An automated system for processing the Multi-Year Reanalysis Of Remotely-Sensed Storms (MYRORSS)

The Multi-Year Reanalysis Of Remotely-Sensed Storms (MYRORSS) is a cooperative endeavor between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) and the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) to reconstruct and evaluate numerical model output and radar products derived from 15 years of WSR-88D data over the coterminous U.S. (CONUS). The end result of this research will be a rich dataset with a diverse range of applications, including severe weather diagnosis and climatological information. An automated system has been developed by the NSSL for processing level-II radar data provided by NCDC. The system operates in a multiple-machine framework, with an already existing network of computers. This procedure maximizes processing power on each machine and utilizes idle time from other users' computers. The Warning Decision Support System – Integrated Information (WDSS-II) suite of programs are used to process and quality-control the data. The system operates in three main phases. The first phase is single-radar processing from each individual radar in the CONUS, which includes quality-control of the level-II data and creation of velocity-derived products. The second phase creates blended 3D reflectivity fields as well as 2D fields derived from radial velocity data. The third phase runs post-processing algorithms on merged meteorological fields and ingested near storm environment data provided by the Rapid Update Cycle model (RUC). Applications for this work are discussed and preliminary results are shown for one year of CONUS NEXRAD and RUC data.