In January - February 1999, there will be winter reconnaissance dropsonde missions carried out over theOVERVIEW
OF THE 1999 WINTER STORM RECONNAISSANCE PROGRAM
The time and location of the dropsonde missions will be selected adaptively
in order to minimize the error
in selected forecasts associated with possibly large societal impact
and large forecast uncertainty. The
weather events for which forecasts are to be improved through enhanced
initial conditions provided by the
dropsonde data will be selected by the Hydrometeorological Prediction
Center of NCEP, after
consultations with NWS field offices and other NCEP service centers.
The sensitive areas where extra
data can reduce most the expected forecast error for the selected weather
events at a given forecast lead
time will be determined by the Environmental Modeling Center of NCEP,
collaborating with PSU and MIT
scientists.
The plans call for ten flights with USAF Reserve C-130 planes out of
Anchorage, Alaska, and
approximately nine flights with the NOAA G-Vl aircraft, operated by
NOAA AOC, out of Honolulu, Hawaii.
The first and last possible flight days for the C-130s are January
12, and February 11, while those for the
G-Vl are January 15 and February 14, respectively. The dropsonde data
will be transmitted through
regular channels (GTS) in real time.