FAA Weather systems
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Figures
Figure 1: Completed WSR-88D installations within the U.S. and its territories.
Slideshow
Next-Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD)
The Next-Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) system is a network of Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) sites supported by the National Weather Service, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the Air Force. The network is composed of 159 S-band (10-cm wavelength) Doppler radars (Figure 1)
used to remotely sense precipitation intensity, location, motion, and type. It also provides critical weather data to a number of FAA weather systems such as CIWS, ITWS, and the Weather and Radar Processor (WARP). NEXRAD was deployed in the early 1990s and has a projected service life to around 2025.
A NEXRAD site with antenna tower and radome.Sponsored by the FAA, Lincoln Laboratory develops NEXRAD-based weather data products and processing algorithms that are specifically geared toward aviation needs. Examples, as illustrated in Slideshow 1, are High Resolution Vertically Integrated Liquid (HRVIL), High Resolution Enhanced Echo Tops (HREET), Data Quality Assurance (DQA), and the Machine Intelligent Gust Front Algorithm (MIGFA). The Laboratory continues to support these products and improve their quality.
The NEXRAD network’s newest capability, dual polarization, will enable the discrimination of precipitation types. Lincoln Laboratory currently is developing new, dual polarization based hazard algorithms for icing and hail.
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