WSR-88D Open Radar Data Acquisition (ORDA) Base Data Quality

The ORDA will replace the current WSR-88D Radar Data Acquisition (RDA) subsystem in 2006 to improve: 1) receiver and signal processing hardware; 2) user interface; 3) signal processing and diagnostic software; 4) system reliability, maintainability, availability; and 5) data quality. Since January 2004, a team of 17 radar engineers and meteorologists from the Radar Operations Center, RS Information Systems, and the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies University of Oklahoma have met weekly to evaluate base reflectivity, velocity, and spectrum width products generated by the ORDA system.

The ORDA Data Quality Team adopted three criteria against which to judge ORDA base data quality. First, the team considered whether or not reflectivity, velocity, and spectrum width data and products were meteorologically consistent and adequate for use by trained meteorologists as well as untrained users and automated systems. Second, the team assessed differences between ORDA base products and Legacy base products. Third, Legacy and ORDA base data were statistically compared.

Over the course of our investigations, many different data quality issues were identified and addressed. This paper shows how ORDA data meets the base data quality criteria and documents how the data quality team has ensured that ORDA data is ready for operational use. Legacy and ORDA base data examples will be compared and reviewed.