Coordinated response mitigates loss of aircraft-based weather data
1 June 2020
A coordinated response involving EUMETNET, national meteorological services and private companies is helping to mitigate any adverse effects of the continued loss of aircraft-based observations on weather forecasts.
Since March, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a sharp drop in flights and thus in the aircraft-based observations available to weather prediction centres.
Fortunately, EUMETSAT, ESA and other space agencies have continued to provide complete sets of satellite observations. These remain the most important observations, and their continued availability has ensured that there is no severe impact from the loss of aircraft observations.
Aircraft reports include temperature and wind and in some cases humidity and turbulence. They are used together with many other observations to help estimate the state of the Earth system at the start of forecasts.
Responses to the drop in observations include the use of previously untapped aircraft-based observations; an increase in the number of radiosonde launches from some locations; and the assimilation of additional satellite data.
No comments:
Post a Comment