The Observations Program had four main priorities in its FY25 NOFO. It sought projects to develop and demonstrate the following:
- Weather buoy mitigation vehicle: High endurance, modular construction and portable Uncrewed Surface Vehicle (USV) to provide weather buoy backup capability
- Radar KDP rainfall estimate improvement: Improved derived specific differential phase (KDP) product to improve rainfall, particularly heavy rainfall, estimates
- Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR) improvement: Software to process SFMR that delivers more reliable rain rates and surface wind speeds
- Tropical cyclone (TC) reconnaissance data advancements: Use of NOAA Unified Forecast Systems (UFS), including the Global Forecast System (GFS) and Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System (HAFS) for improved use, assimilation, and QA/QC of TC reconnaissance data
| Project Title | Principal Investigators | Project Description | Hazard Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SMFR) Calibration and Re-Calibration Tool | Zorana Jelenak, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research/Cooperative Programs for the Advancement of Earth System Science (UCAR/CPAESS) | SFMR units show variations in calibration and temperature stability that affect radiometer brightness temperature reliability, leading to biases and conflicting observations from different aircraft. SMFR data will remain compromised, and its use in applications very challenging, without a standardized calibration approach, diagnostic hardware health, and stability tools. This project aims to improve the calibration and inter-unit consistency of SFMR instruments on reconnaissance aircraft, providing more reliable data for storm intensity and structure estimation. | Tropical Cyclones |
| Improving Specific Differential Phase (KDP) and Rain Estimation (R) through Optimized Use of Polarimetric Radar Measurements | Guifu Zhang, University of Oklahoma | Currently, operationally used estimators for KDP and rainfall rate suffer from large errors, coarse resolution, and artifacts from neglecting differential backscattering phase. Polarimetric radar data have not yet been fully and optimally used in these operational estimators to achieve their full potential for rain estimation. This project aims to better use of polarimetric radar data and physical constraints to improve estimates of specific differential phase, enhance rainfall rate products, and provide novel estimates of differential backscattering phase and other rain microphysical parameters. | Flooding and Precipitation |
| Next-Generation Airborne Doppler Radar Processing for Tropical Cyclone Reconnaissance Data Advancement | Michael Bell, Colorado State University | Airborne Doppler radar wind and precipitation data provide a critical data source for numerical weather prediction (NWP) model assimilation and analysis by forecasters, but the current operational FORTRAN software is aging and difficult to maintain and will be unable to meet the demands of next-generation radar technology being considered for WP-3D hurricane hunter aircraft replacement. This project aims to develop a next-generation software framework to improve three essential components in the airborne Doppler radar data pipeline to support current operational aircraft radars and meet the needs of the future pipeline for a C-130 Vertically Scanning Doppler Radar (VSDR). | Tropical Cyclones |
| Developing an Uncrewed Surface Vehicle for Weather Buoy Mitigation | Andrew Chiodi, University of Washington/Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, & Ecosystem Studies (CICOES) | Inoperable weather buoys cause data gaps, impairing the ability to produce and validate high-quality forecasts and products. The project aims to develop, test, and demonstrate an affordable, high-endurance Uncrewed Surface Vehicle (USV), SeaTrac, designed to collect meteorological and oceanographic data to provide a versatile and deployable solution for continuous weather monitoring and mitigate weather buoy outages. | Relevant to All Hazards |
