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<br />Designated CC's were boxed off from other echoes by a series of radials and <br />ranges. These were digitized on a Tektronix 4956 digitizing pad interfaced to <br />a Tektronix 4051; then files of these coordinates were transmitted to <br />Reclamation's CYBER in Denver. The RADPROC program used those boxes to isolate <br />the CC's into separate entities, enabling the life history of a particular <br />complex to be analyzed separately. It should be noted that there i.s no <br />information within the range delay zone which could be used from 1 to 25 km. <br />Radar data were recorded 250 km from the range delay in 1 km by 1 deg by 1 deg <br />bins. The mesonet was entirely within the zone of radar coverage except for <br />the range delay centered at Miles City west of the network. <br /> <br />After processing by the CYBER, dBz files were <br />3220 via the UT 200 system for further analysis. <br />option which plots dBz depictions on the same map <br />II.lOa through II.lOc show example periods in the <br />echoes from the lowest tilt have been used, i.e., <br /> <br />sent to the Miles City PE <br />The SFCANL package has an <br />as mesonet data. Figure <br />life of a candidate CC. Only <br />1 deg for the dBz plots. <br /> <br />Rainfall Footprints <br /> <br />Covariate analysis of mesonet data require estimates of rainfall <br />characteristics. The CC dBz files were used to derive rainfall estimates <br />applying the Z-R relationship derived by Smith, et al., (1975): <br /> <br />Z = l55R1.88, <br /> <br />(5) <br /> <br />Eq. (5) was based on the North Dakota Pilot Project S-band radar data as <br />analyzed by the South Dakota School of Miles and Technology. <br /> <br />Accumulations were derived using the lowest tilt, 1.0 deg; computation was <br />on Reclamation's CYBER using software developed by the University of North <br />Dakota and Reclamation. The resulting rainfall "footprints" were recorded in <br />the dBz format (Schroeder and Klazura, 1978) which were later sent to Miles <br />City via the UT200. Printer-plotter map images and summaries were also sent. <br />The software packages used to derive the footprints were: <br /> <br />RADPROC: converts A-files into individual clBz files for each CC. <br /> <br />CCRAIN: produces rainfall accumulations for each scan. <br /> <br />RAINSUM: sums contributions of individual scans, and produces a map and <br />summary. <br /> <br />RAINPPI: gives printer plotter depictions. <br /> <br />A sample footprint is shown in Figure 11.11. This was produced by SFCANL <br />and is the same CC as that shown in Figure II.lO. <br /> <br />4. Candidate Convective Complexes <br /> <br />Convective compleJces to be used in planned mesonet research were selected <br />from the CC's described above. The only additional criterion was that the CC <br />had to be entirely within the area of mesonet coverage sometime during its <br />life. When CC's were being culled, only eight days of boxed radar data were <br />available. These days were, however, among the most active of the 1981 field <br /> <br />33 <br /> <br />