Canadian Radar Overview

Overview

23.2.1 implemented the ingest and display of Canadian radar data though the SBN distribution of radar data will happen sometime after deployment of 23.2.1 begins. The radar data is very similar to the WSR-88D data except that the Volume Coverage Patterns (VCP) are different, the data can be a little more noisy than the WSR-88D, and there is no hydro classification algorithm for the Dual Pol data. Canada has just converted all their C-band radars to S-band radars, and the NWS only ingests the Canadian S-band radars. The convention for Canadian radar naming is to begin with "ca" (from Canada), followed by "s" for S-Band, then finally with two letters for the radar name identifier (e.g. Woodlands, Manitoba is denoted "wl", giving us a final radar name of caswl). 

Jump to a section:

Specs    |    Canadian Spec Table    |    VCP and Elevation Angles Table    |    WSR-88D Comparison Table    |    Radar 4-Panel Example with Sampling    |    Loading the Canadian Mosaic Jobsheet (opens in new tab)

 

       Overview image of the Canadian Radar Mosaic

 

Overview images of the Canadian Radar mosaic.

 

Canadian S-Band Radar Specs:

  • 32 radars covering most of Canada's populated areas (note that casts is a training/research radar and is generally not available)
    • radar data distribution on the SBN is anticipated shortly after 23.2.1 deployment begins
  •  S-band radar uses 5 characters (e.g. casbv) with the last two letters denoting the location/identifier
    • S-band operates at 2.7-2.9 GHz and sometimes external sources will interfere on that wavelength
  • Volume scans contain 17 slices in 6 minutes and are acquired from top to bottom
    • In AWIPS, Canadian radar metadata is stored in the odim metadata table and odim hdf5 folder
    • A quiet summer pattern is ~2.5GB-4GB/day/radar with 24 hours of data stored (83GB/day total)
  • Data storage within AWIPS:
    • Processed data is stored in: /awips2/edex/hdf5/odim/[radar name]/ 
      • Contains 24 hours of data (82GB *.h5 files per day)
      • Metadata is stored in the odim metadata table
    • Raw data is stored in: /data_store/manual/odim/[date]/[hour]/ 
      • Contains raw hdf5 input data files (size: ~3.5GB/hr) that can be ingested by copying into the manual endpoint
  • 2 volume scans
    • Default: 0.4, 0.8, 1.2, 1.6, 2.1, 2.7, 3.5, 4.4, 5.3, 6.4, 7.7, 9.4, 11.3, 13.7, 16.6, 20.2, and 24.4 degrees
    • Mountain: -0.3 OR 0.0, 0.4, 0.9, 1.5, 2.1, 2.7, 3.5, 4.4, 5.3, 6.4, 7.7, 9.4, 11.3, 13.7, 16.6, 20.2, and 24.4 degrees
      • casvd and casss have -0.3 degrees as the lowest tilt
      • caspg, casmm, cashp, and casma have 0.0 degrees as the lowest tilt

For more information about Canadian radar data see the Wiki page or the Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) site.

To view some archived radar data, see the Canadian Historical Radar Data viewer.

Helpful Spec Tables:

At a glance

Canadian Radar Specs At-A-Glance
Number of VCPs 2 (Default and Mountain) VCP Scan Slices 17
VCP Scan Time 6 minutes VCP Scan Orientation Top (highest elevation) to bottom (lowest elevation)
Reflectivity Range 330km Beamwidth (Azimuthal Resolution) 0.5° for lowest six tilts, 1° for tilts 1.0°-17°
Velocity Range 330km Gate Depth (Range Resolution) 500m
Precipitation Range 330km Lowest Tilts Typically 0.4°; -0.3° for casvd and casss; 0.0° for caspg, casmm, cashp, and casma
Processing Doppler processing for the first 110km and conventional processing for beyond 110km* Latency to Receiving in AWIPS 1 to 6 minutes


*A discontinuity in precipitation can sometimes appear at and beyond 110km from the radar due to the difference in processing methods

VCP Elevation Angles

Canadian Elevation Angles
DS # Default Mountain
1 24.4 24.4
2 20.2 20.2
3 16.6 16.6
4 13.7 13.7
5 11.3 11.3
6 9.4 9.4
7 7.7 7.7
8 6.4 6.4
9 5.3 5.3
10 4.4 4.4
11 3.5 3.5
12 2.7 2.7
13 2.1 2.1
14 1.6 1.5
15 1.2 0.9
16 0.8 0.4
17 0.4 -0.3 or 0.0

Canadian Radars versus WSR-88D

Canadian Radar versus WSR-88D
Category Canadian Radar WSR-88D
Band S-Band S-Band
Naming convention  5 character names beginning with "cas" (e.g. casbv) 4 character names (e.g. kmux)
Volume Scan Slices 17 VCP Dependent (ranges from 5 to 15)
Volume Scan Time 6 minutes 8-10 minutes for clear air modes, 4-7 minutes for precipitation modes
Volume Scan Orientation Go from top (highest elevation) to bottom (lowest) Go from bottom (lowest elevation) to top (highest)
Number of VCP Volume Scans 2 7
Types of VCP Modes

Precipitation mode(typically Normal and Mountain Strategy); no clear air mode

 Clear air and Precipitation Mode
Lowest Tilt(s) Typically 0.4°; -0.3° for casvd and casss; 0.0° for caspg, casmm, cashp, and casma 0.5° with 18 sites having supplemental scans going down as low as -0.2°
Reflectivity Range Up to 330km Up to 460km
Velocity Range 330km   230km for normal resolution, 300km for super resolution 
Precip Range 330km   260km
Beamwidth (Azimuthal Resolution) 0.5° for lowest six tilts, 1° for tilts 1.0°-17° 1° for batch and higher tilts, 0.5° for split cuts (super resolution)
Gate Depth (Range Resolution) 500m 250m
Latency Varies from 1 to 6 minutes Negligible

 

Example of data with sampling

Return to Top