Method and apparatus for short-term prediction of convective weather
First Claim
1. A method for developing a short-term storm forecast comprising the steps:
- (a) receiving a first and a second meteorological image at a first and a second time, respectively, each meteorological image comprising information indicative of a meteorological indicator in relation to a predetermined geographical area;
(b) processing each meteorological image to determine a sub-image region as being within at least one of a plurality of predetermined storm classifications;
(c) generating a combined tracking vector field comprising at least one tracking vector for each determined sub-image region, the combined tracking vector field indicative of relative motion; and
(d) generating a short-term forecast by advecting a meteorological image according to the combined tracking vector field.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for forecasting the likely occurrence of convective weather events, such as thunderstorms. An image filter is used to identify areas of interest within a meteorological image that are likely to contain convective weather. The image filter and an image difference processor identify sub-image regions within the meteorological image that are likely to experience a growth and/or decay of weather events. The classification filter classifies sub-image regions within the meteorological image into a number of predetermined storm categories. The meteorological images are filtered using matched filters, features within the filtered images are tracked, and the resulting track vectors are combined according to the storm classification. The meteorological image, interest image, growth/decay image, classification image, and combined vectors are processed to produce the short-term forecast.
-
Citations
25 Claims
-
1. A method for developing a short-term storm forecast comprising the steps:
-
(a) receiving a first and a second meteorological image at a first and a second time, respectively, each meteorological image comprising information indicative of a meteorological indicator in relation to a predetermined geographical area; (b) processing each meteorological image to determine a sub-image region as being within at least one of a plurality of predetermined storm classifications; (c) generating a combined tracking vector field comprising at least one tracking vector for each determined sub-image region, the combined tracking vector field indicative of relative motion; and (d) generating a short-term forecast by advecting a meteorological image according to the combined tracking vector field. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. An apparatus for developing a short-term storm forecast comprising:
-
a receiver receiving a first and second meteorological image at a first and a second time, respectively, each meteorological image comprising information indicative of a meteorological indicator in relation to a predetermined geographical area; a classification processor determining at least two sub-image regions, each sub-image region being associated with a different predetermined storm classifications; a tracker determining a combined tracking vector field comprising at least one tracking vector for each determined sub-image region, the combined tracking vector field indicative of relative motion; an image filter filtering the combined tracking vector field to reduce spurious tracking vectors; and a forecast processor generating a short-term forecast by advecting a meteorological image according to the combined tracking vector field. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
-
-
23. An apparatus for developing a short-term storm forecast comprising:
-
means for receiving a first and second meteorological image at a first and a second time, respectively, each meteorological image comprising information indicative of a meteorological indicator in relation to a predetermined geographical area; a means for processing each meteorological image to determine at least two sub-image regions, each sub-image region being associated with a different predetermined storm classifications; means for generating a combined tracking vector field comprising at least one tracking vector for each determined sub-image region, the combined tracking vector field indicative of relative motion; means for filtering the combined tracking vector field to reduce spurious tracking vectors; and means for generating a short-term forecast by advecting a meteorological image according to the combined tracking vector field. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
-
Specification