Advanced Quality Control and Analysis of Visibility and Ceiling

Project Details

 

Duration

Feb.2013 - Jan.2016

Acronym 

AQUA VICE

Funded by

Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft mbH (FFG)

Program

Brückenschlagprogramm (BRIDGE)

Projectnumber

838503

Participants

 

IMGW Institut für Meteorologie und Geophysik, Universität Wien, Althanstraße 14, A-1090 Wien http://imgw.univie.ac.at/

Reinhold Steinacker (PI), Sarah Umdasch, Manfred Dorninger

ACG Austro Control, Gesellschaft für Zivilluftfahrt mbH., Schnirchgasse 11, A-1030 Wien  http://www.austrocontrol.at/

Markus Kerschbaum, Wolfgang Pöttschacher

 

Project Overview

The meteorological variables horizontal visibility and cloud base height (ceiling) are of vital importance for aviation, in both, economical and safety terms The aim of the project AQUA VICE is to develop a system generating quality-controlled gridded analyses of the two parameters. The obtained results could in the future provide guidance during take-off and landing as well as for flights operated under visual flight rules.

Besides the human observations of ceiling and visibility, Ceilometers and Present Weather Sensors have been taking automated measurements for some time now at the Austrian airport sites. A denser nation-wide network of those instruments is currently being set up in a common effort by Austro Control GmbH (ACG) and the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG). At this time (early 2013), Ceilometers and Present Weather Sensors are already operating at nine TAWES (Teilautomatisches-Wetter-Erfassungs-System) sites.

The basis for the project work is a data set comprising one year of measured and observed visibility and ceiling height values, but also additional information like satellite and radar data as well as conventional meteorological surface parameters. These data will be used to study the spatial and weather-dependent representativeness of the ceiling and visibility measurements. The found relations with the meteorological and topographical conditions will provide the basis for the development of an interpolation algorithm. The VERA (Vienna Enhanced Resolution Analysis) system allows the integration of empirical prior knowledge and ancillary information by means of the “Fingerprint” technique and is thus appropriate for the adaption to ceiling and visibility. However, for the accuracy of the analysis, the accuracy of the input data is a decisive factor and should be checked and raised, if possible, in a pre-processing step. A planned quality control will thus not only test the internal consistency of different point measurements, but particularly the accordance with the ancillary data.