CP2 Research Radar

Overview

The Bureau of Meteorology CP2 Research Radar operated at Redbank Plains (27°40.0'S, 152°51.5'E), Queensland from 2007-2015. This unique system collected simultaneous polarimetric observations at S-band and X-band, providing a unique dataset for quantifying precipitation properties.

The radar was used for two field campaigns, the Southeast Queensland Cloud Seeding Research Program (CSRP) from December 2007 - March 2008 and November 2008 - February 2009 , and the Coastal Convective Interactions Experiment (CCIE) from 2012 - 2014. Outside of field campaigns, six-minute volumetic scans were performed to compliment the local operational radar coverage (Mt Stapylton; 40 km to the east-southeast), providing dual Doppler coverage across much of the South East Queensland region.

This subcollection is separated into a number of products that relate to the level of processing applied. Please refer to the associated records linked below for more information about each product.

Please use the following reference and DOI

Soderholm J., A. Protat,: CP2 Weather Radar Dataset. electronic dataset, National Computing Infrastructure, doi: 10.25914/5fb715648660b

This project was undertaken with the assistance of resources and services from the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI), Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

Datasets

Level 1

Uncorrected and uncalibrated datasets organised into two levels: product source and scanning strategy.

NCI THREDDS Data Server

Product sources

s_band: Datasets measured by the S band weather radar system. These include: ZDR (ZDR), Spectral Width (WIDTH), Doppler Velocity (VEL), ρHV (RHOHV), ΦDP (PHIDP), Reflectivity (ZH), Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and other measurements.

x_band: Datasets measured by the X band weather radar system. These include: Reflectivity (ZH), Linear differential Reflectivity (LDR), Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and other measurements.

derived: Datasets derived from S band weather radar observations. These include: rain rate estimates using different radar measurements (RATE_*), KDP retrieval (KDP), particle identification schemes (PID_*), temperature fields (TEMP_FOR_PID).

Scanning strategies

rhi: range height indicator (vertical cross section) scans at a selected azimuths

vert: vertically pointing scans (bird bath scans) commonly used for calibration

sur: volumetric plan position indicator (PPI) scans

sec: volumetric plan position indicator (PPI) scans specified between specific azimuth

daily_gif: Daily animations of reflectivity for the sur scanning strategy. Only available for the S band measurements.

Level 1b

Corrected and Calibrated datasets organised into voyage

NCI THREDDS Data Server

  • PPI: Radar volumes that include reflectivity, corrected and calibrated reflectivity, rain rate, Doppler Velocity (when provided), corrected Doppler velocity and azimuthal shear. This data uses the CfRadial data model for the netCDF data format.

  • GRID: Radar volumes gridded onto an equidistant azimuth projection at a 1000 m horizontal resolution (150 km range) at 500 m vertical resolution to 20 km altitude. This dataset includes corrected and calibrated reflectivity, rain rate and azimuthal shear. This dataset uses the netCDF data format.

  • Processing and calibration procedures are described in this publication. Interpolation technique described in this publication.

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