The Future of NEXRAD

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The Future of NEXRAD
2nd Workshop on NWS Severe Weather Warning
Technology July 10-12, 2007
Mike Istok NPI Development Manager NWS Office
of Science and Technology Michael.Istok_at_NOAA.GOV
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Overview

• NEXRAD Product Improvement Progress and Plans
• Current Projects
• TDWR
• Super Resolution
• Dual Polarization
• Schedules WSR-88D 9-12, SPG 2-3, AWIPS 8-9 II
• Common Operations and Development Environment
• Priorities Radar Data Capability Enhancements
• Summary

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NPI Progresss and Plans
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TDWR Sites/ WFO SPG StatusJuly 18, 2006
Milwaukee
Boston
Detroit
Minneapolis
Cleveland
Pittsburgh
Salt Lake City
Chicago
Denver
NYC
St. Louis
Philly
Las Vegas
KC
Indy
DC
Wilmington
Wichita
Louisville
Raleigh
Tulsa
Phoenix
Charlotte
OKC
Memphis
Atlanta
Association Key
Nashville
Ft. Worth
1 TDWR/WFO 2 TDWRs/WFO 3 TDWRs/WFO 4
TDWRs/WFO Deployed SPG Bld1 Central SPG Sites
Melbourne
Houston
New Orleans
Miami
Tampa
San Juan
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WSR-88D Super Resolution

• New 8bit Base Products for Reflectivity,
  Velocity, and Spectrum Width
• Initially, just on split cuts (lowest 2 or 3
  elevations)
• ½ degree radials
• ¼ km range bins
• Doppler Velocity and Spectrum Width to 300km
• Future Plans
• Signal processing techniques to reduce variance
• Over-sampling
• Whitening
• Algorithm tuning
• Mesocyclone
• TVS
• Precipitation

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WSR-88D Dual Polarization

• Base data products
• Differential Reflectivity (ZDR)
• Correlation Coefficient (RHOhv)
• Derived products
• Specific Differential Phase (KDP)
• Melting Layer Algorithm (MLDA)
• Hydrometeor Classification Algorithm (HCA)
• Discriminate hail, rain, snow, biological
  targets, and clutter
• Rainfall accumulation algorithm (QPE)
• Based on a combination of polarimetric parameters
  KDP and ZDR, and the current linear horizontal
  reflectivity parameter Z

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Supercell Thunderstorm Producing Softball-Size
Hail
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Schedules WSR-88D 9-12, SPG 2-3, AWIPS 8-9 II
Build 10, OB9, SPG 3 dates are tentative
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WSR-88D Common Operations and Development
Environment (CODE)

• An algorithm development environment for the
  WSR-88D
• Contains software and guidance to create the
  development environment on an Intel PC running
  Linux Red Hat Enterprise Workstation 4 (also,
  Enterprise 3 for Public CODE)
• Provides a 'clone' of a WSR-88D Radar Product
  Generator on a workstation which can run existing
  and user-created algorithms by ingesting WSR-88D
  Level 2 data
• Also used to study past weather events by
  ingesting Level 2 data obtained from NCDC and
  creating products for analysis
• Includes visualization tools, data sets,
  documentation, and the operational RPG baseline
  source code
• Developed and maintained by the NWS OST
• Updated with each new WSR-88D RPG software
  release
• Used by groups that implement software for future
  RPG releases, technique developers, and
  researchers
• A Public Edition is available at
  http//weather.gov/code88d/

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Priorities Radar Data Capability
Enhancementsdone, build testing, under
development, possible, unlikely

• All Tilts Frame Expansion(1.8)
• Super-Resolution
• Base Z, V, W Products(1.8)
• MDA(2.0), TVS(2.8), PPS(2.8)
• Dual Polarization
• Base Data products(2.0)
• HCA(2.0),QPE(2.0)
• NSSL/FSI 4D Radar (2.3)
• Plan View Display of VWP (2.5)
• All Tilts Navigation Tool (2.5)
• Estimated Actual Velocity (3.3)
• Data Quality
• SZ-2, SZ-1, Staggered-PRT, Oversampling,
  Whitening (3.2)
• Lower Elevation angles(3.2)
• New VCPs(3.4)
• 300 km Doppler Range(4.3)
• MDA Alerting, CR, RCM (3.3)
• SPG(TDWR) Products
• VWP(4.8), Velocity Dealiasing (3.8)

• Integ. Radar/Enviro. Sampling(4.0)
• MIGFA RPG / AWIPS Display (3.8)
• Enviro. Data From AWIPS (4.3)
• Prototype Radars/Products (4.3)
• Freezing Level ULR Request (4.3)
• Moving Point Meteogram (4.3)
• Hail Tracks (4.3)
• ASR-11 (4.5)
• TVS Tracking (4.8)
• DVL at a higher scale (5.0)
• CANRAD (5.0)
• ARSR-4 (5.0)
• Rotation Tracks (5.5)
• SCIT Rapid Update (5.8)
• Probabilistic Precip. Est. (5.8)
• VWP Improvements (6.0)
• VWP Wind Averaging/Stepping (6.3)
• Uniform Winds Algo. (7.0)
• 4km EET (8.3)

- AWIPS only
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Summary

• Priorities determined with field input
• 1. Dual Polarization
• 2. Super Resolution
• 3. SPG products using TDWR data
• 4. Whatever else can be done with remaining
  resources
• OSIP ensures conops, requirements and business
  case developed to support implementation
• Resource profiles limit quantity of change
• AWIPS NEXRAD SRECs determine release content
• Longer time between major releases lengthens time
  to deployment and complicates integration
• Prototype, test, and demo platforms
  representative of the intended operational
  environment can foster design refinement and
  reduce the risk of deploying defects
• User input and feedback is critical

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Backup Slides
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NWS Weather Radar Science Evolution Vision

• Continuing investment in the scientific
  utilization of weather radar data is critical to
  the fullest realization of the potential
  operational benefits of investments in hardware
  and systems.
• Improvements in scientific uses of weather radar
  data can be expected indefinitely, as each
  innovation triggers ideas for new approaches, and
  as synergisms in the use of radar data with other
  environmental data are explored.

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NWS Weather Radar Science Evolution Concept

• Programmatic/Budget Structure
• NEXRAD is not equivalent to just the WSR-88D
• NEXRAD is a Program covering OM of installed
  capabilities, and acquisition of significant new
  capabilities
• The initial WSR-88D acquisition was the first
  NEXRAD project
• NEXRAD Product Improvement is a sub-set of NEXRAD
  with a focus on acquisition of new technology and
  science
• ORPG, ORDA and Dual Polarization are recent NPI
  WSR-88D projects
• FAA Data Utilization is a current NPI non-WSR-88D
  project
• Science Evolution is an on-going NPI project to
  improve the benefit of installed weather radar
  technology for operational missions
• Future, potential, radar technology acquisitions
  (e.g., PAR, CASA-like X-band) would be managed
  under the NPI Program
• NEXRAD and NPI are well-known elements of the
  DOC/NOAA/NWS budget submissions for both OM and
  acquisitions

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NWS Weather Radar Science Evolution PlanPlanned
Potential Radar Systems(NWS-OAR Joint Radar
Planning Team)
FAA, TV, Canada