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The THOR Project-Reducing the Impact of Thunderstorms on Aviation and the General Public Through a Multi-Agency EffectThunderstorms are high impact weather phenomena. They also pose an extremely challenging forecast problem. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), and the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA), have decided to pool technology and scientific expertise into an unprecedented effort to better observe, diagnose, and forecast thunderstorms. This paper describes plans for an operational field test called the THunderstorm Operational Research (THOR) Project beginning in 2002, the primary goals of which are to: 1) Reduce the number of Thunderstorm-related Air Traffic Delays with in the National Airspace System (NAS) and, 2) Improve severe thunderstorm, tornado and airport thunderstorm warning accuracy and lead time. Aviation field operations will be focused on the prime air traffic bottleneck in the NAS, the airspace bounded roughly by Chicago, New York City and Washington D.C., sometimes called the Northeast Corridor. A variety of new automated thunderstorm forecasting applications will be tested here that, when implemented into FAA-NWS operations, will allow for better tactical decision making and NAS management during thunderstorm days. Severe thunderstorm operations will be centered on Northern Alabama. NWS meteorologists from the forecast office in Birmingham will test the utility of experimental lightning, radar, and profiler data from a mesoscale observing network being established by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. In addition, new tornado detection and thunderstorm nowcasting algorithms will be examined for their potential for improving warning accuracy. The Alabama THOR site will also serve as a test bed for new gridded, digital thunderstorm and flash flood warning products.
Document ID
20010040762
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Smith, Stephan B.
(National Weather Service Silver Spring, MD United States)
Pace, David
Goodman, Steven J.
Burgess, Donald W.
Smarsh, David
Roberts, Rita D.
Wolfson, Marilyn M.
Goodman, H. Michael
Date Acquired
August 20, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2001
Subject Category
Air Transportation And Safety
Meeting Information
Meeting: 18th Conference on Weather Analysis and Forecasting
Location: Silver Spring, MD
Country: United States
Start Date: July 30, 2001
End Date: August 2, 2001
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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