With the change to super-resolution Level-II data (0.5 deg x 0.5 km), the format of Level-II data is changing. Below is the the announcement notification with details:

NOUS41 KWBC 021806
PNSWSH

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...COMMENT REQUEST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC
105 PM EST FRI MAR 2 2007

TO:	 FAMILY OF SERVICES /FOS/ SUBSCRIBERS...NOAA WEATHER 
         WIRE SERVICE /NWWS/ SUBSCRIBERS...EMERGENCY MANAGERS 
         WEATHER INFORMATION NETWORK /EMWIN/ SUBSCRIBERS... 
         NOAAPORT SUBSCRIBERS...OTHER NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE 
         /NWS/ CUSTOMERS AND PARTNERS...NWS EMPLOYEES

FROM:	 RICHARD J. VOGT
	 DIRECTOR...WSR-88D RADAR OPERATIONS CENTER

SUBJECT: SOLICITING COMMENTS BY MARCH 30 2007 ON MODIFICATIONS 
         TO WSR-88D LEVEL II DATA STREAM AND FORMAT: EFFECTIVE 
         WITH WSR-88D BUILD 10 /JANUARY 2008 BETA TEST/

STARTING IMMEDIATELY AND CONTINUING THROUGH MARCH 30 2007...THE 
NWS IS SEEKING COMMENTS ON MODIFICATIONS TO WSR-88D LEVEL II 
DATA STREAM AND FORMAT...EFFECTIVE WITH WSR-88D BUILD 10 
/JANUARY 2008 BETA TEST/.

BACKGROUND:

THE NWS...USAF AND FAA WSR-88D SYSTEMS PRODUCE LEVEL II DATA... 
THE HIGHEST RESOLUTION DIGITAL RADAR DATA AVAILABLE.  THESE DATA 
CONTAIN REFLECTIVITY...RADIAL VELOCITY AND SPECTRUM WIDTH DATA 
FROM ALL RADAR SCANS. LEVEL II DATA ARE COLLECTED... DISTRIBUTED 
AND ARCHIVED IN REAL TIME FROM 133 WSR-88D SYSTEMS VIA THE NWS 
WSR-88D LEVEL II DATA COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION NETWORK.  

PROPOSED CHANGES:

BEGINNING IN WSR-88D SOFTWARE BUILD 10 /BETA TEST AT 
APPROXIMATELY SIX SITES BEGINS IN JANUARY 2008 AND DEPLOYMENT TO 
ALL OPERATIONAL SITES BEGINS IN APRIL 2008/ THE DATA FORMAT AND 
CONTENT OF THE LEVEL II DATA STREAM WILL CHANGE.

1.  THE FORMAT OF THE DATA WILL CHANGE FROM MSG1 TO MSG31.  THIS 
FORMAT CHANGE IS REQUIRED TO HANDLE THE PLANNED ADDITIONS TO THE 
WSR-88D LEVEL II DATA STREAM - SUPER RESOLUTION DATA... BUILD 
10... AND DUAL POLARIZATION DATA... BUILD 11.  THE LOCAL DATA 
MANAGER METHOD OF DISTRIBUTING LEVEL II DATA VIA THE NWS WSR-88D 
LEVEL II DATA COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION NETWORK WILL NOT 
CHANGE.

2.  THE DATA STREAM WILL INCREASE IN SIZE DUE TO THE PLANNED 
CHANGE TO SUPER RESOLUTION RADAR DATA IN BUILD 10.  SUPER 
RESOLUTION DATA INCREASE THE AZIMUTH RESOLUTION FROM 1 DEGREE TO 
0.5 DEGREE... THE REFLECTIVITY DATA RANGE RESOLUTION FROM 1 KM TO 
0.25 KM... AND DOPPLER DATA RANGE FROM 230 KM TO 300 KM FOR SPLIT 
CUTS - GENERALLY SCANS AT 1.5 DEGREES OR LOWER ELEVATION.  THE 
AMOUNT OF DATA COLLECTED AND TRANSMITTED DURING A VOLUME SCAN 
WILL INCREASE BY A FACTOR OF APPROXIMATELY 2.3.  

IT IS POSSIBLE THAT NETWORK-WIDE TRANSMISSION OF SUPER RESOLUTION 
DATA WILL NOT BEGIN IMMEDIATELY AFTER BUILD 10 IS DEPLOYED. IN 
THIS CASE THE DATA WILL BE RECOMBINED BACK TO THE LEGACY DATA 
RESOLUTION. THE TIMING OF THE NETWORK-WIDE TRANSMISSION OF SUPER 
RESOLUTION DATA WILL BE CONTINGENT UPON THE AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS 
TO ACQUIRE THE REQUIRED COMMUNICATIONS BANDWIDTH INCREASE. THE 
FORMAT OF THE DATA WILL CHANGE TO MSG31 WITH THE DEPLOYMENT OF 
BUILD 10.

THE FOLLOWING TOOLS WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE TO LEVEL II USERS TO 
ASSIST THEIR TRANSITION TO THE NEW DATA FORMAT AND CONTENT.  
INFORMATION ON HOW TO ACCESS THE TOOLS AND OTHER RELATED 
INFORMATION WILL BE POSTED AND PERIODICALLY UPDATED ON THE LEVEL 
II WEBSITE AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/:  

     HTTP://WWW.ROC.NOAA.GOV/NWS_LEVEL_2

1.  DRAFT INTERFACE CONTROL DOCUMENTS DESCRIBING THE NEW DATA 
FORMAT AND DATA STREAM WILL BE AVAILABLE BY 31 MARCH 2007.  

2.  SAMPLE ARCHIVE DATA SETS USING THE NEW FORMAT AND DATA STREAM 
WILL BE AVAILABLE BY 30 JUNE 2007.

3.  SAMPLE REAL-TIME DATA STREAMS USING THE NEW FORMAT AND DATA 
STREAM WILL BE AVAILABLE BY 31 AUGUST 2007. 

4.  AN EARLY VERSION OF BUILD 10 SOFTWARE... EXECUTABLE AND 
SOURCE CODE... WILL BE AVAILABLE BY 31 AUGUST 2007 FROM THE NWS 
COMMON OPERATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT...CODE WEBSITE /USE 
LOWER CASE LETTERS/:  

     HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/CODE88D

THE SOFTWARE WILL CONTAIN CODE TO READ SUPER RESOLUTION DATA AND 
TO RECOMBINE THE SUPER RESOLUTION DATA INTO LEGACY RESOLUTION 
DATA. THE RPG ALGORITHMS AND 4-BIT BASE PRODUCTS WILL USE 
RECOMBINED DATA.  
 
WE ARE SOLICITING COMMENTS BY 30 MARCH 2007 ON THE PLANS TO 
CHANGE THE DATA FORMAT AND CONTENT ALONG WITH THE TOOLS TO BE 
MADE AVAILABLE.  PLEASE SEND ANY COMMENTS ON THIS PLAN TO:

	TIM CRUM
	WSR-88D RADAR OPERATIONS CENTER
	1200 WESTHEIMER DRIVE
	NORMAN... OK 73069
        TIM.D.CRUM@NOAA.GOV
	
THIS NOTICE AND OTHER CURRENT NATIONAL PUBLIC INFORMATION 
STATEMENTS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/:

	HTTP://WWW.NWS.NOAA.GOV/OM/NOTIF.HTM

THIS MESSAGE IS LISTED AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE . . . ABOVE THE 
SERVICE CHANGE NOTICE AND TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTION NOTICE BOX.

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