# Presentation: 770357

## The Future of NEXRAD

**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@NOAA.GOV**

## 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**

## NPI: Progresss and Plans

## TDWR Sites/ WFO SPG StatusJuly 18, 2006

- Boston

- DC

- Philly

- Pittsburgh

- Raleigh

- Charlotte

- Atlanta

- Melbourne

- Miami

- Tampa

- Houston

- Ft. Worth

- Phoenix

- Las Vegas

- Salt Lake City

- Denver

- Minneapolis

- OKC

- Tulsa

- Wichita

- KC

- St. Louis

- Milwaukee

- Chicago

- Detroit

- Indy

- Memphis

- Nashville

- Louisville

- Wilmington

- Cleveland

- NYC

- San Juan

- New Orleans

***TDWR Sites/ WFO SPG Status******July 18, 2006***

- 1 TDWR/WFO
- 2 TDWRs/WFO
- 3 TDWRs/WFO
- 4 TDWRs/WFO
- Deployed SPG Bld1
- Central SPG Sites

- Association Key

## Slide 5

## Slide 6

## WSR-88D Super Resolution

**New 8bit Base Products for Reflectivity, Velocity, and Spectrum Width**
- Initially, just on split cuts (lowest 2 or 3 elevations)
- 1⁄2 degree radials
- 1⁄4 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

## Slide 8

## Slide 9

## Slide 10

## Slide 11

## Slide 12

## Slide 13

## WSR-88D Dual Polarization

**Base data products**
*Differential Reflectivity (Z**DR**)*
*Correlation Coefficient (RHO**hv**)*
**Derived products**
*Specific Differential Phase (K**DP**)*
*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 K**DP** and Z**DR**, and the current linear horizontal reflectivity parameter Z*

## Supercell Thunderstorm Producing Softball-Size Hail

## Schedules: WSR-88D 9-12, SPG 2-3, AWIPS 8-9 & II Build 10+, OB9+, SPG 3+ dates are tentative 

## 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 OS&T**
**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/](http://weather.gov/code88d/)**_

## Priorities: Radar Data Capability Enhancementsdone, 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)
- VIL(6.0)
- MDA(4.0), TVS(3.8), SCIT(5.3)
- PPS(5.3)
- CR(6.3), ULR(6.3)

**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**

## 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 **

## Backup Slides

## 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.**

## NWS Weather Radar Science Evolution Concept

**Programmatic/Budget Structure**
- NEXRAD is not equivalent to ‘just the WSR-88D’
- NEXRAD is a Program covering O&M 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 O&M and acquisitions

## NWS Weather Radar Science Evolution PlanPlanned & Potential Radar Systems(NWS-OAR Joint Radar Planning Team)

**NWS Weather Radar Science Evolution Plan****Planned & Potential Radar Systems****(NWS-OAR Joint Radar Planning Team)**

- FAA, TV, Canada