Continental Constant Altitude Reflectivity Mosaic - Warning Decision Training Division (WDTD)

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Continental Constant Altitude Reflectivity Mosaic

Short Description

NOTE: This product has been discontinued in MRMS Version 12

The reflectivity at a constant altitude above mean sea level (MSL).

Subproducts

Continental Constant Altitude Reflectivity Mosiac (MSL)

0.50 km, 00.75 km
1.00 km, 1.25 km, 1.50 km, 1.75 km
2.00 km, 2.25 km, 2.50 km, 2.75 km
3.00 km, 3.25 km, 3.50 km, 3.75 km
4.00 km, 4.50 km
5.00 km, 5.50 km
6.00 km, 6.50 km
7.00 km, 7.50 km
8.00 km, 8.5 km
9.00 km
10.00 km
11.00 km
12.00 km
13.00 km
14.00 km
15.00 km
16.00 km
17.00 km
18.00 km
19.00 km

Primary Users

NWS WFO

Input Sources

3D Reflectivity Cube, with reflectivity data WSR-88D network and Canadian radars

Resolution

Spatial Resolution: 0.01^o Latitude (~1.11 km) x 0.01^o Longitude (~1.01 km at 25^oN and 0.73 km at 49^oN)

Temporal Resolution: 2 minutes

Product Creation

At each horizontal 2D grid point, the reflectivity at the specified altitude is determined.

Technical Details

Latest Update: MRMS Version 10

References

Lakshmanan, V., and T. W. Humphrey, 2014: A MapReduce technique to mosaic continental-scale weather radar data in real-time. IEEE J. of Select Topics in Appl. Earth Obs. and Remote Sensing, 7.

Lakshmanan, V., T. Smith, K. Hondl, G. J. Stumpf, and A. Witt, 2006: A real-time, three dimensional, rapidly updating, heterogeneous radar merger technique for reflectivity, velocity and derived products. Wea. Forecasting, 21, 802-823.

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

Bright band contamination is not removed.

The temperature at the specified height is not identified.

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

Allows forecaster to quickly interrogate storms at particular altitudes (e.g., hail growth zone, dendritic growth zone, etc.).

Example Images

Fig. 1: Continental Constant Altitude Reflectivity Mosaic at 0.5 km over the Northern Plains at 0500 UTC

on 10 August 2014. Note the poor radar coverage at this altitude.

Fig. 2: Continental Constant Altitude Reflectivity Mosaic at 1 km over Northern Plains at 0500 UTC on
10 August 2014. Note the continued poor radar coverage at this altitude.

Fig. 3: Continental Constant Altitude Reflectivity Mosaic at 2 km over Northern Plains at 0500 UTC on
10 August 2014. Note the continued poor radar coverage in the Intermountain West at this altitude.

Fig. 4: Continental Constant Altitude Reflectivity Mosaic at 3 km over Northern Plains at 0500 UTC on
10 August 2014. Note the continued poor radar coverage in the Intermountain West at this altitude.

Fig. 5: Continental Constant Altitude Reflectivity Mosaic at 6 km over Northern Plains at 0500 UTC on
10 August 2014. Note the improvement in radar coverage at this altitude.