TOPROF Deliverables (as in the Memorandum of Understanding)

1. Standardised techniques for calibrating, maintaining and operating ceilometers, Doppler lidars, microwave radiometers so that the products derived from them are quality controlled and accompanied by quantified errors.

2. Standardised formats and data protocols, so that observations can be exchanged in near real time between the various NMHSs across Europe.

3. Standardised retrieval algorithms for ceilometers, Doppler lidars and MWRs so that key atmospheric properties (clouds, humidity, temperature, aerosol, and winds) can be derived together with their errors.

4. Forward models and metrics for model evaluation.

TOPROF Deliverables (as achieved)

WG1 (Automatic Lidar Ceilometers, ALC)

• WG1 developed ALC calibration software. The deployment and near-real time data exchange of the ALCs in Europe is the responsibility of the EUMETNET E-PROFILE project. The ALC real-time data can be viewed at: http://eumetnet.eu/alc-network
• WG1 developed fog forecasting techniques, and organized on-going trials at Paris, Munich and Vienna airports: http://www.lmd.polytechnique.fr/~madrouin/parafog/
• WG1 developed software for ALC standardised format (RAW2L1). RAW2L1 can be accessed from: https://sourcesup.renater.fr/projects/sirta-raw2l1/
  
• WG1 organized an ALC intercomparison campaign and dataset (http://ceilinex2015.de/). This unprecedented dataset is used for investigations concerning calibration, uncertainty estimates, cloud detection, and aerosol retrievals.

WG2 (Doppler Wind Lidars, DWL)

• WG2 has developed DWL algorithms for characterising boundary layer winds, low level jets, turbulence, wind gustiness, and distorted airflow around isolated islands. FMI (Finnish Meteorological Institute) is studying their application for improving forecasts in an operational environment, and other stations have implemented these algorithms to display products in real-time, e.g. http://macehead.nuigalway.ie/rt/lidar.html
• E-PROFILE is distributing data from a few DWLs in Germany on an experimental basis; in 2018 this will be extended and become operational.

WG3 (Microwave Radiometers, MWR)

• WG3 has reviewed the best practices to calibrate and operate MWR: http://www.toprof.imaa.cnr.it/images/toprof/pubs/TOPROF_MWR_recommendations_20160315.pdf
• WG3 developed an harmonized MWR data processing chain (mwr_pro), providing quality-controlled level 1 and level 2. mwr_pro is available at: ftp://gop.meteo.unikoeln.de/pub/loehnert/mwr_data_flow/
• WG3 developed a fast forward model suitable for the direct assimilation of ground-based MWR, RTTOVgb: https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-2721-2016
• WG3 has submitted a proposal to EUMETNET for the inclusion of MWR into the next phase of E-PROFILE project.

WG4 (Data Assimilation, DA)

• WG4 has shown an analysis of the MWR DA potential impact for improving the forecasts of heavy rainfall events in the Mediterranean: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/qj.2860/pdf
• WG4 has investigated the impact of ALC network observations on improving weather forecast. Preliminary studies have been made at ECMWF of assimilating ALC data on smoke from Canadian forest fires: http://www.toprof.imaa.cnr.it/images/toprof/short_term_scientific_mission/STSM_Scientific_Report_Hervo.pdf
• WG4 has investigated the use of DWL measurements for evaluation of wind-speed prediction by numerical weather prediction models: http://www.toprof.imaa.cnr.it/images/toprof/short_term_scientific_mission/STSM_Scientific_Report_EkaterinaBatchvarova.pdf

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2016/03 Recommendations for operation and calibration of Microwave Radiometers (MWR) within a network

2015/06 Progress Report