Meteorological observations - Radar composite (Sweden)

Through this service, two composite products with radar information are obtained from the 12 Swedish weather radar systems. One composite product is generated with so-called height-based composite, the other composite product is generated with so-called quality-based composite. Quality-based composites mean that for geographical points covered by several radars, data from the radar with the highest quality is used (given certain quality indicators), while altitude-based composites in such points always use data that is closest to sea level, without using any quality indicators. Quality-based composites allow you to eliminate, or at least minimize, artifacts that are often found when height-based composites are used. New product is generated every 5 minutes. Files are available for 6 hours. The products are available in two file formats, PNG images and HDF5 files. To distinguish files with height-based - repective quality-based composition, the word QCOMP is included in the later file names. Purpose: Weather radar is a valuable tool when making meteorological and hydrological forecasts. Greatness: Reflectivity, strength of radare cone. Unit: dBZ Characteristics: Reflectivity can be translated into precipitation intensity. The HDF5 files contain two sets of reflectivity values, one set is intensity values and its quantity is called ”DBZH”. In the second set, intensity values are adjusted against rainfall transducers, thus representative of ground level, and its quantity is referred to as ”DBZH_CORR”. The PNG image is created from data from the temporally corresponding HDF5 file and the set of reflectivity values used is ”DBZH_CORR”. Design: 2-dimensional array (matrix) with reflectivity values, row by row from north to south, from left (west) to right (east). Quality codes: Quality information exists in separate sets to the respective set of reflective values. The design is the same as the reflectivity values. The quality information consists of values from 0 to 1, where value 0 represents the worst quality and value 1 represents the best quality. The quality information is applied to the reflectivity values. Note that the two composite types have different sets of quality information. Boundaries: Values between -30 and +72 dBZ. The scale is logarithmic, meaning that negative values represent very weak echoes detected near the weather radar facility. Format: PNG file and HDF5 file according to information model ”ODIM_H5”. Delivery: In this service you can download files with real-time data via web service for a delivery fee. The files should be saved before further use. Send an email to [e-mail] to order. More information: Interpretation of radar products: https://www.smhi.se/Knowledge Bank/meteorology/radar-1.5942 HDF5 File, Model Information ”ODIM_H5”: www.eumetnet.eu/sites/default/files/OPERA2014_O4_ODIM_H5_v2.2.pdf The corresponding link is also placed under API-docs, heading ”HDF5 file information model” and help text ”ODIM_H5 – EUMETNET OPERA Data Information Model for HDF5”