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Weather research laboratory
the United States Air Force launch system program
The National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather research laboratory under the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. It is one of seven NOAA Research Laboratories (RLs). NSSL studies weather radar, tornadoes, flash floods, lightning, damaging winds, hail, and winter weather out of Norman, Oklahoma, using various techniques and tools in their HWT, or Hazardous Weather Testbed. NSSL meteorologists developed the first doppler radar for the purpose of meteorological observation, and contributed to the development of the NEXRAD (WSR 88D). NSSL has a partnership with the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO) at the University of Oklahoma that enables collaboration and participation by students and visiting scientists in performing research. The NWC houses a combination of University of Oklahoma, NOAA and state organizations that work in collaboration.

In 1962 a research team from the United States Weather Bureau's National Severe Storms Project (NSSP) moved from Kansas City, Missouri to Norman, Oklahoma, where, in 1956, the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory had installed a 3 cm continuous wave Doppler Weather Surveillance Radar 1957 (WSR 57). This radar was designed to detect very high wind speeds in tornadoes, but could not determine the distance to the tornadoes. In 1963, the Weather Radar Laboratory (WRL) was established in Norman and, in the following year, engineers modified the radar to transmit in pulses. The pulse Doppler radar could receive data in between each transmit pulse, eliminating the need for two antennas and solving the distance problem. In 1964, the remainder of the NSSP moved to Norman, where it merged with WRL and was renamed the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL). Dr. Edwin Kessler became the first director. Probes are modified minivans with a suite of weather instruments mounted atop a roof rack and a complex of computer and communication equipment inside. NSSL scientists drive these through storms and storm environments to make measurements of temperature, pressure, humidity and wind.

NSSL's 2DVD takes high speed video pictures, from two different angles, of anything falling from the sky through its viewing area (such as raindrops, hail or snow). It is used in polarimetric radar studies by measuring rain rate, drop shape and size distribution, and other parameters useful in narrowing down the accuracy of precipitation identification algorithms.

NSSL has available small portable weather platforms with sensors that measure temperature, pressure, moisture, wind speed and direction, and an instrument called a Parsivel (PARticle, SIze, VELocity) disdrometer. These can be deployed quickly in the field, in and around thunderstorms.

NSSL launches special research weather balloon systems into thunderstorms. Measurements from the sensor packages attached to the balloons provide data about conditions inside the storm where it has often proved too dangerous for research aircraft to fly.

PASIV is a balloon borne instrument designed to capture images of water and ice particles as it is launched into, and rises up through, a thunderstorm. The instrument is flown as part of a “train” of other instruments connected one after another to a balloon. These other instruments measure electrical field strength and direction, and other variables such as temperature, dewpoint, pressure and winds.

NSSL operates two mobile laboratories (custom built by an ambulance company) called NSSL6 and NSSL7, outfitted with computer and communication systems, balloon launching equipment, and weather instruments. These mobile labs can be deployed on a rapid basis to collect data or coordinate field operations.

NSSL researchers with the University of Oklahoma built their first mobile Doppler weather radar in 1993. Current versions of mobile radars (for example, NSSL's NOXP)
can be driven into positions very close to storms, observing details that are typically out of sight of the beam of more distant WSR 88D radars. NSSL has also used mobile radars to study tornadoes, hurricanes, dust storms, winter storms, mountain rainfall, and even biological phenomena.

NSSL installed, operates and maintains the OKLMA. Thousands of points can be mapped for an individual lightning flash to reveal its location and the development of its structure. NSSL scientists hope to learn more
about how storms produce intra cloud and cloud to ground flashes and how each type is related to tornadoes and other severe weather.

NSSL researchers are working on products that use GOES satellite data to identify rapidly growing clouds that might indicate a developing thunderstorm. They are also working on products that estimate wind shear and stability in the surrounding environment to forecast the future severity of the storm.

NSSL uses observations from people too! The mostly student run NSSL/CIWRO Severe Hazards Analysis and Verification Experiment (SHAVE) collects hail, wind damage and flash flooding reports through phone surveys. SHAVE reports, when combined with the voluntary reports collected by the NWS, creates a unique and comprehensive database of severe and non severe weather events and enhances climatological information about severe storm threats in the U. S.

Another way NSSL uses public observations is through the Meteorological Phenomena Identification Near the Ground (mPING) project. Volunteers can report on the precipitation that is reaching the ground at their location through mobile apps (iOS and Android). Researchers compare the reports of precipitation with what is detected by the dual polarized radar data to refine precipitation identification algorithms.

NSSL researchers have created a computer model that can simulate a thunderstorm to study how changes in the environment can affect its behavior. They also contribute to the development of the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model used in both research and NWS operations.

The Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model is the product of a unique collaboration between the meteorological research and forecasting communities. Its level of sophistication is appropriate for cutting edge
research, yet it operates efficiently enough to produce high resolution guidance for front line forecasters in a timely manner. Working at the interface between research and operations, NSSL scientists have been
major contributors to WRF development efforts and continue to provide leadership in the operational implementation and testing of WRF. The NSSL WRF generates daily, real time 1 to 36 hour experimental forecasts at a 4 km resolution of precipitation, lightning threat, and more.

The NSSL COllaborative Model for Multiscale Atmospheric Simulation (COMMAS) is a 3D cloud model used to recreate thunderstorms for closer study. COMMAS is able to ingest radar data and lightning data from past events. Researchers use COMMAS to explore the microphysical structure and evolution of the storm and the relationship between microphysics and storm electricity. They also use COMMAS to simulate different phases of significant events, such as the early tornadic phase of the Greensburg, Kansas supercell that destroyed much of the town in 2004.

The Flooded Locations And Simulated Hydrographs Project (FLASH) was launched in early 2012 largely in response to the demonstration and real time availability of high resolution, accurate rainfall observations from the NMQ/Q2 project. FLASH introduces a new paradigm in flash flood prediction that uses the NMQ forcing and produces flash flood forecasts at 1 km/5 min resolution through direct, forward simulation. The primary goal of the FLASH project is to improve the accuracy, timing, and specificity of flash flood warnings in the US, thus saving lives and protecting infrastructure. The FLASH team is composed of researchers and students who use an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to achieve the goal.

NOAA's Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT) is jointly managed by NSSL, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) and the National Weather Service Oklahoma City/Norman Weather Forecast Office (OUN) on the University of Oklahoma campus inside the National Weather Center. The HWT is designed to accelerate the transition of promising new meteorological insights and technologies into advances in forecasting and warning for hazardous mesoscale weather events throughout the United States.

NOAA's National Weather Radar Testbed (NWRT) is a phased array radar (PAR) being tested and evaluated in Norman, Oklahoma. The NWRT was established to demonstrate the potential to simultaneously perform aircraft tracking, wind profiling, and weather surveillance as a multi function phased array radar (MPAR). The advanced capabilities of the NWRT could lead to better warnings of severe weather.