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The NEXRAD radars stand tall, scanning our skies.
They are components of a national network
maintained by the Radar Operations Center.
The information provided by these radars
is used by NOAA National Weather Service forecasters,
the Federal Aviation Administration,
and U.S. Military.
Forecasters at the NOAA National Weather Service
use NEXRAD radar as their primary tool
observing, monitoring, and forecasting the weather.
The Radar Operations Center plays a crucial role
in supporting the forecaster's day-to-day operations.
In the short term,
the support role of the Radar Operations Center
us keep the radars running reliably.
In the longer term,
the development and modernization efforts
that go on there help move the technology forward
which then allows us to do more.
The NOAA National Severe Storms Lab
researches and develops new tools and techniques
to improve the radar.
Once proven, these new tools
must be placed in the hands of the forecaster.
The Radar Operations Center is responsible for
taking that research technology
and implementing it on the national network.
Without them in the process,
the research techniques we develop here stay here.
They don't make it into the operational system.
So the Radar Operation Center is an important part
of that process to make sure that things we identify here
are implemented in the operational network
so all the forecasters have benefit of it.
The NEXRAD program was a collaboration
of three departments
the Department of Transportation, Department of Defense,
and Department of Commerce.
Working together, they could fund this network
of radars in a more economical way
than each of the agencies could on their own.
They formed this Radar Operations Center
with tri-agency staffing and funding.
In 1988, the Center was established in Norman, Oklahoma.
The location was based on its proximity
to the National Severe Storms Lab
and the University of Oklahoma's radar meteorology program.
The work done by the Radar Operations Center
requires a wide variety of specialties
- including meteorology,
engineering,
programming,
radar technology,
and many others.
A twenty-four hour hotline provides assistance
to radar field sites across the country
- as well as some international locations.
Technicians also travel to radar sites,
providing assistance for maintenance and support activities.
Currently, the Radar Operations Center is collaborating
on a major improvement to the radar network.
Dual Polarization technology allows the radar
to send and receive both horizontal and vertical pulses.
This simultaneous signal will give more information
about the size and shape of particles in the atmosphere.
Overall, what Dual Pol is going to do
is allow the forecaster to be more accurate
and be more precise with their forecast.
They're going to know when it's going to hail
and where it's going to hail.
They're going to know when winter precipitation
is going to be light rain versus heavy rain
versus snow.
The difference between six inches of snow
or half an inch of rain is just huge.
That'll allow the forecasters to say
which of those scenarios will occur.
Emergency managers then are able to
put salt on the roads or not.
So it's really going to make the public a lot safer
from that aspect as well.
Acting as the bridge between research and warnings,
the mission of the Radar Operation Center
is vital to our nation's weather safety.
The number one goal is to keep this fleet of radars
running at a very high availability rate
to provide reliable and high quality data
needed by the forecasters to put out warnings
for severe weather and tornadoes.