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LROSE: The Lidar Radar Open Software Environment

Overview

Topaz

The current LROSE release is called “Topaz” (a bright hot pink rose) and encompasses six key toolsets that define a core lidar/radar workflow: Convert, Display, QC, Grid, Echo, and Winds. Topaz focuses on high-quality, well-tested, well-maintained and well-documented key applications as ‘building blocks’, allowing users to assemble trusted, reproducible workflows to accomplish more complex scientific tasks.

Some highlights for Topaz:

• This release contains further refinements in radial data format translation.
• The cmake-based build option is available.
• Packages are available for Centos, Ubuntu, Fedora 32, 33, 34, Alma Linux, Suse.
• Only dependent on the HDF5 C library, the C++ library is now included in libs/Ncxx in LROSE.
• HawkEdit is now a beta version, and has undergone considerable testing from users.

Topaz can be compiled in C++ for native apps on Linux or Mac. Preliminary support is available for some tools on Windows.

We encourage users to register in order to receive critical software updates, and sign up for the mailing list to help build the LROSE community.

Help can be obtained by posting issues directly to the lrose-cyclone Github repository, via our help mailing list, or Discourse user forum.

LROSE is a co-operative project between:

• Dept. of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University (CSU) and the
• The Earth Observing Lab at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

LROSE is funded by the National Science Foundation.

Citations for LROSE tools

Please cite the version of LROSE tools you use for publication. If you are unsure of the version, please cite the latest stable release.

• lrose-topaz, 2022: Michael M. Bell, Michael Dixon, Wen-Chau Lee, Brenda Javornik, Jennifer DeHart, Ting-Yu Cha, and Alex DesRosiers. (2022). nsf-lrose/lrose-topaz: lrose-topaz stable final release 20220222 (lrose-topaz-2022022). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6909479
• lrose-elle, 2021: Michael M. Bell, Michael Dixon, Wen-Chau Lee, Brenda Javornik, Jennifer DeHart, & Ting-Yu Cha. (2021). nsf-lrose/lrose-elle: lrose-elle stable final release 20210312 (lrose-elle-20210312). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5523312
• lrose-cyclone, 2020: Michael M. Bell, Michael Dixon, Brenda Javornik, Wen-Chau Lee, Bruno Melli, Jennifer DeHart and Ting-Yu Cha (2020). nsf-lrose/lrose-cyclone: lrose-cyclone release 20200110 (lrose-cyclone-20200110). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3604387
• lrose-blaze, 2019: Michael M. Bell, Michael Dixon, Brenda Javornik, Wen-Chau Lee, Bruno Melli, Jennifer DeHart and Ting-Yu Cha (2019). nsf-lrose/lrose-blaze: lrose-blaze-20190105 (lrose-blaze-20190105). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2532758

Installation Instructions

• Homebrew Installation
  • Mac Homebrew installation - For Native applications on the Mac, the recommended method is to use Homebrew. The formula contains all the necessary dependencies and builds instructions.

• Source Installation - Intended for users who wish to do a manual build or build in a non-standard location. Source compilation is best performed using a supplied Python script.
  • Build system - For LINUX and MAC OS cmake/autoconf/manual builds and code development

• CIDD Binary Installation
  • CIDD Binary Release - CIDD depends on a 32-bit build, which complicates the build and install for the core. The CIDD display application is not included in the standard lrose-core packages (above).

Tutorials

• quick start
  • lrose quickstart tutorial - Go over the basics to get up and running quickly with LROSE.

• echo tutorials
  • basic elle echo tutorial - Go through the basic steps necessary to convert a raw radar file to CfRadial, calculate Kdp and three-dimensional rain rate, and estimate the surface rainfall. The purpose of this tutorial is to confirm that the install process was successful and that some programs are working.
  • basic+ elle echo tutorial - Similar to the basic elle tutorial with the added tasks of downloading GFS analysis from which to estimate a sounding near the radar and running the RadxBeamBlock application.
  • full elle echo tutorial - This tutorial assumes the user has radar data downloaded in an acceptable radar format and walks through the most important parameters that need to be edited to run the Quantitative Precipitation Estimation (QPE) workflow.

• grid tutorial
  • elle regrid and convective/stratiform tutorial - Convert raw NEXRAD data to the cfradial format and then interpolate to a cartesian grid and applies a convective stratiform separation algorithm.

• wind tutorial
  • VORTRAC tutorial - run VORTRAC to retrieve the winds using the GBVTD/GVTD algorithm from a single Doppler radar data.

• CSU Radartools tutorial
  • CSU-Radartools tutorial - Step through the processing of a raw radar file through editing, QC and gridding using LROSE and CSU-Radartools

• Airborne radar navigation correction tutorial
  • Airborne radar navigation correction - Go through the steps of applying navigation correction on airborne radar data. Airborne radar navigation correction package can be found here.

Toolsets

In the current release, the following tools are available:

Convert

• RadxPrint - Query files to determine properties and support by the Radx engine
• RadxConvert - Convert 24 different lidar and radar formats to CfRadial NetCDF format
• RadxBufr - Convert Bufr format to CfRadial NetCDF format

Display

• HawkEye - Real-time and archive display suitable for both scanning and vertically pointing radars.

Quality Control

• RadxDiffFields - Compare two fields in different CfRadial files
• RadxDiffVol - Compare two volumes in different CfRadial files
• RadxMergeFields - Merge fields from different CfRadial files
• RadxFilter - Perform simple filtering operations
• RadxPersistentClutter - Create a mask for persistent ground clutter
• RadxDealias - Dealias single-Doppler data
• RadxQc - General quality control
• IntfRemove - Identify and remove interference in Titan data
• RadxModelQc - Filter Radx data
• RadxClutMon - Clutter analysis
• TsCalAuto - Radar calibration analysis
• RadarCal - Analyze calibration data
• RadxSunMon - Search for sun spikes and perform solar analysis
• SunCal - Analyze time series data from sun scans

Grid

• Radx2Grid - Gridding and interpolation of ground-based radar data

Echo

• RadxKdp - KDP and Attenuation calculations
• RadxPid - KDP, Attenuation, and Particle Identification
• RadxRate - KDP, Attenuation, PID, and Rain Rate
• RadxQpe - Accumulated Quantitative Precipitation Estimation
• RadxHca - NEXRAD Hydrometeor Classification Algorithm
• RateAccum - Accumulated Precipitation (recommended)
• PrecipAccum - Accumulated Precipitation (not recommended)
• RadxBeamBlock - Beam Blockage Estimation
• ConvStrat - Identify convective and stratiform regions in Cartesian radar volume
• RadxMesoCyclone - Identify mesocyclones in radar data
• QpeVerify - Compare radar-derived and observed precipitation accumulation
• RefractCompute - Compute refractivity
• RefractCalib - Create calibration file used by RefractCompute
• CalcMoisture - Calculate moisture fields from refractivity
• Titan - Thunderstorm Identification, Tracking, Analysis, and Nowcasting application
• Tracks2Ascii - Print out storm and track data in ASCII format
• Tstorms2Xml - Convert storms data to XML or Spdb
• StormInitLocation - Write out the initiation location of significant storms
• ScaleSep - Separate a radar image into different spatial scales
• Colide - Detect and extrapolate boundaries
• ctrec - Track echo motion
• Rview - Visualize Titan data (spatially)
• TimeHist - Visualize Titan data (through time)

Wind

• RadxEvad - Extended Velocity Azimuth Display single-Doppler retrieval
• FRACTL - Fast Reorder and CEDRIC Technique in LROSE multi-Doppler retrieval
• SAMURAI - Variational multi-Doppler retrieval and analysis package
• VORTRAC - Vortex Objective Radar Tracking and Circulation single-Doppler retrieval
• OpticalFlow - Estimate 2-D velocity of a radar field

Practical Radar Meteorology

The material contained here is designed to supplement radar textbooks and course materials with scientific background on common procedures used in radar meteorology. When combined with the above tutorials and documentation, these practical guides will help apply LROSE tools for scientific applications.

1. Cartesian Gridding of Polar Radar Data
2. Convective/Stratiform Partitioning
3. Kdp Calculation
4. Rain Rate Calculations
5. Attenuation Correction
6. Particle Identification using Fuzzy Logic
7. Quantitative Precipitation Estimation
8. Velocity Dealiasing

LROSE Workshops

LROSE AMS 2020 Mini Workshop

• Meeting Notes
• LROSE Mini-Workshop Slides
• LROSE Cyclone Multi-Doppler Tutorial Slides
• Brief Hawkeye Tutorial Slides

LROSE Fall 2021 Virtual Workshop

• Meeting Notes
• Pre-recorded Videos
• Session Recordings and Slides

LROSE AMS 2023 Workshop

• Meeting Notes
• Session Recordings and Slides