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-------- Original Message --------
Doug van de Kamp wrote: (2/23/09)
Subject: McCook Wind Profiler to be turned off temporally (for
approximately 15 months)
TO: Nearby and surrounding WFO's to McCook NE (and others),
The McCook wind profiler has been operating since Sept. 1991. The
site's landowner has decided not to renew the land lease, and therefore
all the profiler related hardware must be removed from the site.
Removal of equipment and restoration of the site must be completed by
3/31/09, and therefore the site will be turned off on 2/24/09 to start
the process. (Solicitation #DG133W-09-RQ-0238 for the removal and
restoration of the McCook wind profiler was posted on FedBizOpps on
2/11/09.) Another nearby site has been located for the profiler, but
the profiler is not scheduled to resume operation until approximately
late spring or summer 2010.
As many of you may know, we have been working towards an
upgrade/replacement of our 20 year old technology, and converting the
current 35-site NOAA Profiler Network (NPN) radar's operating frequency
from 404 to 449 MHz to alleviate interference to the global SARSAT
(Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking) system. We are currently
evaluating two possible vendors (Vaisala and Honeywell) to provide a
replacement profiler system that will meet our needs. The new profilers
will have very similar or better maximum height coverage and data
quality (with an improved lower first measurement height) compared to
the current 404 MHz NPN sites. It has been decided that it would not be
cost effective to move the existing McCook profiler shelter, antenna and
supporting structure, and all the related hardware to the new site, and
get it operating again. It is planned that the new McCook profiler site
will receive the first new production profiler, expected in 2010.
Please contact me with any further questions or comments.
Doug van de Kamp
Profiler Control Center
Boulder, CO
NWS/OPS12
