Antarctic Meteorological Research Center: 1996-2000

南极气象研究中心（AMRC）是麦克默多科学与工程技术中心的三个研究中心之一，是气象研究的资源和改进业务天气预报的试验台。人机交互数据访问系统（McIDAS）是一个基于计算机的多功能系统，用于组织、操作和整合南极环境数据，构成了AMRC的基础。它捕获来自极轨卫星、自动气象站、业务站天气观测和研究项目数据的气象信息流。它还接收来自南极洲以外的环境数据产品，例如天气预报，并充当现有存档数据库的存储库。第一阶段开始于1992- 1993年夏季，包括安装和操作能够操纵和显示基于现有卫星图像获取系统的先进甚高分辨率辐射计数据的工作站。随后是一个系统的获取和集成，该系统提供数据收集、数据显示和存档、科学应用、网络通信和远程用户访问。McIDAS系统是威斯康星大学在20世纪70年代中期开发的，它从各种来源获取气象数据：标准的天气观测、无线电探空仪剖面、基于卫星的可见光和红外图像、多光谱扫描传感器反演的大气剖面，以及诸如TOMS臭氧数据、SAR海冰信息和AWS网络观测等非标准数据。系统自动注册、校准和定位（通过地理坐标）所摄取的信息，并允许工作站上的用户操作数据库。这些操作包括分割、假色、增强、亮度拉伸、叠加、循环、差分，这些操作对天气气象研究和天气预报非常关键。南极系统主要基于极地轨道飞行器（AVHRR/HRPT和DMSP）提供的数据流，因为地球静止卫星的视角非常低。充分利用McIDAS的能力，生产对预报和研究都有用的气象数据产品，将包括数据传输和通信能力，例如，澳大利亚气象局（ABOM）、威斯康星大学空间科学与工程中心（SSEC）、舰队数值海洋学中心（FNOC）、欧洲中期天气预报中心（ECMRWF）、当前阶段包括扩展存档数据库，设计系统以接收来自未来极轨卫星的数据，以及继续进行产品生成和用户支持。

The Antarctic Meteorological Research Center (AMRC), one of three research centers in the Science and Engineering Technology Center at McMurdo, is a resource for meteorological research and a test bed for improving operational synoptic forecasting. The Man-Computer Interactive Data Access System (McIDAS), a versatile computer-based system for organizing, manipulating, and integrating antarctic environmental data forms the basis of AMRC. It captures the flow of meteorological information from polar orbiting satellites, automatic weather stations, operational station synoptic observations, and research project data. It also receives environmental data products, such as weather forecasts, from outside Antarctica, and acts as a repository for existing archived data bases. Phase I began in the 1992-93 summer season and consisted of the installation and operation of work stations capable of manipulating and displaying Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data based on the existing satellite imagery acquisition system. This was followed by the acquisition and integration of a system that provided data collection, data display and archiving, scientific applications, network communications, and remote user access. The McIDAS system, developed at the University of Wisconsin in the mid-1970's, ingests meteorological data from various sources: standard synoptic observations, radiosonde profiles, satellite- based visible and infra-red imagery, atmospheric profiles inverted from multi-spectral scanning sensors, and non-standard data such as TOMS ozone data, SAR sea ice information, and the AWS network observations. The system automatically registers, calibrates, and locates (by geographical coordinates) the ingested information and allows a user at a work station to manipulate the data base. The manipulations include sectorization, false color, enhancements, brightness stretching, overlays, looping, differencing, and are quite definitely keyed to synoptic meteorological research and weather forecasting. The antarctic system is based primarily on data streams provided by polar orbiters (AVHRR/HRPT and DMSP), since the look angles from geostationary satellites are so extremely low. The full utilization of McIDAS capabilities in producing meteorological data products useful in both forecasting and research will include a data transfer and communications capability to, for example, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (ABOM), the University of Wisconsin Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC), the Fleet Numerical Oceanography Center (FNOC), Monterey, and the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMRWF), Reading, U.K. The current phase includes the expansion of the archived data base, the design of the system to accept data from future polar-orbiting satellites, and the continuation of product generation and user support.