Back at FIT, the NWS discussion is folded into a weather briefing in the FIT synoptic lab.
National Weather Service (NWS) lead forecaster Scott Kelly chats with FIT aeronautical science student, Kaleb Alexander (’16), in the Melbourne Weather Service Forecast Office.
Getting everyone together after the briefings and de-briefings! Making assignments for the day’s chase that includes a weather balloon launch, precipitation measurements, Doppler radar operations, and deployment of an electric field meter.
Frantically setting up rain gauges in the pre-storm environment. From left to right are meteorology students, Nick Burton (’18), Camila Gomes-Martins Ramos (Grad), professor Mike Splitt, and meterology student, Mahra Al Ruwaishdi (’17).
The storm approaches as the team looks on in anticipation.
FIT van storm chase crew takes shelter in the van as torrents of rain and frequently lightning envelope the vehicle.
Post storm precipitation measurement. Meteorology graduate student Camila Gomes-Martins Ramos and undergraduate Nick Lenssen (’17) ‘eye-ball’ the rainfall totals.
A discussion erupts concerning the day’s strategy as crowd gathers in professor Mike Split’s office. From right to left are FIT meteorology graduate student Brett Dean, Center for Severe Research (CSWR) director Josh Wurman, meteorology graduate students Vanessa Haley and Alex Nickerson, and Dr. Lazarus.
The DOW crew takes notes and discusses the day. Meteorology students, Sumaiya Al Azri (’16) and Tia Harris (’16).
Team discusses operational scan strategies for the radar. Meteorology students, Michael Barnett (’16) and Tia Harris (’16).
FIT Meteorology students, Michael Barnett (’16) and Tia Harris (’16), climb out of the DOW to take a look
FIT graduate students Gabrielle Ivan and Brett Dean help set up the Physics and Space Science electric field meter while physics post-doc Shahab Arabshahi supervises.
Freshman meteorology students Stewart Negron (’19) and John Panor (’19) prepare the balloon.
Meteorology undergraduate Alex Robertson (’18) and graduate student Jeff Colvin watch as the balloon and radiosonde ascend.
Back at the van (on the north shore of Lake Okeechobee) the balloon trackers FIT graduate students Bret Dean and Bryan Holman (black, green shirts/shorts) with Dr. Lazarus between them. Meteorology faculty Dr. Pallav Ray looks on – or should I say up?
Students pick up their tablets and get aboard the DOW as part of our NSF education outreach
Talk about cool stuff—the Florida Doppler on Wheels (DOW) experiment and Weather Study (F-DEWS) came to Florida Tech, and we got to spend 12 days participating in cool research. More than 30 undergraduate and graduate students from Meteorology, Environmental Science, Aeronautical Science and Physics/Space Sciences were trained on the Doppler on Wheels radar. Each day began at 8 a.m. with two students (one graduate, one undergraduate) visiting the Melbourne National Weather Service for a one-hour briefing. The briefings featured a discussion of the weather for that day, including sea and lagoon breezes, thunderstorms, coastal showers and lightning probabilities. Following the NWS briefing, the two students filled out a worksheet and returned to FIT to debrief the whole team. The worksheet was posted along with a mission status (go, no-go) and, if the mission was deemed a go, a tentative time was set for deployment. Students were then divided into teams that included balloon launch, precipitation, DOW radar and electric field meter. Thunderstorms were our primary target. We managed to catch six storms across the 12-day DOW visit. It was amazing!
