ROMANIAN NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL ADMINISTRATION NWCSAF at NMA Evolution

ROMANIAN NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL ADMINISTRATION NWCSAF at NMA: Evolution of the processing chain and visualization of the products Romanian National Meteorological Administration | Presenter: Oana Nicola Authors: Andrei Diamandi, Oana Nicola, Alina Ristea NWCSAF 2015 USERS’ WORKSHOP

Romanian National Meteorological Administration Outline § § § 2004 - 2006 2007 - 2010 2011 - 2014 - onwards What should we expect from the future? Conclusions NWCSAF 2015 USERS’ WORKSHOP

Romanian National Meteorological Administration 2004 – 2006 “Episode I” § SAFNWC /MSG v 1. 0 available to users in 2004 § Operational (2006) § Pre-operational implementation: SUN Ultra 60 (1 GB RAM, 1 CPU) - SUN Ultra 60 (512 MB RAM, 1 CPU) SUN Solaris 8 OS - SUN Solaris 8 OS F 95 Compiler, C++, … - F 95 Compiler, C++, … PGE’s exported from HDF to Tiff - PGE’s exported from HDF to Tiff § NWP data: ECMWF - REGION Romania - REGION_CENTRE_P - REGION_SIZE 500, 2300 700, 1300 NWCSAF 2015 USERS’ WORKSHOP

Romanian National Meteorological Administration 2004 – 2006 “Episode I” Processing Chain & Data Flow

Romanian National Meteorological Administration 2004 – 2006 “Episode I” SAFNWC/MSG products couldn’t be displayed by the forecaster’s visualization system (ne. X-REAP) since it couldn’t handle other color schemes than those built in… § § The forecaster had to display the products on a separate computer/screen § No converter for BUFR/GRIB products to image § Expensive computer system (SUN Workstation) Difficult to evaluate the products when one cannot overlay meteorological fields, etc. § § However, forecasters quite enthusiast and willing to use the products NWCSAF 2015 USERS’ WORKSHOP

Romanian National Meteorological Administration 2007 - 2010 Linux – “A New Hope” § “New” (but more powerful h/w) – SUN Enterprise 3500 (2 GB RAM, 4 CPU) – SAFNWC/MSG v 2008 – Operational (2008) § First Linux machine – Fedora Core – SAFNWC/MSG v 2009 – Operational (2010) § EUMETCAST hot standby system NWCSAF 2015 USERS’ WORKSHOP

Romanian National Meteorological Administration 2007 - 2010 Linux – “A New Hope” § And finally Linux! § An easier installation of the NWCSAF/MSG § Cheaper hardware (Workstation/Desktop PC) § Separate production and development machines § NWCSAF/MSG accessible to more people § Backup machine now affordable § Free software! (compilers, OS) § And a lot of enthusiasm! § But… still not possible to visualize the products on the forecaster’s system (obviously not NWCSAF/MSG software’s fault) NWCSAF 2015 USERS’ WORKSHOP

Romanian National Meteorological Administration 2011 - 2014 “Attack of the Clones” § SAFNWC/MSG virtualization § Vmware ESXi 3. 5 § Fujitsu-Siemens TX 200 S 4 (2 x Intel Xeon, 16 GB RAM…) § VM operational § Benefits: – Shorter downtimes –> in case of malfunction, just fire up a clone of the most recent functioning VM – Easy to install new versions of the SAFNWC/MSG -> use a pre-configured copy of your favorite OS as a VM – Handy for testing new configurations /experiment – Can run production and development VM’s on the same h/w – Easy backup/transfer § Drawbacks: VM proliferation -> rare, only if one easily get attached to objects NWCSAF 2015 USERS’ WORKSHOP

Romanian National Meteorological Administration 2011 - 2014 “Attack of the Clones” The EUMETCast system & the SAFNWC VM farm NWCSAF 2015 USERS’ WORKSHOP

Romanian National Meteorological Administration 2011 - 2014 “Attack of the Clones” § Product Visualization & Integration: – Still not possible to ingest the PGE’s in the nex. REAP visualization system -> one more display on the forecaster’s desk, thin appetite for new products and even thinner for validation/evaluation – Hopes rise in 2014 with the announcement of a new forecaster visualization system for 2015 - 2016 – It has been decided however to give a try to the ADAGUC -> might not replace a full fledged visualization system but it could certainly come close; badly needed in order to help “reboot” forecasters interest in both evaluation/validation and operational use of NWCSAF products NWCSAF 2015 USERS’ WORKSHOP

Romanian National Meteorological Administration 2015 – onwards “The Force Awakens” The focus is foreseen to be less on the processing chains (the technology is quite mature) but more on the evaluation/validation/utilization/integration of the SAFNWC products § The evaluation/validation requires not only a proper visualization system but also toolboxes capable to easily create scenarios for automated validation using long product time series (short time series and case studies are useful but not enough) -> will become a “must” with MTG’s 5/2. 5 min scan, 1(2) km resolution § NWCSAF 2015 USERS’ WORKSHOP

Romanian National Meteorological Administration What should we expect from the future? § More data (MTG: 1 km/2 km resolution, 16 channels) and more often (5/2. 5 min scans) -> more products (old + new) § Higher demand for accurate/ real-time products § As a result, more CPU’s will be needed quite soon § However, if Moore’s law still holds, computing power should not be an issue § But what about Time? Will it be still possible for a human to use in nowcasting 2 (or 3? ) dozens of new products coming every 2. 5 minutes? § (Semi) automated nowcasting systems will certainly help, but complex visualization systems will still be needed in both operational meteorology and product evaluation/validation NWCSAF 2015 USERS’ WORKSHOP

Romanian National Meteorological Administration Conclusions § 10 years of SAFNWC have been challenging in many ways but exciting and rewarding § The next 10 look even more interesting § There are many things we could have done better and faster § We have been learning a lot and teach others some NWCSAF 2015 USERS’ WORKSHOP

Romanian National Meteorological Administration Thank you! NWCSAF 2015 USERS’ WORKSHOP