Open-source software to support high frequency radar data analysis and quality control

In the U.S., the National High Frequency Radar Network relies on local and regional operators to provide quality-controlled radial data for use in their total velocity vector calculations which produce gridded surface current maps for the nation. This network is designed to handle specific data formats. Unless an operator writes or uses software that can replicate the data formats, they are limited to the quality-control measures that are possible only within the manufacturer’s software. This paper describes two open-source software packages, HFRadarPy and qccodar, written in Python that are designed to help radar operators, data managers and data users perform fundamental tasks of reading, quality control, and writing of HF radar data into standardized file formats.