10/8/2020 Importing radar data from folder

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Importing radar data from folder

When importing radar data there are several options. This how-to sheet reviews how to
import radar data from a folder. This method is used when importing from a .TAR le or
from a regular folder. This example uses radar data from the Massachusetts radar
station in Boston.

1. In a RAP model click on the Options button to open the Radar Acquisition Project
(https://support.chiwater.com/144703/project) Options
2. Under the Repository tab change the state and the Radar station to match the state
and station the data was acquired from.

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3. Click on the Browse button to change the Data repository location. This is where the
processed .SHP radar les will be stored.

4. Click on the Import button and select to import From folder and click Next.

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5. Browse to the location of your unzipped les.

6. If your data has subfolders (/001), check the option to Include sub folders.

7. If importing from .TAR les, check the option to Import from tar les. In addition,
choose the radar products to import from the .TAR les.

8. Click on the Import button. You will notice a progress bar will appear at the bottom of
your screen. Depending on the format and how many days of radar you are
importing, it may take some time.

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9. Once it has stopped click on the Close button followed by the Cancel button.

10. In order to see your data you have to change the Radar product to one of the radar
products you have imported.

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11. Click on the Date Picker button.

A dialog with a timeline will appear. Blue lines indicate the periods of time that radar
data is available.

12. Drag a box around a blue area or change the dates to the dates you are doing the
analysis for and click OK.

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The radar data should now be visible in the Project panel

(https://support.chiwater.com/77650/project-panel).

13. Click on the Properties button located on the Project panel (bottom left) to change
what the radar cells look like.

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Notes

With respect to the le size of radar les, the repository is where the processed radar
les are stored as shape layers (https://support.chiwater.com/77865/layer) (.SHP). The
radar scans in the RAP project (https://support.chiwater.com/79190/rap-project) are
individual layers each containing re ectivity and rainfall values associated with each
cell in the scan. This rainfall value is a product of the processing options speci ed in
the Options.

Once the radar les are imported and processed you can create the time series. This
means that once your radar cells have been processed correctly in the repository,
they are always accessible and can be used to create time series les
(https://support.chiwater.com/79201/time-series- le) without having to be re-
processed. In general, 4 TB of storage will su ce for about 3 years of data (multiple
products).

PCSWMM is setup to read NEXRAD (NOAA WSR-88D) level III products, including:
base re ectivity products (all 4 angles),

digital hybrid scan re ectivity (256 level) product,

hourly digital precipitation array product,

storm tracking information product, and

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surface rainfall accumulation products (1hr, 2hr, and storm total).

All NEXRAD stations are supported, and these products are available free, both for
real-time downloading, and for historical events
(https://support.chiwater.com/79885/event) (last 12+ years, depending on the station)
at a ~ 5 minute time step (wet weather) and 1 degree x 1km spatial resolution.
PCSWMM converts this data from the original binary format to a shape le format,
preserving original values at their original polar-coordinate or grid resolution. All
subsequent processing (Z-R relationship, bias removal, raingage calibration and
subcatchment (https://support.chiwater.com/77710/subcatchment) area-weighting) is
performed on the converted data.

Real-time downloading and processing is handled by PCSWMM Real-Time. Historical

data processing of already downloaded radar data is supported by both PCSWMM
Professional and Real-Time versions. Normally, historical WSR-88D products are
retrieved through a HAS request on the NOAA website. All data is freely available.

The inventory search front page is: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/nexradinv/

(http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/nexradinv/). There is a lot of information to digest, so it
will require a bit of browsing time.

The coverage and data quality of various NEXRAD stations is available in kml
format(suitable for viewing in Google Earth) here: http://wxanalyst.com/radar/
(http://wxanalyst.com/radar/)

In addition to raw NEXRAD data, PCSWMM can process rain-gage calibrated radar
rainfall data supplied by various third-party vendors, depending on the format. Please
contact us directly to discuss supported formats.

Can this article be improved?

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