Presenter Information

Lauren WarnerFollow

Keywords

Atmosphere, Radar, Severe Weather, Wind

Select the category the research project fits.

Physical Sciences

Is this submission part of ICaP/PW (Introductory Composition at Purdue/Professional Writing)?

No

Abstract

On August 13, 2011, the Indiana State Fair stage collapsed, resulting in multiple fatalities and injuries. The event was caused by a high wind gust from an approaching severe thunderstorm. In light of this tragedy, Purdue established new wind speed limits of 30 mph (13 m s-1) for tents at outdoor events. During these events, volunteers stand outside with handheld anemometers, measuring and reporting when the wind speeds exceed the limit. The recent installation of the XTRRA near Purdue campus may allow these alerts to be automated. The XTRRA, which runs continuously, scans the atmosphere at low elevations over campus every few minutes. Using the data collected during its first few months of operation, we developed an automated system that generates high wind alerts whenever observed winds at altitudes below 412 m (considered indicative of surface conditions) exceed the threshold of 13 m s-1. A combination of median filtering, clutter filtering, and statistical outlier removal mitigated false alarms caused by noise and ground clutter. Further testing and modification of the alert parameters will minimize the overall occurrence of false alarms. The high wind alerts will then be distributed to interested parties such as campus event coordinators and safety officials. In the future, alerts will also be generated from the XTRRA data for other forms of severe weather, such as hail and mesocyclones (a precursor to tornadoes).

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High wind alerts for Purdue campus based on observations from the X-band Teaching and Research Radar (XTRRA)

On August 13, 2011, the Indiana State Fair stage collapsed, resulting in multiple fatalities and injuries. The event was caused by a high wind gust from an approaching severe thunderstorm. In light of this tragedy, Purdue established new wind speed limits of 30 mph (13 m s-1) for tents at outdoor events. During these events, volunteers stand outside with handheld anemometers, measuring and reporting when the wind speeds exceed the limit. The recent installation of the XTRRA near Purdue campus may allow these alerts to be automated. The XTRRA, which runs continuously, scans the atmosphere at low elevations over campus every few minutes. Using the data collected during its first few months of operation, we developed an automated system that generates high wind alerts whenever observed winds at altitudes below 412 m (considered indicative of surface conditions) exceed the threshold of 13 m s-1. A combination of median filtering, clutter filtering, and statistical outlier removal mitigated false alarms caused by noise and ground clutter. Further testing and modification of the alert parameters will minimize the overall occurrence of false alarms. The high wind alerts will then be distributed to interested parties such as campus event coordinators and safety officials. In the future, alerts will also be generated from the XTRRA data for other forms of severe weather, such as hail and mesocyclones (a precursor to tornadoes).