Subject: Blended Microwave Total Precipitable Water and Comparison to
Climatology Product
From: Jon Zeitler <Jon.Zeitler@noaa.gov>
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2006 14:14:18 -0500
To: allsoos@comet.ucar.edu

Fellow SOOs,

Below is a really fantastic website that NESDIS and CIRA
have developed. In short, it is total precipitable water from
the microwave sensors on the polar orbiting satellites. We
can get PW measurements from RAOBs and the GPS
network, but nowhere near the spatial coverage, as the
microwave data cover the land and ocean areas. This is
extremely important for the coastal areas, but also for
inland locations, as return flow from the tropics is usually
an ingredient for extensive heavy rainfall events.

I have been using climatologies developed by Matt Bunkers
for nearly eight years now:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/unr/climate/pw/index.php
and find that two standard deviations above normal (~ the
old 150% of normal rule) has a high POD for at least
minor flash flooding. Of course, my focus has been on the
Southern Plains, so please let me know if this works in
your area as well.

The real key in the link below is the bottom product comparing
the current PW vs. the satellite climatology. This actually
provides a tool to see return flow/tropical taps as they
develop and advect toward a forecast area -- allowing
comparison vs. model initialization and forecasts.

Please send comments to sheldon.kusselson@noaa.gov
Sheldon has been a true champion for getting satellite
data into the hands of NWS forecasters. Products such
as this show what is possible, but we must make our
wishes known for the data be available (e.g., get into AWIPS).

Thanks,
-Jon Zeitler
 SOO, Austin/San Antonio

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Re: Satellite Data You Can Use
Date: 	Wed, 05 Jul 2006 21:01:32 +0000


Wanted to make you aware that NOAA/NESDIS has 
collaborated with the Cooperative Institute for 
Reasearch in the Atmosphere (CIRA) at Colorado 
State University in putting together a blended 
SSM/I-AMSU (over the water) microwave total 
precipitable water that includes GPS PW over land 
(top panel) and a PW anomaly image loop based on 
climo from satellite data from 1988 to 1999.    

This is an experimental web site but it will 
provide the test bed for hopefully making these 
water vapor tools operational someday.

The web address is:  
http://amsu.cira.colostate.edu/gpstpw/   

CIRA has made area include the tropics to near the 
African coast. We would value your feedback on both
imagery loops and if you refer or use it in a 
broadcast to recognize NOAA and CIRA/CSU. But most 
importantly it is out there to help forecasters and
provide feedback and to learn from to help improve 
tropical and precipitation forecasts.

Thanks for your attention.
Sheldon Kusselson
NOAA/NESDIS/Satellite Analysis Branch
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov