[IDD #WUN-607918]: Cliff Mass: Question

Hi Cliff,

re:
> I am emailing all three of you hoping one of you will know the
> answer or will know who knows the answer!  In a few weeks, the NWS is
> adding a new radar to the network, one on the Washington Coast.  It will
> be an 88D but will have one difference with the rest...it will be doing
> a zero-degree angle scan, which will afford much greater low-level range
> over the Pacific.

Nice!

re:
> They are planning to put this additional elevation
> angle out immediately over the Level II feeds, but say they want to
> delay the Level III for a year for testing purposes, saying there are
> communication issues with the outside world.  You folks are the
> communication experts.  Is there some major issue in adding a new level
> for distribution for Level III.

I wouldn't think so.

re:
> I talked to Harry Edmon and he says the
> various elevation angles are sent as separate files for level III and
> all that is needed is an unique header and most folks would be ok.

We agree with Harry's view on the matter.

re:
> Can
> you tell me the story?  The zero-elevation data from that radar should
> be extraordinary and I hate to deny it to the user community for a year.
> 
> Thanks for any guidance you can provide....take care...cliff

The only thing I can think of is that the NWS is being very (overly?)
careful to not impact existing processing at receive sites.  In my
view this would _not_ affect participants in the IDD since their
processing more-or-less follows the recommendations for the various
analysis/display packages provided by Unidata (e.g., GEMPAK, IDV, McIDAS)
or ones that are similar (e.g., WXP, GRaDS, etc.).

re:
> PS:  I am looking forward to using AWIPS-2 here at the UW....

We were able to show the latest AWIPS-2 drop during our July training
workshop series.  There are a number of issues that came to light
that need addressing before we feel that AWIPS-2 can go "live" in
the Unidata community.  We will continue to work with NWS and Raytheon
(the primary contractor for AWIPS-2) to see which issues are best
addressed globally and which ones need to be addressed by us for
our community.


Cheers,

Tom
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: WUN-607918
Department: Support IDD
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed