Future Methodologies 
for Nordrad and Baltrad 

General principles:
- Free national processes allowed – only recommendations given
- Metadata and documentation essential
- Common algorithms should be used as much as possible 
- Quality flags at each step attached to the products (for users and ecomet)

To be completed with : 
- illustrative examples (to the website)
- more complete descriptions (max 1 page per problem)
- new column of status in member countries to be filled in

Report to be completed by a subgroup: Jörg Seltmann, Daniel Michelson, Elena Saltikoff, Uta Gjertsen

Table 1: Most important problems

Problem	Magni tude 
	Frequency	Tool, algorithm	Priority in  real time	Pr in re search	Doc.
coord. 	
Vertical dBZ profile	-15.. 40 dB	Constant, seasonal	VPRC, multisource, gauge	***		
FMI	
Attenuation by precip. 	0-30 dB	daily	Commercial software,
sophisticated software
(6 parameters) (#1)	***		FMI	
Total beam overshooting	total	seasonal	Network density,
Scan strategy,
External data	***		FMI	
Sea clutter	-32..60 dBZ	Local, weather dependent	Dual polarization, pattern recognition, dBZ profile
Scanning strategy	***		SMHI	
Ground clutter	-32..95 dBZ	Local, always	Doppler, Clutter map, Statistical, Multisource, 	***		SMHI	
AP clutter	-32..95 dBZ	Local and seasonal, weather dependent	Doppler, statistical, multisource, profile, dual pol, 	** to ***	***	 
SMHI	
Hail	0..30 dB	Seasonal, local	Dual pol, multisource	***	***	KNMI	
Propagation changes	Through beam blocking	Locally, weather dependent	 Refractivity analysis	* to **		Met.no	
Beam blockage	big	local	Software: precipitation accumulation, beam propagation, complaining	* to ***		Met.no	
Gauge adjustment	Up to 20 dB	continuous	intelligent methods	**		SMHI	
Radar siting	varies	Ongoing 	design and experience		****	FMI	
Suboptimal compositing algorithms	Moderate, sum of others	continuous	Unique solutions, 3D compositing quality flagging	***	***	FMI	
Availability of polar data	Nationally critical	2..4 %
(..100%)	Negotiations,
Communication, maintenance	o to ***		SMHI	
Orographic enhancement and lee effects	0..20 dB ?	local	Multisource, climatology	o to **	***		
Hardware		Age-dependent	Maintenance, upgrades	* to ***			
Absence of metadata	tragical	continuous	(Self) discipline, file format, product design, OPERA database	*	***	opera	
Meteorological algorithms	Pressure to strategies	growing	Co-operation, education,
multisource	**	***	ERAD	
Data assimilation to models	Pressure to strategies	daily	Co-operation, dialog, multisource	**	***	Cost 717	

Table 2: Medium problems
Problem	Magni tude 	Frequency	Tool, algorithm	Priority in  real time	Pr in re search		
Birds	-10…20 dBZ	seasonal	Pattern recognition, dBZ threshold,
Special interest group,
User training	**			
Overhanging precipitation	Moderate
-10..30 dBZ	daily	Network density,
VPRC, multisource 	**			
Interfering emitters, jamming	-32.. 95 dBZ	Local, occasional	Interference filter in DSP, pattern rec., laws(#3), SQI	**			
Wet radome attenuation	0-6 dB	< 7%	HW experiment, AWS + Time series analysis	**			
Attenuation by icy, sleety, salty or dirty radome	medium	locally	Washing, coating, training, heating	**			
Infrastructure: electricity, tower structure	hours, 0.2 degrees, several dB	Siting dependent	UPS, tower structure	**			
Water phase	7 dB	constant	Software, multisource, dual pol	**			
Miscalibration	2 dB	Continuous 	Monitoring	**			
Pointing error (elevation)	0.1.. 0.5 deg	Age, design dependent	Monitoring, maintenance	**			
Z (R, S)	25 dB 
bias 0..2 dB	continuous	Prec. type recognition, dual pol, EGPM, multisource	**			
Ships	up to 80 dBZ	local	pattern recognition	**			
Scan strategy	Not applicable	N/A	User negotiations,
Metadata, documentation,
Upgrades	**			
Second trips
(Cb + AP)	-20..+30 dBZ	Seasonal	SQI, low PRF, whitening, phase control	* to **			

Table 3: Minor problems
Problem	Magni tude 	Frequency	Tool, algorithm	Priority in  real time	Pry in re search		
Sidelobes	-20.. +30 dBZ	See others	Antenna design,
siting	*			
Chaff	20..60 dBZ	Weekly to monthly	Complain, multisource,
Pattern recognition	*			
Windmills	Up to 	local	Building permissions, Clutter mapping	*			
Dry radome attenuation	Small ?	always	HW experiment, Factory constant	*			
Attenuation by gases	0..3 dB	always	Solved	*			
Attenuation by clouds	0..4 dB ?	Hourly ?	Neglected	*			
Insects	-32 to 12 dBZ	Local, seasonal	Dual pol, pattern recognizon, dBZ threshold	*			
Sun	-30..3 dBZ	daily	SQI, pattern recognizion, dBZ threshold, V	*			
Specular reflections (Neighbors)	-32.. 50 dBZ	Local	Politics (preventive action) , sector blinding, motion vector analysis	*			
Forest fires, volcanic ash	up to 50 dBZ	very rare	neglected	o			
Bragg scattering from clear air	-32..-20 dBZ	always	neglected	o			
Clouds	-32..-15 dBZ	always	neglected	o			
Aircraft in noise samples	huge	Very rare	Neglected	(*)			
Flare echo	10 dBZ	once	neglected	o			

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