[IDD #SEF-720351]: Question About Level II Data for Non-Profit

Hi Andrew,

re:
> First, thank you for taking the time to consider my questions.

No worries.

re:
> I did
> do a quick calculation of the bandwidth needed for about 139 Level
> II radars and while I do have the needed bandwidth, if more than 30
> or so were running in high output VCP modes (as is the case in the
> Summer months) I am afraid it would saturate my 10mbps link.

With the upgrade to dual polarization some time in the not too distant
future, the volume of the Level II data will take a serious jump up.
If your bandwidth is marginal now, it will be severely lacking when
the change is made.

re:
> This leaves me with another question, and please feel free to direct
> me to someone / somewhere else if needed. I understand the new NIDS
> products (94/99) coming online include a 256 level 0.5 degree tilt
> product. However, using the latest release of Gempak - I am not sure
> I am able to correctly render more than 16 levels of color using
> gpmap_gif and wanted to ask some questions to anyone who might be
> able to help with this issue. Could you direct me to the right spot
> for that?

The levels should be there, but the default color table being used
is does not have 256 distinct colors.  You should try using one of
the color tables that has more color levels (e.g., the grayscale
one used for satellite imagery) to convince yourself that the display
of the new "high resolution" imagery is, in fact, correct.  You
can then create new color tables that highlight the increased number
of levels to see if it really adds more information.  Quite frankly,
I have not found this to be the case in most instances.  As part of
my McIDAS support (I am the McIDAS support person in Unidata), I
added support for the new images and did had to decide whether or
not to create new enhancements that would better show the higher
number of display levels in the new images.  So far, I have not
put included new enhancements since I have not seen much, if any,
benefit with using ones that better show the increased number of
levels.  It may be the case that "higher resolution" color tables
will be warranted in more convective situations. We will be discussing
the need to create new color tables for all of our packages in the
coming days.

re:
> Thanks again for your time, and I appreciate your help.

No worries.

Cheers,

Tom
--
****************************************************************************
Unidata User Support                                    UCAR Unidata Program
(303) 497-8642                                                 P.O. Box 3000
address@hidden                                   Boulder, CO 80307
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unidata HomePage                       http://www.unidata.ucar.edu
****************************************************************************


Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: SEF-720351
Department: Support IDD
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed