Identification

Title

Construal of situational risk and outcomesâ€”Exploring the use of weather radar displays with residents of the Tampa Bay region

Abstract

A radar display is a tool that depicts meteorological data over space and time; therefore, an individual must think spatially and temporally in addition to drawing on their own meteorological knowledge and past weather experien-ces. We aimed to understand how the construal of situational risks and outcomes influences the perceived usefulness of a radar display and to explore how radar users interpret distance, time, and meteorological attributes using hypothetical sce-narios in the Tampa Bay area (Florida). Ultimately, we wanted to understand how and why individuals use weather radar and to discover what makes it a useful tool. To do this, construal level theory and geospatial thinking guided the mixed methods used in this study to investigate four research objectives. Our findings show that radar is used most often by our participants to anticipate what will happen in the near future in their area. Participants described in their own words what they were viewing while using a radar display and reported what hazards they expected at the study location. Many partici-pants associated the occurrence of lightning or strong winds with "red" and "orange" reflectivity values on a radar display. Participants provided valuable insight into what was and was not found useful about certain radar displays. We also found that most participants overestimated the amount of time they would have before precipitation would begin at their loca-tion. Overall, weather radar was found to be a very useful tool; however, judging spatial and temporal proximity became difficult when storm motion/direction was not easily identifiable. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: The purpose of this study is to understand how and why individuals use weather ra-dar and to discover what makes radar a useful tool. We were particularly interested to explore how distance and time are thought about when using radar. We found that radar is generally a useful tool for decision-making except when a storm event was stationary. Participants use their personal experiences and knowledge of past weather events when they use a radar display. We also discovered that deciding how much time is available before rain occurs is often overes-timated. These findings are helpful to understand how individuals use weather radar to make decisions that may help us to better understand protective action behavior.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7fj2mrr

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2023-01-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact