JPH11183641A - System for observing thundercloud - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve judgment accuracy for thundercloud regions at a far distance or near distance in a thundercloud observation system using a VIL. SOLUTION: A VIL operation part 100 calculates a VIL on the basis of radar data of a meteorological radar. A maximum echo intensity-extracting part 102 extracts an altitude of a maximum echo intensity on the basis of the radar data. A weighted addition is carried out to the VIL and maximum echo intensity, and the composition value is outputted. The composition outputs a weighted composition value and is conducted at a weighted composition part 108. An area-judging part 110 ultimately judges an area of a thundercloud based on the weighted composition value. When the thundercloud is at a near distance, the VIL is weighted small, while the maximum echo intensity is weighted large. Since the VIL is lowered in accuracy similarly in the case of a far distance, the maximum echo intensity is weighted larger than the VIL and composed. As a result of this, the area of the thundercloud can be grasped more correctly whether it is at a near distant or far distance.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a thundercloud observation system. In particular, a radar capable of accurately grasping the area of a thundercloud is realized, and at the same time, the accuracy of thundercloud movement prediction is improved.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a thundercloud observation system has been widely used for the purpose of maintaining a power system and the like.
In this conventional thundercloud observation system, the area where thunderclouds are currently occurring is grasped based on signals from weather radars and the like.
To display. Further, such a thundercloud observation system is generally capable of predicting the movement of a thundercloud region.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional thundercloud observation system. As shown in this figure,
In the conventional thundercloud observation system, the VIL operation unit 10 calculates a vertical integrated moisture content (hereinafter, referred to as VIL) based on echo intensity data obtained by a weather radar.
This echo intensity data is also called radar data.

[0004] The echo top temperature calculation unit 12 calculates the temperature at the highest point of the thundercloud. The temperature at the highest point of this thundercloud is radar data (echo intensity data)
, The altitude at the highest point of the thundercloud is obtained, and the temperature at that altitude is obtained from the high-level weather information. In particular, the high-level weather information uses the altitude-temperature comparison data therein. By using this data, the temperature at altitude can be grasped. As the altitude-temperature comparison data, for example, a value published by the Meteorological Agency or the like can be used.

As described above, the VIL calculation unit 10 calculates the VIL, and the echo top temperature calculation unit 12 calculates the echo top temperature of the thundercloud (the temperature at the highest point of the thundercloud is displayed in this manner).
Based on these results, the area of the thundercloud is determined from these results. The determination of this area is performed by the area determination unit 14.

[0006] The determination of the thundercloud region has often been performed using only VIL in a classical manner. Since the VIL represents the vertical integrated moisture content in the atmosphere, it can be determined that the region with a large moisture content is a thundercloud. However, in general, the state of the particles of moisture contained in the air changes due to a change in temperature. A thundercloud generates lightning due to the friction between the water particles. If the state of the particles changes, the likelihood of lightning generation also changes. Therefore, FIG.
In the example shown in (1), the region is determined not only by VIL but also by taking into account the peak temperature of the echo.

The area output by the area determination section 14 is displayed on the image display section 16. Further, the center of gravity of the VIL or the like in the region is obtained by the identification / tracking processing unit 18. The identification / tracking processing unit 18 grasps the moving state of the thundercloud region using the center of gravity, and predicts and tracks the region of the thundercloud based on the moving state of the thundercloud in the past.

When performing identification and tracking, the center of gravity is often used, and another method of obtaining the center of gravity is shown in FIG. As shown in this figure, the echo intensity at the altitude where the echo is the largest in the thundercloud is called the maximum echo intensity, and a method of calculating the center of gravity from this maximum echo intensity is also widely used.

A conventional thundercloud observation system as described above is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-110378. Further, a method of determining the lightning movement prediction based on the center of gravity analysis table based on the surge position and the number of times is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-165092.

[0010]

As described above, in the conventional thundercloud observation system, the VIL is calculated based on the echo intensity data obtained by the weather radar, and the VIL is calculated.
The area of the thundercloud was determined based on the echo top temperature.

However, in observation by a weather radar, an echo at a very high altitude cannot be observed at a short distance, and an extremely low altitude cannot be observed at a long distance. This is shown in FIG. As shown in this figure, the weather radar 2
The elevation angle of the antenna at 0 can be varied within a certain range. However, due to the curvature of the Earth, it is not possible to observe a low altitude atmosphere at long distances.
This lower portion is represented, for example, as an X portion in FIG. In addition, since the antenna cannot be pointed directly above at a portion very close to the weather radar 20, the atmosphere at a high altitude cannot be observed. This unobservable part is shown as a Y part in FIG.

As a result, there is a problem that the VIL cannot be used to determine a very high altitude at a short distance and a low altitude at a long distance.

Further, particularly in the case of observation in a long distance direction,
Since the beam of the weather radar 20 spreads, VIL
It is often difficult to accurately determine FIG. 11 is an explanatory view showing how the beam spreads. This figure 1
In the explanatory diagram of FIG. 1, the horizontal axis is the axis representing the distance from the weather radar 20, and the vertical axis is the altitude. In this graph, for example, it is assumed that the weather radar is located at an altitude of 200 m. The unit of the horizontal axis is km (km), which is represented up to 240 km. The unit of altitude is m (meter), and is expressed up to 15000 m.

In this graph, the portion between the curves represents one beam. As shown in this graph, when the distance from the weather radar 20 is about 40 km, the width of one beam is, for example, 1000 in terms of altitude.
m. This situation is indicated by, for example, a portion P in FIG. However, the distance from the weather radar 20 is 2
In the vicinity of 00 km, the width of one beam is about five times wider than the point of 40 km. As a result, even if a thundercloud exists between 1000 and 2000 m as in the case of the P section, the beam is almost 5
Since it spreads twice, it is observed that an echo occurs between 1 and 5000 m. Therefore, errors occur in VIL, echo top position, cloud thickness, echo top temperature, and the like.

As is apparent from FIG. 11, since the beam of the weather radar 20 does not reach a high altitude portion within a distance of 10 km from the weather radar 20, the VIL
Cannot be determined accurately.

Therefore, the VIL can be used for detecting an accurate value only in a middle distance portion, for example, in a range of 20 km to 120 km.

Therefore, in the conventional thundercloud observation system as shown in FIG. 11, since the area of the thundercloud is determined on the basis of the VIL, it is possible to observe only a medium distance range from the weather radar 20. There is a problem that can not be.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a system capable of observing a long distance (low altitude) and a short distance (high altitude), and to provide a thundercloud in these areas. An object of the present invention is to provide a device capable of determining, predicting, and tracking an area.

[0019]

According to the present invention, there is provided a vertical integrated moisture calculating section for calculating a vertical integrated moisture content of a thundercloud based on an output signal of a weather radar, and a calculation performed by the vertical integrated moisture calculating section. A first center-of-gravity calculator for calculating the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the vertical integrated moisture content to be calculated; a maximum echo intensity extractor for calculating the maximum echo intensity of the thundercloud based on the output signal of the weather radar; The second center of gravity calculating section that calculates the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the maximum echo intensity calculated by the extracting section, the center of gravity calculated by the first center of gravity calculating section, and the center of gravity calculated by the second center of gravity calculating section are weighted. A weighting / combining unit for calculating a combined center of gravity by weighting and adding; and a region determining unit for determining a region of the thundercloud based on the center of gravity of the thundercloud combined by the weighting / combining unit.

According to the present invention, there are provided N weather product operation units for obtaining different predetermined weather products based on an output signal of a weather radar, and provided for each of the N weather product operation units, An N number of center-of-gravity calculating units for calculating the centroids of the weather products calculated by the calculating unit; and a weighting combining unit for calculating the combined center of gravity by weighting and adding the N number of center-of-gravities calculated by the N number of center-of-gravity calculating units. And a region determination unit that determines a region of the thundercloud based on the center of gravity of the thundercloud synthesized by the weighting synthesis unit. Here, N is a positive integer.

According to the present invention, the weighting / synthesizing unit calculates the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the vertical integrated moisture content for a thundercloud located at a short distance based on the vertical integrated moisture content for a thundercloud located at a medium distance. The weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud is made lighter than the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud, and the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the maximum echo intensity for the thundercloud located at a short distance is made heavier than the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the maximum echo intensity for the thundercloud located at the middle distance. And performing weighting synthesis.

According to the present invention, the weighting / synthesizing unit linearly changes the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the integrated moisture content in the vertical direction with respect to the thundercloud located at a short distance linearly with respect to the distance. The weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the vertical integrated moisture content of the thundercloud is maintained at a constant value with respect to the distance.

In the present invention, the weighting / synthesizing unit calculates a weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the vertical accumulated moisture amount for a thundercloud located at a long distance based on the vertical accumulated moisture amount for a thundercloud located at a middle distance. The weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud is made lighter than the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud, and the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the maximum echo intensity for the thundercloud located at a long distance is made heavier than the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the maximum echo intensity for the thundercloud located at the middle distance. And performing weighting synthesis.

According to the present invention, the weighting / synthesizing unit linearly changes the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the vertical integrated moisture content with respect to the thundercloud located at a long distance linearly with respect to the distance. The weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the vertical integrated moisture content of the thundercloud is maintained at a constant value with respect to the distance.

The present invention is characterized in that the area determining section determines the area of the thundercloud based on a predetermined threshold value.

According to the present invention, there is provided another sensor signal processing section for processing a sensor signal other than the output signal of the weather radar.
The area determination unit determines an area of the thundercloud based on the center of gravity of the synthesized thundercloud and an output signal of the other sensor signal processing unit.

The present invention is characterized in that it includes an identification / tracking processing unit for identifying or tracking the region of the thundercloud determined by the region determination unit.

The present invention is characterized in that it comprises an image marking section for marking the area of the thundercloud determined by the area determination section.

The present invention is characterized in that it includes an image marking unit for indicating the thundercloud region identified by the identification / tracking processing unit or the tracking result of the thundercloud region.

According to the present invention, there is provided a vertical integrated moisture content calculating section for calculating a vertical integrated moisture content of a thundercloud based on an output signal of a weather radar;
The maximum echo intensity extraction unit that calculates the maximum echo intensity of the thundercloud, the vertical integrated moisture content of the thundercloud calculated by the vertical integrated moisture content calculation unit, and the maximum echo intensity of the thundercloud calculated by the maximum echo intensity extraction unit Are weighted and added to calculate a combined value, and a region determination unit that determines a region of a thundercloud based on the combined value combined by the weighting combination unit. It is.

According to the present invention, different predetermined weather products are calculated based on the output signals of the weather radar.
Weighting / combining unit for weighting and adding the N weather products calculated by the N weather product calculating units and calculating a synthesized value;
And a region determining unit that determines a region of a thundercloud based on a combined value combined by the weighting combining unit. Here, N is a positive integer.

According to the present invention, the weighting / synthesizing unit normalizes a value of the vertical integrated moisture amount calculated by the vertical integrated moisture amount calculating unit, and calculates a maximum echo intensity calculated by the maximum echo intensity extracting unit. It is characterized by normalizing and weighting and adding these normalized values.

According to the present invention, the weighting / synthesizing section scores the value of the vertical integrated moisture content calculated by the vertical integrated moisture content calculating section within a predetermined range, and the maximum echo intensity extracting section. Is calculated based on the maximum echo intensity calculated by the above-described method, and the values thus scored are weighted and added.

According to the present invention, the weighting / synthesizing unit makes the weight of the vertical integrated moisture content for a thundercloud located at a short distance lighter than the weight of the vertical integrated moisture content for a thundercloud located at a medium distance. The weight of the maximum echo intensity for a thundercloud located at a distance is made heavier than the weight of the maximum echo intensity for a thundercloud located at a medium distance, and weighted synthesis is performed.

According to the present invention, the weighting / synthesizing unit linearly changes the weight of the vertical integrated moisture content with respect to a thundercloud located at a short distance with respect to the distance, and the weighting / synthesizing unit linearly changes the weight with respect to the thundercloud located at a middle distance. The weight of the direction integrated moisture content is
The distance is maintained at a constant value.

According to the present invention, the weighting / synthesizing unit makes the weight of the vertical integrated moisture content for a thundercloud located at a long distance lighter than the weight of the vertical integrated moisture content for a thundercloud located at a middle distance, and The weight of the maximum echo intensity for a thundercloud located at a distance is made heavier than the weight of the maximum echo intensity for a thundercloud located at a medium distance, and weighted synthesis is performed.

According to the present invention, the weighting / synthesizing unit linearly changes the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the integrated moisture content in the vertical direction with respect to the thundercloud located at a long distance linearly with respect to the distance. The weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the vertical integrated moisture content of the thundercloud is maintained at a constant value with respect to the distance.

The present invention is characterized in that the area determination section determines that an area where the combined value is larger than a predetermined threshold value is an area of a thundercloud.

According to the present invention, there is provided another sensor signal processing section for processing a signal of a sensor other than the output signal of the weather radar,
The region determination unit determines a region of a thundercloud based on the combined value and an output signal of the other sensor signal processing unit.

According to the present invention, in the thundercloud region determined by the region determination unit, a center-of-gravity calculating unit for calculating the center of gravity of the composite value, and based on the center of gravity calculated by the center-of-gravity calculating unit, identification or tracking of the thundercloud region And an identification / tracking processing unit that performs the following.

The present invention is characterized by including an image marking section for marking the area of the thundercloud determined by the area determination section.

The present invention is characterized in that it includes an image marking unit for indicating the thundercloud region identified by the identification / tracking processing unit or the tracking result of the thundercloud region.

[0043]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a thundercloud measurement system according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in this figure, in the present system, similarly to the conventional system, a VIL calculation unit 100 that calculates a VIL based on radar data.
Is provided. Further, a maximum echo intensity extraction unit 1 for extracting the maximum echo intensity of the thundercloud based on the radar data.
02 is provided.

Further, in the present embodiment, this VI
A first center-of-gravity calculator 104 for calculating the center of gravity of the VIL in the thundercloud region calculated by the L calculator 100 is provided. Further, a second center-of-gravity calculator 1 for calculating a center of gravity based on the maximum echo intensity output from the maximum echo intensity extractor 102
06 is also provided.

The feature of this embodiment is that the center of gravity calculated by the first center of gravity calculation unit 104 and the center of gravity calculated by the second center of gravity calculation unit 106 are combined with weight. This weighted combining is performed by the weighted combining unit 108.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing an example of weighting performed by the weighting synthesis unit 108. FIG. 3 is a graph showing the ratio between the observation distance and the weight of the center of gravity calculation. Here, the observation distance is shown on the horizontal axis, and the ratio is shown on the vertical axis.

As shown in this graph, a characteristic of the present embodiment is that the VIL weight depends on whether the distance of the thundercloud is a short distance, a medium distance, or a long distance. And the ratio between the maximum echo intensity weight and the maximum echo intensity weight. As shown in FIG. 3, when the distance of the thundercloud is about the middle distance, the VIL weight is set heavy in consideration of the high reliability of the VIL. On the other hand, when the thundercloud is close to the weather radar, the weight of the maximum echo intensity is set to be heavy, assuming that the reliability of the VIL is low. In addition, V
Since the reliability of the IL is low, the area of the thundercloud is determined by increasing the weight of the maximum echo intensity to determine the area of the thundercloud.

In the thundercloud measurement system shown in FIG. 1, the ratio between the center of gravity based on VIL and the center of gravity based on the maximum echo intensity when judging the area of the thundercloud is changed according to the distance. . That is, the weight of the center of gravity based on the maximum echo intensity is increased at short distances and long distances, and the weight of the center of gravity is increased based on VIL at medium distances.

In this way, the area determining unit 110 determines the area of the thundercloud based on the synthesized center of gravity. In the present embodiment, the area determination unit 110 determines the area of the thundercloud in consideration of not only the weighted center of gravity but also the data of other sensors. Other sensor data is processed in the other sensor signal processing unit 112. The area determined by the area determination unit 110 is supplied to the identification / tracking processing unit 114 as shown in FIG. The identification / tracking processing unit 114 calculates the center of gravity of the region of the supplied thundercloud. By grasping the state of movement of the center of gravity, it is possible to track how the thundercloud moves. The result of the thundercloud region tracked in this manner is displayed on the image display unit 116.

Now, an example of the weight in the weighted synthesizing section 108 has been described above with reference to the graph of FIG. 3. However, the weight may be obtained by other various methods. For example, in the weighting represented by the graph shown in FIG. 4, the VIL weight and the maximum echo intensity weight at the medium distance are selected to be equal (that is, both are set to 50%). by this,
When the thundercloud is located at a medium distance, it is possible to perform the area determination substantially similar to the conventional thundercloud observation system.

As shown in the graph of FIG.
It is also preferable to determine the ratio between the L weight and the maximum echo intensity weight. According to the example shown here, the change in weight is represented by a polygonal line. As shown in FIG. 5, when the distance is 0, the maximum echo intensity weight is set to 100%.
A straight line is connected from 0% to the ratio between the VIL weight and the maximum echo intensity weight at a medium distance (that is, the ratio is changed linearly). In the middle distance, the ratio of the weights is constant, and in the long distance, the ratio is changed linearly from the ratio in the middle distance until the maximum echo intensity weight becomes 100%. In this way, the change in the ratio of the weights becomes linear by expressing with a polygonal line,
This has the effect of simplifying the calculation of weights in the weighted combining section.

The VIL calculation unit 100 calculates the VIL by integrating the water content in the vertical direction in each region, as described in the background art. Therefore, since the VIL is calculated for each region, the first center-of-gravity calculation unit 104
The center of gravity is calculated using these values.

Next, the calculation of the center of gravity using the maximum echo intensity extracted by the maximum echo intensity extraction unit 102 will be described. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the center of gravity calculation using the maximum echo intensity data. However, in the explanatory diagram shown in FIG. 6, the area on the ground surface (generally two-dimensional) is simplified in one dimension, and each area is simply represented by a horizontal distance. FIG. 6 shows a table in which the echo intensity data at each altitude with respect to each area is arranged. For example, the radar echo at an altitude of 1 to 2 km at a distance of 5 km from the weather radar 20 is “1”, and the value of the radar echo at an altitude of 2 to 3 km from the weather radar 10 is “5”. As described above, in FIG. 6, the values of the radar echo are summarized in a two-dimensional matrix according to the horizontal distance and the altitude. Of course, since each area on the ground surface is actually represented by two-dimensional coordinates, this radar echo is actually represented by a three-dimensional table.

The maximum echo intensity extractor 102 in the present embodiment extracts the maximum echo intensity data in each area. For example, the maximum echo intensity in a region 5 km from the weather radar 10 is “10”. Also,
The maximum echo intensity in an area 10 km from the weather radar 10 is “20”. In addition, weather radar 10-2
The maximum echo intensity in the region of 5 km is "12" at an altitude of 3-4 km. As described above, the maximum echo intensity extraction unit 102 in the present embodiment searches for radar echoes of the atmosphere above each region, and extracts the strongest radar echo in the atmosphere over that region. In this way, the maximum echo intensity extraction unit 102 creates data that gives maximum echo intensity data for each area. This data is supplied to the second centroid operation unit 106. The second center-of-gravity calculator 106 calculates the center of gravity of the thundercloud region based on the maximum echo intensity in each region. The weighted combining unit 108 in the present embodiment combines the barycenter based on the VIL obtained in this way and the barycenter based on the maximum echo intensity with weights, so that the final area determination can be performed more accurately. It is supposed to be.

It is preferable that the other sensor processed by the other sensor signal processing unit 112 in the first embodiment uses, for example, altitude-temperature comparison data or the like as in the prior art. In addition, various conventionally known weather observation devices can be used as the sensor.

Embodiment 2 FIG. 2 is a configuration block diagram showing a configuration of a thundercloud observation system according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention. Embodiment 1
, The VIL calculated by the VIL calculation unit 100
Based on the value of IL, the first center-of-gravity calculator 104 calculates the center of gravity. Similarly, the maximum echo intensity detection unit 102
The center of gravity of the maximum echo intensity extracted by
6, the center of gravity with the maximum echo intensity is determined. Then, the weighted combining unit 108 combines these centroids with weights.

On the other hand, in the second embodiment,
The VIL calculated by the VIL operation unit 200 and the maximum echo intensity calculated by the maximum echo intensity extraction unit 202 are directly combined with weighting. That is, the weighted combining unit 204 in the second embodiment directly combines the VIL and the maximum echo intensity. The unit of the VIL and the maximum echo intensity are both expressed in rainfall (mm), but since VIL is an integrated value in the vertical direction, the absolute values of the values are considerably different. Therefore, in order to combine the two equally, in the second embodiment, the VIL and the maximum echo intensity are converted into intermediate values by scoring.
By this conversion, the respective values are, as it were, normalized. This normalization by scoring is performed in the weighted combining unit 204.

For example, in the second embodiment, VIL
Is represented by a score from 0 to 10. The values from 0 to 10 are intermediate values. For example, when the rainfall is 64 mm or more, VIL is set to “10”. Similarly, when the rainfall is 32 mm or more and less than 64 mm, it is converted to an intermediate value of “9”. As described above, VIL is normalized by converting the VIL to a value from 0 to 10.

Similarly, the maximum echo intensity is converted to an intermediate value by scoring. For example, if the rainfall is 3
If it is 2 mm or more, a score of "10" is given. This 10 is an intermediate value. When the rainfall is 16 mm or more and less than 32 mm, “9” is given as a score. In this way, the maximum echo intensity is also normalized to a value from 0 to 10 by scoring.

As described above, the VIL normalized by the scoring and the maximum echo intensity are combined by the weighting combining unit 204 by the above-mentioned weighting. The weight ratios are weighted according to the various ratios shown in FIGS. That is, the same change as in the first embodiment can be adopted as the change in the weighting depending on the distance.

The data after the combination is supplied to the area determination unit 206. If the value of the synthesized intermediate value data exceeds a predetermined threshold value, the region determining unit 206 determines that the region is a thundercloud region. In the second embodiment, a predetermined threshold value is provided for the intermediate value, and a region exceeding this threshold value is determined to be a thundercloud region. Various conventional methods can be employed as they are.

The area determining unit 206 according to the second embodiment also determines the area of the thundercloud in consideration of the data of the other sensors processed by the other sensor signal processing unit 208 as in the first embodiment.

The thundercloud region determined by the region determination unit 206 is
It is supplied to the center-of-gravity calculation unit 210 and the image display unit 212. The image display unit 212 displays an image of the thundercloud region supplied from the region determination unit 206. The region of the thundercloud is also supplied to the center-of-gravity calculating unit 210, and the center-of-gravity calculating unit 210 calculates the center of gravity based on the combined intermediate value in the thundercloud region. When there are a plurality of thundercloud regions, the center of gravity is calculated for each of the plurality of thundercloud regions. The center of gravity of each region of the thundercloud obtained in this manner is used for identification, tracking processing, and the like as representing the center of the thundercloud. That is,
The center of gravity is supplied to the identification / tracking processing unit 214 and used for tracking the thundercloud region and the like. In addition, the processing result such as tracking is also displayed by the image processing unit 212.

As described above, in the second embodiment,
Since the VIL and the maximum echo intensity are converted into intermediate values and normalized, the synthesis by weighting can be performed as it is. Therefore, there is an effect that the region of the thundercloud can be determined without converting to the center of gravity. Therefore, when only the area is determined and tracking is not performed, adopting the configuration according to the second embodiment in FIG. 2 simplifies the system configuration as compared with the configuration in FIG. be able to.

Embodiment 3 As described above, in the first and second embodiments, the VIL and the maximum echo intensity are combined with weight. However, more types of weather data, that is, weather products, are generally required based on the radar data output from the weather radar 20. Therefore, it is expected that a more accurate determination of a thundercloud region can be performed by weighting and combining a plurality of these weather products and determining a thundercloud region.

Therefore, in the third embodiment, the configuration of the first embodiment is extended to a plurality of weather products. FIG. 7 is a configuration block diagram illustrating a configuration of such a thundercloud observation system according to the third embodiment. A plurality of VIL calculation units 100 and maximum echo intensity extraction units 102 in FIG. 1 are shown in FIG. These are a weather product 1 calculation unit 300a, a weather product 2 calculation unit 300b,.
-The weather product N operation unit 300n. With such a configuration, a plurality of weather products are to be weighted and synthesized. As shown in FIG.
The same center-of-gravity calculation unit as in FIG. 1 is provided for each of the weather product calculation units 300 (a to n).

Specifically, the weather product 1 calculation unit 30
0a is provided with a first center-of-gravity calculating unit 302a,
The weather product 2 calculation unit 300b includes a second gravity center calculation unit 302b. The weather product N calculation unit 300n includes an Nth centroid calculation unit 302n, and calculates the center of gravity of the weather product N.

Each of the center-of-gravity calculating units 300 calculates the center of gravity of the corresponding weather product,
04. The weighting combining unit 304 combines the centroids of the first centroid computing unit 302a, the second centroid computing unit 302b,..., The Nth centroid computing unit 302n by weighting, and supplies the resultant to the area determination unit 30. The area determination unit 306 determines the final area of the thundercloud based on the weighted and combined center of gravity and other sensor data output from the other sensor signal processing unit 308. The area of the determined thundercloud is displayed in the image display unit 312.
And the identification / tracking processing unit 310
Supplied to

The identification / tracking processing unit 310 identifies and tracks the determined area of the thundercloud, and the state of the tracking is displayed on the image display unit 312.

As described above, the configuration shown in FIG.
This is an extension of the thundercloud observation system shown in FIG. 1 to a plurality of weather products based on radar data, and its operation principle is basically the same as that of the thundercloud observation system shown in FIG. However, since it is extended to a plurality of weather products, a more accurate thundercloud area can be determined.

As a weather product, the temperature is-
Echo intensity at 10 degree part, -25 degree part and -5
Conventional general weather products such as altitude difference with degree parts, etc. are available. Here, since the weather radar cannot detect the temperature, other data is used for the temperature. Also, the size of the vortex of 700 hPa is widely used as a weather product, and it is also preferable to use the size in the present embodiment.

Embodiment 4 In the third embodiment, the configuration of the first embodiment is extended to a plurality of weather products. However, the configuration of FIG. 2 can be extended to a plurality of weather products. In the fourth embodiment,
This is an extension of the configuration shown in FIG. 2 to a plurality of weather products.

As shown in FIG. 2, although the VIL operation unit 200 and the maximum echo intensity extraction unit 202 are provided in the thundercloud observation system, instead of these, the detection is generally performed based on radar data. A configuration provided with a plurality of weather product calculation units for calculating a plurality of weather products is employed in the thundercloud observation system according to the fourth embodiment. These operation units are, as shown in FIG. 8, a weather product 1 operation unit 400a, a weather product 2 operation unit 400b,.
It is an operation unit 400n. These configurations are basically the same as those of the weather product calculation units 300 (a to n) in FIG.

The configuration of the thundercloud observation system shown in FIG. 8 differs from that of FIG. 7 in that each calculated weather product is directly supplied to the weighting / synthesizing unit 404. . The operation of the weighting synthesis unit 404 is basically the same as that of the weighting synthesis unit 204 in FIG. That is, a plurality of weather products are converted into intermediate values, and the intermediate values are combined with a predetermined weight. This conversion to the intermediate value adjusts the difference in the absolute value of each weather product, so that it can have the meaning of normalization. This is exactly the same as in the second embodiment.

By converting to such an intermediate value, the value of each weather product can be normalized to an integer of 0 to 10. In this embodiment, the normalization is 0-1.
Since only integers up to 0 are used, it means not only normalization but also classification. Now, data of the intermediate value synthesized by the weights by the weighting synthesis unit 404,
That is, the composite value is supplied to the area determination unit 406. The area determination unit 406 is the same as the area determination unit 20 in FIG.
Similarly to 6, the determination of the composite value (the composited intermediate value) is basically performed based on the threshold value. Then, an area in which the combined value has a value larger than a predetermined threshold value is determined to be a thundercloud area. Of course, also in the configuration shown in FIG. 8, the area determination unit 406 determines the area of the thundercloud in consideration of the signal of the other sensor signal processing unit 408 as in FIG.

The data of the area determined by the area determination unit 406 is supplied to the image display unit 414 together with the center of gravity calculation unit 410. The image display unit 414 displays an image of the area determined by the area determination unit 406. The center-of-gravity calculator 410 calculates the center of gravity of the thundercloud region determined by the region determiner 406. The calculated center of gravity is supplied to the identification / tracking processing unit 412, and identification and tracking of the thundercloud region are performed. This tracking state is displayed on the image display unit 414 in the same manner as the thundercloud area.

As described above, in the fourth embodiment,
Since a plurality of weather products calculated based on radar data output from the weather radar 20 are weighted and synthesized, a thundercloud observation system capable of more accurately determining a thundercloud area is provided.

[0079]

As described above, according to the present invention, the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the integrated moisture content in the vertical direction and the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the maximum echo intensity are weighted and added, so that the thundercloud can be more accurately calculated. The region can be determined.

Further, according to the present invention, since the centroids of a plurality of weather products are weighted and added, the area of the thundercloud can be determined more accurately.

Further, according to the present invention, the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the integrated water content in the vertical direction is lightened for thunderclouds at short distances, and the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the maximum echo intensity is increased instead. Therefore, it is possible to more accurately determine a region for a thundercloud located at a short distance.

Further, according to the present invention, since the weight of the center of gravity is changed linearly, it is possible to obtain a thundercloud observation system capable of easily obtaining the weight of the thundercloud with respect to the distance from the weather radar.

Further, according to the present invention, the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the integrated moisture content in the vertical direction for the thundercloud located at a long distance is reduced, so that the area determination for the thundercloud located at a long distance can be performed more accurately. it can.

In addition, since the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the integrated moisture content in the vertical direction is changed linearly with respect to the thundercloud located at a long distance, the thundercloud observation system can easily calculate the weight. Is obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, since the area determination unit determines the area of the thundercloud based on the threshold value, the area of the thundercloud can be determined with a simple configuration.

Since the area is determined based on the sensor signals other than the output signal of the weather radar, the area of the thundercloud can be determined more accurately.

Further, since the thundercloud region is identified and tracked based on the thundercloud region in each of the above-described inventions, a thundercloud observation system capable of accurately predicting the region where the thundercloud occurs can be obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, since the determined area of the thundercloud is displayed, it is possible to obtain a thundercloud observation system capable of easily grasping the area of the thundercloud easily.

Further, according to the present invention, a thundercloud observation system capable of visually and easily grasping the prediction of the region in which the thundercloud is to be generated is provided, since the identified thundercloud region and the tracked thundercloud region are displayed. can get.

Further, according to the present invention, the area of the determined thundercloud is displayed, so that a thundercloud observation system which can easily grasp the range of the thundercloud can be obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, since the state of tracking and identification of the determined thundercloud is displayed, it is possible to obtain a thundercloud observation system in which the predicted position of the thundercloud can be easily grasped.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, since the vertical integrated moisture content and the maximum echo intensity are weighted and added, the area of the thundercloud can be determined more accurately.

Further, according to the present invention, since a plurality of weather products are weighted and added, the area of the thundercloud can be determined more accurately.

Further, according to the present invention, the weight of the integrated water content in the vertical direction is reduced for thunderclouds at a short distance, and the weight of the maximum echo intensity is increased instead. Can be determined more accurately.

Further, according to the present invention, since the weight at the time of performing the weighting synthesis is changed linearly, it is possible to obtain a thundercloud observation system capable of easily obtaining the weight of the thundercloud with respect to the distance from the weather radar.

Further, according to the present invention, since the weight of the vertical integrated moisture content for the thundercloud located at a long distance is reduced, the area determination for the thundercloud located at a long distance can be performed more accurately.

In addition, since the weight of the accumulated water content in the vertical direction is linearly changed particularly for the thundercloud located at a long distance, a thundercloud observation system capable of easily calculating the weight is obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, since the area determining section determines an area in which the combined value exceeds the threshold based on the threshold value as the area of the thundercloud, the area determination section has a simple configuration. The region can be determined.

Further, according to the present invention, since the area of the thundercloud is determined based on not only the composite value but also the signal of the sensor other than the output signal of the weather radar, the area of the thundercloud can be determined more accurately. Can be.

Further, according to the present invention, based on a thundercloud region obtained based on a composite value, a signal from another sensor, or the like, the region is determined and tracked. A thundercloud observation system that can be accurately performed is obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, since the determined area of the thundercloud is displayed, it is possible to obtain a thundercloud observation system capable of easily grasping the area of the thundercloud easily.

Further, according to the present invention, a thundercloud observation system capable of visually and easily grasping the prediction of the region in which the thundercloud is to be generated is provided for displaying the identified thundercloud region and the tracked thundercloud region. can get.

Further, according to the present invention, since the determined area of the thundercloud is displayed, it is possible to obtain a thundercloud observation system in which the range of the thundercloud can be easily grasped.

Further, according to the present invention, the state of tracking and identification of the determined thundercloud is displayed, so that a thundercloud observation system in which the predicted position of the thundercloud can be easily grasped can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram illustrating a configuration of a thundercloud observation system according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a configuration block diagram illustrating a configuration of a thundercloud observation system according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows V in the thundercloud observation system shown in FIG.
FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a graph showing how the ratio between the weight for IL and the weight of the maximum echo intensity changes with distance.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing a change in weight, similarly to FIG. 3, and is an explanatory diagram showing an example in which the weight for VIL and the weight for maximum echo intensity both become 50% at a middle distance.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing a change between a weight for VIL and a weight for maximum echo intensity, and is an explanatory diagram showing an example in which these weights change linearly with distance.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of calculating a center of gravity using maximum echo intensity data.

FIG. 7 shows the thundercloud observation system shown in FIG.
Calculate multiple weather products for radar data,
FIG. 2 is a configuration block diagram illustrating a configuration of a system that determines an area of a thundercloud based on these.

FIG. 8 illustrates a thundercloud observation system shown in FIG.
Calculate multiple weather products for radar data,
FIG. 2 is a configuration block diagram illustrating a configuration of a system that determines an area of a thundercloud based on these.

FIG. 9 is a configuration block diagram illustrating a configuration of a conventional thundercloud observation system.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating that it may be difficult to measure at a short distance or a long distance in measurement by a weather radar.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a distance from a weather radar and VIL measurement accuracy.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 VIL operation unit, 12 echo top temperature operation unit, 14
Area determination unit, 16 image display unit, 18 identification / tracking processing unit, 20 weather radar, 100 VIL operation unit, 102
Maximum echo intensity extraction unit, 104 1st center of gravity calculation unit, 1
06 second barycenter calculator, 108 weighted synthesizer, 11
0 area determination unit, 112 other sensor signal processing unit, 114
Identification / tracking processing unit, 116 image display unit, 200 V
IL calculation unit, 202 Maximum echo intensity extraction unit, 204
Weighted synthesis unit, 206 area determination unit, 208 other sensor signal processing unit, 210 center of gravity calculation unit, 214 identification / tracking processing unit, 212 image display unit, 300 weather product calculation unit, 302 center of gravity calculation unit, 304 weighted synthesis unit 306 area determination unit 308 other sensor signal processing unit 310 identification / tracking processing unit 312 image display unit
400 weather product calculation section, 404 weighted synthesis section, 406 area determination section, 408 other sensor signal processing section, 410 center of gravity calculation section, 412 identification / tracking processing section,
414 Image display unit.

Claims (24)

[Claims] 1. A vertical integrated moisture content calculation unit for calculating a vertical integrated moisture content of a thundercloud based on an output signal of a weather radar, and a vertical integrated moisture content calculated by the vertical integrated moisture content calculation unit. A first center-of-gravity calculator for calculating the center of gravity of the thundercloud, a maximum echo intensity extractor for calculating the maximum echo intensity of the thundercloud based on the output signal of the weather radar, and a maximum echo intensity calculated by the maximum echo intensity extractor. A second center-of-gravity calculating unit that calculates the center of gravity of the thundercloud, a weighted center of the center of gravity calculated by the first center-of-gravity calculating unit, and a center of gravity calculated by the second center-of-gravity calculating unit, and calculates a combined center of gravity. And a region determination unit that determines a region of the thundercloud based on the center of gravity of the thundercloud synthesized by the weighting synthesis unit. 2. An N weather product operation unit for obtaining different predetermined weather products based on an output signal of a weather radar, and a corresponding weather product operation unit provided for each of the N weather product operation units. An N number of center-of-gravity calculation units that calculate the centroids of the weather products calculated by the weighting unit; a weighting synthesis unit that calculates the combined center of gravity by weighting and adding the N number of center-of-gravity calculated by the N number of center-of-gravity calculation units; A thundercloud observation system, comprising: an area determination unit that determines an area of the thundercloud based on the center of gravity of the thundercloud synthesized by the weighting synthesis unit. Here, N is a positive integer. 3. The weighting / synthesizing unit calculates the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the vertical integrated moisture content for a thundercloud located at a short distance, and calculates the weight of the thundercloud based on the vertical integrated moisture content for a thundercloud located at a medium distance. Lighter than the weight of the center of gravity, the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the maximum echo intensity for a thundercloud located at a short distance is heavier than the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the maximum echo intensity for a thundercloud located at a medium distance, 2. A weighted combination is performed.
The described thundercloud observation system. 4. The weighting / synthesizing unit linearly changes the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the integrated moisture content in the vertical direction with respect to the thundercloud located at a short distance linearly with respect to the distance. 4. A thundercloud observation system according to claim 3, wherein the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the integrated moisture content in the vertical direction is maintained at a constant value with respect to the distance. 5. The weighting / synthesizing unit calculates a weight of a center of gravity of a thundercloud based on the vertical integrated moisture content for a thundercloud located at a long distance, and calculates a weight of a thundercloud based on the vertical integrated moisture content for a thundercloud located at a middle distance. The weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the maximum echo intensity for a thundercloud located at a long distance is made heavier than the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the maximum echo intensity for a thundercloud located at a middle distance. 2. A weighted combination is performed.
The described thundercloud observation system. 6. The weighting / synthesizing unit linearly changes the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the vertical integrated moisture content with respect to the thundercloud located at a long distance linearly with respect to the distance. 6. The thundercloud observation system according to claim 5, wherein the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the integrated water content in the vertical direction is maintained at a constant value with respect to the distance. 7. The thundercloud observation system according to claim 1, wherein the region determination unit determines the region of the thundercloud based on a predetermined threshold value. 8. An other sensor signal processing unit for processing a signal of a sensor other than an output signal of the weather radar, wherein the area determination unit includes a center of gravity of the synthesized thundercloud and an output signal of the other sensor signal processing unit. 3. The thundercloud observation system according to claim 1, wherein the region of the thundercloud is determined based on the following. 9. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an identification / tracking processing unit for identifying or tracking the region of the thundercloud determined by the region determination unit. Or the thundercloud observation system according to 8. 10. The thundercloud observation according to claim 1, further comprising an image marking unit for marking a region of the thundercloud determined by the region determination unit. system. 11. The thundercloud observation system according to claim 9, further comprising: an image marking unit that indicates a region of the thundercloud identified by the identification / tracking processing unit or a tracking result of the region of the thundercloud. 12. A vertical integrated moisture content calculating unit for calculating a vertical integrated moisture content of a thundercloud based on an output signal of a weather radar, and a maximum integrated intensity calculating unit for calculating a maximum echo intensity of a thundercloud based on the output signal of the weather radar. The echo intensity extraction unit, the vertical integrated moisture content of the thundercloud calculated by the vertical integrated moisture content calculation unit, and the maximum echo intensity of the thundercloud calculated by the maximum echo intensity extraction unit are weighted, added, and synthesized. A thundercloud observation system, comprising: a weighting synthesis unit that calculates a synthesis value; and an area determination unit that determines an area of a thundercloud based on the synthesis value synthesized by the weighting synthesis unit. 13. An N weather product operation unit that calculates different predetermined weather products based on an output signal of a weather radar, and N weather products calculated by the N weather product operation units are weighted. A thundercloud observation system, comprising: a weighting combination unit that calculates a combined value that is added and combined; and a region determination unit that determines a region of a thundercloud based on the combined value combined by the weighting combination unit. Here, N is a positive integer. 14. The weighting synthesis unit normalizes the value of the vertical integrated moisture content calculated by the vertical integrated moisture content calculation unit, and normalizes the maximum echo intensity calculated by the maximum echo intensity extraction unit. , And weighted addition of these normalized values.
2. The thundercloud observation system according to 2. 15. The weighting / synthesizing section, the vertical integrated moisture content calculated by the vertical integrated moisture content calculating section is scored by a score within a predetermined range, and the maximum echo intensity extracting section calculates a value. 13. A maximum echo intensity to be assigned is scored with a score within the predetermined range, and these scored values are weighted and added.
The described thundercloud observation system. 16. The weighting / synthesizing unit makes the vertical integrated moisture content of a thundercloud located at a short distance lighter than the vertical integrated moisture content of a thundercloud located at a medium distance. 13. The thundercloud observation system according to claim 12, wherein the weight of the maximum echo intensity for a thundercloud located is made heavier than the weight of the maximum echo intensity for a thundercloud located at an intermediate distance, and weighting synthesis is performed. 17. The weighting / synthesizing unit linearly changes the weight of the vertical integrated moisture content for a thundercloud located at a short distance with respect to the distance, and calculates the vertical integration for a thundercloud located at a medium distance. 17. The thundercloud observation system according to claim 16, wherein the weight of the water content is maintained at a constant value with respect to the distance. 18. The weighting / synthesizing unit, the weight of the vertical integrated moisture content for a thundercloud located at a long distance is made lighter than the weight of the vertical integrated moisture content for a thundercloud located at a medium distance, 13. The thundercloud observation system according to claim 12, wherein the weight of the maximum echo intensity for a thundercloud located is made heavier than the weight of the maximum echo intensity for a thundercloud located at an intermediate distance, and weighting synthesis is performed. 19. The weighting / synthesizing unit linearly changes the weight of the center of gravity of a thundercloud based on the vertical integrated moisture content with respect to a thundercloud located at a long distance linearly with respect to the distance, and the thundercloud located at a middle distance 19. The thundercloud observation system according to claim 18, wherein the weight of the center of gravity of the thundercloud based on the integrated moisture content in the vertical direction is maintained at a constant value with respect to the distance. 20. The thundercloud observation system according to claim 12, wherein the region determination unit determines that a region where the combined value is larger than a predetermined threshold value is a thundercloud region. 21. An other sensor signal processing unit that processes a signal of a sensor other than an output signal of the weather radar, wherein the area determination unit calculates the combined value of the sensor and an output signal of the other sensor signal processing unit. 14. The thundercloud observation system according to claim 12, wherein the region of the thundercloud is determined based on the following. 22. A center-of-gravity calculating unit for calculating a center of gravity of the composite value in the region of the thundercloud determined by the region determining unit; and identifying or tracking the region of the thundercloud based on the center of gravity calculated by the center-of-gravity calculating unit. 13. An identification / tracking processing unit, comprising:
The thundercloud observation system according to 7, 18, 19, 20 or 21. 23. An image marking unit for marking an area of a thundercloud determined by the area determining unit.
The thundercloud observation system according to 0 or 21. 24. The thundercloud observation system according to claim 22, further comprising an image marking unit for marking the thundercloud region identified by the identification / tracking processing unit or a result of tracking the thundercloud region.