Lenovo PCs Help Storm Chasers

by Jerry Jackson

If you've ever watched the reality TV series Storm Chasers or seen the movie Twister, you know that storm chasers provide vital research on tornadoes, hurricanes and severe weather. More importantly, you know that storm chasers need the latest technology to obtain important data and stay ahead of the storms. This week Lenovo announced a partnership with the Center for Severe Weather Research to equip storm chasers with the latest Lenovo ThinkPad laptops, ThinkCentre desktops, and ThinkVision monitors as part of the VORTEX2 project.

The VORTEX2 project is the largest and most ambitious tornado field research project of its kind. The goal of the project is to improve our ability to forecast the intensity, duration, and size of tornadoes, as well as provide a better understanding of house-level winds during severe storms. The Center for Severe Weather Research now uses Lenovo PCs to help track and store radar data, guide vehicles in the storm, provide weather briefings and analyze data after the field teams have done their jobs.

The VORTEX2 team will focus their storm chasing efforts in "tornado alley" from western Texas all the way into South Dakota. This is a major investment for Lenovo, since the VORTEX2 project includes 40 scientific vehicles, 80 separately placed instruments, 120 scientists and crew, as well as various labs used to process the data after it has been collected.

Lenovo PCs will serve as the heart of information operations for the storm chasers. The specific systems being used include:

ThinkPad T400 laptops -- Used in the instrumented Probe and Disdrometer vehicles, these laptops transfer data collected through a dozen weather pods that are placed in the path of the storm. The pods measure weather data, such as wind speed and temperature. The laptops also power diagnostic software used to test and monitor weather stations in the field.

ThinkPad W500 laptops -- Attached to mounts inside the Probe and Disdrometer vehicles, these laptops are responsible for navigation, tracking and mapping software.

ThinkPad W700 and W700ds laptops -- These laptops are used for housing a variety of radar and mapping applications for analyzing and displaying graphically demanding data and video without being tied to a desk. These laptops are also being used for public presentations by the storm chasers as well as in the field for a first analysis of data.

ThinkPad X200s laptops -- The team uses these lightweight and portable laptops to conduct tornado damage assessments.

IdeaPad S10 netbooks -- Individual scientists are using these netbooks as a quick and easy way to check Internet weather forecasts and email.

ThinkCentre M58p desktops -- The newest Doppler on Wheels, the DOW7, is a mobile radar and serves as a mission control center. Inside is a stack of eight Lenovo desktops that crunch information from the Internet, navigate, translate, and display radar data, and track the entire fleet of storm chasers for the Center for Severe Weather Research. Each PC performs a different function focused on helping run the mobile radar, weather observatory and radar operations.

ThinkVision L2440x and L220x widescreen monitors -- Housed inside the DOW6 vehicle, these high resolution displays provide the crew with the latest up-to-date information The monitors also are being used for weather briefings for the team of 120 scientists. The energy efficiency of the monitors is also essential to allowing the DOW6 vehicle to power the computers, monitors, communications, and radar simultaneously.

Check out our video overview of the Vortex2 project when we went on location with the storm chasers in Norman, Oklahoma.

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Thats pretty cool, I always loved to watch storm cashers in action. They get really close up sometimes (not always on purpose!). I wish them goodluck with the research project.

 

That is awesome to hear Lenovo supporting Vortex2, best of luck to Josh Wurman and his team! I have to say I hope to see some Lenovo laptops riding high in Sean Casey's T.I.V. on season 3 of Storm Chasers as well as in the D.O.W. Now that would be a swell photo op. for the T or W series, on the hood of a homemade tank.

 

I just have one question, does that radar double as the world's most powerful satellite for Internet? I imagine 3G might be a little more sporadic in areas such as South Dakota and it pains me to think that during the mostly idle moments interspersed with terror that they wouldn't be able to use all those awesome laptops to access the web.

Speaking of scientists using laptops, ThinkPads are used by NASA, see attachment for a rather cool image. A trip to outer space to check out the usage there would be mildly more impressive than Oklahoma.

http://lenovoblogs.com/yamato/?p=326&language=en

 

They have satellite-aided communications and data access, but communication is also handled over a sophisticated radio network ... since the plain states that make up the bulk of "tornado alley" are notorious for cell phone and 3G dead zones with absolutely no service.

More than anything else the laptops are used to process data with the various field equipment ... so the field researchers/storm chasers don't all have to rely on internet access in every vehicle at all times.

As for the use of ThinkPads by NASA, it was hard enough to get approval to go hang out with storm chasers in Oklahoma. Perhaps someday NASA will let me visit mission control ... if they manage to get some new laptops despite their limited budget.

 

Very nice, now if those laptops can last as long as they are supposed to, Lenovo can put this on their advertisements.

 

Those notebooks, netbooks, desktops and displays should last a while. Lenovo is giving the VORTEX2 team special customer support and I forgot to mention that most (if not all) of the PCs used inside chase/research vehicles are equipped with SSDs so the researchers don't have to worry about hard drive failures due to vibration from the road or from getting tossed by high winds in a storm.

 

Yeah, and that's an excellent selling point right there for Lenovo if they want to advertise their products to other corporations. Just like before when NASA used Thinkpads for their flights.

 

so, now the Storm Chasers need to leave one of those Thinkpads powered on right in the path of the storm... let the Tornado suck it up and find it a couple miles away still running... now THAT would be good advertising!

 

Even you don't survive the storm your ThinkPad will!

 

DAYUMM!!!!! I'm a tornado fan myself, enjoys watching storm chasers as well. Dang, Leno's should be gaining big reps for that one. But personally with a tornado in a point-blank range, i prefer a toughbook instead. lol ​

 

hope ThinkVantage System Update works on their computers.

 

what a great idea(pad)
maybe they have a program who can record the habit of the storm.

hail the Thinkpad!!
damn,what a machine