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Studying storms to improve weather forecasts

During the summer of 2007 (June to August) a team of researchers set out to study how storms form in areas of Germany and France. By making detailed observations of the way air moves in the atmosphere, how clouds form, and precipitation, they hope to help improve weather forecasts for the region. Janine Goldstein, a software engineer at in the Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, US, is with the research team. She is helping to run a "Doppler on Wheels", a large radar made portable because it is mounted to a truck. Postcards from Janine are linked below. Take a look at them to learn more about her experience with this research project called the Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study (COPS).

Janine Goldstein studying thunderstorms in South-Western Germany from Janine Goldstein, August 5, 2007

Forecasting When Storms Will Start from Janine Goldstein, August 6, 2007

First Ops from Janine Goldstein, August 7, 2007

Big Storm from Janine Goldstein, August 8, 2007

Mist from Janine Goldstein, August 10, 2007

Visiting the DIAL from Janine Goldstein, August 11, 2007

Last Ops from Janine Goldstein, August 14, 2007

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Janine Goldstein studying thunderstorms in South-Western Germany

Hi! My name is Janine Goldstein and I am a software engineer at NCAR in the Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL). I have worked at NCAR for 17 years. This summer I am in Germany helping to operate a radar...more

Forecasting When Storms Will Start

Hi again! Guess what? Today I had the day off! Each day, our goal is to set up the "Doppler on Wheels" or DOW near where storms are most likely to occur so that hopefully the storms will pass near the...more

First Ops

Hi! Boy did we get a big storm today. Today is my first day doing "ops" (that means operating the Doppler on Wheels). We set up the radar in the middle of a field and have been operating all night long....more

Mist

It has been raining steadily for 4 days. There is so much moisture that clouds form down in the trees. I had heard of that in fairytales, but I've never seen it for real. It is really pretty! When the...more

Visiting the DIAL

Today we drove to the top of Hornisgrinde to see the water vapor DIAL. Hornisgrinde is a mountain in the black forest. It stands 1.1 km (3,609 feet) above sea level, and about 1 km (3,281 feet) above the...more

Last Ops

Today is our last day collecting data with the DOW. Tomorrow we start packing to go home. Guess what? The hydraulics that life the truck went out yesterday so I had to hold the truck up while the others...more

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When scientists go out to explore the Earth they often wind up in pretty interesting places and doing pretty interesting things. And they are learning more about how our planet works through the fieldwork....more