Radar data quality issues in Northern Europe

Radar data quality issues depend on climate and other local conditions. Radar experts from seven Northern European countries discussed these issues at NORDRAD/ BALTEX Workshops in November, 2003 and May, 2004. As a result, a list of problems affecting radar data quality was compiled, as well as estimates of the magnitude and frequency of each problem. Subsequent work has included describing each problem in more detail, and rating their importance in each country. Finally, two new international projects have been suggested. The first project deals with the vertical reflectivity profile, which is seen as the most important challenge in this climate. The second project is about beam propagation issues, assessing problems like sea clutter, anomalous propagation, radar siting and beam blockage corrections.