Feature Detection Products
Feature Detection Products are specialized radar outputs designed to identify and track specific atmospheric phenomena. They include products such as the Hydrometeor Classification (HMC), which differentiates between rain, snow, hail, and mixed-phase particles, as well as algorithms targeting non-meteorological features like dust storms or smoke plumes.
Hydrometeor Classification (HMC) identifies the type of precipitation at either a user-selectable constant altitude or along a PPI (Plan Position Indicator) sweep. It leverages a combination of polarimetric radar variables – radar reflectivity, differential reflectivity, correlation coefficient, and specific differential phase, together with melting layer detection to accurately distinguish between rain, snow, hail, and mixed-phase precipitation.
Dust/Sand detection algorithm utilizes the values of various variables, checking if they are within specified range, and then aggregates the signature power of close-vicinity to obtain a yes/no binary output of whether a dust/sand signature is strong enough or not.