LIGHT PRECIPITATION VALIDATION EXPERIMENT(LPVEX10) 15 Sep - 20 Oct 2010 Wyoming Cloud Radar Data Status Report Content: WCR configuration Radar Status/Problems General Notes Calibration Notes Other notes Data Files Information ................................................................................ WCR configuration: WCR is installed on UW King Air with 3-antenna configuration: Antenna 1 2,4 and polarization capability for Ant. 1. Antenna ports are: Ant1(side/up) - H1, Ant2 (near nadir) - V2, Ant4 (down-aft) - H2; H/V stands for the receiver used (there are 2 receivers). Cross-polarization channels (hxvx and vxhx) valid for Ant1 only. Notes: This is the first installation of the new Wyoming Cloud Radar (sometime referred to as WCR2) on UW King Air. ................................................................................ Radar Status/Problems * Preparation of the radar before King Air installation = June 2010: the radar mirror was retrofitted (mounting gap developed for the last 15 years which may have been responsible for the observed error in the up beam pointing angles) = 12 July 2010: ferret (WCR data system computer) motherboard failed and was replaced by a refurbished motherboard = August 2010: new mirror control was installed and tested 4 August = IRIG connection to the new KA data system provides UTC * During flights (no problem detected on the ground) significant interference spikes (up to 10 dB above the mean noise) appear at the time of switchings for warm load, hot load, and immediately after the transmission. This leads to loss or reliable warm load measurement (it is also used by wcrdisp and thus afects the real- time display) as well as interference in the first range gates (perhaps as far as 10 gates) * Notes for specific flights: ______ Aug 05 = King Air data system did not record INS data = WCR server crashed close to the end of the flight and Larry did not restart it ______ Aug 06 = King Air data system time is not in sync with WCR time; WCR time is about 1 sec ahead of KA time ______ Aug 12 = During CR cal ferret booted up but the netwrok on the motherboard was inactive (no light at the RJ45 port connection); powering off rebooting fixed the problem; Lary reported that the same thing happened before the Aug 06 flight. = The 1-sec time offset in the KA data was fixed and now WCR and KA time are synced within 100 ms. ______ Sep 11 = KA data system crashed about 7 minutes before Jeff stopped recording WCR data file (there is only one radar data file) ______ Sep 25 = KA data file ends 09:50:02, while the radar data ends 09:59:24 ______ Sep 29 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! = Today's data do not show any of the noise spikes at switching times we have seen for every flight so far. We also ran tests with TX Radiate/Ready/OFF, but they are irrelevant since no spikes were present in any of the data. From all previous flights the noise spikes are present: ran up-dual-down and up-down, both at 20KHz The difference today was in running dual-down only with 18.2 KHz prf (55us prt). Next tests: = dual-down with 20 KHz and repeat the Tx tests = up-dual-down with 18.2 KHz = Booting ferret issues: - when powering on a high pitch beep comes up and it stays on for a couple of minutes then it goes off and the booting starts we will be testing after the flight to see if this is temperature related (it was cold in the airplane in the upper 30sF) - today we needed to reboot ferret 4 times in order to get the ferret network (eth0 and eth1) working = Running the radar in cold temperatures: it worked fine today starting at 9-11C inside the RF ______ Oct 04 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! = Testing for the switching noise spikes - dualdown 18.2 kHz - spikes are present - dualdown 20 kHz - spikes are present - dualdown 18.2 kHz - spikes are present - up.dualdown 18.2 kHz - spikes are present - up.dualdown 20 kHz - spikes are present no correlation to the prf(modulator) or the up beam (ant config) as a possible cause for the spikes. During the 29 Sep flight all instrumentation that ran for 04 Oct was operational. ______ Oct 08 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! = Testing Tx-mod ON/OFF again when the spikes are present WCR-20101008-110625 Tx radiate - spikes are present WCR-20101008-111108 Tx ready - spikes are present WCR-20101008-111437 Tx OFF - spikes are present WCR-20101008-111738 Tx ready - spikes are present WCR-20101008-112021 Tx radiate - spikes are present Thus Tx is not related to this interference ______ Oct 10 = Oolman reported DRx/EMS switching error (scrambaling the beams) at 101925 ______ Oct 17 = Modulator failed at startup time (before the flight) after getting 'ready' at the time of switching to radiate all the lights went OFF and the modulator did not recover from that mode. The problem was a failed local/remote switch. In 'remote' the modulator exhibit exactly the above behavior. It is possible that accidental switch to 'remote' when the modulator is in 'ready' instead of turning the radiate switch can cause a problem. Brent bypassed the the local/remote switch by hardwiring it to 'local' position and the modulator started working I asked Pulse Systems to remove the local/remote option since it is never used by us and apparently is vulnerable to some interference by an operator or something else. ................................................................................ General Notes: * Quick look images of reflectivity and Doppler veocity for all the flights are stored on the project WCR web site in their corresponding directories (mmmDD) as mostly pdf files. Currently the pdf converter cannot handle more than 65k profiles and in these cases the quick look files are converted to png. * 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 is generally available during the field campaign). The NetCDF files are available via the Internet. They may be protected with a password. Contact the PI for access. ................................................................................ Calibration notes: **************************************************************************** Power Calibration: * Calibration constants used for the quick look images (200 ns pulse, 5 MHz IF filter): Ant. 1 (H1,side/up, h-pol), H1cal1 = 37.5 calibrated with corner reflector Ant. 1 (V1,side/up, v-pol), V1cal1 = 39.5 calibrated relative to H1 Ant. 2 (V2,nadir), V2cal2 = 37.8 calibrated relative to H1 Ant. 4 (H2,down-fore), H2cal2 = 42.5 calibrated relative to V2 * Notes: 1) The absolute accuracy of the calibration constant for the "up/side" antenna(H1) is not available at this time due to insufficient statistical data. The precision of the calibration from the corner reflector is within 1.5 dB. 2) The accuracy of the calibration constant for the rest of the beams is with respect to H1. The expected added uncertainty is about 1-2 dB. The slanted beam reflectivity uncertainty is expected to be a bit higher than the reflectivity for up, side, and down beams. 3) Cross-channel/antenna isolation: up/side antenna h-pol-to-v-pol is better than 30 dB all other antennas: is greater than 50 dB: 4) Saturation of the digital receivers at close range for strong targets: The saturation starts at about 0 dBm. The data from the first several range gates (up to ~300 m) may be saturated for the up/side and down antennas when the cloud/precip return exeeds approximately +22 dBZ. Saturation from surface return from clear air; very weak cloud return and moisture could be present in small segments: Sep16 - return from sea surface 9:40-9:45 - spiral over sea in clear air most of surface return above 0 dBm at least up to 3.1 km AGL Sep23 - return from ground with likely small occasional lakes 8:59-9:05 - ascending ramp over ground 2.5 to 4.5 km AGL: no saturation 9:05-9:15 - straight leg over ground at ~4.5 km AGL: 447 of 14283 profs above 0 dBm (the low end of saturation) 9:15-9:22 - descending ramp over ground 4.5 to 0.5 km AGL: 1 of 11434 > 0 10:53-11:01 - ascending ramp over ground 0.5 to 4.5 km AGL: no saturation 11:02-11:06 - straight leg over ground at ~4.5 km AGL is in cloud 11:10-11:20 - descending ramp is not in clear air **************************************************************************** Beam angles calibration: * Unit beam angles(in AC coordinates) for this experiment as of 12 Aug 2010 X(along AC) Y(right wing) Z(down) Ant. 1 (side): -0.0125, 0.99992, 0.00296 Ant. 1 (up): 0.0575641, 0.0, -0.9983418 Ant. 2 (nadir): -0.05273488,-0.00014341, 0.99860872 Ant. 4 (down-fore): 0.439959, 0.0131354, 0.897861 The accuracy of the beam angles for 'up' beam is not known due to lack of calib data. The accuracy of the down beams is within 0.4 deg. King Air maneuvers for beam calibration should be done with the following considerations in mind: = minimum turbulence at flight level = 3000 ft AGL flight level = running 45 deg turns = flat terrain with no ponds/lakes = no precipitation reaching the surface detected by the radar ................................................................................ Other notes: * WCR data acquisition system (DAQ) records time stamps from the vxi IRIG card which is slaved to the master KA data system time server. The recorded time stamps are UTC time. * The zero range gate (first data gate) is about 105 m (for 250 ns pulse). The far field for the 12" up/side antenna is 60 m and the far field for the 15" down-slant antenna and 18" down antenna are 91 m and 131 m, respectively. * When maximum unambiguous range is 7.5 km and the aircraft flies AGL close to that range the data can be contaminated from second trip surface echoes. * Antenna Coupling Separation is better than 50 dB, but still less than the radar dynamic range. Coupling between down and down-aft antenna (leak into the down-aft return) as well as between up and down-aft antenna (leak into the up return) are present for strong targets (mostly surface returns). ................................................................................ WCR Data File Information: ************************************************************************** aug05 (tf01, Drew,Wechsler,Oolman,Glover): Test Flight Total data: 758 MB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 23M WCR-20100805-163604 cpp/250 S,D,D 27M WCR-20100805-163757 cpp/250 S,D,D 20M WCR-20100805-164024 cpp/250 D,D 4.8M WCR-20100805-164240 cpp/250 D,D 290M WCR-20100805-164327 cpp/250 U,D,D 78M WCR-20100805-170658 cpp/250 U,D,D 185M WCR-20100805-171331 cpp/250 U,D,D 64M WCR-20100805-172205 cpp/250 D,D Doppler velocity is messed up 16M WCR-20100805-172614 cpp/250 D,D 16M WCR-20100805-172806 cpp/250 U,D 23M WCR-20100805-172907 cpp/250 U,D 8.3M WCR-20100805-173145 cpp/250 D 7.4M WCR-20100805-173306 cpp/250 D ************************************************************************** aug06 (tf02, Drew,Wechsler,Oolman,Lukens): Test Flight Total data: 1.1 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 60M WCR-20100806-185915 cpp/250 S,D,D 2nd trip cloud/precip echo(side) 27M WCR-20100806-190407 cpp/250 S,D,D two 45-deg right turns; beamcal 3.4M WCR-20100806-190616 cpp/250 S,D,D 27M WCR-20100806-190635 cpp/250 S,D,D two 45-deg left turns; beamcal 8.1M WCR-20100806-190847 cpp/250 S,D,D 2nd trip cloud/precip echo(side) 187M WCR-20100806-190942 cpp/250 U,D,D 180M WCR-20100806-191809 cpp/250 U,D,D 123M WCR-20100806-193349 cpp/250 U,D,D 27M WCR-20100806-193923 cpp/250 U,D,D 45-deg left turns in clouds/precip 27M WCR-20100806-194058 cpp/250 S,D,D 45-deg left turns in clouds/precip 28M WCR-20100806-194306 cpp/250 S,D,D 45-deg right turns in clouds/precip 1.7M WCR-20100806-194422 cpp/250 S,D,D 334M WCR-20100806-194455 cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** aug06 (tf03, Drew,Wechsler,French,Oolman): Test Flight Total data: 167 MB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 23M WCR-20100810-201012 cpp/250 S,D,D grnd 28M WCR-20100810-201205 cpp/250 S,D,D grnd: 2 45-deg right, 201209-121409 22M WCR-20100810-201458 cpp/250 D,D grnd: 2 45-deg left,201459-201712 94M WCR-20100810-203719 cpp/250 U,D,D small Cus: very weak ************************************************************************** aug12 (tf04, Drfew,Wechsler,French,Oolman): Test Flight Total data: 251 MB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 32M WCR-20100812-204212 cpp/250 S,D,D grnd: 2 45-deg right, 23M WCR-20100812-204524 cpp/250 D,D grnd: 2 45-deg left, 126M WCR-20100812-205300 cpp/250 U,D,D 71M WCR-20100812-210914 cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** sep11 (tf05, Wadsworth,Wechsler,French,Glover): Test Flight Total data: 392 MB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 392M WCR-20100911-124134 cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** sep13 (tf06, Wadsworth,Wechsler,French,Glover): Test Flight Total data: 632 MB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 504M WCR-20100913-073847 cpp/250 U,D,D 128M WCR-20100913-081942 cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** sep16 (rf01, Wadsworth,Tristan L'Ecuyer,Wechsler,French): Total data: 3.5 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 516M WCR-20100916-074440 cpp/250 U,D,D 663M WCR-20100916-080800 cpp/250 U,D,D 624M WCR-20100916-084330 cpp/250 U,D,D 543M WCR-20100916-091142 cpp/250 U,D,D 643M WCR-20100916-093615 cpp/250 U,D,D 585M WCR-20100916-101556 cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** sep18 (rf02, Wadsworth,Tristan,Wechsler,French): The flight was aborted. No data. ************************************************************************** sep19 (rf03, Wadsworth,Tristan,Wechsler,French): Total data: 3.8 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 524M WCR-20100919-064843 cpp/250 U,D 356M WCR-20100919-072229 cpp/250 U,D 587M WCR-20100919-074907 cpp/250 U,D 348M WCR-20100919-082659 cpp/250 U,D 7.9M WCR-20100919-085235 cpp/250 U,D 648M WCR-20100919-085307 cpp/250 U,D,D 513M WCR-20100919-092225 cpp/250 U,D,D 888M WCR-20100919-094536 cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** sep21 (rf04, Wadsworth,Tristan,Wechsler,French): Total data: 4.7 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 697M WCR-20100921-080433 cpp/250 U,D,D no KA data from 083249 to eof 832M WCR-20100921-083602 cpp/250 U,D,D 851M WCR-20100921-091339 cpp/250 U,D,D 586M WCR-20100921-095459 cpp/250 U,D,D 819M WCR-20100921-102129 cpp/250 U,D,D 217M WCR-20100921-105831 cpp/250 U,D,D 514M WCR-20100921-111029 cpp/250 U,D,D 259M WCR-20100921-113344 cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** sep23 (rf05, Wadsworth,Tristan,Wechsler,French): Total data: 2.2 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 516M WCR-20100923-085940 cpp/250 U,D,D 211M WCR-20100923-092301 cpp/250 U,D,D 776M WCR-20100923-093233 cpp/250 U,D,D 692M WCR-20100923-104910 cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** sep25 (rf06, Wadsworth,Tristan,French): Total data: 3.8 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 762M WCR-20100925-070719 cpp/250 U,D,D 952M WCR-20100925-074145 cpp/250 U,D,D 613M WCR-20100925-082449 cpp/250 U,D,D 874M WCR-20100925-085231 cpp/250 U,D,D 605M WCR-20100925-093202 cpp/250 U,D,D no KA data after 095002 ************************************************************************** sep29 (rf07, Wadsworth,Matthew Lebsock,Oolman): clear air - ocean backscatter Total data: 2.4 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 622M Sep 29 01:50 WCR-20100929-071134 cpp/250 D,D 295M Sep 29 02:08 WCR-20100929-075030 cpp/250 D,D 368M Sep 29 02:32 WCR-20100929-080900 cpp/250 D,D 296M Sep 29 02:50 WCR-20100929-083205 cpp/250 D,D 357M Sep 29 03:12 WCR-20100929-085036 cpp/250 D,D 286M Sep 29 03:30 WCR-20100929-091259 cpp/250 D,D Test Files: 9.6M Sep 29 03:31 WCR-20100929-093053 cpp/250 D,D Tx radiate 34M Sep 29 03:34 WCR-20100929-093215 cpp/250 D,D Tx ready 32M Sep 29 03:37 WCR-20100929-093504 cpp/250 D,D Tx OFF 38M Sep 29 03:41 WCR-20100929-093856 cpp/250 D,D Tx ready 33M Sep 29 03:43 WCR-20100929-094146 cpp/250 D,D Tx radiate ************************************************************************** oct04 (rf08, Wadsworth,Matt,Oolman,Drew): clear air ocean backscatter Total data: 2.8 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 50M WCR-20101004-085436 cpp/250 D,D test file 48M WCR-20101004-085746 cpp/250 D,D test file 216M WCR-20101004-090050 cpp/250 D,D 211M WCR-20101004-091421 cpp/250 D,D 289M WCR-20101004-092813 cpp/250 U,D,D 203M WCR-20101004-094103 cpp/250 D,D 244M WCR-20101004-095346 cpp/250 D,D 477M WCR-20101004-100903 cpp/250 U,D,D 627M WCR-20101004-103000 cpp/250 U,D,D 123M WCR-20101004-105732 cpp/250 U,D,D 341M WCR-20101004-110255 cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** oct08 (rf09, Drew, Norman Wood, Oolman): Total data: 1.8 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 558M WCR-20101008-095852 cpp/250 U,D,D 261M WCR-20101008-102406 cpp/250 U,D,D 278M WCR-20101008-103556 cpp/250 U,D,D 30M WCR-20101008-104831 cpp/250 U,D,D 191M WCR-20101008-105058 cpp/250 U,D,D 263M WCR-20101008-112234 cpp/250 U,D,D Test files 53M WCR-20101008-110625 cpp/250 U,D,D Tx radiate 36M WCR-20101008-111108 cpp/250 U,D,D Tx ready 30M WCR-20101008-111437 cpp/250 U,D,D Tx OFF 27M WCR-20101008-111738 cpp/250 U,D,D Tx ready 27M WCR-20101008-112021 cpp/250 U,D,D Tx radiate ************************************************************************** oct10 (rf10, Drew, Andy Heymsfield, Wood, Oolman): Total data: 5.7 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 138M WCR-20101010-073351 cpp/250 U,D,D 278M WCR-20101010-074247 cpp/250 U,D,D 282M WCR-20101010-075523 cpp/250 U,D,D 139M WCR-20101010-080809 cpp/250 U,D,D 312M WCR-20101010-081426 cpp/250 U,D,D 412M WCR-20101010-082834 cpp/250 U,D,D 390M WCR-20101010-084710 cpp/250 U,D,D 612M WCR-20101010-090450 cpp/250 U,D,D 461M WCR-20101010-093230 cpp/250 U,D,D 578M WCR-20101010-095321 cpp/250 U,D,D beams scrambled after 101920 202M WCR-20101010-101930 cpp/250 U,D,D 271M WCR-20101010-103121 cpp/250 U,D,D 438M WCR-20101010-104337 cpp/250 U,D,D 432M WCR-20101010-110326 cpp/250 U,D,D 515M WCR-20101010-112258 cpp/250 U,D,D 307M WCR-20101010-114616 cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** oct12 (rf11, Drew, Andy Heymsfield, Wood, Oolman): Total data: 5.2 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 709M WCR-20101012-070139 cpp/250 U,D,D 180M WCR-20101012-073342 cpp/250 U,D,D 195M WCR-20101012-074152 cpp/250 U,D,D 230M WCR-20101012-075041 cpp/250 U,D,D 218M WCR-20101012-080107 cpp/250 U,D,D 220M WCR-20101012-081059 cpp/250 U,D,D 213M WCR-20101012-082057 cpp/250 U,D,D 447M WCR-20101012-083035 cpp/250 U,D,D 410M WCR-20101012-085049 cpp/250 U,D,D 436M WCR-20101012-090921 cpp/250 U,D,D 413M WCR-20101012-092903 cpp/250 U,D,D 136M WCR-20101012-094743 cpp/250 U,D,D 240M WCR-20101012-095656 cpp/250 U,D,D 301M WCR-20101012-100748 cpp/250 U,D,D 292M WCR-20101012-102124 cpp/250 U,D,D 601M WCR-20101012-103437 cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** oct14 (rf12, Drew, Wood, P.Ristola, Oolman): Total data: 4.7 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes No KA data available (perhaps GPS time, lat,lon, and alt could be recovered) 995M WCR-20101014-072053 cpp/250 U,D,D 342M WCR-20101014-080552 cpp/250 U,D,D 309M WCR-20101014-082120 cpp/250 U,D,D 327M WCR-20101014-083518 cpp/250 U,D,D 391M WCR-20101014-085006 cpp/250 U,D,D 540M WCR-20101014-090747 cpp/250 U,D,D 673M WCR-20101014-093212 cpp/250 U,D,D 363M WCR-20101014-100237 cpp/250 U,D,D 458M WCR-20101014-101901 cpp/250 U,D,D 26M WCR-20101014-103945 cpp/250 U,D,D 328M WCR-20101014-104255 cpp/250 U,D,D 39M WCR-20101014-105745 cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** oct16 (rf13, Drew, Wood, French): Total data: 2.9 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 696M WCR-20101016-091656 cpp/250 U,D,D 645M WCR-20101016-094826 cpp/250 U,D,D 640M WCR-20101016-101735 cpp/250 U,D,D 598M WCR-20101016-104714 cpp/250 U,D,D 355M WCR-20101016-111346 cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** oct17 (rf14, Drew, Tristan LeCuyer, French): No WCR data (modulator failed) ************************************************************************** oct19 (rf15, Drew, LeCuyer, French): Total data: 5.4 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 710M WCR-20101019-070307 cpp/250 U,D,D 579M WCR-20101019-073512 cpp/250 U,D,D 638M WCR-20101019-080122 cpp/250 U,D,D 499M WCR-20101019-083012 cpp/250 U,D,D 687M WCR-20101019-085246 cpp/250 U,D,D 436M WCR-20101019-092710 cpp/250 U,D,D 375M WCR-20101019-094651 cpp/250 U,D,D 570M WCR-20101019-100349 cpp/250 U,D,D 526M WCR-20101019-102936 cpp/250 U,D,D 457M WCR-20101019-105322 cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** oct20 (rf16, Drew, LeCuyer, L.Lepomemi, French): Total data: 4.5 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 595M WCR-20101020-073216 cpp/250 U,D,D 656M WCR-20101020-075911 cpp/250 U,D,D 383M WCR-20101020-082849 cpp/250 U,D,D 488M WCR-20101020-084608 cpp/250 U,D,D 475M WCR-20101020-090812 cpp/250 U,D,D 312M WCR-20101020-092941 cpp/250 U,D,D 793M WCR-20101020-094632 cpp/250 U,D,D 628M WCR-20101020-102223 cpp/250 U,D,D 267M WCR-20101020-105048 cpp/250 U,D,D **************************************************************************