CLDGPS 15 May - 15 Jun 2008 Wyoming Cloud Radar Data Status Report Content: General Notes WCR configuration Radar Status/Problems Calibration Notes Data File Information Terminology and other notes ................................................................................ General Notes: * Quick look images of co-pol reflectivity for all the flights are stored on the project WCR web site in their corresponding directories(mmmDD) as pdf files. * WCR raw data is archived on a disk array in the UW DAS and a mass storage at NCAR. Quicklooks, dataquality, and calibration data are also archived. Radar processed data files in NetCDF format are available usually within 2 months after the conclusion of the experiment (preliminary version may be available earlier). The NetCDF files are available via the Internet. They may be protected with a password. Contact the PI for access. ................................................................................ WCR configuration: WCR is installed on UWKA with 4-antenna configuration: Antenna 1 2,3, and 4 and no polarization capability. Antenna ports are: Ant1 (side/up) - H1, Ant2 (near nadir) - V2, Ant3 (side-fore) - H1, Ant4 (down-fore) - H2; H/V stands for the receiver used (there are 2 receivers). Cross-channels (HXVX and VXHX channels) have no meaning for this configuration. ................................................................................ Radar Status/Problems * Tx monitor values: 27mV to 32 mV ______ Jun 16 = There was no IRIG input signal for the radar. The IRIG was free running as a counter. This was fixed in the netcdf processing Use timeoffset of +14577948.532s to the raw GPS time stamps (offest detrmined by Dave Leon) ______ Jun 18 = Glenn reported several Fault1. Recycling the power of the EIA led to recovery and there were no faults during the flight ... ............................................................................. Calibration notes: **************************************************************************** Power Calibration: * Calibration constants for this experiment as of Calibration constants (250 ns pulse, 5 MHz IF filter, dynamic range > 70 dB; for 500 ns pulse subtract 3.5 dB): Ant. 1 (side/up), HHcal1 = 49.5@ 250ns Ant. 2 (nadir), VVcal2 = 50.5@ 250ns Ant. 3 (side-fore), VVcal3 = 57.0@ 250ns Ant. 4 (down-fore), HHcal2 = 55.5@ 250ns Notes: 1) Calibration constant precision over the whole dynamic range (no less than 70 dB) is about +-1. dB for both receivers 2) The absolute accuracy of the calibration constant for the nadir antenna is estimated to be around +-2.5 dB (based on the overall variability of the calibration constant from CR measurements and the expected drift in the receivers and transmitted power). Transmitted power drift is estimated to be in the order of 1 dB for less than 2 hour flight and no more than 1.5 dB for longer flights. Receiver gain drift is estimated to be less than 1 dB. 3) Cross-channel Isolation > 50 dB Antenna Coupling Separation: better than 50 dB; weak coupling between side and nadir antenna is possible for strong(close range) surface returns) * Calibration constants used for the quick look images: Ant. 1 (side/up), calHH1 = 49.5@ 250ns Ant. 2 (nadir), calVV2 = 50.5@ 250ns Ant. 3 (side-fore), calVV3 = 57.0@ 250ns Ant. 4 (down-fore), calHH2 = 55.0@ 250ns **************************************************************************** Beam angles calibration: * Unit beam angles(in AC coordinates) for this experiment use WAICO08 set X(along AC) Y(right wing) Z(down) Ant. 1 (up): 0.052336, 0., -0.9986295 Ant. 1 (side): -0.020885, 0.999784, 0.000000 Ant. 2 (nadir): -0.05512, 0.000235f, 0.99848 Ant. 3 (side-fore): 0.5854, 0.8105, 0.02 Ant. 4 (down-fore): 0.4382, 0.004099, 0.89887 **************************************************************************** ................................................................................ WCR Data File Information: ************************************************************************** may14: Test Flight Total data: 1.3 GB Alg Pulse Ants Notes 117M W2008-05-14-17-20-10 pp8,250, U,S,D,D 181M W2008-05-14-17-26-52 pp8,250, U/S,S,D,D hnoise2,vnoise4 723M W2008-05-14-17-38-58 pp8,250, U,S,D,D vnoise4 197M W2008-05-14-18-15-32 pp8,250, U,S,D,D 45M W2008-05-14-18-26-51 pp8,250, S,S,D,D beam cal 30M W2008-05-14-18-29-27 pp4,250, D,D beam cal, 60ms time jump ************************************************************************** may19: Total data: 228 MB Alg Pulse Ants Notes 61M W2008-05-19-21-00-14 spp,250, U 92M W2008-05-19-21-20-59 spp,250, U 77M W2008-05-19-21-52-26 spp,250, U ************************************************************************** may21: Total data: 2.0 GB Alg Pulse Ants Notes 241M W2008-05-21-20-02-12 pp4,250, U,D 165M W2008-05-21-20-26-22 pp4,250, U,D 367M W2008-05-21-20-42-56 pp4,250, U,D 717M W2008-05-21-21-19-41 pp4,250, U,D 22:26-22:27 2nd trip cloud echo hnoise2 elevated 459M W2008-05-21-22-31-36 pp4,250, U,D 22:50-22:53 2nd trip cloud echo 23:06-23:07 2nd trip cloud echo hnoise2 elevated 55M W2008-05-21-23-17-39 pp4,250, U,D ************************************************************************** may23: Total data: 1.6 GB Alg Pulse Ants Notes 410M W2008-05-23-18-07-20 pp4,250, U,D 374M W2008-05-23-18-48-26 pp4,250, U,D 434M W2008-05-23-19-25-53 pp4,250, U,D 334M W2008-05-23-20-09-26 pp4,250, U,D ************************************************************************** may26: Total data: 1.8 GB Alg Pulse Ants Notes 209M W2008-05-26-19-13-40 pp6,250, U,D,D 461M W2008-05-26-19-27-58 pp6,250, U,D,D 580M W2008-05-26-19-46-15 pp6,250, U,D,D 591M W2008-05-26-20-09-18 pp6,250, U,D,D ************************************************************************** jun16: Total data: 3.2 GB Alg Pulse Ants Notes for all data files: no GPS time stamp (no IRIG input) 603M W2008-06-16-18-32-46 pp6,250, U,D,D 573M W2008-06-16-18-56-54 pp6,250, U,D,D 708M W2008-06-16-19-19-39 pp6,250, U,D,D 605M W2008-06-16-19-47-46 pp6,250, U,D,D 527M W2008-06-16-20-11-47 pp6,250, U,D,D 163M W2008-06-16-20-32-41 pp6,250, U,D,D ************************************************************************** jun17: Total data: 3.1 GB Alg Pulse Ants Notes 366M W2008-06-17-18-54-08 pp6,250, U,D,D 389M W2008-06-17-19-18-28 pp6,250, U,D,D 343M W2008-06-17-19-44-20 pp6,250, U,D,D 355M W2008-06-17-20-07-06 pp6,250, U,D,D 134M W2008-06-17-20-30-41 pp6,250, U,D,D 372M W2008-06-17-20-40-11 pp6,250, U,D,D 259M W2008-06-17-20-54-56 pp6,250, U,D,D 500M W2008-06-17-21-05-12 pp6,250, U,D,D 379M W2008-06-17-21-25-02 pp6,250, U,D,D ************************************************************************** jun18: Total data: 3.3 GB Alg Pulse Ants Notes 401M W2008-06-18-19-34-59 pp6,250, U,D,D 465M W2008-06-18-20-01-35 pp6,250, U,D,D 526M W2008-06-18-20-32-26 pp6,250, U,D,D 15M W2008-06-18-21-07-21 pp6,250, U,D,D 427M W2008-06-18-21-08-40 pp6,250, U,D,D 374M W2008-06-18-21-25-36 pp6,250, U,D,D 275M W2008-06-18-21-40-26 pp6,250, U,D,D 519M W2008-06-18-21-51-21 pp6,250, U,D,D 318M W2008-06-18-22-11-56 pp6,250, U,D,D ************************************************************************** jun19: Total data: 1.8 GB Alg Pulse Ants Notes 422M W2008-06-19-18-05-51 pp6,250, U,D,D 439M W2008-06-19-18-33-55 pp6,250, U,D,D 188M W2008-06-19-19-03-07 pp6,250, U,D,D 571M W2008-06-19-19-15-35 pp6,250, U,D,D 124M W2008-06-19-19-53-35 pp6,250, U,D,D ************************************************************************** jun23: Total data: 2.8 GB Alg Pulse Ants Notes 263M W2008-06-23-15-17-24 pp4,250, U,D 233M W2008-06-23-15-43-43 pp4,250, U,D 257M W2008-06-23-16-07-04 pp4,250, U,D 231M W2008-06-23-16-32-45 pp4,250, U,D 265M W2008-06-23-16-55-53 pp4,250, U,D 278M W2008-06-23-17-22-22 pp4,250, U,D 42M W2008-06-23-17-50-12 pp4,250, U,D 425M W2008-06-23-17-54-51 pp6,250, U,D,D 323M W2008-06-23-18-23-27 pp6,250, U,D,D 458M W2008-06-23-18-36-17 pp6,250, U,D,D ************************************************************************** jun24: Total data: 2.3 GB Alg Pulse Ants Notes 302M W2008-06-24-17-05-09 pp4,250, U,D 226M W2008-06-24-17-35-23 pp4,250, U,D 255M W2008-06-24-17-57-57 pp4,250, U,D 235M W2008-06-24-18-23-29 pp4,250, U,D 276M W2008-06-24-18-46-57 pp4,250, U,D 250M W2008-06-24-19-14-37 pp4,250, U,D 143M W2008-06-24-19-39-38 pp4,250, U,D 453M W2008-06-24-19-54-27 pp6,250, U,D,D 119M W2008-06-24-20-24-33 pp6,250, U,D,D ............................................................................. Terminology and other notes: Other Notes: * WCR data acquisition system (DAQ) records time stamps from the vxi IRIG card which is slaved to the master C130 data system time server. The recorded time stamps are UTC time. * The zero range gate, when at 75 m, is contaminated with the transmitter pulse leakage which appears at levels as high as -35 dBm@500ns (+15 dBZ). On the other hand very stong returns at 0 and 1st range gates are slightly undervalued (1 dB or less) due to receiver protection switches still residually closed. This range is in the far field for the two 12" 'down-pointing' antennas. Far fields for the 15" 'down-slant' antenna is 91 m and for the 18" nadir antenna it is 132 m. Thus for the bigger antennas the first few range gates may have larger calibration errors. * When maximum unambiguous range is 7.5 km, the data can be contaminated from second trip echoes, mostly from surface. * Average DSP jumps (data jumps between two consecutive profiles due to data acquisition DSPs) are mostly near zero for low power returns but frequently high power return (as indicated by the leak) exhibit jumps as high as 1-2 dB and thus averaging at least two profiles is recommended to reduce calibration errors. Terminology used to acknowledge data quality for each data file reported under Data file indormation: 1) SPIKES are defined as short lasting (less than a few secs), large excursions in positive or negative direction (higher than 2-3 dB). 2) ELEVATED NOISE (including short spikes) is defined as occasional change in the mean noise that exceeds 2-3 dB and lasts from fraction of a second to more than a minute. It is usually associated with ground hits and/or multi-trip echoes. It is observed for side looking mode only. 3) NOISE JUMPS/SPIKES (up to 10-20 sec). Probably some sort of short interference not necessarily in both channels and in some cases associated with the mirror position change or A/C radio communications at freqs close to 120MHz 3) NOISE DRIFT is up to 2dB slow drift in the noise channel; likely due to drift in the receivers gain. Usually it does not exceed 0.5 dB. 4) BAD DATA refer to corrupted data or improbable data behavior. 5) DATA SHIFT means that all data channels are shifted one range gate to the right for one or both of the DSPs. 6) DATA GAPS: gaps between profiles exceeding several times the average time interval between profiles 7) TIME STAMP ERROR: known fixed shift in the time stamps. 8) TIME JUMPS/GLITCHES: sync problem in the time which results in time stamps jumps including negative jumps 9) DATA DISCONTINUITY: unexpected jumps in reflectivity occurring thru all range gates from one profile to another. 10) V/H-MISSING or V/H severely attenuated reffer to unidentified problem causing severe attanuation or lack of signal from a target