Five priorities for weather and climate research

The WegenerNet Feldbach Region is a unique weather and climate observation facility comprising 155 meteorological stations measuring temperature, humidity, precipitation, and other parameters, in a tightly spaced grid within a core area of 22 km &#215; 16 km centered near the city of Feldbach (46.93&#176;N, 15.90&#176;E). With its stations every about two square-km (area of about 300 square-km in total), and each station with 5-min time sampling, the network provides regular measurements since January 2007. In 2020, the station network will be expanded by three major new components, converting it from a 2D ground station network into a 3D open-air laboratory for weather and climate research at very high resolution. The following new observing components will start operations by spring 2020:<ol><li>A polarimetric X-band Doppler weather radar for studying precipitation parame- ters in the troposphere above the ground network, such as rain rate, hydrometeor classification, Doppler velocity, and approximate drop size and number. It can provide 3D volume data (at about 1 km &#215; 1 km horizontal and 500 m vertical res- olution, and 5-min time sampling) for moderate to strong precipitation. Together with the dense ground network this allows detailed studies of heavy precipitation events at high accuracy.</li> <li>An azimuth-steerable microwave/IR radiometer for vertical profiling of temperature, humidity, and cloud liquid water in the troposphere (with 200 m to 1 km vertical resolution, and 5-min time sampling), also capable of measuring integrated water vapor (IWV) along line-of-sight paths towards Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) satellites.</li> <li>A water vapor mapping high-resolution GNSS station network, named GNSS StarNet, comprising six ground stations, spatially forming two star-shaped subnets (one with &#8764;10 km interstation distance, and one embedded with &#8764;5 km distance), for providing slant IWV, vertical IWV, and precipitable water, among other parame- ters, at 5-min time sampling.</li> </ol>We will present a detailed overview of the new components, their location, specifica- tion, and output data products.

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Revisions to the Australian tropical cyclone best track database

Journal of Southern Hemisphere Earth System Science ◽

10.1071/es21011 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 71 (2) ◽

pp. 203

Author(s):

Joseph B. Courtney ◽

Gary R. Foley ◽

Johannes L. van Burgel ◽

Blair Trewin ◽

Andrew D. Burton ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tropical Cyclone ◽

Satellite Imagery ◽

Geostationary Satellite ◽

Wind Pressure ◽

Current Intensity ◽

Climate Research ◽

Satellite Technology ◽

Intensity Information ◽

Weather And Climate ◽

Infra Red

The Australian tropical cyclone (TC) best track database (BT) maintained by the Bureau of Meteorology has records since 1909 of varying quality and completeness. Since 2005 a series of efforts to improve the database have included: removing internal inconsistencies, adding fixes, and identifying errors using comparisons with other datasets; upgrading intensity information since 1973 including adding maximum winds (Vm) prior to 1984–85, rederiving Dvorak Current Intensity numbers from archived material and accounting for different wind–pressure relationships used; a partial reanalysis of satellite imagery including microwave imagery using the HURSAT dataset since 1987; and considering an objective intensity dataset. The BT homogeneity is reviewed in the context of improvements in satellite technology, observational coverage, scientific developments, BT procedures and the subjective variation between analysts across time and offices. The scale of these variances is greatest in the early stages prior to 1981 in the absence of geostationary satellite imagery until 1978, satellite calibration issues from 1978–80 and prior to the introduction of the enhanced infra-red Dvorak technique in 1981. The current era since 2003 is considered to be the most accurate, comprehensive and homogeneous corresponding to the expansion of the TC database to include the current suite of fields; the application of microwave and scatterometry imagery; greater standardisation of BT practices and slight changes in the application of the Dvorak technique. These improvements have generated a more consistent dataset that could be used for weather and climate research and other TC-related work.

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