MRI: Development: Development of a Ship-based C-Band Polarimetric Radar

Colorado State University, Fort Collins CO

Investigators

Abstract

The proposed research seeks to develop a ship-based weather radar for use in field studies at sea. This radar will greatly improve our knowledge of oceanic weather systems, far from the reach of land-based weather radars. The knowledge gained from this instrument will improve our understanding of how rainfall in these oceanic weather systems differs from rainfall over land. These measurements will in turn improve our knowledge of the physics and dynamics of ocean-based precipitating weather systems. The knowledge gained from these measurements may improve our methods to calculate rainfall over the vast oceans of the world in weather models. While not deployed at sea on various field studies, this radar will serve as a teaching and learning platform for students and faculty interested in the latest techniques in radar meteorology. This ship-based C-band, polarimetric Doppler radar will provide an oceanic capability that currently does not exist in the U.S. Differences in precipitation processes over land versus sea are well understood but gaps still exist in our detailed knowledge of these processes. These differences are often a function of varying aerosol concentrations and differential heating of land surfaces leading to stronger vertical motions over land versus the sea. This radar will help fill those gaps through better precipitation estimation and microphysical parameter characterization using the dual-polarization measurement capability from the Ship-CPOL radar. These data will also serve as ground truth for various satellite remote sensing techniques used today to estimate precipitation over the vast oceans of the world.