Contact Us:

Radar Field Guide: XSI - Mt Sicker

GENERAL
Mountain top radar.
ID: XSI Name: "MT SICKER" Type: 98A Lat: 48.86028 Lng: -123.75583 GroundHt: 700 HornHt: 31.5 BeamWidth: 0.62 Comment: "NRP"

TOPOGRAPHY

BLOCKAGE

A tall neighbouring peak to the NW blocks a sector there at all elevations. Another nearby peak causes blockage near 190 degrees. The entire sector from SSW through NNW suffers from blockage by mountain peaks, with some gaps between them.
There is some blockage by mountains on the mainland to the NE. A peak about 100km to east causes partial blockage too.

Two towers on site cause blockage (azimuths of approx 295 and 246 deg)

Major: 190 deg, and approx 305-330
Minor Sectors: many in western sector.
Tower sector: There is a big communication tower a few 10's of metres at approxmately 250 deg. This is near field. There is a strange blockage pattern of blockage that seems to dcrease with range.
Minor Isolated (tower/trees/etc): I don't see it in imagery, but there is a colocated comm tower at about 60m at 300 deg.

This Range-azimuth image shows long term average of reflectivity (in N units) on PRECIP-ET product to illustrate blockage to west.

This image of 24h accumulation from a day with wide-spread precipitation is typical of the pattern of blockage seen.


SEA/LAKE CLUTTER

Yes. It seems to depend on atmospheric conditions. I believe the following example is sea clutter:


WIND TURBINES


ROADS/HYDRO/etc

Map in polar coordinates
Map to 110 km

Radar echo stats from non-precipitation days

Map to 250 km

RANGE TO TOPOGRAPHY

MISCELLANEOUS

Ferry terminal gives a great example of the effect of antenna struts on clutter pattern aloft.
The mountains to east can provide some nice examples of clutter echoes in completely blocked sectors (peaks seen in sidelobes).
An interesting artefact that often is seen on radar accumulations is a feature to SW over the ocean, in a place that is completely blocked. This must be a example of clutter being seen in a side lobe.