The Operational Use of a High Speed Interactive Radar Data Processing System (RDPS) Part 1 : A Technical Description

The RDP system at the Centre Meteorologique du Quebec receives a complete 3-D volume scan data every five minutes from a radar operated by McGill University about 24 km away and generates rapidly a large number of products from the volume scan based on user selected schedules and interactive requests. The system’s repertoire of products include horizontal sections (CAPPI’s) at any of 18 pre-defined heights, vertical cross-sections along any user-selected corridor, Echotops of selectable reflectivity threshold, rainfall accumulations, rainfall forecast maps based on image cross-correlation and extrapolation. The products generated are stored in a disk file for up to 24 hours and these may be viewed in a single image or animation loop modes. The interactive display options such as the BLINK and ZOOM facilities and instant colour schemes changes enable the user to enhance and study in detail desired signatures and features in the radar imagery. In addition, RAINSAT, a system which combines precipitation and echotop information from a network of weather radars and Geostationary satellite imagery, is described.