A Decision Support Tool to Assess Upper-Level Winds for Space Launch

摘要

An Excel-based graphical user interface (GUI) was developed for the 45th Weather Squadron (45 WS) Launch Weather Officers (LWOs), allowing them to assess numerical weather prediction model forecasts of upper-level winds and compare the forecasts to observations from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station meteorological soundings and the Kennedy Space Center 50-MHz Doppler Radar Wind Profiler in support of space launch operations at the Eastern Range. The GUI allows the LWOs to first initialize the models by comparing the 0-hour model forecasts to the observations, and then to display model forecasts in 3-hour intervals from the current time through 12 hours.