Raman-shifted Eye-safe Aerosol Lidar (REAL)

NCAR's Raman-shifted Eye-safe Aerosol Lidar (REAL), developed by ATD scientists, is one of the few lidars that can be used in highly populated areas. The eye-safe and scanning capability expands the lidar's applications to include mapping urban atmospheric pollutants, and studies of dispersion very near the surface of the earth.

Real-Time Four Dimensional Data Assimilation (RTFDDA)

A high-resolution data assimilation system, developed at RAL, runs with the Penn State/NCAR MM5 Mesoscale Model and provides regional weather forecasts. It also has an interior grid centered over the Washington metropolitan area that runs at very high resolution.

Variational Doppler Radar Assimilation System (VDRAS)

Developed at RAL, VDRAS provides detailed and frequently updated information on wind, rain, and other real-time weather developments. VDRAS is the first real-time system to diagnose low-level wind and temperature over a wide region using four-dimensional data assimilation of Doppler radar data.

Variational Lidar Assimilation System (VLAS)

VLAS, a Doppler lidar variant of VDRAS developed at RAL, provides similar information as VDRAS, but at very high resolution, suitable for estimating winds at a neighborhood scale.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

A building-scale, computational fluid dynamics model to track the winds and movement of particles and chemicals around the Pentagon. Although this system is being developed by another organization, NCAR is testing its own version.