Performance of the first operational SSPA-based weather radar in Austria compared with three nearby magnetron-based radars

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00020699%3A_____%2F25%3AN0000080" target="_blank" >RIV/00020699:_____/25:N0000080 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.dwd.de/EN/specialusers/research_education/met_applications_specials/wxrcalmon2025_presentations/presentation_downloads/f3.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=3" target="_blank" >https://www.dwd.de/EN/specialusers/research_education/met_applications_specials/wxrcalmon2025_presentations/presentation_downloads/f3.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=3</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Performance of the first operational SSPA-based weather radar in Austria compared with three nearby magnetron-based radars

Original language description

poster on 5th Workshop on Radar Calibration and Monitoring Offenbach, Germany, 8.-10.10.2025 In late 2023, a C-band SSPA weather radar was installed on mount Hochficht near the tri-border point of Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic. Operated by the manufacturer Meteopress in collaboration with GeoSphere Austria, this radar also enables a comparison of SSPA-based data with observations from the nearby magnetron-based C-band radars in Feldkirchen (Austrocontrol), Brdy-Praha (CHMI) and Isen (DWD), each located within 98 to 135 km to Hochficht. This analysis supports technical decision-making for the upcoming renewal of Austria's national weather radar network. Our analysis focuses on operational data from multiple case studies addressing the following key topics: • Structure and characteristics of radar variables, with emphasis on reflectivity, Doppler velocity, and polarimetric moments, as well as the impact of data correction and processing techniques. • Performance in summer and winter cases, covering stratiform and convective precipitation events of varying intensity and precipitation types (e.g., hail, graupel, rain, snow), wind-related phenomena (e.g., convergence zones, gust fronts, tornadoes), and prominent bright band effects. • Data quality issues including differences in sensitivity and calibration, spurious echo sources (e.g., solar interference, RFI, antenna artifacts), ground clutter contamination (anomalous propagation, particularly in Alpine terrain), wind turbine clutter, and blind zone effects near the radar. • System stability and data availability.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

O - Miscellaneous

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10509 - Meteorology and atmospheric sciences

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů