Gridded Fx-net Prototype Project For The Bureau of Land Management, National Interagency Fire Center

Abstract

Fire weather forecasters at the Bureau of Land Management’s National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) and the Geographical Area Coordination Centers (GACCs) are tasked to “integrate fire weather, fire danger and resource information for strategic resource allocation and prioritization.” Ochoa, (2003) They have found that by integrating fire weather, fuels and fire behavior information, a focused solution can be presented to fire managers to guide their resource prepositioning activities. Well guided, strategic resource allocation and prioritization saves the lives of the public and firefighters, and reduces property loss. Predictive services meteorologists use a variety of tools and resources to produce daily, weekly and seasonal fire weather and fire danger outlooks. Mesoscale models, satellite imagery and local mesonet observations are available from their FX-Net, Schranz (2005), system, the Real-Time Observation Monitor and Analysis Network (ROMAN), and the Remote Automatic Weather Stations (RAWS). Due to increased research activity in the fire prediction and fire behavior area, new algorithms have been developed to produce prediction products using long-range atmospheric model grids. The majority of Predictive Services offices have been operating without the ability to run these algorithms as they did not have access to the real-time model grids. The forecasters requested an AWIPS (Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System), Bullock, (1994), to provide them with these grids, and allow them to use the powerful diagnostic tools available through the D-2D AWIPS display software. AWIPS is the primary system used by NWS forecasters. The system was prototyped and the first operational systems were built by NOAA’s Forecast System’s Laboratory (now known as ESRL/Global Systems Division (GSD)). The system ingests real-time atmospheric observations and numerical forecast models distributed via NOAAPort and local LDAD feeds. The data are matched in space and time to allow users an integrated view of a very large and complex set of information.However, the cost associated with installing enough bandwidth to each GACC office, to distribute the high volume of data delivered to AWIPS, proved prohibitive. AWIPS units were not installed and the forecasters remained without grids. Due to a number of enabling technologies developed at the ESRL/GSD, a prototype effort to build a centralized, gridded data distribution system to remote AWIPS D-2D clients was proposed. The BLM and USDA Forest Service decided to go forward with the proposal. As a result, the Gridded FX-Net prototype system project was begun.