The LISDAD processing/display platform is a Sun engineering workstation
with inputs from LDAR and-through
a circuitous path-from the Melbourne WSR-88D
and the NLDN.
The workstation is located in the "mesoscale operations center" at the Melbourne,
FL Weather Forecast Office (WFO)
and is used during convective weather outbreaks in conjunction with other
operational displays such as the WSR-88D Principle User Display (PUP) and
GOES satellite VIS/IR displays.
How Does LISDAD Work?
LISDAD's connection to the Melbourne WSR-88D was established via the Lincoln
Laboratory Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS) prototype at the
Orlando International Airport. A previously established wide-band phone
link brings WSR-88D "base data"- full resolution reflectivity and Doppler
velocity imagery for each elevation tilt- to the ITWS site. Here, a dedicated
workstation implements robust ground clutter suppression algorithms, generates
a 4x4 km resolution "composite-maximum" reflectivity image, and processes
the volumetric base data using the National Severe Storms Laboratory's
(NSSL) Storm Cell Identification
Algorithm (SCIT). This algorithm- a prototype for enhanced implementations
of the WSR-88D operational algorithm suite -identifies and tracks individual
storm cells and computes for each cell radar-measurable parameters such
as maximum reflectivity, vertically integrated liquid water (VIL) and
radar cloud top height.
LISDAD's data integration
windows for estimating and updating displayed lightning rates is one minute;
latency for these estimates is less than 15 seconds. Radar measurables
are updated on a five-minute strobe corresponding to the volume scan time
for the WSR-88D. Processing time may impose several minutes of additional
latency.
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