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All,The following information was received for broad distribution from Tim Crum, NWS ROC. Please contact Tim if you have questions.
Happy Holidays! Linda ______________________________________________________________ Federal Meteorological Handbook Number 11 (FMH-11) Updates Prepared By: Tim Crum Les Lemon NOAA/NWS RSIS/BCI Norman, OK Kansas City, MOThe Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) agencies (Departments of Commerce, Defense, and Transportation) are updating the Federal Meteorological Handbook
No. 11 (FMH-11). The FMH-11 provides standards and procedures to facilitate the efficient collection, sharing, and use of meteorological information by agencies of the federal government and industry. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology (OFCM) published FMH-11 parts A - D during 1990 to 1992 as the NEXRAD Program was beginning to deploy the network of Weather Surveillance Radar - 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) systems. Earlier FMH handbooks governed radar operation and use of weather radar data of pre-WSR-88D radars. The four parts of FMH-11 include: o Part A: System concepts, responsibilities, and procedures o Part B: Doppler radar theory and meteorology o Part C: WSR-88D products and algorithms o Part D: WSR-88D unit description and operational applicationsThe FMH-11 handbooks require updating to reflect the new technology, software,
and products added to the WSR-88D since the handbooks were published. The FMH-11 Part A was updated in June 2003 and is available for viewing and download at: http://www.ofcm.gov/fmh11/fmh11.htm. Parts C and D will beupdated next using the WSR-88D Radar Product Generator software Build 6 as the
baseline. The target completion of these updates is early 2005. Part B will be updated to include the Open Radar Data Acquisition deployment baseline. The target completion of Part B is spring 2005. The NEXRAD agencies plan to update the FMH-11 documents more frequently than in the past. The updates will be a part of the 6-month WSR-88D software release cycle. The more frequent updates will be easier due to the planned use of internet posting of the electronic version of FMH-11 documents on the OFCM webpage (http://www.ofcm.gov). This will make FMH-11 a dynamic, informative, and useable document. The documents will also serve as training and reference material for the NEXRAD agency operators and users of WSR-88D.Additionally, the updates will help the growing number of non-government WSR-
88D users of products and digital base-data (archive Level II) in real time better understand the products and data. Questions and suggestions for the updates should be addressed to Tim.D.Crum@xxxxxxxxx This project is supported by the authors of this note and a contract with RS Information Systems, Inc. (RSIS), Basic Commerce and Industries, Inc. (BCI). __________________________________________ Linda Miller - lmiller@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx External Liaison, Unidata University Corporation for Atmospheric Research P.O. Box 3000 Boulder, CO 80307-3000 303-497-8646 fax: 303-497-8690
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