Garmin GNC 420W Pilots Guide - Page 209
Weather Products, NEXRAD Description, NEXRAD Abnormalities, NEXRAD Limitations, States, Alaska
View all Garmin GNC 420W manuals
Add to My Manuals
Save this manual to your list of manuals |
Page 209 highlights
SECTION 11 ADDITIONAL FEATURES Weather Products The following weather products are available for display on the GNC 420 unit via the Weather Data Link interface: • NEXRAD Data • Graphical METAR Data • Text-based METAR Data • Graphical Temperature/Dewpoint Data • Graphical Wind Data NEXRAD Description WSR-88D weather surveillance radar or NEXRAD (NEXt generation RADar) is a Doppler radar system that has greatly improved the detection of meteorological events such as thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. An extensive network of NEXRAD stations provides almost complete radar coverage of the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii. The range of each NEXRAD station is 124 nautical miles. NEXRAD Abnormalities There are possible abnormalities regarding displayed NEXRAD images. Some, but not all, of those include: • Ground clutter • Spurious radar data • Sun strobes, when the radar antenna points directly at the sun • Military aircraft deploy metallic dust (chaff) which can cause alterations in radar scans • Interference from buildings or mountains, which may cause shadows NEXRAD Limitations CAUTION: NEXRAD weather data is to be used for long-range planning purposes only. Due to inherent delays and relative age of the data that can be experienced, NEXRAD weather data cannot be used for short-range avoidance of weather. Certain limitations exist regarding the NEXRAD radar displays. Some, but not all, are listed for the user's awareness: • NEXRAD base reflectivity does not provide sufficient information to determine cloud layers or precipitation characteristics (hail vs. rain, etc.). • NEXRAD base reflectivity is sampled at the minimum antenna elevation angle. An individual NEXRAD site cannot depict high altitude storms at close ranges, and has no information about storms directly over the site. • NEXRAD resolution varies, depending on the amount and complexity of the weather data being received. The displayed NEXRAD data will reflect the highest intensity level sampled within a 4 sq km area (depending on available system memory). 190-00140-20 Rev. K GNC 420(A) Pilot's Guide and Reference 11-19