Weather radar goes high-tech

I was intrigued by this report at the indispensable Watts Up With That? blog.

Oklahoma tech scenery

One of the most interesting things around here is the hi-tech/low-tech scenery. For example, where else can you see cutting edge weather radar systems juxtaposed with ... pump jacks?




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The blue radome shown above is home to this:

National Weather Radar Testbed

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This is the kind of visual output coming from it, and it is rather stunning:

Phased array radar isosurface image. 3-D contour surface with red
indicating the hail core of the storm, blue showing the area of rotation,
and grey/black showing the entire thunderstorm structure.
(Click the image for a larger view)

Phased array radar’s rapid scanning ability gives it the potential to be a multi-mission, adaptively scanning radar, meaning it is used for weather, wind profiling, and aircraft tracking and can adaptively change its scans to look at the most important features.

Look for this sort of technology to be the "next big thing" in television weather reports, though it may be just a bit over the heads of the average Joe.

There's more at the link.

The NOAA says of this project:

NSSL's National Weather Radar Testbed (NWRT) is the official facility where phased array technology will be tested and evaluated. PAR has the potential to provide revolutionary improvements in NWS tornado, severe storm, and flash flood warnings. The phased array radar is expected to eventually replace the current network of WSR-88D radars. Scientists at NSSL and across the nation will be able to remotely operate the phased array radar to collect data in support of their research. A new Radar Control Interface (RCI) is being developed to simplify radar control and data collection operations. Hardware and software design and development carried out at NSSL have made the NWRT a world-class research facility.

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HISTORY OF PHASED ARRAY RADAR

Navy ships originally used AEGIS phased array radar (called SPY-1) technology to protect naval battle groups from missile threats. Researchers believe the same technology has great potential for increasing lead-time for tornado warnings.

USS Lake Champlain, with two of her four SPY-1 radar antennae circled in red.
(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

In 2000, the U.S. Navy agreed to loan a phased array antenna to NSSL and provided the $10,000,000 in funding to help build the National Weather Radar Testbed (NWRT). The NWRT is a facility focused on developing faster and more accurate warning, analysis and forecast techniques for severe and hazardous weather using phased array and also upgraded WSR-88D radar technology. The National Weather Service provided the transmitter and the additional funding from NOAA, OU, Lockheed Martin, and OSRHE purchased the environmental processor. In addition, the FAA provided initial funding for research, program management and initial upgrades, and the NWS has donated equipment. The NWRT became operational in September 2003, the first data were collected in May, 2004, and data sets were collected during the 2005 storm season.

Again, more at the link.

As a former electronic warfare and computer systems geek, this is very interesting to me. I hadn't thought of the application of Active Electronically Scanned Array radars such as SPY-1 to weather prediction, but it's a very logical development when you think about it. After all, if they can track small, 'stealthy' high-speed aircraft and cruise missiles, moisture-laden air currents and vectors should be - literally - a breeze! I'll try to find out more about this, and perhaps post a future article about it.

Peter