And so, it begins: a new era of radar meteorology in the United States.

sebenste

EF1
Joined
Dec 17, 2005
Messages
71
Location
Chicago, IL
As posted on the AllisonHouse blog:

Ladies and gentlemen…a new era in radar meteorology begins in the United States. At 17:05 UTC, or 11:05 AM CT, the KVNX (Vance AFB, OK) dual-pole doppler radar transmitted its first Level 2 radar file to the world after significant repairs and tweaks were done this morning. Level 3 data will be sent soon; and the first dual-pole data, according to the NWS, will be sent about a week from now.

Again, KVNX, Vance Air Force Base, OK, dual-pole doppler radar…is now LIVE!
[] customers can access it immediately via GRLevel2 or GRLevel2AE.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Will the dual pol data be available via level III data? I kind of want to try this out before I decide to drop $125 on the dual pol GR2AE add-on.

Edit: I see that you said that the dual pol won't be out for another week. At that point is where I'm wondering whether it will be available as part of the level 3 data.
 
Wait, I'm confused. I suppose this question probably belongs on the GRLevelx owners forums (but I don't see any topics on this), but since it was started here I'll ask here: I thought KVNX was already sending Level 2 data well before today. It had super-res. Also, is KVNX sending dual-pol data now or in one week? Will there be a GR2 upgrade to view dual-pol data, because right now it can't.
 
Dual-pol will be Level III eventually.

Dual-pol IS AVAILABLE NOW for OUN and VNX in Level II data. Gilbert was saying it's the first "operational" radar to send DP data on Level II. OUN has been sending it since last year.
 
According to the Analyst page grlevelx.com:

GR2Analyst supports dual polarization radars and Sigmet's IRIS formatted data files with an additional license. Purchasing this add-on simply allows GR2Analyst to read and process dual polarization data, which is not available as a standard product from the NWS. Currently, only private and research radars supply dual polarization data.

There is a link to buy a license to use the dual-pol data. It's $125 for an individual license, and $250 for a commercial license. This is an addon to Analyst, so you need to have an existing license of analyst before you can buy the dual-pol addon.

You're also right that KVNX has been sending super-res Level II data for quite a while, but I think that Gilbert was just commenting on how the Level II transmission from KVNX today was the first public transmission from a dual-pol NEXRAD. I'm confused by what he meant when he said
gilbert sebenste said:
and the first dual-pole data, according to the NWS, will be sent about a week from now.
Click to expand...
 
Isaac Pato said:
According to the Analyst page grlevelx.com:

GR2Analyst supports dual polarization radars and Sigmet's IRIS formatted data files with an additional license. Purchasing this add-on simply allows GR2Analyst to read and process dual polarization data, which is not available as a standard product from the NWS. Currently, only private and research radars supply dual polarization data.

There is a link to buy a license to use the dual-pol data. It's $125 for an individual license, and $250 for a commercial license. This is an addon to Analyst, so you need to have an existing license of analyst before you can buy the dual-pol addon.

You're also right that KVNX has been sending super-res Level II data for quite a while, but I think that Gilbert was just commenting on how the Level II transmission from KVNX today was the first public transmission from a dual-pol NEXRAD. I'm confused by what he meant when he said
Click to expand...

What I mean is this: Level 2 data will start sending dual-pole base moments in about a week, and the 30 or so derived dual-pole products will be sent with level 3 data in about a week. If, of course, the NWS adheres to what it has said. With the difficulties it has had in rolling this out, don't count on it.
 
gilbert sebenste said:
What I mean is this: Level 2 data will start sending dual-pole base moments in about a week, and the 30 or so derived dual-pole products will be sent with level 3 data in about a week. If, of course, the NWS adheres to what it has said. With the difficulties it has had in rolling this out, don't count on it.
Click to expand...

I was actually just able to view differential reflectivity, correlation coefficient, and differential phase on KVNX so it's being sent publically now. In fact, I saw that there are some returns very near the site with a very low correlation coefficient, suggesting it must be something from the air force base.
 
Aha! Just learned from Mike Gibson that the DP base moments ARE being seen with Level 2 data. Level 3 should be in about a week or so, IF the NWS is on schedule.

And...I just saw your post. :) Yep, KVNX has their DP turned on! Nice. That will be fun to watch for next Tuesday! :)
 
will dual pol be native to radar viewing software, or will there be additional plug ins that have to be purchased?
 
Depends on the software you are using. I think it'll be included with GR3, I know it's an extra (already available and has a trial) for GR2/2AE. Not sure about other vendors.
 
rdale said:
Depends on the software you are using. I think it'll be included with GR3, I know it's an extra (already available and has a trial) for GR2/2AE. Not sure about other vendors.
Click to expand...

I knew about AE, but I didnt see a link for GR2 on the GRS site.

Thanks for the info by the way. =)
 
Somewhat related and somewhat unrelated question...

Does NWSFO_OUN have access to KOUN radar on north base? As we all know that radar has always been a dual-pole research radar but Im curious if OUN has been able to use KTLX and KOUN as part of their normal operations.
 
Yes, everyone has access to OUN on Level II. As I mentioned above, it's been feeding dual-pol data since last year. I can pop it up right now on GR2AE and see the plots.
 
Guess - proximity to Norman without actually taking the OKC radar out of service.

REMINDER - if you want to use DP data, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take the training course. It will make the process much easier for you than if we have 47 different threads here asking for basic info. Learn what is already provided then ask. If you expect to just pull up a DP moment and start interpreting, you'll crash and burn.

http://www.wdtb.noaa.gov/courses/dualpol/Outreach/index.html
 
Brandon Lawson said:
Does anyone know why they opted to start with KVNX? It's the worst radar in Oklahoma with massive obstruction issues...
Click to expand...

Brandon, here's some info I got from WDT's dual-pol expert, Chris Porter:

[FONT=Calibri,sans-serif]At 1705 UTC today the first WSR-88D network radar, KVNX (Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma), went live with dual-pol capability. We should have the data within iMap very soon. [/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri,sans-serif]KVNX wasn’t originally slated to be upgraded to dual-pol until near the end of the rollout. Unofficial word is the powers-to-be wanted to quickly upgrade an 88D radar to compare with KOUN before proceeding with the rollout in late April. Additional issues with the upgrade procedure apparently still need to be ironed out. There still has been no notification as to what the new rollout schedule will be, but that should become available sometime this month.[/FONT]
Click to expand...
We have already done the work to display dual-pol in iMap, so live data will be available for viewing soon. Here's an example of ZDR from KOUN:
164316_930445263167_9631690_47254548_814580_n.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top