Composite Reflectivity Height - Warning Decision Training Division (WDTD)
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Products Guide
Composite Reflectivity Height
Short Description
The height of the maximum reflectivity in the column.
Subproducts
Composite Reflectivity Height
Composite Reflectivity Height [0-4 km]
Primary Users
FAA ATCSCC
Input Sources
3D Reflectivity Cube
Resolution
Spatial Resolution: 0.01o Latitude (~1.11 km) x 0.01o Longitude (~1.01 km at 25oN and 0.73 km at 49oN)
Temporal Resolution: 2 minutes
Product Creation
The composite reflectivity height mosaic uses the height of the maximum reflectivity within a column over the grid point using the 3D Reflectivity Cube.
Technical Details
Latest Update: MRMS Version 10
References
None
Strengths
Like all MRMS products, the use of multiple radars is more robust than single-site radar alone. It provides faster updates and helps the forecaster integrate data from multiple radars. It also compensates for cone-of-silence, beam broadening at far ranges, and terrain blockage.
Limitations
The composite reflectivity value is not identified. You must refer to the “Composite Reflectivity” product for this information.
Quality Control
This product is derived from the 3D Reflectivity Cube, which means non-hydrometeorological data has been removed including: Ground clutter, anomalous propagation (AP), chaff, interference spikes, and bioscatterers (e.g., angels and ghosts). However, bright band contamination (i.e., anomalously-high reflectivity caused by melting snowflakes) remains.
Applications
Useful for tactical and short-term strategic decisions about air traffic routing.
Example Images
Fig. 1: Composite Reflectivity Height (km) on 02 February 2014 at 1936 UTC.