NOUS41 KWBC 051845
PNSWSH
Technical Implementation Notice 11-38
National
Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC
245 PM EDT Fri
Aug 5 2011
To: Subscribers
-Family of Services
-NOAA Weather Wire Service
-Emergency Managers Weather
Information Network
-NOAAPORT
-Other NWS Partners and Employees
From: Richard J. Vogt
Director, WSR-88D Radar Operations
Center
Subject: NWS Field Test Using New WSR-88D in Grays
Harbor
County, WA
Reference: SCN11-23 Sent June 17 2011, New WSR-88D
Installation
Information effective no later than
September 30,
2011
A new
Weather Surveillance Radar-1988, Doppler (WSR-88D) in Grays Harbor County, WA,
is expected to be operational by September 30, 2011. The NWS is planning a 1-year field test of an
additional scanning angle less than 0.5 degree elevation (initially 0.176 degree)
on the new radar to determine the operational benefit(s) of having a lower scan
angle. The test is scheduled to begin November 1, 2011.
To reduce
impacts on users, Level III products will not include data from the lower
scanning angle. Thus, the product formats
and contents will not change during the field test. Users will notice volume coverage pattern (VCP)
durations increase by
To support
the real-time and post-analysis of the impacts of the lower scan angle data,
the Level II data stream will include the data from the experimental lower scan
angle when in use. The Seattle Weather
Forecast Office will be able to turn the lower elevation scan on and off. Details
of Level II data changes when the additional test scan angle is being used are
as follows:
1.
Experimental VCP
numbers will increase by two, i.e., VCP11 will be VCP13
2.
Lower scan data
will be the first radial data in a Level II file
3.
The lower scan will
be a "Split Cut"
Additional
information is available at:
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/wrh/washington_coast_doppler_radar/
If you have
questions or comments, please contact:
Tim Crum
WSR-88D Radar Operations Center
National
Technical Implementation Notices are online at:
http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm
$$
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