All,
I've just finally started playing around with the 8 bit high res nexrad
level 3 reflectivities (N0Q). I love the extra detail that you get with
the greater levels of reflectivity included - no saturation in snow
bands when a radar is in clear-air mode, for example. Also the longer
range for each radar is useful, especially along the gulf and ocean coasts.
But has anyone else noticed that these contain much more noise/false
echo than the old 4 bit N0R versions?
There are many more radial solid lines (i.e. something like a building
is blocking the beam in one direction, or interference with a
neighboring radar) and also much more noise in general. The Lincoln, IL
radar has a radial line almost due west pretty much all the time, and
the Sioux Falls, SD radar seems to have many radial false echos - not a
straight line, but lots of smaller dots along many of the radials.
Compare, for example, the N0R version of my midwest composite
http://tempest2.aos.wisc.edu/radar/mwcompflash.html
with the N0Q version of the same thing
http://tempest2.aos.wisc.edu/radar/mw3compflash.html
If you can't do flash, here are static images:
N0R - http://tempest2.aos.wisc.edu/radar/mwcomp.gif
N0Q - http://tempest2.aos.wisc.edu/radar/mw3comp.gif
Not sure what, if anything can be done about it, but it's kind of a
bummer that these higher resolution products have such poor quality control.
Pete
--
Pete Pokrandt - Systems Programmer
UW-Madison Dept of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
608-262-3086 - poker@xxxxxxxxxxxx
