The Experimental ADDS project was successfully completed on June 30th, 2015. All research has now been transferred to Operational ADDS. Please consult that site for all of your future aviation... more
Recognizing that probabilistic weather forecasts are critical to meeting the air traffic efficiency goals of NextGen, RAL is working under FAA sponsorship to develop a probabilistic 1–10 hr C&... more
TITAN is a real-time algorithm for automated identification, tracking, and extrapolation based short-term forecasting of thunderstorms utilizing volume-scan weather radar data. For each time step... more
Fine-Scale Analysis and Nowcast System (FINECAST) is used by the research community to study... more
VLAS represents the Doppler lidar variant of VDRAS. VLAS provides very high-resolution wind information at the neighborhood scale and has been used to study atmospheric transport and diffusion in... more
The RT-FDDA system was developed to provide high-resolution analyses and short-term (0 – 12 h) forecasts, although recent advances in computing power enable longer outlooks to be generated. RT-... more
The National Convective Weather Forecast (NCWF) product was developed by NCAR/RAL and eventually operationalized by the NWS Aviation Weather Center (AWC). It was the first extrapolation-based... more
Named after the Native American Chief Niwot, this new short-term forecasting system is being developed based on a blending of observation extrapolation technology and numerical weather prediction... more
The Current Icing Product (CIP) combines sensor and Numerical Weather Prediction model output to provide an hourly, three-dimensional diagnosis of the icing environment. The Forecast Icing Product... more
The Current Icing Product (CIP) combines sensor and Numerical Weather Prediction model output to provide an hourly, three-dimensional diagnosis of the icing environment. The Forecast Icing Product... more
The Research Applications Laboratory is addressing oceanic weather needs for aviation through the development of an intelligent system that generates 0-2 hour nowcasts.
Remote, oceanic... more
Thunderstorms and especially lightning pose a safety risk to people outdoors whether they are working or enjoying themselves with recreational activities. It is imperative to bring people inside... more
The accumulation of ice on aircraft prior to take off has long been recognized as one of the most significant safety hazards... more
Controlling snow and ice buildup on roadways during winter weather events presents several challenges for winter maintenance personnel. Among these challenges is the need to make effective winter... more
The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is a next-generation mesoscale numerical weather prediction system designed to serve both atmospheric research and operational... more
The Radar Icing Algorithm, or 'RadIA', utilizes the polarized moments from the National Weather Service's network of WSR-88D operational radars and the most recent Numerical Weather Prediction... more
An icing hazard receiving increased attention lately is that of the ingest of large amounts of ice crystals into jet engines, causing them to fail during flight. As of this time, no accidents have... more
Aviation-based winter weather research at RAL, sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration, has focused on developing two new systems in support of Ground Deicing operations. The Liquid Water... more
When an aircraft experiences winter precipitation conditions on the ground, it is required to undergo a de/anti-icing procedure involving glycol-based fluids before takeoff. In order to determine... more
CubeView is a data viewer reference implementation utilizing data and standards from the 4-D Weather Data Cube. CubeView displays data provided to the 4-D Cube by the NOAA National Weather Service... more
The Flight Path Tool (FPT) is a comprehensive, interactive, geographical display that brings together all of the weather products available on ADDS. It runs as a desktop application on your... more
Real-time ensemble RTFDDA forecasting system combines real-time WRF-based FDDA technologies and a probabilistic forecast calibration technology for producing reliable real-time probabilistic wind/... more
RTFDDA-LES extends real-world numerical weather prediction to large-eddy-simulation (LES) scales, with grid sizes down to ~30m. The NCAR WRF-based RTFDDA system is formulated for simultaneously... more
The National Convective Weather Forecast (NCWF) product, designed and implemented by the National Centerfor Atmospheric Research (NCAR), provides a diagnose of the current locations of convective... more
FastEddy limited area domain simulation with the cell perturbation method for resolved turbulence instigation (top) versus a periodic domain reference simulation (bottom). This feature allows... more
Because of their light weight, slower air speed and limited endurance, most small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) are much more susceptible to variations in wind speed/direction and turbulence... more