| Hydrometeorology researchers use data-products like rainfall maps, quarter-hourly, hourly & daily rainfall accumulation maps, and reflectivity maps to drive their hydrological models. There are many sources available from which to generate such products e.g. (1) Weather-radar scan data, (2) Rain-gauge data and (3) Satellite maps, to name a few. Researchers, however, prefer to deal directly with the data-product, rather than deal with the details of sensor data-collection, data-management, storage, quality-control, processing and format conversion. Many researchers would additionally like a real-time continuous 'feed' of customized hydrometeorology data-products to drive their hydrological models in a real-time continuous fashion. Hydro-NEXRAD II is a new system that is currently being developed at IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering (at The University of Iowa) to address this need. The system provides rapid and user-friendly access to the aforementioned user-customized hydrometeorology data-products in file formats convenient to researchers. Products are generated using near real-time Weather Surveillance Doppler Radar (WSR-88D) data from the National Weather Service's NEXRAD (NEXt generation RADar) radar-network. The architecture, design and engineering details of Hydro-NEXRAD II are the subject of this thesis. |
