IntuVueRDR-7000 Weather Radar Pilot's Guide
D201911000094
Principles of Weather Radar Use
Rev 0, Feb 2020
51
strong returns from urban areas and mountainous regions, and
others. Before making operational decisions based on small
isolated indications on the weather display, the validity of these
indications should be verified via PIREPS, ground-based weather
sources and/or ATC communications.
AZIMUTH RESOLUTION
Azimuth resolution is a function of the beam width. When two targets
are closely adjacent in azimuth andat the same range, the radar may
display them as a single target. However, as the targets are
approached, they seem to separate. The ability of the radar system to
resolve these targets is a function of the antenna’s beam width and
the range of the target. The limited azimuth resolution also results in
storm cells that will tend to show being wider in azimuth than the
actual width. The increase in apparent azimuth width increases with
increasing range.
ANGULAR RESOLUTION EFFECT ON VERTICAL RESOLUTION
Beam width also has a range-dependent effect on the vertical
resolution of weather. The typical effect is the apparent echo tops of
the weather to be increasingly higher in altitude than the true echo
top as range increases. Although the tops of distant storms may
actually be lower than displayed, any decision regarding ability to
overfly distant cells should consider the potential for the tops of
growing convective cells to be higher than expected when the aircraft
reaches the cell location.