• Brief Description: This lesson provides an overview of the course to students and local facilitators. Each section of the course will be touched
• Delivery Method: Teletraining
• Approximate Completion Time: 1 hour

• Presentation Download: GotoWebinar Session (No Presentation Download!)
• Documentation Download: Orientation Student Guide (202 KB PDF)

• Brief Description: Effective warning forecasters need to be proficient at using AWIPS. This lesson covers a series of topics and tasks directly related to using AWIPS to investigate radar data and during warning operations.
• Delivery Method: Student guide (hardcopy) and on-line task descriptions
• Approximate Completion Time: 15-20 hours

• Documentation Download: Topic 1 Student Guide (3.08 MB PDF)
• DLOC Topic 1 Additional Material: WES exercises (optional)

• Brief Description: This lesson is an overview of all of the main components and subcomponents of the WSR-88D system. In order to effectively operate the system and produce the best quality data, it is important to understand the basics of these six components and how data flows through the entire system.
• Delivery Method:On-line Training Module
• Approximate Completion Time:1-2 hours

• DLOC Topic 2 : Introduction to the WSR-88D System
• Documentation Download: Topic 2 Student Guide (264 MB PDF)

• Brief Description: This topic consists of six lessons that cover a variety of scientific principles about how Doppler radar in general, and the WSR-88D in particular, work. These lessons will cover many technical details of how the WSR-88D collects data, quality controls it, and processes it into base and derived products. Details on the products themselves in this section will be limited to products related to precipitation estimation in Lesson 6.
• Delivery Method: On-line web module (Lesson 1), Asynchronous instructor-led web modules (Lessons 2-4, & 6), and Teletraining (Lesson 5)
• Approximate Completion Time: 8-10 hours

• DLOC Topic 3, Lesson 1 : WSR-88D Fundamentals
• DLOC Topic 3, Lesson 2: Signal Processing
• DLOC Topic 3, Lesson 3: Base Data Generation
• DLOC Topic 3, Lesson 4: Clutter Suppression
• DLOC Topic 3, Lesson 5: Mitigation of Data Ambiguities GotoWebinar Session (No Presentation Download!)
• DLOC Topic 3, Lesson 6: Precipitation Estimation
• Documentation Download: Topic 3 Student Guide (5.41 MB PDF)

• Brief Description: This topic consist of one lesson on the proper interpretation of radial Doppler velocity patterns. This lesson will present how to interpret Doppler velocity patterns under uniform, non-uniform, ambiguous, and meteorologically complex conditions.
• Delivery Method: Asynchronous instructor-led web module
• Approximate Completion Time: 90 minutes

• DLOC Topic 4 : Velocity Interpretation
• Documentation Download: Topic 4 Student Guide (2.33 MB PDF)

• Brief Description: This topic will present the suite of Base and Derived Products and their applications. Also presented will be relevant information on the algorithms that generate the various products and displays.
• Delivery Method: Asynchronous instructor-led web modules (Lessons1-24) and Teletraining (Lesson 25)
• Approximate Completion Time: 10 hours

• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 1: Introduction to Topic 5
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 2: Base Reflectivity
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 3: Base Velocity
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 4: Base Spectrum Width
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 5: Storm Cell Identification and Tracking Algorithm
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 6: Storm Tracking Information
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 7: Hail Detection Algorithm
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 8: Vertically Integrated Liquid
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 9: Digital Vertically Integrated Liquid
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 10: Reflectivity Cross Section
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 11: Composite Reflectivity
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 12: Layer Composite Reflectivity Maximum
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 13: User Selectable Layer Reflectivity Maximum
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 14: Enhanced Echo Tops
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 15: Storm-Relative Velocity
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 16: Velocity Cross Section
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 17: Velocity Azimuth Display
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 18: Velocity Azimuth Display Wind Profile
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 19: Mesocyclone Detection Algorithm
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 20: Mesocyclone and Digital Mesocyclone
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 21: Tornadic Vortex Signature
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 22: Tornadic Vortex Signature Rapid Update
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 23: Precipitation Products
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 24: Snowfall Accumulation Products
• DLOC Topic 5, Lesson 25 Presentation Download: Warning Decision Case Study (58.4 MB VISITview EXE)
• Documentation Download: Topic 5 Student Guide (8.74 MB PDF)

NOTE: There are five exams that cover different parts of Topic 5. The breakdown of what lessons each exam covers is as follows:

• Exam #1: Lessons 1-4
• Exam #2: Lessons 5-14
• Exam #3: Lessons 15-22
• Exam #4: Lessons 23-24
• Exam #5: Lesson 25

• Brief Description: This topic provides an understanding of overall WSR-88D operations and basic familiarization with the Master System Control Function (MSCF) and the Radar Product Generator (RPG) Human Control Interface (HCI).
• Delivery Method:On-line web module
• Approximate Completion Time: 6 hours

• DLOC Topic 6 :System Operations and Control
• Documentation Download: Topic 6 Student Guide (132 KB File)

• Brief Description: This topic describes some important thermodynamic and kinematic parameters developed to evaluate convective severe weather potential. The instruction also treats the fundamental relationships between sheer and instability with respect to convective storm type, focusing both on recent observations and numerical simulations of storms. Next are typical environments of weakly sheared and strongly sheared convection, recognition and interpretation of severe storm signatures, and how severe weather signatures are manifested by particular severe weather hazards.
• Delivery Method: On-line web module (prerequisites), Asynchronous instructor-led web modules (Lessons 1-17), and Teletraining (Lesson 18)
• Approximate Completion Time: 10 hours
• Pre-requisites:
  1. Capabilities of Thermodynamics and Kinematic Severe Weather Parameters
  2. Skew-T Mastery
  

• DLOC Topic 7, Lesson 1 : Fundamental Relationships Between Shear and Buoyancy on Convective Storm Structure and Type
• DLOC Topic 7, Lesson 2: Ordinary Cell Convection
• DLOC Topic 7, Lesson 3: Single Cell Downbursts
• DLOC Topic 7, Lesson 4: Severe Hail Identification
• DLOC Topic 7, Lesson 5: Supercell Dynamics
• DLOC Topic 7, Lesson 6: Supercell Morphology: Radar Reflectivity
• DLOC Topic 7, Lesson 7: Supercell Morphology: Velocity Structure
• DLOC Topic 7, Lesson 8: Supercell Archetypes
• DLOC Topic 7, Lesson 9: TVS Identification
• DLOC Topic 7, Lesson 10: Tornado Hazards
• DLOC Topic 7, Lesson 11: Multicell Archetypes
• DLOC Topic 7, Lesson 12: Multicell Environments
• DLOC Topic 7, Lesson 13: Multicell Motion
• DLOC Topic 7, Lesson 14: Rear-Inflow Jets
• DLOC Topic 7, Lesson 15: Bow Echoes
• DLOC Topic 7, Lesson 16: Multicell Severe Wind Hazards
• DLOC Topic 7, Lesson 17: Flash Flood Hazards
• DLOC Topic 7, Lesson 18 Presentation Download: Topic 7 Application and Case Study (available soon)
• Documentation Download: Topic 7 Student Guide (17.7 MB PDF)

• Brief Description: This topic is a four-and-a-half day workshop that completes DLOC. This workshop, which is held at the National Weather Center (in Norman, OK), gives DLOC students the opportunity to apply the content they learned about in the previous seven topics during a variety of exercises and simulations, as well as participate in several presentations about current and future operational applications, tools, and research.
• Delivery Method: In-Residence Workshop
• Approximate Completion Time: 36 hours (4.5 days)