(meteorobs) Can public access radar records in US?

[Mike Hankey]

Thomas,

The answer is yes. I recently learned about this from Marc Fries and
Rob Matson.

The thing is, even if you have the data you have to be highly trained
to make sense out of the data, especially in terms of tracking a
fireball.

You can download radar data from the archives here:

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/nexradinv/

You want the Level-II data (which is the default).  You have to adjust
/ convert your local time to GMT, when entering the time requests.

You will need to download a reader in order to view the V03.gz files
that you download. The reader can be found here:

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/wct/

Basically you make a data request, download your data files and then
open them in the NOAA client. You will start out with a large area and
then you have to zero in on your specific location and then look at
all the different elevation angles. There are a lot of things to look
for and ultimately you should be looking at multiple stations results.
Its not easy.

There is a new data file for each 10-15 minute period. so you would
get about 6 files per hour.

My understanding regarding radar data for fireballs is: you are not
really looking for the fireball on radar because chances are the
meteor came and went in-between sweeps, however to a trained eye,
residual dust can be detected and this can indicate possible meteorite
locations.

Thanks,

Mike Hankey
http://www.mikesastrophotos.com


On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 12:30 PM, Thomas Ashcraft
<ashcraft at heliotown.com> wrote:
> Apparently some large fireballs will show up on weather radar data.
>
> Can the public get access to these records?
>
> Any tips on how to get access are appreciated and I am thanking you in
> advance.
>
> Thomas Ashcraft
> New Mexico
> _______________________________________________
> Mailing list meteorobs: meteorobs at meteorobs.org
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, email: owner-meteorobs at meteorobs.org
> http://lists.meteorobs.org/mailman/listinfo/meteorobs
>