GIS-based weather radar siting procedure in mountainous terrain

This paper describes a weather radar siting procedure for a mountainous region in Greece using GIS. The established radar siting objectives consist of the detection and tracking of storms (rainstorms, hailstorms, and snowstorms) requiring operations at a low elevation angle as well as the detection of the vertical structure and evolution of a storm. Moreover, the objective includes precipitation intensity measurements and areal precipitation analysis, which is related to the incidence of permanent echoes and obstructions as well as to the maximum range achievable. Two types of siting criteria are employed; mainly strategic or regional criteria, and local criteria. The strategic criteria mainly consist of set back and communication considerations and local radar siting criteria include the area, geometry or morphology as well as local logistics and practical considerations. In this study, digitized maps of 1:100,000 scale with 100 m contour interval are used. These digitized contour data are used to build the Digital Terrain Model (DTM, raster image) and produce the three-dimensional visualization of the area. The potential sites for the weather radar installation are identified on this three-dimensional DTM. The potential radar sites are located in complex mountainous areas, which results in additional selection difficulties. The selected site and its alternative fulfill the established purposes using the above-mentioned criteria.