Convective Precipitation Experiment Ontario Winter Lake-effect Systems (OWLeS) 5-21 December 2013 4-29 January 2014 Wyoming Cloud Radar 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-fore) - H2; H/V stands for the receiver used (there are 2 receivers). Cross-polarization channels (hxvx and vxhx, where x is 'h' or 'v') valid for Ant1 only. ................................................................................ Radar Status/Problems * Preparation of the radar = 12 Nov 2013: CR power calibration = 13 Nov 2013: Beam calibration during TF01 = 19 Nov 2013: Beam calibration during TF02 * Log: general and for specific flights: = For all flights the Modulator status word is frequently corrupted caused by an interference = Occasionally H1 and H2 beams gets scrambled without any intervention by te operator. This is a data system problem and there is no solution for it (according to Prosensing). = Frequently there is a spurious spike after the Tx fire which affects the up beam only. It is typically less than 5 dB above the mean noise at the peak and extends no more than 5 range gates at the base of the spike. ______ Nov 13 = micro switch for the radar mirror side position did not work ______ Nov 19 = micro switch for the radar mirror side position did not work = Applanix issues; do not sees to affect the real-time vars during the radar acquisition time ______ Dec 10 = in the pre-flight preparation wcrserv quit after start numerous times. It appears that the server was missing or losing its intranet connection to the RCB. After reseating the RJ45 cable connector to the RCB the problem stopped = the spike/leak in the first few gates for H1 clearly showed up (peak 3-4 dB higher than the mean noise) during this flight ______ Dec 12 = Applanix issues (up to 45 mins into the flight). There appears some problems with the real-time vars until about 23:22 UTC ______ Dec 18 = The RCB Intranet RJ45 connector failed. It was found lose during Dec 10 (see note above) and today it fell off. The plastic tabs that hold it to the board appear to not snap fully to the board (board too thick ?) = The spare RCB was mounted but failed after a few minutes of use. The gree LED D9 (heartbeat for the FPGA chip, which should blink approx. in 1 secintervals) was OFF. ______ Dec 19 D9 goes OFF because The 19.975 MHz signal to the RCB dies out. We will have to replace the main reference crystal LO. ______ Dec 20 A new 19.975MHz crystal LO was ordered as well as the broken oscillator was sent for a possible repair. The preliminary shipping date for the repaired LO is 31 Dec. The new LO delivery time is in 3 weeks. ______ Jan 05 = repaired STALO was delivered to Penn Yan on 30 Dec. and was installed in the WCR RF on 4 Jan. Ground test showed it was working fine. On 5 jan there was a test flight. WCR performed fine. ______ Jan 07b (RF08) = multiple problems with Applanix ______ Jan 18 WCR Server crash in the beginning; Larry rebooted ferret. ................................................................................ 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. * 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: see wcr2conf_owles13.pro * Notes: 1) The absolute accuracy of the calibration constant for the "up/side" antenna(H1) is estimated to be better than 3 dB. 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. Surface return for up to ~6 km AGL may have pixels(data points) in the saturation range (0 to ~2.7 dBm). The percentage of saturated profiles decreases with range and is small at large ranges. **************************************************************************** Beam angles calibration: * Unit beam angles(in AC coordinates): use Honeywell Laser Ref II or Applanix AV410 (see wcr2conf_copemed13.pro) 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 for Honeywell IRS and about 0.1 deg for Applanix. King Air maneuvers for beam calibration should be done with the following considerations in mind: = preferred weather conditions: clear air, light to moderate winds = low turbulence at flight level = 3000 ft AGL flight level = 45 deg turns = flat terrain with no ponds/lakes = no precipitation reaching the surface detected by the radar Cloud runs for checking the up beam pointing angles = light winds, deep stratiform clouds and/or very light precip are desirable = 2-3 mins passes in the middle of the cloud or precip = straight and leveled legs with up-dualdown config: -2 legs forth and back along the wind -2 legs forth and back across the wind ................................................................................ Other notes: * WCR data acquisition system (DAQ) records time stamps from an 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 for all non-polarimetric antennas is better than 50 dB, but could be 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: ************************************************************************** nov13 (tf01, Wadsworth,J.French,Z.Wang,B.Glover): Test Flight Total data: 1.1 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 207M WCR-20131113-211625 CPP/200 U,D,D 134M WCR-20131113-213014 CPP/200 S,D,D side, mirror errors; H1 noise !!?? beamcal - 2 left turns 90M WCR-20131113-213513 CPP/200 S,D,D side, mirror errors; H1 noise !!?? beamcal - 2 right turns 205M WCR-20131113-213938 CPP/200 U,D,D 293M WCR-20131113-215506 CPP/200 U,D,D 6.6M WCR-20131113-221356 CPP/250 S 34M WCR-20131113-221555 CPP/200 S,D,D side, mirror errors 119M WCR-20131113-221821 CPP/100 U,D,D ************************************************************************** nov19 (tf02, Wadsworth,L.Oolman,Jason Sulskis): Test Flight Total data: 1.2 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes mirror side-position microswitch did not work the whole flight 401M WCR-20131119-191746 CPP/200 S,D,D ground return from downs 58M WCR-20131119-193237 CPP/200 S,D,D beamcal 2 right turns 65M WCR-20131119-193448 CPP/200 S,D,D 67M WCR-20131119-193714 CPP/200 S,D,D beamcal 2 left turns; 2nd trip(side) 31M WCR-20131119-193944 CPP/200 S,D,D 53M WCR-20131119-194053 CPP/200 S,D,D beamcal 2 right turns 46M WCR-20131119-194252 CPP/200 S,D,D 64M WCR-20131119-194434 CPP/200 S,D,D beamcal 2 left turns 15M WCR-20131119-194658 CPP/200 S,D,D 371M WCR-20131119-194731 CPP/200 U,D,D error in mirror up due to starting recording before mirror transition has finished ************************************************************************** dec05 (tf03): Total data: 2.0 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 833M WCR-20131205-164455 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambled after 17:34:30(59400) 109M WCR-20131205-173851 CPP/250 S 514M WCR-20131205-181147 CPP/200 U,D,D up 2nd trip 550M WCR-20131205-184426 CPP/200 U,D,D up 2nd trip ************************************************************************** dec07 (rf01,Wadsworth,Young,French,Steiger): Total data: 3.1 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 479M WCR-20131207-163924 CPP/200 U,D,D 564M WCR-20131207-170949 CPP/200 U,D,D 17:11-17:17-strong sturation 397M WCR-20131207-174540 CPP/200 U,D,D 312M WCR-20131207-181054 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambled after 18:30(22900) 554M WCR-20131207-183043 CPP/200 U,D,D 432M WCR-20131207-190556 CPP/200 U,D,D 403M WCR-20131207-193322 CPP/200 U,D,D ************************************************************************** dec10 (rf02,Wadsworth,Young,French,Bergmaier): Total data: 3.1 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 608M WCR-20131210-164518 CPP/200 U,D,D 568M WCR-20131210-172355 CPP/200 U,D,D 557M WCR-20131210-180000 CPP/200 U,D,D 475M WCR-20131210-183524 CPP/200 U,D,D 834M WCR-20131210-190535 CPP/200 U,D,D 82M WCR-20131210-195834 CPP/200 U,D,D ************************************************************************** dec11 (rf03,Wadsworth,Steiger,French,Bergmaier): Total data: 3.1 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 664M WCR-20131211-180647 CPP/200 U,D,D 421M WCR-20131211-184900 CPP/200 U,D,D 568M WCR-20131211-191544 CPP/200 U,D,D 379M WCR-20131211-195151 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambled after 20:15:40 (28400) 485M WCR-20131211-201557 CPP/200 U,D,D 543M WCR-20131211-204647 CPP/200 U,D,D 63M WCR-20131211-212115 CPP/200 U,D,D ************************************************************************** dec12 (rf04,Wadsworth,Steiger,French,Johnston): Total data: 2.9 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 623M WCR-20131212-225157 CPP/200 U,D,D 533M WCR-20131212-233130 CPP/200 U,D,D 498M WCR-20131213-000523 CPP/200 U,D,D 498M WCR-20131213-003700 CPP/200 U,D,D 567M WCR-20131213-010837 CPP/200 U,D,D 251M WCR-20131213-014437 CPP/200 U,D,D ************************************************************************** dec15 (rf04,Wadsworth,Geerts,French,Bergmaier): Total data: 2.8 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 762M WCR-20131215-225943 CPP/200 U,D,D 568M WCR-20131215-234807 CPP/200 U,D,D 519M WCR-20131216-002411 CPP/200 U,D,D 268M WCR-20131216-005708 CPP/200 U,D,D 486M WCR-20131216-011410 CPP/200 U,D,D 189M WCR-20131216-014501 CPP/200 U,D,D ************************************************************************** jan05 (tf04,Wadsworth,Bandini,Oolman,Dan Walsh): Total data: 1.9 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 628M WCR-20140105-163038 CPP/200 U,D,D 780M WCR-20140105-171032 CPP/200 U,D,D 442M WCR-20140105-180004 CPP/200 U,D,D ************************************************************************** jan06 (rf06,Bandini,George Young,Oolman,Dan Walsh): Total data: 2.9 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 495M WCR-20140106-182856 CPP/200 U,D,D 245M WCR-20140106-190021 CPP/200 U,D,D 419M WCR-20140106-191556 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambled after 19:41(302000) 395M WCR-20140106-194233 CPP/200 U,D,D 644M WCR-20140106-200741 CPP/200 U,D,D 463M WCR-20140106-204835 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambled down beam V2(?) after 21:15 223M WCR-20140106-211800 CPP/200 U,D,D ************************************************************************** jan07a (rf07,Bandini,Geerts,Oolman,Phil Bergmaier): Total data: 3.1 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 401M WCR-20140107-131817 CPP/200 U,D,D mirror error 423M WCR-20140107-134345 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 14:09:30(30500) 384M WCR-20140107-141037 CPP/200 U,D,D 403M WCR-20140107-143501 CPP/200 U,D,D 493M WCR-20140107-150037 CPP/200 U,D,D 204M WCR-20140107-153156 CPP/200 U,D,D 570M WCR-20140107-154453 CPP/200 U,D,D 223M WCR-20140107-162106 CPP/200 U,D,D ************************************************************************** jan07b (rf08,Bandini,Bergmaier,Oolman,Walsh): Total data: 3.1 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 599M WCR-20140107-193045 CPP/200 U,D,D 623M WCR-20140107-200849 CPP/200 U,D,D 462M WCR-20140107-204825 CPP/200 U,D,D 643M WCR-20140107-211744 CPP/200 U,D,D 547M WCR-20140107-215837 CPP/200 U,D,D 208M WCR-20140107-223320 CPP/200 U,D,D ************************************************************************** jan08 (rf09,Bandini,G.Young,Oolman,Walsh): Total data: 3.4 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 481M WCR-20140108-162219 CPP/200 U,D,D 496M WCR-20140108-165253 CPP/200 U,D,D 390M WCR-20140108-172426 CPP/200 U,D,D 482M WCR-20140108-174911 CPP/200 U,D,D 377M WCR-20140108-181947 CPP/200 U,D,D 374M WCR-20140108-184346 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 19:05(25000) 243M WCR-20140108-190731 CPP/200 U,D,D 592M WCR-20140108-192258 CPP/200 U,D,D ************************************************************************** jan09 (rf10,Bandini,Geerts,Oolman,Bergmaier): Total data: 2.8 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 379M WCR-20140109-125532 CPP/200 U,D,D 457M WCR-20140109-131936 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 13:45:30(31100) 394M WCR-20140109-134836 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 14:13:30(29300) 446M WCR-20140109-141338 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 14:39 (30250)) 433M WCR-20140109-144158 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 15:08:10(31200) 406M WCR-20140109-150930 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 15:35 (30400) 185M WCR-20140109-153518 CPP/200 U,D,D 128M WCR-20140109-154702 CPP/200 U,D,D ************************************************************************** jan12 (rf11,Bandini,Geerts,Oolman,Walsh): Total data: 2.8 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 456M WCR-20140112-122109 CPP/200 U,D,D 425M WCR-20140112-125008 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 13:16:45(31700) 383M WCR-20140112-131708 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 13:41:15(28600) 417M WCR-20140112-134129 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 14:07:40(31150) 429M WCR-20140112-140758 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 14:34:55(32100) 661M WCR-20140112-143512 CPP/200 U,D,D 82M WCR-20140112-151713 CPP/200 U,D,D ************************************************************************** jan16 (rf12,Bandini,David Kristovich,Oolman,Chad Hecht): Total data: 1.9 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 226M WCR-20140116-004101 CPP/200 U,D,D 457M WCR-20140116-005522 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling?(only nadir lost) after 01:21(30350) 295M WCR-20140116-012425 CPP/200 U,D,D 434M WCR-20140116-014311 CPP/200 U,D,D 214M WCR-20140116-021044 CPP/200 U,D,D 300M WCR-20140116-022422 CPP/200 U,D,D ************************************************************************** jan18 (rf13,Bandini,David Kristovich,Oolman,Jake Mulholland): Total data: 3.2 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 298M WCR-20140118-173132 CPP/200 U,D,D 162M WCR-20140118-175405 CPP/200 U,D,D 330M WCR-20140118-180422 CPP/200 U,D,D 525M WCR-20140118-182519 CPP/200 U,D,D 468M WCR-20140118-185841 CPP/200 U,D,D 444M WCR-20140118-192823 CPP/200 U,D,D 485M WCR-20140118-195634 CPP/200 U,D,D 535M WCR-20140118-202723 CPP/200 U,D,D ************************************************************************** jan19 (rf14,Bandini,Bergmaier,Oolman,Andrew Janiszeski): Total data: 2.6 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 584M WCR-20140119-224707 CPP/200 U,D,D 384M WCR-20140119-232414 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 23:48:20(28700) 432M WCR-20140119-234837 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 00:15:30(32000) 354M WCR-20140120-001602 CPP/200 U,D,D 346M WCR-20140120-003831 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 01:00:00(25500) 430M WCR-20140120-010030 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 01:27:30(32100) 106M WCR-20140120-012750 CPP/200 U,D,D ************************************************************************** jan20 (rf15,Bandini,G.Young,Oolman,Mike Charnick): Total data: GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 413M WCR-20140120-184309 CPP/200 U,D,D 360M WCR-20140120-190922 CPP/200 U,D,D 633M WCR-20140120-193215 CPP/200 U,D,D 521M WCR-20140120-201228 CPP/200 U,D,D 584M WCR-20140120-204535 CPP/200 U,D,D 675M WCR-20140120-212243 CPP/200 U,D,D 306M WCR-20140120-220536 CPP/200 U,D,D ************************************************************************** jan22 (rf16,Bandani,Geerts,Oolman,Zhuocan Xu): Total data: 3.3 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 460M WCR-20140122-140451 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 14:33:20(34200) 421M WCR-20140122-143406 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 14:59:15(29900) 302M WCR-20140122-150050 CPP/200 U,D,D 411M WCR-20140122-152001 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 15:45:30(30450) 337M WCR-20140122-154607 CPP/200 U,D,D 415M WCR-20140122-160731 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 16:33:35(31000) 402M WCR-20140122-163354 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 16:59:00(29800) 396M WCR-20140122-165926 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 17:24:15(29500) 202M WCR-20140122-172437 CPP/200 U,D,D ************************************************************************** jan23 (rf17,Bandani,Kristovich,Oolman,Kaitlin Rutt): Total data: 3.0 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 422M WCR-20140123-221429 CPP/200 U,D,D 479M WCR-20140123-224119 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 23:04:30(28000) 413M WCR-20140123-231145 CPP/200 U,D,D 483M WCR-20140123-233800 CPP/200 U,D,D 675M WCR-20140124-000842 CPP/200 U,D,D 190M WCR-20140124-005134 CPP/200 U,D,D 370M WCR-20140124-010338 CPP/200 U,D,D ************************************************************************** jan26 (rf18,Bandani,Kristovich,Oolman,James Fowler): Total data: 2.9 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 404M WCR-20140126-115804 CPP/200 U,D,D 434M WCR-20140126-122343 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 12:51(32500) 412M WCR-20140126-125116 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 13:16:40(30400) 585M WCR-20140126-131729 CPP/200 U,D,D 463M WCR-20140126-135439 CPP/200 U,D,D 422M WCR-20140126-142403 CPP/200 U,D,D 198M WCR-20140126-145052 CPP/200 U,D,D ground only ************************************************************************** jan27 (rf19,Bandani,G.Young,Oolman,Caitlin Crossett): Total data: 3.4 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 300M WCR-20140127-201304 CPP/200 U,D,D 550M WCR-20140127-203209 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 21:05(39000) 303M WCR-20140127-210707 CPP/200 U,D,D 327M WCR-20140127-212623 CPP/200 U,D,D 330M WCR-20140127-214709 CPP/200 U,D,D 263M WCR-20140127-220806 CPP/200 U,D,D 305M WCR-20140127-222448 CPP/200 U,D,D 300M WCR-20140127-224410 CPP/200 U,D,D 323M WCR-20140127-230313 CPP/200 U,D,D 287M WCR-20140127-232345 CPP/200 U,D,D 188M WCR-20140127-234159 CPP/200 U,D,D ground only ************************************************************************** jan28 (rf20,Bandani,Kristovich,Oolman,Pam Eck): Total data: 3.2 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 426M WCR-20140128-173229 CPP/200 U,D,D 460M WCR-20140128-175932 CPP/200 U,D,D 212M WCR-20140128-182844 CPP/200 U,D,D 448M WCR-20140128-184212 CPP/200 U,D,D 477M WCR-20140128-191040 CPP/200 U,D,D 134M WCR-20140128-194058 CPP/200 U,D,D 489M WCR-20140128-194930 CPP/200 U,D,D scrambling after 20:17(32500) 392M WCR-20140128-202035 CPP/200 U,D,D 139M WCR-20140128-204530 CPP/200 U,D,D ground only ************************************************************************** jan29 (rf21,Bandani,Scott Steiger,Oolman,Molly Matott): Total data: 1.5 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 440M WCR-20140129-171825 CPP/200 U,D,D 530M WCR-20140129-174620 CPP/200 U,D,D 262M WCR-20140129-182000 CPP/200 U,D,D 285M WCR-20140129-185240 CPP/200 U,D,D **************************************************************************