Weather
Training module focusing on identification of volcanic ash and sulfur dioxide plumes from satellite imagery.
Volcanic eruptions have a severe impact on human health, economy and traffic. They regularly cause natural disasters such as tsunamis and lava flows that are difficult to predict. Volcanic eruptions emit large amounts of gases, ash, and other aerosol particles into the atmosphere. In the short term, volcanic ash plumes have serious impacts on aviation. It is, therefore, very important to monitor the extent, height and duration of such events to properly estimate the impact of eruptions at various spatial and temporal scales, using data from different instruments on different satellites.
Zsofia Kocsis goes over the priniciples of RGB imagery, reasons for its use and guidelines for their creation.
This presentation covers what are the benefits of working with RGBs compared to single channels satellite data. We will cover how we can create RGBs, what makes an RGB good and we will also talk about what are the standard RGBs and why we like to use them.
Lecture slides
Vinko Šoljan talks about forecasting and nowcasting of deep moist convection, satellite products used, NWP outputs and more.
In this presentation, we will demonstrate the process of forecasting deep moist convection (DMC) at Croatia Control and how satellite products are utilized in this process. This includes large-scale analysis and diagnosis using satellite data, as well as monitoring and nowcasting existing DMC using satellite products and radar data. In DMC forecast we primarily rely on the ingredients-based methodology and NWP guidance.
Andreas Wirth goes over the topic of Dust Infused Baroclinic Storms (DIBS) and explains the current forecast model inconsistencies regarding DIBS as well as their impact on weather.
Dust Infused Baroclinic Storms (DIBS) have a high impact on weather. Mineral dust particles in the atmosphere reduce sunlight at lower levels, reduce visibility and damp daily temperature maxima. Dust particles can have an impact on forecasted precipitation too, and in higher concentrations, dust particles can cause respiratory problems.
This presentation focuses on circulation pattern that causes dust transport towards Europe and on how to detect high dust loads in- and outside clouds from geostationary satellite imagery on the basis of recent examples.
Lecture slides
Georg Pistotnik covers the topic of drylines, shows it's relevance in severe weather development.
Drylines are boundaries separating warmer and drier from cooler and moister air, usually resulting from differential diurnal heating and therefore vertical mixing. The most common and distinct dryline in the Alpine region is the boundary between Foehn winds (dynamically driven) and upvalley/upslope circulations (thermally driven). Thunderstorms often form along drylines and intensify when they move onto their moist side, where CAPE and vertical wind shear are systematically enhanced and favor convective organization. This presentation highlights how station and readiosonde data, high-resolution satellite imagery and even webcam images can be integrated into the nowcasting of drylines and resulting thunderstorms, using some prominent cases of the past few years in the eastern Alpine region.
Lecture slides
Liliane Hofer speaks about prognostic service of Austria, work organization, regional weather forecast specifics such as southerly föhn winds and others.
Various phenomena, some of which are regionally specific, such as southerly föhn winds or precipitation in northern or southern congestion, make the weather forecast in Austria very challenging at times. In addition, the topographically highly structured landscape also results in quite small-scale differences, for example in inversion weather conditions. All this and special customer products are highlighted in this presentation, as well as the basic working environment of the forecasters and, of course, the satellite products used for this purpose.
Lecture slides
Katarina Katušić talks about Croatian Met Service work principles and schedules, case study and satellite products used during operational shift work.
The Weather and Marine Analysis and Forecasting Sector is a part of the Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service (DHMZ), and it is in charge of weather forecasts and warnings for the public and numerous companies. Over the years, we have gone through many challenges. Quite recently, during the lockdown, the earthquake severely damaged our headquarters, and even with those difficulties the work did not stop. We also prepare and present weather forecasts for national television. Furthermore, this presentation will cover the usage of weather satellite products in daily operational work.
Lecture slides
Marco Stoll shows the importance of mountain waves in aviation forecasting.
Meteorological information is crucial for flight safety and efficiency. Mountain waves are an example of a potentially hazardous phenomenon for aviation that meteorological watch offices need to monitor and forecast. The typical appearance of the phenomenon in satellite imagery is illustrated, thereby making use of various MSG channels and RGB products. The difficult task of quantifying vertical speeds and estimating the degree of turbulence associated with breaking waves is discussed with the aid of NWP cross sections.
Jorge Ponte shows the challenges of being a forecaster, issuing warnings and discusses extreme precipitation event that affected Lisbon.
Extreme rainfall events in December 2022 caused significant losses in Lisbon, Portugal. This presentation examines these events to discuss whether it was possible (or not) to make a better forecast and issue earlier warnings. By analyzing various numerical model products from the preceding days alongside real-time monitoring data (satellite, radar, stations), the presentation will explore the operational forecaster's decision-making process during extreme weather situations.
Lecture slides
On 1 February 2024 H SAF held a webinar on the new Moodle e-learning platform.
On 1 February 2024 H SAF held a webinar on the new Moodle e-learning platform. Details about the platform were presented as well as case studies on soil moisture, snow and precipitation.
Go to webinar
A new conceptual model on Mediterranean hurricanes - "Medicanes".
Medicanes are rare, intense and destructive warm-core cyclones occasionally generated in Mediterranean Basin.
Compared with tropical cyclones, medicanes are weaker and smaller in size, with diameters under 300 km, while the diameter of a hurricane is larger than 1000 km. Hurricanes move in general from east to west due to easterly winds, while medicanes generally (but not always) move from west to east due to the mid-latitude westerlies.
Medicanes mostly occur in the western Mediterranean and in the region extending from the Ionian Sea to the North African coast. There is strong variability from year to year without any significant trends.
A conceptual model on DIBS: A special kind of Cirrus clouds formed by dust
The strongest influence of DIBS, and especially of dusty cirrus, on surface weather is mainly the reduced solar radiation reaching the ground as dust particles act as condensation nuclei and form clouds where otherwise no clouds would have been present. As current numerical weather prediction models do not accurately account for microphysical cloud formation processes caused by the additional dust at higher atmospheric levels, predicted maximum temperatures often have a considerable bias towards higher values.