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OU SELECTED AS NATIONAL DISTRIBUTION SITE FOR RADAR DATA

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: OU Public Affairs

 

NORMAN - The Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms at the University of Oklahoma has been selected as one of three sites in the United States to distribute real time NEXRAD Doppler weather radar data via the Internet, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today.

 

The data will be made available free of charge to academic users and for the cost of delivery to private sector and government users via a new OU organization called Integrated Radar Data Services, or IRaDS. In addition, the National Weather Service Telecommunication Operations Center will make the radar data available through a "Family of Services" approach if sufficient interest exists within the commercial community.

 

"The selection of the University of Oklahoma as one of the three centers in the nation for the distribution of crucial weather data is further evidence of the university's national and international leadership in the field of meteorology," said OU President David L. Boren. "It's a great tribute to the quality of our faculty and students."

 

The distribution of NEXRAD radar data via the Internet was pioneered during the past five years at OU in a project known as the Collaborative Radar Acquisition Field Test, or CRAFT. It involved collaborators from NOAA, including the National Severe Storms Laboratory and Radar Operations Center in Norman, along with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research's Unidata Program and several private companies. CRAFT initially was funded by a $210,000 seed grant from the State Regents for Higher Education, subsequently generating more than $2.5 million in federal funding for Oklahoma. The highly successful project led the National Weather Service to adopt the novel Internet-based data transmission methodology.

 

Kelvin Droegemeier, Regents' Professor of Meteorology at OU and director of the Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms, who initiated and directed CRAFT, said, "I'm told that it was one of the most successful public-private partnerships ever in the field of meteorology. Everyone, including private sector competitors, worked for the good of the whole, and the result was a concept that broke down barriers and led to a system that benefits all users of NEXRAD data.

 

"Because of Project CRAFT, entirely new uses of radar data are emerging, bringing added benefits to the public and energizing private industry," he added.

 

"This new system will facilitate ground-breaking advances by a variety of radar data users," observed Tim Crum of the NOAA Radar Operations Center in Norman, adding that CRAFT won the NOAATech2002 award for the best of use of advanced networking technologies.

 

In addition to the many benefits of real time NEXRAD radar data for weather prediction and warning, CRAFT completely changed the way NEXRAD data are archived. Prior to CRAFT, the data were recorded at each radar site on 8mm tapes and mailed to the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. Because the tapes were unreliable, the 10-year radar archive was only about 60 percent complete. Furthermore, access to archived data often required weeks or months, especially for large volumes, frequently at significant cost. Today, the NCDC ingests NEXRAD radar data directly from the Internet at a more than 95 percent completion rate, and makes the same data available, free of charge via the Internet, to any user in a matter of minutes.

 

"Project CRAFT was a stellar example of partnering between academia, government and the private sector to demonstrate the value and need of providing real-time NEXRAD data to users," said T.H. Lee Williams, vice president for research and dean of the Graduate College, Norman campus. "OU is particularly pleased that the CAPS IRaDS initiative has been selected by the National Weather Service as one of the top-tier providers for operational NEXRAD Internet-based delivery. IRaDS is a major development in our push to build strong university-government-industry links through the National Weather Center in Norman."

 

Droegemeier said that IRaDS is an important addition to the numerous radar initiatives now under way in Oklahoma, including a $40 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop small phased-array Doppler radars for cell phone towers. Total funding for this project will be $70 million to $100 million over its formal 10-year lifetime. Another major initiative is the successor to NEXRAD being pioneered by the National Severe Storms Laboratory in partnership with OU. "We hope to add to IRaDS data from radars operated by the FAA and even, possibly, television stations," Droegemeeir said, adding that "IRaDS will assist with economic development in Oklahoma by helping attract private weather companies and creating new public-private partnerships."

 

For more information on IRaDS, visit http://radarservices.org

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[Jean-Louis]

Bonsoir Christian

 

Ici l'accés libre aux radars revient souvent sur le tapis pour les amateurs.

 

Mais quand je pense qu'à titre même professionnel, on ne peut pas avoir accés aux radars espagnols pour une sombre histoire d'accord entre ces deux pays EUROPEENS !

 

Alors que l'on a frôlé la catastrophe au niveau des crues d'origines torrentielles en piémont Français (campings) relativement à des orages qui arrivaient en débordement depuis le nord de l'Espagne ! Si je n'avais pas eu le réflexe d'anticiper d'aprés l'IR, la visible et avec l'aide de quelques observateurs...

 

Tous les services de prévisions de crues frontaliers (Français) sont exposés à cette carrence. Scandaleux. Il y a de quoi crier aux fous !!!