The PresidentÕs Corner

n 8 September 1993, UCAR was notified that Weather Information 
Technologies, Inc. (WITI), the wholly controlled, for-profit subsidiary of the 
UCAR Foundation, was awarded a $15 million contract, effective 2 October, to 
develop an Operational Wind Shear Warning System (OWWS) for the new 
Hong Kong International Airport.  WITI will develop, install, and validate an 
operational system for forecasting and detecting terrain-induced wind shear 
and turbulence for the new airport at Chek Lap Kok.  This competitive award 
is the largest and most visible example of UCARÕs efforts to transfer into the 
private and public sectors technology based on research developed in the 
universities and at NCAR.  WITIÕs partners in this effort include UCAR, 
NCAR, the University of Wyoming, and the Hong Kong University of 
Science and Technology, a UCAR international affiliate.  The Royal 
Observatory, Hong Kong, also an international affiliate, will monitor the 
contract for the Hong Kong government and participate in the development 
of the new system.

The wind shear warning system project involves a significant scientific 
research component and an operational development and evaluation 
component.  The new airport to be built at Chek Lap Kok lies near the 
mountainous island of Lantau, which reaches 933 meters (3,250 feet) above 
sea level.  There are 25% more thunderstorm days at Lantau than at the 
present Kai Tak airport, significantly increasing the probability of microbursts.  
The prevailing easterly flow over Lantau Island, upwind of Chek Lap Kok, 
occasionally produces topographically induced wind shear and turbulence 
which arises from phenomena such as large-amplitude gravity waves, wave 
breaking, downslope windstorms, flow channeling, rotors, and lee vortices.  
To understand these phenomena, to characterize their effects, and to design 
an operational forecast and warning system, WITI and its partners will 
undertake a comprehensive scientific field program referred to as the Lantau 
Experiment (LANTEX).  The data obtained from LANTEX will be used to 
determine the fine-scale wind flow and turbulence that occurs over the 
airport site as a result of flow over and around Lantau Island.  The 
nonhydrostatic model developed by NCAR scientist Terry Clark will be used 
to simulate the wind flow and turbulence over the airport site.  In situ data, 
including lidar, profiler, Radio Acoustic Sounding System (RASS), aircraft, 
and surface measurements, will be used to validate the model runs.  After 
representative flow regimes are identified and successfully modeled, 
algorithms will be formulated based on upstream conditions of wind speed, 
direction, and stability to serve as predictors for wind shear and turbulence.  
The nonhydrostatic Penn State/NCAR mesoscale model MM5 will also be 
adapted for the Hong Kong region to produce real-time forecasts for the new 
airport.

Following this research component, the OWWS will be engineered to include 
the MM5 model, the algorithms developed from the Clark model, data ingest 
systems that use the Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) and RASS, 
and surface anemometer reports to produce operational alerts for turbulence 
and wind shear.

Prior to this major contract, WITI signed a $350,000 subcontract with Ambidji 
Ltd. (the primary contractor to the Royal Observatory) to participate in the 
siting and specification of a TDWR for the new airport.  In addition to 
Ambidji, WITI teamed with UCAR and Greiner International (an American 
engineering company) on the contract, and work commenced in mid-August.

The Hong Kong projects address the fifth of six UCAR goal areas described in 
UCAR 2001ÑA Strategic Outlook for the University Corporation for 
Atmospheric ResearchÑthat of technology transfer.  Although the Hong 
Kong projects are the largest, and perhaps most visible, of UCARÕs efforts in 
technology transfer, activities culminating in this award have been under 
way for some time.  The UCAR Foundation was created by UCAR in 1986 to 
foster and facilitate the commercial use of UCARÕs intellectual property and 
technology assets.  UCAR granted the foundation the exclusive right to 
commercially exploit its intellectual property assets through licensing and the 
establishment of new business enterprises.  In 1989, the UCAR Foundation 
founded WITI in order to transfer certain UCAR and NCAR technologies and 
expertise, particularly those related to aviation and operational weather 
forecasts and warnings.

The transfer of technology to the public sector is not a simple or easy 
undertaking. The success story just recounted has its roots in UCAR efforts, 
begun seven years ago, that have had mixed results overall.  Nevertheless, I 
have high hopes for the ultimate success of our undertaking and believe we 
must make the effort to transfer the knowledge gained by years of basic 
research, supported by the public through taxes, into technologies that are 
useful and profitable to society.  These sentiments are being spoken more and 
more loudly in Washington these days, as Congress increasingly demands a 
practical return on federally supported basic research.  As atmospheric 
scientists, we are fortunate because the atmospheric and related sciences hold 
great potential for adding to the greater body of scientific knowledge and at 
the same time being of enormous benefit to society.