image: In a new study, researchers from Japan propose a sustainable approach to improving forecasting skills of observing stations in the Southern Hemisphere by implementing data from the PANSY radar located at Syowa Station in the Antarctic region. view more
Credit: Kazutoshi Sato from Kitami Institute of Technology
Studying atmospheric circulations is essential for predicting weather conditions and preparing for future weather disturbances. In the Southern Hemisphere, meteorological observing stations have been implemented for analyzing the weather conditions. However, owing to their scattered distribution over the Antarctic, the observational data is often riddled with errors and uncertainties that hamper the reproducibility of atmospheric circulations in the region.
One way to improve the forecasting accuracy is by using observation data from a radiosonde, a battery-powered telemetry instrument carried into the atmosphere by a weather balloon. While this reduces uncertainty and error in weather forecasts, radiosondes are expensive, logistically limited, and environmentally hazardous since they leave waste over the land and ocean. This raises an important question: is it possible to improve weather forecasting predictions in the Southern Hemisphere in a sustainable manner?
In a new study published in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, a team of researchers from Japan led by Assistant Professor Kazutoshi Sato from Kitami Institute of Technology may now have an answer. In their work, they have demonstrated, using an observing system experiment, that incorporating radar data observations from the Japanese Syowa Station in the Antarctic enhances the reproducibility of atmospheric parameters in the troposphere and lower stratosphere. These are the parameters that serve as the initial conditions for forecasting. The work included contributions from Jun Inoue and Yoshihiro Tomikawa from National Institute of Polar Research, Akira Yamazaki from Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, and Kaoru Sato from The University of Tokyo, all in Japan.
But, what is so special about this radar? Called “The Program of the Antarctic Syowa Mesosphere–Stratosphere–Troposphere/Incoherent Scatter” or PANSY, this radar uses a pulse-modulated monostatic Doppler radar with an active phased array of 1045 crossed-Yagi antennas that measures vertical profiles of wind speed in the altitude range of 1.5 – 22 km (lower troposphere to lower stratosphere).
The team assessed the impact of 1-hourly horizontal wind speed data obtained from the PANSY radar for predicting a mid-latitude cyclone close to Western Australia and compared it with forecast experiments that did not include PANSY data as initial conditions.
They found that forecasts using PANSY data had reduced errors in the upper troposphere over the Antarctic region. This, in turn, increased the prediction accuracy for the position of the surface cyclone over Western Australia at forecast day 4.5. Interestingly, the error near Syowa Station at the initial time of forecast grew with time and propagated from Antarctica to southwestern parts of Australia. “This shows that the PANSY radar data would benefit the forecast accuracy of the cyclone near southwestern Australia for forecast between 4.0 and 5.0 days,” highlights Dr. Sato. Additionally, the PANSY radar data can be reused and does not cause environmental waste like a radiosonde.
These findings suggest that weather forecasting over the Antarctic can be augmented to a large extent and continuously with PANSY data. Moreover, it does not entail any environmental hazard. The team concludes, “Enhanced accurate weather forecasting over the Southern Ocean with PANSY would contribute not only to the safety of ship and aircraft operations around the Antarctic but also to the reduction of human and socioeconomic damage over mid-altitude areas of the Southern Hemisphere.”
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About Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan
Kitami Institute of Technology is a national university located in Kitami, a central city of northeastern Hokkaido, and midway between Mt. Daisetsu and the sea of Okhotsk. It aims to develop technology in harmony with nature. There are two schools: Earth, Energy and Environmental Engineering and Regional Innovation and Social Design Engineering. Kitami Institute of Technology offers a range of unique learning opportunities reflecting the characteristics of the region. It offers undergraduate, Master’s as well as doctoral programmes. The institute has students from different countries across the world.
Website: https://www.kitami-it.ac.jp/en/
About Assistant Professor Kazutoshi Sato from Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan
Dr. Kazutoshi Sato is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Environmental Engineering in the Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan. He is also an Outpatient Researcher in the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology and a Doctor of Science from the Graduate University for Advanced Studies. He has published numerous papers in the field of environmental and geophysical research, including extensive studies of the Arctic and the Antarctic regions, etc. He has been awarded the Editors' Highlights Nature Communications in 2021.
About National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR)
The NIPR engages in comprehensive research via observation stations in Arctic and Antarctica. As a member of the Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS), the NIPR provides researchers throughout Japan with infrastructure support for Arctic and Antarctic observations, plans and implements Japan's Antarctic observation projects, and conducts Arctic researches of various scientific fields such as the atmosphere, ice sheets, the ecosystem, the upper atmosphere, the aurora and the Earth's magnetic field. In addition to the research projects, the NIPR also organizes the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition and manages samples and data obtained during such expeditions and projects. As a core institution in researches of the polar regions, the NIPR also offers graduate students with a global perspective on originality through its doctoral program. For more information about the NIPR, please visit: https://www.nipr.ac.jp/english/
About the Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS)
The Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS) is a parent organization of four national institutes (National Institute of Polar Research, National Institute of Informatics, the Institute of Statistical Mathematics and National Institute of Genetics) and the Joint Support-Center for Data Science Research. It is ROIS's mission to promote integrated, cutting-edge research that goes beyond the barriers of these institutions, in addition to facilitating their research activities, as members of inter-university research institutes.
Journal
Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society