending Cores

• Storm Top Divergence Magnitude• Storm Structure

– Tilt, Overhang, BWERs, etc…

• Rear-Front… and Front-Rear air flow thru lines• Mid-altitude radial convergence (MARC) sigs.


Our Preliminary Findings…

• Cross Section extremely useful– Ability to fully move cross section – Ability to drag Z axis

• CAPPI extremely useful• “Virtual Volume” is most efficient/current• Data display is functional• Nice to have ~ 2 hours of data (not 64 frames)


Our Preliminary Findings…

• A bit sluggish for our liking• Would like to have ability for Z and SRM on

same display somehow• Sampling is critical, and essential• Some display errors• Color table editing critical


OAX Wishlist

• True 3-D volume rendering• Multiple Radar mosaics• Environmental data overlays• WarnGen launched from FSI• Storm Motion for SRM easy to set/change• Level II data direct from RDA• CAPPI on constant surfaces other than Z

– -20C isotherm, theta or theta-E, EL, etc…


FSI Operational Considerations

• Training on the understanding of storm signatures in 3D representations to be developed by WDTB in concert with MDL.

• Workload management/human factors– Partnering with Klein Associates, a leading decision science

company, to conduct Cognitive Task Analysis.

• 3D visualization is reaching WFOs via other applications– 3D experience is gaining in the field.


FSI Operational release

• FSI 1.0 operational release: AWIPS OB8.2 (prior to Spring 2008)

• Resources did not permit all features to be included in FSI1.0:– No Data sampling– Super-resolution data not supported– TDWR data not supported– Storm-motion for SRM must be changed via D2D and FSI relaunch– No colormap editor

• FSI 2.0 (tentative – OB8.3):– Super-resolution data; Polarimetric variables– Data Sampling (multi-parameter)– Improved texture drawing (faster, less memory)– Other suggestions from alpha test


FSI Operational release

• Beyond:– 3D volume rendering and isosurfaces – Data advection (to remove drift)– Display of single radars from multiple locations concurrently– 3D grids of mosaicked multiple-radar data– Integration with near-storm environment data from numerical models

• Add Temperature contours to vertical cross sections• Constant Temperature PPIs (CTPPIs).

• Next-generation AWIPS (AWIPS2):– Common AWIPS Visualization Environment (CAVE) should require fully-

integrated support for 3D visualization.




Convective Season



Convective Season

Daniel Nietfeld

NOAA / National Weather Service Valley, Nebraska

[email protected]

11 th annual high plains conference findings of the four- dimensional storm cell investigator (fsi)...

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