Weather Modification, Inc. (Cloud Seeding, atmospheric research, rain enhancement, cloud physics)» Services » Remote Sensing

WMI has integrated weather radar with today’s computer technology to produce the industry standard real-time full-sky weather observation and data archival system. This sophisticated system can be controlled from the console at the radar, or remotely via Internet connection, and is available in either Doppler or non-Doppler versions. For advanced applications, WMI can provide dual-polarization and multi-parameter radar systems.

Each WMI radar systems comes complete with computerized color radar displays, and optional GPS aircraft tracking via RF (radio frequency) modems. Doppler capability is available. A typical WMI C-band weather radar installation is shown to the right.

The C-band (5.4 cm wavelength) weather radars offered by WMI are sensitive instruments capable of detecting rainfall rates of 1 millimeter per hour at a range of 100 nautical miles (185 km, 115 statute miles). When coupled with the TITAN radar processing software, full four-dimensional (x, y, z, and t) manipulation of the acquired full-sky data set is straightforward.

The WMI weather radar system consists of the following components:

TITAN is an acronym that stands for Thunderstorm Identification. Tracking, Analysis, and Nowcasting. While the software was developed with thunderstorms in mind, it turns out that it is flexible enough to handle any meteorological situation. Before TITAN is used to process the radar data, the radar data acquisition system (RDAS) first ingests the raw radar data, does preliminary (calibration) processing, and passes it on to the TITAN processing and display software. The RDAS is typically programmed to control the radar antenna such that a complete volume scan consists of 18 elevation steps, up to 45 degrees elevation. This software ingests a complete “full-sky” volume every five minutes, and processes the data to provide horizontal and vertical storm cross-sections, storm motion, history, estimated total precipitation, and a variety of other useful radar products. In addition, the aircraft AirLink data are ingested and displayed directly on the TITAN display, eliminating the need to request position information from the pilot or to mentally translate positions shown on one display to another. The TITAN data are regularly archived, and the complete data set will be provided to the client.

If Internet access can be arranged at the selected radar site, a current radar image will be automatically sent at regular intervals to an Internet web site to provide the client access to recently recorded data. The web site can be accessed using any PC with Internet access and contains current radar maps (at least every 15 minutes) displaying reflectivity data, as well as project GPS aircraft position when the aircraft is operating. Should the client desire, the web site can be made accessible to the public as well.

The software has the following functions:

Ingestion of radar data

Pre-processing and storage of the data

Run algorithms on data

Display data and algorithm output

Provide post analysis capabilities

Display aircraft flight tracks

Display history of storm motion and intensity

Project storm motions

Precipitation mapping

The image below is of the TITAN radar display with constant altitude PPI, vertical storm cross section, storm history, storm time-height profile and reflectivity distribution. The history of storm motions (yellow circles), and forecast storm motions (red circles) are also shown.

Aircraft flight tracks are superimposed upon the TITAN CAPPI to aid the meteorologist in directing the cloud seeding aircraft to the most suitable seeding candidates. An electronic overlay generated by a computer file displays the project target area as well as county boundaries and prominent cities and geographical features.

Radar and flight track data are saved automatically in approximately 6-minute increments. The time period required to complete a volume scan varies dependant upon the speed of rotation of the radar. For 3 rpm, a volume scan requires about 6 min. The large volume of graphical data being recorded and stored requires the higher performance computer and low-overhead Linux operating system.