GSF - A Doppler weather radar based tracking tool

This paper presents the tracking and forecasting tool (GSF) for the Guiana Space Centre, Europe's spaceport (so called CSG) Weather radar system ROMUA LD "Radar d'Observation Meteo d'Utilisation Aisee Localement et a Distance" The GSF software is designed to assist to the real time weather watch and a utomatic forecast at the operational CSG Meteorological service. The GSF is integrated into the multi-user networked meteorological software environme nt FROG (Fast Radar Observation by GAMIC) designed for realtime weather ana lysis. This system yields an effective tool to forecast high rise due to meteorolo gical phenomena (Weather systems causing electrical discharges, severe wind s) in the operational launch pad environment at CSG. The installation of the GSF system resulted from close cooperation between the CSG operational users, the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales CNES, and the contracted company GAMIC having contributed the specific software and operational know how. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.