NASA/CR-2012-216313 

N.~ ;;.'_ ~~ 

Assessing Upper-level Winds on 

Day-of-Launch 

William H. Bauman Ill 

ENSCO, Inc., Cocoa Beach, Florida 

NASA Applied Meteorology Unit, Kennedy Space Center, Florida 

Mark M. Wheeler 

ENSCO, Inc., Cocoa Beach, Florida 

NASA Applied Meteorology Unit, Kennedy Space Center, Florida 

September 2012 
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NASA/CR-2012-216313 

·. : ' ). 

Assessing Upper-level Winds on 

Day-of-Launch 

William H. Bauman Ill 

ENSCO, Inc., Cocoa Beach, Florida 

NASA Applied Meteorology Unit, Kennedy Space Center, Florida 

Mark M. Wheeler 

ENSCO, Inc., Cocoa Beach, Florida 

NASA Applied Meteorology Unit, Kennedy Space Center, Florida 

National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration 

Kennedy Space Center 

Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899-0001 

September 2012 
Acknowledgements 

The authors wish to thank the 45th Weather Squadron (45 WS) Launch Weather Officers to 

include Mr. Flinn, Mr. McAieenan, Mr. Tumbiolo and Ms. Winters for their review and feedback 

during development of the graphical user interface design and presentation of the data. The 

authors also wish to thank Mr. Fitzpatrick of the 45 WS for working diligently with the 45th 

Space Wing IT Security personnel to acquire and get permission to install Excel 2010 on an Air 

Force computer. Finally, the authors wish to thank Mr. Gemmer, Mr. Ebuen and Ms. Burdett of 

Abacus Technology for assisting the AMU with data access on the Spaceport Weather Archive. 

Available from: 

NASA Center for AeroSpace Information 

7115 Standard Drive 

Hanover, MD 21076-1320 

443-757-5802 

This report is also available in electronic form at 

http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/amu/ 
Executive Summary 

On the day-of-launch, the 45th Weather Squadron (45 WS) Launch Weather Officers 

(LWOs) monitor the upper-level winds for their launch customers to include NASA's Launch 

Services Program (LSP). During launch operations, the payload/launch team sometimes asks 

the LWO if they expect the upper-level winds to change during the countdown, but the LWOs 

did not have the capability to quickly retrieve or display the upper-level observations and 

compare them to the numerical weather prediction model point forecasts. The LWOs requested 

the Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) develop a capability in the form of a graphical user 

interface (GUI) that would allow them to plot the upper-level wind speed and direction 

observations and then overlay point forecast profiles from available numerical weather 

prediction models on the charts. The observations would be taken from the Cape Canaveral Air 

Force Station (CCAFS) Automated Meteorological Profiling System (AMPS) rawinsondes 

located near the CCAFS Skid Strip and the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) 50 MHz wind profiler 

located adjacent to the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) and the 915 MHz wind profiler located 

south of the SLF. The model data included the National Centers for Environmental Prediction 

North American Mesoscale, Rapid Refresh and Global Forecast System models. Comparing the 

model output to the observations would allow the LWOs to objectively assess the performance 

of these models. 

The AMU developed an Excel-based GUI for the LWOs to assess the model forecast upperlevel winds compared to the observations. This GUI allows the LWOs to first initialize the 

models by comparing the 0-hour model forecasts to the observations and then to display model 

forecasts in 3-hour intervals from the current time through 12 hours. The AMU wrote Excel 

Visual Basic for Applications scripts that drive the GUI by automatically acquiring, downloading 

and processing the observations and model forecast data, and then displaying the resulting 

output in text format in Excel spreadsheets and in graphic format as Excel charts. The output of 

the observational data provides the LWO with the observation type and location, date and time, 

height, and wind direction and speed. The output of the model data provides the LWO with the 

model type and forecast point location, date and time of the model start and forecast intervals, 

height and wind direction and speed. 

Issues with software compatibility and Information Technology (IT) Security presented 

several challenges to this task. To create the charts requested by the LWOs required using 

features only available in Excel 2010. Therefore the 45 WS had to obtain permission from the 

45th Space Wing (45 SW) IT Security to procure and install this version of Excel on one of their 

computers so they could run the tool. During VBA testing, the AMU discovered that 45 SW IT 

Security restricted 45 WS access to the server hosting the model data. The AMU requested that 

the curators of Spaceport Weather Data Archive host the model point forecast files on their 

server for 45 WS access via File Transfer Protocol (FTP) after the AMU confirmed the 45 WS 

could access the KSC server. During progression of the task, NASA/KSC IT Security removed 

the FTP capability from their servers followed by removal of Hypertext Transfer Protocol 

capability during the tenure of this task, negating the ability of the scripts in the GUI to 

automatically access the data files from the KSC Weather Data Archive. The KSC Weather 

Office initiated a request to NASA IT Security to help solve this dilemma and allow the 45 WS 

automated access to the files on the KSC Weather Data Archive. 

If the IT Security issues can be overcome and this tool becomes operational, it will provide 

an objective method for the LWOs to compare the forecast upper-level winds for the 

KSC/CCAFS area to the observed data from KSC and CCAFS and assess each model's 

potential to accurately forecast changes in the upper-level winds through the launch count. 

2 
Table of Contents 

Executive Summary ................... .. ... .... ........ .................. .......... ............. .................... .. ................. 2 

List of Figures .............. .. ................... .......... ............................................ .. ...... ..................... .. ..... 4 

1. Introduction .............................................. ........................................................ .... ... ............ .. 5 

2. Data .. ................... .. ... .......... .. ..................................................................... ................... ........ 6 

2.1 Data Acquisition .......... ........................................................... ... .. ..... ............................ 6 

2.2 Data Processing .................. .. ... .. .. .. ................ ...................... ... ......... ................. ..... ...... 7 

3. Graphical User Interface ... ............. ... .... .................................... .. ..................... ................... 13 

3.1 User lnterface .......... ....................................... .. ..... ............ .. ... ... .. ............... ................ 13 

3.2 Data Display .. ............. ..... .. .. ................... ...... ..... ............................... ... .... .... ............... 14 

4. Information Technology Challenges .................................... .... ..... ................... ......... ........... 16 

4.1 Software ....................................... .... ................. .... .... ........................................... ... ... 16 

4.2 IT Security ........................... .................. ... ... ... ..... .. ................. .. ....... ................. ...... .... 16 

5. Summary and Future Work ........ ........................... ..... ... ... .............................................. ..... 18 

3 
List of Figures 

Figure 1. Map of KSC/CCAFS showing locations of the observations from the 50 MHz and 

915 MHz profilers at KSC and the AMPS rawinsondes at CCAFS. The location of the 

point forecast from the model data is shown at CCAFS ............................................. 5 

Figure 2. a) Data from the 50 MHz profiler after being ingested into Excel and b) after 

unneeded parameters were removed, displaying the sensor type and location, date, 

time, height, wind direction and speed ................. ................... ........... ..... ...... ............. 8 

Figure 3. Wind speed (left) and wind direction (right) profiles at 1555 UTC 13 August 2012 

from the 50 MHz wind profiler (dark red lines) plotted in Excel. Data type, date and 

time are shown in the upper left of the chart .... ........................................................ .. 8 

Figure 4. As in Figure 3 with the addition of the 1601 UTC 13 August 2012 915 MHz wind 

profiler (orange lines) plotted in Excel. ............................................ ......... .. .. .............. 9 

Figure 5. As in Figure 3 with the addition of the 1015 UTC 13 August 2012 AMPS (green lines) 

plotted in Excel ..... .................. ... ................... ........................................................... 1 0 

Figure 6. As in Figure 5 with the addition of the 1600 UTC 13 August 2012 RAP model 0-hour 

forecast (light blue dashed lines) plotted in Excel. .. ........... ......................... .. ... ........ 1 0 

Figure 7. Wind speed (left) and wind direction (right) profiles from the 1944 UTC 13 August 

2012 AMPS observation (dark red lines) and NAM model forecasts (dashed blue 

lines) valid every three hours from 2000 UTC 13 August 2012 through 0500 UTC 14 

August 2012 plotted in Excel. Data type, date and time are shown in the upper left of 

the chart . ......... ........................................ .. ...... .. .............. ................................... .. .. . 11 

Figure 8. Wind speed (left) and wind direction (right) profiles from the 1655 UTC 13 August 

2012 50 MHz profiler observation (dark red lines), 1701 UTC 13 August 2012 915 

MHz profiler observation (orange lines) and NAM model forecasts (dashed blue 

lines) valid every three hours from 1900 UTC 13 August 2012 through 0400 UTC 14 

August 2012 plotted in Excel. Data type, date and time are shown in the upper left of 

the chart . .... ..................... ..... ................................... .......................................... ... .. . 12 

Figure 9. Main tab of the Excel GUI shows the primary user interface for selecting model data 

and observations to display ........................................ ..... ...... ... ..................... .......... 13 

Figure 10. AMPS rawinsonde data after being ingested into Excel and reformatted displaying 

the sensor type and location, date, time, height, wind direction and speed ...... ........ 15 

Figure 11. GFS model 3-hour forecast data after being ingested into Excel and reformatted 

displaying the model type and location, date, time, height, wind direction and speed 

for each 3-hour forecast interval .... ............. .. ... ............ ....................................... ... .. 15 

4 
1. Introduction 

On the day-of-launch, the 45th Weather Squadron (45 WS) Launch Weather Officers 

(LWOs) monitor the upper-level winds for their launch customers to include NASA's Launch 

Services Program (LSP). During launch operations, the payload/launch team sometimes asks 

the LWOs if they expect the upper-level winds to change during the countdown. The LWOs did 

not have the capability to quickly retrieve or display the upper-level observations and compare 

them directly in the same display to the numerical weather prediction model point forecasts. The 

LWOs requested the Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) develop a graphical user interface (GUI) 

that will plot upper-level wind speed and direction observations from the Cape Canaveral Air 

Force Station (CCAFS) Automated Meteorological Profiling System (AMPS) rawinsondes 

located near the CCAFS Skid Strip with point forecast1 wind profiles from the National Centers 

for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) North American Mesoscale (NAM), Rapid Refresh (RAP) 

and Global Forecast System (GFS) models to assess the performance of these models. The 

AMU suggested adding observations from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) 50 MHz wind 

profiler located adjacent to the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) and the 915 MHz wind profiler 

located south of the SLF to supplement the AMPS observations with more frequent upper-level 

profiles and the 45 WS agreed. Figure 1 shows a map of KSC/CCAFS with the locations of the 

observation sites and the point forecast from the model data. 

Figure 1. Map of KSC/CCAFS showing locations of the observations from the 50 MHz and 

915 MHz profilers at KSC and the AMPS rawinsondes at CCAFS. The location of the point 

forecast from the model data is shown at CCAFS. 

1 A point forecast is generated from a gridded data set such as a numerical weather prediction model for 

a single point within the grid. The data at the forecast point is usually not located on a grid point and, 

therefore, the forecast point consists of data interpolated from the nearest grid points in the data set. 

5 
2. Data 

The goal of this task is to build a GUI that allows the LWOs to compare model wind profile 

output to observed wind profiles closest in time to the 0-hour model forecasts. This will allow 

them to determine which model has the best performance, i.e. to initialize the models. Their 

requirement is to display model forecasts in 3-hour intervals from the current time through 12 

hours. 

The AMU reviewed the availability of the observational and model data in the 45 WS 

Meteorological Interactive Data Display System (MIDDS). They determined MIDDS could not be 

used as the data ingest and display for this task because the model point data is not ingested by 

the AMU MIDDS server. Therefore, the AMU considered using Microsoft Excel to download, 

ingest, format and display the data. The AMU verified that the observations were available on 

the Spaceport Weather Data Archive at KSC (http://trmm.ksc.nasa.gov). The archive consists of 

all locally collected weather observations at KSC and CCAFS. The model forecast point data for 

CCAFS (XMR) was available on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National 

Operational Model Archive & Distribution System (http://nomads.ncdc.noaa.gov) in Gridded 

Binary (GRIB) format but Excel cannot read GRIB format files. The AMU discovered the Iowa 

State University Archive Data Server (http://mtarchive.geol.iastate.edu) decodes the model 

GRIB files and provides them in a format that can be ingested by Excel. After discussing this 

with the 45 WS, all agreed the AMU would develop an Excel GUI that will ingest data from the 

Spaceport Weather Data Archive and Iowa State University Archive Data Server with scripts 

developed using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) in Excel. 

2.1 Data Acquisition 

One challenge with using near real-time data in Excel was to ensure the latest available 

model data was being acquired and that it was time-matched to the observations. NCEP runs 

the RAP model every hour and the NAM and GFS models every six hours at 0000, 0600, 1200, 

and 1800 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Each model produces forecasts at least 12 hours 

beyond the initial time. The RAP and NAM models output forecasts at 1-hour intervals while the 

GFS model outputs forecasts at 3-hour intervals. Since each model has a different run time to 

complete the entire forecast cycle, the AMU conducted tests of the data availability of the files 

on the Iowa State server to determine how long after model initialization time the files were 

ready for download. The AMU concluded that the RAP model forecasts are available from the 

Iowa State data server about 1 hour 45 minutes after each hour, the NAM model forecasts are 

available about 3.5 hours after each initialization time, and the GFS model forecasts are 

available about 5 hours after each initialization time. 

Acquiring observational files from the Spaceport Weather Data Archive website presented 

two significant challenges for real-time data access. First, the website only acquires 

observational data once per hour from MIDDS via a dial-up modem. This presents a potential 

problem with the AMPS observations because a sounding may only be partially complete when 

the files are acquired from MIDDS resulting in an incomplete sounding profile on the website. 

The VBA script that processes the observational data will download and process an incomplete 

AMPS file, which means the height of the wind speed and direction profile will be limited to the 

height the radiosonde obtained when the file was acquired from MIDDS. In these instances, the 

LWO will have to wait one hour for the complete AMPS profile to be available for download. 

Second, there are intermittent times when a file exists but contains no data. Because the file 

exists on the server, the VBA script will download the file but will not be able to process it. 

6 
2.2 Data Processing 

Before the data files are retrieved, several scripts are run to determine the current UTC time 

to ensure the latest model data is downloaded for processing. All time conversions used in the 

VBA scripts in this task are based on the local time of the user's computer. However, before 

converting local time to UTC, the AMU needed to perform a check to determine if the current 

date was within Standard Time (ST) or Daylight Saving Time (DST). To do so, the AMU 

downloaded an Excel DST module from Pearson Software Consulting, LLC that does this 

calculation (http://www.cpearson.com/EXCEUDaylightSavings.htm). To make use of this 

module, the AMU first used the Excel built-in function "=NOW ()" to obtain the local time from the 

user's computer. Next, the DST module is called to determine whether local time is in ST or 

DST using the function "= IsDatewithi nDST () ". Finally, to determine the correct UTC, the 

AMU VBA code adds 5 hours to local time during ST or 4 hours during DST. The UTC time is 

saved in the Excel GUI and accessed by each script that needs to determine which model data 

and observations to download. The AMU then wrote a VBA script to automatically run the time 

calculation every time the GUI is started. In Excel VBA, naming a macro "Auto-Open" will 

automatically run all of the code within that macro each time the macro-enabled Excel file is 

opened. 

The LWO's requested using the observations for two applications. First, they want to use 

them to initialize each model's 0-hour forecast by comparing the observations to each model to 

determine which model is performing the best. Second, they want to use them to show the 

launch team how the upper-level winds are forecast to change by displaying the model forecast 

valid at or near the same time of the most recent observation plus the model forecasts for the 

next 0-12 hours. 

2.2.1 Model Initialization 

For the LWOs to initialize the models against the observations based on UTC, a VBA script 

retrieves the latest available model runs by issuing a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) command to 

download the observations closest to the model time. Since the observations will be compared 

to the model 0-hour forecasts, the observations should time-match each model's start time as 

close as possible. The AMU developed VBA scripts to download, ingest and format the profiler 

and AMPS observations from the Spaceport Weather Data Archive server. The data files on the 

server are in American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) format and are 

ingested into Excel as a text file. After downloading and ingesting the data files, the VBA code 

removes all unneeded parameters and reformats the data to prepare it for creating charts. A 50 

MHz profiler data file as ingested into Excel is shown in Figure 2a and the reformatted data is 

shown in Figure 2b. 

Another VBA script written by the AMU extracts the observation's height, wind direction and 

speed, data type, location, date and time from the reformatted data and creates charts 

containing the vertical profiles of wind speed and direction as shown in Figure 3. The data type, 

date and time of the observation are displayed in the upper left of the chart. The background 

and profile colors were chosen by the LWOs because they make the display easy to read in an 

operational setting. 

The AMU tested the GUI VBA scripts at random times throughout the day to ensure the 

correct model data and observations were downloaded based on model initialization and 

availability times. There were occasions when the model data or observations were not 

available. Therefore, the AMU put error checks into the scripts so the software would not fail but 

instead return a message to the user that the data or observation is not available, allowing them 

a choice to leave it out or check for it later. 

7 
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GfOM OEG M/S /SEC M/5 DB DB 08 DB 08 DB M/S M/5 M/5 1 2 NN 

2666 262 4.] .000 -0.06123.712 5.811 5.963.3 62.1 'S 1.8 0.4 0.4 0.6600 0 

2811259 4.0 002-03112031220110.465.7641 53.8 0.4 0.405400 0 

29S6 262 3.4 .004 -0.04116 ]118.2111 .7 67.3 66.1 57 1 0.4 0.4 0.52 0 0 0 

3101262 3.6 .001 -0.19120.9121 .4109.364.463.352.4 0.4 0.10.5800 0 

3246 2'S6 4.7 .008 -0.06113.4118.3116.0 65.6 58.5 52.7 0 3 0.2 0.55 0 0 0 

3391 264 3.6 .008 -0.16119.6121.4117 .3 S8.8 58.6 50.5 0.4 0.3 0.5600 0 

3536 258 4.9 .009 o.lOl22 .612U113.2 60.8 sa.s 51.3 o.J 04 o.soo o o 

3681 1S8 4.6 .002 -0.04116 8120 4111 .3 S2 S S6 3 48 8 0 3 0.4 0 61 0 0 0 

3826261 S.l .004 0.15H5 71l491173 57.856047.7 0.4 0.30.5700 0 

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Figure 2. a) Data from the 50 MHz 

unneeded parameters were removed, 

height, wind direction and speed. 

b) after 

date, time, 

profiler after being ingested into Excel and 

displaying the sensor type and location, 

Figure 3. Wind speed (left) and wind direction (right) profiles at 1555 UTC 

13 August 2012 from the 50 MHz wind profiler (dark red lines) plotted in Excel. 

Data type, date and time are shown in the upper left of the chart. 

8 
The 50 MHz profiler collects data from approximately 8,000-60,000 ft while the 915 MHz 

profiler collects data from approximately 400-10,000 ft. To provide a more-or-less continuous 

wind profile from these two instruments, the AMU wrote a VBA script to download, ingest and 

process the 915 MHz profiler files in the same manner as for the 50 MHz profiler files. Due to 

the nature of the 915 MHz profilers, the AMU needed to add quality control parameters to the 

observations by finding and replacing missing observations coded as "999" or "9999" with the 

observations from the height immediately below the missing data. The replaced observation is 

changed to red text in the reformatted spreadsheet to highlight the changes for the LWOs. From 

the reformatted 915 MHz profiler observations, another VBA script creates wind speed and 

direction profiles and adds them to the existing 50 MHz profile charts as shown in Figure 4. The 

915 MHz profiles are shown by the orange lines and the 50 MHz profiles are shown by the dark 

red lines. The AMU did not interpolate the data at the interface height of the two sensors. 

Figure 4. As in Figure 3 with the addition of the 1601 UTC 13 August 2012 

915 MHz wind profiler (orange lines) plotted in Excel. 

Another VBA script downloads, ingests and reformats the AMPS XMR radiosonde 

observations from the Spaceport Weather Data Archive. The AMPS files are also in ASCII 

format and are ingested into Excel as a text file. After downloading and ingesting the files, the 

VBA code removes all unneeded parameters and reformats the AMPS observations similar to 

the 50 MHz and 915 MHz profiler observations. From the reformatted data, another VBA script 

creates wind speed and direction profiles of AMPS and overlays them on the existing 

50 MHz/915 MHz profile charts as shown in Figure 5. The AMPS profiles are shown by the 

green lines and the 50 MHz profiles and 915 MHz profiles are as shown in Figure 4. 

The AMU then wrote VBA scripts to download and process the model forecast point data 

from the Iowa State University server. The data files are in ASCII format and ingested into Excel 

as text files. Each script reformats the files and displays the tabular data to the user. From the 

reformatted data, the next VBA script creates wind speed and direction profiles of the model 

forecast point data and overlays the data on the 50 MHz profiler charts as shown in Figure 6. 

9 
Figure 5. As in Figure 4 with the addition of the 1015 UTC 13 August 2012 

AMPS (green lines) plotted in Excel. 

Figure 6. As in Figure 5 with the addition of the 1600 UTC 13 August 2012 

RAP model 0-hour forecast (light blue dashed lines) plotted in Excel. 

10 
2.2.2 Model Forecasts 

Since the requirement is to provide the LWOs with a GUI to overlay model forecasts in 

3-hour intervals from the current time through 12 hours, the AMU developed VBA scripts to 

display the forecast wind profiles up to 12 hours after the latest observation at each model's 

highest temporal resolution to assess the upper-level wind changes on day-of-launch for the 

launch directors. To keep the forecast charts uncluttered, the model forecast point data is 

overlaid on the AMPS and profiler observations on separate charts. 

The VBA script that creates wind speed and direction profiles of the model forecast time 

intervals also overlays them on the AMPS observation profile charts as shown in Figure 7. The 

AMPS observation (solid red line) at 1944 UTC 13 August 2012 is plotted with the NAM model 

hourly forecasts (dashed lines) based on the 1800 UTC 13 August 2012 model run valid from 

2000 UTC 13 August 2012 to 0500 UTC 14 August 2012 in three-hour intervals. Even though 

the NAM forecasts are available hourly, forecast profiles valid every three hours are plotted on 

the chart to reduce clutter. The model forecast profiles are always plotted in four different 

shades of blue ranging from light (first model forecast valid time) to dark (last model forecast 

valid time) making it easier for the user to discern between the model forecast valid times. The 

forecast profile colors match the colors of the text showing data type, date and time displayed 

on the chart. To unclutter the model forecast profiles, the LWO can right-click on any line and 

delete it from the chart. 

Figure 7. Wind speed (left) and wind direction (right) profiles from the 

1944 UTC 13 August 2012 AMPS observation (dark red lines) and NAM 

model forecasts (dashed blue lines) valid every three hours from 2000 UTC 13 

August 2012 through 0500 UTC 14 August 2012 plotted in Excel. Data type, 

date and time are shown in the upper left of the chart. 

The model forecast point data profiles are also overlaid on the 50 MHz and 915 MHz profiler 

charts as shown in Figure 8. The 50 MHz profiler observation (solid red line) from 1655 UTC 

11 
13 August 2012 and the 915 MHz profiler observation from 1701 UTC 13 August 2012 are 

plotted with the NAM model hourly forecasts (dashed lines) from the 1800 UTC 13 August 2012 

model run and valid from 1900 UTC 13 August 2012 to 0400 UTC 14 August 2012 in three-hour 

intervals. As before, only the NAM forecasts on the chart valid every three hours are plotted on 

the chart to reduce clutter using the color scheme described previously. To unclutter the model 

forecast profiles, the LWO can right-click on any line and delete it from the chart. 

Figure 8. Wind speed (left) and wind direction (right) profiles from the 

1655 UTC 13 August 2012 50 MHz profiler observation (dark red lines), 1701 

UTC 13 August 2012 915 MHz profiler observation (orange lines) and NAM 

model forecasts (dashed blue lines) valid every three hours from 1900 UTC 13 

August 2012 through 0400 UTC 14 August 2012 plotted in Excel. Data type, 

date and time are shown in the upper left of the chart. 

12 
3. Graphical User Interface 

A single Excel workbook file serves as the GUI consisting of 25 tabs, or individual 

worksheets, that process and format the observations and model data as well as display tabular 

and graphic information. Within the Excel workbook there are 21 modules containing the VBA 

scripts that control all aspects of the GUI operations based on user input. 

3.1 User Interface 

The AMU developed a menu on the Main tab in the Excel GUI as shown in Figure 9. Upon 

opening the Excel workbook file, the Main tab is displayed and VBA scripts automatically run to 

determine and display the date, local time, UTC time and the results of the test for DST (Eastern 

Daylight or Standard Time since the tool will only be used in the Eastern Time zone) in the 

second row of the worksheet. There are three menus containing user-selectable model data and 

observations. The first menu, "Initialize models", is designed to allow the LWOs to compare each 

model's 0-hour forecast to the 50 MHz profiler, 915 MHz profiler and AMPS observations to 

determine which model is most accurate. The second menu, "Compare Forecasts to Profiler 

Observations", allows the LWOs to compare each model's 3-12 hour forecasts to the 50 MHz 

and 915 MHz profiler observations. The third menu, "Compare Forecasts to RAOBS", allows the 

LWOs to compare each of the model's 3-12 hour forecasts to the AMPS observations. 

EDT7 

TRUE 

£~--~·;£::. .. ' I Get 50 MHz Profller Observations 

.1 Get 915 MHz Prolller Observations 

·1 Get NAM Model Forecasts J . ..· 

•1 Get 50 MHz Profiler Observations 

I Get 915 MHz Profller Observations 

.,,; 'R Get RAP Model Forecasts I 

!.·?{ ·~: .,., '" ' Get 50 MHz Profiler Observations ., 

·I Get 915 MHz Profiler Observations 

I Get GFS Model Forecasts 

I. c...-. ,..._ lo IIAOif 

NAM 

Get Radiosonde Observations I Get NAM Model Forecasts I 

' IIAP 

Get Radiosonde Observations I Get RAP Model Forecasts I 

- Get Radiosonde Observations I Get GFS Model Forecasts I 

' 

Figure 9. Main tab of the Excel GUI shows the primary user interface for selecting model 

data and observations to display. 

13 
In order to preserve the layout of the data and charts in each tab of the workbook, there are 

two buttons used to exit the GUI and Excel. The original file is never over written when the user 

chooses one of these buttons to exit. The button with green text will exit Excel and save a nonmacro copy of the file in .xlsx format (Excel 201 0) without any VBA code, but it will include all 

data and charts in the 25 tabs created during the session. It also automatically creates a 

filename for the saved file using the current date-time. A message box is then displayed to the 

LWO showing the filename and directory path to the file. The button with red text will exit Excel 

and will not save any version of the file. 

3.2 Data Display 

The AMU used multiple tabs to organize and process the textual and graphics data and 

displays. As shown in Figure 9, the tabs along the bottom of the workbook are color-coded to 

help users identify common displays or actions. The first nine tabs following the Main tab are 

color-coded to match the three colored menus on the Main tab. For example, the second light 

blue tab after the Main tab called "Fcst_RAP _Prof' corresponds to the light blue menu used to 

compare the RAP model forecasts to the profiler observations while the third pink tab after the 

Main tab called "Fcst_GFS_RAOB" corresponds to the pink menu used to compare the GFS 

model forecasts to the AMPS rawinsonde observations. After the LWO makes a choice from a 

menu, the resulting charts are displayed in the tab corresponding to the menu color, model and 

observation type. 

Textual observation and model data are stored in separate tabs based on the model data 

start time that the observations will be compared to. This insures the observations are timematched to each model. When an LWO chooses a model/observation pair from the menu, a 

VBA script automatically retrieves the observation and model data files from their respective 

servers, saves the raw data in the appropriate tabs, and then reformats the data to create charts 

and make the textual data easy for the LWO to read. An example of a reformatted textual 

observation data file from the AMPS rawinsonde at 1500 UTC on 13 August 2012 is shown in 

Figure 10. Similarly, an example of a reformatted textual GFS model data file from the 1200 

UTC 13 August 2012 model run is shown in Figure 11 . Besides looking at the example charts 

shown in Figures 3-8 that are created from the reformatted text data, the LWO can inspect the 

observations and model data displayed in neatly organized Excel spreadsheets in formats they 

are familiar with. 

14 
15 

Heicht (ft) Direction Speed (kts) 

16 220 7.0 

1000 215 9.7 

2000 222 9.6 

3000 238 10.7 

4000 232 14.1 

5000 239 13.8 

6000 236 13.2 

7000 227 11.5 

8000 240 13.9 

9000 242 15.0 

10000 238 14.9 

11000 235 17.2 

12000 233 23.7 

13000 227 24.3 

14000 241 20.6 

15000 248 19.0 

16000 243 14.9 

17000 243 12.2 

18000 224 9.9 

19000 185 8.5 

20000 177 5.8 

21000 195 2.9 

22000 145 2.2 

23000 8 6.0 

24000 41 11.2 

25000 38 10.3 

Figure 10. AMPS rawinsonde data after being ingested into Excel and 

reformatted displaying the sensor type and location, date, time, height, 

wind direction and speed. 

Location: 74794 Location: 74794 

13AUG 12 o.te: 13 AUG 12 O.te: 13 AUG 12 

1200Z Time: 1500Z nme: 1800Z 

Helcht (ft) Direction Speed (kts) Heicfrt (ft) Direction Speed (kts) Helcht (It) Direction Speed (kts) 

90 214 6.3 90 223 4.3 88 167 5.4 

256 213 6.5 254 225 4.4 255 170 5.5 

443 213 6.5 444 225 4.7 444 174 5.5 

659 212 6.6 659 227 4.8 663 178 5.4 

900 212 7.1 904 228 5.2 907 192 5.6 

1179 210 7.7 1180 229 5.7 1185 205 6.0 

1492 210 8.5 1494 231 6.5 1501 217 6.8 

1847 212 9.6 1850 235 7.4 1858 226 7.6 

2245 216 10.6 2249 239 8.2 2259 233 8.3 

2697 220 11.4 2701 242 9.2 2714 237 9.3 

3205 223 12.2 3210 245 10.3 3221 241 10.2 

3774 224 13.1 3777 246 11.1 3793 244 11.0 

4412 224 13.9 4414 246 11.7 4432 245 12.0 

5124 225 14.6 5127 243 12.3 5142 245 13.3 

5916 226 14.8 5916 240 12.8 5933 243 14.2 

6792 229 15.2 6793 237 13.4 6809 242 14.9 

7759 232 15.6 7757 235 14.4 7779 241 16.3 

8821 232 16.9 8820 232 16.5 8840 240 18.0 

9982 229 18.7 9978 230 19.2 10000 239 20.1 

11246 229 20.7 11240 230 21.8 11263 239 22.1 

12612 231 21.8 12608 231 23.6 12633 237 23.5 

14082 235 20.9 14076 232 22.7 14103 235 22.9 

15658 238 16.0 15653 234 16.7 15678 238 18.3 

17341 238 10.3 17333 235 9.9 17361 242 11.6 

19129 197 2.0 19123 189 2.6 19155 231 4.0 

21026 73 4.1 21015 87 3.5 21046 45 1.1 

Figure 11. GFS model 3-hour forecast data after being ingested into 

Excel and reformatted displaying the model type and location, date, time, 

height, wind direction and speed for each 3-hour forecast interval. 
4. Information Technology Challenges 

Information Technology (IT) challenges during this task included incompatible versions of 

commercial off-the-shelf software and changing IT security requirements. These issues 

impacted the ability of the software to produce the required results and changed data acquisition 

methods. 

4.1 Software 

The software for this task was developed using Excel 2010, which was part of the standard 

AMU software load of Microsoft Office 2010 as approved by NASA IT System Administration 

and Security. After the AMU's first demonstration to the LWOs of the early development of the 

tool 's functionality, the LWOs suggested that the AMU conduct tests of the tool on the 45th 

Space Wing (45 SW) network. Upon doing so, the AMU realized that most of the charting 

functionality created in the Excel 2010 version of the tool was not backwards compatible with 

the Excel 2007 version that was running on the 45 SW network. To solve this issue, the AMU 

requested the 45 WS install Excel 2010, which they did with permission from 45 SW IT Security. 

4.2 IT Security 

Testing the tool on the 45 SW network also revealed that 45 SW IT Security did not permit 

45 SW computers to access the Iowa State University Archive Data server. The 45 WS 

suspected this would be an issue as access to .edu Universal Resource Locators (URL) is 

normally blocked by IT Security. Since AMU testing also revealed that access to the Spaceport 

Weather Data Archive, a .gov URL, was permitted, they asked the KSC Weather Office if the 

Spaceport Weather Data Archive curator, Mr. Gemmer of Abacus Technology, could routinely 

retrieve the model files from the Iowa State University Archive Data server and save them in a 

directory on the Spaceport Weather Data Archive for access by the 45 WS. Mr. Gemmer 

notified the KSC Weather Office that they could retrieve and save the model files for 45 WS 

access. 

When this task was about 75% complete, the KSC Weather Office notified the AMU that the 

Spaceport Weather Data Archive was being phased out and transitioning to the Spaceport 

Weather Archive at a new URL, http://wxarchive.ksc.nasa.gov. The AMU tested access to the 

new site via the FTP being used in the VBA scripts and found that the directory structure used 

on the old site was not the same on the new site. Upon manual inspection of the new URL, the 

AMU discovered that the new site is built only for human interface to search and acquire data, 

not for automated retrieval of data by another computer. The AMU asked Mr. Gemmer for 

assistance and he indicated that due to NASA IT security regulations the FTP portion of the 

server would be shut down, but they could setup a directory structure to allow the automated 

transfer of files via Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). This was not an issue because the 

AMU would only have to modify the VBA code to use HTTP instead of FTP for the correct 

directory structure on the server. 

Based on resolution of the challenges presented in the preceding paragraphs, the AMU 

continued to develop and complete the tool. After final testing on the NASA network and prior to 

transferring the tool to the 45 WS computer for testing , the AMU checked on the status of the 

HTTP directory structure on the new Spaceport Weather Archive URL so they could update the 

VBA code. Mr. Gemmer informed the AMU that since his last communication with the AMU, 

NASA IT Security was shutting down HTTP servers thereby disallowing the tool to automatically 

access any files on the Spaceport Weather Archive. The AMU met with Mr. Ebuen and Ms. 

Burdett of Abacus Technology to determine if there was another solution to allow the tool to 

automatically access the data on the servers. Four possible solutions were discussed: 

16 
• Use HTTP Secure access with password protection, 

• Run the Excel GUI tool on the Spaceport Weather Archive server, 

• Implement a Web service, which is a software system designed to support interoperable 

machine-to-machine interaction over a network, and 

• Implement a Server Message Block or Common Internet File System that operates as 

an application-layer network protocol to provide shared access to files between nodes 

on a network. 

Mr. Ebuen and Ms. Burdett believe the Web service is the best option but it will take some 

development work on the Spaceport Weather Archive server. They needed to discuss the 

options with other Abacus Technology and NASA personnel before making a final 

recommendation and developing a plan. As of the writing of this report, the KSC Weather Office 

had submitted an IT Work Request to NASA/KSC IT Security to request support to help provide 

a solution to this dilemma. 

17 
5. Summary and Future Work 

The LWOs requested the AMU develop a capability in the form of a GUI that would allow 

them to plot upper-level wind speed and direction observations and then overlay point forecast 

profiles from the NCEP NAM, RAP and GFS models to assess the performance of these 

models. The AMU developed an Excel-based GUI for the LWOs to rapidly assess the model 

forecast of upper-level winds by comparing them to the CCAFS AMPS rawinsondes and the 

KSC 50 MHz and 915 MHz wind profilers and provide that information to the launch directors 

and other decision makers. The GUI allows the LWOs to first initialize the models by comparing 

the 0-hour model forecasts to the observations and determine which model has the best 

performance. The LWOs can then display the desired model forecasts in 3-hour intervals from 

the current time through 12 hours. 

The AMU wrote Excel VBA scripts that drive the GUI by automatically acquiring, 

downloading and processing the observations and model point forecast data, and then 

displaying the resulting output in text format in Excel spreadsheets and in graphic format as 

Excel charts. The output of the observational data provides the LWO with the observation type 

and location, date and time, height, and wind direction and speed. The output of the model data 

provides the LWO with the model name and forecast point location, date and time of the model 

start and forecast intervals, height, and wind direction and speed. 

Issues with software compatibility and IT Security presented several challenges to this task. 

To create the charts requested by the LWOs required using features only available in Excel 

2010. Therefore the 45 WS had to obtain permission from 45 SW IT Security to procure and 

install this version of Excel on one of their computers so they could run the tool. 45 SW IT 

Security restricted 45 WS access to the Iowa State Data Archive. The AMU requested and the 

Spaceport Weather Archive curators agreed to host the model point forecast files from the Iowa 

State Data Archive on their server for 45 WS access. NASA IT Security removed the FTP 

capability from their servers followed by removal of HTTP capability during the tenure of this 

task, negating the ability of the scripts in the GUI to automatically access the data files from the 

KSC Weather Data Archive. The KSC Weather Office initiated a request to NASA IT Security to 

help solve this dilemma and allow the 45 WS automated access to the files on the KSC Weather 

Data Archive. 

If the IT Security issues can be overcome and this tool becomes operational, it will provide 

an objective method for the LWOs to compare the forecast upper-level winds for the 

KSC/CCAFS area to the observed data from KSC and CCAFS and assess each model's 

potential to accurately forecast changes in the upper-level winds through the launch count. If the 

IT Security issues cannot be resolved, the AMU will amend this report to summarize the final 

outcome. 

In the future, the AMU would like to add a local high resolution version of the Weather 

Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The AMU is working on a task to assess and 

implement a high temporal and horizontal resolution WRF to be run locally. The intent of this 

task is to determine the optimum physics schemes and data assimilation methods to run WRF 

over east-central Florida on a routine basis. Once WRF is running routinely, the WRF forecasts 

could be added to this tool and used in the same manner as the NCEP NAM, RAP and GFS 

model forecasts. 

18 
List of Acronyms 

45SW 45th Space Wing LWO Launch Weather Officer 

45WS 45th Weather Squadron MIDDS Meteorological Interactive Data 

AMPS Automated Meteorological Display System 

Profiling System NAM North American Mesoscale 

AMU Applied Meteorology Unit NCEP National Centers for 

ASCII American Standard Code for Environmental Prediction 

Information Interchange RAOBS Radiosonde Observations 

CCAFS Cape Canaveral Air Force RAP Rapid Refresh 

Station SLF Shuttle Landing Facility 

DST Daylight Saving Time ST Standard Time 

FTP File Transfer Protocol URL Universal Resource Locator 

GFS Global Forecast System UTC Coordinated Universal Time 

GRIB Gridded Binary VBA Visual Basic for Applications 

GUI Graphical User Interface WRF Weather Research and 

HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol Forecasting 

IT Information Technology XMR CCAFS rawinsonde 3-letter 

KSC Kennedy Space Center identifier 

LSP Launch Services Program 

19 
NOTICE 

Mention of a copyrighted, trademarked or proprietary product, service, or document does not 

constitute endorsement thereof by the author, ENSCO Inc., the AMU, the National Aeronautics 

and Space Administration, or the United States Government. Any such mention is solely for the 

purpose of fully informing the reader of the resources used to conduct the work reported herein. 

20