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www.geosci-model-dev-discuss.net/4/2123/2011/
doi:10.5194/gmdd-4-2123-2011
© Author(s) 2011. This work is distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
A web service based tool to plan atmospheric research flights
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Abstract. We present a web service based tool for the planning of atmospheric research flights. The tool provides online access to horizontal maps and vertical cross-sections of numerical weather prediction data and in particular allows the interactive design of a flight route in direct relation to the predictions. It thereby fills a crucial gap in the set of currently available tools for using data from numerical atmospheric models for research flight planning. A distinct feature of the tool is its lightweight, web service based architecture, requiring only commodity hardware and a basic Internet connection for deployment. Access to visualisations of prediction data is achieved by using an extended version of the Open Geospatial Consortium Web Map Service (WMS) standard, a technology that has gained increased attention in meteorology in recent years. With the WMS approach, we avoid the transfer of large forecast model output datasets while enabling on-demand generated visualisations of the predictions at campaign sites with limited Internet bandwidth. Usage of the Web Map Service standard also enables access to third-party sources of georeferenced data. We have implemented the software using the open-source programming language Python. In the present article, we describe the architecture of the tool. As an example application, we discuss a case study research flight planned for the scenario of the 2010 Eyjafjalla volcano eruption. Usage and implementation details are provided as Supplement.
Discussion Paper (PDF, 9644 KB) Supplement (1439 KB) Interactive Discussion (Closed, 4 Comments) Final Revised Paper (GMD)
Notice on Discussion StatusCitation: Rautenhaus, M., Bauer, G., and Dörnbrack, A.: A web service based tool to plan atmospheric research flights, Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., 4, 2123-2163, doi:10.5194/gmdd-4-2123-2011, 2011. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
