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CAMEX-4 NASA Portable S-band Multiparameter Wx Research Radar Table of Contents
The Convection And Moisture EXperiment (CAMEX) is a series of field research investigations sponsored by the Earth Science Enterprise of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The fourth field campaign in the CAMEX series (CAMEX-4) ran from 16 August to 25 September, 2001 and was based out of Jacksonville Naval Air Station, Florida. CAMEX-4 focused on the study of tropical cyclone (hurricane) development, tracking, intensification, and landfalling impacts using NASA-funded aircraft and surface remote sensing instrumentation. The NASA Portable S-band Multiparameter Weather Research Radar was deployed to Boca Chica in the Florida Keys for CAMEX-4. Data were collected from 18 August through 4 September, and then was down due to a slip ring problem until the 21st of September. See the documentation at https://ghrc.nsstc.nasa.gov/pub/doc/camex4/c4gnpol/ for dates, times and weather conditions seen at the radar site during each day of the experiment. Instrument DescriptionThe NASA Portable S-band Multiparameter Weather Research Radar was developed by a research team from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, VA. The NPOL radar is easily transportable, and consists of the flat faced antenna whose pedistal is mounted upon the conex (container express) boxes which house the display consoles, power supplies and air conditioning units as shown in the image to the right. Data ProductsThere are two types of files associated with the NPOL radar data: radar data in universal format (uf) and browse images showing a PPI view at 0.5 degrees showing reflectivity. Data files are large, and are presented in 'gzipped' daily files. Typical daily file size is on the order of 0.5 to 1.5 Gigabytes. One of the raw data files is available by request to GHRC User Services, or via our on line ordering system, HyDRO. Only one data file is available because of their size. They are too large for our server to accomodate them all. Technical support for these data is available as noted below. Browse imagery is also available via HyDRO. Data are 'tarred' into daily data files of the form:
where c4gnpol indicates that these data are from the CAMEX-4 experiment and the NPOL radar, 2001.ddd_daily indicates that these data are from the ddd of 2001, and tar indicates that these data are UNIX 'tarred' together. When 'untarred', this file will yield numerous files of the form:
where NPOL_vol represents the NPOL radar volume scan, 01mmdd_tttt is the year (2001), mm is the month, dd is the day, tttt is the volume scan time. uf indicates that these data are in universal format, and it is gz 'gzipped'. When 'gunzipped' (UNIX) or extracted using WINZIP, this file will yield a data file in universal radar format. File naming convention for this unzipped/uncompressed data file is:
Naming convention is similar to the zipped file. Again, this file is in universal radar format. Browse imagery files are named as:
with nomenclature similar to that shown in the data files with the addition of swp0_dz indicating a 0.5 degree elevation sweep showing radar reflectivity. Imagery files may be viewed with any common viewer. Data ExtractionData are in Universal Format. For information about extracting imagery and tabular data, see here. Contact InformationAddress Scientific issues to:
Technical issues should be addressed to:
To order these data or for further information, please contact:
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The flat panel radar antenna is fully portable and self-contained. The antenna is hexagonal in shape and 18-feet (5.5 meters) across. The fact that the antenna is flat allows for a system that is less susceptable to high winds than are traditional parabolic antennae. The entire system requires no special site preparation and can be set up on any flat terrain.