EMS Annual Meeting Abstracts
Vol. 18, EMS2021-189, 2021, updated on 18 Jun 2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2021-189
EMS Annual Meeting 2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Initial results of the project SINOPTICA (Satellite-borne and IN-situ Observations to Predict The Initiation of Convection for ATM) 

Laura Esbri1, Maria Carmen Llasat1, Tomeu Rigo2, Massimo Milelli3, Vincenzo Mazzarella3, Martina Lagasio3, Andrea Parodi3, Marco-Michael Temme4, Olga Glushenko4, Markus Kerschbaum5, Riccardo Biondi6, Nicola Surian6, Eugenio Realini7, Andrea Gatti7, Giulio Tagliaferro7, and Antonio Parodi3
Laura Esbri et al.
  • 1Department of Applied Physics, University of Barcelona, Spain (lesbri@meteo.ub.edu)
  • 2Meteorological Service of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain
  • 3CIMA Research Foundation, Savona, Italy
  • 4Institute of Flight Guidance, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Braunschweig, Germany
  • 5Austro Control GmbH, Wien, Austria
  • 6Geosciences Department, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
  • 7Geomatics Research & Development Srl, Como, Italy

In the framework of the SINOPTICA project (EU H2020 SESAR, 2020 – 2022), different meteorological forecasting techniques are being tested to better nowcast severe weather events affecting Air Traffic Management (ATM) operations. Short-range severe weather forecasts with very high spatial resolution will be obtained starting from radar images, through an application of nowcasting techniques combined with Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) model with data assimilation. The final goal is to integrate compact nowcast information into an Arrival Manager to support Air Traffic Controllers (ATCO) when sequencing and guiding approaching aircraft even in adverse weather situations. The guidance-support system will enable the visualization of dynamic weather information on the radar display of the controller, and the 4D-trajectory calculation for diversion coordination around severe weather areas. This meteorological information must be compact and concise to not interfere with other relevant information on the radar display of the controller.

Three severe weather events impacting different Italian airports have been selected for a preliminary radar analysis. Some products are considered for obtaining the best radar approach to characterize the severity of the events for ATM interests. Combining the Vertical Integrated Liquid and the Echo Top Maximum products, hazard thresholds are defined for different domains around the airports. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model has been used to simulate the formation and development of the aforementioned convective events. In order to produce a more accurate very short-term weather forecast (nowcasting), remote sensing data (e.g. radar, GNSS) and conventional observations are assimilated by using a cycling three-dimensional variational technique. This contribution presents some preliminary results on the progress of the project.

How to cite: Esbri, L., Llasat, M. C., Rigo, T., Milelli, M., Mazzarella, V., Lagasio, M., Parodi, A., Temme, M.-M., Glushenko, O., Kerschbaum, M., Biondi, R., Surian, N., Realini, E., Gatti, A., Tagliaferro, G., and Parodi, A.: Initial results of the project SINOPTICA (Satellite-borne and IN-situ Observations to Predict The Initiation of Convection for ATM) , EMS Annual Meeting 2021, online, 6–10 Sep 2021, EMS2021-189, https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2021-189, 2021.

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