FT Technologies’ solid-state ultrasonic Acu-Res wind sensor has been successfully deployed on the latest Twister Fisters project, demonstrating reliable performance in some of the most extreme near-surface wind environments encountered in atmospheric research.

Twister Fisters is a team of atmospheric scientists specializing in near-storm, in-situ observations of severe convective weather. Using mobile, truck-mounted mesonet platforms, the team places instrumentation directly in the path of intense wind fields, hail cores and highly turbulent flow regimes to collect high-quality surface data for research, real-time analysis and public outreach.

Such deployments pose major challenges for meteorological instrumentation. During previous field campaigns, the team experienced repeated failures with propeller anemometers and competing ultrasonic wind sensors.

Continue reading FT Technologies’ wind sensor deployed in storm-chasing research at Meteorological Technology International.

DNV has completed an independent IEC classification of the ZX 300e ground-based wind lidar from ZX Lidars, and has confirmed that the highest performance outcome under the IEC classification framework was achieved.

The system achieved 0% standard uncertainty and a 0% accuracy class under IEC 61400-50-2, following testing across multiple sites, reference masts and environmental conditions. According to DNV, the assessment applied the full multi-site and multi-mast methodology set out in the standard and included extended measurement campaigns with full seasonal coverage.

The ZX 300e was validated across a 20m-200m height range, which is the broadest range confirmed for a wind lidar under the IEC framework.

Continue reading DNV completes IEC classification of ZX 300e wind lidar at Meteorological Technology International.

Vaisala, a producer of environmental and industrial measurement products, has unveiled its new wind lidar – claiming it brings increased accuracy and data availability.

According to the Finnish company, the WindCube 2.1 XP sets a new benchmark for wind measurement, particularly at the rotor sweep heights needed for utility-scale wind turbines.

Vaisala has asserted that the new device brings improved accuracy through the measurement range of up to 400m, a 69% average improvement in data availability at 200m in clear air conditions, and a 20% lower power consumption.

“WindCube 2.1 XP reflects years of customer feedback, rigorous testing and continuous innovation,” said Romain Guillaume, senior product manager at Vaisala.

Continue reading Vaisala unveils new wind lidar with improved performance at Meteorological Technology International.

As turbulence concerns continue to grow due to ongoing global warming, All Nippon Airways (ANA) has become the first airline in the world to implement BlueWX’s AI-based turbulence prediction service developed.

The turbulence prediction model, developed using deep learning techniques and a decade of turbulence data, has an 86% accuracy rate. Operational trials involving 2,500 ANA pilots confirmed its reliability, leading to its formal integration into ANA’s weather data infrastructure.

“For airlines, turbulence prediction is a long-standing challenge,” said Hiroyuki Kometani, ANA’s executive vice president of operation division, “At ANA, we have successfully developed this capability in collaboration with BlueWX, utilizing the latest AI and deep learning techniques.

Continue reading ANA implements AI-based turbulence prediction technology at Meteorological Technology International.

Forecasters from NOAA’s National Weather Service have reported the number of expected named storms in the Atlantic with winds of 39mph to be 13-18 in this year’s hurricane season (June 1-November 30), with 5-9 expected to become hurricanes (winds of 74mph or greater) and 2-5 major hurricanes (winds of 111mph or greater).

According to NOAA, the predictions remain in line with its previous forecast in May and are inclusive of the four named tropical storms that have already formed. In the Atlantic basin, a typical hurricane season will yield 14 named storms, of which seven become hurricanes and three become major hurricanes.

Continue reading NOAA predicts above-normal Atlantic hurricane season at Meteorological Technology International.

Researchers at Northwestern Polytechnical University in China have proposed a novel deep learning-based framework that they say improves the accuracy of regional forecasts, even when data is limited. The study has been published in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters.

Developing the AI model

The method integrates three major systems: the use of semantic segmentation models originally designed for medical image analysis; a learnable Gaussian noise mechanism that improves the model’s robustness; and a cascade prediction strategy that breaks the forecasting task into manageable stages.

“Our goal was to make regional forecasting smarter, faster and more reliable, even in data-limited scenarios,” said associate professor Congqi Cao, corresponding author of the study.

Continue reading AI model improves accuracy of five-day regional weather forecasting at Meteorological Technology International.

An international team, led by Dr Marc Buckley from the Hereon Institute of Coastal Ocean Dynamics, has used the particle image velocimetry method on board the research platform FLIP (Floating Instrument Platform) in the Pacific Ocean to capture high-resolution images of airflow just a few millimeters to 1m above the ocean surface. According to the team, this marks the first time the technique has been used over the open ocean.

Particle image velocimetry for the open ocean

The imagery is based on a laser that passes through both air and water. The green beam hits water droplets introduced into the air – similar to mist illuminated by sunlight.

Continue reading Researchers use particle image velocimetry to reveal high-resolution ocean surface airflow dynamics at Meteorological Technology International.

Researchers from Nanjing Tech University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have introduced a model called CNN-SENet, designed to deliver more accurate and computationally efficient wind speed retrievals across global oceans. The study has been published in Satellite Navigation.

Developing CNN-SENet

Trained on more than one million data points from NASA’s CYGNSS satellite and ERA5 reanalysis datasets, the CNN-SENet model blends convolutional neural networks (CNNs) with the squeeze-and-excitation network (SENet) attention mechanism to enhance feature extraction from GNSS-R Delay Doppler Maps.

CNN-SENet elevates traditional CNN architecture by embedding SENet modules between convolutional layers.

Continue reading AI-powered wind speed model improves ocean weather forecasting at Meteorological Technology International.

Vaisala has introduced the Vaisala Elements helideck monitoring software which, it says, enables it to provide the offshore industry with a comprehensive and scalable helideck monitoring system (HMS).

Integrated instrumentation

As part of Vaisala’s comprehensive HMS, Elements integrates high-resolution vertical wind profiling from the WindCube lidar suite, advanced lightning detection and both graphical and data forecasts from Vaisala Xweather. With three major updates, offshore operators gain visibility into current and upcoming weather conditions across their installations. This includes vertical wind profile data to support helicopters and crane operations, as users can view wind conditions directly from offshore sites, up to 300m above deck level, with Vaisala WindCube Offshore lidar.

Continue reading Vaisala unveils helideck monitoring software for offshore operations at Meteorological Technology International.

The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Omaha has become the first NWS office to resume twice-daily balloon launches, to support the organization’s weather modeling and forecasting by collecting data on temperature, dew point, relative humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed and wind direction.

NOAA’s statement

Erica Grow Cei, meteorologist at NOAA’s NWS, stated, “Work is underway to restore services at local forecast offices around the country. The NWS is adjusting some services due to temporary staffing changes at our local forecast offices throughout the country to best meet the needs of the public, our partners and stakeholders in each office’s local area.

Continue reading Omaha’s National Weather Service office resumes twice-daily balloon launches at Meteorological Technology International.