Completion of this milestone is expected to be achieved by the end of July 1999. Final implementation is currently underway. Following successful completion of this level of testing, NSSL will assist the OSF in performing the formal system, operational, and beta testing required before the system is officially sanctioned for fielding. Severe Thunderstorm Forecast and Warning Improvements Test in real time initial hydrometer classification algorithm on a dual polarized Doppler radar. The immediate goal is to test a procedure that uses polarimetric radar data to discriminate hydrometeor types.
Proper classification is a prerequisite for correct estimation of precipitation amounts.
Once the polarimetric QPE has been verified it will be transferred to the WSR-88D network. Over several years NSSL in collaboration with the University of Oklahoma has been developing an automatic procedure for discrimination of hydrometeors using polarimetric radar data. The procedure is a culmination of a decade of NSSL's research in polarimetric radar techniques, microphysical processes, and data classifying using fuzzy logic concepts. We worked with NCAR to implement this algorithm on the S-Pol polarimetric radar and have observed result in real time during the 1998 field experiment in Florida. Thus this is a first ever implementation of a procedure which, on the basis of physical principle, identifies the type of precipitation in storms.