Abstract
Abstract. Weather radar data volumes are commonly processed to obtain various 2-D Cartesian products based on the transfer from polar to Cartesian representations through a certain interpolation method. In this research an algorithm of the spatial interpolation of polar reflectivity data employing quality index data is applied to find the Cartesian reflectivity as plan position indicator products. On this basis, quality-based versions of standard algorithms for the generation of the following products have been developed: ETOP (echo top), MAX (maximum of reflectivity), and VIL (vertically integrated liquid water). Moreover, as an example of a higher-level product, a CONVECTION (detection of convection) has been defined as a specific combination of the above-listed standard products. A corresponding quality field is determined for each generated product, taking into account the quality of the pixels from which a given product was determined and how large a fraction of the investigated heights was scanned. Examples of such quality-based products are presented in the paper.
Highlights
Weather radar measurements of reflectivity are burdened with numerous errors that are caused by both technical and meteorological factors
These errors are recognised thanks to intensive empirical work performed at the national level and at the international level, e.g. in the frame of weather radar-related COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) actions (Michelson et al, 2005) or the BALTRAD (An Advanced Weather Radar Network for the Baltic Sea Region) project (Michelson et al, 2012)
Based on the transfer from polar to Cartesian representations through a certain interpolation method the volumes are processed to obtain various 2-D Cartesian products dedicated to specific user requirements (Heistermann et al, 2013)
Summary
Weather radar measurements of reflectivity are burdened with numerous errors that are caused by both technical and meteorological factors (e.g. review by Villarini and Krajewski, 2010). Raw weather radar data are generated as so-called volumes, i.e. 3-D polar data Such volumes consist of sets of measurement gates organised in polar scans related to the rotation of an antenna at selected elevation angles. Szturc: Quality-based generation of weather radar Cartesian products. The main assumption of the presented work is to ensure maximum reliability of the final products, so the transformation and subsequent specific product generation should be quality-based; i.e. particular algorithms should be designed taking into account the quality of particular measurement gates. Having 3-D volumes of reflectivity and relevant quality information, the set of 2-D Cartesian PPI (plan position indicator) products may be generated The quality-based PPIs constitute a starting point for the generation of more sophisticated products such as echo top (ETOP), maximum of reflectivity (MAX), and vertically integrated liquid water (VIL)
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