HCR Measurements and products
HCR data are provided in CfRadial format (NetCDF). The resolution is ~20 m in range and 0.1 s in time. In addition to the standard radar moments, such as reflectivity, radial velocity, and spectrum width, HCR also provides the dual-pol linear depolarization ratio. Several derived products, such as melting layer altitude, convectivity and convective/stratiform echo type, and hydrometeor particle type, are also part of the standard HCR data sets. External datasets, such as ERA5 reanalysis data or topography data, are also provided. The data undergoes a rigorous quality control process. Time series In-phase and Quadrature (I and Q) data are available. The following table lists the data variables most commonly used.
Variable | Dimension | Unit | |
time | time | s | Seconds since volume start |
range | range | m | Range from instrument to center of gate |
elevation | time | deg | Ray elevation angle |
FLAG | time x range | Quality flag | |
Radar observations | |||
DBZ | time x range | dBZ | Reflectivity |
VEL | time x range | m/s | Doppler velocity |
WIDTH | time x range | m/s | Spectrum width |
LDR | time x range | dB | Linear depolarization ratio |
Derived products | |||
MELTING_LAYER | time x range | Melting layer flag | |
CONVECTIVITY | time x range | Convectivity (from 0 [stratiform] to 1 [convective]) | |
ECHO_TYPE | time x range | Convective/stratiform echo type | |
PID | time x range | Hydrometeor particle ID | |
External variables | |||
PRESS | time x range | hPa | ERA5 pressure |
TEMP | time x range | C | ERA5 temperature |
RH | time x range | % | ERA5 relative humidity |
TOPO | time | m | GTOPO30 terrain elevation |