Radar Exam 2 Flashcards
What are the two types of velocity data and how many levels are there in each mode?
Base and storm relative and 14 levels in each
Goes from -64 to 63 kts
What are some improvements using dual-pol over WSR-88D?
Improved detection of ground clutter, birds
Hydrometer classification
Severe storm signature detection
What are applications of base velocity and storm relative velocity?
Base: magnitude of winds
Detection of severe weather development and storm structure
Storm Relative: identification of signatures
Identification of velocity of fast moving storms
What are the sources of spectrum width?
Mean radial velocity estimate due to: wind shear and turbulence
What cases would you use spectrum width?
Looking for inflow as well as tornadic signatures
What are some non-meteorological targets that could be picked up?
Birds, ground clutter, bugs, wildfires
What is dual-pol?
Sends out wavelengths both along the horizontal and vertical
Advantages of dual-pol?
Reduces non-weather phenomenon
Tell the difference between hydrometeors
Improve precip estimators
What is the difference between 1-hr, 3-hr, and storm total precip accumulation?
1-hr and storm total accumulate with each scan
3-hr takes the total of the 1-hr precip at the top of the hour
Storm total resets to 0 after 1-hr of no precip
What are the applications of precip accumulation products?
Flash flood assessing
Track rainfall paths
Post storm analysis
What is an application of a snowfall product?
Can find the snow to liquid water ratio
Can get storm totals
What are characteristics of a pulse storm?
Intense updraft burst
50dBZ core descends and has jail
Develops in absence of vertical shear
What are characteristics of a multicell storm?
Organized complex of 2-4 cells
Weak echo region exists at low levels
System moves to right of the mean wind
What are characteristics of a severe multicell storm?
Occur in large buoyancy environment
Cell regeneration along outflow is important
Strong low level reflectivity
