Enhancing the foundational data from the WSR-88D: Part II, The future

Since 1993, the Radar Operations Center (ROC) has had a joint agreement with the National Severe Storms Lab (NSSL) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) for the purpose of improving the foundational radar data quality. This agreement, referred to as the Data Quality Memorandum of Understanding (DQ MOU), has focused on the transition of new science research to operations, and has resulted in many significant improvements. This paper will focus on plans for the future of foundational radar data quality improvements expected to result from a continuation of this work. Some potential areas for future work include improvements to the quality of dual polarization variables, including novel clutter identification and mitigation techniques. Other improvements can be achieved via implementation of oversampling and whitening which can decrease radar volume scan times while improving radar data quality.