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AMDAR Data Display at NOAA Earth Systems Research Laboratory

Global Systems Division

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GSD AMDAR display (1)• Started 11 August 1998 (old!)• Still uses a very old version of java

– compatible with Internet Explorer without plugins

– BUT, you can’t print plots directly• Need to use a screen capture program such as

hypersnap• A non-java display still exists, but is only

grudgingly supported

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GSD AMDAR display (2)• Access restricted to National Weather

Services, researchers and others, as described in the FAQ

• World-wide AMDAR data available back to July 2001

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Capabilities

• Load data from any time period desired within the last several years

• Select only certain data (water vapor, turbulence, data source)

• Display the data as color coded wind barbs• Display aircraft soundings• Show data from around the world• Overlay airport locations , cities, VORs

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Real-time demonstration…

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Conclusion• Not operationally supported

– upside: very easy to upgrade– upside: not changed very often– downside: sometimes down (but rarely)

• TAMDAR evaluation has given it a new lease on life (and some support)

• No plans to close it down, but no clear path to operations either

• It will eventually be supplanted by something better (10 years is a long lifetime for a software system)

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Extra slides

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Frequently-Asked Questions:http://amdar.noaa.gov/FAQ.html

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Video tutorials are somewhat dated regarding details, but should be very helpful.

More up-to-date training is available from NWS Green Bay, at http://www.crh.noaa.gov/tamdar/training.php

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http://amdar.noaa.gov/

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http://amdar.noaa.gov/ruc_acars/

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http://amdar.noaa.gov/

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http://amdar.noaa.gov/

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http://amdar.noaa.gov/java/ (restricted, but you can probably get in)

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world view is available (this shows 24 h of data)

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Zooming in…

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…shows regional detail

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Clicking on an ascent/descent will yield a sounding

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The sounding window is interactive: zoomable, and you can see parcel trajectories.