MultiDop: multi - Doppler radar analysis suite

MultiDop: An open - source, Python - powered, multi - Doppler radar analysis suite

Abstract: Toward an Open-Source, Python-Powered, Multi-Doppler Radar Analysis Suite (97th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) - MultiDop: An Open-Source, Python-Powered, Multi-Doppler Radar Analysis Suite

Severe weather research often is facilitated by multi-Doppler radar syntheses to retrieve three-dimensional winds. While numerous techniques and software packages to perform these analyses have been developed over the years [e.g.,

• GAMIC Weather Radar Software Suite - FROG MURAN, 
• A Multiple-Doppler Radar Analysis of a Three-Dimensional Wind Field -https://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/123690.pdf by J Gao - Doppler radar data assimilation for 4-node CASA radars, together with ... CAPS, Suite 2500, NWC, 120 David L. Boren Blvd,. Norman OK

to date none has been fully integrated within the Python software framework that has been growing in popularity within the weather radar science community.

This presentation discussed work that has been done to merge the three-dimensional variational analysis (3DVAR) approach developed at the University of Oklahoma with the Python Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Radar Toolkit (Py-ART) developed at Argonne National Laboratory. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has successfully produced a working Python-based prototype that is being released to the community at large.

The package, called MultiDop, is fully compatible with Py-ART but also takes advantage of the computational efficiency supplied by the original 3DVAR codebase. Example workflows will be described using Jupyter notebooks that ingest native spherical coordinate radar volumes, provide quality control, and then merge the data onto a common Cartesian grid and perform multiple-Doppler syntheses, with final products matching the Py-ART data model. Performance against other multi-Doppler packages (e.g., Custom Editing and Display of Reduced Information in Cartesian Space, or CEDRIC) [Reference Manual | Earth Observing Laboratory] will be assessed. The MultiDop package is intended for community use and community-directed future development via the NASA GitHub portal. MultiDop is a Python-based interface between the

C-based DDA code developed at University of Oklahoma [CIMMS: Corey Potvin] and

the Python Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Radar Toolkit (Py-ART) software developed at Argonne National Lab [pyart/advection.py at master · ARM-DOE/pyart · GitHub]. Use this software to perform 3D wind analyses using 2-3 independent Doppler radars.

Checkout of Multidop

MultiDop is available at GitHub - nasa/MultiDop: Multiple-Doppler Radar Analysis Toolkit (MultiDop)

https://github.com/nasa/MultiDop


Current version = 0.3, tested and working under Python 2.7 and 3.6 Also requires numpy, Py-ART, xarray, C compilers, and netCDF libraries
If you use MultiDop, you MUST cite the following papers:

• Shapiro, A., C. Potvin, and J. Gao, 2009: Use of a Vertical Vorticity Equation in Variational Dual-Doppler Wind Analysis. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 26, 2089–2106,
  doi: https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JTECHA1256.1 or
  http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/2009JTECHA1256.1
• Potvin, C., A. Shapiro, and M. Xue, 2012: Impact of a Vertical Vorticity Constraint in Variational Dual-Doppler Wind Analysis: Tests with Real and Simulated Supercell Data. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 29, 32–49,
  http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/JTECH-D-11-00019.1
  https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-11-00019.1