EFFECT OF TAMDAR DATA ON RUC SHORT-TERM FORECASTS OF AVIATION-IMPACT FIELDS FOR CEILING, VISIBILITY, REFLECTIVITY, AND PRECIPITATION

The amount and distribution of moisture in the lower troposphere is known to be critical for many weather forecasts, but accurate point observations of the vertical moisture distribution above the surface are generally available only twice per day at widely spaced, upper-air rawinsonde sites (hereafter, RAOBs). Wind and temperature data from aircraft, known as AMDAR (Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay), have been routinely used by forecasters and assimilated in numerical models, but until recently, there have been no routine aircraft measurements of moisture. This has changed with the development and experimental deployment of an aircraft sensor capable of accurate measurement of moisture, both in the boundary layer and aloft