Radar Products
Radar products can be divided into 1st level products that are directly generated by radar software and 2nd level products that are built in-house at the national services to match the needs of the country in question.
Typical first level products are CAPPIs, PPIs, RHIs and MAX products. Typical second level products are hail detection and shear warning products.
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PPI (Plan Position Indicator)
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Intensity modulated display
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Plan view of radar targets surrounding the radar
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Coordinates displayed are range and azimuth intensity of signal displayed by brightness
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Produced by radar “sweep” in fixed elevation (angle above the ground)
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RHI (Range Height Indicator)/AVCS (Arbitrary Vertical Cross-section)
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Intensity modulated display showing height versus range characteristics of echoes along a fixed azimuth
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Radar scans in a vertical plane
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Often a product of volumetric scanning (360 degree scan at multi angles)
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Not just one vertical plane scan at multi angles
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CAPPI (Constant Altitude PPI)
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A composite PPI display at a fixed altitude
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Used among other things to eliminate ground clutter
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Common use of altitude 1 to 2 km
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Most European services use this as basic product
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Requires multi-scan at multi angles
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Maximum range is reduced as compared with PPI
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MAX (Europe)
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Presentation of the echo height and intensity
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based on a volume scan
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calculated by first constructing a series of CAPPI’s
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MaxR (Canada)
- Maximum reflectivity above a certain height (~ 2 km)
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TOPS/Echo Tops
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Height of the highest occurrence of a selectable threshold dBZ contour
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Indicator of severe weather and hail
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Dictionary of Radar Products from different companies
| Sigmet IRIS |
Gematronic Rainbow |
EEC Edge |
DWD Gamic |
||
| 1 |
Maximum vertical reflectivity |
MAX |
MAX |
CMAX |
MAXDISPLAY |
| 2 |
Constant altitude reflectivity |
CAPPI |
CAPPI |
CAPPI |
CAPPI |
| 3 |
Echo top altitude |
TOPS |
EHT (echo top height) |
ETOPS |
ECHO-TOP |
| 4 |
Surface precipitation accumulation |
RAININ |
PAC |
IPCP |
PPI-ACCU (for PPI) |
| 5 |
Vertical reflectivity profile |
VVP |
|||
| 6 |
Vertical wind profile |
VVP |
VVP |
PROFILE |
|
| 7 |
Plan position indicator |
PPI |
PPI |
PPI |
PPI |
| 8 |
Echo base altitude |
BASE |
EHT |
EBASE |
ECHO-BASE |
| 9 |
Height of Maximum Intensity |
HMAX |
EHT |
HMAX |
|
| 10 |
Layer mean reflectivity |
LMR |
LRA |
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| 11 |
Wind speed and direction |
WIND |
UWT, HWIND |
UWT |
|
| 12 |
Multiple Doppler wind barbs |
NDOP |
|||
| 13 |
Doppler wind shear |
SHEAR |
SHEAR |
SHEAR |
SHEAR |
| 14 |
Spectrum at Maximum Velocity |
SMV |
|||
| 15 |
Storm Relative Velocity |
SRV |
VECTOR |
STP (storm tracking product) |
|
| 16 |
Layer turbulence |
LTB |
LTB |
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| 17 |
Vertically Integrated Liquid |
VIL |
VIL |
VIL |
VIL |
| 18 |
Hail product |
Planned (HAIL) |
HAIL PROB |
WARNINGS (hail, rain, shear) |