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Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA)
Objectives
The Technology Outreach Division is under agreement with the Meteorological Research Institute (METRI) of the Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA) to design a nowcasting system based on FSL's WFO-Advanced meteorological system. The development of an integrated workstation is the capstone of years of modernization at the KMA to provide better weather information to its citizens. The cooperative effort will be carried out by researchers and engineers from both organizations, and KMA scientists will reside in Boulder, Colorado, for periods up to 12 months for training at FSL.
Accomplishments
Negotiations during Fiscal Year 2000 resulted in approval of a Memorandum of Understanding for Technical Cooperation in Meteorology between NOAA/FSL and KMA/METRI for developing, procuring, and installing an AWIPS-like workstation, called the Forecaster's Analysis System (FAS), at the KMA.
Projections
The FSL-KMA team will focus on developing the initial capability of the KMA nowcasting system, supporting start-up and operation, and implementing a training program for KMA forecaster systems and operations staff. Tasks will include identifying requirements for the interface between KMA's current Meteorological Data Obersvation and Analysis (MDOA) system and the FAS, the experimental version of AWIPS build 5.0.
The first task for FSL and KMA will be to define the initial capabilities of the nowcasting system by adapting FSL's WFO-Advanced system to the current KMA meteorolgical data observation and analysis environment. KMA staff will prepare real-time data feed, and FSL will support KMA in customizing the KMA nowcasting system with data ingest, user interface, and the two-dimensional display (D2D) components of the WFO-Advanced system. FSL will also recommend suitable hardware equipment, provide specifications for this equipment, and identify the preferred configurations. The second task involves development of the operational KMA nowcasting system. The current FSL WFO-Advanced system will be converted to run on a Linux platform, called the FX-Linux workstation. KMA will retain their current front-end communications and data acquisition systems, and the database of the data management component will be interfaced between KMA's current meteorological data observation system and the new nowcasting system. The KMA real-time data retrieval software will be integrated and tested. The workstation will include all types of meteorological data, along with user interface, menu, display functions, and data management. Additional tasks will be better defined and discussed in a later report.
An important complement to the startup and implementation tasks mentioned above is thorough training for everyone involved in the new nowcasting system. Therefore, the KMA nowcasting developers, referred to as PG-NOW (Project Group Nowcasting), will receive general training on the system at FSL. They will receive specific training on how to customize the KMA nowcasting system. FSL will also provide the trainees with existing design documentation and user information for the WFO-Advanced system.