Forecasted radar mosaics
View Patent ↗A system and method to build a radar reflectivity forecast mosaic from a collection of radar sites. The radar data from multiple radar sites is processed to create movement information for all of the precipitation areas. The movement information and precipitation areas are then mosaicked in a common geographical framework to create forecasted radar reflectivity mosaics. By using the reflectivity information and movement information from multiple radars, a wider scale, more coherent radar forecast can be generated.
1. A system for providing a forecasted radar mosaic, comprising:
a radar database that stores radar reflectivity information from radar sites;
a radar advection processor that receives the radar reflectivity imagery information and processes the radar reflectivity imagery to determine track vectors and forecasted radar reflectivity information; and
a radar mosaicking processor that receives the processed radar reflectivity information and builds said forecasted radar mosaic, said forecasted radar mosaic including radar reflectivity information from predetermined ones of said radar sites.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein said radar mosaicking processor transforms the forecasted radar reflectivity information for said predetermined ones of said radar sites into a remapped graphic image for a predetermined forecast time of interest.
3. The system of claim 2 , wherein said radar mosaicking processor transforms the forecasted radar reflectivity information for said predetermined ones of said radar sites in accordance with at least one of a map projection, a domain and a resolution.
4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the remapped graphic image for the predetermined ones of said plurality of radar sites is merged into said forecasted radar reflectivity mosaic.
5. The system of claim 4 , wherein corresponding pixels in each transformed forecasted radar reflectivity information of the predetermined ones of said plurality of radar sites are examined, and
wherein the highest reflectivity level from the remapped graphic images is selected and inserted into the forecasted radar reflectivity mosaic.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein a nominal time for the observed radar reflectivity mosaic is selected, and a time difference between the observation time for each radar site and said nominal time for the observed radar reflectivity mosaic is determined for each radar site.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein said radar reflectivity information is projected forward by said time difference determined for each radar site using said track vectors to create a set of inverted track vectors.
8. The system of claim 7 , wherein a vector for each pixel of the projected forward radar data is created that indicates which pixel to select from the observed radar image, and wherein said inverted track vectors are applied to generate a time synchronized/forecasted radar image from the observed radar image.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein said radar reflectivity imagery information for a most recent time for each radar site is transformed into a common map projection.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein said transformed radar reflectivity imagery for said most recent time is merged into a radar reflectivity mosaic.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein a forecast time for said forecasted radar mosaic is selected and a time difference from the observed time and the forecast time is calculated, and
wherein a set of inverted track vectors is constructed for each radar site.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein each set of track vectors is transformed into said common map projection, and wherein transformed track vectors are merged into one set of track vectors for the entire domain of the radar reflectivity imagery.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein merged inverted track vectors are applied to said radar reflectivity mosaic for said most recent time to generate said forecasted radar mosaic.
14. A method for providing a forecasted radar mosaic, comprising:
storing radar reflectivity information from radar sites;
receiving the radar reflectivity information and processing the radar reflectivity information to determine track vectors and forecasted radar reflectivity information; and
receiving the processed radar reflectivity information and building said forecasted radar mosaic, said forecasted radar mosaic including radar reflectivity information from predetermined ones of said radar sites.
15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising transforming the forecasted radar reflectivity information for said predetermined ones of said radar sites into a remapped graphic image for a predetermined forecast time of interest.
16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising said radar mosaicking processor transforms the forecasted radar reflectivity information for said predetermined ones of said radar sites in accordance with at least one of a map projection, a domain and a resolution.
17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising merging the remapped graphic image for the predetermined ones of said plurality of radar sites into said forecasted radar reflectivity mosaic.
18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
examining corresponding pixels in each transformed forecasted radar reflectivity information of the predetermined ones of said plurality of radar sites; and
selecting the highest reflectivity level from the remapped graphic images and inserting the highest reflectivity level into the forecasted radar reflectivity mosaic.
19. The method of claim 14 , further comprising selecting a nominal time for the observed radar reflectivity mosaic; and
determining a time difference between the observation time for each radar site and said nominal time for the observed radar reflectivity mosaic for each radar site.
20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising projecting forward by said time difference determined for each radar site using said track vectors to create a set of inverted track vectors.
21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising creating a vector for each pixel of the projected forward radar data that indicates which pixel to select from the observed radar image; and
applying said inverted track vectors to generate a time synchronized/forecasted radar image from the observed radar image.
22. The method of claim 14 , further comprising transforming said radar reflectivity imagery information for a most recent time for each radar site into a common map projection.
23. The method of claim 22 , further comprising merging said transformed radar reflectivity imagery for said most recent time into a radar reflectivity mosaic.
24. The method of claim 23 , further comprising selecting a forecast time for said forecasted radar mosaic and calculating a time difference from the observed time and the forecast time; and
constructing a set of inverted track vectors for each radar site.
25. The method of claim 24 , further comprising transforming each set of track vectors into said common map projection; and
merging the transformed track vectors into one set of track vectors for the entire domain of the radar reflectivity imagery.
26. The method of claim 25 , further comprising applying the merged inverted track vectors to said radar reflectivity mosaic for said most recent time to generate said forecasted radar mosaic.
27. A method of generating weather forecasting information, comprising:
receiving radar data from a plurality of radar sites;
generating track vectors for each of the radar sites; and
merging the track vectors for each of the radar sites into a forecasted radar image mosaic.
28. The method of claim 27 , further comprising:
selecting a corresponding pixel for observed weather radar images having a highest value for each radar site; and
using the selected pixel in the forecasted radar image mosaic.
29. The method of claim 27 , further comprising creating a time coherent mosaic to synchronize the radar sites.
30. The method of claim 27 , further comprising:
merging the track vectors into a single set of track vectors; and
applying the single set of track vectors to the forecasted radar image mosaic.