RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

RADAR IN METEOROLOGY : BATTAN MEMORIAL AND

40TH ANNIVERSARY

RADAR METEOROLOGY CONFERENCE

EDITED BY

DAVID ATLAS

American Meteorological Society

Boston
1990
© American Meteorological Society 1990
Originally published by American Meteorological Society Boston in 1990
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1990
Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this publication in
scientific and educational works is hereby granted, provided the source is acknowledged. All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN 978-0-933876-86-6 ISBN 978-1-935704-15-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-935704-15-7
Typeset and printed in the United States of America by Lancaster Press, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Section openers designed by Helga Hardy.
Published by the American Meteorological Society, 45 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02176.
Richard E. Hallgren, Executive Director
Kenneth C. Spengler, Executive Director Emeritus
Evelyn Mazur, Assistant Executive Director
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Editorial support provided by Laura Westlund, Pamela Jones, Jon Feld, Linda Esche, Brenda Gray, Harold Nagel, and Susan McClung.
Table of Contents

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1x

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x1

Tribute to Professor Louis J. Battan Xlll

I. HISTORY
1 Early Developments of Weather Radar during World War II . . . . . 3
].0. Fletcher
2 Weather Radar in the United States Army's Fort Monmouth
Laboratories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Donald M. Swingle
3 Radar Meteorology at Radiation Laboratory, MIT,
1941 to 1947 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Isadore Katz and Patrick f. Harney
4 Weather Radar at MIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Pauline M. Austin and Spiros G. Geotis
5 A History of Weather Radar Research in the U.S. Air Force . . . . . 32
James I. Metcalf and Kenneth M. Glover
6 Radar Meteorology at the National Severe Storms Laboratory,
1964-1986 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Edwin Kessler
7 A History of Radar Meteorology in the United Kingdom· . . . . . . . 54
J.R. Probert-fones
8 The Stormy Weather Group (Canada) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
R.H. Douglas
9 History of Radar Meteorology in Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Nobuhiko Kodaira and ]ira Aoyagi
10 Radar Meteorology in India: A Brief Historical Perspective . . . . . 77
S.M. Kulshrestha
11 Radar Meteorology in The People's Republic of China . . . . . . . . . 80
Yu-Mao Xu
12 Early Foundations of the Measurement of Rainfall by Radar 86
David Atlas and Carlton W. Ulbrich

v
 13 Advances in Precipitation Physics Following the Advent of
'Weather Radar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
A.S. Dennis and W.F. Hitschfeld
14 Polarization Diversity in Radar Meteorology: Early
Developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Thomas A. Seliga, Robert G. Humphries, and fames I. Metcalf
15 Foundations of Severe Storm Detection by Radar . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Ralph f. Donaldson
16 The Early Years of Doppler Radar in Meteorology . . . . . . . . . . . 122
R.R. Rogers
17 The History of Radar Studies of the Clear Atmosphere . . . . . . . 130
Kenneth R. Hardy and Kenneth S. Gage
18 Lightning Investigation with Radar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Earle R. Williams, Vladislav Mazur, and Spiros G. Geotis

II. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

19a Technology of Polarization Diversity Radars for Meteorology 153
V.N. Bringi and A. Hendry
19b Technology of Polarization Diversity Radars for Meteorology:
Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
fames I. Metcalf
20a Signal Processing for Atmospheric Radars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
R. Jeffrey Keeler and Richard E. Passarelli
20b Signal Processing: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
· Dusan S. Zrnic
21a UHF JVHF Radar Techniques for Atmospheric Research and
Wind Profiler Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
f. Ro"ttger and M.F. Larsen
21b Clear-Air Radar Technology: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Ben B. Balsley
22a Meteorological Radar Observations from Mobile Platforms . . . . 28 7
Peter H. Hildebrand and Richard K. Moore
22b AirbornejSpaceborne Radar: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
David P. Jorgensen and Robert Meneghini
23a Cloud Microphysics and Radar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
A.R. Jameson and D.B. Johnson
vi
 23b Cloud Microphysics and Radar: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Kenneth V. Beard and Robert M. Rauber
24a Convective Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Peter Ray
24b Convective Dynamics: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
R. Carbone, B. Foote, M. Moncrieff, T. Gal-Chen, W. Cotton, ·
M. Hjelmfelt, F. Roux, G. Heymsfield, and E. Brandes
25a Radar Observations of Tropical Weather Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Frank D. Marks, Jr.
25b Tropical Meteorology: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
Edward Zipser, Alan Betts, Frank Ruggiero, and Barry Hinton
26a Organization and Internal Structure of Synoptic and Mesoscale
Precipitation Systems in Midlatitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
K.A. Browning
26b Mesoscale Organization and Processes: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . 461
David B. Parsons, Bradley F. Smull, and Douglas K. Lilly
Appendix: Notes on the Physical Mechanisms of Mesoscale
Precipitation Bands, Kerry A. Emanuel
27a Radar Research on the Atmospheric Boundary Layer . . . . . . . . . 477
Earl E. Gossard
27b The Atmospheric Boundary Layer: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
Robert A. Kropfli
28a Radar Observations of the Free Atmosphere: Structure and
Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
Kenneth S. Gage
28b Radar Observations of the Free Atmosphere: Panel Report 566
W.H. Hooke
III. OPERATIONAL APPLICATIONS
29a Precipitation Measurement and Hydrology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 77
Jiirg Joss and Albert Waldvogel -
Appendix A: Radar Data Processing and Short-Period
Forecasting in the United Kingdom, C.G. Collier
29b Precipitation Measurement and Hydrology: Panel Report . . . . . 607
Paul L. Smith
30a Severe Thunderstorm Detection by Radar 619
Donald W. Burgess and Leslie R. Lemon
vii
 30b Severe Storm Detection: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648
Joseph H. Golden
31a The Application of Weather Radar to Aviation Meteorology . . . 65 7
T. Theodore Fujita and John McCarthy
31b Aviation Meteorology: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682
James Wilson
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
Current Addresses of Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781

viii
Preface
This volume, dedicated to the memory of Professor Louis
J. Battan, had its origin in the 40th Anniversary Radar
Meteorology Conference, which took place in Boston on
9-13 November 1987. The conference commemorated the
anniversary of the first radar conference held at the Mas-
sachusetts Institute of Technology on 14 March 1947. A
tribute to Professor Battan follows this preface.
After four and a half decades from the beginning of
radar in World War II, those of us nearing the end of our
careers thought it would be useful to look back and doc-
ument from whence we came, to take stock of the advances
which have been made since then, and to exploit our joint
wisdom in setting the agenda for the future. In accordance
with these goals, both the conference and this volume were
organized in three broad segments: history, critical reviews
of progress and status, and panel reports providing a
broader perspective and a look into the future.
The histories (Chapters 1-18) cover the people, events
and institutions that played pivotal roles during the first
two decades of radar studies. In some cases the institutional
and national histories bring us up to the present time. Re-
grettably, a report was not available from the Soviet Union,
where seminal work was done from the late 1940s.
The reviews in Chapters 19 through 31 cover techno-
logical, scientific and operational topics. These were writ-
ten by experts in each of the subject areas. Following each
review is a panel report on the same subject. The latter,
authored by one or more scientists, represents a broad
consensus of a group of specialists who met in advance of
the conference to critique preliminary versions of the re-
views and subsequently prepared a report aimed at pro-
viding a balanced view, filling in gaps, and identifying
avenues of the most promising research and development
for the decades ahead.
Altogether the work involved more than 200 participants
and authors. The volume is therefore literally a product
of the entire community and represents a compendium of
knowledge in this field that is not likely to be replicated
for many years. It will be of value to students, scientists
and technologists, and members of the operational com-
munities. It will also serve as a guidebook to decision
makers.
A glance at the Table of Contents will show that this
book is not a provincial treatise on radar meteorology. Al-
though the technological chapters deal explicitly with var-
ious aspects of the instruments, the remaining chapters
discuss a broad spectrum of scientific and operational
problems in meteorology. In this sense the reviews and
panel reports are problem oriented. Indeed, in most cases
radar is treated as only one of the required tools. The papers
cover scientific subjects ranging from cloud microphysics
and dynamics to aspects of global climate, and operational
ix
topics such as nowcasting, severe storm detection, and
hazards to aviation such as low-level wind shear. Radar
has led the way in remote sensing of the atmosphere and
its applications span virtually the entire discipline. More-
over, its use continues to expand as the dream of putting
weather radar in space approaches reality. At the same
time, the impressive technological advances in this and
related fields provide further assurance that exciting pro-
gress will continue. The chapters on the technology of sig-
nal processing, polarimetry, air and spacebome radar, and
wind profiling systems are illustrative of the latest devel-
opments and trends and point to future system designs.
One of my goals as editor was to provide some sort of
synthesis. I tried to do this mainly through the cross-ref-
erencing among the various chapters, the reduction of re-
dundancy, the filling of significant gaps, and the resolution
of conflicts where desirable. In some cases, I deliberately
left conflicting ideas to depict the controversy that sur-
rounds a particular subject. For example, in several papers
about polarization diversity, opinion is divided as to
whether or not measurements of differential reflectivity
will enhance the accuracy of radar measurements of rain-
fall. I also retained many overlapping references to
NEXRAD (Next Generation Weather Radar) because they
provide differing viewpoints as to how this radar may best
be used in addressing the various problems.
With minor exceptions related to format and organiza-
tion, I made no attempt to standardize writing style. Thus,
each chapter has its own distinct flavor depending upon
the style of the author.
The book is especially timely since the field is about to
explode with the forthcoming widespread installation of
the most modem Doppler radars throughout the United
States. These include the Next Generation Weather Radar,
UHF and VHF wind profiling radars, and Terminal Doppler
Weather Radars for wind shear detection. In Western Eu-
rope modem weather radars are being integrated into a
cooperative network. New operational and research sys-
tems have been installed in Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan
and the People's Republic of China, among others. The
airborne Doppler radars operated by the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration in the United States have
produced dramatic research results and have stimulated
the development of new airborne systems both in the
United States and France. Also, the emerging plans to place
rain-measuring radars on satellites promise unprecedented
observational capabilities.
These initiatives are already creating a demand for a
new generation of broadly based researchers· with ad-
vanced skills in the radar arts and for operational meteo-
rologists-capable of exploiting the modem technology. We
expect that this compendium will contribute strongly to-
ward these ends. The large number of new systems will
also increase the amount of observational data by several
orders of magnitude in the next decade, thereby providing
a very rich source of new material to the science community
which will surely lead to new insights and discoveries.
When viewed in the context of the striking advances
taking place in parallel fields of space observations, com-
puter technology, communications, information handling
and display, and numerical modeling of meteorological
and oceanic phenomena, the outlook for the future is
breathtaking. The existing activities under the World Cli-
mate Research Program, the emerging activities for study-
ing atmosphere-oceans-land as an integrated system, and
the rich variety of planned and ongoing experiments on
storm and mesoscale problems provide the stage on which
much of the research and operational activity will be
played out.
X
The one discouraging factor in this otherwise exciting
picture is the failure of our universities to train adequate
numbers of scientists in the instrumental and observational
aspects of meteorology in order to meet future needs. We
hope that this volume will help to stimulate the academic
community to rectify this situation.
While this book and the conference from which it grew
have dominated the last three years of my life, I am grat-
ified by how much I have learned, by the satisfaction of
having participated in setting the foundations for the fu-
ture, and the exquisite joy of seeing how far we have come
since I started on the road of radar in meteorology 45
years ago.
David Atlas
Editor
Acknowledgments
The Battan Memorial and 40th Anniversary Conference
of Radar Meteorology and this volume were made possible
in part through the generous support of the following
agencies:
National Science Foundation
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Office of Naval Research
U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research
The Air Force Geophysics Laboratory (Hanscom Field)
was also particularly gracious in supporting the conference
travel of many senior scientists who had previously been
associated with its Weather Radar Branch either as staff
members or grantees. This combined support permitted
the participation of many persons who would not other-
wise have been able to attend the conference. The staff of
the AFGL Weather Radar Facility and its associated con-
tractors were also instrumental in all the activities before,
during and after the conference, and in the preparation of
this volume.
We are also indebted to the following firms for contri-
butions to assist the conduct of the conference:
Aeromet, Inc.
Alden Electronics
Enterprise Electronics
Raytheon Company
SigmetjLassen Research
Tycho Technology
We particularly appreciate the additional support of
UNISYS in subsidizing the book's dust jacket, and of
NCAR in providing the striking radar photos for the front
and back covers.
We are especially grateful to Richard E. Carbone who
was Chairman of the AMS Committee on Radar Meteo-
rology through most of the period involved, the Confer...:
ence Organizing Committee, and the Local Arrangements
Committee. Members of these committees are listed below.
One of the highlights of the conference was an exhibit
of "Radar as Art," arranged through the voluntary assis-
tance of Dr. Harold Baynton and Linda Carbone, with the
support of NCAR. The National Center for Atmospheric
Research was also instrumental in providing arrangements
and facilities for the advance meetings of the panels.
The success of the conference was due in large part to
the dedicated efforts of Dr. Alan Bohne of AFGL, Chair-
man of the Local Arrangements Committee, who looked
after the myriad of details. The unique structure of the
conference and the social functions posed novel challenges
to Alan and his colleagues, Paul Desrochers and Don Ha-
xi
mann of ST Systems (STX) Corporation and Frank Rug-
giero of AFGL, all of whom exerted themselves above and
beyond normal expectations. Albert Chmela (AFGL, re-
tired) arranged the nostalgic "Old Timers" evening. The
fun of the mock awards ceremony was due largely to the
preparation of cartoons by Dr. Ronald Rinehart of the
University of North Dakota, aided by an anonymous com-
mittee of three who created the awards, and by Harriet
Chmela who arranged appropriate music. Denny Donald-
son's enthusiastic guidance to the many interesting sights
of Boston made the meeting particularly enjoyable for the
spouses.
A notable and poignant contribution was made by Prof.
Philip Krider, on behalf of the Institute of Atmospheric
Physics, University of Arizona, in the form of a bound
collection of the works of Lou Battan which was presented
to Jeanette Battan during the conference. Lou's daughter,
Suzette, had spent several months painstakingly sifting
through his papers and assembling them.
The lion's share of acknowledgments must go to the
authors of the histories and critical review papers, without
whom neither the conference nor this volume would have
been possible. We also owe deep thanks to the many panel
members and the panel chairman who did so much to
stimulate interest and to round out this treatise. Dr. Robert
J. Serafin of NCAR was most helpful, especially in orga-
nizing the technological sessions and reviews. Pauline
Austin, former director of the MIT Weather Radar Project,
assisted importantly as a reviewer of several manuscripts.
I am most grateful to Donna Velardi of AFGL who typed
the voluminous announcements and correspondence con-
nected with the conference as well as a number of the
manuscripts, and to Shelley Zucker, Carol Nicolaidis, Vic-
toria Holzhauer and Regina Gregory of NCAR for prep-
aration of the unified reference list. The attractive dust
jacket is due to the professional service volunteered by
Helga Hardy. Mrs. Quy Philpot of Centel Federal Services
Corporation, supported by NASA, also performed yeoman
services during the final stages of preparation of the book.
I am also pleased to acknowledge the immense, first-
rate job of copy editing done by Laura Westlund and the
technical editing by Dr. Harold Nagel, both of the Amer-
ican Meteorological Society. Also, Executive Director
Emeritus Kenneth Spengler and Evelyn Mazur guided us
wisely through the entire process.
My deepest personal appreciation goes to Ralph J. Don-
aldson of STX Corporation (working with the AFGL
Weather Radar Facility), my friend and colleague of about
40 years, and my faithful, imaginative and dedicated co-
chairman of the conference. Ralph also took the initiative
to edit a number of the manuscripts and advised me on
many others. Without his continuing help and encourage-
ment this work could not have been accomplished nearly PROGRAM COMMITTEE
so well.
David Atlas, Co-Chairman Richard Doviak
Finally, I must thank my wife Lucille, who assisted me
Richard Carbone Ralph Donaldson,
throughout this project. Her understanding and love have
Kerry Emanuel Co-Chairman
supported all my endeavors.
Kenneth Gage Kenneth Glover
Richard Passarelli Roddy Rogers
Robert Abbey
AMS 1987 COMMITTEE ON RADAR METEOROLOGY
LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS COMMITTEE
Richard Carbone, Chairman Edward Brandes
Kenneth Gage Joseph Golden Alan Bohne, Chairman Albert Chmela
David Jorgensen Frank Marks Denny Donaldson Spiros Geotis
Jacques Testud Carlton Ulbrich Ian Harris Lou McNally
Albert Waldvogel Ronald Rinehart

xii
Tribute to Professor Louis J. Hattan

Dr. Louis J. Battan died on October 29, 1986, after a

short illness. Although he had been a professor of atmo-
spheric sciences at the University of Arizona since 1958
and director of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics there
from 1973 to 1982 (and associate director from 1958 to
1973), his activities on the national and international
scenes were so varied that he was known in different ways
by the numerous communities with which he was in-
volved. However, all who knew him shared his uncom-
monly good humor, took pride in his friendship, and re-
spected his wisdom and good judgment. Lou is survived
by his wife Jeanette, daughter Suzette, and son Paul.
Battan was born in New York City on February 9, 1923.
He was the second of four sons born to Annibale and
Luisa Battan, immigrants to the United States from the
village of Vigo in the Tyrolean Alps of Austria. He grew
up in Brooklyn, New York, in a family environment that
encouraged the highest moral standards and a devotion
to hard work and self-reliance, qualities that remained with
him throughout his life.
Lou began college as a mechanical engineering major at
the City College of New York in 1941. Sometime during
this period, he took and passed the examination for the
New York City Fire Department, thinking that this would to studies he was unbeatable. I remember many an evening
be useful as a fall back position. A World War II recruiting in the summer of 1943 when he and Dave Lowenthal (now
poster brought him into the Army Air Corps aviation cadet at Boston College, Boston, Massachusetts) sat on the fire
program in meteorology. I met him on the New York sub- escape testing one another in preparation for our daily
way on March 8, 1943, as we were both beginning our quiz. This kind of discipline rubbed off on others in the
service with 15 months of study at New York University apartment, so it was more than coincidental that the three
(NYU) . Matching the name on my suitcase to the first of us ended in the top ten at graduation. Following our
name on the list of his Army orders assigning us to NYU, commissioning as second lieutenants, we three were also
Lou introduced himself, and in the short walk from the selected to go on to radar school at Harvard University
station to the University Heights campus, we decided to and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; both
room together if permitted. Thus began 43 years of friend- in Cambridge, Massachusetts).
ship and two careers in meteorology. From March 8, 1943, The intensity of the NYU meteorology program was only
until we received our commissions on June 5, 1944, we a faint foreshadow of what we were to endure in nine
lived, studied, and marched together. Indeed, we probably months of radar training at Harvard and MIT. It is no
would have been together anyway because of the Army's exaggeration that those few months equalled about two
penchant for conducting business in alphabetical order. years of peacetime education in radio engineering. Sur-
Our days of meteorological training at NYU were any- prisingly, we retained much of what we were taught. Al-
thing but easy. In fact, our instructors were so tough on though we did not appreciate it at the time, we were among
us that we often regarded them as the enemy. Little did the privileged "100" weather officers who were also trained
we realize that at least four of them were to become cher- in radar. This group was the cadre that then went out into
ished friends and greats in meteorology-Hans Panofsky the field to set up and operate the SCR-584s for wind
(Pennsylvania State University, University Park), Yale finding and the APQ-13s for both ground-based storm
Mintz (University of California, Los Angeles), Bob Fleagle detection and airborne weather reconnaissance. While only
(University of Washington, Seattle), and Bill Gordon (Rice three of us remained in what was to become radar mete-
University, Houston, Texas). orology, it became clear some years later that this dual
Lou, a devout Catholic, set the moral tone for the eight disciplinary training was responsible for our innovative
of us who occupied the apartment at 1950 Andrews Av- abilities. This lesson deserves to be reemphasized now,
enue adjacent to the campus. To be sure, he was not the when we are beginning to have doubts about the source
most conscientious soldier in the class, but when it came of the next generation of instrumentally oriented meteo-
xiii
 rologists. After radar school, Lou went on to set up a
weather radar at Panama City (Eglin Field), Florida, and
was later stationed at bases in Texas, Arizona, and Puerto
Rico.
Upon his discharge from active duty in 1946, Lou re-
turned to NYU and obtained his B.S. degree in meteorol-
ogy. He joined the U.S. Weather Bureau and was then
assigned to the Thunderstorm Project at the University of
Chicago. He earned his M.S. degree there in 1949.
With the end of the war, a number of the leaders of
meteorology recognized the unprecedented opportunity
to attack one of the great hazards to flight safety-the
thunderstorm-by using Second World War technology,
mainly aircraft and radar. With the eager cooperation of
the Air Corps and the U.S. Weather Bureau, the Thun-
derstorm Project was born. Two field programs were car-
ried out. The first was centered around Pinecastle near
Orlando, Florida, in 1946, and the second was near Wil-
mington, Ohio, in 1947. Clinton County Air Force Base in
Wilmington was the home of the All Weather Flying Di-
vision, where I remained as a civilian scientist after my
own discharge from the Army. It was there that Lou and
I were again brought together during the second field phase
of the Thunderstorm Project.
The Thunderstorm Project was the prototype of the
large-scale field experiments that became increasingly
common in the postwar years. It was unique in many ways,
most importantly, perhaps, in the coordinated use of radar,
an extensive ground network of meteorological stations,
and storm-penetrating P-61 "Black Widow" aircraft. The
project produced a quantum jump in our knowledge of
thunderstorms, but there was much more to come in later
years. "The Thunderstorm," the report that resulted from
the project (by Horace Byers and Roscoe Braham of the
University of Chicago, with contributions by Lou and oth-
ers), remains a classic today, although some of the concepts
put forth there have since been elaborated (Byers and Bra-
ham, 1949).
Lou left the Weather Bureau in 1951 but remained at
the University of Chicago, completing his Ph.D. in 1953
and serving on the faculty until 1958. His dissertation,
"Observations on the Formation of Precipitation in Con-
vective Clouds," was based upon TPS-10 radar data from
the 1947 phase of the Thunderstorm Project. Braham
counts this work as the first definitive identification of the
coalescence mode of precipitation growth in warm con-
vective clouds. Subsequently, these findings were con-
firmed by studies in Puerto Rico, the central United States,
and Arizona. It was during this period that Battan worked
with Byers and Braham on the artificial nucleation of cu-
mulus clouds, and the triumvirate became known as the
"three B's" in the cloud physics community. Some of this
appears in the paper by the three B's that appeared in
1957 (Braham et al., 1957).
Lou, fluent in Italian and Spanish since childhood, stud-
ied French and German for his Ph.D. language German
xiv
ments. Later, he also studied Russian, motivated by the
accelerating activities in weather modification in the Soviet
Union. He subsequently served on several U.S. delegations
to the Soviet Union and utilized this talent to write anum-
ber of review papers on the state of Soviet cloud physics,
weather modification, and radar meteorology. These ac-
tivities helped establish him as the world expert on Soviet
research in these realms.
Lou was catapulted to the forefront of the field of
weather modification research as a result of his personal
expertise in this area and his deep familiarity with similar
work in the Soviet Union. He thus played an active role
in writing the 1973 National Academy of Sciences report
on the subject. Subsequently, he served on many weather
modification advisory groups.
In 1958, Lou joined the faculty of the University of Ar-
izona as Associate Director of the Institute of Atmospheric
Physics and Professor of Meteorology. During his early
years at the University of Arizona, Lou and Professor Dick
Kassander, his fellow associate director of the institute, led
a seven-year randomized cloud seeding program that be-
came a model for the design of many other weather mod-
ification programs. In 1973, he was appointed Head of the
Department of Atmospheric Sciences and Director of the
Institute of Atmospheric Physics, posts he held until1982.
Dick Kassander recalls the many times he found himself
drowning and depressed under the ever-increasing load
of paperwork. He writes, "Lou would come in, note the
situation, and with a big grin, he'd stretch out his long
arms and carry it all away. In short order, he would be
back with a few pieces of paper to replace the previous
mess." Indeed, Lou's administrative and organizational
skills were quickly recognized and called upon frequently.
Lou remained an active member of the department and
institute until his death.
It was to the area of radar meteorology that Lou would
devote a good deal of his time and energies. One of the
main themes of this research was the radar backscatter
from hail, first in collaboration with Ben Herman (now at
the University of Arizona, Tucson) in the 1960s and, more
recently, with Craig Bohren, now at Pennsylvania State
University. In this regard, it was a curious coincidence that
brought our scientific paths together again in 1959. Let me
set down this part of the story in Lou's own words, which
he tape-recorded for me on October 8, just three weeks
before his death.
You asked about the Herman and Browning work, and I
must say that was a very exciting time. The history of that
work on the backscattering from hail started this way. Ben
Herman, who was then a graduate student, was working on
the scattering of infrared radiation by cloud droplets. He
had programmed the Mie scattering equations and came
walking into my office one day and said that he had this
program and did I see any useful applications. This was the
 time [1959] you were working in England with Frank Ludlam
and I had gotten a letter from you saying that you had gotten
some exciting results, that the backscatter cross sections of
large hail [actually, deep frozen artificial ice balls] were much
larger than you expected. So I said to Ben, "Yeah, let's run
off some backscatter calculations for spherical ice particles
which simulate hailstones at microwaves." Shortly thereafter,
back came the calculations showing the curves that I sent
you. And I must say, it was one of the big thrills of my
scientific experience when I got your letter in which you had
plotted your actual measurements against the curve. Ire-
member thinking to myself: Isn't this astounding, theory
and measurements are in agreement.
Well, that thrill was occurring simultaneously on both
sides of the Atlantic. It was not only that theory and mea-
surement agreed so well, but we all had nurtured the Ray-
leigh scatter law that said that (small) ice particles scattered
about one-fifth as well as equal water drops. Until then
the entire radar meteorology community had either for-
gotten or ignored the 1941 work of Ryde (1946), which
showed that spheres of ice became better scatterers than
those of water at diameters greater than about 0.6 wave-
lengths.
The thrill of discovery and serendipitous confluence of
separately derived ideas punctuate much of science. Theory
and experiment done 6000 miles (10 000 km) apart co-
alesced and motivated Lou to extend the Arizona calcu-
lations to melting and spongy ice spheres over a range of
wavelengths. He continued this work on and off until his
death. It is notable that five of his last six papers dealt
with the scattering properties of hail and snow. His last
paper, on the backscatter of large oblate spongy hail, was
published in 1987 (Longtin et al., 1987).
The other realm in which Lou pioneered was Doppler
radar. In his taped comments of October 8, 1986, he told
me that the papers that stimulated his interest in Doppler
were those by Boyenval (1960) and Lhermitte (1960), both
of which were presented at the Eighth Conference on Ra-
dar Meteorology in San Francisco, California, in 1960. In
short order, he, Dick Kassander, and John Theiss (then at
the University of Arizona) submitted a proposal to the
National Science Foundation to develop a 3-cm Doppler
radar, and their first paper on the vertical motions and
particle sizes in thunderstorms appeared in 1964 ( Battan
et al., 1964). His scientific interests then fluctuated between
weather modification, Doppler radar, and the scattering
properties of hydrometeors.
I suspect that Lou would prefer to be remembered most,
and probably will be, for his books, of which there were
16. Most of these have been translated into several lan-
guages. His first book, Radar Meteorology ( Battan, 1959),
was a concise and lucid introduction to the subject. This
was updated and enlarged by Radar Observations of the
Atmosphere (Battan, 1973). Except for one text in Russian
and another in French, and my own more modest mono-
graph in 1964, these books remained the major treatments
XV
of the subject until the appearance of Doppler Radar and
Weather Observations by Doviak and Zrnic (1984). He also
wrote and coauthored elementary texts such as Weather
( Battan, 1984) and Fundamentals of Meteorology ( Battan,
1983a). Lou also wrote seven other popular books, ranging
from The Nature of Violent Storms (Battan, 1961) to Weather
in Your Life ( Battan, 1983b). These are important because
of their straightforward style and the ease with which they
conveyed abstract concepts. Accordingly, they attracted a
wide spectrum of students and nonspecialists who might
have been frightened off by the more esoteric treatments.
One can hardly estimate the impact that Lou's popular
books and introductory texts have had on the atmospheric
sciences and on society through the attraction of students
to the field and through contributions to the public's un-
derstanding of science worldwide. Certainly, his contri-
bution on these scores is second to none in meteorology.
Lou used his talent for writing in conjunction with his
research abilities to produce a large number of other pub-
lications as well. Beginning with the journal article "The
Use of Radar in Determining the Amount of Rain Falling
over a Small Area" (Battan, 1948), he produced over 100
scientific papers and reports and an additional 100 pub-
lished items in encyclopedias, periodicals, and newspapers.
In spite of his extensive achievements as a scientist and a
scholar, however, he maintained a modest posture
throughout his career.
With this record of accomplishments, one might have
expected Lou to have taken some high post in government
or academia. Indeed, he could have, for he had received
many such offers. To be sure, he was tempted on occasion
by positions from which he could exert great influence.
However, Lou had found his niche as university professor
and writer. He was comfortable with himself, the ways in
which he could contribute, his position, and his family.
Because of this inner peace and satisfaction, he could be
called upon for advice unimpeded by ulterior motives.
Lou did not isolate himself in his comfortable niche,
however. Indeed, he was called upon time and again to
serve the national and international geophysical commu-
nities. He was a member of several early delegations to
the World Meteorological Organization and the Soviet
Union. He served with distinction on a long list of com-
mittees and panels of the National Academy of Sciences,
including the chairman of the Committee on Atmospheric
Sciences (1973-76) and vice-chairman of the Geophysics
Study Committee (1978-82) as well as the National Ad-
visory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere (1978-81).
Lou was also extremely influential in the founding of the
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). He
served NCAR and its operating corporation, the University
Corporation for Atmospheric Research, in many ways, in-
cluding long-time service on the Board of Trustees and
the Members' Representative Group, and in many advisory
capacities. He fought staunchly to permit scientists to guide
their own fates without undue direction from above, be-
 lieving that the best science nearly always is done in an
unfettered, supportive atmosphere.
Lou was also an active leader in the affairs of both the
American Geophysical Union and the American Meteo-
rological Society. In AGU, he served on a variety of com-
mittees and was president of the Meteorology Section
(1974-76). He was also chairman of the U.S. National
Committee of the International Association on Geodesy
and Geophysics (1980-84). He was also slated to be the
AGU Foreign Secretary when he took ill. On at least two
occasions, he declined nominations for the AGU presi-
dency.
His activities in the American Meteorological Society
(AMS) are legend. They included service on a host of sci-
entific and advisory committees, the presidency (1966-
67}, chairman of the Commission on Scientific and Tech-
nological Activities (1970-73), and chairman of the Plan-
ning Commission for 12 years.
Many of his contributions to meteorology were recog-
nized by the AMS. In 1962, he received the Meisinger
Award "for his outstanding, imaginative and pioneering
research in radar meteorology and in cloud physics"; in
1971, the Charles Franklin Brooks Award for Outstanding
Services to the Society "in recognition and appreciation
for his imaginative, wise, and good-humored leadership
during many years of service as Councilor and President
of the Society"; and in 1975, the Second Half Century
Award "for his many contributions to cloud physics and
his objective scientific evaluation of weather modification
efforts, his writings fostering public understanding of me-
teorology, and his greater service to the profession in many
capacities." His daughter Suzette told me that he was es-
pecially proud of his election as an honorary member of
the AMS in early October 1986, just a few weeks before
his death.
References
Battan, L.J., 1959: Radar Meteorology. University of Chicago
Press.
- - , 1961: The Nature of Violent Storms. Doubleday.
- - , 1973: Radar Observations of the Atmosphere. Univer-
sity of Chicago Press.
- - , 1983a: Fundamentals of Meteorology. 2nd ed., Pren-
tice-Hall.
- - , 1983b: Weather in Your Life. W.H. Freeman.
xvi
On the personal side, Lou was a raconteur of great note.
He could often be found at the center of a group, recasting
a story of passing humor into one that elicited great laugh-
ter. His sense of humor stood him in good stead in many
other more serious circumstances by helping to relieve the
tension. In addition, his colleague, Ben Herman, writes
that Lou was the wise old sage of the department to whom
everyone went for advice, consolation, and encourage-
ment.
Perhaps his greatest attribute is that Lou was a gentle
person. He was thoughtful, kind, and sensitive. Never did
he utter a denigrating word about anyone; conversely, no
one had an unkind word to say about him. He was admired
and respected by all, many were proud to be numbered
among his friends, and others, like me, loved him as a
brother.
The combination of his science, his writings, his states-
manship, and the esteem in which he is held constitute a
legacy that few of us can hope to match.
0 may I join the choir invisible
Of those immortal dead who live again
In minds made better by their presence
-George Eliot
"0 May I Join the Choir Invisible"
David Atlas*
Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland
Reprinted from Eos, Vol. 68, 656 and 676.
• Presently, independent consultant, Bethesda, Maryland.
- - , 1984: Weather. 2nd ed., Prentice-Hall.
- - , J.B. Theiss and A.R. Kassander, Jr., 1964: Some
Doppler radar observations of a decaying thunderstorm.
Proc. 11th Weather Radar Conf., Boulder, Amer. Meteor.
Soc., 362-365.
Boyenval, E.H., 1959: Echoes from precipitation using
pulsed Doppler radar. Proc. Eighth Conf. on Radar Me-
teorology, San Francisco, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 57-64.
Braham, R.R., Jr., L.J. Battan and H.R. Byers, 1957: The
artificial nucleation of cumulus clouds. Meteor. Monogr.;
Amer. Meteor. Soc., 2, 47.
Byers, H.R., and R.R. Braham, Jr., 1949: The thunderstorm.
Rep. NTIS PB 234515, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Wash-
ington DC.
- - , et al., 1948: The use of radar in determining the
amount of rain falling over a small area. Eos Trans. AGU,
29, 187-196.
Doviak, R.J., and D.S. Zrnic, 1984: Doppler Radar and
Weather Observations. Academic Press.
xvii
Lhermitte, R.M., 1959: The use of special "pulsed Doppler
radar" in measurements of particle fall velocities. Proc.
Eighth Conf. on Radar Meteorology, San Francisco, Amer.
Meteor. Soc., 269-275.
Longtin, D.R., C.F. Bohren and L.J. Battan, 1987: Radar
backscattering by large, spongy, ice oblate spheroids. J.
Atmos. Oceanic Techno/., 4, 355-358.
Ryde, J.W., 1946: Attenuation of centimeter radio waves
and the echo intensities resulting from atmospheric
phenomena. J. Inst. Electr. Eng. London, 3A, 93, 101.
I. HISTORY

sity, Canada.
September, 1955: Asbury Park,. NJ. March, 1957:
Cambridge, MA. November. 1958: Miami, FL. April,
1960: San Francisco, CA. October, 1961: Kansas City, MO.
April, 1963: Washington, D.C. September, 1964: Boulder,
CO. October, 1966: Norman, OK. August, 1968: McGill Uni-

J.ACJ
versity, Canada. November, 1970: Tucson, AZ. October, 1972:
Champaign, IL. April, 1975: Houston, TX. October, ~
1976: Seattle, WA. March, 1978: Atlanta,
GA. April, 1980: Miami, FL. Nov~eber, D. Atlas, P.
1981: Boston, MA. September, 1983: Austin, L.
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
September, 1984: Zurich,

/2R.
::. Switzerland. September, Browning,
.:lllllljl:~~86: Snowmass: CO. Brook, Caton, A. Chmela,
R. Collis, L. Conover, A. Dennis,
!!
';j jj j!!liiii li iiJ i' March, 1989. T31· Donaldson, R. Douglas, T. East, A.
Fleisher, J. Fletcher, T. Fujita, S. Geotis, K.
Glover, E. Gossard, H. Groginsky, K. Gunn, K. Hardy, W.
Harper, B. Herman, P. Hexter, H. Hiser, W. Hitschfeld,
H. Houghton, F. Huff, I. Imai, D. Jones, R. Jones, D.
Kerr, I. Katz, E. Kessler, N. Kodaira, M. Langleben,
R. Lhermitte, M. Ligda, J. Marshall, E. Mueller,
R. Newell, R. Pilie, V. Plank, J. Probert-Jones,
.:::.R. Rogers, J. Ryde, H. Senn, P. Smith,
.111111: J. Stephens, G. Stout, D. Swingle,
.. ::::glHl!' M. Tepper, R. Wexler, K.
:l1H1111Will11111Hl!' Wilk, J. Wilson

Chapter 1
Early Developments of Weather Radar during World War II
].0. Fletcher, Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, NOAA
1.1. Rabi, Nobel laureate in physics and one of the leaders
in the development of both radar and the atomic bomb,
has emphasized that the technological advance that con-
tributed most to victory in World War II was not the bomb
but microwave radar.
During the late 1930s military radar applications for air-
craft detection and warning, antiaircraft fire control, and
even airborne search had been adopted by Britain, Ger-
many, and the United States, but the frequencies used
were limited by the methods of RF power generation; the
highest frequencies widely used were 200 and 400 MHz.
The highly secret British invention of the cavity magnetron
made possible the leap to 3000 MHz (S-band) and 10 000
MHz (X-band) for a wide variety of applications. The fail-
ure of enemy intelligence to discover even the use of these
frequencies until mid-1943 gave the Allies a decisive ad-
vantage. By that time the Radiation Laboratory of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) had devel-
oped a broad range of microwave systems that were in
widespread operational use.
My first awareness of microwave systems came in mid-
1942, when, as a fresh graduate of pilot training in the
Army Air Corps, I was assigned to the First Sea Search
Attack Squadron at Langley Field, Virginia. The tired old
B-18s were obsolete but they carried the first operational
aircraft microwave radar, the S-band SCR-517. During
most of 1942, while German U-boats ravaged American
coastal waters, this squadron was used exclusively for
"killer search" missions (a low-level expanding square
search pattern at night over the most plausible sightings
of the previous day). Flying from Langley Field, Virginia,
Otis Field, Massachusetts, and Jacksonville, Miami, and
Key West, Florida, it was a thin shield against the maraud-
ing U-boats, which had to lie on the surface at night to
charge their batteries with diesel-powered generators.
Of course, we learned immediately that microwave radar
saw strong echoes from rainstorms and that our 200 and
400 MHz equipment did not. We speculated that two of
our aircraft that disappeared might have made attack runs
on waterspouts. (All electronic emissions other than mi-
crowave were off during search operations.) I decided to
do some measurements of atmospheric parameters.
The need for simple experimental equipment led me to
the Pentagon, since all equipment was controlled and re-
quired permits. There I sought out my MIT classmate, Ken
Spengler, who was in the Headquarters of the Air Corps
3
Weather Service. Ken had a better idea for me. The MIT
Radiation Laboratory had been requesting a combination
meteorologist/ pilot with electronics background. The
Weather Service had been unable to fill the request, but I
seemed just right, and Ken arranged my transfer to the
"Rad Lab" where in December 1942 I joined the Electro-
magnetic Propagation Group (Group 42), led by Donald
Kerr. (See Katz and Harney, Chapter 3.)
It was only from postwar reading that I learned the im-
pact of airborne microwave radar on the battle for the
Atlantic. Beginning early in 1943, production line micro-
wave equipment became available in quantity and was
installed on longer range B-24s and B-17s flying out of
Iceland, England, and the United States. In only four
months (March-June) about one-third of the German U-
boats were destroyed (along with most of the more ag-
gressive captains). The bonanza ended when a microwave
equipped aircraft was shot down over Holland and the
equipment was diagnosed. Soon after that U-boats had
microwave listening devices. I realized only afterward that
the seemingly exaggerated secrecy at the Rad Lab about
even the existence of microwave equipment was indeed
justified. Had Germany learned about this only a few
months earlier it would have made a big difference in the
battle for the Atlantic.
This anecdote gives some idea of the atmosphere at the
Rad Lab: exceedingly high secrecy, strict adherence to
"need to know," and limited interaction with outside
groups. Don Kerr's small Propagation Group shared a
rooftop laboratory with the group led by Luis Alvarez that
was developing high power surveillance and warning radar
( SCR-615). This provided a few sporadic opportunities to
see what such equipment could do in storm detection. At
the other end of the size scale the van-mounted prototype
of the SCR-584, then called the XT-1, was in experimental
operation in the capable hands of Wilbur Paulsen and oth-
ers. They were exploring "weather echoes," but the theory
was rudimentary.
Like a kid in a candy store, I sampled the goodies, but
my assigned task was to help with studies of anomalous
propagation. Strange stories were coming in from the op-
erational theaters that testified to second and third sweep
echoes. To get some quantitative data, Kerr decided to set
up a calibrated continuous test path over water, with the
main transmitter at Eastern Point, Massachusetts (near
Gloucester) pointing toward Portland, Maine. Calibrated
4 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
receivers at points along this and other paths measured
signal strength variations with time. The Eastern Point/
Portland path also afforded a setting for measuring the
complex reflection coefficient of the sea as a function of
incidence angle and sea state by flying a calibrated receiver
in toward the transmitter. For this and other experimental
purposes the Air Corps provided a dedicated twin engine
aircraft with a nose that could accommodate a suitable
paraboloid antenna (Cessna C-78). I was the test pilot,
and conducted an extensive measurement program of re-
flection coefficients over various terrain: ocean, Florida
swamp, western desert.
One anecdote from this program bears telling. One clear
spring day in April 1943, as we began our run in from
Portland, we found that we could get no signal at all. I
went as high as the aircraft could manage (about 14 000
ft) but still detected no signal. I then decided to try all
altitudes. Still no signal-until I passed below 80ft, where
the signal came booming in, up more than 120 dB. We
flew several tracks in at levels as low as 20 ft.
Suddenly, at 20 ft altitude, both engines quit. In the
excitement of the experiment and concentrating on being
on track with nose antenna aligned with Eastern Point, I
had failed to switch gas tanks. The C-78 had only a hand-
operated "wobble pump" to get fuel back into the lines
and I was giving it my energetic best while hoarding our
remaining air speed and trying not to dip a wing. I am
eternally grateful to my two lab colleagues, Robert Mitchell
and Isadore Katz, who never afterward expressed their
displeasure.
The results were spectacular. It was a case of complete
trapping. Below 80 ft signal strength varied with the first
power of distance rather than with the square of distance.
Just above 80 ft was a blind zone all the way into Eastern
Point. The meteorological condition was a light offshore
breeze of dry continental air that developed a moist mixed
layer up to 80ft; see Katz and Harney, Chapter 3 (Fig. 4).
Flushed with our success in validating the meteorological
conditions for trapping we decided to try experimental
prediction of propagation conditions over the test paths.
By this time I had been joined by Lt. John Nastronero, a
new meteorological graduate of New York University. For
about a month, John worked at the Air Corps Weather
Station at Manchester, New Hampshire, making daily
predictions of propagation over each path. The results were
moderately successful. It is interesting to note that the
devastating Luftwaffe raid on Bari, Italy in early 1944
achieved complete surprise by flying in the blind zone just
above a trapping inversion. (I never learned whether this
was accidental or planned.) This incident dramatized the
value of recognizing trapping conditions.
To apply this to the B-29 bases in the Marianas, a team
from Group 42 was deployed to Saipan in late 1944. By
that time the Marianas were no longer under bomber attack
and the propagation prediction capability was little used.
In April1945, Josh Holland and Don Kerr went to Saipan
and carried out detailed studies, supplementing the teth-
ered balloon measurements with vertical soundings by a
PBY aircraft.
Although my assigned task at Rad Lab was to help with
propagation experiments, I was much impressed with the
operational potential for radar storm detection and radar
"wind finding." In addition to John Nastronero, I was also
joined by Cpl. Pat Harney and later by Cpl. Cliff Poole.
We four spent much time in early 1943 designing corner
reflectors to fly on balloons, testing their reflectivity effi-
ciency (on the Rad Lab roof) and tracking balloons and
rainstorms with each of the radars that was available, both
surveillance and fire control types. We convinced ourselves
that with appropriate techniques useful wind measure-
ments could be obtained by almost all types. After all, the
alternative was visual tracking of pilot balloons below the
clouds. (This was before the rawin set AN /GMD-1.) The
best results by far were from the automatic tracking XT-
1, the prototype of the SCR-584. It was also apparent that
all microwave equipments could obtain useful storm ob-
servations. Moreover, hundreds of operational radars were
already in the war theaters. Most were 200 MHz (SCR-
268) but there were also many microwave systems. For
example, the antiaircraft artillery had several hundred
"Mickey Mouse" S-hand fire control radars SCR-547 (so
called because of the separate dishes for transmitting and
receiving), and the SCR-584 was scheduled for volume
production.
To make my superiors aware of these potentials we
wrote a detailed report on our experimental tests which I
delivered to the Air Corps Weather Service. At first it at-
tracted little attention, partly because it was thought to be
exaggerated. (I learned later that the Army Signal Corps
felt keen rivalry with the civilian microwave advocates
from the Rad Lab.) However, my sympathetic mentor at
Headquarters, Lt. Col. John Ackerman, passed the report
on to Col. Marcellus Duffy, the Air Corps Liaison Officer
to the Signal Corps, and to Lt. Col. Pete Sandretto, a re-
spected signals expert at Army Headquarters.
Sandretto was favorably impressed by the report and
so advised Col. Duffy, who soon appeared at the Rad Lab
to investigate. Since my claims were not compatible with
the advice he was getting from his Signal Corps colleagues,
Col. Duffy was naturally cautious, but he also was a re-
lentlessly logical and fair-minded person who was deter-
mined to find the truth. After his second visit, he managed
to organize a test, bringing the much coveted XT-1 down
to the Signal Corps Laboratories in New Jersey for wind
finding trials on a triple theodolite test range. The results
were spectacular. It was impossible to tell whether the
winds from the XT -1 or from the triple theodolite system
were more accurate. From that moment I had the full sup-
port of Col. Duffy and the Air Corps Weather Service,
then commanded by Col. Oscar Senter.
My life at the Rad Lab was abruptly ended. Col. Duffy
brought my team and me down to the New Jersey Signal
 EARLY DEVELOPMENTS OF WEATHER RADAR DURING WORLD WAR II
Corps Laboratories to implement the scheme to use op-
erational radars already in place around the world for storm
detection and wind finding. My base of operations was a
converted nightclub, the Sea Girt Inn, a few miles from
the Radar Laboratory at Belmar.
Our first task was to determine the capabilities of each
radar type and the best technique for using it. The Belmar
Lab had at least one sample of every type on its back lot
and these were made available.
To backfill our role in propagation experiments at the
Rad Lab, Ray Montgomery, Bill Gordon, and John Ger-
hardt were transferred from New York University. To carry
out the work in New Jersey and to provide initial cadre to
send overseas I selected several graduating cadets from
the MIT Class of 6 September 1943. The "radar weather"
volunteers were Richard Holbrook, Dean Holdiman,
George Austin, Howard Bussey, and Myron Ligda. Ad-
ditional team members came from NYU (Josh Holland and
Judson Tibbetts). Josh was my deputy and in his spare
moments authored a book on radar meteorology that was
eventually published as an Army training manual (without
attribution).
During the fall of 1943, we worked furiously to evaluate
the capabilities of each radar type, write instruction man-
uals on how to use them for weather purposes, design and
test effective radar targets (not only comer reflectors but
also dipole arrays, dipole propellers, dipole strings, etc.).
Among the most ingenious experimenters were Ed Istvan
(previously from the Army Air Corps Meteorology School
at Chanute Field, illinois), George Austin, and Jud Tibbetts.
In a few months we were ready to dispatch dauntless
2nd Lts. to the various war theaters, armed with an armful
of instruction manuals, a shipment of targets and balloons
and instructions to organize that theater for obtaining
weather observations using other people's radars and
manpower. Considering the audacity of the enterprise it
is amazing that it worked at all, and actually it worked
pretty well, largely reflecting the sense of purpose and the
resourcefulness of the individuals involved.
Holbrook took the Pacific Theater, Nastronero the South
Pacific, Holdiman the European Theater, Boniece the
Alaskan Theater, Jensen the China Burma India (CBI)
Theater, Bussey the North Atlantic, and Ligda took Pan-
ama. The monthly reports sent back to Sea Girt from these
stalwarts were exciting reading. In most cases their success
was won by great ingenuity and perseverance.
Their previous experience with real operating units had
been a two-week stint with an antiaircraft artillery battalion
along the U.S. East Coast (using the 200-MHz SCR-268
radars). During this time they were to convince the com-
mander of their mission, obtain cooperation, train oper-
ating crews, and achieve a full operating schedule. It
proved to be valuable experience. The "hook" for the an-
tiaircraft commanders was an operational routine that
would keep their radars in alignment and their crews sharp.
In many cases both were badly needed.
5
These were stopgap measures, hastily conceived and
executed by people with minimum training. To provide
needed talent for the longer term the Weather Service
Commander, Col. Senter, agreed to sponsor 100 trainees
to attend the excellent radar training course at Harvard/
MIT (four months at Harvard on basics followed by three
months at MIT on specific systems); a group of ten started
each month. (See Chapter 2 for further details on this
program.) The trainees were drawn from graduating classes
in meteorology training. Most of them came from the pre-
meteorology Aviation Cadet program, which placed them
in meteorology training after only two years of college.
An indication of the outstanding quality of this group was
shown when I surveyed the group in 1947, finding that
more than half were pursuing graduate programs. Anum-
ber of the leaders in radar meteorology came from this
group of 100.
Back in New Jersey, we continued to work with both
the Signal Corps and the Rad Lab to improve our under-
standing and capabilities. One vexing problem was that
weather echoes were often much stronger than existing
theory could account for, as were sporadic observations
of "angels" from clear-air regions. The theoretical group
at Rad Lab received our reports and tried to reconcile them
with theory. In particular, Arnold Siegert struggled with
the problem and made visits to New Jersey to satisfy him-
self that our reports were reliable. It was he who first pro-
duced a breakthrough by combining the theory of back-
scatter with a statistical model of turbulent movement in
the illuminated volume, giving rise to constructive inter-
ference and echo enhancement for a small fraction of the
pulses. Indeed, this corresponds to the Rayleigh probability
distribution of echo power.
This and parallel theory also began to make plausible
the clear-air "angels." My aircraft and an instrumented B-
25 were often used for investigation of storm echoes. Their
radar cross sections were well known and comparisons
with meteorological echoes could give rough quantitative
measurements by the ground-based radars. As part of this
program it was my custom to call up the ground radar and
have them track me when returning to or leaving the area.
On one such occasion (reported by Kerr, 1951) very strong
clear-air echoes were observed above a forest fire. Ac-
cording to Siegert's calculations this could only be possible
if the small turbulent vortices were very much more long-
lived than anyone imagined at that time.
To test these ideas we tried looking at the region above
the steam locomotive on the coastal train. In the early
morning the stable atmospheric conditions and the pre-
dictable train schedule made it feasible to fly comparison
targets on tethered balloons. The results were inconclu-
sive. The idea of starting another forest fire was rejected.
[Editor's Note: In view of developments since World War
II and the very poor sensitivity of the radars of that
period, it appears very unlikely that the echoes from the
forest fire were due to turbulent eddies in refractive
6 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
index. Instead, we suggest that those echoes were prob-
ably due to debris carried up in the smoke plume. With
regard to the reported detection of the steam plume from
a train this too seems improbable. As reported by Hardy
and Gage (Chapter 17), Crawford (1949) attempted to
create artificially large changes in refractive index by
building fires and pouring water on heated rocks so that
the steam clouds were carried into the vertical beams of
his 1.25- and 3.2-cm antennas. Having failed to produce
detectable echoes, he concluded that the dominant
sources of "angel" echoes were birds and insects. See
also Plank (1956).]
In 1942 it was not at all clear who would win the war.
By 1944, it was widely believed that the Axis would lose;
the questions became how long and at what cost. United
States and Allied strength was growing in all theaters. The
Wehrmacht had met disaster at Stalingrad, the Luftwaffe
over England, and the Japanese navy at Midway and Coral
Sea. United States bombers were reaching across the world,
with B-17s in England, B-24s and B-25s in the Pacific,
North Africa and Italy, and in early 1944 B-29s were
bombing Japan from India. These developments created
unanticipated demands for aircraft weather reconnais-
sance, because weather was the greatest factor limiting
effectiveness. The history of weather radar in World War
II must include the use of radar in aircraft weather recon-
naissance.
The requirements came piecemeal. The First Weather
Reconnaissance Squadron (B-17s) was stationed in Pan-
ama during 1942 and moved to Manchester, New Hamp-
shire in 1943 for North Atlantic duty. The second Weather
Reconnaissance Squadron ( B-25s) was formed early in
1944 to support operations in Burma and China. The third
squadron (B-24s) also formed in 1944 and deployed to
Guam to support B-29 operations against Japan. A second
squadron of B-25s for China I Burma was provided. These
squadrons saw operational service. In addition several
squadrons were equipped and trained but were still in the
United States when the war ended. These include a second
B-24 squadron, two squadrons of P-61s (intended for the
Philippines) and a squadron of single seat P-47s (intended
for target reconnaissance from Iwo Jima).
I was especially fond of the P-61 Black Widow night
fighter, and when I found myself at the All Weather Flying
Division in late 1945, after the war had ended, I obtained
two of them for weather experiments. This was the first
step toward obtaining the remainder for the first phase of
the Thunderstorm Project in Florida that was beginning
to take shape. They proved to be very effective in that
project.
The responsibility for technical design and aircraft con-
figuration for all except the first squadron was given to
Col. Duffy, who passed it to me (assisted by Lts. Hanson
and Swain). This offered an opportunity to apply what
we had learned about weather radar. As the mainstream
weather radar, we adopted the B-29 bombing radar, the
X-band AN 1APQ-13. We installed an equipment at the
Sea Girt Inn and set about evaluating weather detection
performance and minor modifications such as pulse length.
For the B-25s the APQ-13 was mounted in a fixed radome
under the fuselage. For the B-24s a retracting radome was
used and an entire bomb bay was converted to a weather
operations room. Many technical compromises were nec-
essary to provide this sophistication but, on the whole,
the technical configurations were appreciated by the op-
erational commanders. For example, the demand for a
second B-25 squadron for Burma carried the condition that
the weather radar and associated equipment was abso-
lutely required even at the expense of leaving off other
equipment. We eliminated the guns and the armor to stay
within weight limits. There was no complaint.
Of these wartime deployments only the Hurricane Re-
connaissance Squadron at Guam remained in place until
1987 (the 54th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron). It
went from B-24s to B-29s to B-SOs to C-130s. Its radar
weather capabilities were better in 1944 with the APQ-13
than they are today.
The success of the APQ-13 led to its adoption in the
immediate postwar years as the first "weather radar" for
Air Weather Service stations. It was mounted upside down
on roofs around the country. It was superseded with the
advent of the AN I CPS-9, which evolved to the civilian
WSR-57 in the 1950s. The WSR-57 will be replaced by
NEXRAD in the 1990s-after half a century of radar evo-
lution.
During the hectic war years we all dreamed of designing
radars specifically for weather uses instead of adapting
equipment designed for other purposes. In 1945, Col.
Duffy, with characteristic foresight, tapped our collective
wisdom to develop requirement specifications for a family
of weather radars. These requirements became the basis
for the postwar development of weather radars (CPS-9,
CPS-10, TPQ-6) that is described by Don Swingle (Chap-
ter 2).
These early experiments and research missions were ex-
citing times but by far most memorable were the fine tal-
ented people who shared in the effort. Lou Battan, to whom
this volume is dedicated, was among them. Others con-
tributed to the chapters that follow. I count working with
all of them as one of my greatest blessings.

Chapter 2
Weather Radar in the United States Army's
Fort Monmouth Laboratories
Donald M. Swingle,* Consultant
1 ORIGINS OF ARMY WEATHER
RADAR
Captain Joseph 0. Fletcher's recognition of the potential
value of microwave radar for weather applications (see
Chapter 1) led to three decades of active weather radar
research and development at the Army's laboratories lo-
cated near Fort Monmouth, Ne~Jersey. This chapter traces
the initiation of that work, the major radar equipments
developed, and associated research which had its origins
in the radar weather program.
1.1 Radar Training of Army Air Corps
Weather OBicers, 1944-45
Stimulated by Capt. Fletcher (Chapter 1), the Army Air
Corps initiated a program that sent ten newly commis-
sioned lieutenants from each of ten wartime graduating
classes in meteorology to the Officers Radar Course at the
Army Electronics Training Center (AETC) in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. First, courses in electronics and cathode
ray tubes were taught for four months at Harvard Uni-
versity's Cruft Laboratory by an outstanding electronic
engineering and applied physics faculty recruited from
across the country. 1
This was followed by a three month, hands-on, equip-
ment oriented course at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT), conducted off campus at the Harbor
Building on Boston Harbor under tight security. Here the
class was split into specialized groups studying ground,
aircraft, and shipbome radar. The AETC training covered
the theory, design, and maintenance of new and highly
classified radar and navigational electronic systems.
The importance that the Army Air Corps attached to
this training can be gauged from the fact that these weather
officers comprised a full25% of the Army's quota in each
• Swingle worked at the U.S. Army's Fort Monmouth laboratories in
1945-47 and 1950-78. He held the positions of Chief, Meteorological
Techniques Branch; Chief, Techniques and Exploratory Development
Technical Area; and Senior Scientist, U.S. Army Atmospheric Sciences
Laboratory.
1 This faculty included the former French Chief Signal Officer, Prof. Phil-
lippe LeCorbellier, Prof. M. Tatum from Baylor University, and Profs.
E.F. Chaffee, Harry Rowe Mimno, Ronald D.P. King, and Donald D. King
from Harvard University.
7
AETC class. The first group to attend was chosen com-
petitively from the Sixth War Course (Meteorology) at New
York University and included Lts. Evans, Hoffman, W.C.
Kellogg, Rudd, Swingle, and Witten. The group began ra-
dar training in March and completed it in October 1944.
While at the Harbor Building, I inquired about the pos-
sibility that microwave radars could detect and track pre-
cipitation such as showers and thunderstorms. I was given
the opportunity to use the SCR-717A and SCR-720 S-
band radars on the roof of the building. These were
equipped with B- and C-scopes, respectively. There I had
my first sight of precipitation echoes and began to under-
stand why 100 weather officers were learning radar.
Upon graduating from the AETC program, the weather
officers were initially sent to the Weather Equipment
Methods Section ( WEMS) of the Signal Corps Ground
Signal Agency (SCGSA), in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.
1.2 Development of Army Air Corps
Meteorological Equipment
Most meteorologists in the United States are aware that
Army aviation and weather forecasting originated in the
Army Signal Corps during the Civil War, that the Army
Air Corps was formed in 1937 from part of the Signal
Corps, and that the. U.S. Weather Bureau had been simi-
larly formed in 1920. The Army Air Corps also was given
the general weather forecasting mission for the Army in
1937. Thus, in 1945, virtually all meteorological equipment
used by the Army Air Corps had been developed by the
Signal Corps, as had much of the Weather Bureau's ob-
serving equipment. The Signal Corps remained responsible
for the development of all meteorological equipment in
the Army and Air Force until about 1956.
To coordinate this work, the office of the Air Corps li-
aison Officer (Weather), headed by Col. Marcellus Duffy,
was at the Headquarters, SCGSA, in the peacetime Shark
River Hills Hotel in Neptune, New Jersey. Two miles away,
in the "L Building" of the Evans Signal Laboratory in Wall
Township, were Lt. Col. Athelstan F. Spilhaus and Capt.
Fred W. Decker. They maintained close liaison with the
Meteorological and Radio Direction Finding Branches,
which were developing a variety of new meteorological
equipments. Some five miles farther south, in Spring Lake
 8 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Heights, was the Weather Equipment Methods Section
(WEMS), housed in the peacetime Sea Girt Inn. Staffed
with some thirty military personnel, mostly from the Air
Corps, and with civilian administrative support, it was
commanded by Maj. Harold G. Price, Signal Corps. The
WEMS developed new techniques for the use of meteo-
rological materiel and expedited their test, evaluation, and
procurement for the Army Air Corps.
These items included rawinsonde set SCR-658 and its
associated T-9 I SCR-658 radiosonde, radar set SCR-584
and its corner reflector target, both used to measure winds
aloft, and sferics set AN I GRD-1, used to locate lightning.
While at WEMS Lt. Rudd learned that radiation from the
SCR-584 could cause the T-9 ISCR-658 radiosonde to give
false telemetry data, a problem which is probably endemic
to all radiosondes whose sensors are not strictly mechanical
when operated in line-of-sight of powerful transmitters.
1.3 Weather Radar Training in the Weather
Equipment Methods Section, 1944-46
Captain E.J. Istvan was responsible for carrying on Maj.
J.O. Fletcher's weather radar program. Four lieutenants
(Herbert B. Brooks, William C. Kellogg, Donald H. Rudd,
and Donald M. Swingle) were selected from the first two
AETC classes to remain at the Sea Girt Inn as a weather-
electronics nucleus under Capt. Istvan. They gained hands-
on experience with several radars, instructed successive
groups from AETC in brief two-week courses, conducted
applied research, and designed electronic modifications to
enhance the utility of military radars for weather obser-
vation.
Rudd, who had studied ground radars at AETC, was
placed in charge of the SCR-584 and of radar wind mea-
surement training. Kellogg worked with the AN I GRD-1
sferics set. Swingle, who had studied airborne radar at
AETC, was assigned the SCR-717B radar and was joined
by Brooks from the second AETC class. The SCR-717B
and SCR-584 radars both had PPI scopes, so storm echoes
were presented with little distortion. The SCR-584 was
used for both winds aloft measurement and storm detec-
tion. We immediately began to acquire a library of radar
scope photographs covering the frequent winter cyclones
and summer thunderstorms passing through New Jersey.
In time, this library included photographs of heavy squall
lines, tornadoes, and hurricanes.
The training included the theory of storm and cloud
detection, wind computations, slide series of storm obser-
vations in time sequence, and the discrimination of storm
echoes from echoes caused by anomalous propagation,
birds, and steam douds from locomotives. (See Editor's
Note in Fletcher, Chapter 1.) The students 2 were shown
2AETC graduates receiving WEMS training included Arthur Aden, David
Atlas, Louis Battan, Ralph Donaldson, Vincent Lally, Joseph Lizzio, and
Carlyle Sletten; in addition to those previously identified.
the effects of precipitation attenuation at X-band and how
to interpret and partially compensate for this problem by
proper analysis of scope photographs. When possible, they
were afforded practical experience with the several in-
stalled radar sets. After WEMS training, these officers were
then assigned to stations throughout the continental United
States and overseas.
Brooks (personal communication) recalls that, while at
Harvard University, he proposed the use of a 9.1-cm mi-
crowave receiver to measure solar radiation. This appeared
to cause Col. Stone, the AETC Commandant, considerable
anxiety. Apparently, Brooks had unknowingly chosen the
very wavelength of several highly classified radar sets. He
was not supposed to learn of these (and did not) until his
class moved on to the MIT portion of the training in the
Harbor Building. Brooks was able to pursue his idea while
at WEMS. After carefully balancing the servo tracking cir-
cuits of the SCR-584, he and Rudd passively tracked the
sun for over an hour. Later, and independently, a major
defense electronics manufacturer patented and developed
a microwave solar sextant for military use.
At this time (1945), it was not believed that precipitation
attenuation would be a serious problem at S-band. Rudd
(personal communication) worked closely with Comdr.
R.H. Maynard of the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, some
42 miles southwest of WEMS, to obtain simultaneous SCR-
584 PPI photos in which heavy shower bands were aligned
radially from the radar. They verified the absence of sig-
nificant attenuation since echoes were not "lost" in the
shadow of extended heavy precipitation. Rudd also made
comparisons of various corner reflector and target designs
for use with the SCR-584.
1. 4 Selection and Modi8cation of Tactical
Radars for Weather Use
Based on technical reports of J.W. Ryde in England and
Herbert Goldstein, A.J. Siegert, and Don Kerr at the MIT
Radiation Laboratory, Swingle developed the "weather
radar equations" applicable to both complete and partial
interception of the transmitted beam by a volume of scat-
terers (Swingle, 1947; Wexler and Swingle, 1947). These
encapsulated the relevant physics of storm and cloud de-
tection by radar. They were used in the development of
military requirements and technical characteristics for new
weather radar sets, as well as for the selection of existing
military radars for weather applications.
Brooks and Swingle considered which tactical radars
might be even better suited to perform weather radar mis-
sions than the SCR-584 and SCR-717B. Among these were
the SCR-615A, an S-band fixed installation set, and the
AN/TPS-10B, an X-band vertically scanning and trans-
portable set. Both radars were later used by the MIT
Weather Radar Research Project, and the TPS-10B was
used by the weather radar project of the Illinois State Water
Survey, both under Signal Corps Laboratories contracts.
 WEATHER RADAR IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY'S FORT MONMOUTH LABORATORIES
The TPS-10B was also used extensively by the Thunder-
storm Project.
The AN j APS-15, used on the B-17bombers in the Eu-
ropean theater, and the AN/ APQ-13, used on the B-29
bombers in the Pacific theater, were also considered. Both
were X-band sets with 75-cm paraboloidal antennas,
sometimes modified with "cosecant-squared" scoop-
shaped or barrel stave additions for more uniform mapping
of surface echoes from aircraft. They also had the long ( 2
JLS) beacon search pulse as an option. We selected the APQ-
13 as having a truer PPI presentation and greater ease of
modification. The slightly improved APQ-13A was pro-
cured, modified and installed in place of the SCR-717B at
WEMS.
Finally, as a candidate lightweight wind finder, we in-
stalled and tested the AN/ APG-1 aircraft gun-laying ra-
dar. Because of its short range and low sensitivity, it saw
only experimental use.
Consideration was also given to possible use of a high
power, low-frequency radar to obtain echoes from and
monitor changes in height of sharp dielectric (refractive
index) gradients and discontinuities in the vertical, such
as inversions. Major Fletcher arranged a visit to the MIT
Radiation Laboratory for discussions with Albert W. Friend
and others. While a graduate student at West Virginia State
University, Friend had built a low-megaHertz pulsed radar
which, apparently, did obtain echoes from the troposphere,
including frontal inversions and the tropopause. (See the
history of clear air echoes by Hardy and Gage, Chap-
ter 17).
We obtained the views of Friend, Goldstein, Kerr and
others on the prospects for direct electromagnetic sounding
of the atmosphere based on the assumption of a stratified
structure and little turbulence. At that time, such a s~t
seemed to start with a football field for an antenna. While
it would detect the presence of dielectric discontinuities
and\gradients, the echoes could not be quantitatively in-
terpreted as values of temperature, humidity or wind
needed by meteorologists. It was not judged to offer suf-
ficient probable military benefit and technical feasibility
to justify establishing a formal development project.
1. 5 Weather Radar Requirements
During 1945, Brooks and Swingle were requested by
Capt. Istvan to develop formal military requirements and
technical characteristics documents for three weather ra-
dars: a wind finding radar, a storm detection radar, and a
cloud base and top detection radar. This was done in con-
sultation with personnel of the Evans Signal Laboratory.
Taking into consideration the relevant physics from the
weather radar equation, the expected state of the art for
microwave components in the next few years, and expe-
rience gained at WEMS, draft documents were prepared.
Colonel Duffy coordinated these with the Air Corps
Weather Wing. After their approval by Headquarters,
9
Army Air Corps, development projects were established
in the Radar Branch of the Signal Corps Laboratories. It
was expected that each new radar would be used by a
professionally trained meteorologist having supplemental
training in the interpretation of data.
Both the wind finder and the storm detector were to be
air-transportable, which meant that they should be able
to travel in a single C-54 aircraft. The cloud base and top
detector was to be more readily transportable, manually,
into a less developed site. The emphasis on detection of
bases and tops devolved from aviation practice, even
though all realized that the cloud detector would actually
be a "cloud presence detection and display device." The
transportability requirements implied strict size and weight
limits. Thus, a large antenna could be used only if it could
be readily broken down into suitably sized segments. When
reassembled, it would then have to meet stringent shape
criteria.
2 POSTWAR RESEARCH AND
DEVELOPMENT
2.1 Weather Radar in the Radar Branch,
Signal Corps Laboratories, fort
Monmouth, 1946-56
When assigned responsibility to develop the three radars
for the Army Air Corps, the Radar Branch established the
Radar Systems C Section in early 1946. Lieutenants Brooks,
Kellogg, and Swingle were detailed to it. Kellogg, the senior
officer, was appointed Officer-In-Charge (OIC). As it de-
veloped, all three were released from the service by August
1946, but by then an ongoing weather radar program was
in place at Fort Monmouth as a direct result of the efforts
of Col. Duffy and Maj. Fletcher.
During and immediately after World War II, the labo-
ratories operated with a military chain of command down
to section level, with subordinate civilian supervisors at
each level. Captain McGee was OIC of the Radar Branch,
with Hyam Yamins, a senior radio engineer, as civilian
Branch Chief and Ed Fister as Assistant Chief. Mr. William
B. Gould III, an excellent radio engineer with experience
in the development of the SCR-271 and SCR-584 radars,
was appointed the civilian Chief, and a number of sup-
porting personnel were added. These included William J.
Schiff (radio engineer), Joseph McMillan (laboratory elec-
tronic technician), Raymond Wexler (meteorologist), Jo-
seph Weinstein (statistician), and others.
Brooks (1946) completed the work on the weather sta-
tion modification and installation of the APQ-13A, the
first radar set adopted for general weather station use.
Brooks assisted the Air Corps in preparing an instruction
manual for the installation of the set in the field. It is in-
teresting that Rudd, who had been reassigned from WEMS,
installed the APQ-13A at Lockbourne AAF, Clinton
10 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
County AAF, and Wright-Patterson AAF weather stations
in 1946 using Brooks's designs. Brooks also worked on the
design of B-scope circuits for the storm detector, since a
range delayed B-scope was originally planned for the en-
larged display of relatively distant storm echoes.
Swingle had primary responsibility for determining
overall system parameters for the storm detector and the
cloud base and top detector. This was based on the weather
radar equation that he had developed while at the WEMS.
Wexler was responsible for developing improved Z-R re-
lationships (Wexler, 1948). Weinstein dealt with the fre-
quency, duration and extent of heavy rainfall, and thus
attenuation, which was an important consideration in all
three weather radar system designs. Their studies con-
firmed the choice of 3-cm wavelength for storm detection
and 1-cm wavelength for cloud detection.
Although a formal development project was not estab-
lished for atmospheric probing, Swingle was assigned in
1946 to conduct a special investigation of means to sound
the atmosphere without the use of flight equipment. He
undertook studies and experiments and attempted radar
detection of shock waves from large explosions.
Meanwhile, physicist Virginia Norwood worked on the
design of targets for the wind finder and provided liaison
with John Ruze's antenna design group. The engineers
were assigned to the design and fabrication of an experi-
mental cloud base and top detector. They also prepared
specifications for development contracts to be placed with
industry to design and fabricate development models of
the three radars.
Captain Albert C. Trakowski, who had previously
worked with the sferics equipment, served as OIC for a
brief period, until the Laboratories changed back to a ci-
vilian chain of command. After their release from the Army
Air Corps, Brooks and Swingle were employed as radio
engineers. They continued their work, previously per-
formed as officer-engineers. In early 1947 Brooks went
into industry, and in June Swingle returned to graduate
school. By mid-1947 the Radar Systems C Section was
redesignated as the Weather Radar Section, with Gould
continuing as Chief.
The development contract for the storm detector, the
AN I CPS-9, was placed with the Raytheon Corporation,
where Edwin Williams, who had been with the MIT
Weather Radar Project, was Raytheon's project engineer.
Three development models were produced by 1949. One
went to the MIT Weather Radar Project and another to
the Evans Signal Laboratory. During the next four years
the system was improved, accepted by the Air Force, and
went into production in 1953.
The CPS-9 was the first radar specifically designed and
developed to perform weather observation (Zurcher, 1949;
Schiff and Williams, 1951; Swingle, 1951). Bill Schiff con-
tinued with these sets through their production as the
principal laboratory engineer. The CPS-9 included a sen-
sitivity time control function to remove effects of geometric
range. This was based on the assumption of complete beam
interception by the echo volume, generally true because
of the narrow (1 °) beamwidth.
The development of the radar wind finder, AN I CPS-
10, was initiated with RCA, but the Air Force later with-
drew its requirement. At this time, Albert Emurian was
serving as Chief of the Weather Radar Section. He de-
scribed a scheme for measuring winds using a Doppler
measurement of the radial component of wind, and azi-
muth slew rate times range to compute the tangential
component, with subsequent resolution into speed and di-
rection.
The development contract for the cloud base and top
detector, AN ITPQ-6, was placed with the Bendix Cor-
poration. Several models were produced, having both lens
antennas and twin parabolic transmitting and receiving
antennas. In the mid-1950s the Air Force took over this
development, eventually fielding cloud detection set AN I
TPQ-11 (Gould, 1951; Fisher et al., 1952; Gould, 1952;
Swingle, 1952, 1953b).
I recall pressing Mr. Gould in 1946 to attempt to get a
research contract with some top-notch group, such as the
MIT Radiation Laboratory, to pioneer in ways not within
the capabilities of the Radar Systems C Section. We had
hoped that we might be able to hold together a number
of the MIT Radiation Laboratory personnel, but the lab-
oratory was being closed down and its personnel dispersed.
Nevertheless, our group drafted a research specification
and funds were found in quite short order. The Massa-
chusetts Institute of Technology was offered an opportu-
nity to bid on the work and a contract was signed. For
many years the MIT Weather Radar Project was headed
by Alan C. Bemis; later, by Dr. Pauline Austin. To bring
this about, of course, required support from the Office of
the Chief Signal Officer ( OCSigO). Particularly important
was Mrs. Frances L. Whedon, who continued her strong
support of the Fort Monmouth weather radar program
from OCSigO and later from the Office of the Chief of
Research and Development, Headquarters, Department of
the Army. This contractual program, initiated by early
1947, continued through about 1962. It was most fruitful,
both in results and in providing a continuing flow of
weather radar personnel with college and graduate training
in the field.
2.2 Swingle's Research at Harvard
University's Craft Laboratory, 194'7-50
Swingle's studies at Harvard University extended his
interests at the Signal Corps Laboratories. His principal
work involved use of a modified SCR-584 radar to make
vertical observations of cloud and precipitation. The an-
tenna was surrounded by a two-stage RF shield to eliminate
ground echoes so that short-range targets could be seen
overhead. By using considerable postdetection photo-
 WEATHER RADAR IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY'S FORT MONMOUTH LABORATORIES 11
graphic integration it was possible to record echo structures
above the site as a function of height and time (Bauer et
al., 1955). The vertical probing with the 584 clearly showed
bright band phenomena, the time cross section of both
winter and summer precipitation, and the frequent occur-
rence of "angel" echoes even at S-band.
It became clear that virtually all precipitation originated
in convective cells or lines. From each of these, falling
bands of particles were observed, often as many as eight
to ten successive bands being detectable in the vertical
above the radar at a time. Where source elements were
aligned and spaced 0.5 to several minutes apart, the
breadth of particle size distributions, and hence of fall ve-
locities, resulted in apparently continuous rain or snow at
the surface. A high resolution, 45-cm diameter tipping
bucket raingage revealed temporal fluctuations in the rate
of precipitation that correlated with the arrival of the falling
echo bands. In the Lexington, Massachusetts area only
about 1% of precipitation hours observed for over a year
involved echoes without discernible convective source cells
(Swingle, 1950).
After the war, Friend completed his Ph.D. studies at
Harvard University. He initiated work toward using radar
set SCR-271 for dielectric sounding. This work was con-
tinued by Peter Harbury, using the 300-MHz SCR-271
located at Concord, Massachusetts. He used a vertically
pointing 50-m diameter paraboloid, constructed of ten-
sioned wires constrained to the required shape. Harbury's
greatest problem was to reduce the minimum range, which
was caused by ringing in the resonant circuits and trans-
mission line of the antenna. He was tragically electrocuted
while working on the 271 modulator in the laboratory.
Swingle continued the work and the theoretical consid-
eration of the approach. He did not obtain the desired
minimum range by the completion of his time at Harvard,
although he did extend and generalize the relevant theory
(Swingle, 1950).
2.3 Weather Radar in the Meteorological
Branch, Meteorological Division and
Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory,
fort Monmouth, 1950-72
By mid-1950, the Signal Corps Laboratories decided to
separate research and early stage development from end-
item development in the weather radar field. Gould moved
from the Weather Radar Section into the Sferics Section
of the Meteorological Branch. Swingle was reemployed as
a research meteorologist and joined the group in October.
From this nucleus grew the Weather Electronics Research
Unit, then the Meteorological Techniques Section (and
later, Branch), Meteorological Research Team "A," and
the Techniques and Exploratory Development Technical
Area.
While the Weather Radar Section of the Radar Branch
continued to develop the CPS-9 storm detector, the TPQ-
6 cloud base and top detector and the CPS-1 0 wind finding
radar, the group in the Meteorological Branch explored
new ways to exploit radar in atmospheric observation. The
storm and cloud detection radars provided absolutely con-
vincing evidence of the existence of highly organized me-
soscale circulations, phenomena that would be of particular
concern to an army in combat (Swingle, 1950; Swingle
and Rosenberg, 1953; Wexler, 1947). The storm detection
and cloud base and top detection radars, as well as the
sferics equipments were, of course, types of the entire class
of remote sensing systems and pointed the way to probing
the atmosphere by optical, radio, and acoustic devices.
Although the program had originated with three materiel
requirements, its scope now expanded mightily. As the
work of this group expanded, staff was added. Some of
the more prominent members included Ewart Annett, Cecil
Bastian, Raymond Robbiani, and Seymour S. Shefter
(electronic engineers); William J. Richards, Louis Rosen-
berg, and Bruce Watson (meteorologists); and Abraham
Golden (physicist).
2.3.1 Research Activities
In the research group, matters of importance to Army
operations were emphasized. These included radar pre-
cipitation determination, wind determination, and small-
scale meteorology. These were knit together with concern
for nuclear burst observation, fallout prediction, and at-
mospheric simulation, all of which involved weather radar
applications. A study under Prof. Fred W. Decker of Or-
egon State University reviewed past Army operations. It
revealed a need for quite local wind and trafficability (pre-
cipitation) determinations over both friendly and enemy
areas of the battlefield.
2.3.1.1 Precipitation Determination
Precipitation very strongly affects the off-road mobility
of ground forces. "General Mud" has determined the re-
sults of many military engagements. Since storm detection
radar gives an immediate qualitative view of the distri-
bution of precipitation, the laboratories were interested in
means to make such determinations more quantitative.
In early 1951, Mrs. Whedon (of OCSigO) called to our
attention the work of Glenn Stout's precipitation research
group at the illinois State Water Survey (ISWS). They were
developing radar-aided techniques to detail more com-
pletely the amount and intensity of precipitation in lllinois.
This involved the use of storm detection radar and densely
instrumented raingage networks. The latter also docu-
mented the mesoscale features present in almost all pre-
cipitation. Atlas and Ulbrich (Chapter 12) discuss the early
history of precipitation measurements.
The Signal Corps Laboratories supported the ISWS work
for about 15 years. Initial emphasis was on documenting
12 RADAR IN METEOR.OLOGY
the mesoscale, but it gradually shifted to a program to
obtain approximately one year of drop-size distribution
data, using raindrop photography, f~om each major cli-
matic area of the world. These ranged from Indonesia to
Oregon, to Miami and New Jersey, covering thunderstorm,
shower and continuous rain, warm and cold fronts, squall
lines and hurricanes.
After the droplet dimensions were scaled off the pho-
tographs, the backscatter per unit volume, absorption coef-
ficient and total attenuation coefficient were computed for
wavelengths ranging from 2 to 10 em, using Mie formu-
lations. Additional measures of interest such as liquid water
content, rainfall rate, and statistical measures of the dis-
tributions were computed. The reports of this group (in-
cluding Changnon, Huff, Jones, Mueller, Sims, and Stout)
probably form the most extensive archive on drop-size
distributions.
Their data demonstrated that attenuation can be better
determined by the one-step process of estimating atten-
uation from echo intensity rather than by first estimating
rain rate from echo intensity and then estimating atten-
uation from rain rate. They also found very significant
departures from the widely used Marshall-Palmer drop-
size distribution. The use of more appropriate precipitation
and attenuation relationships should contribute signifi-
cantly to improving precipitation measurements by future
radars.
The data clearly showed that "continuous rain" and
"shower rain" were governed by a single relation, which
was quite different from that for "thunderstorm rain." If
the character of the storm were known, the proper rela-
tionship could be chosen. It appears likely that these re-
lations can be generalized into a formula whose arguments
include the depth of active convection or some convective
instability index. The ISWS data were consistent with the
earlier observation that almost all precipitation originates
in either small generating cells or lines, or in thunderstorm
complexes (Swingle, 1950). See Douglas (Chapter 8) for
a brief discussion of the work on generating cells at McGill
University.
We also looked into means for identifying electrically
active storms on the radar PPI, and, using sferics tech-
nology, designed a minor radar modification to display
strobe lines pointing to each lightning stroke (Swingle,
1953a). This aided in discriminating between thundercloud
and other precipitation and also in identifying tornadic
echoes.
Hitschfeld and Bordan (1954) had argued that X-band
was not usable for radar rainfall measurements. However,
practical considerations of radar size and weight, critical
to tactical mobility, dictated the use of X-band. Wexler and
Weinstein had shown that heavy precipitation occurs in
relatively small and infrequent cells, so that an experienced
radar meteorologist would rarely fail to suspect cells in. the
attenuation shadow (Swingle, 1951). Similarly, for rainfall
measurement, frequent and technically feasible radar cal-
ibration, use of appropriate relationships between atten-
uation, rain rate and reflectivity, the deliberate undercom-
pensation for attenuation, and imposition of upper bounds
to attenuation-corrected reflectivity would yield signifi-
cantly better precipitation determinations at X-band over
an entire observing area than could possibly be obtained
by nonradar means.
2.3.1.2 Wind Determination
While general synoptic-scale forecasts are provided to
the Army by the Air Force, mesoscale data are generally
unavailable in the field. The one exception to this is in the
area of upper-air soundings in the combat arena. These
are taken by Army artillery units and are critically impor-
tant to achieve accurate targeting. The Army artillery takes
many more soundings than has been justified for general
military or civilian weather forecasting. With the ever in-
creasing accuracy of means to locate unfriendly targets,
errors in atmospheric data, principally winds, have become
a major portion of the total fire delivery error budget. The
recognition of this led to the development of the AN 1
TMQ-19 radar wind measuring set and, more recently, the
AN I TMQ-31 meteorological data system. It also led to
the evolution of a comprehensive anaiysis of the errors in
meteorological data measurement, both by radar and other
techniques. This analysis revealed that, to a close approx-
imation, the ballistic application really requires the vertical
integral of the horizontal wind over a shell's trajectory, a
quantity approximated by the balloon's horizontal dis-
placement in reaching the height attained by the ballistic
body, and not by the balloon's velocity.
Although limited space does not permit discussion in
depth here, the same rawinsonde set AN I GMD-1 B, which
may measure winds aloft in the troposphere with an ac-
curacy of 5 to 10 knots and stratospheric winds with an
accuracy of 10 to 20 knots, can measure the effective bal-
listic wind with an accuracy of 1.0 knot and the effective
wind for fallout from a thermonuclear weapon with an
accuracy of about 0.01 knot. This illustrates just the sort
of benefit that can often be achieved by improved tech-
niques in the use of existing equipment. It is also an ex-
cellent example of the principle taught by Abraham Ar-
nold: meteorological observations should be designed to
serve the application rather than the application sacrificed
to use the observations. We shall return to this theme in
connection with the design of military weather radars
(Swingle, 1957; Giraytys, 1970).
2.3.1.3 Radioactive fallout Prediction
As a consequence of our work on measurement errot:5
of radar and rawin wind-finding systems and mesoscale
phenomena, the laboratory was asked to develop a tech-
nique for predicting radioactive fallout. The first crude
method was evolved by Barnett and Swingle. It was further
 WEATHER RADAR IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY'S FORT MONMOUTH LABORATORIES 13
developed into the "Signal Corps Method." The technique
embodied the great strength of the Army artillery wind
computation algorithm (not used by the world's weather
services). William G. Stone developed an electronic analog
version of the method. The group also had industry con-
tracts to develop a much more powerful digital method
for general use. Bruce Watson designed a special plotting
device to facilitate the use of artillery-type winds in the
Army's fallout prediction system. Because part of the ra-
dioactivity from a nuclear burst may be brought to the
earth's surface in precipitation particles, MIT was given
the task to develop techniques to predict rainout. This en-
tailed the use of storm detection radars to determine the
location and movement of precipitation and to characterize
the drop-size distribution and particle fall velocity.
2.3.1.4 Nuclear Cloud Observation and
Measurement by Weather Radar
Because of his involvement in fallout prediction research,
Swingle was invited to observe a major nuclear test in the
Marshall Islands. On his arrival, he noted that the Air
Force weather station had a CPS-9 storm detection radar.
With their cooperation, he obtained the first known scope
photographs of a nuclear cloud (Swingle, 1958). Figure
2.1 is an RHI photo of a mature mushroom cloud, showing
Fig. 2.1 Mature nuclear cloud on AN jCPS-9 RHI scope.
the toroidal ring cloud on each wing above the narrow
stem. In discussions with the weather station personnel,
he learned that such echoes were regularly observed and
that care was taken not to report nuclear cloud echoes in
the station's radar reports. The occurrence of such echoes
was, of course, to be expected. Each nuclear burst in the
moist Pacific Ocean environment would necessarily pro-
vide the concentrated thermal energy and latent heat to
drive a large, single-cell thunderstorm, commonly called
the mushroom cloud (Richards and Watson, 1958).
2.3.1.5 Small-scale Meteorology and
Meteorological Simulation
To exploit the promise of understanding the behavior
of the atmosphere at subsynoptic scale, contracts were
placed with the University of Chicago (Dr. Tetsuya Fujita).
Fujita had been working with Stout's radar group in prob-
ing the mesoscale structure of the atmosphere. Under the
Signal Corps contract he performed analyses of data and
initiated planning for a mesometeorological network. Thus
the laboratory contributed to the early stages of Fujita's
extensive and well-known work in mesoscale meteorology.
Under a contract with Texas A&M University, Dr.
Maurice Halstead and Dr. William Clayton surveyed the
state of micrometeorology and recommended a compre-
hensive research plan to make micrometeorology accessible
to Army use. They conceived of a scheme to implement
the Eulerian equations of motion for the atmosphere in
the form of a special-purpose analog computer and actually
constructed and demonstrated a rudimentary but highly
impressive device. It was at once obvious that a more am-
bitious conception would yield a computer that would in-
put radar and rawin data, as well as local micrometeoro-
logical information, and would simultaneously solve the
nonlinear baroclinic equations of motion for the boundary
layer, for an entire atmospheric column, and even for the
entire atmosphere.
Texas A&M proposed a modest inital effort to solve si-
multaneously for two wind components, temperature, and
vapor pressure in 12 atmospheric layers reaching to 1050
m, and for temperature and moisture content in six soil
layers down to 2 m. Energy balance was imposed at the
earth's surface and geostrophic flow at 1050 m and above.
This computer was to be an important means to improve
the accuracy and representativeness of data to be measured
by the TMQ-19 radar wind system, then being considered
for development, as well as for the GMD-1 rawinsonde
system already in the field. Of course, it would also be a
major advance in meteorology.
Previous efforts to project wind observations forward
for artillery applications had proven fruitless, partly be-
cause they exaggerated the errors of the tracking system.
Studies by Dr. Robert Rapp, the Signal Corps Laboratories,
and Dr. Elsasser of the Air Weather Service had shown
that the best wind prediction technique for periods up to
14 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
2 to 6 h was simple persistence of the observed value. The
simulation concept of conservatively solving the equations
of motion offered the possibility of successful short-range
prediction based on radar determinations of target area
cloud, soil moisture (precipitation) and wind.
In the Army way of computing the winds aloft for bal-
listic correction applications, a balloon tracking (position)
error at a given zone boundary produces equal and op-
posite vector errors in the winds computed for the two
zones that it separates. Since the Low-Level Meteorological
Simulator (LLMS) includes coupling between layers and
conserves momentum, it would remove such errors and
also would predict temporal changes dictated by the equa-
tions of motion. With minor augmentation the LLMS could
also predict refractive index profiles, anomalous radar
propagation, and corrections therefor.
Clayton carried the project to completion and delivered
the experimental LLMS to Fort Monmouth. Experience
with its operation showed the need for several relatively
simple improvements. After adding these, we did indeed
demonstrate that the LLMS performed the function of error
reduction and, even better, could make predictions of wind,
temperature and vapor pressure in the 12 layers with an
accuracy greatly exceeding simple persistence for predic-
tion times of up to 4 h. This feat is not normally achieved
by human forecasters. The LLMS actually integrated the
equations of motion, and did so at a rate of 24 h of pre-
diction time per minute of run time. Its success can be
traced to its use of conservative computation techniques
to limit the propagation of errors. An example of this is
the way in which the hydrostatic equation is used in ra-
diosonde sounding to achieve height measurements with
both bias and random errors of only about 0.1% rms as
shown by the data of Harmantas and Hodges of the U.S.
Weather Bureau's Instrument Division. Another is the
conservative solution obtained by the isentropic analysis
technique. The LLMS was used in research from 1960 to
1969.
2.3.2 Weather Radar Equipment
With the recognition of the potential of storm detection
radar to observe nuclear events, our research group at the
Meteorological Branch turned its attention to acquiring a
highly capable facility for further research. Following a
study by Raymond Robbiani, resources were obtained to
develop such a set.
2.3.2.1 Radar Set AN/MPS-34
This set was designed to have greater sensitivity than
the CPS-9, with a vi~w to being able to observe nuclear
events regularly in dry environments. It was also made
mobile by being built into a 30ft trailer. Designed by the
Raytheon Corporation, it was based on the CPS-9, with
minor changes in the console layout. The most important
innovation was the inclusion of a cryogenically cooled
MASER radio frequency preamplifier. This resulted in a
12,5 dB decrease in the minimum detectable signal (Rob-
biani, 1964). The set was used on many nuclear tests and
in the BOMEX, where Michael Hudlow provided radar
weather surveillance.
2.3.2.2 Radar Set AN/TPS-41
In the early 1960s, the Army determined that it had
requirements for a radar wind finder and a weather-nu-
clear surveillance radar for tactical use. Robbiani partici-
pated in the studies of the preliminary design of these,
and he determined that they could be built with consid-
erable commonality. They would have the same frequency
and peak power, similar antenna drives and dishes, re-
ceivers, modulators, etc. Differences would involve a
tracking system, a shorter pulse length, and wider receiver
bandwidth for the wind finder. Both required successful
operation in all kinds of weather and high sensitivity. The
wind finder became the AN I TMQ-19, while the weather-
nuclear surveillance set became the man-transportable ra-
dar set AN I TPS-41. The latter included range and pre-
cipitation attenuation compensation, isoecho contouring,
a new echo detector to assist the operator, and the ability
to drive remote displays at lfistances up to a mile over
standard field telephone wire (Robbiani, 1965). It was also
adaptable to the addition of an Area Precipitation Mea-
suring Indicator, developed by W.G. Stone, to permit out-
put of integrated rainfall over designated areas. The set
fully passed its field tests at the completion of development
by Fairchild-Hiller. By this time, the laboratories had re-
organized and the development was conducted in the
Special Sensors Technical Area of the Combat Surveillance
and Target Acquisition Laboratory at the Evans Area.
2.3.2.3 System Parameter Selection
The CPS-9, MPS-34, TPS-41, and TPQ-6 radars shared
common design considerations. For all, there were strong
size and weight constraints, the need to detect large num-
bers of small particles with narrow horizontal and vertical
beamwidths, so that the beam is typically completely in-
tercepted by the cloud of scatterers, and the requirement
for maximum achievable sensitivity. In the case of the
TPQ-6 and the TMQ-19 wind finder, the requirement for
good range resolution dictated a short effective pulse
length. The other sets could accept less range resolution
in exchange for greater sensitivity. This was achieved with
a long pulse length and a narrow bandwidth receiver.
In tum, Swingle, Wexler, and Robbiani had studied the
choice of radio frequency, with full knowledge of the at-
tenuation problem. In the case of all but the TPQ-6, a
trade-off of expected performance with military require-
ments led to the use of X-band. For the TPQ-6, the choice
went to K-band. An important consideration was that all
 WEATHER RADAR IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY'S FORT MONMOUTH LABORATORIES 15
were to be operated by trained personnel who would be
alert for the occasional, temporary, and partial loss of
echoes caused by rainfall attenuation. In any event, the
ability to move with and be used by the supported forces
had greater weight than the nicety of never having to say
there was attenuation. In the choice between nonatten-
uated wavelengths and tactical practicality, "le mieux est
l'ennemi du bien!" (the best is the enemy of the good-
Voltaire). In later years, both the military and civilian
weather services found a need for weather radar operating
in fixed sites. For these, the larger, heavier radar systems
at 5- to 10-cm wavelength represented the appropriate
compromise design and were adopted. This effectively
eliminated the vexatious problem of precipitation atten-
uation.
3 PUBLICATIONS
The references included in this summary number about
23; this is less than one-fourth of the papers published
and/ or presented by members of the weather radar ac-
tivities at Fort Monmouth. It is unfortunate that more of
these are not in the open literature, but we were generally
preoccupied with serving our military customers, and
publication was not our top priority. Nevertheless, the
achievements of the Signal Corps Laboratories have been
formidable. We take special pride in having helped to lay
the foundations of radar meteorology through the devel-
opment of the various storm detection, cloud observation,
and wind measurement radars that comprise the heritage
from which present-day meteorological radars evolved.
4 RETROSPECTIVE
As I look back on the period of over thirty years of work
in the Signal Corps Laboratories, starting with the arrival
of the first AETC trained officers at WEMS, I am repeatedly
impressed by the multiple and reentrant paths of the work
started by Joseph Fletcher. The work branched and grew,
then reconnected at a later point into an interwoven cloth
of progressive and interrelated pioneering research and
development, reaching far beyond the three equipments
originally conceived in 1945.
The initiatives of Duffy and Fletcher affected the careers
of many. Even for those who dropped out of work closely
related to weather radar, we find their training in meteo-
rology and radar engineering led into advanced technical
and scientific careers (e.g., Aden, Brooks, Rudd, and Sletten
in electronic engineering; Witten into gravity theory;
Fletcher to an ice island and later to important roles at
Rand Corporation, the National Science Foundation, and
NOAA Environmental Research Laboratories, and his
current position as Assistant Administrator of NOAA).
For myself, I have been continually grateful to be in a
tripedal career of meteorology, electronic engineering, and
applied physics, rather than my original prewar target of
teaching secondary math and science. This was made pos-
sible first by the Aviation Cadet (Meteorology) program,
then by the AETC training, and finally by the GI Bill, which
helped pay for graduate education. I am certain that many
others in the initial group of radar trained weather officers
share my appreciation and gratitude for the exciting careers
with which we were rewarded.
APPENDIX:
LIST OF ACRONYMS
AAF Army Air Field
AETC Army Electronics Training Center
BOMEX Barbados Oceanographic and Meteorological
Experiment
ISWS Illinois State Water Survey
LLMS Low-Level Meteorological Simulator
MASER Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Elec-
tron Radiation
MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology
NOAA National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Ad-
ministration
OCSigO Office of the Chief Signal Officer
OIC Officer-In -Charge
PPI Plan Position Indicator
RCA Radio Corporation of America
RF Radio Frequency
RHI Range-Height Indicator
SCGSA Signal Corps Ground Signal Agency
WEMS Weather Equipment Methods Section
16
Chapter 3
Radar Meteorology at Radiation Laboratory,
MIT, 1941 to 1947
Isadore Katz,* Applied Physics Laboratory, fohns Hopkins University
Patrick f. Harney, Energy Consultation Services
1 INTRODUCTION
The Radiation Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT) was primarily responsible for the de-
velopment of radar during World War II. The Laboratory
was divided into many specialized groups; Group 42, a
subdivision of the Laboratory, was assigned the field of
propagation of electromagnetic (EM) waves, especially in
the centimeter wavelength region (Kerr, 1951).
Radar systems resulting from these efforts were designed
to search for aircraft and ships, but soon after the radars
were turned on, it was discovered that many unexpected
returns appeared on the monitors. These echoes were ul-
timately identified as coming from hydrometeors, sea and
land clutter, refractive index irregularities, birds, and in-
sects. Much of the research in Group 42 centered around
identifying and understanding these returns and drew on
the more general fields of scattering and refraction of EM
waves.
While carrying out its mandate, Group 42 members ex-
changed information with other groups in the United States
and England doing similar research. At times Air Force
personnel were assigned to work with Group 42 research-
ers. There was free interchange of ideas in both directions.
Giving credit for specific ideas, interpretations, and findings
at this time would indeed be difficult.
l RADAR ECHOES
As mentioned above, the radar echoes seen on radars
were frequently not from the desired aircraft or ship targets.
Many were diffuse and area-extensive, some weak and
some strong. Some were detected when the radar was
pointed overhead. Some diffuse echoes appeared when
searching for ships or small surface targets, while other
echoes appeared at distances well beyond the radar ho-
rizon. Many of these echoes had immediate explanations,
but others required experiments and the application of
theory to determine their physical causes.
2.1 Precipitation
Precipitation was probably the first of the diffuse echoes
to be explained. Echoes seen at a distance and moving
*Retired.
toward the radar were found to be from rain when the
echoes arrived over the station. Early on, aircraft were dis-
patched to make in situ checks on the presence of rain
within echo-filled areas. Invariably rain or snow was found
to be present in the designated areas.
Two examples of precipitation echoes in New England
are shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Figure 1 is typical of echoes
detected when thunderstorms passed through the Cam-
bridge area. Figure 2 is an example in RHI mode of pre-
cipitation in which generating cells and precipitation trails
are evident. The three photos in this figure were taken
within one half-hour period. Indeed, in the center picture,
evidence of the bright band is also visible. Other examples
of precipitation patterns may be found in Kerr (1951).
These include photographs of instability showers, cold
front passage, widespread rain, and also a case involving
a hurricane.
Photographs like these made at the Radiation Laboratory
(Bent 1943, 1945, 1946) constituted unquestionable evi-
dence, starting at least as early as 1942 (and possibly as
early as February 1941 ), that radars were able to detect
and follow precipitation systems. Analysis of the radar
echoes showed that movement of the rain echoes corre-
sponded with motions of winds aloft. Precipitation was
observed up to altitudes of 40 000 ft and out to distances
of 250 miles. Atlas and Ulbrich (Chapter 12) describe these
earliest observations of precipitation.
Scope photographs of the hurricane system referred to
above may be found in Kerr (1951, pp. 637, 638). It traveled
along the New England coast and was tracked with an
experimental10-cm radar from the roof of the MIT East-
man building in September 1944. This was a memorable
event because the azimuth drive was temporarily inop-
erative and the antenna was manually rotated inside the
radome by the head of Group 42, D.E. Kerr, while very
high winds (but short of hurricane force) were blowing
just outside the radome.
Along with the experimental work on precipitation
echoes, parallel theoretical efforts attempted to explain and
quantify the findings. Goldstein and Kerr summarize much
of this effort (originated by Goldstein, Kerr, Siegert, Uhl-
enbeck, Goudsmit, and others) in Kerr (1951, pp. 445-
640). Goldstein discusses the concept that radar targets
(like precipitation, sea clutter, chaff, and ground clutter)
consist of many independent scatterers and that echo
 RADAR METEOROLOGY AT MIT RADIATION LABORATORY
Fig. 1 PPI photograph of thunderstorm conditions in the_ vicinity
of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 14 july 1942 as detected wzth a 10-
cm radar. Range markers are 5 miles apart.
phases are random and move with or are driven by the
wind. He recognized that turbulence within the illuminated
area would affect the fluctuation rate. Goldstein also gave
the correct derivation for the first and second probability
distributions of the velocities of the scatterers and showed
examples of the first probability distribution of velocities
and the power spectrum of the motion in rain. Studies of
return from chaff and sea and ground clutter showed sim-
ilar results. This gave evidence that the spectral width was
related to the relative radial velocities and turbulence inside
the storm. There were also large variations within each
storm and from storm to storm. Rogers (Chapter 16) dis-
cusses the further evolution of signal fluctuations and
Doppler radar. ·
It became clear that microwave radars would soon be-
come a quantitative research tool to advance our knowl-
edge of meteorology. One could visualize the radar signal
providing information about turbulence, rain intensity, to-
tal liquid water, and perhaps even drop-size distributions.
Clearly, more experiments were needed and new methods
had to be devised to obtain drop-size distributions in rain,
on the ground, and aloft. The war ended and the Labo-
ratory was disbanded before such experiments could be
carried out.
l.l Clear-Air Echoes
Echoes from the clear atmosphere were reported by re-
searchers at the Radiation Laboratory and other labora-
17
Fig. 2 Three RHI photographs showing vertical cross sections
of a storm. Time is shown in upper right. Generating .cells and
precipitation trails are evident; there may also be a brzght band
in the center photograph.
tories. At the time these reports were labeled "angels,"
since no visible evidence of discrete objects was in the
radar beam. Many theories were advanced to explain their
existence.
The "angels" were detected at times by pointing the
antenna upward while the signals were viewed on an A-
scope. They appeared in clear weather, out to several
thousand meters, lasting only fractions of a minute, and
were found to exist on summer nights and under calm
conditions. They did not exhibit high fluctuation rates as
did precipitation echoes. They appeared on 1-cm to 10-
cm radars. When tracking was possible they were found
to move approximately with the wind speed at their alti-
tude. Cross sections were between 10- 6 and 10- 4 m 2 •
Theories explaining these clear-air echoes ranged from
insects to birds to sidelobe echoes to refractive index ir-
regularities and to many-times-around echoes. Although
the explanation of these echoes was the subject of heated
18 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
discussions at scientific meetings, it was not until well after
the war that the correct theory was available. The first
correct explanation of what are now called "clear-air
echoes" was that the echoes were caused by index-of-
refraction irregularities in that portion of the refractivity
spectrum at one-half the radar wavelength (Booker and
Gordon, 1950). Hardy and Gage (Chapter 17) give more
background on this subject.
2.3 Sea Return
There was no question that the sea surface would scatter
EM waves and that the scattering would be a function of
sea roughness. Because of the masking effect of the ocean
on ship echoes, considerable effort was directed toward
understanding the mechanism of sea return and seeking
ways of minimizing its deleterious effects; see Goldstein
(in Kerr, 1951).
Experiments were performed to examine various char-
acteristics of the return: wavelength- and depression-angle
dependence, strength of return versus sea state andjor
surface roughness, probability distribution of the echo,
azimuthal dependence versus wave direction, etc. Also,
comparisons were made with experiments done at other
laboratories.
The theoretical analysis of fluctuation rates followed
closely the treatment described above under clear-air
echoes. As in the case with clear-air echoes, the correct
explanation came after the war; namely, that the major
scattering energy came from that portion of the sea surface
irregularities in the water surface (wave height spectrum)
at one-half the radar wavelength. Hildebrand and Moore
(Chapter 22a) describe modem developments for remote
sensing of the sea surface, waves, and winds.
2.4 Ground Clutter and Terrain Return
Scatter from land also posed difficulties to early designers
of radar systems. It hampered detection of low flying tar-
gets and necessitated a search for methods to circumvent
the problem. Some success was achieved by use of moving
target indicators, but these caused small targets to be un-
detectable. Later, of course, Doppler radars helped in this
regard.
An illustration of echoes from coastal land targets may
be seen in Fig. 3. The upper photograph shows some land
targets to the west and the southwest out to 20 miles but
the scope is clear elsewhere-a somewhat normal situation
for the Radiation Laboratory radars. The lower photograph
shows many strong land echoes along the Maine coast out
to about 120 miles, obviously an abnormal or anomalous
propagation condition. This subject will be discussed later.
Such strong land targets were a problem in that they would
prevent detection of aircraft flying at lower altitudes, but
little effort went into unraveling scattering from terrain at
the Laboratory. It was realized, however, that terrain return
could be put to good use as a navigational aid in aircraft
flying at night or under reduced visibility conditions.
3 MICROWAVE PROPAGATION
3.1 Atmospheric Ducts
A large portion of the research effort in Group 42 con-
centrated on the refraction problem. It was known that
EM waves traveling close to the earth's surface would be
refracted by nonuniform vertical structure of the atmo-
sphere.
If a stratified layer is present in the atmosphere in which
the index of refraction decreases with altitude sharply
enough and the EM wavelength is short enough, trans-
mitted energy may become trapped within that layer. Un-
der these conditions the radar energy may be of sufficient
strength to detect targets at distances perhaps an order of
magnitude larger than normal. These conditions were
given the name of "ducts" or "trapping"; the atmosphere
is acting as a "leaky" waveguide.
Many cases of extremely long range detection of land
targets were reported: in the Mediterranean, off the north-
west coast of Africa, in the Strait of Hormuz, in the Persian
Gulf, in Australia, and in New England (Booker, 1944).
At the Radiation Laboratory there were many cases of de-
tections of surface ships out to more than 250 miles when
the normal radar horizon was about 20 miles. Conversely,
there were also some cases when the radar horizon was
much less than normal, indicating the presence of sub-
standard propagation conditions.
3.2 New England Propagation Experiments
To understand ducting more thoroughly, it became ob-
vious that an experimental program was needed to relate
the vertical structure of the atmosphere with quantitative
EM measurements. Group 42 designed a propagation path
for a two-year experimental study (Rubenstein and Fish-
back, 1943; Fishback and Rubenstein, 1944; Rubenstein
et al., 1944). One path was from Eastern Point, near
Gloucester, Massachusetts, to near the tip of Cape Cod
(Race Point), a distance of about 41 miles, all over water.
Two radars were also situated at Race Point. In addition,
a 10-cm one-way path was set up from Deer Island, near
Boston, to Eastern Point. This was almost an optical line-
of-sight path, 22 miles long, for comparison with the be-
yond-the-horizon 41 mile path.
3.3 Meteorological Equipment
and Measurements
Specially designed meteorological equipment (Katz,
1951) was used to measure the atmospheric structure, spe-
cifically temperature and water vapor, from near the sur-
 RADAR METEOROLOGY AT MIT RADIATION LABORATORY 19

7~0

500 .:::
-
c:;

. &:
no
250 ~

300 310
Refractive modulus M
10-milo range marks.
::lhullow c.Jucts.

750

500 :::
.S
.c:
0.0
'Qj
250 ::r:

~~-L~~~~--L---_Jo
300 310 320 330 340
Refractive modulus M
20-mil(! ra.JJ.Io:C marks.
Dci'!J duct.<~.

Fig. 3 Two PPI photographs showing only land targets. Upper photo (10 mile range markers) taken on a "standard"
day shows some elevated land targets to the west at about 20 miles. Lower photo (20 mile range markers) show strong
anomalous coastal echoes out to about 120 miles.

face to about 1000 ft. The equipment was suspended from
balloons or kites, or carried aloft on aircraft. Land aircraft
were used to make soundings over the water down to
within 50ft of the surface. Col. E.G. Boardman flew his
own airplane accompanied by R.H. Burgoyne as observer.
Lt. J.O. Fletcher used an Army Cessna with Lt. J. Nastro-
nero as observer; see further details in Fletcher (Chap-
ter 1).
Soundings were made along the transmission path and
also nearly normal to the path. The normal-to-the-path
soundings were required to study the modification of the
air as the air moved from the land, where the air was well
mixed, toward the transmission path, where the air would
have undergone modification by the cool (and, of course,
moist) water surface. This permitted study of upward dif-
fusion of heat and moisture as a function of wind speed,
stability, and other variables. A mobile Army weather sta-
tion was used at the water's edge at Duxbury, Massachu-
setts, to help characterize the unmodified air. In addition,
small Navy boats were operated in Massachusetts Bay for
the balloon soundings and water temperature readings.
These measurements and soundings were augmented by
the usual weather information supplied by the Boston
Weather Service as well as data from the U.S. Coast Guard.
3.4 Results
Some of the more important advances in the under-
standing of the effects of the atmosphere on radar prop-
agation follow. Stratified layers generally exist in the at-
mosphere both near the surface and aloft. When warm
dry air moves over a cool water surface, the air in contact
20 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

July 7,1944 0845·0912 EST S rf . d fAt Sounding-Calm

7 miles E of Duxbury, Mass. u ace wm l At DUJ<bury E 5 m ph
1000 o Ascent 1000
• Descent

~ 500
~
J: \

•\
'
o ~~~~~~~~~~~------~~~~~~~~~~~o

58 62 66 70 74 78 340 350 360 370 380 .

Dew point T~ and temperature T in °F Potential modulus +and refractive modulus M .

Fig. 4 Sounding taken in Massachusetts Bay, 7 miles offshore, showing the atmospheric structure
within a sea breeze.

with the water becomes cool and stable and moisture is The second class of propagation conditions is shown in
concentrated near the surface. This results in an increase Fig. Sb. Signal strength is much stronger (the average is
in temperature and a decrease in water vapor with height- about -36 dB), and the fluctuation rate is slower. There-
thus also a greater than normal decrease in refractive index fractive index is that of a well-mixed atmosphere. In Fig.
with height (see Gossard, Chapter 27a). At times vertical Sc a typical partial trapping condition can be seen: signal
gradients aloft exist between masses of air of different or-
igins, giving rise to elevated ducts.
-30~------------------~r---------~ ~~
Figure 4 is one example of the soundings taken during
the experiment. Dewpoint (T5 ), temperature (T), potential
refractive index (t), and modified refractive index (M) are
plotted, all as a function of height above the water surface
(Montgomery and Burgoyne, 1945). Temperature and re-
fractive index at the surface are indicated by arrows. These
soundings were made in Massachusetts Bay. This figure is
representative of a sounding taken through a sea breeze
(Kerr, 1951; Craig et al., 1945). 500
Since the EM waves traverse the entire path, the at-
mospheric structure must be inferred over the entire path. t

A meteorological team was assembled to reconstruct the 0 ·=

~
most representative vertical structure along the path, using 0 .,
.!!!'
:r
actual soundings, soundings in the unmodified air before
leaving land, trajectory of the air, water temperature, and 11
<:
- to 500
vertical mixing (Craig, 1946; Emmons, 1947). These syn- ~ N+30 db
~ -20
thesized soundings were used to compare the atmospheric ""
<n
Standard at -43 db
0
state with the EM signals. +20
Propagation conditions fell into four distinct classes: 1~

substandard, standard, partial trapping, and strong trap-

ping. These are shown in Fig. 5. Signal strength records
are shown on the left and refractive index on the right for
-20 + 40 db
each class. For substandard conditions (Fig. Sa), the signal (d)
Standard at -36 db
is very weak, less than -55 dB below free-space signal -~~r-------~------~~~~--~~--~ ~
2 3 320 330 340 350
strength, accompanied by rapid scintillations. The refrac- Time in hours Refractive modulus M
tive index curve shows a substandard layer below 100 ft
above the water. This condition occurred when warm moist Fig. 5 These figures illustrate how received signal in the one-way
air overran cold water. The vertical structure in the lowest path experiment varies with atmospheric conditions. Signal strength
layers of air showed increasing temperature and increasing is shown on the·left and modified index of refraction on the right. (a)
moisture content with altitude. Under these substandard is a substandard case, (b) standard, (c) partial trapping, and (d) a
conditions, radars were found to have very limited range superrefraction case with the duct height extending up to several
detection capabilities. hundred fee t.

strength is perhaps 30 dB higher than standard with a
much steadier signal. The accompanying index curve
shows a weak duct below 100ft. Figure 5d illustrates what
happens to the signal with a stronger surface duct or an
elevated one. The signals fluctuate over perhaps a 25 dB
range, and the average signal is about 40 dB or more above
standard.
Over water the standard condition was found to occur
only rarely, which is not surprising since the water surface
is a source of moisture and strong gradients of water vapor
are bound to exist near such a discontinuity.
3.5 Comparison with Theory
A great deal of theoretical work was done before 1947
in the prediction of field strength; a thorough treatment
by Freehafer et al. may be found in Kerr (1951, pp. 27-
180). One problem with making a comparison between
theory and experiment was that the actual atmospheric
soundings were much too complex to use in a theoretical
model directly. The soundings had to be approximated by
a linear or a bilinear model. Comparisons were made be-
tween measured signal strength and that predicted from
theory using a bilinear approximation. Considering the
large spread in the experimental results, one could conclude
that the fit was good.
4 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF
WINDS ALOFT
Corner reflectors were carried aloft on balloons at the
Radiation Laboratory and used to calibrate the radar sys-
RADAR IN METEOROLOGY 21
terns. It occurred to the Air Force personnel working in
Group 42 that such a balloon-borne reflector could be used
for determining winds aloft to replace the optical tech-
niques. Since the radars available at the time had no au-
tomatic tracking equipment, a method was devised to scan
across the flight path while readings were taken of the
angular position of the maximum signal return on an A-
scope. With angle and range as a function of time, hori-
zontal position and thus the wind speed could be calculated
at each altitude. Some jet stream measurements were made
using the technique, probably for the first time. Since pre-
vious methods were optical, radar wind finding was clearly
an improvement, especially in clouds or in low visibility
conditions. The Signal Corps and the Weather Service
quickly incorporated this system into their operations (see
Fletcher, Chapter 1).
Acknowledgments. The personnel involved in the work
of Group 42 at Radiation Laboratory were P.O. Bales, A.E.
Bent, R.H. Burgoyne, F.W. Clelland, W.T. Fishback, J.
Freehafer, H. Goldstein, N.W. Hancock, B.E. Howard, J.B.
Hursh, I. Katz, D.E. Kerr, M.C. Meyers, R.M. Mitchell, R.B.
Montgomery, L.J. Neelands, W.H. Paulsen, G.T. Rado, P.J.
Rubenstein, A.B. Vane, and D.G. Wilson.
Air Force personnel attached to Group 42 for different
periods were R.A. Craig, J.O. Fletcher, P.J. Harney, W.E.
Gordon, J.R. Gerhardt, J. Nastronero, and, from the Mas-
sachusetts National Guard, Col. Earle G. Boardman.
22
Chapter 4
Weather Radar at MIT
Pauline M. Austin* and Spiros G. Geotis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Weather Radar Research at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology has been ongoing for more than forty years.
Well over two hundred people, ranging from senior staff
members to part-time undergraduate student assistants,
have participated in the work. This brief and informal ac-
count cannot include all their names or the details of their
work, but we recognize that each, in some way, has made
a contribution to the overall effort.
1 THE FIRST DECADE: 1946-1956
1.1 Initial Organization
The Weather Radar Research Project in the Department
of Meteorology of MIT officially started on 15 February
1946 under sponsorship of the U.S. Army Signal Corps
Engineering Laboratories.
Stated objectives were:
1. To learn more concerning the detailed nature of the
scattering of microwaves by water and ice particles as they
exist naturally in the atmosphere.
2. To learn to interpret usefully all phases of radar in-
formation associated with the weather.
3. Through the use of radar and airborne observations
to increase our knowledge of meteorology, particularly
precipitation processes.
These broad and ambitious aims were tackled with vigor.
Alan Bemis was appointed Project Director. His research
in cloud physics started in the 1930s and continued during
the war with infrared detection devices and guided mis-
siles, so he had some knowledge of electromagnetic ab-
sorption and scattering by hydrometeors in the free at-
mosphere. Henry Houghton, who was Chairman of the
Department of Meteorology and whose special field was
cloud physics, was also deeply involved in planning and
directing the research. At that time, calculations of the
reflectivity of hydrometeors and the attenuation of micro-
wave radiation caused by them had been made by Ryde
and Ryde in England. Also, in the Radiation Laboratory
at MIT, some consideration had been given to the relation
between signal fluctuations and the relative motions of
scattering particles, and to the relation between particle
shape and scattering at circular polarization. Specific plans
*Retired.
for the Weather Radar Project involved confirming theo-
retical studies through direct comparisons of airborne
measurements of hydrometeors with radar observations
from two ground-based systems.
By midsummer of 1946 the personnel roster of the proj-
ect was complete and included seven research staff mem-
bers, seven technicians and two administrative assistants.
Two radars (the 10-cm SCR-615-B and the 3-cm AN/
TPS-1 0, "Tippy") had arrived from the Signal Corps and
were being installed in the laboratory. An instrumented
B-17 aircraft supplied by the Air Force arrived with its
crew at Bedford Airport in September 1946.
On 14 March 1947, a weather radar conference was
held at MIT for the purpose of showing the project facilities
to other groups involved with or interested in the appli-
cation of radar to meteorology and to discuss research pro-
grams with them. Over ninety people attended this infor-
mal conference. They included representatives from all
branches of the Armed Forces and their research labora-
tories, the Canadian Department of National Defense, the
U.S. Weather Bureau, the Bureau of Standards, six uni-
versities (including MIT), the Civil Aeronautics Board,
several airlines, and several electronic companies. Among
those in attendance were Alan Bemis, Stewart Marshall,
David Atlas, Pauline Austin, Raymond Wexler, and Ken-
neth Spengler. No formal papers were presented but min-
utes were compiled from notes taken during the discussion
session. A wide variety of subjects were considered, in-
cluding the difficulty of making quantitative measurements
of the signal return; the need to know more about the
frequency of occurrence of various precipitation rates (for
estimating attenuation); drop-size distributions in natural
rain; the source of "angel" echoes (could they be caused
by birds or by variations in the index of refraction of air?);
causes and effects of superrefraction; and the "bright line"
frequently observed near the freezing level. Many of these
basic problems still remain.
Copies of the minutes were sent to those who attended
the conference, and the closing comment in Alan Bemis'
covering letter was, "We thought this first Weather Radar
Conference a great success and hope there will be a
No.2."
1.l Flight Program
On the research staff were two graduate students work-
ing toward degrees in meteorology, Bob Cunningham and

Myron "Herb" Ligda. Bob was primarily concerned with
the flight observations. He supervised calibration and test-
ing of instruments for the "conventional" measurements
of temperature, humidity, pressure altitude, and gusts, as
well as the construction, testing, and installation of special
instruments for measuring liquid water content (for both
raindrops and cloud drops) and for decelerating snow
crystals and catching them on slides. Much effort was di-
rected toward development of an airborne instrument for
measuring raindrop-size distributions, the disdrometer, the
design of which involved interruption of a light beam by
drops passing through it. This instrument actually reached
the stage of being flight tested, but it never became sat-
isfactorily operational. Even without the disdrometer the
B-17 developed into an impressive airborne laboratory as
improvements in accuracy and automatic recording tech-
niques were added to the instruments. In the fall of 1951
the entire Weather Radar staff flew to Urbana, Illinois in
the B-17 so that the instrumentation could be demonstrated
to our colleagues attending the Second Weather Radar
Conference.
Weather flights were scheduled for times when routine
synoptic forecasts indicated that a significant storm would
be within range of the radar observations. During flights,
activities were constantly monitored from the radar room.
A transponder on the aircraft kept the radar observer in-
formed of its position and radios provided voice com-
munication. From the scope displays, which were only
semiquantitative in those days, the radar observer (Alan
Bemis or Herb Ligda) would describe the storm to the
weather observer on the plane (Bob Cunningham) and
help to direct the plane to especially interesting regions in
the storm. Meanwhile Bob was busy monitoring the re-
cording instruments, taking photographs of clouds, col-
lecting samples of snowflakes and I or cloud droplets, and
making extensive visual observations of the clouds and
precipitation particles. Very early in the program Bob's
observations helped to settle a controversy regarding the
nature of the radar "bright line." At that time some me-
teorologists argued strongly for explanations other than
melting snowflakes, invoking some rather exotic theories
about drop formation in a "colloidally unstable layer" with
"shells of vapor pressure discontinuities" surrounding the
drops. On the weather flights, however, Bob consistently
found wet snowflakes in the region of enhanced reflectivity
with dry snowflakes above it and raindrops below. Bob
also performed or supervised most of the analysis and
synthesis of the flight data. In 160 operational flights during
the five years of our flight program, a great deal of infor-
mation was amassed about the characteristics, distribution,
and growth of hydrometeors in storms. After our flight
program ended in 1951 Bob went on to the Air Force Geo-
physical Laboratories and continued his airborne storm
watching for many years. Quite a few years elapsed, how-
ever, before another program was set up anywhere that
involved direct comparisons of airborne observations with
measurements from a ground-based radar.
WEATHER RADAR AT MIT 23
1.3 Radar-Scope Observations
Herb Ligda was primarily concerned with the radar ob-
servations. He was fascinated by the intricate patterns and
variety of banded structures exhibited by the precipitation
echoes. He worked on cameras and techniques for still and
time-lapse photographs of both the PPI and RHI with date,
time, elevation (or azimuth) angle and range markers dis-
played on each photograph. Sequences of photographs
with the radar gain reduced in preset steps provided semi-
quantitative data. Numerous scope photographs were
taken in almost every storm that occurred. Herb built a
film viewer to aid in analyzing and interpreting the scope
photographs. These photographic data provided valuable
descriptive information about storms (frequency and va-
riety of banded structures, heights and dimensions of cells,
precipitation layers aloft, etc.) and were the basis for a
number of theses and papers. Herb's own studies of echo
motions and observations of lightning were especially
outstanding. After completing his degree at MIT Herb
continued his research in radar meteorology at Texas A&M
and at Stanford Research Institute until his untimely death
in 1967. Herb pointed out that many weather features
depicted by the radar were of a size not previously ob-
servable, and he coined the term "mesoscale" to describe
them.
Depiction of the details of storm structure, especially in
the vertical, was greatly improved after the AN I TPS-1 0
radar was replaced in 1949 by a prototype AN I CPS-9.
From the CPS-9 we obtained beautiful photographs of
features such as the "bright band," "generating cells," and
showers sloping because of wind shear. On "Tippy" we
did not even have height markers but had to calibrate it
by tracking the plane as it flew paths at fixed altitudes.
1.4 Reflectivity Measurements
The importance of obtaining quantitative data was rec-
ognized from the start; techniques for averaging the fluc-
tuating signal and for calibrating the radar received high
priority. Staff people tackling these problems were engineer
Ed Williams, who went on to Raytheon in 1951 to direct
production of the AN I CPS-9, and physicist Polly Austin,
who stayed with the project and became director in 1955
when Alan Bemis retired. Although she officially retired
in 1979, Polly still continues to do some work with the
project's library of weather radar data.
Early measurements of average signal power were re-
stricted to a single "point" (the volume encompassed by
range gate and beam cross section). They were made with
the pulse integrator, a modification of a device developed
in the Radiation Laboratory for measuring sea clutter. Sig-
nals were stored and averaged in a condenser that charged
rapidly and discharged very slowly. One of our first ex-
periments was to compare rainfall rate measured by a gage
with the radar signal from the atmosphere just above the
24 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
gage, measured with the pulse integrator. In our initial
results the radar measurements were many decibels below
the expected values. We therefore undertook a program
of radar calibration that succeeded in explaining at least
part of the discrepancy.
Having no antenna range, we estimated the antenna
gain by measuring the return from an aluminum sphere
20.75 inches in diameter, borne aloft by a tethered balloon.
We measured the beam pattern by scanning across a target
which returned a very stable signal. The target, which
turned out to be a pair of water tanks on top of a hill, also
served as a good monitoring device since the returned
power was relatively constant over periods of many days.
It was not until the late 1950s that we were able to make
quantitative measurements in two dimensions. Meanwhile
with the pulse integrator we continued to measure the
reflectivity of the atmosphere directly above recording
raingages, we drew vertical profiles of reflectivity through
the melting layer and into the snow above it, and we re-
corded vertical and horizontal profiles in convective cells.
Polly Austin and Ray Wexler, who was with the project
from 1952 to 1955, analyzed the data and interpreted them
in terms of life histories of hydrometeors.
1. 5 Fluctuation Measurements
The first device for measuring and analyzing signal fluc-
tuations was a spectrum analyzer dubbed "Rasaph"; it
followed a design developed in the Radiation Laboratory
and produced an audio-frequency spectrum by scanning
through a number of frequency intervals and recording
the returned power in each. Glenn Hilst, a graduate student
in the late 1940s, analyzed the output of this instrument
by comparing measured spectra with ones calculated for
different assumed wind fields. The comparisons were rea-
sonable, but the slowness of data collection together with
the variability of both observed and model spectra made
this instrument impractical for operational use. Further
work on signal fluctuations was spearheaded by Mel Stone
who joined the project in 1948. He built a system for re-
cording the time-varying signal on tape and then calcu-
lating the autocorrelation function and frequency spec-
trum. The theory regarding information contained in
weather noise was developed in considerable detail by
Aaron Fleisher. Stone and Fleisher were able to obtain
some measured gust-velocity distributions, but concluded
that a less complicated system would be required for op-
erational use. Mel Stone soon moved to a staff position at
MIT's Lincoln Laboratory where he has continued to work
in the field of weather radar and to interact constructively
with this project.
Walter Rutkowski, foreman of the radar laboratory in
the mid-1950s, created an instrument that could make a
quick measurement of the signal fluctuation rate. He hoped
that it would be useful for detecting turbulence. In a theo-
retical analysis Aaron Fleisher showed that the instrument,
called the R-meter, actually measured the spectral width
of the signal, a quantity that combines in a single number
the effects of turbulence, wind shear, and differences in
fall velocities of the scatterers. The term R-meter (originally
named for Rutkowski) turned out to be especially apt since
much of the data from this instrument was analyzed by
R.R. Rogers, who was a graduate student research assistant
from 1955 to 195 7. By using RAWIN soundings to estimate
the contribution from wind shear and subtracting it from
the total variance measured by the R-meter, Rod Rogers
was able to conduct a study of turbulence in a number of
storms. He concluded, though, that the R-meter is of lim-
ited value for measuring turbulence because the wind-
shear and turbulence components are so often of similar
magnitude. Rod went from MIT to Cornell Aeronautical
Laboratories to work with Doppler radar measurements.
He later joined the faculty at McGill University and re-
cently served as chairman of the Department of Meteo-
rology there.
1.6 Measurements with Variable
Polarization
A study of the extent to which radar can provide infor-
mation about the shape and orientation of hydrometeors
in the free air was undertaken by Reginald Newell, Spiros
Geotis, and Aaron Fleisher. Speed Geotis built a 3-cm radar
using some World War II radar components and some units
constructed in the laboratory. The special feature of this
radar was a device for rapid changing of the antenna po-
larization. The polarization could be changed from linear
to circular (or vice versa) in a few seconds and the returned
power in each case was measured with a pulse integrator.
The ratio between the two intensities, the cancellation ratio,
serves as a measure of the extent to which the shapes of
the scatterers depart from sphericity. Comparison of re-
turns with horizontal and vertical polarization yielded in-
formation about any tendency for a preferred orientation
of nonspherical particles. Cancellation ratios (a total of
nearly 3000) were measured in all the storms that occurred
for a period of a year; observed targets included rain, snow,
melting snow, frozen rain and a few believed to be hail,
although these last were difficult to verify. Results indicated
that raindrops depart from sphericity by small but per-
ceptible amounts; a typical cancellation ratio of 15.5 dB
would correspond to axial ratios of 0.7 and 1.3 for oblate
and prolate spheroids of water, respectively. Cancellation
ratios in dry snow were similar in magnitude to those in
rain but indicated considerably greater departures from
sphericity combined with much lower densities of the par-
ticles. Measurements in rain and dry snow showed little
or no tendency for preferred orientation and there was no
apparent correlation between reflectivity and cancellation
ratio. Cancellation ratios were much larger in the bright
band, as expected, and there a tendency toward horizontal
orientation of the scatterers was found.

1. 7 Other Meteorological Measurements
A field station at a site about 20 km from the radar at
MIT provided additional information about the storms and
about the hydrometeors in a region close to the volume
sampled by the radars. At this site were two recording
raingages and a balloon-tracking radar (SCR-584). Also
a number of raindrop-size distributions were measured at
the field station by means of the flour-pellet technique.
These drop-size measurements were rather crude, but
agreed with the raingage data and were also in general
agreement with the Marshall-Palmer distributions. Thus
the fact that radar signals from the atmosphere just above
the gages were consistently several decibels below the ex-
pected values (based on the Marshall-Palmer relation)
could not be explained by the drop-size distributions. Most
of the discrepancy eventually disappeared. We think it
may have been caused by a fault in the signal generator
used for calibration, but it was the source of much baffle-
ment for several years.
In March 1957, MIT hosted the Sixth Weather Radar
Conference. The advances of radar meteorology were ev-
ident. Numerous reels of scope photographs were available
that pointed out the complexity of storm structure and
showed qualitatively many interesting mesoscale features.
Instruments had been built for measuring average signal
intensity, signal fluctuation rate and the changes in echo
associated with changes in polarization, and many mea-
surements had already been made. The relation between
these measured quantities and the characteristics and mo-
tions of the scattering hydrometeors had been explored
theoretically.
In addition to the serious reporting of research results,
this conference featured a lighthearted skit, and everyone
joined in singing a ditty that has now become classic among
the radar scientists. We called for "more data, more data!"
despite the substantial amount of data that had already
accumulated. We were keenly aware of the limitations im-
posed by having quantitative data only at points, or at best
along a line, and longed to extend them to two and three
dimensions, thus coming closer to measuring "everything,
everywhere, all of the time," as suggested by our ditty.
2. THE SECOND DECADE: 1956-1966
2. .1 Radar Instrumentation
The broad range of experiments and analyses carried
out during the first decade essentially fulfilled the original
commitment to explore applications of radar to meteorol-
ogy. In the ensuing years the project continued with a
much smaller staff and a narrower scope of activities. Effort
was focused on improving reflectivity measurements and,
during this decade, capabilities were extended from mea-
suring at a single point with the pulse integrator to dis-
playing full two-dimensional maps of reflectivity in dBZ .
WEATHER RADAR AT MIT 25
Development of instrumentation was under the direction
of Spiros Geotis, who has been project engineer from the
late 1950s up to the present time. Major contributions in
design and construction were made by several colleagues
from other countries who spent time at MIT either as vis-
itors or staff members of the project. Nobuhiko Kodaira,
from the Meteorological Research Institute of Japan, was
on the research staff from 1955 to 1958. He designed and
built a sweep integrator that made it possible to display
maps of all areas where the reflectivity exceeded any one
of 13 intensity levels. By using a logarithmic receiver and
a quartz delay line, Kodaira was able to superimpose sig-
nals from a number of pulses without loss of range dis-
crimination. He included automatic compensation for
range attenuation and for attenuation by atmospheric gases
and, finally, a level selection unit that cut off all echoes
below the threshold of the desired intensity level. Kodaira
originally hoped to be able to display several intensity lev-
els simultaneously as contours, but the weather patterns
were too complex. Contour maps were made by photo-
graphing sequences of the scope display at increasing in-
tensity levels and then tracing the outlines from the film
viewer.
Jurg Joss from the Swiss Meteorological Service was a
visitor with the project for six months in 1962. He assisted
in building instrumentation, but his primary aim was to
acquaint himself with the field so that he could develop
and direct radar studies in Switzerland. His significant
contributions over the years are well recognized. Another
brilliant young Swiss engineer, Donat Hoegl, who joined
the staff in 1962, designed an improved sweep integrator.
By using frequency rather than amplitude modulation for
carrying the signal through the delay line, he was able to
increase the number of pulses contributing to the average
and to improve the resolution of the radar maps. Mario
Schaffner came from Italy in 1962 and worked on the
problems of data storage and processing. By 1966 he had
built a totally digital sweep integrator, thereby helping to
inaugurate the use of digital technology in radar meteo-
rology.
During this decade significant advances were made in
techniques for calibrating the radars. In particular, far-field
measurements with a standard-gain hom proved to be
much more reliable than the aluminum sphere method.
Since the mid-1960s we have routinely checked the cali-
brations by comparing measurements on two radars. They
have consistently agreed to within one or two decibels
except at times when the shorter-wavelength radiation was
affected by attenuation.
2.2 Auxiliary Meteorological Measurements
Supporting meteorological measurements were contin-
ued and expanded. The field station was moved to the
home of the project machinist, Ed Bean, in West Concord,
26 RADARINMETEOROLOGY
Massachusetts. With several sensitive tipping-bucket rain-
gages, a large flow-meter type gage and two microbaro-
graphs, he accumulated an extensive and detailed file that
was not only useful for comparing with the radar data but
also served as a basis for statistical studies of short-period
rainfall rates in New England. We had recording raingages
at MIT, too, and made many observations of raindrop-size
distributions by the filter-paper method. Also, GMD-1A
radiosonde equipment, supplied by the Army Electronics
Laboratory, served to supplement data from the National
Weather Service soundings, which were often too sepa-
rated in time and space to describe conditions during the
storms we observed. The sondes were launched from the
roof of the building, a rather "hair-raising" procedure, as
there was no safety rail and turbulent eddies caused the
balloons to duck and dive before they could be successfully
released.
2.3 Evaluation o£ Radar Measurements
With improved calibration and two-dimensional reflec-
tivity maps, prospects for using radar to measure rainfall
were considerably brighter. Comparisons between gage
indications and radar echoes from the atmosphere directly
above the gages at the field station showed agreement
within about two decibels. For a few storms isohyetal maps
of total storm rainfall were generated by manual digitizing
and integrating of the intensity-contour data. Comparison
with isohyets drawn from daily amounts recorded by rain-
gages in the National Weather Service network resulted
in good agreement. Even with 69 gages in an area 80 X 65
miles, however, the radar data generally showed more de-
tail than the gages and at times depicted small areas of
heavy rain that missed the gages entirely.
Average drop-size distributions from the filter-paper
samples were exponential in form. They differed slightly
from those obtained by Marshall and Palmer, but there-
sulting Z -R relation was essentially the same.
A study of the detectability of hail and a possible relation
between hailstone size and radar reflectivity was carried
out during the summers of 1961 and 1962 under the su-
pervision of Speed Geotis and with the cooperation of the
weathercasters of station WBZ-TV. On days when we ob-
served radar echoes greater than 55 dBZ, the weathercas-
ters would request any viewers who had seen hail to send
in postcards giving the location and time of the observation
and the size of the hailstones. Over 1000 cards were re-
ceived each summer. Results with the 10-cm radar indi-
cated a threshold of 55 dBZ and high correlation between
maximum hailstone size and reflectivity factor, ranging
from pea-size stones at the threshold to golf-ball-size
stones for 65-70 dBZ. Results with the 3-cm radar were
inconsistent because of the severe effects of attenuation.
We were able to make direct measurements of rain at-
tenuation of 3-cm radiation by comparing two-dimensional
reflectivity maps from the two radars. The observed
amounts agreed well with values calculated for the rainfall
rates along the path of propagation. Rain rates were de-
duced from the 10-cm maps, and calculations of the at-
tenuation as a function of rain rate were based on drop-
size data.
2.4 Interpretation o£ the Measurements
Intensity-contour maps from the radars, in both hori-
zontal and vertical planes, provided material for a number
of analytic studies performed by graduate students for their
thesis research. These studies were supervised by Profes-
sors Henry Houghton, James Austin, Frederick Sanders,
and Reginald Newell, and by Drs. Pauline Austin and
Aaron Fleisher.
Many of the studies described storm structure and be-
havior. They included an analysis of where new convective
cells formed in squall lines and how they moved; devel-
opment and description of isolated thunderstorm com-
plexes; precipitation patterns associated with cold fronts;
dimensions, spacing, and vertical structure of convective
cells and their relations to Benard cell theory; and motions
of rain areas in Hurricanes Carol and Edna. Some of the
studies explored relations between rainfall and other me-
teorological parameters: intensity of surface convergence
and the formation of rain showers; correlation between
radar reflectivity and parameters important to aviation such
as ceiling and visibility; the role of convective cells in the
vertical transport of heat and horizontal momentum; and
relative efficiencies of convective and stratiform precipi-
tation. The usefulness of linear prediction techniques for
forecasting precipitation in 5 X 5 mile areas was explored,
and the role of precipitation in modifying fallout from
atomic detonations was examined.
Because of the difficulties inherent in manual processing
of the radar intensity-contour data, the analytic studies
were limited in scope and exploratory in nature. In covering
such a wide range of subjects, however, they provided
important guidelines regarding those areas where more
comprehensive studies might be expected to yield signif-
icant results and where the radar might prove to be op-
erationally useful. They also pointed out areas that ap-
peared to be less promising. Comprehensive meteorological
studies and consideration of operational applications could
not be undertaken until techniques for digital recording
and processing were more fully developed.
During this decade major support for the Weather Radar
Project at MIT came from the U.S. Army Research and
Development Laboratory, from the Air Force through
AFCRL and Lincoln Lab, MIT, and from the National Sci-
ence Foundation. Additional support from the Air Force
came indirectly since quite a few of the Air Weather Service
officers who came to MIT for graduate studies elected to
do their thesis research in radar meteorology.

3 THE THIRD DECADE: 1966-1976
3.1 Instrumentation and Measurements
This decade was characterized by acquisition of new
radars and development of a fully digital capability for
recording and processing the data. Such a system was
needed if we were to shift emphasis from exploring the
potential of the radar to actually using it as a meteorological
instrument.
In 1964 the Department of Meteorology moved to the
new 20-story Earth Science Building at MIT. The move
literally opened new horizons for the Weather Radar
Project, since by that time the continually rising skylines
of Boston and Cambridge had obscured the whole state
of Maine and much of New Hampshire from the old radar
site. Rather than moving the SCR-615-B radar, we replaced
it with a new 10-cm radar, dubbed WR-66. This radar was
assembled from surplus military parts, purchased com-
ponents, and parts built in the laboratory, and it was a
great improvement over the old one in both resolution and
sensitivity. The 18-ft paraboloid antenna was far too large
to fit into an elevator and had to be hoisted to the roof
with a winch, a slow procedure accomplished without in-
cident but accompanied by a good deal of breath holding.
Development of our recording and processing instru-
mentation received an enormous boost by our commitment
to participate in GATE ( GARP Atlantic Tropical Experi-
ment) in 1974. For the experiment we acquired a 5-cm
radar that could be mounted on a ship (the WR-73 radar
built by Enterprise Co.). Since this radar would later replace
the AN jCPS-9 in our laboratory, the beamwidth and
sensitivity were carefully matched to those of the WR-66.
All of these activities were under the direction of Speed
Geotis. In 1972 he hired a young computer science engi-
neer, Ken Yeager, to help convert our entire system to
computer technology. Ken designed and built a program-
mable digital integrator and the necessary hardware for
controlling the radar and recording the data in GATE. As-
sistant to both Speed and Ken was Bill Silver, then an
undergraduate at MIT. Bill stayed with the project until a
year after his graduation and contributed greatly to the
development of our data recording and processing system.
During preparation of the radar instrumentation for
GATE there was close collaboration between the three
groups planning to make quantitative radar observations;
i.e., the weather radar groups from NOAA, McGill Uni-
versity, and MIT. Their joint efforts in coordinating and
calibrating the radars resulted in an excellent and extensive
file of radar data from GATE. The MIT radar was on the
oceanographic research vessel Gilliss under sponsorship
of the National Science Foundation. Speed, Ken and Bill
operated the radar on the ship; Polly Austin spent time in
Dakar coordinating ship and shore operations for all of
the shipborne radars. Frank Marks, a graduate student re-
WEATHER RADAR AT MIT 27
search assistant, also participated in GATE as a member
of the Special Analysis Group; the task of this group was
to make on-the-spot examination and evaluation of the
various types of data being collected.
The acquisition of a Joss disdrometer in 1967 greatly
expanded our ability to observe and analyze raindrop-size
distributions. The disdrometer was used for series of mea-
surements in Panama (in 1968), in New England (1969-
71), and also aboard the Gilliss in GATE.
3.2 Analyses
Until the digital system was complete, we continued to
record intensity contours on film using the WR-66 and
AN/ CPS-9 radars. Important studies based on these data
include the work of Bob Houze and others on the structure
of precipitation and characteristics of cells and mesoscale
areas, on models for computing vertical transports asso-
ciated with cells and mesoscale areas, and on the role of
cellular convection in extra tropical cyclones. Also deserving
of special note is Peter Yau's work on modeling of micro-
physical processes in precipitating cumulus cells.
The large amounts of data from the disdrometer could
be handled by computer. Thus we were able to observe
similarities and differences in drop-size distributions in dif-
ferent geographical areas (New England, Panama, GATE)
and also differences between individual storms in New
England. Appropriate Z -R relations for different storm
types in New England were deduced.
The extensive data from GATE were processed and ar-
chived. Analyses based on them included case studies of
selected stituations, application of Yau's convective cell
model to cells observed in GATE, and evaluation of rainfall
measurements by the satellite-borne ESMR (Electronically
Scanning Microwave Radiometer).
The advances du,ring this decade were especially satis-
fying in that we entered it still encumbered with having
to process data manually and emerged from it well
launched into the era of digital data and computer pro-
cessing.
4 THE FOURTH DECADE (AFTER
1976} AND OVERVIEW
This most recent decade has seen the addition of Doppler
capability to both radars and continual upgrading of the
system for recording, processing and display of the mea-
surements. Recent and current studies based on the ex-
cellent data now obtainable are concerned with mesoscale
storm structure and circulations (including coastal fronts);
with precipitation bands and how (or why) they form;
with the nature of lightning strokes and what they tell us
about thunderstorm electrification; and, still, with hydro-
logical applications.
Since GATE, the WR-73 radar has traveled, under
sponsorship of the National Science Foundation, to par-
28 RADARINMETEOROLOGY
ticipate in several major field experiments: MONEX (Mon-
soon Experiment) in Malaysia in 1978; GALE (Genesis of
Atlantic Lows Experiment) in North Carolina in 1984; and
to Huntsville, Alabama, in 1987 for tests of a new traffic-
control radar for FAA, being conducted by Lincoln Lab-
oratory, MIT.
The overall advances in radar meteorology during four
decades are indeed impressive, as observations have
moved from photographs of white areas on the scope to
digital data on magnetic tapes. With the improving data,
there has been a corresponding increase in understanding
of the observed meteorological phenomena. Special con-
tributions of the Weather Radar Project at MIT include
achievements in making reliable quantitative measure-
ments of weather echoes, assessing their accuracy, and
considering the specific meteorological information that
they contain.
In the pioneering days we were the first (or certainly
among the very first) to build instruments for measuring
average signal intensity, audio-frequency fluctuations, and
the effects of different polarizations. The earliest instru-
ments were based on techniques initiated in the Radiation
Laboratory at MIT. We introduced adaptations and new
designs to make them more suitable for weather echoes.
Our analyses helped to determine the quantities measured
by the radar and their relation to useful meteorological
parameters (e.g., radar reflectivity to rainfall rate, fluctu-
ation rate to turbulence, cancellation ratio to composition
and shape of hydrometeors). After those early days we
concentrated on the problems of calibrating the radars and
improving the means for measuring reflectivity. The pres-
ent ability to record and display accurate maps of radar
reflectivity with fine resolution and broad coverage owes
a great deal to the work of scientists and engineers in this
laboratory.
We have been especially cognizant of the fact that the
problems of meteorological interpretation extend well be-
yond uncertainties in the measurements themselves. A ra-
dar observation generally contains information about a
particular meteorological quantity but is not a direct mea-
surement of that quantity and, in addition, it is influenced
by other physical factors. We have recognized the impor-
tance of understanding such effects and have worked to-
ward describing them quantitatively and finding ways for
taking them into account. We would like to think that our
influence in making others more aware of these problems
has, in itself, also been a significant contribution.
Communication and collaboration between different re-
search groups, fostered by the series of conferences, has
been an important factor in the development of radar me-
teorology. The MIT group not only initiated these confer-
ences, but its members have been strong supporters of and
participants in all of them.
Its location in the Department of Meteorology at MIT
has provided an ideal environment for the Weather Radar
Project. Opportunity for staff members to consult with
eminent meteorologists and engineers on the faculty and
to work with bright young students has made it an exciting
and productive place to work.
Finally, we recognize that especially important output
of academic institutions-educated people. At our labo-
ratory many generations of students and many visiting
meteorologists have had first-hand experience with radar
measurements and have become involved in analyzing the
data. Some have gone on to specialize in radar meteorology
and have made their contributions. Others who may not
have continued to be directly concerned with radar have
nonetheless contributed by spreading an understanding
of radar and its possible applications into different areas
of meteorological research and operations.
 WEATHER RADAR AT MIT 29

5 A PHOTOGRAPHIC LOOK BACK

7 6 2 1 4 5 3
Fig. 1 Weather Radar Research Group circa 1949, including (1) Alan Bemis,
(2) Herb Ligda, (3) Bob Cunningham, (4) Pat Harney, (5) Ed Williams, (6) Hal
Foster, and (7) Carl Richardson.

Fig. 2 Graduate student Herb Ligda and project machinist

Ed Bean calibrating the Hudson-jardi raingage (-1948).
30 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Fig. 3 Some of the MIT group at the Fifth Weather Radar Conference (Asbury Park, New
jersey, 1955). Back row: Mel Stone, john Santoro, Spiros Geotis, Walter Rutkowski; front
row: Aaron Fleisher, Ray Wexler, Reginald Newell.

Fig. 4 john D. Stackpole, ]r., looks over fluctuation data taken Fig. 5 Pauline Austin at console of prototype AN/ CPS-9
with the variable polarization radar ( -1959). (-1962).
 WEATHER RADAR AT MIT 31

6 THEME SONG OF THE SIXTH WEATHER RADAR CONFERENCE

(lyrics by Aaron Fleisher)
More data, more data
Right now and not later.
Our storms are distressing,
Our problems are pressing.
We can brook no delay
For theorists to play.
Let us repair
To the principle sublime
Measure everything, everywhere
All the time.
For data are solid,
Though dull and though stolid,
Consider their aptness
Their matter-of-factness.
Theory is confusion,
A snare and delusion,
A dastardly dare,
A culpable crime,
Measure everything, everywhere
All the time.
No need to be weary
Of the mysteries of theory.
We have only to look
At the data we took,
Immediately inspired,
Grasp the answers required.
What are so rare
As reason and rhyme.
Measure everything, everywhere
All the time.
More data, more data,
From pole to equator
We'll gain our salvation
Through mass mensuration.
Thence flows our might,
Our sweetness, our light.
Our spirits full fair
Our souls sublime;
Measuring everything, everywhere
All the time.

L'Envoi

And it shall come to pass, even in our days,

That ignorance shall vanish and doubt disappear
Then shall men survey with tranquil gaze
The ordered elements shorn of all fear.
Thus to omniscience shall we climb
Measuring everything, everywhere, all the time.
32
Chapter 5
A History of Weather Radar Research in the U.S. Air force
James I. Metcalf and Kenneth M. Glover, Air Force Geophysics Laboratory
1 INTRODUCTION
The weather radar research program of the U.S. Air
Force has a distinguished history of scientific productivity
and resulting contributions to the Air Force, the meteo-
rological community, and the nation. Many well-known
scientists have been associated with this program as lab-
oratory staff members, as visiting scientists, or as collab-
orators in joint research efforts. In addition to these direct
connections with the broader scientific community, there
have been indirect and subtle connections and influences
as a result of the scientific work and publications of the
program. In this historical review we trace the evolution
of the program from its origins shortly after World War II
through successive stages of scientific and technological
advancement. The primary emphasis is on the years before
1971, and many distinct contributions of the individuals
who have constituted this professional and personal
"family" are highlighted. It is noteworthy that six of the
first nine employees of this program were on the staff of
Air Force Geophysics Laboratory (AFGL) as late as 1980
and that three have served in the weather radar program
for more than 34 years.
This account focuses on the work and people of the
weather radar program. The work of other organizations
and the prior or subsequent experience and affiliations of
members of this program are noted only to the extent that
these relate to the Air Force program. Over the years there
have been changes in the larger organizational structure
within which the weather radar program has been con-
ducted, reflecting changes of emphasis and orientation in
Air Force research and development. These changes result
in varying references to organizational elements through-
out the narrative. Details of the laboratory organizational
structure and evolution have been compiled by Uebowitz
(1985), and are generally beyond the scope of the present
paper. The acronyms introduced in the text are summarized
in the Appendix of this chapter.
2 ORIGINS, 1948-54
Significant events and accomplishments:
Backscattering and propagation studies.
Observation of upper snow bands and melting layer.
Observation of "angel" echoes in sea breeze, Round Hill,
1953.
Weather radar research activity was underway in several
places by 1947, largely as an outgrowth of radar devel-
opment during World War II. The U.S. Army Signal Corps
had established a Weather Radar Section in its Evans Signal
Laboratory in Belmar, New Jersey, with primary emphasis
on radar storm detection, and in early 1946 had begun to
support the Weather Radar Research Project at Massachu-
setts Institute of Technology (MIT). The Army Air Forces
(AAF) had initiated a weather radar program (Project AW-
MET-8) in the All Weather Flying Division (AWFD) at
Wright Field, Ohio, in December 1945 "to investigate the
use of airborne radar in meteorology with particular em-
phasis on the avoidance of hazardous weather conditions"
(Atlas, 1947). First lieutenant David Atlas, who had at-
tended radar school at MIT and Harvard University as a
weather officer and had been attached to AWFD in 1945,
and two other first lieutenants were in charge of this pro-
gram, the operational phase of which continued through
July 1946, encompassing both winter and summer weather
regimes (Miller, 1947). The second phase of the Thunder-
storm Project, coordinated by The University of Chicago
and conducted in Ohio in the summer of 1947 in collab-
oration with AWFD, further served both to demonstrate
the value of radar for storm measurement and to establish
directions for future research and equipment development.
Weather radar research was also underway at Harvard
University, the University of Florida, McGill University in
Montreal, the University of Texas at Austin, and the Naval
Research Laboratory.
An atmospheric laboratory was established by the Air
Materiel Command of AAF in its Watson Laboratories in
Red Bank, New Jersey, in March 1947. This laboratory,
renamed the Geophysical Research Division (GRD) in
February 1948, hired Atlas in May 1948 to lead a new
weather radar research program. He moved from Red Bank
to the Boston area in October, when GRD was transferred
from Watson Laboratories to the Air Force Cambridge Field
Station. This program was initially part of the Electro-
magnetic Propagation Laboratory, directed by Nathaniel
C. Gerson, and was located at Watertown Arsenal with
other elements of the Division. Early members of the pro-
gram included Harold Banks (who came from Red Bank
with Atlas), Ludwig Katz, and Wilbur Paulsen. Paulsen
had worked in the Radiation Laboratory during World War
II and subsequently at the Naval Research Laboratory until
the end of 1949. Banks and Katz were in the weather radar

program only briefly: Banks left in 1950 or 1951 to serve
as a weather officer during the Korean War, and Katz
transferred to the space physics research program in GRD
by late 1951. Vernon Plank joined the weather radar pro-
gram in the spring of 1951, having previously been in-
volved with radio signal propagation research at the Naval
Electronics Laboratory in San Diego, California.
Later that year, the program was transferred to the At-
mospheric Physics Laboratory, directed by Peter H. Wyc-
koff, where the weather radar group became the Field
Studies Unit (later the Weather Radar Unit) within the
Cloud Physics Section under Charles Anderson. In De-
cember 1951 the weather radar group moved to a new
building at L. G. Hanscom Field, Bedford, Massachusetts.
The new building was a small brick structure, which still
stands as Building 1115 on Katahdin Hill near the present
buildings of AFGL. Albert Chmela joined the group in
April 1952, having been a member of the Atmospheric
Physics Laboratory since early 1951. (He retired from the
program in 1986.) Amn. 2nd class Kenneth Glover was
assigned to the Unit as an electronics technician from No-
vember 1952 until he separated from the Air Force (as
Staff Sergeant) in September 1955. Plank reluctantly left
the Unit in 1953 to join the new airborne cloud physics
research group led by Robert Cunningham, who had re-
cently joined the Section after finishing his doctorate at
MIT. Plank was selected for this transfer because of his
prior experience in airborne meteorological measurements.
Ralph Donaldson, who had been a member of the Elec-
tromagnetic Propagation Laboratory since 1949 but not in
the weather radar program, then transferred into the Field
Studies Unit. (He retired from the program in 1981.) Gra-
ham Armstrong joined the Unit as a radar engineer in Feb-
ruary 1953. Leonard Shodin, a skillful technician, joined
the Unit in March 1953. He transferred to the Antenna
Laboratory of AFCRC in May 1954 to avoid the commute
to the Great Blue Hill, and he was replaced in June by
Ruben Novack, who transferred from the machine shop
of the Research Services Branch. Paulsen left the Unit in
August 1954 to lead an effort in the development of op-
erational remote sensing equipment in the Meteorological
Development Laboratory. Armstrong and Novack continue
as members of the program.
A major research effort from the beginning involved the
effects of the atmosphere on the scattering and propagation
of radio-frequency signals. Part of this work was conducted
in-house and part was conducted on contract at McGill
University. This contract was a key element in the estab-
lishment of the Stormy Weather Group there under Prof.
J. Stewart Marshall. (The Group was an outgrowth of
Project Stormy Weather, established at McGill University
by the Canadian Army Operational Research Group to-
ward the end of World War II; see Douglas, Chapter 8).
Among the students pursuing advanced degrees in the
Group were Kenneth Gunn and Walter Hitschfeld. From
this contract came the landmark paper on the statistics of
WEATH£R RADAR IN THE U.S. AIR FORCE 33
meteorological radar signals by Marshall and Hitschfeld
(1953) and other reports on radar backscatter from rain,
snow, and hail. Milton Kerker, a colloid chemist at Clarkson
College of Technology in Potsdam, New York, attended a
conference on scattering phenomena at McGill University,
became interested in the problems of microwave scattering
by hydrometeors, and spent some time at McGill. His early
work on the subject inspired Atlas to pursue the problem
of polarization effects in backscatter from nonspherical
particles as a master's degree thesis at MIT and in collab-
oration with McGill University (Atlas, 1951; Atlas et al.,
1953a). The results of the entire effort were summarized
by Atlas et al. (1952). In 1987 Atlas learned, while visiting
Japan, that his work with Kerker and Hitschfeld had in-
spired Tomohiro Oguchi at the Radio Research Labora-
tories in Tokyo to pursue the study of electromagnetic
scattering from nonspherical particles for which Oguchi is
now well known. The scattering amplitude coefficients
computed by Oguchi and his colleagues have been in-
valuable in studies of polarization dependent radar back-
scatter at AFGL and elsewhere.
By 1951 the weather radar group had acquired and
modified a war surplus APS-34 radar for quantitative me-
teorological studies. This 1.25-cm wavelength vertically
pointing radar, which became known affectionately as the
"clunker," was a mainstay of the observational work of
the Unit for several years. The 21 December 1951 issue of
the weekly GRD Spectrum described it as "a weird assort-
ment of electronic equipment, all specially designed to
measure the characteristics of the echoes received by radar,
which unlike most radars looks only overhead." It was
operated at Watertown Arsenal from June to December
1951 and thereafter at Katahdin Hill, Lexington (Plank,
1956). These observations led to improved understanding
of the melting layer and of the precipitation streamers that
were originally called "upper snow bands" (Fig. 1). Efforts
were also under way to develop improved quantitative
measurement of precipitation by radar. This work con-
tributed substantially to the development of statistical re-
lationships between radar reflectivity and rainfall rate
(Plank et al., 1955). In June 1952 the Unit acquired a TPQ-
6 scanning 8.6 mm wavelength radar, designated a "Cloud
Base and Cloud Top Indicator," which was put into routine
observational use beginning in February 1954 (Figs. 2
and 3).
In May and June 1953 the Field Studies Unit, with other
members of the Cloud Physics Section, went to the MIT
Round Hill Field Station in South Dartmouth, Massachu-
setts, with the APS-34 radar and other instrumentation to
observe coastal fog. Observations included radar reflectiv-
ity at vertical and horizontal incidence by means of two
fixed antennas, drop-size distribution by means of a wind
tunnel and impaction device, liquid . water content by
means of a ventilated screen collector, visibility by means
of a transmissometer, and microwave refractivity. Prior to
this time, the 1.25-cm radar had detected echoes in the
34 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

'",..rr.p 1523 1533 15<: 3

'c
')" ~ ::2
....
....
. - g• ... l<l
I ~

1" w
0
....:::>
i=
...J
I '
<(
• q

~ 15" 2
NIMBOSTRATUS (Bright band al 2 levels) 29 JUNE 1951

Temp
•c 1237 1247 1257 1307 1317 1327 1337
. -38· 28

--28° ..... 24
w
w
• -19° ... 20
I
• -13° ~ 16
:::1
.....
-- 4. 512
<l
- + 2. 8

. +a" 4

• + 15°
NIMBOSTRATUS (Oemonslroting Bergeron type rotn) 5 DECEMBER 1951

Fig. 1 Precipitation streamers observed by vertically pointing 1.25 em APS-34 radar in 1951 (after Plank et al. 1955).

Fig. 3 Controls of the APS-34, inside the trailer. Single oscilloscope

Fig. 2 Facilities of the weather radar program at Hanscom Field display is just visible at the upper left, receiver gain control is on
about 1954. The APS-34 radar antenna is on the trailer to the left of the right, and the signal integrator for a single range gate is at the
the building; the TPQ-6 antenna is on the roof. left.
 WEATHER RADAR IN THE U.S. AIR FORCE 35

15 JUNE 1953
absence of clouds and precipitation. This field measure-
ment program yielded the first observations of such echoes
Z6 in conjunction with refractivity observations (Fig. 4), which
Z2 strongly suggested that some of these" angel" echoes orig-
... inated from regions of the atmosphere associated with
"'o 6
- strong refractive index inhomogeneities (Atlas et al., 1953b;
.!,
.., 14-
Chmela and Armstrong, 1955; Atlas, 1960a). Plank de-
~ ~ o=-~t-7~.----+.~~--~ttt~~--~--~~~
II veloped an analysis of radar "angels" observed at Round
Hill and elsewhere as a master's degree thesis at MIT
(Plank, 1954) and later expanded it as a technical report
(Plank, 1956). He favored the hypothesis that insects and
birds were the cause of most "angel" echoes, but acknowl-
INDEX OF REFRACTION
0 edged that some might be due to refractive index inhomo-
/'\
geneities. Among his recommendations was that an in-
10
/' / '- V\ vestigation be conducted with radars of different
\ wavelengths to determine the wavelength dependence,

"'3t;;i"
z
20 and hence the physical basis, of these echoes.
N •
r-...
30 ~ ..........
............
............ 3 THE BLUE HILL YEARS, 1955-61
0 ~
Significant events and accomplishments:
Quantitative precipitation measurements.
w
WIND DIRECTION First rain parameter diagram, 1957.
Hurricane studies initiated, 1954.
s Severe convective storm studies (hail, lightning, winds)
~ Observer network, 1955, 1956.
E r Clear-air backscatter observations, South Truro, 1957.

N~ 1------ l/ Hail backscatter theory and laboratory measurements.

First wind profile by Doppler radar, 1961.

In 1954, as portions of the Air Force Cambridge Research

Laboratories (AFCRL) were moved to Hanscom Field from
TEMPERATURE prior locations in Cambridge and Boston, plans were made
23
to move the Weather Radar Unit from Katahdin Hill to
·v "\W"A.f
.~ n. .• .1.
41
2
'n· more spacious quarters on the Great Blue Hill in Milton,
............ DRY BULB
Massachusetts. The move was deemed necessary because
I
.___. of the construction of a large water tower on Katahdin
.......... I Hill and because of anticipated interference from a high-
15 ·- ·.......... ..-.... power search radar being constructed by MIT Lincoln
13
_, ..
~~-:-~r~------ ...... __ ..........
---- Laboratory nearby. In the same year the Unit acquired a
new CPS-9 3.2-cm weather surveillance radar, one of
TEMPERATURE
about 45 that were built by Raytheon Co. on contract from
the Army Signal Corps for operational use by the Air Force
and the Navy. This radar was installed on the Great Blue
0 Hill in November 1954 (Fig. 5), and the move was complete
0

a.
I by September 1955. On the Great Blue Hill the Weather
:::!: Radar Unit collaborated with the staff of the Blue Hill Me-
~ 1>3
teorological Observatory, then operated by Harvard Uni-
i versity and directed by Charles F. Brooks, founder of the
1205 1225 12!3 5
TIME

the approach of echoes from as far as 10 000 ft horizontal range as

Fig. 4 Radar echoes observed in the sea breeze by the APS-34 at the sea breeze front approached the coastline. Ancillary data indicate
Round Hill, Massachusetts, on 15 june 1953. Radar antenna was the associated changes of refractive index and meteorological param-
pointed alternately horizontally toward the ocean (when ground echo eters (after Atlas, 1959c). (© 1959 Pergamon Press; reprinted with
is displayed to 3000 ft range) and vertically. Range-time display shows permission.)
36 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Fig. 5 Roger Lhermitte (seated) and Ralph Donaldson at the console
of the CPS-9 radar on the Great Blue Hill in 1956.
American Meteorological Society (AMS). The observatory
provided some office space, and the Air Force installed
two canvas-covered Jamesway structures nearby to house
the radar equipment and additional offices. The Unit had
already contracted with the Observatory to conduct re-
search related to radar observations of storms, and this
contract was expanded to include the services provided to
the Unit on the Great Blue Hill. Air Weather Service (AWS)
established a unit there in July 1955 under Detachment 6,
4th Weather Group, at Hanscom Field and assigned five
people to operate the CPS-9 and to relay observations to
the Detachment at Hanscom Field and to the U.S. Weather
Bureau office at Logan Airport, Boston. Among the AWS
technicians assigned to the AWS unit from July 1955 to
October 1956 was Edward Duquette, who joined the staff
of the Branch in July 1961.
As a remotely located organization, the Unit generated
many requests to the Laboratory for supporting equipment
and supplies. One of the challenges of the Blue Hill site
was access in winter. A request in December 1955 for a
St. Bernard with brandy was declined, allegedly because
of the lack of fire hydrants along the road. Following two
particularly heavy snowfalls in March 1956, when the road
was impassable by car for nearly four weeks, members of
the Unit were issued snowshoes to aid the 400 ft ascent
from the parking lot at the base. The Unit eventually had
the use of an Army four-wheel drive weapons carrier to
negotiate the snow-covered road to the hilltop. Near the
top was a place where water seeped out from the rocks
and froze on the road surface, forming a treacherous ice
slope known as the "glacier." On one occasion while de-
scending the hill, Graham Armstrong lost control at this
point and, with Pia Petrocchi and Ruben Novack as pas-
sengers, had to guide the vehicle down a ski slope.
Research continued to focus on precipitation micro-
physics and the structure of precipitation systems. Primary
goals of this work were the measurement of precipitation
by radar and the use of radar to deduce precipitation
growth mechanisms. Theoretical and experimental studies
of precipitation development in stratiform clouds provided
the basis for Atlas' doctoral dissertation at MIT (Atlas,
1955). The microphysical and synoptic influences on the
reflectivity-rainfall relationship were studied in consid-
erable detail, and the first rain parameter diagrams relating
reflectivity, rainfall rate, and drop-size distribution pa-
rameters were developed (Atlas and Chmela, 1957). On
11 September 1954 Hurricane Edna was observed with
the FPS-3 (23 em), FPS-4 (3 em), and FPS-6 (10.7 em)
radars operated by MIT Lincoln Laboratory at South Truro,
Massachusetts. On this occasion the FPS-6 provided the
first vertical cross section of radar reflectivity through the
eye of a hurricane (Fig. 6). Edwin Kessler, who had joined
the Unit the previous month, led the comprehensive anal-
ysis of this hurricane (Kessler and Atlas, 1956; Kessler,
1958) and in subsequent years made comparative studies
including other hurricanes observed from the Great Blue
Hill and from South Truro (Kessler, 1957a). These and
other observations of hurricanes by radar were reviewed
by Donaldson and Atlas (1964). The intense snowstorm
of 16 March 1956 provided the subject for Kessler's doc-
toral dissertation at MIT (Kessler, 1957b), a comprehensive
analysis of the radar observations and synoptic data as-
sociated with this storm.
The problem of hail detection by radar received consid-
erable attention as quantitative methods improved. Theo-
retical work (Atlas and Donaldson, 1955) was based on
earlier studies of scattering and propagation effects and
included the first suggestion of identifying hail by means
of the parameter now known as differential reflectivity. In
1955 and 1956 a network of over 200 cooperative observers
was organized to support research on the identification of
severe storm hazards by radar. The 28 June 1956 issue of
GRD Spectrum encouraged GRD employees and their fam-
ilies to participate in this network. Various characteristsics
of storms as measured by radar were related to the occur-
rence of hail, lightning, and severe winds (Chmela, 1960;
Donaldson, 1958, 1959, 1961). A significant part of the
research on the relationship of lightning to storm param-
eters observable by radar was performed by Charles
Shackford (1960), working under contract first at Blue Hill
Meteorological Observatory and subsequently at Allied
Research Associates, Inc., Concord, Massachusetts.
The Unit continued to use the FPS-6 radar at South
Truro, primarily for observations of thunderstorms. In July
195 7 this radar revealed echoes due to lightning, extending
upward from the precipitation echo of a severe convective
storm (Atlas, 1959a). In June and July 1957 Lincoln Lab-
oratory conducted propagation studies using a refractom-
eter mounted on an aircraft. By means of refractive index
soundings it was possible to associate observations of layer

Fig. 6 Radar reflectivity of Hurricane Edna, 11 September 1954, observed in plan position Oeft) by the 23-cm FPS-3
radar and in vertical section through the eye (right) by the 3-cm FPS-4 radar at South Truro, Massachusetts. Range
markers are at 10 n mi intervals on left and at 5 n mi intervals on right. Eye of hurricane was located 15 n mi northeast
of the radar and appears as a "V" in the low-level echo in the vertical section (after Kessler and Atlas, 1956; Kessler,
1958).
echoes in the clear atmosphere with the existence of re-
fractive index gradients (Atlas, 1959b). A review of these
and earlier measurements of radar backscatter from the
clear atmosphere was presented by Atlas (1959c) in the
Proceedings of the Fourth Meeting of the Joint Commission
on Radio-Meteorology, which was held at New York Uni-
versity in August 1957. Considerable disagreement de-
veloped within the radar meteorological community, and
within the Unit, concerning the relative significance of
"point targets" (birds or insects) and refractive index in-
homogeneities in the occurrence of these "angel" echoes.
It would be the mid-1960s before this issue was finally
resolved.
At the Sixth Weather Radar Conference, held at MIT in
March 1957, David Atlas was the surprised recipient of
the Meisinger Award of the AMS. This award, given an-
nually with preference to individuals of age 35 and under
(Atlas was 32), recognizes "research achievement that is,
at least in part, aerological in character." In honor of his
pioneering work in radar meteorology since the inception
of the weather radar program, Atlas also received the
Guenter Loeser Award from Air Force Cambridge Research
Center (AFCRC) in 1957. This annual award recognizes
the career contributions to science by the recipient. His
lecture on the occasion of receiving this award summarized
the progress and prospects of radar meteorology (Atlas,
1960b).
The personal character of the Weather Radar Unit
evolved gradually.. Edwin Kessler was a member of the
Unit until 1960. In 1956 Roger Lhermitte, from the Re-
search Department of the French Meteorological Office,
collaborated with the Weather Radar Unit while visiting
the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory for a few months
under Air Force sponsorship; he joined the Branch as a
WEATHER RADAR IN THE U.S. AIR FORCE 37
staff member in January 1961. Roland Boucher, who joined
the Branch in 1967, was a member of the Observatory
staff from 1952 to 1957 and was substantially involved in
the contract studies of storm structure as revealed by radar
measurements. Throughout this period Atlas urged Peter
Wyckoff, Chief of the Atmospheric Physics Laboratory,
and Milton Greenberg, Director of the Geophysics Re-
search Directorate (GRD), to establish the weather radar
program as a separate section with responsibility for all
Air Force research and development related to weather
radar. In February 1958 this change was accomplished,
coincident with a reorganization of GRD. At the same time
Wilbur Paulsen returned to the group with Pio Petrocchi,
whom he had hired in 1955. They had worked on the
development of the TPQ-11 cloud detection radar and
lightning detection equipment, and the 1958 reorganization
brought these activities into the Weather Radar Section,
which in April 1958 was redesignated the Weather Radar
Branch. New members of the engineering staff included
Frank Gibson, hired in April 1960, and Hugh Sweeney
and Paul Daly, who transferred into the Branch from the
Electronics Research Directorate of AFCRC in May 1960.
From June 1959 to August 1960 Atlas was at Imperial
College, London, on a National Science Foundation post-
doctoral fellowship. There he first met Keith Browning and
collaborated with Frank Ludlam and William C. Macklin
of Imperial College and W.G. Harper of the British Me-
teorological Office in studies of severe storm structure and
radar backscatter from hail (Atlas et al., 1960). The Wok-
ingham storm of 9 July 1959 yielded the first radar obser-
vation of the region of weak or undetectable radar echo
which Browning and Ludlam (1962) associated with the
main updraft in the storm. (Browning, who had studied
architecture, named it the "echo-free vault"; Donaldson
38 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
preferred the term "chimney" to describe this feature, be-
cause of its association with the updraft; now it is known
as a "bounded weak echo region.") The studies of hail
backscatter led to subsequent studies of backscatter from
dielectric spheres at the AFCRC radar measurement facility
in Ipswich, Massachusetts (Atlas and Wexler, 1963; Atlas
and Glover, 1963), and at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida,
where artificial hailstones were dropped from a balloon
for observation by radar (Willis et al., 1963). Some of these
backscatter measurements were presented at the Interdis-
ciplinary Conference on Electromagnetic Scattering con-
vened at Clarkson College of Technology in August 1962
under the leadership of Milton Kerker and under the partial
sponsorship of AFCRL.
A contract for the development of a prototype of the
TPQ-11 was let by the Air Force in 1958, and one of the
early units was delivered to the Great Blue Hill in August
1959. Paulsen and Petrocchi were primarily responsible
for its evaluation, an effort that continued into the 1960s
(Petrocchi and Paulsen, 1966; Paulsen et al., 1970). In 1960
the development of a Storm Radar Data Processor (STRA-
DAP) was initiated, with the goals of analyzing radar re-
flectivity data in real time and displaying digital represen-
tations of the received power and the echo top height. This
processor, originally conceived by Atlas, was developed
and constructed by the Budd Electronics Co. Its initial use,
in 1962, is described in the following section.
4 GETTING ESTABLISHED IN
SUDBURY, 1962-71
Significant events and accomplishments:
Doppler radar observations and techniques.
Airborne Doppler radar development, 1962.
Plan Shear Indicator, 1966.
First mesocyclone observation, 1968.
Multiwavelength observations of rain, 1970-71.
Clear-air backscatter observations, Wallops Island,
1964-71.
First detection of tropopause by radar, 1966.
Charles F. Brooks retired from Harvard University in
1957 and died suddenly in January 1958. Subsequent
changes at the Observatory and the reluctance of the Met-
ropolitan District Commission, which owns the Blue Hills
as a public reservation, to allow the Air Force to expand
its facilities forced the Branch to seek a new location. Don-
aldson, Paulsen, and Petrocchi investigated several pos-
sible sites. A hilltop in the Army Quartermaster Corps
property in Sudbury was selected, and the first building
was occupied in September 1961. This building was a pre-
fabricated metal building from Hamburg, Germany, and
was known, therefore, as the Hamburg Building. A cement
block building for offices, instrumentation, and data anal-
ysis was ready for occupancy in February 1962, when the
move from the Great Blue Hill was completed. The hill
was known to the Army as Pig Hill, because it was alleged
that the carcass of a pig that had been used in conjunction
with early atomic bomb tests in the Pacific was buried
there. The official name of the installation was the Weather
Radar Field Station.
Several new staff members were hired in the early 1960s.
Roger Lhermitte was in the Branch from January 1961
until May 1963. Keith Browning joined the Branch in Sep-
tember 1962, following completion of his doctorate at Im-
perial College. He remained with the Branch until late
1966, when he returned to England to pursue a distin-
guished career in the British Meteorological Office (he is
now Deputy Director for Physical Research and is a Fellow
of the Royal Society). Kenneth Glover rejoined the Branch
as a civilian in 1962, and Kenneth Hardy came to the
Branch in 1963 after completing his doctorate at the Uni-
versity of Michigan.
Wilbur Paulsen, Paul Daly, Frank Gibson, and Pia Pe-
trocchi transferred into the Meteorological Development
Laboratory in 1961, when once again the function of op-
erational instrumentation development was separated from
the function of weather radar research. In 1961 and 1962
they conducted tests at Pig Hill with the FPS-68 radar,
and they continued with the development of its successor,
the FPS-77, which became the operational weather radar
of the Air Force (Paulsen and Petrocchi, 1966; Paulsen,
1968).
When the research contract with the Observatory ended,
several of the Observatory staff, including Roland Boucher,
Charles Shackford, and Raymond Wexler, joined Allied
Research Associates, Inc., to continue their collaboration
with the Branch under a new contract. In 1965 a contract
was initiated with Northeastern University in Boston to
provide additional technical support for radar operations.
Alexander Bishop, who had worked previously for Uncoln
Laboratory as a radar engineer at Millstone Hill, and tech-
nician William Smith worked at Pig Hill under this contract,
and both joined the Branch in 1967. (This contract was
one of several technical support contracts of AFCRL that
were terminated about this time when it was decided that
these functions should be performed by an expanded civil
service staff.)
Before moving to Sudbury, the Branch had obtained the
use of a 5-cm wavelength Doppler radar known as "Por-
cupine" which had been built by MIT Lincolnbaberatory.
It was first used by the Branch in 1957, when an audio
recording of the Doppler velocity in a single range gate
was made during an azimuth scan. This radar, with a
RAYSP AN frequency analyzer, yielded the first radar-de-
rived wind profile, using the Velocity-Azimuth Display
(VAD), on 27 May 1961 (Fig. 7). The VAD technique, de-
scribed first by Lhermitte and Atlas (1961) and later in
more detail by Browning and Wexler (1968), derives a hor-
izontal wind speed and direction and other wind field pa-
rameters from the predominantly sinusoidal variation of

N Doppler velocity. Donaldson determined the PSI pattern
e - DOPPLER RADAR
)(- PW RAWIN
s
I
Fig. 7 First wind profile derived from Doppler radar data by
means of the Velocity-Azimuth Display (VAD) technique. Ob-
servation was made by the Porcupine Doppler radar on 27
May 1961. Solid line denotes the radar measurements and bro-
ken line denotes the National Weather Service rawinsonde ob-
servation from Portland, Maine. Hodographs are labeled with
height in thousands of feet above mean sea level (after Lhermitte
and Atlas, 1961).
Doppler velocity with azimuth at each given range. In late
1961 the Branch acquired the Porcupine radar from Uncoln
Laboratory and in 1962, as part of a major overhaul of the
radar, acquired an analog signal processor known as a Co-
herent Memory Filter (CMF) for derivation of Doppler
spectral parameters at multiple ranges. The CMF provided
the basis for the Plan Shear Indicator (PSI), conceived by
Graham Armstrong and developed by Armstrong and
Donaldson (1969), whereby Doppler velocity could be
displayed in azimuth and range on a conventional radar
Plan Position Indicator (PPI). The PSI was a display of
concentric arcs, the nominal radii of which were propor-
tional to the ranges at which the received signal was gated.
The width of each arc was proportional to the reflectivity
and the Doppler spectrum variance, and the radial dis-
placement of each arc from its nominal radius was pro-
portional to the mean Doppler velocity. The variations of
the concentric arcs on this display provided a semiquan-
titative indication of radial and azimuthal shear of the
WEATHER RADAR IN THE U.S. AIR FORCE 39
indicative of a cyclonic vortex and on this basis on 9 August
1968 first identified in real time the rotating wind field
aloft (now known as a mesocyclone) that precedes and
accompanies a tornado (see Fig. 5 in Chapter 15). The PSI
concept and early observations were presented in more
detail by Donaldson (1970a). By demonstrating the value
of a single Doppler radar for real-time evaluation of severe
storm dynamics, Donaldson laid the cornerstone for the
development that led to the Next Generation Weather Ra-
dar (NEXRAD).
The Porcupine radar was used for a variety of mea-
surements of turbulence and air motion in storms. Sweeney
(1968) used the recently developed Cooley-Tukey fast
Fourier transform algorithm to analyze observations of
turbulence in the lowest few hundred meters of the at-
mosphere. Donaldson and Wexler (1969) examined the
significance of the Doppler spectrum variance as an in-
dicator of hazardous turbulence in storms, and Donaldson
(1970b) applied the VAD technique to observations of
thunderstorms.
The Storm Radar Data Processor (STRADAP) was de-
livered to the Branch in October 1962 and put to immediate
use with the CPS-9 radar for the observation of convective
storms and stratiform precipitation. The display of "7s"
(the highest digital value) in conjunction with a tornado
in Charlton, Massachusetts, on 12 October 1962 was a
cause for great delight on the part of the originator of
STRADAP (Atlas et al., 1963a,b). In 1963 STRADAP was
taken to Norman, Oklahoma, and adapted to the 10-cm
wavelength WSR-57 radar there.
From the earliest years of the weather radar program
there was substantial collaboration with the National Se-
vere Storms Project and its successor, the National Severe
Storms Laboratory (NSSL), headed by Edwin Kessler from
1964 to 1986. Major collaborative efforts in Norman oc-
curred from 1961 onward and involved many members
of the Branch. The storm that produced the Geary, Okla-
homa, tornado in 1961 also produced the first radar ob-
servation of a "vault" in association with a tornado
(Browning and Donaldson, 1963). On 26 May 1963, Don-
aldson and William Lamkin were at an Air Force radar site
just east of Tinker Field, Oklahoma City, and had the op-
portunity to observe visually a developing tornado passing
overhead prior to touching down a few miles to the east
(Donaldson and Lamkin, 1964). This storm was one of
several on that day that were analyzed in detail by Brown-
ing and others. The resulting case study encompassed
synoptic and subsynoptic atmospheric structure, storm
initiation and organization, and precipitation development
(Browning and Fujita, 1965). Portions of the study were
also published separately (Browning, 1964, 1965a,b, 1966;
Browning and Atlas, 1965). A summary of the early ob-
servations, with specific applications to severe thunder-
storm forecasting, was presented by Donaldson (1965).
Michael Kraus joined the Branch in 1968, after completing
40 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
his master's degree at MIT and having worked with Don-
aldson during the two preceding summers. During the fol-
lowing eleven years Kraus and Donaldson were the leaders
of the severe storm research in the Branch. This research
increasingly emphasized the kinematics of severe storms
as revealed by Doppler radar, which was the subject of
Kraus' doctoral dissertation at McGill University (Kraus,
1974). Measurement of Doppler mean velocity and spec-
trum variance in the early 1970s was a tedious process,
requiring visual examination of analog spectral data re-
corded on microfilm (Fig. 8).
As the value of meteorological Doppler radar became
evident, it was recognized that an airborne Doppler radar
would greatly expand the measurement capability. Begin-
ning in 1962, the Branch contracted with Motorola, Inc.,
to develop a Velocity Intensity Storm Analysis Radar (VIS-
TAR), based on a radar built by Motorola under a previous
Air Force contract (Bretzel and Kinzer, 1965). Data pro-
Fig. 8 Examples of Doppler radar data recorded on microfilm.
Output from Coherent Memory Filter (CMF) is displayed on a
Range Velocity Indicator (RVI), where the intensity represents
power spectral density across the 25 m s- 1 unambiguous ve-
locity interval. Mean velocity is estimated visually from this
display, typically at 1 km range increments. The apparent
spectral width on the display is related to both Doppler spec-
trum variance and signal intensity. Upper panel: Ground echoes
are displayed with velocity near zero within about 15 miles
range. Precipitation echoes at ranges of 40- 60 miles are moving
away from the radar; near 42 miles the velocity is partly aliased.
Lower panel: Precipitation echoes at ranges of 40-50 miles
exhibit severe velocity aliasing. Spectrum spanning the entire
unambiguous velocity interval represents extreme shear or se-
vere turbulence, and possibly a tornado vortex signature (after
Donaldson et al., 1969).
cessing proved to be an insurmountable obstacle, as the
multiple filters required for onboard Doppler processing
were unreliable. The idea of an airborne meteorological
Doppler radar was to remain unrealized until the early
1980s.
In June 1964 David Atlas received the Marcus D. O'Day
Memorial Award from AFCRL. This annual award is given
to the author or authors of the best AFCRL paper published
in a scientific journal during the preceding calendar year.
The award to Atlas was based on his review of radar
methods of severe storm analysis (Atlas, 1963).
Investigations of radar backscatter from the clear at-
mosphere, which began in 1953 at Round Hill and included
the observations from South Truro, were continued in 1964
with radar measurements in conjunction with aircraft op-
erations at National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) Wallops Station, Virginia, in collaboration with
the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) of The Johns Hop-
kins University (Hardy et al. 1966). The designation of the
Wallops Island radars as the Joint Air Force NASA GAFNA)
facility was due substantially to the efforts of Atlas to secure
the radars for research after Lincoln Laboratory ceased
operating them in 1964. These investigations yielded the
first observation of the tropopause by radar (Fig. 9; Atlas
et al. 1966b). This paper provided inspiration to Richard
Doviak, now at NSSL, and Julius Goldhirsh, now at APL,
both of whom were then involved in electromagnetics and
ionospheric propagation research at the University of
Pennsylvania, to become involved with troposcatter and
other meteorological applications of radar. Clear-air tur-
bulence observations at Wallops Island each winter
through 1971 yielded greatly increased understanding of
the origin, structure, and evolution of clear-air turbulence
(Glover et al., 1969; Boucher, 1974). Jiro Aoyagi, an elec-
tronics engineer from the Meteorological Research Institute
in Tokyo, was with the Branch for a year in 1964-1965
and participated in the development of instrumentation
for the early observations at Wallops Island. Keikichi Naito,
also on leave from the Meteorological Research Institute
in Tokyo for a year during 1965 and 1966, worked at
Northeastern University, Boston, under an AFCRL contract
and collaborated in the studies of clear-air turbulence (Atlas
et al., 1966a). Hans Ottersten, from Sweden, was a member
of the Branch from December 1966 to June 1970 and was
deeply involved in these investigations and related theo-
retical studies (Ottersten 1969). Kenneth Hardy was also
a key participant in the turbulence program. He succeeded
Atlas as chief in 1966, when Atlas left the Branch to be-
come professor of meteorology at The University of Chi-
cago.
The other major thrust of research in the Branch was
toward understanding precipitation microphysics and the
effect of precipitation on microwave signals at different
wavelengths. The work on hail backscatter, which was
begun in the late 1950s, was updated as new measure-
ments of backscatter from spheres of mixed ice and water

Fig. 9 First obseroation of the tropopause by radar, from Wallops
Island, Virgina, in February 1966. Obseroations (top to bottom) were
made with radars of 3 em (X -band), 11 em (5-band), and 72 em (UHF)
wavelengths. Tropopause is near 11 km height, above a cloud layer
which is strongly reflective at the shorter wavelengths but unde-
tectable at 72 em (after Atlas et al. 1966b). (© 1966 by the AAAS.)
became available (Atlas et al. 1964). Rosemary Dyer, who
joined the Branch in 1967 following graduate study at
McGill University, used the Porcupine radar to deduce
microphysical information from Doppler spectra, including
a bimodal spectrum observed within a melting layer (Dyer,
1970). Jurg Joss of the Swiss Meteorological Institute, who
visited the Branch in 1970-71, and Robert Crane from
Lincoln Laboratory were involved in measurements of ra-
dar reflectivity at wavelengths of 5 em, 3 em, and 8.6 mm
and the correlation of these measurements with measure-
ments of raindrop-size distributions at the surface Goss
and Crane, 1972; Joss and Dyer, 1972).
Longtime members of the Branch remember the years
1968-71 with particular fondness. Col. Dale Flinders, a
former weather officer, was commander of AFCRL at that
time and took particular interest in the work of the Branch.
He would occasionally make an unannounced visit to the
field site, 18 miles from Hanscom Field, "to see if [his]
driver could find the way." In July 1970 the Office of
Aerospace Research, which had been the headquarters
agency for AFCRL, was abolished and all the Air Force
laboratories were assigned to Air Force Systems Command.
WEATHER RADAR IN THE U.S. AIR FORCE 41
A result of this organizational change was an increased
emphasis on laboratory support of Air Force systems de-
velopment.
5 THE RECENT YEARS, 1972-88
Significant events and accomplishments:
Missile and reentry vehicle test programs, 1971-79.
Pulse pair computation of Doppler mean velocity and
spectrum variance,, 1974.
First on-line computer-generated displays, 1975.
First downburst observed by radar, 1975.
Hurricane Belle observation by Doppler radar, 1976.
Joint Doppler Operational Project, 1977, 1978, 1979.
Algorithm development for NEXRAD initiated, 1979.
Joint Agency Turbulence Experiment, NASA Wallops
Flight Facility, 1981, 1982, 1983.
Hurricane Gloria observation by Doppler radar, 1985.
Polarization diversity measurements begun, 1986.
Many of the activities of the Branch during the 1970s
and 1980s are described in other review papers in this
volume.
Between 1971 and 1979 the Branch was involved in a
series of missile test programs, initially at NASA Wallops
Flight Facility, Virginia, and subsequently at Kwajalein
Missile Range in the Marshall Islands (Plank, 1974; Barnes,
et al. 1974). These programs enabled the Branch to acquire
its first color video monitors and, in 1975, the first computer
for the real-time analysis of weather radar data. The Branch
developed improved techniques of displaying and analyz-
ing weather radar data and acquired much experience in
relating radar measurements to microphysical measure-
ments at the surface and by aircraft.
Research with Doppler radar was greatly advanced by
the introduction of a pulse pair processor in 1974 for real-
time computation of the mean velocity and spectrum vari-
ance (Benham et al., 1972). The Branch contributed sub-
stantially to the Joint Doppler Operational Project GDOP),
sponsored by AFGL, Air Weather Service (AWS), the Fed-
eral Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Weather
Service (NWS), and NSSL and conducted at NSSL during
the spring severe storm seasons of 1977, 1978, and 1979
(Glover et al., 1979; JDOP Staff, 1979; Donaldson and
Glover, 1980). This project proved the capabilities of
Doppler radars for early detection and warning of torna-
does and other storm hazards and was the key to the es-
tablishment of the Next Generation Weather Radar
(NEXRAD) Program. From 1979 onward the Branch has
been heavily involved in the development of algorithms
for automated detection and warning of weather hazards,
in support of the NEXRAD System Program Office. These
algorithms are incorporated in the Modular Radar Analysis
Software System (MRASS), an early version of which was
described by Forsyth et al. (1981). From November 1983
42 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
through June 1984 the Branch hosted the Boston Area
NEXRAD Demonstration (Forsyth et al. 1985), which used
the new AFGL Doppler radar to test techniques being de-
veloped for NEXRAD by providing automated analysis
products in real time to local AWS, FAA, and NWS offices
and to Air Force Global Weather Central and the National
Severe Storms Forecast Center.
Research at the Sudbury field site continued to empha-
size Doppler radar measurements and analysis of severe
storms, using initially the Porcupine radar and, since 1980,
a new 10-cm Doppler radar (Bishop and Armstrong, 1982).
Of particular significance was a storm that produced very
localized damage in the Auburndale section of Newton,
Massachusetts, on 12 August 1975 (Dyer et al., 1976). The
Doppler velocity display yielded what may be the first
radar observation of the severe outflow wind phenomenon
now known as a "microburst." The first Doppler radar
observations of the outer rainbands of a hurricane were
made with the Porcupine radar on 10 August 1976 as
Hurricane Belle crossed western Connecticut and western
Massachusetts (Donaldson et al., 1978). The passage of
Hurricane Gloria through New York and New England
on 27 September 1985 provided a much better opportunity
to observe the structure and kinematics of a hurricane.
The first results of analysis of these data were presented
at the 23rd Conference on Radar Meteorology in Septem-
ber 1986 (Glover and Forsyth, 1986; Donaldson and Rug-
giero, 1986; Bohne et al., 1986).
In collaboration with NASA Langley Research Center
and NASA Wallops Flight Facility the Joint Agency Tur-
bulence Experiment was conducted at NASA Wallops
Flight Facility, with field operations in 1981, 1982, and
1983 (Bohne, 1985). The objective of the Branch in this
experiment was to develop techniques of evaluating tur-
bulence intensity from radar measurements in precipita-
tion, using either the Doppler spectrum variance or the
width of the power fluctuation spectrum derived from a
noncoherent radar on an aircraft, following the theoretical
work of Bohne (1982). The experiment also yielded new
information on the relationships of radar reflectivity struc-
ture and the occurrence of lightning (Bohne and Chmela,
1985, 1986).
During the past few years the Branch has modified the
10-cm Doppler radar to permit the measurement of po-
larization parameters. When the modifications are com-
pleted, the radar will be capable of transmitting horizontal,
vertical, or right or left circular polarization and receiving
polarizations identical and orthogonal to that of the trans-
mitted signal. From these signals we shall be able to derive
signal ratios, such as differential reflectivity and depolar-
ization ratio, and the polarization differential Doppler ve-
locity parameters described by Metcalf (1986) for remote
measurement of microphysical parameters of precipitation.
The status of the radar system in early 1987 and our first
measurements of differential reflectivity were described
by Metcalf et al. (1987).
6 SUMMARY
From its origin 40 years ago the weather radar research
group has made significant pioneering contributions to the
study of the atmosphere by radar. Early work in precipi-
tation measurement and studies of storm structure estab-
lished the value of radar for these purposes. Key devel-
opments in Doppler radar equipment and techniques and
the observation of severe storms were made by this group
and in collaboration with other research organizations.
These observations provided much of the foundation for
the Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) Program.
Some of the earliest observations of radar backscatter from
the clear atmosphere were made by members of the
Branch; subsequent observations and analysis elucidated
the mechanisms of clear-air turbulence and clear-air radar
backscatter. This group has been a leader in the devel-
opment and implementation of automated data processing
and display techniques, both for research and for appli-
cations. The Branch continues at the forefront of meteo-
rological radar research with its programs in polarization
techniques and its continuing contributions to the devel-
opment of algorithms for NEXRAD.
Acknowledgments. We are deeply indebted to David At-
las, Albert Chmela, Ralph Donaldson, and Wilbur Paulsen,
all of whom have retired from Federal civil service, for
sharing their recollections with us and thereby making this
history more vivid.
APPENDIX:
LIST Of ACRONYMS
AAF Army Air Forces
AFCRC Air Force Cambridge Research Center (1951-
60)
AFCRL Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories
(1949-51, 1960-76)
AFGL Air Force Geophysics Laboratory (since 1976)
AMS American Meteorological Society
APL Applied Physics Laboratory (The Johns Hop-
kins University)
AWFD All Weather Flying Division (Wright Field,
Ohio)
AWS Air Weather Service
CMF Coherent Memory Filter
FAA Federal Aviation Administration
GRD Geophysical Research Division (1948), Geo-
physics Research Division (1951-52),
Geophysics Research Directorate (1952-
63)
JAFNA Joint Air Force NASA (radar facility at Wal-
lops Island)
 WEATHER RADAR IN THE U.S. AIR FORCE 43

JDOP Joint Doppler Operational Project PPI Plan Position Indicator

MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology PSI Plan Shear Indicator
MRASS Modular Radar Analysis Software System RVI Range Velocity Indicator
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administra-
STRADAP Storm Radar Data Processor
tion
NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar UHF Ultra High Frequency
NSSL National Severe Storms Laboratory VAD Velocity-Azimuth Display
NWS National Weather Service VISTAR Velocity Intensity Storm Analysis Radar
44
Chapter 6
Radar Meteorology at the National Severe Storms Laboratory,
1964-1986
Edwin Kessler,* Departments of Geography and Meteorology, and Cooperative Institute for
Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, University of Oklahoma
1 INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL
BACKGROUND
This chapter relates the background to the establishment
of the National Severe Storms Laboratory and the devel-
opment of radar meteorology science and technology at
NSSL from 1964, when the Laboratory was organized in
essentially its present form, to the 1980s. Radar highlights
during the period beyond 1980 are noted in section 6. This
paper is far from a history of the National Severe Storms
Laboratory as a whole, since weather radar is only part
(albeit an important part) of the overall laboratory program.
During World War II, meteorological capabilities were
strongly developed in the U.S. armed services, primarily
in support of aviation (see Chapters 1-3). Shortly after the
war, some of this capability was engaged in the Thunder-
storm Project of 1946-47 in Florida and Ohio. This was
the first multiagency field experiment for thunderstorm
study and the first such program in which radar and air-
planes had a central role. It also marked the start of major
peacetime federal support for research in meteorology in
the United States (Byers and Braham, 1949).
As aviation provided the principal raison d'etre to
weather service developments during World War II, that
industry continued as a center of meteorological concerns
in the 1950s and early 1960s, when several fatal accidents
were attnbuted to thunderstorms. There were frequent
problems involving the utilization of airspace by increasing
densities of air traffic in the presence of convective weather.
Much more information about the structure and hazards
of squall lines and isolated thunderstorms was needed.
Another focus of attention was tornado disasters, partic-
ularly awesome in the 1950s at Waco and San Angelo,
Texas, and at Worcester, Massachusetts.
The U.S. Weather Bureau, responding to these concerns,
established the Severe Local Storms Forecast Unit (SELS),
directed by Don House, to upgrade the interpretation of
observations and improve forecasts of extreme conditions.
SELS was based first at Washington, D.C. in 1953, then
after September 1954 at Kansas City, Missouri. Concur-
rently, the Weather Bureau began a program of replacing
• Director, National Severe Storms Laboratory, 1964-86.
modified World War II radars with a national network of
10-cm radars (WSR-57s) for timely detection and warning
of storms that otherwise would often lie unrecognized be-
tween manned weather stations. During the late 1950s,
the National Severe Local Storms Research Project
(NSLSRP), directed by Clayton F. van Thullenar, was es-
tablished within SELS to provide a more concerted effort
toward basic investigations.
The program of research on tornadoes and other severe
local storms was aided by several planning conferences,
particularly that of December 1959. Several high ranking
Weather Bureau officials and nationally recognized sci-
entists from many groups and agencies participated, in-
cluding Dr. Louis J. Battan, who led the conference group
charged with defining research objectives.
NSLSRP headquarters was located at Kansas City, but
from the start Oklahoma City was the base for field op-
erations. Programs involving flights of aircraft through
squall lines and other interesting phenomena were con-
ducted from Will Rogers Field during the spring seasons
of 1959, 1960, and 1961. There were several supporting
radars, and real-time guidance derived from the Weather
Bureau's WSR-57 radar at Will Rogers Field was critical
both to safety and to research analysis. In 1960, the pro-
gram was renamed the National Severe Storms Project
(NSSP), in congruence with another national focus in se-
vere storms, the National Hurricane Research Project
(NHRP) in Miami, Florida.
The WSR-57 radar was vital to the research program in
focusing on storms near and through which the aircraft
were flying, but conflicts arose when storms in different
azimuthal sectors had to be surveyed in support of the
Weather Bureau's public service program. It was therefore
determined that the research program required a dedicated
radar, and a WSR-57 was accordingly installed at Norman,
Oklahoma, on the North Campus of the University of
Oklahoma, in 1962. This was the nucleus of the logistics
and communications base for the NSSP field program
during the spring season. It was located in Norman and
known as the Weather Radar Laboratory. Kenneth E. Wilk
came from the Illinois State Water Survey to be in charge
of the laboratory. The early field programs directed from
Norman were a source of landmark papers by participants
Browning and Donaldson (1963) and Browning (1964).
 RADAR METEOROLOGY AT THE NATIONAL SEVERE STORMS LABORATORY, 1964-86 45
After spring research activities were completed in 1962
and 1963, the Norman Laboratory engaged in studies to
improve utilization of the newly installed national network
of WSR-57 radar, then directed by Stuart Bigler.
The NSSP in Kansas City, NHRP in Miami, and the
Weather Bureau's Research Flight Facility based in Miami
all reported to Robert H. Simpson, Director of Severe Storm
Research in the Office of Meteorological Research (OMR)
in Washington, D.C. NSSP itself was codirected by Chester
W. Newton, who had come from the University of Chi-
cago, and van Thullenar. In 1963, Newton transferred from
employment with the federal government to the National
Center for Atmospheric Research; van Thullenar was near
retirement. It had become apparent that the program as a
whole would operate more efficiently in Norman, bene-
fiting from proximity to the fledgling meteorology group
at the University of Oklahoma. The move to Norman was
begun and accomplished in 1964. Edwin Kessler, who had
been with the Travelers Research Center in Hartford,
Connecticut, was appointed director of the Norman group,
which was renamed the National Severe Storms Labora-
tory in February 1964.
2 GUIDING POLICY fOR PROGRAM
DEVELOPMENT AT NSSL
NSSL has a broad mandate, viz. to expand frontiers of
knowledge about severe local storms, to develop means
for observing and forecasting storms, and to improve
methods for timely communication of information about
storms. It was decided early to attempt to focus where
Laboratory staff had strong expertise, on subjects not more
effectively pursued elsewhere, and toward goals realizable
with attainable resources.
Since the Laboratory was to make detailed, accurate ob-
servations on thunderstorm phenomena, it was located in
an area where severe storms are relatively frequent so staff
would not have to take expensive field trips to observe
storms of interest. It was also determined that the Labo-
ratory, in order to be and remain vital and effective, would
include projects and staff mutually supportive for analyses,
theoretical and empirical studies, and data gathering; for
all of these purposes personnel with diverse, strong qual-
ifications were sought. Much emphasis was placed on col-
laboration with other government agencies, with univer-
sities, and, on occasion, with the private sector, in order
to promote a vigorous interchange of ideas. The collabo-
ration with universities extended, especially during the first
15 years, to support of a significant though modest set of
funded grants.
NSSL's relationship with the University of Oklahoma
was of special importance. Indeed, the existence of the
University and its meteorologists, most notably in the
1960s Profs. Yoshikazu Sasaki and Walter Saucier, was a
motive for placing the Laboratory in Norman. The Labo-
ratory could attract able students with keen interest in se-
vere storms to the University. Furthermore, the University
could provide training for NSSL junior staff, along with
opportunities that accompany the teaching process and
university associations to NSSL senior staff, thereby fa-
cilitating the recruitment and retention of capable person-
nel in the Laboratory. Meteorologists and engineers at the
Laboratory and the University would help each other and
work together.
Finally, since the Laboratory facilities are of a kind and
cost which do not readily lend themselves to operation by
nongovernment entities, the Laboratory perceived a re-
sponsibility for sharing data gathered by its facilities and
for accepting inputs of others into the design of data ac-
quisition projects. This perception was a solid basis of pol-
icy at NSSL, despite occasional difficulties in implemen-
tation.
Radar development was taking an exciting tum in the
early 1960s. On one hand, more accurate and timely pre-
cipitation estimates for hydrologic purposes, and storm
hazard warnings for aviation, were needed; on the other
hand, solid-state devices were improved and capabilities
in radar data processing were being developed rapidly and
could be applied to the underutilized WSR-57 radars.
Doppler radar, used for a decade or more to track discrete
targets in military applications, now began to show great
promise for distributed targets such as precipitation. The
prospect that the field of precipitation might be observed
simultaneously with the field of velocity was one of the
brightest stars to rise above the meteorologists' horizon,
and Doppler radar development and applications had high
priority at NSSL.
Another consideration that tended to mold NSSL's pro-
gram related to breadth of view. There would be no de-
velopment of radar for its own sake or for some use only
vaguely defined. NSSL was intended to be a meteorological
laboratory where radar and other aids would be used well
together (Kessler, 1965).
3 NATURE Of CONTRIBUTIONS TO
RADAR METEOROLOGY BY
NSSL STAff
Contributions in the radar area by NSSL staff can be
described in four categories:
1) Equipment and data processing developments by
engineers and computer specialists;
2) aviation safety;
3) rainfall measurement and hydrology;
4) other problems of practical and theoretical meteo-
rology involving initiation and development of severe local
storms.
The NSSL program has produced approximately 1000 re-
ports, papers, and books on these subjects since 1964.
46 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
4 CONTRIBUTIONS TO RADAR
METEOROLOGY FROM NSSL
DURING THE 1960s
4.1 Radar Technology
From the start, high priority was attached to develop-
ment of an effective program in Doppler radar. Dr. Roger
M. Lhermitte had made a mark with his Ph.D. dissertation
on Doppler radar at the University of Paris, and he came
from France to the Weather Radar Branch of the Air Force
Cambridge Research Laboratories in January 1961, where
he and Kessler became acquainted. In September 1963
Lhermitte was employed by the Sperry Rand Research
Center, where he was developing Doppler radar technol-
ogies when NSSL was organized. A contract with Sperry
Rand facilitated Lhermitte's contacts with NSSL, and he
joined NSSL as Chief of the Advanced Techniques Branch
in December 1964 and remained at NSSL until May 1967,
when he transferred within NOAA to the Wave Propa-
gation Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado.
Doppler radar was advanced significantly by Lhermitte
at NSSL. His major project, the design of a pulsed Doppler
radar for meteorological applications, took place in the
trailer that had housed the continuous wave Doppler radar
used for pioneering observations by Smith and Holmes
(1961). The advantage of pulsed over continuous wave
transmissions is that range information is supplied; a dis-
advantage is that limitations on velocity discrimination are
introduced (Lhermitte, 1966a). Other major radar devel-
opments involved data processing, with steady advances
in the rate of data assimilation pacing advances in solid-
state technologies that were occurring elsewhere. Lhermitte
was principally assisted in these projects by NSSL Chief
Technician Walter Watts and technicians (later engineers)
John Carter and Dale Sirmans (Sirmans and Carter, 1968).
A widely acclaimed paper by Lhermitte from this period
illustrated an application of the 3-cm Doppler radar to
measurement of low-altitude winds through Doppler pro-
cessing of echoes from targets in clear air (Lhermitte,
1966b). Lhermitte also helped cast the foundation that
later guided development of NSSL's 10-cm Doppler radars,
and he contributed to an intellectual environment in which
staff capabilities were expanded, so that personnel gained
the expertise necessary to carry out an effective program
in Doppler radar development after his departure.
During 1967, first efforts at dual-Doppler synthesis were
made in England (see Probert-Jones, Chapter 7) and in the
United States. The Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, under
contract with NSSL, sent an X-band pulsed Doppler radar
to Oklahoma. Operations at Mustang Airport, 31 n mi
northwest of NSSL Headquarters, were conducted by CAL
employees Robert Peace, Rodger Brown, George Zigrossi,
and Calvin Easterbrook, in coordination with operation of
the NSSL Doppler radar at Chickasha, Oklahoma. In this
pioneering experiment, the limited rate at which data could
be assimilated was one serious impediment; a second was
marked attenuation of 3-cm radiation in typical thunder-
storm rains. The need for a longer wavelength was also
illustrated by an abundance of second trip echoes when
the pulse repetition frequency was increased sufficiently
to measure typical velocities. Nevertheless, synthesized
fields of horizontal velocity at low elevation angle were
obtained (Brown and Peace, 1968).
At this time, it was recognized that the three-dimensional
wind field should be definable in principle from distri-
butions of radial velocity defined by two Doppler radars
illuminating a common volume, combined with an equa-
tion of continuity for air and a relationship between re-
flectivity and average terminal fall speed of precipitation
particles. With three Doppler radars, in principle, the ter-
minal fall speed could be derived without reference to re-
flectivity. Dr. Larry Armijo, a mathematician then em-
ployed by TRW Systems, examined these problems under
a contract with NSSL and produced his now-classic paper
(Armijo, 1969).
Following Lhermitte's transfer from Norman to Boulder,
a major problem facing NSSL involved development of
S-hand Doppler radars. Sirmans was NSSL's project en-
gineer in this matter, and Gilbert D. Kinzer, who had come
to NSSL from Washington, D.C. to direct the Laboratory
Program in storm electricity, provided vital technical
counsel and encouragement Preliminary work was begun
in 1968 with a modified CPN-18 radar interfaced to a 9.2-
m antenna. Plans for a permanent installation in Norman
progressed rapidly during 1969 and thereafter, as discussed
in section 5 .1.
During Doppler radar development at NSSL, improved
technologies were also brought to the WSR-57 radar by
Lhermitte and Jesse Jennings, and Sirmans and Watts. By
the end of the decade, fine systems existed for both pho-
tography and digital recording, and the PPI displays
showed optimal averages of the fluctuating signals from
precipitation targets, with clear contours of intensity (Sir-
mans et al., 1970). This system, part of a process begun
with Atlas's (1947) invention of isoecho contour mapping,
was the forerunner of the video integrating processor (VIP)
later adopted by the National Weather Service for use on
all of its network radars.
A concerted effort was also directed to expand the ca-
pabilities for processing the vast amount of data now
starting to be recorded on magnetic tape. To this end, com-
puter routines previously developed were tested, and im-
provements were made for better identification of relevant
statistical properties of the radar echoes, as well as details
of their spatial and temporal distributions. For example, it
was found that correlation of large-scale patterns does not
provide a good basis for extrapolating storm motions when
strong discrete thunderstorm echoes are present, because
the storms frequently move in directions different from
the movement of the large-scale flow and pattern; there-
fore, it is necessary to identify individual storms and their
 RADAR METEOROLOGY AT THE NATIONAL SEVERE STORMS LABORATORY, 1964-86 47
centroids. Work in this area was completed by Wilk, in
charge of NSSL Operations, and guest worker Peter Barclay
of the Australian Meteorological Service. The computer
programs were exercised on WSR-57 digital data recorded
virtually continuously when weather echoes were present
during calendar year 1966, and radar echo properties were
compared with storm manifestations revealed by NSSL's
surface network (Barclay and Wilk, 1970). Armijo also
buttressed with mathematical theory some of the empirical
and heuristic developments involving noncoherent radar
data (Armijo, 1966; Kessler, 1966).
4.2 Aviation Meteorology
Thunderstorm-related aircraft accidents during the
1950s and 1960s tended to occur during enroute portions
of flights and demonstrated the compelling need to develop
workable criteria for substantial reduction of encounters
with dangerous weather conditions. For this purpose NSSL
staff compared Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and
Weather Bureau radars (e.g., Wilk et al., 1965) and coop-
erated in a program, commonly called Project Rough Rider,
wherein storms were penetrated by instrumented high
performance aircraft, appropriately directed by controllers
at the ground, who were guided in turn by weather radar
as interpreted by well-qualified meteorologists. NSSL con-
centrated its field activities on the spring severe storm sea-
son. Usually the program was quite collaborative, involving
many agencies and visiting scientists. The 1960s were
marked by particularly prominent collaboration with the
British Meteorological Service and the Royal Aircraft Es-
tablishment (Anonymous, 1965).
During the spring season of 1965, for example, four air-
craft (P-lOOF, F-4C, T-33 and B-47) were provided by the
Aeronautical Systems Division of the U.S. Air Force, three
aircraft (a Scimitar and two Canberras) by the Royal Air-
craft Establishment, and three aircraft (two DC-6s and a
B-57) by the U.S. Weather Bureau Research Flight Facility.
An L-23D aircraft operated by the University of Michigan
tested detection of turbulence by laser. A B-47 aircraft was
equipped for filter-paper sampling of radioactivity; its
flights were coordinated by Glenn Stout of the illinois State
Water Survey. The fighter-type aircraft, except for the T-
33, penetrated storms; the T-33 accompanied the penetra-
tion craft near the storms to help ensure safety. The other
aircraft flew around and above the storms being penetrated
to gather data on storm environments. All aircraft and the
numerous accompanying maintenance staffs were based
at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma.
The aircraft program during 1965 was supported by five
radars, the principal systems for aircraft control being the
WSR-57 and a CPN-16. The CPN-16 received signals from
transponders on the aircraft; the transponder display was
mixed electronically with the WSR-57 signals so that the
aircraft were clearly portrayed in relation to weather sys-
terns. Other radars provided additional weather infor-
mation for postanalysis.
Collaborating British scientists included Jack Burnham
and Anne Burns of the British Royal Aircraft Establishment,
and (in 1966) Dr. W. T. Roach of the British Meteorological
Service. The Research Flight Facility activity, involving DC-
6s and the B-57, was coordinated in 1965 by Dr. T. T.
Fujita of the University of Chicago. Overall coordination
of this program was provided by J. T. Lee of NSSL, who
continued in this role and was responsible for many im-
portant contributions, both technical and administrative,
until his retirement in 1986.
The flight programs continued through the 1960s. Many
groups participated, including the Canadian Research
Council, which emphasized the altitude range between
10 000 and 20 000 ft. A joint program with the British
involved flights in thunderstorms over Singapore during
1969.
Results of the aircraft program of the 1960s, which in-
cluded approximately 1000 flights through thunderstorms
and numerous flights around and over them, lie in five
areas. First was documentation of results concerning the
relationship of radar echo intensity to storm turbulence at
different altitudes and places (Kessler et al., 1965; Burnham
and Lee, 1969; Lee and McPherson, 1971). Second was
new knowledge about the form of interactions between
storms and their environment. This work concerns trajec-
tories of flow around, into, and over storms (Roach, 1967;
Fankhauser, 1971; McCarthy et al., 1974; Heymsfield,
1978). Third, the program provided quantitative indica-
tions of both merits and limitations of airborne weather
radar (Merritt, 1969; Wilk et al., 1969). Fourth, the program
demonstrated effective radar-based control of numerous
aircraft flying in a limited and somewhat hazardous space
for purposes of applied research, and served as an impor-
tant example to the community at large. Finally, in the
area of official guidance and regulation, the program pro-
vided the foundation for advisories from the FAA to the
aviation community concerning radar-aided storm avoid-
ance practice during the enroute stage of flights (FAA,
1968). It was subsequently a source of much satisfaction
to observe that the incidence of storm-related accidents
enroute declined remarkably in the 1970s, despite a large
increase in air travel.
4. 3 Applications of Radar to Rainfall
Measurement
Improvements in displaying and recording distributions
of echo intensity, noted in section 4.1, were of great im-
portance to applications of radar for estimating rainfall
amounts and communicating flood warnings (Anonymous,
1965). During the mid-1960s, these projects were tightly
related to the River Forecast Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
An archival system was furnished by NSSL to the RFC
and was used to gain experience with the processing of
48 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
data from the WSR-57 radar controlled there. Some data
was transmitted by teletype to both Fort Worth and Tulsa,
Oklahoma for study of computer processing techniques
for combining radar data with information provided by
river stage and rainfall gages (McCallister et al., 1966;
McCallister and Teague, 1968; Kessler and Wilk, 1968;
Wilk and Kessler, 1970; Wilson, 1970). This work was in-
strumental in introducing quantitative and digital tech-
niques into routine operations in the National Weather
Service, although automatic equipment developed later for
this purpose was not promptly installed, probably because
the general capacity of communicating and processing
systems in the radar network was not commensurate with
the high data rates intrinsic to radar (Kessler and Wilson,
1971).
4. 4 Other Practical and Theoretical
Meteorology
Before 1960 there was little understanding of variety in
storm behavior. The Byers-Braham (1949) model was
widely and correctly accepted as a fair description of life
cycles of precipitating convective events. It was known
that some storms were in lines, some isolated, and some
in clusters, not all moved in the same direction, and some
were more intense than others, but there was simply no
corpus of observations to reveal much more. This situation
changed rapidly with the application of radars and other
tools to systematic observations of severe storms, especially
those common to the midwestern United States.
Browning and Donaldson were among the participants
in Oklahoma field programs, both before and after NSSL
was established. Their previously cited papers based on
observations by radar and other tools both in Oklahoma
and in England presented the first description of the flow
peculiar to a previously unidentified dass of intense storms
whose circulation has a quasi-steady quality. These storms
usually move to the right of the average wind vector.
On 4 April 1964, a severe tornado did much damage at
Wichita Falls, Texas. The radar echoes from this and ac-
companying storms were well observed from NSSL and
showed an astonishing behavior. While most strong echoes
moved to the right of and more slowly than the winds, as
was the case with the storms discussed by Browning and
Donaldson, some of the storms on 4 April moved to the
left of the wind direction and more rapidly than the average
wind speed; some storms split into left-moving and right-
moving entities (Charba and Sasaki, 1968). A left-mover
in Oklahoma on 23 April of the same year was documented
in detail by George Hammond (1967), who showed that
the vector winds relative to storm motion at low, middle,
and high altitudes formed a mirror image of those asso-
ciated with severe, right-moving storms. A flurry of ex-
planations appeared in the late 1960s, none of which was
very robust, and about ten years passed before an expla-
nation was derived using advanced numerical and math-
ematical models that simulate this behavior (e.g., Klemp
and Wilhelmson, 1978; see also Chapter 24).
Radar observations of severe storm motions were es-
sential to explanations of the source of storm rotation. In
the late 1960s, Barnes (1970) observed that boundary layer
flow that veers with height often represents a very large
component of horizontal vorticity, turned into the vertical
by the storm updraft. A parameter that strongly influences
this process is the storm motion vector, most clearly re-
vealed by radar, in relation to the vorticity vector. Storm
motion to the right of winds in the boundary layer en-
hances the twisting term in the low-level inflow; hence,
storm rotation might be a result of motion to the right of
the winds, rather than a cause of such motion as had been
proposed. Rotation was also key to identification of tor-
nadic storms by Doppler radar, which was to become the
foundation of techniques developed in the 1970s.
In other areas, first, there was a theoretical analysis of
relationships between air motion and distributions of water
substance in various phases. This work embodied effective
though simple parameterization of microphysical processes
and produced a mathematical theory for the Byers-Braham
oscillation (Kessler, 1969). Significant insights to the in-
terpretation of radar data and later contributions to re-
trieval of temperature and pressure perturbations are dis-
cussed in section 6. Second, radar was from the beginning
an essential support to all NSSL operations involving ob-
servations by individuals in the field. The storm intercept
program, initially defined and much encouraged by Neil
Ward, relied on clear displays of radar echoes (e.g., Ward,
1964) for appropriate directions transmitted by radio and
telephone. Later, radar data was to support numerous ve-
hicles dispatched for observations on tornadoes, meso-
cyclones, storm electricity, and hail (Davies-Jones, 1988).
Finally, NSSL hosted the American Meteorological Soci-
ety's 12th Conference on Radar Meteorology during Oc-
tober 1966, as well as many other conferences at Norman
attended by participants in the Oklahoma-based observing
program.
5 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM NSSL
DURING THE 1970s
5.1 Radar Technology
Engineering activity at NSSL has promoted the Labo-
ratory's basic functions in research and development.
Technology has been transferred to other parts of the me-
teorological community as its value has been recognized.
Development of NSSL's permanently installed 10-cm
Doppler radars, noted in section 4.1, proceeded rapidly
during the 1970s. An important early contribution came
from the Lincoln Laboratory on 1 July 1970, when engi-
neers James Meyer, Charles Muehe, and Melvin L. Stone
visited NSSL, evaluated the budding program, and en-
couraged the Director and staff in their S-hand develop-
 RADAR METEOROLOGY AT THE NATIONAL SEVERE STORMS LABORATORY, 1964-86 49
ment activities. A surplus FPS-18 was obtained from the
U.S. Air Force, and a newly purchased 9.2-m parabolic
antenna was fitted to it through extensive utilization of
miscellaneous surplus components. Fabrication was greatly
aided by the machine shop at the University of Oklahoma.
A surplus radome was identified at Tinker Air Force Base
and was erected for NSSL by the Oklahoma Air National
Guard, which designated the project a training exercise.
Heavy engineering and system installation adjacent to
NSSL headquarters in Norman was completed in 1970,
and the basic system was commissioned in 1971. During
the mid-1970s, a computer-driven data processing and
display system was developed for the Norman Doppler
radar by engineers Larry Hennington and Allen Zahrai.
A radar system much like that at Norman was installed
at Cimarron Field, 42 km to the northwest, and became
operational in 1974. Its antenna pedestal was purchased
new and provides more rapid scanning than the Norman
system. The working radar at Cimarron in the mid-1970s
with its data processing subsystems was largely the product
of engineer John Carter, assisted by electronics technician
Michael Schmidt. During the late 1970s, this PPI display
was replaced with raster-scan graphics and a new digital
processing system designed by Zahrai (1980).
The modified CPN-18 S-band radar commissioned in
1968 (see section 4.1) was used to investigate amplitude
fluctuations (R-meter; see Rogers, Chapter 16). These
studies helped justify the need for fully coherent radar
systems at 10-cm wavelength.
Installation and operation of the major Doppler radar
systems was attended by successful efforts by NSSL staff
to define improved weather-radar circuit theory and to
implement improved electronic circuits for radar displays
of meteorological data. Thus a series of papers began,
which continued into the 1980s, treating critical details of
signal processing theory and advanced radar design (e.g.,
Sirmans and Doviak, 1973a; Zrnic and Doviak, 1976, 1979;
Zrnic, 1977; Doviak and Zrnic, 1979). Doviak also managed
the presentation of a comprehensive review and update
of the whole radio meteorology field, which appeared as
a special issue of Geoscience Electronics (Doviak, editor,
1979).
NSSL was first to present contours of velocity in real
time on the plan position indicator. An early successful
design was based on the average of individual phase
changes measured in octant increments, and modulation
of the PPI intensity accordingly (Sirmans and Doviak,
1973b). Subsequently, higher resolution and accuracy were
achieved with pulse-pair processing (Rummier, 1968); the
pulse-pair work at NSSL followed related demonstrations
at the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory and Raytheon
Electronics Co. Sirmans and Bumgarner (1975) provided
a quantitative comparative analysis of several processing
methodologies.
Developments during the 1970s included an innovative
computer-driven display designed by Hennington. This
display presents spatial distributions of the first three mo-
ments of Doppler radar data simultaneously, for ready
identification of features such as vortices (Burgess et al.,
1976).
An important attribute of NSSL Doppler radar signal
processing is called batch processing. Implemented by Sir-
mans, with assistance from technician Glen Anderson, this
involves transmission of consecutive pulses at a low pulse
repetition frequency (PRF), followed by a series of pulses
at high PRF. An on-line computer notes the correct source
locations and intensities of all echoes detected during the
low PRF transmission and applies this information to dis-
play of velocities defined during the high PRF transmission.
If echoes from different trips overlie one another at high
PRF, then the location of displayed velocities corresponds
to the location of the stronger echo, provided that the dif-
ference of echo intensities is at least 10 dB. Locations of
the weaker of overlapping echoes are painted in a color
not used in the regions where velocities are displayed ac-
curately. (Echoes with intensities within 10 dB of each other
are also keyed to location only, not to velocity.) By this
means, in most cases, the NSSL Doppler radars are pro-
vided with velocity displays that are nearly uniformly ac-
curate, and with range capability in the velocity domain
that is nearly equal to that in the intensity domain (Doviak
et al., 1979). Other means for compensating for inherent
PRF-based limitations•in velocity measurement have also
been proposed (e.g., Doviak and Sirmans, 1973; Doviak
et al., 1978). See Chapter 20a for an extended treatment
of signal processing.
Other Doppler radar capabilities at NSSL were imple-
mented in the 1970s. A second transmitter was adapted
to a high PRF mode, whereby unambiguous velocity mea-
surement to ±91 m s- 1 was obtained for tornado studies,
and a 4 f.LS pulse width was provided for the sensitivity
needed to study optically clear boundary layers.
Activity in the area of specialized on-line processing was
accompanied during the 1970s by development of off-line
capabilities for synthesizing three-dimensional wind fields
through combination of radial velocity fields from two or
more Doppler radars. A multiple Doppler radar analysis
system (RADAN) was designed by Rodger Brown in 1973
in anticipation of NSSL's 10-cm dual-Doppler data col-
lection, which commenced in 1974 (Brown et al., 1981).
Other multiple Doppler synthesis systems were developed
and more rapidly documented (Ray, 1976; Ray et al., 1978;
Brandes, 1977); these later systems incorporated features
responsive to systematic properties of the equations related
to error and uncertainty. Still other programs were pro-
duced for computer-aided Doppler network design. Much
of the programming for computers was done by computer
specialists Bill Bumgarner and Sue Lee Wang, working with
meteorologists Peter Ray, Conrad Ziegler, and others (Ray
et al., 1976, 1979, 1980, for examples; see also Ray, Chap-
ter 24a).
50 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
5.l Aviation Meteorology
Work in this area involving radar proceeded largely un-
der contracts to the Federal Aviation Administration, with
two foci. One involved studies led by J. T. Lee. During the
early 1970s, he and his associates combined Doppler radar
data from thunderstorms with records of flights in the same
storms by instrumented aircraft. The Air Force Geophysics
Laboratory contributed to the studies and lent its plan shear
indicator for tests (see Donaldson, Chapter 15). Objectives
were to learn if the spread of Doppler (radial) velocities,
indicative of wind shear and turbulence, is a useful iden-
tifier of thunderstorm areas particularly hazardous to air-
craft, and, if so, how best to use this information. It was
determined that improved accuracy in identification of
hazardous areas is attainable when the spectrum width is
used with reflectivity data.
It became apparent from the record of aircraft accidents
and incidents during the 1970s that serious problems lay
in wind shifts on a scale larger than revealed by spectrum
width indicators, and at lower altitudes than had been
investigated previously. Accordingly, during the late 1970s,
emphasis turned toward gust fronts in the boundary layer
rather than turbulence in the midtroposphere, which had
claimed most of NSSL's attention since the start of the
Rough Rider project. NSSL was well equipped to study
gust fronts by virtue of varied facilities, including a 443-
m instrumented television tower as well as fine radars. An
appreciation for gust front characteristics provided by nu-
merous kinds of information was the basis of the proposal
(memorandum of 30 July 1976) to the FAA from the di-
rectors of both NSSL and the Wave Propagation Labora-
tory, who suggested that anemometers be installed to
monitor surface winds at airports. This or similar proposals
was acted upon by the FAA, which produced the Low
Level Windshear Alert System (LLWAS) (Goff, 1980; see
Chapter 31a).
The second focus involved practical methodologies for
radar data processing and communicating, particularly
suited to needs of the aviation community. This project,
led by Wilk and David Zittel, involved transmission of
digital radar data via telephone line and display of pro-
cessed data. Operational experiments involving NSSL's
WSR -57 and FAA enroute radars were performed at Wiley
Post Airport in Oklahoma City and at Midland, Texas.
They demonstrated that reflectivity data can be transmitted
and displayed in essentially real time for ready knowledge
of echo intensity and storm motions by persons with min-
imal training (Wilk, 1976; Zittel, 1976).
Another aviation-related effort during the 1970s pro-
vided comparative tests of airborne radars of commercial
manufacture. Several companies brought radars to NSSL
for testing on the ground, and airborne radars were flown
near storms simultaneously observed by NSSL's facilities.
In closely related work, meteorological applications of air-
port surveillance radars were further examined by Zittel
(1978) and Wilk and Dooley (1980).
5.3 Applications of Radar to Rainfall
Measurement
Work by NSSL staff during the 1970s included both
applied research and field demonstrations. In cooperation
with the Office of Hydrology in the National Weather Ser-
vice, NSSL participated in a study of data from a digital
processing unit (D /RADEX) installed at the Oklahoma City
Weather Service Forecast Office, and experiments in real-
time rainfall monitoring began. This work, led at NSSL by
Wilk and Lester Merritt, gradually eliminated instrumental
and administrative impediments to utilization of such ad-
vanced aids, and remarkable operational capabilities were
demonstrated at the Oklahoma City WSFO in the 1980s.
Another kind of hydrologic study was undertaken by
Edward Brandes of NSSL and, under contract, James Wil-
son of the Center for the Environment and Man in Hart-
ford, Connecticut. They examined radar and rainfall data
in order to learn how to combine accurate point measure-
ments by raingages with the less accurate spatial contin-
uum provided at discrete intervals of time by radar
(Brandes, 1975; Wilson and Brandes, 1979). By the late
1970s, it was evident that this technology was ready for
implementation in Weather Service operations.
5.4 Other Practical and Theoretical
Meteorology
Increased technological capabilities in the late 1960s
provided several effective new tools for study of severe
storms. Tremendous possibilities lay in thoughtful use of
data from aircraft, radar, radiosondes, surface stations, and
weather satellites, processed by sophisticated computa-
tional aids to a comprehensive synthesis previously un-
attainable. The Storm Morphology and Dynamics Group
of NSSL, led during the early 1970s by Dr. Stanley A.
Barnes, emphasized the development of capabilities in
synthesis. The papers produced on the severe storms of
29-30 April1970 (Barnes, editor, 1974) illustrate the fine
harvest of this effort. Radar was a critically important data
source, and this set of papers represents a culmination of
the state of the art of noncoherent radar. Features such as
mesocyclones, later revealed explicitly in Doppler wind
fields, were accurately though incompletely described in
these papers through careful analysis of radiosonde and
surface data, keyed to telling configurations of radar re-
flectivity.
On 2 June 1971 tornadic thunderstorms occurred within
range of NSSL's newly commissioned 10-cm Doppler ra-
dar. The 16 available range gates were centered on the
storm while the antenna scanned. Thirty minutes were
required to acquire storm data at low elevation angles in
a small azimuthal sector. Nevertheless, analysis revealed
a mesocyclone signature, confirming the earlier indications
of Donaldson at AFGL. During April 1972, enhanced
Doppler radar capabilities provided clear confirmation
(Brown et al., 1971, 1973).
 RADAR METEOROLOGY AT THE NATIONAL SEVERE STORMS'LABORATORY, 1%4-86
On 24 May 1973 a major tornado, visible from the roof
of NSSL Headquarters in Norman, struck Union City,
Oklahoma. This storm was the object of a Laboratory-
wide study (Brown, editor, 1976). A discovery of great
significance in these data was a signature of the tornado
vortex itself, manifested as extreme localized shear over a
distance of about one kilometer. Since then, the signature
has been routinely detected in storms with strong or violent
tornadoes within viewing range (about 115 km). Its pres-
ence is a key both to improved storm warnings to the public
and to improved diagnosis of storm structures. In the latter
category, the depth of tornado circulations and their slopes
have been measured in a range of storms, the origination
of strong swirl has been identified at middle levels rather
than near the ground, and the evolution of tomadic cir-
culations has been related to larger features of parent
storms (Brown et al., 1978). Further quantitative devel-
opment of these capabilities included applications of
Doppler radar to estimation of actual wind speeds (>90
m s- 1) in tornado vortices (Zmic and Doviak, 1975; Zrnic
et al., 1977; see Chapter 30a).
In addition to the tornado vortex signature, the larger
mesocyclone signature is more readily and frequently rec-
ognized. Practically all storms with radar-detected meso-
cyclones are severe, and half (at least in Oklahoma) pro-
duce tornadoes. Of great importance to the storm warning
process is the observation that practically all storms that
produce significant tornadoes show a mesocyclone on
Doppler radar first, usually at least 20 minutes in advance
of the tornado (Lemon et al., 1977). Furthermore, a single
Doppler radar is sufficient to identify general features of
storm circulations and their strengths (Lemon et al., 1978;
Burgess and Lemon, Chapter 30a).
Laboratory staff was concerned with many other aspects
of storms-after all, hail, strong winds less forceful than
tornadoes, lightning, and heavy rain are important and
much more frequent than tornadoes. Nelson and Young
(1979) assembled reports from volunteer observers and
radar data, and they showed that major hail storms in
Oklahoma are significantly larger in areal extent than other
storms, including tomadic storms.
Toward the end of the decade, radar-aided studies of
storm morphology and dynamics were developing new
foci under the leadership of Dr. Richard J. Doviak. There
was increased emphasis on studies of the optically clear
or, at least, precipitation-free atmosphere that precedes
storm outbreaks. Although clear-air capabilities of the
NSSL radars are limited to the lowest few kilometers, this
is where many important phenomena reside-and where
man lives. Important analysis techniques and knowledge
developed with regard to gust fronts and turbulence in
the boundary layer (Doviak and Berger, 1980; Rabin and
Zmic, 1980; Reinking et al., 1981). Numerical models be-
gan to be devised and refined to connect radar observations
of reflectivity and velocity with the equations of dynamical
meteorology. This discipline in meteorology, beginning
51
with pioneering work by Hane and Scott (1978) and at the
University of Oklahoma by Gal-Chen (1978), is denoted
"retrieval" because of an objective to identify or retrieve
fields of perturbation pressure and temperature and (later)
microphysical processes from radar observations of three-
dimensional distributions of velocity and reflectivity, the
latter an indication of condensed wat'er produced in the
first instance by the vertical component of velocity (see
Chapter 24a).
In addition to exploration of severe storm mechanics,
studies of storm electricity began when Dr. G. D. Kinzer
joined the Laboratory in 1966. Kinzer refined and applied
a method of lightning location based on a combination of
azimuthal direction finding with crossed loop antennas
and ranging via analysis of waveforms that included sig-
natures of ionospheric reflections. Lightning was located
in two storm systems defined by digital radar data. Al-
though lightning frequency varied widely both from storm
to storm and within storms, lightning counts were fairly
correlated with both the radial extent of large radar re-
flectivity and with rainfall amount (Kinzer, 1974).
5.5 The Joint Doppler Operational Project
and Project SESAME
By the mid-1970s, it was widely accepted that Doppler
radar and associated capabilities in data processing and
communications held great promise for improved public
services, and that a Doppler radar in some form should
be planned for by weather services. This conclusion was
promoted by the declining quality of the aging WSR-57
radars operated by the National Weather Service and the
FPS-77 radars operated by the U. S. Air Force. The FAA
was also interested in what Doppler radar could offer to
aviation weather services. It was therefore agreed to un-
dertake a program in which the NSSL Doppler radar would
be tested in an operational environment, with participation
by all of the concerned agencies. Thus, the Joint Doppler
Operational Project (JDOP) was begun in 1976, with
merged interests and skills from the National Weather
Service, Air Force Geophysics Laboratory, FAA, and NSSL,
under the overall direction of Kenneth E. Wilk. Donald W.
Burgess of NSSL was Chief Meteorologist, and staff mem-
bers from each of the participating agencies were directly
involved.
The project convincingly demonstrated potential ad-
vantages of Doppler radar and associated capabilities for
warnings of severe storms and floods in public service and
aviation. Signatures offered by noncoherent radar are rel-
atively nebulous and untrustworthy because mesocyclone
and tornado circulations do not present unique reflectivity
patterns, while corresponding signatures in radial velocity
patterns are usually recognizable tens of minutes prior to
the occurrence of severe events at and near the ground.
Furthermore, the relatively narrow beam, great sensitivity,
and powerful data processing capabilities of modem 10-
52 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
em Doppler radar systems augur well for improved per-
formance in hydrology, for wind soundings at low altitudes
even in the absence of precipitation, and for all that such
may imply for weather forecasting in a future era where
supercomputers assimilate data from a variety of sources
for initialization of numerical models. When JDOP con-
cluded in 1979, a report was issued on the work conducted
during 1977-78 (Burgess et al., 1979). During the 1980s
the agencies established NEXRAD (U.S. Next Generation
Weather Radar System) and its Joint Systems Program Of-
fice, and made a commitment to purchase a network of
Doppler radars to span the United States.
The meteorological community had long hoped for an
observational program more extensive than any individual
group could foster, and progress at NSSL and elsewhere
during the 1970s greatly strengthened such an idea. This
program was realized in the southern plains states during
spring 1979 as the Severe Environmental Storms and Me-
soscale Experiment (Project SESAME), operated from
NSSL. Following a planning conference at Boulder in 1974
(Lilly, editor, 1975}, SESAME developed as a pooling of
existing resources and cooperation of diverse organizations,
representing 18 government agencies and 17 universities.
Dr. Ronnie L. Alberty, then head of NSSL's group on Storm
Morphology and Dynamics, was appointed Operations
Director; Barnes, then with the Office of the Director at
the Environmental Research Laboratories in Boulder, was
Deputy Director.
SESAME examined intense convective storms: interact-
ing scales of motion, triggers for storm generation, tor-
nadogenesis, and storm evolution. Numerous ancillary ex-
periments also were conducted. Six Doppler radars were
among the sensors used in the field program (Alberty et
al., 1979; Barnes, editor, 1981). On 10 April1979, when
an infamous tornado occurred at Wichita Falls, Texas, rou-
tine observations had just begun, and special soundings
were obtained. Abundant data acquired from this and other
storms has been intensively investigated in several labo-
ratories, to the benefit of numerical modeling (e.g., Ross,
1987). Incidentally, the Wichita Falls case illustrated strong
attenuation by precipitation of S-cm radiation (Allen et al.,
1981).
6 THE 1980s AND CONCLUDING
REMARKS
The 1980s are treated comprehensively in chapters of
this volume. For continuity here we indicate major direc-
tions and results of the NSSL radar-related program
through the mid-1980s, and cite a few papers for illustra-
tion. Objective analysis of radar reflectivity and velocity
data was again advanced, with new computer routines for
mapping two-dimensional winds estimated with data from
only one Doppler radar (e.g., Koscielny et al., 1982). This
paper also indicates how radar data acquired in a precip-
itation-free atmosphere can be applied to foreshadow se-
vere storm outbreaks. The advanced analysis techniques
were further utilized to examine transport processes in the
precipitation-free boundary layer (Rabin et al., 1982).
Radar technology and science studies were pursued vig-
orously, with achievements involving polarization with
potential applications to rainfall measurement (Sachidan-
anda and Zrnic, 1985, 1986), demonstration of a new
method for reducing sidelobes of phased array antennas
(Sachidananda et al., 1985; Zrnic and Sachidananda, 198 7),
and improved understanding of backscatter properties of
the turbulent atmosphere (Doviak and Zrnic, 1984). NSSL
staff members were also much involved with profiler radars
and lidars, and applications of their data (Koscielny et al.,
1984; Eilts et al., 1984, 1985).
Applications of variational analysis to synthesis of multi-
Doppler data had been refined by Ray et al. (1980), and
such advanced syntheses were further applied in models
developed to retrieve thermodynamical and microphysical
parameters from velocity and reflectivity data. The science
of retrieval of thermodynamical and microphysical fields
is much developed in the papers of Brandes (1984), Hane
and Ray (1985}, and Ziegler (1985); these works have pro-
vided remarkable insights into interacting processes that
regulate vorticity and momentum production during storm
development. In application with other considerations to
thunderstorm observations, new findings on tornado ori-
gins, thunderstorm mechanics, and the projection of radar
functions toward improved storm warnings were illus-
trated in papers by Davies-Jones (1984) and Davies-Jones
et al. (1984). In work by Nelson (1983) and Ziegler et al.
(1983), radar data reinforced by numerical models helped
determine that the breadth of regions of moderate to strong
updrafts is more important for hail formation than maxi-
mum updraft speed or initial distribution of embryos. Very
strong updrafts lift embryos to high altitudes before they
have time to grow large, and sustained moderate to strong
updrafts of large horizontal extent in Oklahoma regularly
produce both embryos and large hail.
The mid- and late 1970s marked renewed development
of storm electricity studies at NSSL, following a hiatus
begun when Kinzer retired in 1972. Dr. E. T. Pierce was
on the staff for a little more than a year, beginning in April
1976, and he was followed by Dr. W. D. Rust and W. L.
Taylor, who moved to NSSL from Boulder in the late
1970s. The NSSL storm electricity program with a large
component of lightning studies with radar and aircraft has
flourished during the 1980s, as exemplified by Rust et al.
(1982), Taylor et al. (1983), Mazur and Rust (1983), and
Mazur et al. (1986). These studies are further described
with others in Chapter 18.
Scientists at the Laboratory were authors or editors of
five significant books. Doppler Radar and Weather Obser-
vations by Doviak and Zrnic (1984) has become a standard
text, and in 1988 these scientists' remarkable contributions
to the modern development of Doppler radar was recog-
nized with the Harry Diamond Award of the Institute of
 RADAR METEOROLOGY AT THE NATIONAL SEVERE STORMS LABORATORY, 1964-86 53
Electrical and Electronics Engineers. A treatise on thun-
derstorms in three volumes was begun in 1976 and pub-
lished by the U.S. Government Printing Office during the
early 1980s. Revised and expanded, with contributions
from 57 authors (many from NSSL), the second edition
was published by the University of Oklahoma Press during
the mid-1980s (Kessler, editor, 1981-88). Mesoscale Me-
teorology and Forecasting, published by the American Me-
teorological Society, is an outgrowth of a course presented
at NCAR during summer 1984 and coordinated by Peter
Ray, then manager of NSSL's Meteorological Research
group (Ray, editor, 1986). All of these books contain sub-
stantial sections on radar applications andjor technology.
Senior staff members of NSSL are encouraged to teach
courses at the University of Oklahoma by a policy that
counts time and effort in this activity as part of the NSSL
program. Doviak and Zrnic have taught radar meteorology
biennially at 0. U. since the latter 1970s, and about 100
students have passed these rigorous studies.
In the operational arena, the NEXRAD program to which
NSSL contributed greatly over the years moved through
the procurement process managed and directed from
Washington, D.C. This involved construction and evalu-
ation of competing radar designs, selection of a contractor,
and production of first models for deployment in the field.
An office for technology transfer, headed by Wilk, was
established at NSSL; in 1980, the office became the Interim
Operational Test Facility (IOTF) for NEXRAD, in the Na-
tional Weather Service. NSSL staff, in close cooperation
with the IOTF, continued with contributions to objective
analysis and interpretation of meteorological fields as pro-
jected for the NEXRAD system, including its role in support
of aviation (e.g., Eilts and Doviak, 1987; Zrnic, 1987). Wood
and Brown (1983) made a critical contribution to radar
pattern recognition, and the work of Mahapatra et al.
(1983) is prominent among studies of logistical problems
of operations.
The close cooperation between NSSL and the NWS
Weather Service Forecast Office at Oklahoma City influ-
enced the move of that office to Norman and the construc-
tion of a building to house both the Weather Service Fore-
cast Office and a NEXRAD management team. There joint
programs such as DOPLIGHT, involving nearly routine
transmissions of Doppler radar data and lightning ground
strike locations from NSSL to WSFO forecasters, continue
with a goal of helping ensure that the NEXRAD radar is
well used when deployed (Brown et. al., 1985).
Finally, the Laboratory continued in cooperation with
other organizations for observations in the field. Most no-
table during the 1980s to date was the Oklahoma-Kansas
PRE-STORM exercise of spring 1985, whereby several En-
vironmental Research Laboratories and university groups
teamed with components of NCAR to utilize surface and
upper-air stations, scanning and wind-profiling Doppler
radars, instrumented aircraft, and satellite data in order to
examine thermodynamical properties of mesoscale con-
vective complexes.
Continuing rapid development of computing, commu-
nicating, and data processing technologies is producing a
flood of important achievements, which attracts our at-
tention to the present. From the vantage point of 1987,
the 1960s at NSSL was a period of growth in facilities,
personnel and scope of program, and a time of establish-
ment of firm programmatic footings. During the 1970s,
NSSL, in concert with others, built an enabling structure
on those footings and established a foundation for the far-
flung operational system NEXRAD and for analysis of both
the clear and stormy atmosphere with unprecedented ac-
curacy and detail. The 1980s have already seen a great
growth of science on that foundation and structure, along
with substantial operational implementation of the new
technologies. In a larger sense, these views also apply to
meteorology as a whole. The process by which this material
and intellectual growth occurred at NSSL was complex
and is not detailed here; it involved interacting commu-
nities of scientists, administrators, schools, businesses, and
research laboratories.
Approximately 110 papers and reports by NSSL staff
are cited here, about 10% of the total number published
through the mid-1980s. Since this chapter emphasizes ra-
dar, our references tend to be imbalanced with respect to
representing the whole NSSL program, which contributed
in other areas and significantly more to science than is
indicated by the technological focus of this paper. Further,
since this is primarily a history of NSSL, we have not cited
the great host of similarly important contributions from
many others in the same fields, developed in a collegial
milieu.
For more detailed information about NSSL, one may
consult the series of NSSP Reports and NSSL Technical
Memoranda listed on final pages of reports of the Labo-
ratory; the monthly (later bimonthly and quarterly) activity
reports issued between 1963 and 1986; summaries of the
activity reports, usually known as NSSL Highlights, issued
for 1967 through 1978 (except in 1976, when there was a
special report on NSSL history and 1976 program); and
Annual Reports of the Laboratory, issued since 1979. Most
of these items can be obtained at the Laboratory; a com-
plete set is in the History of Science Collection at the Uni-
versity of Oklahoma Libraries, Norman, Oklahoma 73019.
Acknowledgments. Several NSSL colleagues consulted
with the author and provided significant contributions.
 54
Chapter 7
A History of Radar Meteorology in the United Kingdom
f.R. Probert-fones,* Department of Physics, Imperial College of Science and Technology
1 INTRODUCTION
This short history of radar meteorology in the United
Kingdom describes not only the significant research work
carried out, but to a certain extent how and why it was
done. The author worked in radar meteorology for three
years, from 1958 to 1961, knew most of the previous work
by reputation, and continued to keep in touch with de-
velopments for quite a time thereafter. Work done in the
last ten years is not discussed here; this chapter concen-
trates on significant British radar research from its begin-
nings during World War II through the mid-1970s.
A considerable amount of work was carried out at an
organization in Malvern, Worcestershire, first called during
the war the Telecommunications Research Establishment,
then the Radar Research Establishment, then the Royal
Radar Establishment, and is now the Royal Radar and Sig-
nals Research Establishment. Two sites were nearby: Def-
ford, where the high-powered S-band radar was located,
and Pershore, where the Doppler radar was operated. To
avoid confusion both of these sites will be referred to as
"Malvern." The Meteorological Office radar research sta-
tion which was set up during the war at East Hill in Bed-
fordshire closed down in 1960. The staff was transferred
to Malvern where a joint Meteorological Research Unit
was set up with the Radar Research Establishment. The
Unit was closed down in 1984 when the weather radar
network that it had been developing became operational.
The first part of this history describes events in roughly
chronological order. Separate sections follow on theoretical
work and on Doppler radar up until the time when it be-
came integrated with conventional radar and routine ob-
servations in studying large-scale motion systems. Devel-
opments in both these fields overlapped progress in
conventional radar work, and it will perhaps be less con-
fusing to deal with them individually.
2 THE EARLY DAYS
The invention of radar by Watson-Watt in 1936 and its
rapid development due to the imminence and then out-
break of war resulted in a working 10-cm radar system at
• Retired.
the General Electric Company by July 1940 and at the Air
Ministry Research Establishment ( AMRE), Swanage, in
August 1940 (Atlas and Ulbrich, Chapter 12). When the
first weather echoes were detected and recognized is not
known precisely, but clearly observations by the GEC radar
must have stimulated the Rydes to begin their theoretical
work. During the war, of course, weather echoes were
regarded as a nuisance rather than of intrinsic interest;
nevertheless, before the end of the war the Meteorological
Office had established a radar research station at East Hill,
30 miles north of London, which was equipped with a 10-
cm radar. This was augmented in 1949 by a 3-cm radar.
The use of radar during the war in the Middle and Far
East led to the recognition of anomalous propagation and
ducting, and considerable work on radar propagation was
carried out, mainly at the Telecommunications Research
Establishment at Malvern (Booker, 1948). This work, to-
gether with that of the Rydes, firmly established the theo-
retical foundations of radar meteorology by the end of
the war.
Immediately after the war (in fact starting before the
war had actually ended), Hooper and Kippax (1950) began
a particularly comprehensive program of observations pri-
marily to test the quantitative theories of the Rydes. As an
example of their thoroughness, they investigated the de-
pendence of the received power on the duration of the
pulse by using a 3.2-cm radar whose pulse length could
be varied to either about 0.5 or 2 p,s. It was calibrated
precisely by measuring the ratio of the mean transmitted
power when the two pulses were used, and found to be
6.84 ± 0.02 dB. The beam was then directed vertically
upward, and measurements were made at half-minute in-
tervals on precipitation at a height of 9000 ft. A second
radar also scanned this volume to ensure that the precip-
itation rate remained constant during the observations.
Seventy-one readings satisfying this criterion were ob-
tained, and the ratio of the echo intensities from the two
pulse lengths was found to be 6.9 ± 0.2 dB, in total agree-
ment. Hooper and Kippax also confirmed the wavelength
dependence of the echo intensities (including the effect of
the variation in refractive index) by comparing intensities
at 9.1 and 3.2 em, and at 9.1 and 1.25 em.
Hooper and Kippax carried out other meteorological in-
vestigations in addition to their work on validating the
theory. They made measurements on the echo intensity
 A HISTORY OF RADAR METEOROLOGY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
from snow, finding a considerable increase as the height
decreased, which they interpreted in terms of aggregation,
and at the same time confirmed Ryde's values for snow
backscatter. They investigated the melting band, finding
that peak intensities in the band were greater than those
from the rain below by a factor that varied between about
5 and 9, and which agreed substantially with the value
predicted by Ryde, who presumably by 1945 was aware
of the phenomenon. They also investigated the relationship
between the height of the melting band and that of the
freezing level, making observations simultaneously with
radiosonde ascents. Hooper and Kippax were also among
the first to report the appearance of strong echoes above
the melting band which descended and merged with the
melting band, increasing its intensity. It seems likely that
these upper bands were not seen previously due to the
rather poor resolving powers of early radars.
For a time after the war, the Meteorological Office radar
station at East Hill concentrated on the examination of
turbulence using the radar reflecting material called win-
dow, no doubt at the instigation of Sir Graham Sutton,
who was first Director of the Telecommunications Research
Establishment and then of the Meteorological Office, and
whose major interest was in turbulence. Radar was also
used to examine the structure of large-scale meteorological
echoes, and Jones (1950) gave descriptions of the general
characteristics of radar echoes from different cloud systems
as observed by both PPI and RHI. In analyses of cold
fronts, for example, he found that often the cumulonimbus
activity was confined to a narrow belt only 5 to 10 miles
wide.
Radar echoes attributable to lightning flashes had oc-
casionally been observed at East Hill, but on three days
in August 1953 Jones (1954) managed to obtain photo-
graphs by pointing the radar aerial at an angle to pass the
beam through the upper levels of a cumulonimbus cloud
and displaying the returned signal on an A-scope display.
Using 10-s exposures, transient echoes which were not
present on preceding or succeeding pictures were attributed
to lightning, although the precise backscattering mecha-
nism was not understood.
In the early 1950s the Meteorological Office began in-
vestigations examining the accuracy of precipitation fore-
casts based on the movement of radar echoes. Although
it was found that the radar display could be of help to the
forecaster, and subsequently in 1955 a radar was installed
in London for the forecast office, the results were not suf-
ficiently encouraging for much progress in this field. It was
found, for example, that showers could on average be
tracked only for a period of about an hour.
In 1948 a particularly talented postgraduate student at
the Cavendish Laboratory of Cambridge University began
work on a doctoral thesis to be entitled "Radar Studies of
Clouds" (Browne, 1952). Using a radar set on loan from
the Telecommunications Research Establishment, Browne
made both observational and theoretical studies of several
55
phenomena. Using his 3-cm radar pointing vertically,
Browne observed in 1949 the upper bands that Hooper
and Kippax had also found. Browne measured the rate of
descent of these bands above the freezing level and found
that at 9000 ft above the freezing level the mean downward
velocity was about 20 ft s- 1, much greater than the fall
speed of ice particles, and that this velocity decreased sys-
tematically with time as the height of the band decreased.
He proposed a theoretical explanation in terms of a pre-
cipitation streak falling through a vertical wind shear and
showed that such an explanation could satisfy his mea-
surements. Browne also made measurements on the melt-
ing band, obtaining ratios of the echo intensities above
the band, at the peak of the band and below it, and mea-
sured the variation of echo intensity with height in snow,
obtaining values in close agreement with those found by
Hooper and Kippax. Again, Browne observed lightning
flashes, one which he measured to have an echo intensity
of at least 2 X 10-6 W lasting for 2 ms. He proposed to
account.for the strong signal by scattering from the elec-
trons forming the ionized path of the flash.
This last observation indicated that Browne was adding
his own instrumentation to the radar, and he made further
investigation into the melting band by making polarization
measurements (Browne and Robinson, 1952). By using
separate aerials for the transmitter and receiver, and by
comparing the echo received when the aerials had their
planes of polarization parallel to that with the planes at
right angles, they found that particles in the melting region
produced backscattered radiation with a greater cross-po-
larized component than that given either by the snow
above or the rain below.
Browne also made measurements of the fluctuations in
radar echoes from precipitation. He used a vertical beam
and measured the autocorrelation function of the echo by
a straightforward but rather cumbersome method. He
found that in a situation of uniform warm-frontal precip-
itation, the snow particles had a root mean square velocity
relative to one another of 20 em s - 1, while the raindrops
below the melting level had a relative root mean square
velocity of 120 em s- 1. This analysis of the Doppler spec-
trum cannot be said to represent a true Doppler radar ob-
servation, since the absolute Doppler frequency was un-
known and absolute velocities could not be obtained.
However, this work led rapidly to the construction of the
first real meteorological Doppler radar, of which details
are given below in section 6.
3 SEVERE STORMS
In retrospect the decade of the 1950s was particularly
favorable for thunderstorm activity over southern England.
Certainly by 1955 Ludlam at Imperial College was fully
engaged in studying cumulus and cumulonimbus convec-
tion and had realized that radar was essential in his in-
vestigations. His first radar observations were made in 1956
56 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
(Ludlam, 1980) when by combining visual, double-theo-
dolite and radar measurements he showed that if the tow-
ers of convection clouds exceeded a well-defined height
they produced a radar echo, and if they exceeded a second
level they glaciated and could be expected to produce a
shower. This comparatively simple work exemplifies Lud-
lam's extraordinary gift for interpreting observations to
reveal their simple basic truths. Ludlam continued his ob-
servations in 1957, also beginning some collaboration with
the Meteorological Office radar station at East Hill, and
began to set up a network of voluntary observers to record
rain duration, hail duration and size, and lightning fre-
quency in thunderstorms over much of southern England.
Although thunderstorms had occurred several times
each summer, Ludlam believed that more violent storms
occurred much more frequently in northern Italy, and in
1958 he took his radars to the Po Valley to study Italian
storms. He gained valuable experience in this study, but
it was in a sense unfortunate that he was not in England
when one of the most intense severe storms struck south-
east England on 5 September 1958. This Horsham storm
produced hail of 8~cm diameter and was accompanied by
tornadoes, a rare occurrence for British storms.
For the 1959 observing program Ludlam returned to
East Hill with an impressive number of radars and sci-
entists. In addition to Ludlam himself and Harper of the
East Hill radar station, there were Atlas, Harney, and Pe-
trocchi from the Air Force Cambridge Research Labora-
tories, Dr. and Mrs. Mossop from South Africa, and Dr.
Macklin from Australia. They had a total of five radars:
two 3.3-cm RHis, a 4.7 em used as a PPI, and a PPI and
RHI of 10-cm wavelength. Ludlam's network of voluntary
observers was also available. On 9 July 1959 a severe storm
developed over Brittany, crossed the English coast near
the Isle of Wight, and moved northeast across southeast
England, passing just to the east of the radar site. That
storm, the Wokingham storm, was the last severe storm
to cross southeast England for at least several years; for-
tunately for Ludlam and his team, its orientation, heading
straight for the radar site, enabled features to be observed
that otherwise would have been impossible to see. The
radars were operating perfectly (all had been calibrated
only the day before), and the radar operators each had
been given a specific task which they carried out for several
hours as the storm approached and moved away from
them. The electricity supply failed for 45 minutes due to
a lightning strike, but this occurred when the storm was
almost overhead and radar observation would have been
difficult in any case.
The analysis of the Wokingham storm was mainly car-
ried out by Ludlam and his postgraduate student Browning
(Browning and Ludlam, 1962). Ludlam had previously
used RHI radar observations as well as visual measure-
ments to obtain the rate of rise of echo or cloud tops to
indicate vertical air velocities which could be related to
hail size and thermodynamic structure. In 1959 one 3-cm
RHI radar was specifically assigned to follow echo column
tops to obtain their rate of rise. To his astonishment, for
a period of about an hour during the Wokingham storm
it became impossible to discern any individual rising col-
umns; throughout this period the echo mass moved with
a uniform velocity and without any marked variation in
its character. This led Ludlam to propound his revolution-
ary concept of the steady-state model for the severe storm.
Together with Ludlam and Browning's observation of
particular features of the Wokingham storm (the wall, the
forward overhang, and the echo-free vault), the steady-
state hypothesis enabled them to produce a three-dimen-
sional kinematic model of the airflow within a severe storm.
Thus the analysis of the Wokingham storm was not only
the culmination of years of acquired experience leading to
a particularly comprehensive and well-organized obser-
vational program. It was also the beginning of an era in
which radar observations would be allied to dynamical
models to investigate classes of atmospheric circulations
from severe storms through mesoscale phenomena to
fronts and cyclones.
4 ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEMS
Ludlam's concept of a steady-state system used for his
analysis of a severe storm was carried further at Imperial
College. Green et al. (1966) showed that it was possible
to obtain from routine radiosonde observations isentropic
charts of the flow relative to large-scale motion systems
under the assumption that the system is in a steady state.
At around the same time Browning and Harrold came to-
gether in the Meteorological Office research team at the
Royal Radar Establishment, Malvern. This conjunction led
to a major series of investigations into mesoscale phenom-
ena in which radar played an equal role with routine and
special radiosonde ascents, autographic rainfall records,
and synoptic observations.
A wave depression that crossed southern Britain on 16
October 1967 was analyzed in detail by Browning and
Harrold (1969). Four types of analysis were carried out.
Isentropic analysis provided a three-dimensional kinematic
picture of the flow pattern, which could also provide es-
timates of large-scale vertical air motion, and the ther-
modynamical structure, revealing regions of potential in-
stability. Analysis of 90 autographic rate-of-rainfall records
revealed details of the pattern of surface rainfall and
showed a uniform rain area ahead of the warm front, non-
uniform rainbands near the warm front aligned parallel
to it, and nonuniform rainbands in the warm sector aligned
parallel to the wind. Third, the Doppler radar was operated
in a quasi-horizontal mode to provide, in the vicinity of
Malvern, the horizontal wind components together with
the divergence and deformation. Finally, a 3.3-cm radar
was used to obtain RHI and PPI pictures within a 50 km
radius of Malvern. The Doppler and conventional radar
data were analyzed to attempt to determine the structure
and dynamical origin of the three types of precipitation.
Thus the uniform rain came from large-scale ascent of or-
 A HISTORY OF RADAR METEOROLOGY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM 57
der 10 em s- 1 above the frontal zone. The nonuniform
rain arose from high-level generator cells with updrafts of
1 m s - 1 or less; topography was very important in the
formation of the warm sector bands.
This investigation has been described in some detail in
order to emphasize the role that radar was now playing:
as an equal partner with synoptic-scale observations, and
extrapolated using the steady-state hypothesis to apply to
mesoscale systems. Several important studies followed
over the next few years including a detailed analysis of a
polar low, which was shown, contrary to previous ideas,
to be a baroclinic disturbance, and a study of air motion
and precipitation growth at a cold front.
The phenomenon of rainbands was still not fully un-
derstood, and in order to minimize ambiguities introduced
by topographical disturbance of the airflow an observing
program was set up on the Isles of Scilly (off the south-
western tip of England). The radar facilities consisted of
a 10-cm conventional radar capable of operating in both
PPI and RHI modes, together with the mobile Doppler
radar. The mesoscale wind field was obtained from mea-
surements made on radar reflectors dropped from two air-
craft. Observations were made during the passage of a
depression on 18 January 1971 (Browning et al., 1973).
Extensive rainband structure was found, mainly ahead of
the warm front and generated above the main warm-fron-
tal zone, but oriented parallel to the cold front. They were
characterized by small-scale convection due to the release
of some potential instability.
A major comprehensive study of the airflow and pre-
cipitation mechanisms in baroclinic disturbances ( depres-
sions) was made by Harrold (1973). Harrold effectively
analyzed the depression as Ludlam had analyzed the se-
vere storm, although the depression has the added com-
plication of containing important structure on several
scales. He found that the most important feature in the
production of precipitation is a well-defined flow of air
between 100and 1000 km wide which initially flows par-
allel to and ahead of the surface cold front and then as-
cends above the warm-frontal zone at a typical upward
speed of 10 em s- 1• Harrold also found that the total pre-
cipitation is controlled primarily by the large-scale flow,
mesoscale motions serving merely to redistribute rather
than increase the total rainfall.
Further work was carried out in succeeding years on
orographic rainfall, line convection, and cold fronts, all
using similar techniques in which conventional and
Doppler radar provide details of the small-scale and me-
soscale structure within large-scale systems which can be
analyzed using radiosonde, radar wind, and surface
weather and rainfall observations.
5 PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT
Radar meteorologists have long believed that radar
should be able to be used quantitatively to obtain areal
measurements of precipitation. Hooper and .Kippax made
measurements prior to 1950 relating rate of rainfall to the
intensity of the received radar echo, and work was carried
out at the Radio and Space Research Station at Slough in
the 1960s on the attenuation of microwaves by precipi-
tation in connection with the setting up of microwave tele-
communication links.
However it was not until 1967 that the Meteorological
Office set up a cooperative venture involving water au-
thorities and Plessey Radar Ltd. to investigate the possi-
bility of using radar to provide useful rainfall data. A 10-
cm radar was installed in North Wales and with its asso-
ciated instrumentation came into operation in 1971. The
area covered amounted to 1000 km 2 and contained 62
automatic raingages. The output from the radar and the
raingages was recorded on magnetic tape for subsequent
analysis. Observations were made between February 1972
and September 1973. Harrold et al. (1974) found that by
using the relation Z = 200 R 1. 6 not only did the radar almost
invariably underestimate the rainfall, but that the use of
any single such relation would still produce differences of
as much as a factor of 5. When the radar was calibrated
by using the rainfall measured hourly by the gages, radar
estimates of three-hourly rainfall over 50 km 2 areas were
accurate on average to about 15% within 15 km of the
gage, although on occasions the error could be substantially
greater. The error could be reduced, but not significantly,
by increasing both the area and the summation period.
Two particular problems affected this project. The area
of North Wales is hilly, and in winter the melting layer
was at a low level. The elevation of the aerial was therefore
critical; it could not be raised to avoid the permanent echo
without the risk of intersecting the melting layer very fre-
quently. In consequence the aerial was set at an elevation
of 0.5°; since the beamwidth was 2°, about 50% of the
area used for the investigation was affected by permanent
echo. Since most of the individual permanent echoes were
of small scale, sampling volumes clear of this echo were
sufficiently numerous to provide reasonable results.
At this elevation angle the melting layer became a sig-
nificant factor at the maximum range of 48 km when it
was centered below about 1750 m. Although a correction
could be applied, the error in the estimated rainfall was
still significantly greater than when no melting layer was
involved.
As a result of these conclusions, in 1973 the radar was
converted to 5.6-cm wavelength with an aerial beamwidth
halved to 1°. The results from using this radar were in line
with expectations, showing that provided the radar data
within some 75 km of the radar were calibrated against
sufficient raingages, precipitation measurements of suffi-
cient accuracy for the hydrologists might be produced.
However, all these experiments were carried out by ana-
lyzing the data after the events, and no real-time experi-
ments were carried out before the project terminated in
1976. A new project has recently been started and is
showing promise in overcoming some of the problems en-
countered in the earlier study.
58 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
6 DOPPLER RADAR
On 27 May 1953 the first meteorological observations
using pulsed Doppler radar were made at the Cavendish
Laboratory, Cambridge, England (Barratt and Browne,
1953). P. Barratt and I.C. Browne were two Cambridge
graduates (although Browne by this time had moved to
Jodrell Bank) who had taken a vertically pointing radar
and mounted above the aerial a flat metal plate inclined
at 45 °. This directed a fraction of the transmitted pulse
horizontally, where it was reflected from a distant chimney
and combined with the precipitation echo to give the
Doppler shift. On this particular afternoon the echo from
within a shower at a height of 5000 ft had a power spec-
trum agreeing with that expected from a typical drop-size
distribution except for a shift of 50 Hz, from which they
deduced the existence of a downdraft of 2 m s- 1 • Thus
not only was this the first occasion in which Doppler radar
was used to observe precipitation, it was also the first in
which vertical velocities in a shower were measured, and
remarkably found to reveal a downdraft.
This Doppler radar continued to be used over the next
three or four years, but although their work was described
at a discussion meeting of the Royal Meteorological Society
(which was not reported), and although they submitted
a paper for publication (which was returned for modifi-
cation and never resubmitted}, Barratt and Browne's letter
to the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
describing their first observations is the only published
account of their historic and pioneering work. It is tragic
that their work was ignored at the time and has since re-
mained unknown to almost all radar meteorologists.
In 1958 a Doppler radar of advanced design which had
been shown to be capable of detecting precipitation echoes
(Boyenval, 1960) was offered by the Radar ResearchEs-
tablishment at Malvern for use by the Meteorological Of-
fice. A young scientist of only two years' standing and
with no radar experience was sent to Malvern for eight
weeks to evaluate the radar; in fact, .J.R. Probert-Jones re-
mained at Malvern for two and a half years and demon-
strated several techniques that could be used for meteo-
rological research.
Whereas Doppler radars of the type used by Barratt and
Browne and subsequently by Lhermitte in France displayed
the Doppler frequency from just one range as a power
spectrum, the Malvern equipment was able to deal with a
whole sequence of ranges at once. The signal returned
from the precipitation was held in a storage tube, while
part of the transmitted pulse was sent through a mercury
delay line to provide the reference phase. The resulting
Doppler signal was passed through a bank of filters and
the output displayed in a matrix form of 80 range elements
each covering 150 m and 20 frequency or velocity elements
switchable between 1/2 and 1 m s - 1 in width. While it was
a great advance to be able to obtain the velocity spectrum
at all ranges over a 12-km interval,. there was a price to
pay. The power from each filter had to be displayed as
brightness, so that in practice each matrix element could
only be said either to have a signal or not. Intensity could
be recovered by introducing successively greater amounts
of attenuation until the signal disappeared into receiver
noise, a rather laborious process taking over a minute to
complete, but which worked adequately in steady condi-
tions.
The Doppler radar data were used in two main ways.
In steady frontal rain the attenuation technique gave the
actual radar intensity in 1/2 m s- 1 bands, which were con-
verted into drop concentrations to give drop-size spectra
at various heights below the melting band. On several
occasions an aircraft from the Meteorological Research
Flight flew through the radar beam making drop-size sam-
ples on an aluminum foil impactor. Very satisfactory
agreement to within 20% was found between the concen-
trations deduced from aircraft and radar measurements.
In convective precipitation, at least in fairly weak showers,
some reasonable assumptions enabled the vertical air mo-
tion to be deduced. The first pictures of the structure of
vertical air currents in showers were obtained from ob-
servations made on 8 and 9 April1959 (Probert-Jones and
Harper, 1962).
Another phenomenon studied was the "upperband."
These bands had intrigued radar meteorologists for many
years, and the Malvern Doppler radar was able to reveal
that they consisted of graupel or small hail falling at 3 to
4 m s- 1 from generating cells and were stretched out into
streaks by the vertical wind shear (Probert-Jones, 1960).
Early work also revealed that while vertical air motions
normally were well below the resolution of the Doppler
radar in warm-frontal rain, occasionally at some levels
vertical velocities of up to 1 m s - 1 had to be invoked to
explain variations of liquid water flux; an orographic cause
was postulated. A full analysis of 107 observations on ten
dates between August 1960 and December 1961 is given
by Caton (1966). He found 30 cases of significant vertical
air motion, with a preponderance of downward motion of
up to 1.5 m s- 1 , which he also attributed to gravity waves
induced by one of the ranges of hills surrounding the radar
site at distances of 16 to 50 km. Caton used the data to
examine the variation of drop-size distribution with height,
finding evidence to support the coalescence of raindrops
but in general no evidence of pronounced accretion or
evaporation.
An entirely different use of the Doppler radar is to mea-
sure horizontal wind velocity by scanning quasi-horizon-
tally, by which means the radial wind velocity can be found
at all points on a circle centered on the radar. The first
experiment to test this idea was carried out on 6 January
1959, when Probert-Jones showed that the wind vector
could be obtained with an accuracy of about 2 m s - 1 •
Probert-Jones concluded that the low power of the Malvern
Doppler radar, restricting the range from which echoes in
frontal rain could be obtained, together with the low level
of the melting band usually found on such occasions in
autumn and winter in England, made the technique of
 A HISTORY OF RADAR METEOROLOGY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
limited use. Nevertheless Harrold (1966), using an occa-
sion of widespread steady rain in summer (1 June 1964),
was able to carry out a substantial piece of work using this
technique. Not only was he able to obtain accurate esti-
mates of the horizontal wind vector, but by examining its
variation with height computed values of convergence or
divergence. He discovered convergence below a frontal
inversion largely compensated by pronounced divergence
immediately above the front with D about 5 X 10-4 s- 1 •
During part of the observations he found a discrepancy
between the wind vector deduced from different arcs of
the scanning circle. This he interpreted as a sloping shear
zone or wind front moving through the region under ob-
servation.
It became evident within a year or two of the start of
meteorological studies with the Malvern Doppler radar that
the chance of an organized convective storm passing over
the radar was remote. The Radar Research Establishment
therefore made available a second Doppler radar which
was built into a truck with a roof-mounted aerial and its
own generator so that it was completely mobile. An ob-
serving program was planned, in conjunction with Imperial
College, for the summer of 1961, based at an airfield in
southern England. PPI and RHI radars were sited on the
airfield to guide the mobile Doppler radar into the path of
a suitable storm. Tragically the program met an untimely
end (or more correctly, start) when two days after the
Doppler radar arrived at the airfield it was totally destroyed
by fire. Four years passed before another mobile Doppler
radar became available; by this time recording techniques
had advanced so that data from this radar were recorded
on magnetic tape for analysis at a later time. An early use
of this mobile radar was in the first study of a shower
using two Doppler radars. On 2 May 1967 the mobile radar
was sited 7.5 km from the original Doppler radar in the
path of an isolated air mass shower, and scanned vertically
as the shower passed overhead. Meanwhile the stationary
Doppler radar scanned through the shower at elevation
angles from 1 o to 45 o to the horizontal. From these ob-
servations it was possible, for the first time, to obtain si-
multaneously the vertical and horizontal components of
the air velocity within the shower (Browning et al., 1968).
From this information the whole circulation within the
shower together with the precipitation processes taking
place could be deduced.
The results from this first dual Doppler experiment pro-
duced no real surprises. Indeed in retrospect it has to be
admitted that the results from these Doppler radar obser-
vations served to do little more than confirm what was
already believed, while adding some quantitative detail.
This is not to deny the importance of such confirmation,
nor the excitement at the time of being able to produce
measured patterns of air motion.
More fundamental studies were possible with a radar
developed jointly by the Royal Radar Establishment and
the Meteorological Office at Malvern. This was a high-
59
powered (1 MW) S-hand radar with a large movable aerial
of gain 53 dB and beam width 1/3 o, which was fitted with
a Doppler facility in 1971. The great sensitivity of this
radar, which could easily detect refractive index inhomo-
geneities in clear air, made it ideal for studying circulations
in the convective boundary layer and Kelvin-Helmholz
waves in the upper troposphere. Its superiority over the
previous Doppler radar also enabled it to be used in me-
soscale studies. A typical example was the analysis ·of he-
lical circulations generated in the lee of hills giving rise to
stationary rainbands (Browning and Bryant, 1975).
7 THEORY
Several major contributions to the theory of radar me-
teorology have been made by British scientists; this section
will also include experimental work designed to verify or
advance the theory. Pride of place must, of course, go to
the work of the Rydes. Starting very soon after the begin-
ning of the war, their brief was to determine the effect of
clouds and rain on the performance of radars for military
use. This request, at that early date, showed considerable
prescience; that they included in their investigations ev-
erything from fog to large hail demonstrated extraordinary
foresight. Indeed, by the end of the war the Rydes had
not merely laid the foundations for, but had completely
solved, virtually all the theory of scattering and attenuation
for radar meteorology ( Ryde, 1946). Their work was so
far ahead of its time that for many years some of their
results were either ignored or disbelieved.
Fundamental to all their work was their calculation of
the backscatter and extinction cross sections of water and
ice spheres; these were extended out to a value of the
parameter 21rr I;\ of 4. Anyone who has looked at the form
of the Mie series solution will realize what an incredible
feat of calculation this represented in those precomputer
days. These calculations revealed two features of great in-
terest: the oscillatory nature of the backscatter for 21rr I;\
> 1, and in particular the increase in the relative backscatter
from ice spheres until they exceeded that from water
spheres for 21rr I;\> 2.5. These calculations then enabled
the Rydes to produce what had been required, the reflec-
tivity and attenuation of both rain and hail. They used
what information was available on drop-size distributions
and produced diagrams showing the effect of both pre-
cipitation rate and wavelength. Finally the Rydes dealt
with the reflectivity of snow and were able to use this to
produce an explanation in terms of melting snow for the
bright band about which they had been informed.
Although doubts had been cast on the Rydes' calcula-
tions, which showed anomalously large backscatter from
large ice spheres, by about 1958 it had been found that
high radar reflectivities from convective storms provided
an indication of the presence of hail, and so it was essential
to check the Rydes' values. Experimental work was carried
out at the Meteorological Office site at East Hill in August
60 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
1959 by the joint Meteorological Office and Imperial Col-
lege team in which ice spheres were carried aloft by balloon
and their backscatter measured by 3.3- and 4.67-cm
wavelength radars. Also used were plexiglass spheres
whose refractive index is close to that of ice (Atlas et al.,
1960). Although inevitably a certain amount of scatter
was in their results, these demonstrated conclusively that
large ice spheres had a much greater backscattering cross
section than water spheres of the same size. They were
also able to observe the behavior of the backscatter as the
ice spheres melted, finding that whereas at 3.3 em the
backscatter fell rapidly to near that for a water sphere, at
4.67 em the effect was both smaller and much slower.
Atlas and his coauthors ended by attempting to give a
physical explanation of the enhanced scattering by large
ice spheres in terms of a Luneberg lens mechanism. This
did not explain the rapid fluctuations with size of the
backscattering, and Probert-Janes (1963) attempted an ex-
planation by invoking a "glory" ray together with surface
waves. That this too was incorrect soon became apparent,
but it was 20 years before Probert-Janes (1984) produced
the correct solution. Any large nonabsorbing dielectric
sphere, which includes ice at microwave frequencies and
water at optical frequencies, is able to resonate. At closely
spaced intervals in size the incident wave produces an
internal resonance in either the electric or magnetic field
which gives a scattered wave of greatly enhanced intensity
in both the forward and backward direction. Thus the high
reflectivity from large hail is an observation of an internal
resonance within the hailstones. As a point of interest it
may also be remarked that it is this same internal resonance
that is responsible for the optical glory.
The intensity of the echo from precipitation detected by
the radar receiver depends of course not only on the pre-
cipitation backscatter, but on the parameters of the radar.
Hooper and Kippax (1950), at the Telecommunications
Research Establishment at Malvern, started a program in
1945 to investigate quantitatively the effect of wavelength
variation, pulse energy and range, as well as precipitation
rate, on the intensity of the received signal. They used
radars of three wavelengths (9.1, 3.2, and 1.25 em) and
were able to confirm the wavelength dependence predicted
by the Rydes' calculations, and they showed that precip-
itation echoes followed an inverse square law for range,
as opposed to an inverse fourth power law for po~nt targets.
They were also able to obtain quantitative agreement be-
tween the measured received power and that expected
theoretically from the known radar parameters and the
rate of rainfall.
This latter agreement was somewhat fortuitous, since
they actually measured the average peak signal which is
about 5 dB above the average signal required by the theory.
Nine years later Battan (1959) wrote in his book Radar
Meteorology: "Marshall et al. suggested that the discrep-
ancies should be taken into account by the inclusion of a
correction factor, F, in the equation. For 10-cm radar, a
value ofF of about 0.2 is suggested." The letter F was used
since the colloquial name for this parameter was "fudge"
factor. This problem was tackled in 1960 by Probert-Janes
(1962) who coming fresh to the subject was able to derive
the radar equation from first principles. He showed that
the main error in previous versions derived from the as-
sumption that the power radiated by the aerial could be
represented by a cone of uniform intensity. In particular
it had not previously been appreciated that not only does
a target off the beam axis receive less energy than one on
the axis, but that its backscattered energy is equally inef-
ficiently collected by the aerial. Using a Gaussian approx-
imation, Probert-Janes derived a corrected radar equation
which is still accepted as basically true.
8 CONCLUSION
This history indicates the major work carried out in the
United Kingdom in the field of radar meteorology. Inevi-
tably there will be some scientists whose work has not
been mentioned; to them the author apologizes. Nev-
ertheless, it is clear that British scientists have made sig-
nificant and substantial contributions to the science.
The Introduction states that this historical survey ends
about ten years ago. It is perhaps appropriate, since there
appears to have been a change of direction around that
time. Work has continued on the analysis of mesoscale
and large-scale systems, but the main research effort of
the Meteorological Office since then has been concentrated
first on a program designed to investigate the use of radar
in the measurement and prediction of rainfall for the hy-
drological services and second in developing the use of
routine radar and satellite data in a computer interactive
system to provide short period weather forecasts. The use
of dual-polarization radar for studying hydrometeor dis-
tribution within rainfall systems, with particular applica-
tion to the study of microwave attenuation, has been de-
veloped at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, which is
at the forefront of worldwide developments in this field.
A joint project was set up in 1978 between Birmingham
University and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory to
study the use of dekametric radar to make observations
of sea state from which the wind speed and direction on
the sea surface can be inferred.
Finally, the author would like to pay a tribute to three
British scientists who are no longer with us: to Ian Browne,
whose brilliant work at Cambridge around 1950 was in
my opinion not sufficiently recognized, he was perhaps in
the wrong place at the wrong time; to Terry Harrold, who
while working at Malvern and in collaboration with Keith
Browning produced a masterly series of papers on meso-
scale and large-scale structure; and to Frank Ludlam, not
only for his outstanding contributions to the science of
meteorology, but even more for his clarity of thought
which proved such an inspiration to meteorologists in
England and throughout the world.

Chapter 8
The Stormy Weather Group (Canada)
R.H. Douglas,* McGill University
1 INTRODUCTION
Project Stormy Weather began in 1943. Thirty years later
Marshall (1973), reviewing the accomplishments of the
Stormy Weather Group in radar meteorology and cloud
physics, noted that (in 1973) an estimated 500 scientists
around the world were involved in weather radar, the
number having increased linearly from a handful in 1943.
Quoting Marshall, "Activity of the Stormy Weather Group,
continuous for thirty years, represented roughly one-sixth
of the whole until, say, 1963, and represents about one-
twelfth of the larger activity now (19 73 ) ." Thus Marshall
and his colleagues in the Group have enjoyed a continuing
and significant role in the development of and advances
in this (by now) well-established but relatively recent
branch of the meteorological sciences.
The author is privileged to have been a member of the
Group for about twelve years, beginning in 1954. He re-
members well the exciting and stimulating years spent with
the Group and attempts here to present a historical review
of the Group's activities over a period of about a quarter
century.
2 THE BEGINNING: THE 1940s
In one of several historical reviews of the Group, Mar-
shall (1968) has written:
In 1943, Project Stormy Weather was assigned to Stewart
Marshall, of the Canadian Army Operational Research
Group. Working (in Ottawa) with him were Walter Palmer,
direct from honours physics at McGill, and R.C. Langille,
from explosives chemistry. J.T. Wilson as Director of Op-
erational Research, and D.C. Rose . . ., head of the Group,
assigned the project, which was to make use of the weather
echoes that had appeared, primarily as a nuisance, with the
introduction of microwave radar.
The Ottawa group was joined by Guy Eon, and a me-
teorological connection was provided by L.G. Tibbles of
the Meteorological Service of Canada. In 1945 Marshall
and Palmer came to McGill, and until 1950 cooperative
weather radar researches were in Ottawa and at McGill,
supported by the Defence Research Board (ORB) after its
inception in 1947. In 1950 the Ottawa work was termi-
• Retired.
61
nated, and the McGill group carried on as the Stormy
Weather Group.
Marshall (1973) recalls that "the first contribution of
Project Stormy Weather, within the CAORG, was time-
lapse photography of the PPI scope. (By telephoning
around the Ottawa Valley, it was established that there
was rain where the radar screen glowed, and that rain
started at a given point just after the echo moved over that
point on the screen.) Viewing these films as movies, one
sensed a new approach to storm dynamics and a potential
for short-term forecasting. The showing of Stormy Weather
films to American scientific meetings did much to stimulate
interest in weather radar."
The early radar equipment consisted of a microwave
height-finding unit at Ottawa and early warning units at
Clinton and Dorval. Differences between continuous and
showery precipitation were immediately evident, and the
bright band presented its mysteries to the researchers. The
group found that the band occurred at or near the 0°C
isotherm, suggesting that the precipitation was forming as
snow, melting at that height to rain, and that the melting
snow was a better radar target than either the snow above
or the rain below. Tibbles recalls flights into the bright
band in a Beechcraft, and Marshall (1973) describes how
Eon sampled the precipitation above, in, and below the
bright band by means of a sugar scoop held out from an
open cockpit, finding snow, slush, and water respec-
tively-surely a praiseworthy example of an economical
research method! These investigations were reported by
Marshall and Tibbles (1945), Eon (1945), and Langille et
al. (1945).
In 1947 Walter Hitschfeld and K.L.S. Gunn joined the
team. As graduate students, their doctoral research was a
laboratory and theoretical study of raindrop growth by
coalescence ( Gunn and Hitschfeld, 1951). By now, Mar-
shall et al. (1947) had laid the basis for quantitative radar
rainfall measurement by determining the relationships
among rain rate, water content, and reflectivity, introduc-
ing both the symbol Z (to this day called "zed" in deference
to its Canadian roots) and its nonstandard but durable
units of mm 6 m - 3 • Extensive raindrop sampling had es-
tablished the celebrated exponential drop-size distribution
(Marshall and Palmer, 1948), which has held its own
throughout the years as the simplest accurate description
of average drop spectra. The radar in use at this time was
a TPS-10 located first at Dawson College, later at Dorval.
Using stepped gain, Langille and Gunn (1948) produced
62 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

plays accessible to the forecast staff. The author, a fore-

caster at the time, remembers well the overwhelmingly
favorable response of the meteorological staff and of flight
crews to this new observing technology, particularly with
respect to local convective showers and thunderstorms.
The "mares' tails" patterns of precipitation, as revealed
by the RHI display, attracted the attention of the Group
(Marshall, 1953), and a generating level for snow was
soon identified ( Gunn et al., 1954). In 1953 a zenith-
pointing radar, with a height-time display, was mounted
on the roof of the Physics Building at McGill. This was a
Marconi LN27 (3-cm wavelength, 1-deg conical beam) ,
and much of the subsequent work on snow generation
was based on its records (e.g., Douglas et al., 1957) . By
applying snow-trail geometry, fall speeds were determined
which were more appropriate to aggregate snowflakes
(whose speeds had been measured by Langleben, 1954)
than to single crystals. This led to the postulation of a
turbulent mechanism in generating cells, driven by the
latent heat of sublimation of growing crystals in a moisture-
rich environment.

Fig. 1 ]. Stewart Marshall (in 1979), founder and Director of

McGill's Stormy Weather Research Group.

hand-drawn vertical sections (anticipating the stepped grey

scale yet to come) showing the presence, in showers, of
intensity maxima aloft, settling with time. At the same
time, laboratory and theoretical studies proceeded on such
topics as drop coalescence, microwave scattering and at-
tenuation, signal fluctuations, and so forth, leading to a
number of important papers that appeared in the early
fifties.

3 THE 1950s
The 1950s was a particularly busy and productive de-
cade. New radar equipment with improved antenna pro-
gramming and display systems was developed and ex-
ploited in the study of precipitation processes and storm
dynamics. A succession of fundamental contributions ex-
tended the understanding of radar reflections from pre-
cipitation and the physics of rain, snow, and hail. Radar
meteorology as a discipline was defined during this time,
and the work at McGill and only a few other centers had
a strong influence on shaping the subject. Fig. 2 Walter Hitschfeld, one of the leaders of the Stormy Weather
In 1951 the TPS-10 was relocated at Dorval, with dis- Group. (Deceased, May 1986. )

Fig. 3 Kenrick L.S. Gunn, one of the leaders of the Stormy Weather
Group. (Deceased, February 1987.)
Keystone contributions to the theory of weather radar
signal fluctuations were the papers of Marshall and
Hitschfeld (1953) and Wallace (1953) on first-order signal
statistics, including a unique view of what Paul Smith later
called the "observer's problem" in radar meteorology
(Smith, 1964). Hitschfeld and Dennis (1956) contributed
to the understanding of second-order fluctuation statistics,
laying the groundwork for Doppler spectral interpretation
that was later taken up elsewhere. Gunn and East (1954)
assembled their survey of the scattering and attenuating
properties of precipitation particles in a paper destined to
become the second-most-referenced work of the Stormy
Weather Group (after Marshall and Palmer, 1948).
In 1954 the TPS-10 was replaced by the CPS-9, bringing
an improvement in resolution and a change in the scanning
mode. Hitschfeld and Bordan (1954), in a theoretical der-
ivation unsurpassed for elegance, analyzed the possibility
of correcting for attenuation, finding it to be highly sen-
sitive to any error in the radar calibration. The antenna of
the new radar was programmed for FASE (Fast Azimuth
THE STORMY WEATHER GROUP 63
Slow Elevation) scanning, with a photographic record of
the PPI at each elevation angle. The Group now had access
to a complete record of the entire volume scanned by the
radar; thus began a series of technical developments which
were, in time, to fulfill Marshall's concept of weather sur-
veillance radar (Marshall and Ballantyne, 1975).
Increased understanding of precipitation physics kept
pace with the improvements in equipment and displays.
Melzak and Hitschfeld (1953), in a study that was ahead
of its time, formulated the stochastic coalescence equation
for cloud droplet growth but were limited to somewhat
artificial analytical solutions because digital computers
were not yet ready for the task. From radar patterns, Car-
oline Rigby drew the distinction between the shower pro-
cess and continuous rain, and she analyzed the evolution
of raindrop populations in these two idealized processes.
Reported by Rigby et al. (1954), this work laid the foun-
dation for much of the analytical theory of precipitation
development that followed.
Activities of the Stormy Weather Group were kept in
public view by Marshall, who felt an obligation to com-
municate the research results of his group and to apply
this knowledge to practical problems. In the early years
of television, for example, Montreal audiences were shown
photographs from the McGill CPS-9 and given short-term
forecasts. Later, in the early 1960s, a series of radio lectures
by Marshall were broadcast nationwide on the CBC on
the topic "Why the Weather?" The Third Conference on
Radar Meteorology was held at McGill in 1952, when
Marshall introduced the idea of a preprint volume.
The CAPPI (Constant Altitude Plan Position Indicator)
was the next technical development, capitalizing on the
FASE program. At each elevation angle, the beam would
scan some predetermined height over the annular area
contained between two appropriate slant ranges. The
CAP PI system built up a PPI, at the predetermined height,
as a mosaic of these annuli. Langleben and Gaherty (1957)
devised an ingenious optical-mechanical system for the
synthesis of CAPPI maps, in which the photographic PPI
record, at each elevation angle, was scanned and the ap-
propriate annuli extracted to build up a photographic
image of the CAPPI. Later, East (1958) devised an elec-
tronic technique to develop and display the CAPPI map
in real time; in recalling this work, which made use of scan
converter tubes, East remarked that "in those days, before
memory chips, we used to store data in glass bottles!"
CAPPI was first applied by Langleben (1956) in his in-
vestigation of the plan pattern of snow generating cells.
The subsequent development of logarithmic amplifiers and
then of stepped grey scale (Legg, 1960) added the dimen-
sion of quantitative reflectivity to the radar display. This
quantitative mapping was widely exploited well into the
1960s, for example, in Hitschfeld's (1959) studies of
plumes, Hamilton and Marshall's (1961) estimates of at-
tenuation, Hamilton's (1964) precipitation profiles (with
their application to synoptic meteorology}, and Carlson
64 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Fig. 4 Stormy Weather Group, ca. 1955. Front row: M.P. Lang/eben, K.L.S. Gunn, f.S. Marshall, W. Hitschfeld, and T.W.R. East. Back row:
J. Bristow (secretary), A.S. Dennis, R.H. Douglas, and R. Huberman (technician) .
and Marshall's (1972) mapping of snowfall, with its hy-
drological implications.
Microphysical studies that complemented the radar re-
search continued, as typified by the definitive work on
snowflake-size distributions ( Gunn and Marshall, 1958)
and preliminary experiments on ice nucleation, which led
to the drop-freezing experiments of the next decade (Vali
and Stansbury, 1966).
Financial support for all of this research activity was
from a combination of Canadian and American sources,
with the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories often
the major source. David Atlas as contract monitor from
AFCRL was a frequent visitor to McGill during this time
and played a part in influencing the course of the research.
In the mid-1950s an important event occurred that was
to have far-reaching consequences for the Group. On the
western prairies, following a series of disastrous hail sea-
sons, Alberta farmers approached the provincial govern-
ment regarding the prospects of hail suppression. This led
to an agreement among the Research Council of Alberta,
the Meteorological Service of Canada, the National Re-
search Council, and the Stormy Weather Group to plan
and implement a hail study program in central Alberta. In
the summer of 1956 Douglas (at the time seconded to the
Group from the Meteorological Service of Canada) set up
a trial hail reporting network and generally surveyed the
prospects for a sound field program. In the fall, it was
agreed that a full-scale project could and should be
mounted, based at RCAF Station Penhold, midway be-
tween Edmonton and Calgary, and thus the Alberta Hail
Studies ( ALHAS) was created. It was agreed at the start
that while the ultimate aim was (hopefully) the amelio-
ration, or even complete prevention, of hailstorms, the
project must concentrate primarily on an understanding
of the storm itself and of the cloud physics involved. De-
spite occasional pressures, the sponsors and scientists held
firmly to this philosophy. When cloud seeding was even-
tually performed in the late 1960s, it was under carefully
controlled and observed circumstances-an experiment
rather than a commercial operation.

-~5
I-
I
(!)
w
I •
0 10 20 30 40
DISTANCE ( km)
Fig. 5 Generating cells, snow trails, bright band, and rain as dis-
played on the height-time display of the zenith-pointing radar. The
time scale has been converted to distance through the velocity of
translation of the cells.
Once the Group set specifications for a suitable Alberta
radar, the National Research Council (NRC) undertook
its purchase, modification, installation, and maintenance.
The first project radar, in service by the spring of 1957,
was a Decca type-41 storm warning radar, with the an-
tenna reoriented to provide a narrow ( 3/4 deg) beam in the
vertical and programmed for a FASE scan with a two-
minute cycle from which CAPPI maps could be synthe-
sized.
In spite of severe attenuation in the heavier cores of the
storms, this radar served the project well. Echoes and their
envelopes (the projections of the echoes onto the ground)
were mapped and related to the farmers' hail reports
(Douglas and Hitschfeld, 1959). Echo-top heights were
measured, and a relation was determined between the
height and probability of hail (as had been found for New
England storms by Donaldson, 1958) . It was further ob-
served (Douglas, 1960) that "penetration of the tropopause
by the storm top enhances the probability of hail" and, in
particular, the production of large hail; similar behavior in
New England storms was reported by Donaldson et al.
(1960). A comparison of the height-probability curve for
Alberta storms with those of New England and of Texas
revealed important geographical/ climatological differ-
ences, namely that for a given echo-top height the prob-
ability of hail increased latitudinally from Texas to New
England to Alberta (Douglas, 1963) -reinforcing the no-
tion of the importance of tropopause penetration. In the
field, the height-probability relation was useful, in real
time, for alerting the Alberta hail-reporting network by
phone and radio, and for providing appropriate warnings
to our Air Force hosts at project headquarters.
THE STORMY WEATHER GROUP 65
40ktt 18 JULY 1964
30ktt 2057 EST
20 kll MONTREAL
SCALE
............__.
0 to ~MJ
~ kll
Fig. 6 An example of CAPPI maps of a summer storm, shown at
four heights and in three shades of grey, corresponding to rainfall
rates of 1.5, 25, and 400 mm h-1•
In subsequent summers, the reporting network became
more sophisticated; telephone calls to and from farmers
supplemented the mailed-in reports, no-hail reports were
solicited from the fringes of storms, and details were sought
on the intermittency of hailfall, the rainjhail sequence,
the range of stone sizes, and so forth. Automobile surveys
were made in some cases. Study of the envelopes and of
the intermittency of point hailfall suggested a multicellular
structure to the storms. Of importance to subsequent hail-
growth models was the finding that, in about 20% of cases
examined, hail reached the ground within about 20 min-
utes of the detection of first echo (Hitschfeld and Douglas,
1963 ).
By the end of the decade, a large number of hail samples
had been collected, their size distribution established (at
least tentatively), and Z-R and Z-M relationships deter-
mined for hail. The nucleation of the freezing process was
being investigated, first by Barklie and Gokhale (1958},
later by Vali and Stansbury (1966). These nucleation
studies, pursued energetically through the next decade,
were to provide a model of freezing that was applied in
66 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
due time in the various hail-growth models developed by
members of the Group.
4 THE 1960s
When the Department of Meteorology was established
at McGill in 1959, Marshall was appointed Chairman and
Hitschfeld and Douglas were charter members. The other
founding members were F.K. Hare, S. Orvig and B.W. So-
ville, all from what was then called the Arctic Meteorology
Group. Gunn remained in the Physics Department. East
and Palmer, key members of the Stormy Weather Group
in the 1950s, had left McGill. Physics faculty members
M.P. Langleben and P.R. Wallace had been part of the
Group earlier, but had moved away from atmospheric re-
search by the time the Department was established.
By now two somewhat distinct areas of activity char-
acterized the Group. Some staff members and graduate
students did research centered on radar and laboratory
studies in Montreal; others were affiliated with the Alberta
Hail Project. The Montreal-based research was still sup-
ported by contracts with AFCRL, but with an increasing
fraction from Canadian sources, mainly the National Re-
search Council and the Canadian Meteorological Service.
Many students enrolled under the auspices of the Mete-
orological Service and were posted when graduating to
weather offices or laboratories all across the country. Even
as students some had split their time between Montreal in
the winter and Alberta in the summer. The Group thus
performed an important educational and socializing func-
tion for the country, which explains in part the pervasive
influence of the Stormy Weather Group, even to the pres-
ent day, on the practice of meteorology in Canada.
Nourished by a steady stream of good graduate students,
research during the sixties expanded on many fronts, with
advances in the understanding of atmospheric processes
progressing hand in hand with the development of new
observing techniques. A few examples give an idea of the
scope and diversity of the work:
• The groundwork was prepared for understanding the
formation of hail (Douglas and Hitschfeld, 1959; Hitsch-
feld and Douglas, 1963), leading to a series of contributions
by many students that culminated in the monograph by
Chisholm and English (1973).
• Holtz (1968) pioneered the use of radar data in the
study of thunderstorm water and energy budgets.
• On the theoretical side, Srivastava (1967) analyzed
the relation between cloud dynamics and precipitation de-
velopment in a one-dimensional, time-varying numerical
model, initiating what was to become a major area of cloud
physics research. His work at McGill was the starting point
for a continuous progression of research through Ian Har-
ris, Takao Takeda, J.T. Steiner, and now M.K. Yau and his
students.
• Innovative laboratory experiments on freezing nucle-
ation provided insight on hail formation from a micro-
physical perspective. These techniques, developed further
and applied elsewhere, led unexpectedly to the discovery
of biogenic ice nuclei and the possibility of reducing frost
damage to plants by biological controls (Schnell and Vali,
1976).
• Advanced cloud stereophotography systems were de-
veloped for Alberta (Renick, 1966) and Montreal (Shaw,
1969).
• Also in the experimental realm, Zawadzki (1973) de-
signed the hardware for optical (analog) statistical analysis
of radar patterns, interpreting his results in ways that have
had a continuing influence on hydrology.
Throughout this period, a steady improvement in radar
equipment and displays was evident. At the beginning of
the decade, the original DC-19 radar was still in operation
in Alberta, but attenuation seriously hampered the more
detailed radar information now required to mesh with the
increasingly sophisticated ground-observing network. Ac-
cordingly, an FPS-502 (10-cm wavelength) was acquired,
and installed in 1963. This particular model had a broad
vertical beamwidth and operated at three tilts. At low tilt,
the vertical beam extended from 0°-5°; at medium tilt,
from 3°-10°; and at high tilt, from 10°-19°. Pending the
acquisition of a more suitable antenna, this system was
put into action and remained in use until1967.
Despite the limitations of the broad vertical beam, the
10-cm unit provided data for several important studies of
severe storms and storm cores (Chisholm, 1967). Pell
(1969) determined the patterns of columnar water con-
centration and detected the first hint of an echo-free region
on the edge of a storm, later confirmed by Chisholm.
In 1967 the 10-cm radar was fitted with a parabolic an-
tenna with a conical beam of 1.15° width. At this point
the Decca was retired. Now, with high resolution and very
much less attenuation, the radar was exploited to examine
a number of storms in great detail (e.g., Chisholm,
1970a,b), revealing "weak echo regions" which were ei-
ther "bounded" (BWERs) or "unbounded" (UWERs).
Supporting the radar and the ground network of ob-
servers now were mobile observatories, vectored by radio
into the vicinity of and under the storms for direct obser-
vation as well as for the collection of rain and hail for
nucleation studies and for the measurements of hailstone
ellipticity, which anticipated later studies of polarization
effects. From stereo photography and related analytical
techniques the visual cloud structure could be related in
some cases to the radar data to build up a more detailed
storm model (Warner et al., 1973). On some occasions,
serial pilot balloon ascents and additional radiosoundings
helped determine the airflow patterns around and near
the storms (Thyer, 1970; Ragette, 1973). Additional
backup was provided during several summers by instru-
mented flights of a crew from the University of Wyoming,
 THE STORMY WEATHER GROUP 67

identifying and locating regions of updraft and downflow.

All this, plus several Montreal storms examined with the
Dorval radar, provided grist for the "model mill," with
English applying the field-deduced storm structure to an
increasingly sophisticated hail-growth model (e.g., English,
1969; English et al., 1972).
An outstanding feature of the Alberta radar was its po-
larization diversity capability. Developed at NRC by Dr.
G.C. McCormick and his associates (McCormick, 1968;
McCormick and Hendry, 1968, 1970; McCormick et al.,
1972), this facility permitted the transmission of a beam
of any desired polarization and the reception of two echo
components, one polarized as transmitted, the other or-
thogonal to it. Data obtained in 1969 provided evidence
that deformed hail can be distinguished by its depolariza-
tion signature. Barge (1970) found good agreement be-
tween the observed Circular Depolarization Ratio (CDR)
and the value computed from hail samples collected at the
ground below, and simultaneous with, the radar obser-
vation. In an experiment in 1970, plane-polarized radiation
was transmitted and the received signal examined for el-
lipticity, indicating such large hydrometeors as hail. Pre-
liminary observations suggested that this was indeed the
case, so it could be hoped that the polarization facility
would provide identification of large particles, viz. hail and
deformed hail. This work prompted a new wave of re-
search activity in polarization studies in many parts of the
world.
The FASE scanning program had been exploited to yield
CAPPI displays, but little had been done to extract the
vertical sections that are of vital importance in storm stud-
ies. In the late sixties, HARPI (Height-Azimuth Range Po-
sition Indicator) was developed, as described by Zawadzki
and Ballantyne (1970) and Marshall and Ballantyne 0
7T
2 r 1rr -2
7T
r
(1975). HARPI provided a series of vertical cross sections C/R CU MF I: HENTIAL DISTAN CE
on a rectangular coordinate system wherein the abscissa
is azimuth (or circumferential distance) and the ordinate
is height. Each cross section corresponds to a different ra- Fig. 7 The HARPI display of a storm in Alberta. Seventeen indi-
vidual cross sections are displayed, each one for a range interval of
dial distance from the radar. HARPI was first applied with 2 n mi and to a height of 40 kft. A low-level CAPPI is shown at the
the high-resolution radar in Alberta in 1967 and proved top.
extremely useful operationally with its concise depiction
of the complete storm situation.
Inevitably, some of the most advanced and most useful and to the implications of hydrology (e.g., Hamilton and
displays came at the end of the analog era, just before Marshall, 1961; Carlson, 1968) . In due time came the de-
inexpensive microcircuits and computers made it possible velopment of ADA (Azimuth Display of Attenuation) by
to record and process the data digitally. A further devel- Zawadzki and Rogers (1969) wherein the integrated at-
opment of the CAPPI display in Montreal was the addition, tenuation on each azimuth was displayed on a peripheral
around the periphery, of height information, this being scale. AZLOR was a display on rectangular coordinates of
dubbed PPHI (Plan Position Height Indicator) . A CAPPI Azimuth and Log Range, a conformal map on which the
map for a height of about 12 kft was displayed to a range data sites are arrayed uniformly (Marshall and Ballantyne,
of 120 n mi. This map was surrounded by an annular band 1975) . The reflectivity data on this display were repre-
comprised of ten rings, each representing a height interval sented by discrete dots, uniformly spaced in lines parallel
of 5 kft, in which are painted the height data from the to the axes, each dot indicating by its magnitude the target
range interval 20 to 80 n mi. Considerable attention was intensity level in the bin it represents.
directed to the problem of attenuation and the resulting To round out the decade, an FPS-18 was acquired
deformation of storm cores as displayed on the screen, through the offices of AFGL and installed at a new site on
68 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Fig. 8 The CPS-18, located on the premises of McGill's Faculty of
Agriculture at Ste. Anne de Bellevue, was formally inaugurated on
the occasion of the 13th Radar Meteorology Conference in Montreal
in 1968.
the premises of Macdonald College, McGill's Faculty of
Agriculture, at Ste. Anne de Bellevue. This installation was
formally opened on the occasion of the 13th Weather Radar
Conference in Montreal in 1968. This marked a return to
10-cm wavelength and an end to much of the attenuation
problem. A few years later the by-now geriatric CPS-9
was retired.
s CONCLUSION
It is rumored that Stewart Marshall was once accused
of (credited with?) wanting to measure everything, every-
where, all the time. Under his energetic and imaginative
direction, the Stormy Weather Group undoubtedly worked
hard toward the achievement of its goals. While a sub-
stantial effort was directed to advancing the techniques of
observation and display, the ultimate product was always
a furthering of the understanding of cloud dynamics and
precipitation microphysics. Technique was applied to an-
swer questions, and unanswered questions suggested fresh
technology.
Acknowledgments. The author is indebted to his many
colleagues and their writings in the preparation of this
brief history. The publications referenced of course rep-
resent only a fraction of the total output of the Group.
The author's selection is admittedly arbitrary, but the
choice is intended to be illustrative (rather than exhaustive)
of the many and varied activities of the Group. Particularly
helpful have been the several excellent histories and chro-
nologies prepared from time to time by Marshall and
Hitschfeld. The assistance of R.R. Rogers, who welcomed
the author into the records and libraries of the Department
of Meteorology of McGill University, is gratefully ac-
knowledged, as are the personal recollections of L.G. Tib-
bles and T.W.R. East.
Unfortunately, this review lacks the input that would
have been provided by the late Ken Gunn, who was to
have been a co-author. The author has also missed the
wise counsel and total recall of the late Walter Hitschfeld.
To their memory, and to that of Lou Battan, this history
is dedicated.

Chapter 9
History of Radar Meteorology in Japan
Nobuhiko Kodaira, Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan
Jiro Aoyagi, Meteorological Research Institute, Japan
1 INTRODUCTION
After World War II, and particularly in the 1950s, studies
in Japan of radar meteorology were initiated, both in the
fields of microwave techniques and in meteorology. In or-
der to promote the introduction of radar into the meteo-
rological community in Japan, a Weather Radar Committee
was organized in 1950, headed by Dr. H. Hatakeyama,
former director of the Meteorological Research Institute
(MRI). Committee members included Profs. S. Okamura,
S. Saito, and K. Shimoda of Tokyo University; S. Nakajima
and S. Takahashi of the Japan Radio Company (JRC); and
K. Isono and N. Kodaira of MRI. The activity of this com-
mittee marked the beginnings of radar meteorology in Ja-
pan. The specifications of the first weather radar for re-
search by MRI were determined by this committee to be
X-band, with PPI and RHI indicators.
This chapter first reviews the research studies, carried
out mainly at MRI, in the fields of rainfall and drop-size
measurements, echo top height, Doppler radar, millimeter
wave radar, etc. Radar observations of artificial precipi-
tation are mentioned briefly in section 3, and radar research
applicable to the synoptic scale, including typhoon track-
ing, rainband analysis, and radar utilization in typhoon
forecasting, are discussed in section 4. Deployment of the
operational radar network in Japan, including the estab-
lishment of the Mt. Fuji radar and the standardization of
weather radar, is discussed in section 5. Education for the
developing countries and concluding remarks are given in
sections 6 and 7, respectively.
The topics in this paper will cover the period from 1950
to 1970. In more recent years radar meteorology has de-
veloped remarkably through the use of high technology
applied to digital data processing. Accordingly, 1970 marks
the end of the first epoch of radar meteorology in Japan.
Development of radar meteorology is dependent on
progress in both meteorology and electronics and their in-
terrelationship. In the field of electronics, N. Kodaira and
J. Aoyagi of MRI and H. Fujihara and S. Shimojima of the
Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) played an important
advisory role with the engineers of radar manufacturing
companies, JRC, MELCO (Mitsubishi Electronics Com-
pany), and Toshiba. In the field of meteorology, I. Imai,
M. Fujiwara, Z. Yanagisawa, I. Ichimura and M. Tosha of
MRI devoted themselves exclusively to studies of cloud
and precipitation physics related to radar meteorology. The
69
operational radar network was completed by M. Yoshitake,
H. Fujihara, S. Shimojima, K. Otani and R. Tatehira, who
also contributed their knowledge and experience to the
progress of weather radar utilization for forecasting
through their work either at radar sites or in forecasting
centers.
After the 1970s, radar data throughout all of Japan were
digitized and collected in real time by JMA in Tokyo, and
there combined with the AMeDAS (Automated Meteo-
rological Data Acquisition System) data and GMS ( Geo-
stationary Meteorological Satellite) data to make the best
use of weather radar information.
2 RESEARCH AT THE
METEOROLOGICAL RESEARCH
INSTITUTE
2.1 Radar
In 1954, the first Japanese X-band weather radar, built
by JRC, was installed at MRI in Tokyo. The main char-
acteristics of this radar compared with the C-band standard
radar are shown in Table 1. The X-band high-power mag-
netron 4J50 was acquired from the Raytheon Company,
Inc., for this radar.
Typhoon movement taken in a time-lapse movie in the
year of installation indicated the great utility of weather
radar for typhoon tracking, and this demonstration accel-
erated the deployment of the operational weather radar
network in Japan.
2.2 Relationship between Drop-Size
Distribution and Z-R
The observation of raindrop-size distribution for radar
meteorology in Japan was started by Imai et al. (1955) one
year after the weather radar was installed at MRI. The
parameter N0 in the Marshall-Palmer equation was found
by curve fitting to change noticeably during one-minute
intervals in a case of heavy rain shower associated with a
typhoon (Imai, 1960). Imai (1964) proposed a fitting
equation using median volume diameter as a parameter.
The drop-size distribution changes over a wide range ac-
cording to rain type. Fujiwara (1965b), when working with
the Illinois State Water Survey (Champaign, Illinois), an-
70 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

TABLE 1 TABLE 2
Main Characteristics of the first MRI X-band and Pattern of the Radar Echo
Standard C-band Weather Radar
B {J
Staadard Type (I) Pre- cold-frontalline or a broad
CharacteruUc M.R I X-baad Radar C-baad Radar thunderstorm echo with a diffused part
Antenna Heavy but diffused part of the echo 490 1.34
diameter 2m 3m Completely diffused part of the echo 392 2.00
rpm 0-10 6 Central part of the echo 392 1.31
elevation - 2°-+ 90° -5°-+85° Near the southern end where new echo
beamwidth 10 1.39°(H)/l.51°{V)• was developing 315 1.30
sidelobe < -25 dB < - 32 dB(H)/-27 dB{V) In the northwestern edge of a large
gain 45 dB 42 dB thunderstorm echo, where new echo was
developing 250 1.30
Transmitter
Plain shower echo (although thunder was
magnetron 4/50 5M80
heard, the echo was not as heavy as
output 250kW 300kW
normal thunderstorm echo) 240 1.42
pulse width 1~ts 2 ~tS
prf 400 pps 260 pps (II) A broad stratified rainband without thunder
Weak stratified echo 70 1.41
Receiver
Diffused and stratified rainband 230 1.60
IF gain 116 dB 110 dB
Heavier but diffused stratified echo 290 1.60
NF 12 dB IO.dB
Stratified plain echo 123 1.59
smin - 93 dBm -106 dBm
Diffused rain shower echo 200 1.52
Indicator 12 inch 12 inch An assembly of shower echoes partially
PPI 300 km 400 km diffused 180 1.42
RHI 200 km 200 km Stratified echoes superimposed with
Radome convective cells 187 1.39
diameter 5.5 m Stratified echo combined with small
scatter level < - 28 dB scattered convective cells 251 1.30
Isoecho (III) Small solid cells scattered
RF att. system Scattered air mass echoes 120 1.33
range 6-210 km Aligned small solid echoes 244 1.39
rain intensity 1-200 mmh- 1 Small solid echoes, some scattered and
level interval 5 dB some in line 246 1.46
Scattered and aligned but sharply outlined 288 1.32
• Horizontal plane (H), vertical plane (V).
Small block of solid echo (thunder was
heard) 312 1.04
alyzed Z-R relationships, adding Japanese raindrop data (IV) Small solid echoes aligned along a cold
to the vast Water Survey data, and brought forward a front
method to select Z-R parameters using the radar echo Atmosphere rather dry 470 1.41
Environmental atmosphere very dry 550 1.17
characteristics. Table 2 lists his results, and Fig. 1 shows
(V) Small blocks of solid echoes or isolated
the schematic illustration of echo characteristics and Z-R thunderstorm echoes
parameters B and {3 in the relationship Z = BRP. Also, he Smaller echoes but starting to diffuse 309 1.30
proposed a multiparameter fitting equation of raindrop- Soon after, echoes were stratified 364 1.34
size distribution with interpretations of parameters related Echo tops penetrate 300 mb level 417 1.29
to the rain mechanism (Fujiwara, 1960). The equation is Isolated thunderstorm echoes 420 1.67
the same as the so-called Weibull function in statistics.
After many field observations of drop-size distribution
by Fujiwara (1960, 1965a,b, 1967) and Fujiwara and Yan- for verification and supplement of the results of Marshall
ase (1968), combined with MRI radar observations, it be- and Gunn (1952) and Langleben (1954), a task made nec-
came dear that the parameters B and {3 in Japan were essary by the great variety in shape and density of solid
smaller on average than 200 and 1.6, respectively. The precipitation particles. Soft hairy cloth was used for sam-
reason for this difference was revealed through a number pling rimed flakes and graupel, because the aggregated
of detailed case studies of those field observations. These particles were extremely fragile. The final results of solid-
studies pointed out that convective rain showers have the particle Z-R relationships were summarized by Fujiwara
larger raindrop-size parameters, but in Japan, coalescence- et al. (1971) as a function of mass density and of aggregate
type rain formations are more predominant than in con- form (spatial or plate) of the particles.
tinental America.
Research investigations of snowflakes were started very l.3 Rainfall Amount Measurement
early by Magono (1951, 1953). Snowflakes show very
complicated behavior in their Z-R relationships, as dem- The relationship between echo intensity and rainfall
onstrated by observational research. Imai et al. (1955) and amount has been carefully investigated (Aoyagi, 1963b,
Fujiwara et al. (1971) observed snowflakes and graupel 1964; Kodaira, 1956, 1961). The Z- R relationships in Japan
 HISTORY OF RADAR METEOROLOGY IN JAPAN 71

because of the effect of antenna beamwidth. However,

tOO
90
70
50
I. 0 I. 2 I. 4 I. 6 I. 8 2. 0
fJ
Fig. 1 Schematic illustration of echo characteristics (Montage pic-
ture) in the B-{3 plane, where Z = BR~. The classification and defi-
nition are given in Table 2.
were observed intensively by Imai, Fujiwara, and their
group. These experiments had already been done by the
groups at McGill University and the Massachusetts Insti-
tute of Technology (MIT); however, it was necessary to
repeat the measurements in an area of differing climate
and geographical conditions.
A radar rainfall integrator had been built to measure
the areal rainfall from the level-sliced echo pattern indi-
cated on the PPI scope (Kodaira, 1955). The early mea-
surements, however, suffered from a complexity of errors
owing to rain attenuation, Z-R relationship, and instability
of the electronics. Later, extensive investigations on the
measurement of rainfall rate by radar were carried out
with very careful calibrations, including the effect of an-
tenna beam pattern, radar wave attenuation (Imai, 1957b;
Kodaira, 1963), raindrop fall speed, drop-size distribution,
etc. Nevertheless, an appreciable discrepancy between ra-
our RHI observations also suggested that the relationship
of observed echo top to range typically has a minimum
value at a particular range, frequently observed to be in
the vicinity of about 50 km. The apparent echo top in-
creases at both shorter and longer ranges.
Aoyagi (1963a) explained these observations by simu-
lation of the characteristics of echo top heights, using ex-
ponential models of the distribution of radar reflectivity
(Z) extracted from observed data. Fig. 2 shows some results
of his calculations. The antenna radiation pattern is ap-
proximated by a Gaussian function with 1.5 °beamwidth
and the first sidelobe of -20 dB. The horizontal and vertical
gradients of Z in dB km- 1 are given by 'Yv and 'YH, re-
spectively. It is obvious that the calculated range depen-
dence of echo top height agrees very well with the observed
results. In the short-range regime the dominant process is
the increase of minimum detectable radar reflectivity with
range squared, requiring echo top detection at lower
heights where reflectivity is greater. Beyond the range
where observed echo top height is at its minimum value,
the most prominent effect is the increasing size of the an-
tenna beam with increasing range, providing more effective
illumination of the greater reflectivities by the stronger part
of the antenna beam.
2. 5 Pulse Doppler Radar
A 3.2-cm pulse Doppler radar, powered by a 2J50 mag-
netron, was designed and constructed at MRI in 1964 ( Ko-
daira, 1964a; Kodaira and Yanagisawa, 1965). This radar
was installed on a small van and has played a leading role
in meteorological research at JMA for many years (Aoyagi
+1.2
h=10d8/km
+ .8
YH= OdB/km
+ .4 rr=10d8/km
YH=lOdB/km
E
.><: 0

dar and surface raingage remained (Kodaira and Aoyagi, .,ai - .4

- .8
1961). ::1

In 1959, a test area of 638 km 2 with 23 raingages was ....+' -1.2 y, = 5 dB/km
+'
..... YH~OdB/km
-1.6
set up, and after four years of observation it was found <C
-2.0
that the error of rainfall estimation by radar using an iso- Ql
::>
-2.4
echo contouring device (Aoyagi, 1958) corresponded to +'
.....co -2.8
the sampling error for areal rainfall when three gages were Ql
-3.2
Cl:
set in the same test area, i.e., a density of 1 gage per 213 -3.6
\
\
km 2 (Aoyagi, 1963b, 1964; Kodaira, 1961). We also con- -4.0
\
\
\
cluded from the experiment that the wavelength for radar \ \

rainfall measurements should be C-band or greater in order

-4.4
\ '\
2 .3 5 7 10' 2 3 5 7 10'
to eliminate attenuation errors.
Range, km

2.4 Echo Top Height Fig. 2 Observational error of echo top height induced by radar
beamwidth. Exponential distribution of Z is assumed at the top of
Radar meteorologists had long recognized a tendency echo, with the gradient of Z given by 'Yv in the vertical and 'YH in
for observed radar echo top heights to increase with range the horizontal.
72 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

et al., 1966). The Doppler radar, equipped with a fixed ufactured by Oki Electric Co. ( Kodaira and Okada, 1961).
vertical beam, accompanied a small X-band conventional Table 3 shows the main characteristics of the radar. (It
radar, which scanned 48 vertical planes during a complete was very difficult to adjust the pointing directions of trans-
rotation in azimuth, in order to monitor the spatial distri- mitting and receiving antennas until the K-band T-R tube
bution of storms. became available in 1968.) The primary application fields
The magnitude and sign of Doppler velocity was deter- addressed within the research program include (Yanagi-
mined by altering the output phase of the local oscillator sawa, 1966, 1970):
by 21r • PRF / n. The output data, including logarithmic in-
tensity and estimates of mean and standard deviation of (i) Correlation between photographic cloud type and
Doppler velocity, were recorded. A spectrum analyzer us- echo type.
ing a bank filter system was introduced later by Aoyagi (ii) Relation of echo types with synoptic situations.
(1968a). (iii) Reflectivity structure of the cloud.
The vertical structure of rainfall has been observed by
the MRI Doppler radar in many field projects, e.g., the Naito and Atlas (1966) theoretically examined water
Rain Mechanism Research Project in 1966, the Dam Con- cloud detectability of unexpectedly low backscatter at K-
trol Radar Project at Mt. Akagi in 1968, and the Heavy band, owing to the tendency of a dense cloud to be uniform
Rain Project in 1970 at Owase, well known as the region in its dielectric properties.
of heaviest rainfall in Japan. These results were also em-
ployed as the database for vertical rain structure in order
to estimate the attenuation characteristics of the microwave
2.8 Measurement of Clear-Air Turbulence
satellite communication system of Nippon Telegraph and In order to investigate the cause of the tragic accident
Telephone Corporation (Aoyagi, 1968b). of a BOAC passenger aircraft at the eastern foot of Mt.
Fuji in 1966, a field survey of clear-air turbulence (CAT)
2.6 Thunderstorm was started in 1967 to clarify the nature of the wake tur-
bulent flow associated with Mt. Fuji. The MRI Doppler
Soon after the first weather radar was installed at MRI radar group joined in the project to observe the wind fields
in 1954, a thunderstorm project was started and continued by Doppler and RHI radars through the movement of chaff
for several years. The statistical relationship between the released from aircraft. The length of the chaff was about
occurrence of thunderstorm and the echo top height was half the radar wavelength, its width 1 mm, and its thickness
investigated. The results showed that the probability of 15 microns. The specified fall speed of this chaff was 1 m
thunderstorm occurrence increased in proportion to the s- 1• Some of the measured fall speeds were as high as 5
echo height. m s - 1 because some of the chaff filaments did not separate
The initial echo observed by RHI radar was usually about from the others and stuck together.
3-5 km in height for thunderstorms generated in the Incidentally, it was difficult to catch the chaff echoes in
mountainous area west of Tokyo. In general, a thunder- the fixed antenna beam of the MRI Doppler radar. How-
storm growing in this area starts moving eastward when
it reaches a height of 6 km. The generation of lightning
seemed to depend on temperature as well as echo height. TABLE 3
With an echo top of 8 km or higher, combined with a The Characteristics of K-band Radar
temperature at echo top below -15 °C, 90% of storms will
start to thunder (Yanagisawa, 1961; Tosha and lchimura, Cbaracterkttc Valae
1961). Frequency 34860 MHz
Imai et al. (1960) conducted radar studies and meso- Wavelength 0.86 em
analyses of thunderstorms that were generated by cold- Pulse width 0 .5 ~
frontal passages over the mountainous area. They also PRF 500Hz
made detailed RHI observations of the anvil cloud drifting Output power 32 kW (peak)
eastward from a dissipating thunderstorm (lmai, 1957a). (Magnetron: 35M10)
Ice particles or snowflakes falling from the anvil top formed Antenna
into trail patterns and a well-defined bright band. These diameter 2.6m
beam width 0.25°
patterns were clearly revealed and were similar to cases gain 55 dB
of warm-frontal precipitation. Receiver
NF 19 dB
s.... - 87 dBm
2.7 K-band Radar Recorder
facsimile 5 mrn min- • (paper speed)
A K-band (8.6 mm) vertically pointing dual antenna
range 10 krn/ 20 km
radar was completed at MRI in the spring of 1961, man-

ever, the wind profiles obtained from the time series ob-
servation of the chaff by the RHI radar agreed well with
the nearby radiosonde observations and also with the wind
data at the top of Mt. Fuji ( Aoyagi et al., 1968).
3 ARTIFICIAL PRECIPITATION
An X-band radar was used to detect the effects of dry-
ice seeding from an aircraft into a widespread cloud system.
Dry ice pellets about 1 em 3 each were dropped at a rate
about 1 kg km -J from a height of 4.6 km, where the tem-
perature was -8°C. An echo pattern corresponding to the
seeding pattern, although distorted by wind, was observed
20-30 minutes after the seeding in the correct position
downstream. In Fig. 3, the dashed line shows the seeding
course and the bright line shows the resultant precipitation
(Takeda, 1964). This pattern was observed on the PPI of
the CPM-6 3.2-cm radar (Oki Electric Co.).
4 TYPHOON OBSERVATION
One of the main purposes of Japanese operational radar
is to observe and track typhoons approaching and threat-
ening the Japanese islands (Otsuka, 1958), because ty-
phoons cause the most serious meteorological disasters to
Japan.
The Typhoon Research Laboratory of MRI, in which the
most significant research in radar meteorology has been
accomplished, was established in 1960 after the occasion
of a vigorous typhoon that attacked the Nagoya urban
area on 26 September 1959. In this storm, over 5000 people
lost their lives in the unexpectedly high tide. Another ty-
phoon disaster in the bay of Hakodate in 1954 overturned
a large ferryboat carrying well over 1000 passengers. This
tragic event was influential in the establishment of an op-
erational radar at Mt. Hakodate in 1962.
Fig. 3 Artificial rain, observed one-half hour after dry-ice seeding
on 8 March 1963. Dashed line: seeding course; bright line: precipi-
tation echo. Range markers at 10 km intervals. Elevation angle is 7°.
HISTORY OF RADAR METEOROLOGY IN JAPAN 73
A prime objective of typhoon radar research was clari-
fication of the relation between the radar echoes and the
meteorological parameters of typhoons. For example, the
center of the radar eye, that of wind circulation, and the
isobaric center are not usually coincident. However, echo
motion relative to the typhoon center seems to be consis-
tent with that of the circulation center of the eye (Hatak-
eyama et al., 1954; Oeda, 1961).
As a general rule, when a typhoon approaches land, the
eye is reduced in size. The size reduction begins at the
bottom and then proceeds upward. Since the reduction is
not symmetrical at the bottom, the surface eye appears to
be located on the left-hand side of the upper-level eye.
This typical behavior should be noted when tracking ty-
phoons by radar (Imai, 1963). This kind of surface-eye
reduction was observed even when the typhoon was lo-
cated in the ocean at some distance from the Japanese
islands.
The band echo structure associated with the typhoon
was modeled by Tatehira (1968). Echo elements move in
the tangential direction relative to the cyclone center while
the band as a whole moves radially outward, as shown in
Fig. 4. From the statistics on the echo pattern observed by
Mt. Fuji radar, 40% of the cases of heavy rainfalls with
more than 50 mm h - 1 andjor 200 mm day- 1 were as-
sociated with band structure (Tatehira, 1964). Since in-
dividual band echoes have differing characteristics, further
detailed investigation is required for reliable forecast-
ing use.
5 OPERATIONAL WEATHER RADAR
The first X-band operational weather radar was built at
the Osaka District Meteorological Observatory for the
purpose of typhoon observations. However, this short-
wavelength radar suffered from rain attenuation. Therefore
the operational weather radars in Japan were changed to
C-hand after Japanese manufacturers enabled production
of a high-power C-hand magnetron, radiating 300 kW or
more of peak power. The S-hand was not considered be-
cause of the larger antenna size required for comparable
resolution and the weaker detectability of light rain (Fu-
NEW ELEMENT
!:?'
tl ~
/MOVEMENT OF RAI NBAND
§ RELAT IVE TO EYE
EYE CENTER
Fig. 4 Movement of band echo associated with typhoon.
74 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Abbr. Site
K :KUSHIRO
Sa:SAPPORO
Hk :HAKODATE
A :AKITA
Sd:SENDAI
Ni :NIJGATA
Tk : TOKYO
Fj :1-lt . FUJI
Fk : FUKUI
Ng:NAGOYA
Os :OSAKA
Mr:MUROTO
Mt:MATSUE Os(479 . 6)
Hr:HIROSHJMA
Fo : FUKUOKA
Ta:TA EGASHIHA
Ns:NASE
Ok:OKINAl~A
My:MIYAKO
I :ISHIGAKI

-
... ...;··.....
Ns(316.6) / " L,..,.. _.,
~/ •__ ...... -~~.1 Fj (3785. 3)

;!-0--r--.-,---.---:5~0::...0~~----.-,....-!.::;1
OOOkm

Fig. 5 Operational weather radar network in Japan. Circles show the maximum range for a
target 3000 m in height. Altitudes above sea level of the radar are indicated in the parentheses.

jihara and Shimojima, 1956 ). The first and second C-hand a typhoon having a maximum instantaneous wind speed
radars were built at Fukuoka and Tokyo District Meteo- of 91 m s - 1, only one of 135 radome panels was broken.
rological Observatories in 1955. Within two years a pro- The maximum observational range of the radar is 600-
gram was initiated to deploy typhoon warning radars 800 km, with a normal operational range of about 400-
throughout all of Japan, as shown in Fig. 5.
The Mt. Fuji radar (S-hand) was planned by M. Yoshi-
take, Head of the Instrument Division of JMA, and his
staff, H. Fujihara and S. Shimojima, following a proposal
offered by N. Kodaira (see Yoshitake et al., 1960). Fujihara
later became a famous novelist and published a best-selling
novel entitled Top of Mt. Fuji, in which the dramatic story
of the construction of the Mt. Fuji radar is described.
Mt. Fuji is located about 100 km to the southwest of
Tokyo and is 3776 m above sea level. The radar infor-
mation taken at the top of Mt. Fuji is transmitted through
a microwave link to the Tokyo District Meteorological Ob-
servatory. The radar is remotely controlled from the radar
operation room in the Tokyo Observatory through the mi-
crowave link. The radar scope images of PPI and RHI are
also displayed in Tokyo. The radome, 9 m in diameter,
was designed to survive winds of 100m s- 1 • Actually, in Fig. 6 A view of the Mt. Fuji radar, 3776 m above sea level.
 HISTORY OF RADAR METEOROLOGY IN JAPAN 75

600 km, depending on the height of the storm (Takeuchi,
1965). In contrast to these favorable operational condi-
tions, the construction of the radar station was extremely
difficult because of the severe climate and challenging
transportation conditions. Bulldozers were used to carry
heavy materials, and finally the radome was carried by
helicopter. The total budget for construction of the Mt.
Fuji radar was about 250 million yen ($0.7 million). Figure
6 shows a view of the Mt. Fuji radar.
Observability of the long-range pattern of rainfall by
the Mt. Fuji radar was appraised high for filling the gap
between mesoscale and synoptic scale, though the ground
clutter appearing out to about 200 km is the main defi-
ciency. Some examples of Mt. Fuji radar echoes are shown

(a) (b)

Typhoon 6517
(c)

Fig. 7 Examples of Mt. Fuji radar images. (a) Huge band echo. Elevation angle is -0.5°. Hatched areas indicate ground
echoes. (b) Sharp thin line echo. Elevation angle is -1.3°. The arrow indicates extremely thin line echo of short lifetime
(about 20 minutes), and X indicates Hachijojima weather station, 270 km south of radar site, where a rain shower was
observed at this time. (c) Typhoon image showing almost uniform appearance of inner area of the storm. The sea clutter
appeared over the right half of the eye. (d) Typical sea clutter associated with typhoon, appearing out to about 250 km from
the radar site. A dark line through the sea clutter in 160° direction is the shadow of an island. (Courtesy of R. Tatehira.)
76 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
in Fig. 7. Figure 7a depicts a huge rainband echo about
800 km in length. Figure 7b shows a sharp-edged, thin
line echo. Figure 7c is a remarkably symmetric eye and
inner band of a typhoon, with sea clutter enhanced by
strong winds over the right half of the eye. Figure 7d il-
lustrates a condition of extensive sea clutter out to a range
of 250 km, associated with the typhoon south of the radar.
In 1967 the operational weather radar was standardized
by N. Kodaira, Head, Instrument Division, JMA, in co-
operation with K. Otani, Head, Observation Division. The
first new type radar was installed at Mt. Takayasu, Osaka
in 1968. In this standardized radar, an isoecho contouring
device (Kodaira, 1957, 1959; Aoyagi, 1958) was intro-
duced, and the received signal intensity was corrected for
range. Then the intensities were sliced by levels with in-
tervals corresponding to 5 dB in rainfall intensities. The
receiver gain was reduced by r- 2 (correcting for range)
using a waveguide PIN diode attenuator that was inserted
between the T-R tube and receiver so that the noise level
remains constant at all ranges.
Radar returns from an assembly of many raindrops fluc-
tuate like thermal noise. Therefore smoothing of echo sig-
nal is necessary in order to obtain reliable results. For this
purpose, a quartz delay line and magnetic drum were
tested, and finally an R-C integration circuit was employed
in the standard operational radar. With a 2 p.s pulse length,
the R-C integrator of 10 p.s time constant was suitable to
average ten independent signals. Consequently, the fluc-
tuation width narrowed to ±2.5 dB about the center of
-2.5 dB of true value (Kodaira, 1960).
6 EDUCATION
The JMA set up a special training course in the funda-
mentals and operation of weather radar for radar station
operators at its Meteorological College. In addition to this,
a basic one-month weather radar course was held at MRI
for about ten students per year from developing countries
on commission from the Japan International Cooperating
Agency. Also, workshops in weather radar were held in
these countries under sponsorship of the WMO, and JMA
dispatched lecturers to the workshops in Manila and Kuala
Lumpur (Kodaira, 1964b). The radar operation in these
tropical countries of such different climates presented
many unexpected problems.
7 CONCLUSION
The number of articles by Japanese radar meteorologists
that were published in periodicals, journals, and technical
notes during the period up to 1970 amounts to several
hundred or more. Only about 50 important articles were
cited in this review because of space limitations. It is worthy
of special mention that almost all of the researchers who
wrote these articles belong to JMA, that is, not only to
MRI, but also to operational radar stations and forecasting
sections. After 1970 the number of weather radars in-
creased rapidly. At present several tens of weather radars
have been installed or are under construction for opera-
tional use by the Ministry of Construction for dam control,
by power companies for thunderstorm detection, and for
research investigations by the Cloud Physics Laboratory
at Nagoya University and the Drift-Ice Laboratory at Hok-
kaido University.
Acknowledgments. The authors would like to thank Dr.
M. Fujiwara and Mr. Z. Yanagisawa, whose reminiscences
contributed information about many important historical
events of radar meteorology in Japan.

Chapter 10
Radar Meteorology in India: A Brief Historical Perspective
S.M. Kulshrestha, India Meteorological Department
1 INTRODUCTION
In India, application of radar technology to meteorolog-
ical observations and research was initiated in the India
Meteorological Department (IMD) with the acquisition of
war surplus equipment in the late 1940s. This equipment
proved very helpful in the initial learning process. Credit
is due to the farsightedness and enthusiasm of those who
saw the potential of the new technology and devoted their
time and labor to study the equipment, repair or modify
it, and use it for meteorological observations and research.
The most noteworthy names in this regard are Dr. L.S.
Mathur, then Meteorologist (Technical) in the office of the
Deputy Director General (Instruments), for recognizing
and seizing this opportunity, and Dr. S.K. Banerji, then
Director General of IMD, for supporting Dr. Mathur in
this endeavor.
2 UTILIZATION OF WAR
SURPLUS EQUIPMENT
The war surplus radar equipment that could be put to
productive use in India was comprised of Baby Maggie
antiaircraft radar No. 3 MK III ( 200 MHz), radar AN I
TPS-2 ( 400 MHz), radar AN I APQ-13 (X-band), and ra-
dar SCR-717C (S-hand). While the Baby Maggie radars
were modified for use as wind finding radars and used at
four stations (New Delhi, Calcutta, Nagpur, and Madras)
in a network mode, the radar set AN ITPS-2 was adapted
to study the nature of reflections from the dielectric gra-
dients in the atmosphere. The X-band bomber radar AN 1
APQ-13 was made operational in New Delhi and used for
detection of precipitation. Two sets of S-hand radar SCR-
717C were commissioned (one each at New Delhi and
Pune) and used for studying thunderstorms, rainstorms,
and monsoon rainfall. The SCR-717C radar at Pune was
installed on a motor truck to make it mobile and was pro-
vided with a specially designed mounting to enable ho-
rizon-to-horizon scanning through the zenith. This made
it possible to study the vertical extent of the target phe-
nomena.
These first opportunities enabled IMD personnel to gain
experience in installation, operation, maintenance, andre-
search utilization of these war surplus radars for meteo-
77
rological purposes. The development of manpower was
the most important spin off of this phase. The manpower
thus trained, very much on a self-education basis, benefited
IMD when weather radars became commercially available
and the department embarked on a planned radar mete-
orology program.
3 EARLIER RESEARCH STUDIES
The Symposium on Microwaves held at New Delhi in
December 1949 provided the opportunity for researchers
who had been working in IMD with the war surplus radar
equipment to present the following papers based on the
data generated by the utilization of this equipment:
• "Radar Wind Finding" (L.S. Mathur).
• "Radar Meteorology: Measurement of Upper Winds
with the Radar AA No. 3 MK III, and a Method of Adopting
It for Tracking the IMD made F-type Radio-Meteorograph
Signaller" (B.K. Gupta, B.B. Huddar, and S.P. Venkitesh-
waran).
• "Radar Reflections from Atmosphere" (H. Mitra).
• "Radar Meteorology: Storm Detection" (S.P. Venki-
teshwaran).
4 ESTABLISHMENT OF
METEOROLOGICAL RADAR
NETWORKS IN INDIA
In the early 1950s, the IMD launched a planned program
of installing networks of wind finding and weather detec-
tion radars in India, i.e., as soon as radars designed spe-
cifically for such use became available commercially. At
first the radars were imported from the international mar-
ket, but soon a program of design and manufacture of
meteorological radars in India was initiated with the help
of the Government of India's premier electronics company
( Bharat Electronics limited).
After considerable thought with special reference to the
climatology of the country, IMD chose two wavelengths
for the radars in the national observational network: X-
band, for thunderstorm detection at airports and for the
upper-wind network; and S-hand for cyclone detection at
coasts. Figs. 1 and 2 show the present networks of X- and
S-band radars.
78 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
r
-·' e
' PTl
) e
.{ DLH
f \ .... "'
(
'" (
•
BHP
8 A Y
0 F
BE~GAL
A RAB IAN
.
SEA
' o•
Fig. 1 X-band radar network of IMD.
5 DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
AND MANUFACTURE OF
METEOROLOGICAL RADARS
IN INDIA
The first commercially available meteorological radar
was installed in India at Calcutta Airport in 1954 (an X-
band Decca -41 radar), and the first indigenously designed
and manufactured X-band storm detection radar was in-
stalled in 1970 at New Delhi.
The first imported S-band cyclone detection radar be-
came operational at Visakhapatnam on the east coast in
1970. By the late 1970s such radars had been designed
and developed in the country by Bharat Electronics Ltd.,
and the first Indian-made S-band cyclone detection radar
was commissioned at Bombay in 1980.
In the meantime, IMD had conceptualized the idea of
an integrated upper air sounding system built around an
X-band wind-finding-cum-weather detection radar, with
associated equipment for radiosonde observations on 401
MHz. This design concept was operationalized in close
collaboration with Bharat Electronics Ltd. The system
called MULTIMET radar (for MULTI-purpose METeoro-
logical radar) has been successfully integrated in the IMD
network beginning with the first installation in 1975 at
Bangalore. The radiosonde tracking component of the
equipment is made by the Electronics Corporation of India
Ltd., another company of the government of India spe-
cializing in production of electronic systems including
computers. Since 1980 all the requirements of meteoro-
logical radars are met from within the country itself, an
BAY
OF
BENGA L
'
.•..
LL...L.......J
o zoo •oo ... . •
IC&L[
Fig. 2 S-hand radar network of IMD.
impressive achievement. A digital video integrator and
processor was successfully developed and has been in use
with the S-band radar at Madras for the last seven years.
This was developed at the Special Microwave Products
Unit of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.
Each batch order for meteorological radars is preceded
by an in-depth design review in IMD and tender specifi-
cations are revised. For reasons of financial constraints, it
has not yet been possible to venture into the field of Dopp-
ler radars.
6 RADAR METEOROLOGICAL
RESEARCH IN INDIA
The papers presented at the Symposium on Microwaves
held in New Delhi in 1949 were mentioned in section 3.
The first formally published research paper on a radar me-
teorological subject appeared in the April 1954 issue of
the Indian Journal of Meteorology and Geophysics: "Radar
Echoes from Monsoon Rain," authored by L.S. Mathur,
A. C. De, B.N. Dutta, and H. Mitra of IMD. Beginning with
this first formal publication, a considerable body of work
has been done by Indian researchers over the last 33 years
which is of special significance to the radar meteorology
of the tropics. A large number of research papers have
since been published in journals in India and abroad and
also in the Proceedings/ Preprint volumes of the Radar
Meteorology Conferences organized by the American Me-
teorological Society, especially for the Ninth through the
13th Conferences. A large majority of the research papers
 RADAR METEOROLOGY IN INDIA: A BRIEF HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
are published in IMD's quarterly research journal Mausam
(formerly the Indian Journal of Meteorology and Geophysics).
Most of the research work has been reported from IMD's
radar establishments, because in India outside of IMD only
one meteorological X-band radar is used, by the Rain &
Cloud Physics Research Unit of the Indian Institute of
Tropical Meteorology. This lone radar outside IMD is lo-
cated in New Delhi and has been used to assess the effects
of cloud seeding ami to study physics of thunderstorm
rain and steady precipitation from layer type clouds. Radar
echo intensities below and above the melting band have
been studied for different seasons. Investigations on first
radar echo were also conducted'at this station.
In IMD, one of the earliest tasks was to develop appro-
priate interpretation and classification of radar weather
echoes based on synoptic and morphological considera-
tions. This work, which made radar meteorological data
very useful to forecasters in India, had to evolve only on
the strength of research in the country. Radar meteorol-
ogists in India could not utilize the experience of other
radar observations in the latitudinal belt of India's geo-
graphical location for the simple reason that there were
no weather radar stations in this latitudinal belt. There are
not many even today.
While significant work has been done at most of the
radar stations in India, the three most active research
groups have been at Calcutta, Madras, and New Delhi.
The research group at Calcutta under the leadership of
A. C. De was active in radar meteorological studies of severe
thunderstorms and monsoon rainfall. At Madras, S. Rag-
havan and his colleagues have done considerable work on
radar meteorological studies of tropical cyclonic storms and
on quantitative assessment of rainfall. S.M. Kulshrestha
and his coworkers at New Delhi have contributed a series
of studies on the radar climatology of the area and on
weather radar signatures of severe storms of northwest
India. They also published a few studies of nonpredpi-
tation radar echoes.
79
7 CONCLUSIONS
• India is justifiably proud of being among the countries
that pioneered the utilization of radar technology as a use-
ful meteorological operational tool.
• In India, as in most other countries, work started with
war surplus equipment.
• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) em-
barked upon planned establishment of radar networks as
soon as meteorological radars were available commercially.
Today, India has operational networks of X-band storm
detection radars at airports, X-band wind finding radars
at radiosonde-radiowind observatories, and S-hand cy-
clone detection radars on the coasts.
• India's requirements of meteorological radars are met
from the routine production within the country.
• India has designed and produced an integrated upper
air sounding system comprising a weather-cum-wind-
finding radar (X-band) and a radiosonde system ( 401
MHz). This MULTIMET radar has been adopted for the
Indian network.
• India's radar meteorology program is entirely an In-
dian effort. India has not needed to seek external expertise
or financial assistance for installation, operation or
maintenance of its radar meteorological network.
• Useful research has been done with the large volume
of radar meteorological data collected from the national
network for over 35 years. The research papers are pub-
lished mostly in IMD's quarterly research journal Mausam
although a significant number have also been published
abroad, including those in the Proceedings of the AMS
organized Radar Meteorology Conferences (especially the
Ninth through the 13th Conferences).
• Radar meteorological research in India has been pri-
marily in the areas of interpretation and classification of
weather radar echoes in the tropics; thunderstorms and
severe weather; cyclonic storms; monsoon rainfall; radar
climatology; nonprecipitation echoes; and quantitative as-
sessment of rainfall.
80
Chapter 11
Radar Meteorology in The People's Republic of China
Yu-Mao Xu, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University
1 INTRODUCTION
Radar meteorology has been in a process of intensive
development since the 1940s. The first textbook in this
specialty, Radar Meteorology by Louis J. Battan (1959),
achieved worldwide recognition for this new field. Battan's
effort pushed radar meteorology forward not only in the
United States but also in China. His book was translated
into Chinese by Yin-Mo Zhuang in 1965 and was the
unique reference book on radar meteorology for Chinese
meteorologists for many years.
Studies on radar meteorology began later in China, but
they developed rapidly. The first weather radar was im-
ported from abroad in 1958. Since the late 1960s, the 3-
cm (designated as 711), the S-cm (713), and the 10-cm
( 714) radars were designed and produced in sequence. To
date, conventional weather radars have been installed in
the most subprovincial administrative regions, main air-
ports, oilfields, salterns, and research institutions. A rather
dense radar network has been set up and covers the whole
country. Polarization diversity radar has also been inves-
tigated, and Doppler radars have been imported. Radar
has played an increasingly important role in the field of
meteorology because of its extensive deployment in op-
erational and scientific research projects. Because China is
a developing country, a considerable gap in technology
exists relative to the developed countries, but it is believed
that radar meteorology, with the wide-ranging application
of computer techniques, will surely achieve exciting pro-
gress in China before the year 2000.
This historic review of radar meteorology in China sum-
marizes past and current studies. The likely trends of future
developments are also mentioned briefly.
2 DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES
The discovery that radar is an efficient tool for detection
of clouds and precipitation attracted the attention of me-
teorologists throughout the world. In order to use this tool
to serve meteorology in China, the National Weather Bu-
reau imported two weather radars made in England and,
in 1958, installed them in Shanghai and Beijing. Up to the
present, radar meteorology has a history of 30 years in
China. Three historical periods can be identified according
to radar techniques and research activities.
2.1 Initial Stage (the Late 19 50s through
the 1960s)
This period can also be called the stage of imports and
description. All radars were imported or reequipped as
weather radars, and they were installed only in the
Weather Bureau as a tool for operational observation of
precipitation and, especially, for typhoon detection. Uni-
versities, colleges, and even research institutions had no
radar at all. In such a situation, basic research could not
be conducted, and applied studies were limited to some
empirical summaries based upon the shape characteristics
of precipitation echoes. Theoretical research was started
at Beijing University, and a course in radar meteorology
was offered at Nanjing University in the early 1960s.
2.2 Developing Stage (the 1970s)
During this stage, two kinds of conventional weather
radars were designed and produced in China, then in-
stalled in many places, including scientific research units,
universities, and colleges. A network of conventional ra-
dars was developed throughout the country. These radars
not only undertook the task of detecting and warning of
typhoons, severe local storms, and other precipitation sys-
tems, but also played an important role in some experi-
ments with heavy rainfall, severe storms, rain enhance-
ment, and hail suppression. Because of the limitation of
the available radar instrumentation and computer tech-
niques, these early studies were still qualitative and semi-
quantitative.
2.3 Adolescent Stage (the 1980s)
The main progress in this period was marked by a surge
in techniques for digital processing, display, and trans-
mission of radar signals. In addition, dual-wavelength and
polarization diversity radars were built, and Doppler radars
were imported. Also, some regional radar-network obser-
vational experiments were conducted. All of these devel-
opments provided a good basis for quantitative precipi-
tation measurement and operational application and also
widened the scope of research in radar meteorology.
 RADAR METEOROLOGY IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA 81

3 TECHNIQUE DEVELOPMENT IN Bureau (Nanjing University et al., 1986). At present it is

WEATHER RADAR
From 1958 to the late 1960s, some of the meteorological
radars used in our country were imported from England
and Japan, and some were furnished by our military forces
and modified for weather detection.
A transportable 711 type radar (3 em) was designed in
the late 1960s, and produced in 1970. Eventually, most of
the 711 radars were installed at fixed locations. The 711
radar is not suitable for detection of widespread, heavy
rain because of the attenuation by precipitation particles
at 3-cm wavelength. Therefore, the 713 radar (5 em) was
produced in 1978. As a modification of the 843 radars (1 0
em) used for detecting and warning of typhoons, an im-
proved 10-cm radar, the 714, was designed in 1982 and
produced in 1985. The main parameters and functions of
these three types of radars are shown in Table 1. The 713
and 714 radars, in comparison with the older types, have
improved characteristics (i.e., higher transmitter power and
greater sensitivity) and more versatile displays ( multilayers
and off-center).
Beginning in the early 1980s radar technology entered
a new phase marked by signal processing, display, and
transmission. Two kinds of video integrating processors,
analog and digital, designed for the 713 and 714 radars,
were developed by the Institute of Meteorological Sciences,
National Weather Bureau (IMS INWB, 1982, 1984) in se-
quence. A digital data processing system matched with
any conventional radar made in China was conceived by
Zhen-Hua Ma (1984a). This system, using microcomputer
IBM PC I XT as a central processor, can be used for plotting
maps, making objective analyses, drawing equiscalar lines,
and processing maps from radar and satellite, and thus
provides a valuable tool for nowcasting and very short
range forecasting.
Another digital processing system was designed in 1983
and completed in 1986 by Nanjing University, in coop-
eration with an institute and the Jiang-su Province Weather
the best one in China and includes an antenna controller,
a digital video integrating processor, and some application
software. The system has the following characteristics:
1) The antenna is automatically controlled for both azi-
muth and elevation scanning, with maximum rotating
speed of 6 seconds per cycle;
2) High resolution and high accuracy is achieved as a
result of the use of dense radial sampling and averaging;
and
3) CAPPI display at various levels can be made.
At the present time a digital technique for transmitting
echo maps is being investigated, following the approach
suggested by Shu-Qing Ma et al. (1984) . Formerly, IMS I
NWB used a closed circuit TV for this purpose, and the
Shanghai Weather Bureau used facsimile transmission.
The preparation of special radars was another important
development. The Lanzhou Institute of Plateau Atmo-
spheric Physics, Academia Sinica (LIPAP 1AS) reequipped
a linear-circular dual-polarization radar in 1980 and a
dual-linear-polarization radar in 1986 (Bao-Xiang Xu et
al., 1987). A dual-wavelength radar employing 8-mm and
3-cm radiation was made in the laboratory of the Institute
of Atmospheric Physics, Academia Sinica (lAP I AS) in
1980 for studying less reflective clouds.
At present, a dense weather radar network consisting
of more than 200 radars has been set up in China. These
radars were planned and supplied as a National Weather
Bureau responsibility.
4 RESEARCH WORK IN RADAR
METEOROLOGY
In the early 1960s, only a few theoretical research studies
were reported. After 1970, applied research was rapidly
extended to a variety of fields concurrent with the increas-
ing number of weather radars. Two conferences on radar

TABLE 1
Main Parameters and Functions of Chinese Weather Radar

Type 711 713 8U 714

Wavelength (em) 3.2 5.6 11.3 10.7

Antenna diameter (m) 1.5 3.7 5.7 X 2.2 4.0
Antenna gain (dB) 38 38 36 36
Beam width 1.5• 1.2° 1.8• x 3.7• 20
Peak transmitted power (kW) 75 250 1000 600
Pulse length (J<s) 1 2 3 1.3
Pulse repetition frequency (Hz) 400 200 216 200
Minimum detectable power (dBm) - 98 - 107 -106 - 107
Display method PPI, RHI, A/R PPI, RHI, REI', A/R, PPI, RHI, A PPI, RHI, REI', A/R,
Off-center, Multilayer display Off-center, Multilayer display

'Range-elevation indicator.
82 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
meteorology have been held. Only forty papers were pre-
sented at the first conference in 1973, but at the second
conference in 1978 the number of presented papers in-
creased to 135. The Telecommunication Conference on
Radar Meteorology and Remote Techniques was organized
by the National Weather Bureau in 1986, and the Abstracts
of Academic Papers, representing 149 papers, was published
in 1987.
Some research results have also been published in book
form. The radar group of lAP/ AS (1980) published a book
entitled Radar Obseroation of the Hailcloud. A book devoted
entirely to radar meteorology was prepared by Yin-Mo
Zhuang and Yu-Mao Xu (1984), and another book on the
extracting, processing, and application of radar signals was
written by Zhen-Hua Ma et al. (1986). In addition, a brief
history of radar meteorology in China was reviewed in
Meteorological Science and Techniques (Run-Sheng Ge,
1983).
Hazardous weather, such as hailstorms, heavy rain, and
typhoons, occurs frequently in China, so studies of these
events have been emphasized, along with supporting re-
search on mesoscale systems, precipitation measurement,
and cloud physics. Weather radar has played an important
role in the following experiments and research projects:
1) Heavy Rain Experiment in the Pre-rainy Season in
South China (1978-79);
2) Heavy Rain Project in the Yangtzi River Valley
(1979-82);
3) The research project on short-term forecasting of se-
vere convective storms by using radars (1984-86).
4.1 Study of Severe Storms
The study of severe storms started in the mid-1960s
(Run-Sheng Ge et al., 1966). A great number of works
have emphasized echo morphological characteristics, echo
parameters, and echo identification of hailclouds (Liang-
Dong Chen, 1979; Zhen-Hua Ma, 1977; IMS jNWB, 1973;
Jin-Li Liu, 1981; Nai-Hu Gong and Qi-Ming Cai, 1982;
Run-Sheng Ge, 1980). The relationship of hailstorms to
weather systems was also investigated (Beijing Meteoro-
logical Observatory, 1973; Xun-Chang Tang et al., 1984).
A detailed study of the structure and evolution of echo
cells, characteristic echo features and motions of mesoscale
systems, and techniques for identification of hailstorms,
was made by the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Aca-
demia Sinica (1980), on the basis of eight years of obser-
vations in the Beijing and Xi-yiang area.
Severe convective weather in East China was investi-
gated using a dense radar network in 1979-82. The main
research results were presented in the Collected Papers on
Radar Meteorology, published in 1984. In these papers, the
trigger mechanism, typical evolution, and echo character-
istics of convective storms were discussed. The most com-
prehensive paper on the behavior of severe convection
during the late spring and early summer in East China was
presented by Liang-Dong Chen and Yan Huang (1984).
The results of this research on convective activity were
used for short-term forecasts of severe storms in 1984-86.
The methods developed and used during the three years
involved:
1) prediction by extrapolation with empirical echo
models;
2) statistical outlook; and
3) identification and forecasting of echo patterns by the
use of digital radar.
In addition, an objective method for short-term forecasts
of severe storms using stepwise discrimination and step-
wise regression, in which echo parameters and atmospheric
variables were selected as predictors, has been developed
by Yu-Mao Xu et al. (1988).
There are only a few reports on tornadoes (Radar Group,
Shanghai Weather Bureau, 1973a; Run-Sheng Ge, 1979)
since their occurrence in China is rare. Studies of such
phenomena as strong wind shear, downdraft, etc., have
not yet begun.
4.2 Studies of Mesoscale Weather Systems
and Heavy Rains
Squall lines occur frequently in East and Central China
during the summer season. The echo evolution character-
istics of each stage during the lifetime of the squall line,
the interaction of cells and the complex forming a squall
line, and the motion and growth of the squall line echo
band have been investigated (Jin-Qiang Chen and Hong-
De Qin, 1973; Zhi-Min Yu and Mu-Wei Wang, 1981; Pei-
Cai Yang and Yu-Fu Guo, 1981). The relation between
disturbances on echo bands and mesoscale wind fields at
the surface, and the possible mesoscale triggering mech-
anism of squall line formation, have also been analyzed
(Jianyang Radar Station, 1981; Liang-Dong Chen and Yan
Huang, 1981).
The Institute of Meteorological Sciences, National
Weather Bureau (IMS jNWB) has studied the mesoscale
processes of thunderstorms, hailstorms, and heavy rains
under some large-scale weather situations in North China.
The mesoscale echo evolution model as well as the cor-
relation between boundary-layer convergence and the ini-
tiation process of convective precipitation has been pro-
posed by Zi-Xiu Xu (1977, 1981). The activity and the
precipitation distribution of mesoscale vortices have also
been reported (Zhi-Min Yu and Mu-Wei Wang, 1977; Zi-
Xiu Xu, 1973).
Some large-scale heavy rain processes (for example, the
heavy rains during the pre-rainy season in South China,
the Mei-Yu front in East and Central China, and the trough
line or cold front) often produce excessive rainfall and
occasionally cause severe flooding. Accordingly, generous
 RADAR METEOROLOGY IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
government support has been provided for research on
these processes. In past years, the heavy rain experiments
were conducted in South, East, and North China.
The radar study of heavy rain has revealed obvious me-
soscale characteristics. Various mesoscale systems, such as
convergence lines, shear lines, and vortices, are involved
in heavy rain processes. The most intense rain is always
associated with these mesoscale systems (Liang-Dong
Chen, 1981; Mu-Wei Wang and Zhi-Min Yu, 1977; Bing-
Yu Du andJia-Hu Xia, 1984). On the other hand, the low-
level jet and orographically induced blocking and ascent,
as well as the land-sea contrast, are important in the for-
mation and development of both large-scale and mesoscale
precipitation systems in heavy rain processes in South
China (Yu-Mao Xu and Yin-Mo Zhuang, 1978; Yu-Mao
Xu, 1982; Yin-Mo Zhuang et al., 1981, 1985; Min-Jin Li et
al., 1981).
4.3 Typhoons
Most of our radar meteorological research has dealt with
meso- or small-scale phenomena. Relatively little effort
has been devoted to the study of large-scale weather sys-
tems because of the limited detection range of single radars
and the attenuation by precipitation at wavelengths shorter
than 10 em. However, typhoon warning is an important
task for the operational meteorological services, so the 10-
cm radars ( 843) were used for typhoon detection as early
as the mid-1960s. The radar network for detecting ty-
phoons has been in operation for many years, and the
distribution and structure of typhoon precipitation has
been investigated intensively. Typhoons occurring in the
western Pacific and in the South China Sea have different
structures (Radar Station, Fujing Weather Bureau, 1973;
Lingshui and Xisha Radar Station; Guangdong, 1973).
The location of the typhoon center and the estimation
of its intensity have been studied. Du-Cheng Zhou (1981)
adopted the Archimedes Spiral to locate the center of
"Hollow Typhoon" in which the spiral angles of the rain-
bands increase toward the storm center, and the modified
empirical logarithmic spiral for the "Comma Typhoon" in
which the spiral angles decrease toward the storm center.
This new method has higher accuracy in comparison with
the typical logarithmic spiral for those typhoons with
atypical spiral rainbands. His paper also provided a ty-
phoon intensity measurement table, using the values of
eight echo parameters, by which the wind speed near the
storm center can be estimated with an error of less than 5
m s- 1 • Changler Radar Station, Fujian Weather Bureau
(1981), has established the governing equations for de-
termining typhoon intensity by multipredictor correlation
analysis.
The following radar echo features of typhoons have been
used as indicators of future movement: the orientation and
its change of the pretyphoon rainbands, the structure of
spiral bands, the change in the eye-wall configuration, the
83
location in the eye-wall of maximum echo intensity, and
the occurrence of special echoes appearing at certain di-
rections and near the typhoon center.
4.4 Use of Radar for Precipitation
Measurement
Since the earliest days of radar meteorology, methods
have been sought for the measurement of precipitation by
radar. Numerous studies have been directed in order to
improve measurement accuracy and explore alternative
methods. In China, the first attempt at precipitation mea-
surement by radar started in 1962. Initially there was con-
siderable error, owing to equipment limitations, between
the estimated value derived by radar and the actual pre-
cipitation. After the 711 and 713 radars were installed at
research institutions, colleges, and universities, studies in
this field expanded. Many investigations have been made
by the IMSINWB, the LIPAP I AS, Nanjing Meteorolog-
ical College, and Nanjing University. The scope of there-
search included radar calibration methods (Run-Sheng Ge
and Hong-De Qin, 1977; Run-Sheng Ge et al., 1981; Wen-
Zhong Ge and Pan-Xi Ye, 1981; Wen-Zhong Ge et al.,
1983; Bao-Xiang Xu et al., 1983), the relationships of radar
reflectivity factor to precipitation rate based on observa-
tions of raindrop spectra (Zheng-Yun Lin and Run-Sheng
Ge, 1977; Da-Zhang Tang et al., 1978), and the compar-
ison of the accuracy of precipitation measurement by radar
and by raingages (Run-Sheng Ge and Hong-De Qin, 1981;
Pei-Chang Zhang et al., 1980).
On the basis of investigation of microwave radiation
characteristics of raindrop spectra (Hai Lin et al., 1981), a
dual-wavelength combined radar-radiometer system for
detecting liquid water content in cloud and rainfall distri-
bution was developed by lAP I AS in 1979 (Da-Ren Liu
and Hai Lin, 1980). This system consists of two radars
(8.2 mm and 3.2 em) and two microwave radiometers (35
and 9.375 GHz). 'It can detect the three-dimensional dis-
tribution of cloud and precipitation parameters (Da-Ren
Liu and Hai Lin, 1981). Observations of a variety of clouds
and precipitation have been obtained by the system (Hai
Lin et al., 1984).
4.5 Radar Application to Cloud
Physics Research
Since radar is capable of detecting the presence of hy-
drometeors, especially large water and ice particles, it has
been used extensively in cloud physics research in many
countries. It is necessary to distinguish the difference be-
tween this section and section 4.1 because cloud physics
also involves the investigation of hailclouds. Section 4.1
focuses on the macroscopic characteristics, evolution, and
motion of severe storms, and the relationship of storms to
84 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
weather systems and environmental conditions as well as
the identification and forecasting of severe storms. In this
section, however, the interior structure and classification,
the evolution process and life cycle, as well as the artificial
modification of clouds, are emphasized.
In China, radar research in cloud physics began in the
mid-1960s. A great number of works in this field have
been accomplished by lAP/ AS ( Ang-Sheng Wang, 1983).
From 1964 to 1965, the wind-finding rawinsonde or syn-
thetic telemetry system was used with radar to probe ver-
tical airflow and other parameters of thunderclouds in
Nanjing and Beijing (Ang-Sheng Wang et al., 1972, 1976).
Later, a new probing technique involving two radars (the
711 weather radar and 701 wind-sounding radar}, with a
relative vertical anemometer carried aloft with the rawin-
sonde sensing elements, was suggested to improve the old
method (Ang-Sheng Wang et al., 1983).
Ang-Sheng Wang et al. (1980) conducted extensive in-
vestigations by radar of the cell life cycle of hailclouds,
and identified five distinct stages, which they characterized
as emerging, leap-increase, hail-brew, hailfall, and decay.
A new kind of hailcloud, the dot-source hailcloud, has
also been studied by Ang-Sheng Wang et al. (1984). This
hailcloud has several cells, so it is different from the weak
cell and the supercell, which have only one cell each. It is
also different from the propagating hailcloud. The dot-
source hailcloud has a geographically fixed source, related
topography, and a particular form of low-level airflow.
After each successive cell emerges, it moves in the same
direction as the others. Usually every cell will experience
the five stages of emerging, leap-increase, hail-brew, hail-
fall, and decay.
The developmental processes of convective clouds in
the Tunxi area, Hunan province, have been elucidated by
the use of centimeter radars (Yan-Chao Hong and Yu-Xia
Wu, 1986). They suggested that there are three types of
developmental processes of convective cells-ascending,
stable, and descending, classified according to the change
in height of the echo center, or reflectivity maximum, sub-
sequent to first echo detection. In addition, Xiang-Ren Yu
and Yu-Kun U (1986) analyzed and compared the char-
acteristics of 21 convective clouds in Hunan province by
the use of joint observations by the 711 radar and double-
theodolite.
Radar's ability to detect large water and ice particles has
made it a useful tool for rain enhancement and hail
suppression experiments. In rain enhancement experi-
ments, the radar has been used to select the seeding cloud
and evaluating the effects of seeding on clouds according
to the changes in echo parameters and surface rainfall be-
fore and after seeding (Guang-Pin Zeng, 1986; Yao-Zong
Uu, 1986; U-Shu Chen, 1986). Similarly, for hail
suppression experiments, radar is used to identify the hail-
cloud, to seek the optimum location and time for seeding,
and to test the effects of seeding by comparing changes in
the hailcloud echoes (Ang-Sheng Wang, 1978).
4.6 Theoretical Studies
In the early 1960s, the scattering by refractivity fluctu-
ations in the atmosphere was investigated by Qi-Chen U
and Da-Ren Liu (1963). The authors suggested that the
scattering by refractivity fluctuations might be an important
mechanism in the formation of the meteorological "angel"
echo. Another early paper (Bai-Lin Zhao and Zhen-Hua
Ma, 1963) indicated that 4-6 em wavelength is optimum
for the detection of rain.
Some theoretical research studies were continued in the
late 1970s. The correlative and spectral analyses of radar
signals were studied by Qi-Chen U and Nai-Xian Pan
(1979). The Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Academia
Sinica has given tables of the scattering function for
spherical raindrops and hailstones and has calculated the
effects of atmospheric refraction on radar detection. Yin-
Mo Zhuang and Yu-Mao Xu (1980) presented a theoretical
equation for the efficiency of rain detection by radar and
discussed its applications. They also estimated the capa-
bilities of the 711, 713, and 714 radars for detecting pre-
cipitation (Yin-Mo Zhuang and Yu-Mao Xu, 1977, 1982).
Zhen-Hua Ma (1984b) studied the effect of surface partial
specular reflection on the quantitative rainfall-rate mea-
surement by radar. On the basis of a great number of ob-
servations of raindrop spectra, Nanjing Meteorological
College proposed a method to estimate the raindrop spectra
by means of the reflectivity factor and precipitation rate
and the Doppler parameters of raindrops ( Da-Zhang Tang
et al., 1980; Da-Zhang Tang and Pei-Chang Zhang, 1984).
5 OPERATIONAL APPLICATION OF
WEATHER RADAR
The available radars were used for operational meteo-
rological work in a few weather bureaus when radar me-
teorology started in our country. With the increase of radar
equipment made in China, weather radar has been exten-
sively used for the detection of precipitation systems and
the warning and short-term forecasting of severe storms,
as well as for the safety of flying.
Warning and forecasting of typhoons is a major oper-
ational responsibility of radar stations on the southeast
coast (Zhi-Ue Wang and Due-Wu U, 1981; Yu-Quan Zha,
1976). A number of empirical methods for local precipi-
tation forecasting have been found for many locations.
The Radar Group, Shanghai Weather Bureau (1973b,c)
has summarized the forecast methods for thunderstorms
in summer and for continuously cloudy and rainy weather
in the Mei-Yu season. Techniques for short-term forecasts
by radar have been developed by the Tiangjin Meteoro-
logical Observatory (1973). The synthetic echo map, com-
bining data from radars at several locations, was first as-
sembled and used for weather forecasts in Shanghai (Yan
Huang et al., 1981). The joint experiment for a radar net-
work in East China was carried out in 1980-82, featuring
 RADAR METEOROLOGY IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
the transmission by facsimile of synthetic echo maps to
participating network weather stations. After 1982, the
joint observations of the radar network in East China were
used in operational work. A digital map-piecing technique
will be developed very soon.
In recent years, expert systems for weather forecasting
have been approached in many meteorological depart-
ments along with the development of computer techniques.
A modem Interactive Data Access and Analysis System
(MCIDAS III), planned by lAP I AS, Beijing, and Space
Science Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin, was
installed in lAP I AS in 1983 (Feng-Xian Zhou, 1983). The
system has proved to be a powerful research aid.
In summary, remarkable progress both in radar tech-
nology and research in radar meteorology has been
achieved during the past 30 years in China. Moreover, the
future looks promising. Recent developments in digital
processing systems and increasing emphasis on expert and
interactive features are expected to lead to many new and
significantly improved techniques. As the modem mete-
orological establishment develops in China, we believe that
85
a new weather detection network composed of digital
conventional radars will be installed throughout the coun-
try before the year 2000. This network will incorporate
upgraded equipment, improved communication, and ex-
tensive use of electronic computers in signal processing
techniques. We also believe that an experimental base for
detecting mesoscale weather systems, composed mainly
of Doppler radars and supplemented by other observa-
tional instruments, will be set up in North and East China
where mesoscale weather systems occur frequently. By that
time, radar meteorology in China will have achieved a
stage of considerable maturity.
[Editor's Note: The reader should note that in the text
the references to authors are given with surname last;
however, in the list of references at the end of the book
the names of the lead Chinese authors are presented with
surname first.]
 86
Chapter 12
Early Foundations of the Measurement of Rainfall by Radar
David Atlas,* Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland
Carlton W. Ulbrich, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University
1 INTRODUCTION
Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, there was
very intense research activity in the United States and the
United Kingdom involving the development of radar. The
exact date on which precipitation echoes were first detected
with this new instrument is not certain (see the Appendix),
but Ligda (1951) recorded that a shower was tracked on
a 10-cm radar to a range of 7 miles off the English coast
on 20 February 1941. On 7 February 1941, a 10-cm radar
was used at the Radiation Laboratories in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, to detect aircraft over the Boston airport
about 5 miles away. Using reasonable assumptions, it can
be shown that echoes from rain or snow of intensity about
1 to 3 mm h-I could have been detected by this radar at
short ranges. Thus, the first precipitation echoes quite
probably were detected very shortly after 7 February 1941,
or almost simultaneously with the date of the first reported
detection in England. We have been unable to document
such an event in the United States until the work of Bent
(1943) in 1942-43. It soon became obvious that microwave
radar would be an excellent tool for the observation of
storms and for tracking balloon-borne targets for wind-
finding. This review highlights the key research steps
leading to the development of techniques for the quanti-
tative estimation of rainfall by radar. We use the word
"estimation" because a variety of factors produce both
scatter and bias in the radar rainfall observations.
This account describes the developments prior to the
first post-World War II attempts to measure rainfall by
radar, those activities that occurred shortly thereafter, and
the increasingly sophisticated efforts that were made until
about 1970. The measurement of rainfall by attenuation
methods is also discussed. With minor exceptions, we do
not deal with snow or hail, nor with the polarization char-
acteristics of precipitation which have been receiving much
attention in recent years. (Polarization techniques are cov-
ered by Seliga et al. in Chapter 14 of this volume.) Dis-
cussion of Doppler radar is omitted here (except as it relates
to the determination of drop-size distribution and the cor-
relation of the associated reflectivity with echo power), as
are attempts to implement operationally the results of the
research efforts described in this review.
• Current affiliation: Consultant, Bethesda, Maryland.
2 DEVELOPMENTS DURING
WORLD WAR II
2.1 The foundations Laid by the Rydes
This review begins with the work of Ryde (1941, 1946)
and Ryde and Ryde (1944, 1945) who, while working at
the General Electric Research Laboratories in England,
were asked to calculate the magnitude of the echo intensity
and attenuation by atmospheric hydrometeors ranging
from fog to hail at centimetric wavelengths. This was done
almost simultaneously with the development of the first
10-cm radars, and in anticipation of the use of even shorter
wavelengths, to determine the extent to which such radars
would be affected by weather. The work of the Rydes es-
tablished the basis of radar meteorology, for it predicted
a host of phenomena that were subsequently observed.
Once microwave radar became available, radar research
entered a stage of experimental development and trials in
which a variety of storms were observed and radar wind-
finding techniques were begun. It was only natural that
the primary initiatives were to confirm the theoretical pre-
dictions of the Rydes. Once it was found that any radar
of reasonable sensitivity could detect rainfall out to con-
siderable ranges, the next logical step was to determine
whether or not the radar could be used to measure rainfall
quantitatively.
Of course, the Rydes did not start in a vacuum. They
had the works of Rayleigh (1871), Mie (1908), and Gans
(1912) as a foundation. Rayleigh had shown that the scat-
tering of light by atmospheric molecules and particles is
proportional to the sixth power of the particle diameter
(D) and to the inverse fourth power of the wavelength
(A). However, the Rayleigh law is valid only for particles
with (1rD fA) <0.22. Thus; at 3-cm wavelengths or shorter,
raindrops larger than about 2.1 mm require the use of the
more complete scattering theory, which had been devel-
oped by Mie (1908). With modern digital computers, the
scatter cross sections may be computed with ease, but this
was not the case in 1941 when the Rydes first tackled the
problem. It is a tribute to them that they made such com-
plete and accurate calculations by hand.
In addition to the backscatter and attenuation cross sec-
tions, the Rydes also needed good estimates of the drop-
 MEASUREMENT OF RAINFALL BY RADAR 87

size distribution (DSD) as a function of rain rate. In their

first work, they resorted to crude data from Humphreys R=RAIN RATE
(1929) and Lenard (1904), and later, to the much improved
data of Laws and Parsons (1943). They also required 102
knowledge of the dielectric constants of water and ice. For
this they first used pre-1940s data but later had access to
values specially determined by Saxton and Lane (1946)
and by Collie at Oxford (see discussion in Hooper and 10
Kippax, 1950b). Thus, their reports became increasingly
accurate and comprehensive. Indeed, by 1945 they in-
cluded the effects of temperature on attenuation.
Among the most significant results of the Rydes are the
following:
X
1) the backscatter and extinction cross sections of (/) 10-1
z
spherical ice and water particles out to D - 1.3A; the nor-
malized backscatter is shown in Fig. 1;
2) the reflectivity and attenuation of rain and hail as a 1Q-2
function of precipitation rate and wavelength; reflectivities
are shown in Fig. 2; and
3) the reflectivity of snow and the prediction of the
"bright band" in the melting layer. 10-3

Figure 2 contains much information that has since been

rediscovered by many radar scientists. This diagram seems 10-4
unfamiliar because Ryde's S = u / 47r where u is the wave-
length dependent, effective backscattering cross section
0 2 3 4 56 7 8 9 10
WAVELENGTH-..\ em
RANGE FOR RAIN A= 1Ocm Fig. 2 Reflectivity NS versus wavelength for various values of rain-
RAIN A= lcm fall rate. See Eq. (1) for the relationship of NS to the reflectivity factor,
10.--r----~~======~-------.
f5 = o/(rrD 2/4) n
II
Z. (After Ryde, 1946.)

m=CONSTANT ,.II ICE

IIJ
I averaged over the drop-size distribution. It is related to
I
the equivalent reflectivity factor by

WATER
fs '\
I I
,' I where K 2 is the parameter dependent on refractive index
I I
0.1 I f (0.93 for water), N is the particle concentration in cm- 3,
I I and NS X 10 8 is the quantity plotted by Ryde in Fig. 2.
I S= J... rrD2 f For Rayleigh scattering, S is proportional to the sixth power
I 4rr 4 5 of the particle diameter averaged over the DSD and Z,
I
lt:f becomes Z, the reflectivity factor for Rayleigh scattering.
I- By assuming a specific value of A, a set of Z-R relations
10-2
I
I
may be computed. We have done this for A= 10 em and
have found
10-2 10-1 0.2 0.3 0.5 10
DIAMETER/WAVELENGTH-D/.1. (2)
Fig. 1 The normalized radar cross section f, = u1(rrD 2 14) ( u:
backscattering cross section) of water and ice spheres, each with con- Since the curves in Fig. 2 remain parallel down to A
stant refractive index, versus the particle diameter in wavelengths. .-.- 3.5 em, Eq. (2) is substantially independent of A at all
(After Ryde, 1946.) wavelengths in excess of 3.5 em. Hooper and Kippax
88 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
(1950b, Table 3) actually calculated regression relations
between (NS X 10 8 ) and rain rate, R, for six wavelengths
based upon Ryde's data. All this was recalculated by Wex-
ler and Atlas (1963) for a Marshall-Palmer DSD with es-
sentially the same results, without their realizing that Ryde
had already accomplished the task about two decades ear-
lier. The Wexler-Atlas (1963) result for 10 em and 0°C is
Z = 295R 1.4s, which is insignificantly different from that
deduced from Ryde's curves. Moreover, both are essen-
tially identical to that of Joss et al. (1970), Z = 300Rt.5 ,
which is in common use today. In short, the Rydes must
be credited with the first Z-R relation.
Following the Rydes were Wexler and Swingle (1947).
This work is evidently an extension of a confidential paper
by Swingle and Wexler (1945). They also computed and
plotted the quantity N ( DI 2) 6 versus R using the DSD
data of Laws and Parsons (1943). From their curve we
have calculated the relation Z = 500 R 1. 34 which is just 1
dB (or 26 percent) greater than that of the Rydes at R = 10
mm h- 1 • Although Wexler and Swingle refer to Ryde
(1946), they too apparently failed to realize that the results
they were seeking were already available.
It is also noteworthy that Ryde's (1946) calculations of
the attenuation coefficient in dB km - l as a function of
wavelength and rain rate are substantially the same as
those calculated by later workers. He showed that the at-
tenuation coefficient per mm h - l increased only slightly
faster than the first power of R at most wavelengths and
was directly proportional to R at about 1-cm wavelength.
These facts have been rediscovered by many investigators
since Ryde's work.
The bright band is first mentioned in the 1946 paper
where Ryde refers to observations already made by Ca-
nadian and British workers. Thus, his theory should prob-
ably be regarded as the first explanation rather than a pre-
diction. It seems likely that he was aided in this respect
by the 1944 observations of Tibbles and Eon who flew an
aircraft through the bright band and noted that it was
comprised of melting snow (see Marshall et al., 1947).
Improved explanations of the bright band were then of-
fered by Hooper and Kippax (1950a), by Langille and
Thain (1951), and most completely by Austin and Bemis
(1950). Other discussions elaborated upon the thickness
of the bright band (Hooper and Kippax, 1950a) and the
effects of aggregation, breakup, growth, and orientation
(Wexler and Atlas, 1956). Browne and Robinson (1952)
first observed the polarization characteristics of the melting
layer and thereby anticipated much of the modem work
on polarization diversity.
One of the fascinating findings of the Rydes on which
they comment only in passing and that went almost un-
noticed for some 20 years was the fact that the backscatter
cross sections of ice spheres become larger than those of
water at D > -0.8X, whereas the converse holds at smaller
sizes. This fact, which is crucial to our understanding of
the echoes from hail, was not confirmed until the experi-
mental work of Atlas et al. (1960) and the theoretical cal-
culations of Herman and Battan (1961). The latter were
motivated by a letter from Atlas (then working in England)
reporting the unexpectedly large cross sections of large
hailstones. 1 They then used a new program by. Herman
written for infrared scatter by clouds to compute the theo-
retical values with one of the early digital computers at
the University of Arizona. Much of the work on the scatter
and attenuation cross sections of rain drops and hail from
about 1959 to the present was done at the University of
Arizona by Battan and his colleagues.
Considering the remarkable theoretical predictions of
the Rydes, and their far-reaching implications for all of
radar meteorology, their work must be placed first in terms
of its historic importance.
l.l Other World War II Activities
Between the development of 10-cm radar in early 1941
and 1945 I 46, there was only a relatively modest activity
in radar meteorology. To be sure, the U.S. Army Air Corps
took the initiative to train 100 meteorologists in radar,
weather radar officers were sent to the various war theaters
to set up and operate windfinding and storm detection
radars (Fletcher, Chapter 1), and some development work
was undertaken by the U.S. Army Signal Corps Labora-
tories at Fort Monmouth and Belmar, New Jersey, on behalf
of the Air Corps (Swingle, Chapter 2). In early 1945, the
Air Corps also established the All-Weather Flying Division
at Wright-Patterson Field, Ohio, where a modest effort
was begun on the use of airborne weather radar for flight
safety and of ground radars for the quantitative measure-
ment of rainfall.
In Canada, Tuzo Wilson returned from England in 1944
to establish the Canadian Army Operational Research
Group ( CAORG) aimed in part at understanding the var-
ious weather echoes seen on microwave radars. It was there
that Marshall and his colleagues began their work to un-
derstand the origin and nature of the echoes, including
the bright band, and later, to measure rain and snow. The
Canadian work is reviewed by Douglas (Chapter 8).
It is perhaps not surprising that very little work was
undertaken in Britain on the use of radar for weather pur-
poses until 1946 when the war had ended and attention
could be turned to less urgent matters. During the war,
the relevant efforts focused mainly upon radar propagation
studies (Booker, 1948) at the Telecommunications Re-
search Establishment (TRE) at Malvern (now the Royal
Signals and Radar Establishment) and at the Radio and
Space Research Station (RSRS) at Slough. More recently,
the Slough facility was amalgamated into the Rutherford
and Appleton Laboratories at Didcot near Oxford. A com-
prehensive history of work in Britain is provided by Prob-
ert-Janes (Chapter 7).
1 Battan had a different memory of how this was initiated (see Tribute).
 MEASUREMENT OF RAINFALL BY RADAR 89

The MIT Radiation Laboratories were also involved with a few months earlier by the work of Wexler and Swingle
a great deal of work on the meteorological effects on radar (1947) who derived the radar equation for precipitation
propagation. The little work done there on the detection and plotted a curve relating the reflectivity to rain rate.
of weather itself was mainly descriptive and highly qual- The paper by Marshall et al. showed both the excellent
itative. This is not surprising considering the primitive state correlation between received echo power and Z measured
of the art and the fact that echoes from weather were new by a 10-cm radar at a range of 8.8 km as shown in Fig. 3
phenomena. The first known publication on the subject, and a scattergram showing the empirical relation between
"Radar Echoes from Atmospheric Phenomena" by A.E. Z and R. They had difficulty, however, in relating echo
Bent (1943), covered observations with 10- and 3-cm ra- power in an absolute sense to rain rate. The brief paper
dars between March 1942 and January 1943 in New by Marshall and Palmer (1948) reported the relation
England. It describes the various kinds of precipitation
seen, one thunderstorm being observed to a distance of Z = 200R1. 6 (3)
164 n mi. The report noted that the best indicator of
and described the exponential DSD which has taken
weather echoes was their fluctuating character and also
on their names. These early Z-R relations are listed in Ta-
noted that the echoes were definitely stronger at 3 em.
ble 1.
(The radars transmitted 40 and 10 kW peak powers at 10
The first two of the Z-R relations in Table 1 are very
and 3 em, respectively, both with 48-inch diameter dishes.)
much the same; they differ by only 1 dB at 10 mm h- 1 •
Bent did not mention that this was consistent with both
This is probably within the computational error since we
Rayleigh theory and the work of the Rydes, probably be-
fitted a regression line by eye to the data read from the
cause security prevented him from seeing the Rydes' work
authors' curves. Indeed, even the M-P relation differs only
by early 1943.
slightly from the others, the difference depending upon
Later, Bent (1945a) reported on echoes from tropical
the range of rain rates emphasized in the regression.
rain on X-band airborne radar, Bent and Miller (1945) dis-
Because the M-P DSD has been so important in sub-
cussed the effects of clouds and rain on K-band airborne
sequent developments in the field, and because we shall
radar, Rado (1945) reported measurements of the atten-
show where it falls short, we present it here:
uation of K-band waves by rain, and Bender et al. (1945)
described the performance of airborne K-band radar under N(D) = N 0 exp- (AD) (4)
tropical conditions. In another document on radar echoes
from precipitation layers, Bent (1945b) erroneously attrib- where
uted well-defined thin layers which almost surely were
bright bands at the melting layer to strata of unusually No= 0.08 cm- 4 (5)
large hydrometeors. This again suggests that Bent had not
and
yet seen the work of the Rydes nor was he aware of the
work of Tibbles and Eon in Canada. The first report of A= 41R-0 ·21 • (6)
weather radar activities at the MIT Radiation Laboratory
in the open literature was by Bent (1946).
1000

3 THE FIRST WAVE-THE BEGINNINGS 800

OF QUANTITATIVE Ul
f-
MEASUREMENTS, 600
10 z
:J
POST-WORLD WAR II M
E a:
w
to 8 :s:
By 14 March 1947, the date of the first Weather Radar E 400 0
c..
E w
Conference at MIT, quantitative measurements had al- N
6 >
200 f=
ready been underway at the U.S. Army Signal Corps Lab- :5w
oratories at Belmar (under Gould, Wexler, Swingle, and 4 a:
0
Weinstein) and at CAORG in Ottawa (under Marshall,
2
Palmer, and Langille). Similar measurements were just
beginning under Atlas in Ohio and by Bemis, Austin, and
0
their colleagues at the MIT Weather Radar Project. While 0 20 40 60 80
Gould described experiments in progress, only Marshall MINUTES
reported the good correlation between Z and R. This work Fig. 3 Received power measured by a 10.7-cm radar in relative
was published some months later by Marshall et al. (1947) units (right) and reflectivity factor Z (left) computed from filter paper
and, except for the work of the Rydes, must be acknowl- samples of the drop-size distribution on the ground under the beam
edged as the seminal paper in the field. at a range of 8.8 km as a function of time; ordinates have been offset
In fact, the paper by Marshall et al. (1947) was preceded for convenience of comparison. (After Marshall et al., 1947.)
90 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
TABLE 1
The Earliest Z-R Relations
Z-R
Souce HowDedaced Relation
Ryde (1946) From his Fig. 9 320R'·..
(Fig. 2 here)
Wexler and Swingle From their Fig. 4 SOOR1.34
(1947)
Marshall and Palmer Regression based on Z 200Ru
(1948) and R from 050 data
For an exponential DSD which is not truncated at sizes
smaller than about 2D0 , Atlas (1953) showed that
A= 3.67 /Do
where Do is the median volume diameter. The D0 value
has come into widespread use because it is a physical and
easily determined parameter, and its associated fallspeed
corresponds closely to the mass-weighted fallspeed of the
drops.
Although the origins of the quantitative relationship be-
tween reflectivity and rain intensity may be traced back
to Ryde (1941, 1946), the two papers by Marshall et al.
made a profound impact on the meteorological community
because they were the first to show the proportionality
between echo power and Z computed from drop-size sam-
ples and the associated relation between Z and R. Marshall
et al. (1947) stated cautiously but explicitly: "It may be
possible therefore to determine with useful accuracy the
intensity of rainfall at a point quite distant (say 100 km)
by the radar echo from that point." After 1948, there was
a rush by anyone who had a radar to attempt to measure
rainfall and realize this promise.
The importance of these early works of Marshall et al.
should not be underestimated for they invigorated the field
and stimulated a vast amount of research. Many of the
early researchers were suspicious from the start, largely
because the M-P relationships are deceptively simple, and
it was doubtful that all rainfall types would follow the
same DSD law and give a universal Z-R relationship. In-
deed, by 1953 more than a dozen Z-R relations had been
reported from around the world (Twomey, 1953; Battan,
1973) with a wide range of Z values for the same rain rate
as great as a factor of 38 in the most extreme instances. In
his 1953 paper, Twomey already noted that the variability
of the Z-R relation from place to place and one rain to
another is so great as to render estimates of R from Z of
limited value. Nevertheless, Atlas and Chmela (1957), Imai
et al. (1955), Imai (1960}, and Fujiwara (1960, 1965)
showed that the variations had some fairly well-defined
physical origins so that a priori knowledge of the rainfall
type might help to select the appropriate Z-R relation.
Following Marshall et al. were Atlas (1947, 1948, 1953),
who developed automatic isoecho contour mapping and
reported radar rainfall measurements at 3.2 em; Hooper
and Kippax (1950b ), who made simultaneous measure-
ments at wavelengths of 9.1, 3.2, and 1.25 em; Hood
(1950), who did so at 3 and 10 em; and Austin and Wil-
liams (1951), at 10 em.
Measurements of the received power were admittedly
crude at that time, most being made by visual averaging
of the fluctuating signal on the A-scope. They were con-
sistent, however, in that in all cases the radar, on the av-
erage, underestimated the expected power by 3 to 7 dB.
Such a consistent underestimate clearly needed explana-
tion. Austin and Geotis (1960) emphasized the importance
of knowing the effective antenna gain and the effective
beamwidth before using these parameters in the radar
equation, and they described methods for making direct
(7) measurements of the radar parameters. Their measure-
ments of antenna gain were in agreement with generally
accepted values, i.e., a few dB below the "theoretical" gain.
They found the effective beamwidth to be about 90 percent
of the half-power beamwidth. Probert-Jones (1962) in his
now classical paper "The Radar Equation in Meteorology"
gave a more extensive and more mathematical treatment
of these problems and showed that the original form of
the radar equation overestimated the solid angle of the
equivalent cone of received power by 1.4 dB and also
overestimated the antenna gain by 2.1 dB, values similar
to those reported by Austin and Geotis. In this way Prob-
ert-Jones was able to bring virtually all of the reported
measurements in line with theory within about 1 or 2 dB.
The paper of Hooper and Kippax (1950b) is especially
comprehensive for its time. In addition to the above, they
validated Ryde's predicted wavelength dependence down
to 1.25 em (even correcting for radome wetting), confirmed
that echo power is directly proportional to pulse energy
and to the inverse square of the range, found that Ryde's
estimates for snow scatter were about right, and also de-
duced snowflake aggregation. It is also notable that the
dates of some of their measurements are as early as Feb-
ruary 1945. The discussion of their paper includes com-
ments by Dr. R.A. Smith who states prophetically that
"this paper is only the first chapter in a very long story."
Also, valuable comments by Ryde himself are included;
he notes that the paper provides the most comprehensive
check of the theory (on backscatter), and expresses grat-
ification on the agreement of theory and measurement.
The reality of the major differences in Z-R relations and
the essence of their physical origins were illustrated by
Atlas and Chmela (1957) . They developed a rain parameter
diagram, shown in Fig. 4, which shows the interrelations
between four frequently used parameters, Z, R, W (liquid
water content), and Do for an assumed DSD shape. Atlas
and Chmela defined the shape of the DSD in terms of a
dimensionless third moment of the mass spectrum given
by G = D0 - 3 ~D 6 n(D)/~D 3 n(D) where the sums are over
all drop diameters and n (D) is the number of drops per
unit volume. The diagram in Fig. 4 is for a DSD with G
 MEASUREMENT OF RAINFALL BY RADAR 91

.
RAIN PARAMETER DIAGRAM

-----
·--
Marshall - Palmer

·--
stratiform, theoretical
Blanchard, warm orographic 5.0
106 D.M.A. Jones, heavy showers

·-·-
0 _ ... - 4.0
Atlas - Chmela, 16 April 1954
stratiform with drizzle
3.0
<') 2.5
.....E
<D
105
Atlas - Chmela. 27 April 1954
evaporating stratiform
2.0
E 1.5
E
I 1.0
N
I 104 0.7
a:
0 0.5
I-
u
<l:
u.. 0.3
1o3 0.2
~
>
i= 0.1
uw
...J
u.. 1o2
w
a: mm

10

1
1Q - 2 10- 1 10
RAIN INTENSITY- R- mm /h r

Fig. 4 The rain parameter diagram showing the relationships between the reflectivity factor Z, rain
intensity R, liquid water content W, and median volume diameter D0 , for a drop-size distribution having
a value of the parameter G = 1.5. The various empirical curves are identified in the inset legend. See
text for details. (After Atlas and Chmela, 1957.)

= 1.5; the corresponding diagram for an exponential DSD
has G = 2.42. One of the important features of the diagram
is that it shows that a relation between any two of the
parameters immediately determines relations between all
other pairs of parameters. It also explains why very low
reflectivity was associated with the large concentrations of
small drops in Hawaiian warm orographic rain, while high
reflectivities were produced by large drops in lower con-
centrations in thunderstorm rain of the same rainfall in-
tensity. Without recognizing it, this work laid the foun-
dations for what was later to be referred to as
multiparameter rainfall measurements. Nearly two decades
later Ulbrich and Atlas (1975, 1978) generalized the work
of Atlas and Chmela and explicitly recognized the fact that
two remote measurables were required to specify com-
pletely any rainfall parameter defined in terms of a two-
parameter DSD (such as the M-P DSD). They calculated
the improvement in radar measurements of rainfall that
might be expected if simultaneous measurements of two
parameters could be made. Ulbrich and Atlas also added
three remote measurables to the rain parameter diagram,
viz., microwave attenuation, optical extinction, and dif-
ferential polarization, thus producing a graphical depiction
of the process by which any pair of remote measurables
could be used to find R, W, D0 , etc., without the need for
introduction of an a priori Z-R relation. This fact had just
been recognized by Seliga and Bringi (1976) in connection
with the dual-measurement method which uses differential
polarization.
During this early period, Stout and Neill (1953) con-
ducted the first areal measurements of rainfall using a 128
km 2 area containing 33 gages (i.e., a density of 1 per 3.9
km 2 ). The network was located between 25 and 40 km
from their 3.2-cm radar. Four storms passed over their
network in times usually less than an hour. The radar-
computed rainfalls were found to be at least as accurate
as those obtained by a raingage network with density of
1 /500 km 2 or better. No corrections were made for atten-
uation although they note that this was evident from time
to time. Figure 5 shows a comparison between the isohyets
measured by the gages and those estimated by radar for
a 40 minute accumulation.
The areal measurements were made by taking sequences
of PPI photographs with decreasing gain steps until the
92 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

In order to bypass many of the problems associated with

measurements made at some distance from the radar, Joss
et al. (1968, 1970) made measurements at a height of only
200m using a 4.6-cm vertically pointing radar. They com-
pared the reflectivity-deduced rain rate to the average
measured by four raingages, all within 20 m of each other,
and to that calculated from a disdrometer. They made ob-
servations on 48 days for a total duration of 440 hours
from July to November 1967. As a basis for comparison,
they found that the standard deviation (S.D.) of the in-
dividual rainfall totals for the average of the four gages
was 6 percent for daily totals. Similar totals calculated from
the disdrometer had an S.D. of 8 percent. From the dis-
.4' drometer data for the entire 440 hours they deduced an
'' •
.3 ' - - - - - - - " ' .3
i::::::::::::i:=::i2 MILES

ISOHYETAL MAP
average relation

GAGES Z = 300Rt. 5 • (8)

.3 .4 .4 Using 46 periods of uniform rain rate, they found good

agreement between the actual and the disdrometer-de-
duced values of Z with an S.D. of the ratio Z (s) IZ (r) of
only 6 percent, where s and r represent spectrometer and
radar. This is remarkably small and shows that the radar
is in fact measuring the 'LD 6 very well. However, when
using the above long-term Z-R relation, the S.D. of the
ratio of daily totals Q(s) I Q(r) was 38 percent. This is due
I mainly to the variations in the Z-R relation with precipi-
.)
D
I tation type. Also, most of the variance was due to days
with light rainfall. By omitting 8 such days, the remaining
40 days gave an S.D. of only 22 percent. Later, Joss and
e Waldvogel (1970) showed that the S.D. could be reduced
.
////SCALE

/ 0 2MILES by a factor of 2 if three distinctly different Z-R relations

/
..,._,_.....__ ISOECHO MAP
.2 .3 .4 .4 ·4
Fig. 5 Rainfall isohyets corresponding to the measurements by 33
gages (top) and as measured remotely by a 3.2-cm APS-15 radar
(bottom) during a 40-minute rain on 26 September 1951 near Cham-
paign, Illinois. (After Stout and Neill, 1953.)
strongest echoes disappeared. Because processing the
photographic data was extremely laborious, only a few
areal measurements were made.
4 THE SECOND WAVE-POST-1960
4.1 Local Measurements
With the development of the Joss disdrometer (Joss and
Waldvogel, 1967) measurement of DSDs became much
less onerous. Much more extensive data could be acquired
for climatological studies, and observations of differences
from storm to sto~ and even within storms became pos-
sible.
are used for drizzle, widespread rain, and thunderstorms,
respectively. Considering the close proximity of the gages,
RADAR the drop spectrometer, and the radar volume, this is about
the best that one can hope to obtain by radar.
Joss et al. (1970) also showed that rather large variations
in both N0 and D0 occurred from moment to moment dur-
ing rainfall and that these variations were responsible for
the deviations of R as determined by radar [using Eq. ( 8)]
from the disdrometer and raingage values. This is clearly
evident from Fig. 6 which consists of the temporal records
of Joss et al. for Zd, Rd, N0 , and A as found from the
disdrometer data, and Z, and R, = (Z , I 300) 1 I t.s as deter-
mined by radar. Although there is close correspondence
between Z, and Zd over almost all of the 90-minute period,
significant deviations of Rd above R, occur during the pe-
riods 0425-0455 and 0510-0530 LST. Inspection of the
N0 record reveals that these deviations result primarily from
very large variations of N0 (more than an order of mag-
nitude) from the value of N 0 = 5 X 10 3 m - 3 mm - 1 implied
by the coefficient 300 in Eq. ( 8) (as shown by Ulbrich
1983).
Gorelik et al. (1971) performed an analogous study using
a vertically pointing Doppler radar to compute the DSD
and then the rain rate at a height between 400 and 800 m
 MEASUREMENT OF RAINFALL BY RADAR 93

104

[:~6]
Z, : RADAR
Zd : DISDROMETER
\_.-..
z
103
·.
I '

t 102

17 JULY 1968

101
0430 0500 TIME 0530

10

[mhm]
R

t 17 JULY 1968

0430 0500 TIME 0530

105

[m:3-1]
104
No

t 103
17 JULY 1968

0430 0500 TIME 0530

10

[mm-1) 0.5 Do
[mm)
A
!
3

t 2

3
0430 0500 TIME 0530
Fig. 6 An 80-minute record of the rainfall measured and deduced by radar at vertical incidence at height 200 m and by
the drop-size disdrometer at the surface on 17 July 1968 at Locamo-Monti, Switzerland. See text for details. (After Joss et
al., 1970.)
94 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

and compared this to the rates measured by filter paper
and gages at the ground. They found that the coefficient
in the Z-R relation differed from the corresponding ground
measurements by 25 percent on average, while. the ex-
ponent differed by 12 percent. Although the Z-R relation
varied from day to day, the average relation was almost
identical to that of Joss et al. (1970). A 21/2 hour running
record of R from the DSD data, the radar, and the raingage
showed very good agreement between all three. The au-
thors note, however, that turbulence and vertical air
motions could affect the accuracy of the Doppler-
deduced DSD.
4.2 Area Measurements
Except for the early areal measurements of Stout and
Neill (1953), until now we have dealt mainly with mea-
surements at a point or a volume corresponding to the size
of the pulse volume. We now proceed to area-wide ob-
servations.
With the development of the sweep integrator ( Kodaira,
1959) measurements over an area became more practical
although data processing was still laborious (manual dig-
itizing, etc.). A number of experiments that were made
over areas ranging from 50 km 2to 5300 km 2are discussed
in an excellent review article by Wilson and Brandes
(1979). At that time much attention was being given to
the possibility of reducing the uncertainty in radar mea-
surements of rain by combining them with raingage data.
Such comparisons were used both for making an overall
calibration of the radar and for adjusting the measurements
in individual storms. A summary of the studies from Table
3 in Wilson and Brandes is reproduced here as Table 2.
Before adjustment the radar errors are about 50 percent,
while after adjustn\ent they range from 7 to 35 percent.
Two significant papers by Soviet researchers were ap-
parently not available to Wilson and Brandes and were
not included in their study. These papers, Beznis et al.
(1968) and Volynets et al. (1968), are quite similar in na-
ture. Both used 3.2-cm ASR-3 radars and networks of gages
of various densities. Both calibrated the radar against stan-
dard targets and chose calibration constants corresponding
to the best fit for the entire season's rainfall. Beznis et al.
found that the average calibration constant for 10-day pe-

TABLE 2
Radar Areal Estimates of Rainfall Utilizing Gages for Calibration (from Wilson and Brandes, 1979)

Adjaat-
ment
Type and Error Percent
Radar CaUbrat- Before Error
Radar Obaer·
Nam- ing Gage (After) U1lng
X ber vatlon Radar Area Den1lty Adjut· Calibration
(c:m)/11 Z-R of Frequency Range Size Dura- {km'/ ment Gages
Reference Location Rain Type (deg) Relation Caaea (min) (km) (km') tlon gage)• (%) Only
Wilson (1970) Oklahoma Thundershowers 10/2 KR 1·6 b 23 5- 10 35-100 3500 Storm A (3500) 51 (35) 60
A (1200) (30) 31
v (1200) (27) 31
Brandes (1975) Oklahoma Thundershowers 10/2 200R'·6 9 5 45- 100 3000 Storm v (900) 52 (13) 21
v (1600) (14) 24
A (900) (18) 21
Woodley et al. Florida Showers 10/2 300R'-4 39 5 85-115 570 24 h A (1600)' 43 (30) -
(1974) Thundershowers
Harrold et al. England Showers 10/2 200R'-6 27 1 12-48 50-100 1h A (500) - (19) 48'
(1974) Stratiform
Wilson (1975a) New York Showers 5/1.7 200R'·6 ' 41 10 95-112 170 24 h v (275) 49 (22) 22
Thundershowers
Stratiform
Collier et al. England Showers 10/1 200R'·• 13 1 12- 48 700 3h v (233) - (7) -
(1975) Stratiform
Jatila and Finland Showers 3/1.8 200R'-6 6 5 18-28 180 Storm A (180) 43 (23)' -
Puhakka Thundershowers
(1973a,b)
Huff and Towery Illinois Showers 10/1 300R 1·35 671 3 20- 100 5300 0.5 h v (150) 55 (27) 32
(1978) Thundershowers

• A: average adjustment; V: variable spatial adjustment.

b Radar estimates adjusted to remove average bias for the total experiment.
' Density of raingage clusters is approximately 8 gages per cluster. Clusters outside area of measurement.
'Calibrating gage not within boundaries of watersheds, but 10- 20 km distant.
'An additional multiplicative factor of 1.7 applied to radar estimates.
t Varied Z-R coefficient to match point rainfall at central gage; error when observed drop-size distribution used is 98%.
g Number of 30-minute periods in four storms.

riods varied from 13 to 159 percent of the seasonal value,
and for daily amounts the variability was 25 to 50 percent
larger. Volynets et al. found that for 75 percent confidence
limits, the relative errors for the daily amounts ranged from
-50 to 200 percent, with a slight decrease in the errors as
the area increased from 25 km 2 to 400 km 2 •
Early areal rainfall experiments were also conducted in
Japan. In 1959 an experimental test area of 638 km 2 was
established and it was found after 4 years of observations
that the error in radar-measured rainfall using an isoecho
contouring device corresponded to the sampling error for
a rainfall event when only three gages were used in the
experimental area. These results are described in Aoyagi
(1958, 1963, 1964) and Kodaira (1961). (See Kodaira and
Aoyagi, Chapter 9.)
A basic reference to early work on radar measurements
of precipitation in the USSR is the monograph by Boro-
vikov et al. (1967).
5 ATTENUATION METHODS
The earliest computations of the attenuation by spherical
raindrops by Ryde (1941) and later by Gunn and East
(1954) showed that attenuation, A (dBjkm), is directly
proportional to rain rate, R, at wavelengths near 1 em.
Godard (1963) and Atlas and Ulbrich (1977) later recog-
nized that this relationship is independent of the DSD,
thus making measurements of A promising for estimating
R. Meanwhile, many investigators were concerned with
the attenuation of microwave communications by rainfall.
Medhurst (1965) summarized several of the early studies
and showed that experimental values of A scattered widely
around the theoretical ones. This and the fact that A often
exceeded maximum possible theoretical values caused him
to doubt the Mie theory. One of the most persuasive ex-
periments of this kind was the carefully conducted work
of Anderson et al. (1947) at a wavelength of 1.25 em which
showed a systematic excess A of more than 50 percent.
Other well-designed experiments were those of Godard
(1963) and Harrold (1967), both at 0.86 em measuring A
between two comer reflectors spaced some distance apart
as compared to values computed from a line of raingages
along the path. Again, the majority of the experimental
values inexplicably exceeded theory. Two possible reasons
for this could be: 1) cores of rain shafts can easily pass
between the gages; and 2) the oblate shapes of raindrops
attenuate horizontally polarized radiation more than that
which is polarized vertically (Oguchi and Hosoya, 1974),
although this was not known at the time. An alternative
suggestion was put forth by Semplak and Turrin (1969)
who measured A at 1.62 em on a path along which they
also measured the winds.
In one storm, A systematically exceeded theory but this
could be explained entirely by an updraft of only 1m s- 1,
a value consistent with the low-level convergence they
observed. In other words, the rain rate measured by the
MEASUREMENT OF RAINFALL BY RADAR 95
elevated gages was decreased relative to that in still air,
thus producing apparently systematically larger values of
A. This hypothesis is also plausible in explaining the ap-
parent systematically large A values of Anderson et al.
(1947), since their experiment was conducted on the
windward slope of Mauna Loa on Hawaii. In the presence
of an updraft the rain rates measured by elevated gages
will be smaller in still air, so that a plot of A versus R in
this case will produce data points that lie above the theo-
retical curve.
Perhaps the best of the early attenuation experiments
was that of Norbury and White (1972) who used 0.84-cm
vertically polarized waves over a short two-way path of
only 448 m elevated at 5 m above a line of four gages
spaced about 50 m apart and only 2 m below the beam.
The results agreed very well with theory with little scatter,
presumably because there could be no significant difference
in the air motions between the gages and the beam, and
also because it is difficult for an intense rain shaft to pass
between the gages spaced only 50 m apart.
6 SUMMARY
This description of the beginnings of research into the
use of microwave radiation for quantitative measurement
rainfall has shown that many of the early researchers
quickly uncovered the perplexing problems that still linger
today. In the time span of less than ten years, these pi-
oneering investigators developed the foundations of
methods that are in common usage today for estimation
of rainfall from storms.
The history covered in this review terminates at about
the time when very promising new techniques involving
multiparameter methods and digital data acquisition and
analysis were beginning to be developed. These new
methods were devised specifically to address and overcome
the problems identified by the early researchers, e.g., those
associated with temporal and spatial variations in the form
of the raindrop-size distribution and the laborious and te-
dious analysis of radar data. These later developments are
covered in other reviews in this volume (see Bringi and
Hendry, Chapter 19a; Jameson and Johnson, Chapter 23a;
Joss and Waldvogel, Chapter 29a).
As a final method of depicting the overall evolution of
the field, we present a "radar tree" in Fig. 7. The roots of
the tree represent the scientific origins on which the field
of radar meteorology is based. This early work served as
the foundation from which grew theoretical work, repre-
sented by the trunk of the tree. The branches depict the
more specialized aspects of the field dealing with more
recent specific subject matter. We acknowledge the fact
that subjective judgments and possibly some omissions
are involved in the construction of this tree when deter-
mining which are the more significant contributions. To
those whom we may have overlooked we apologize. In
any event, we believe that such a depiction of the "ge-
 ~

!:0
~
!2!

~
~
f2
0
~

Fig. 7 A summary of the early history of quantitative precipitation measurements in the form of the roots, trunk, and branches of a tree showing the evolution of the field and many
of the most important contributors.

Fig. 8 Dr. J. W. Ryde, who unwittingly contributed to the
founding of radar meteorology.
neology" of our field gives a deeper appreciation for its
origins and evolution and helps to place our current re-
search in clearer perspective relative to that of the pioneers
who preceded us. Clearly, we all owe a debt of gratitude
to the early workers. Their work is just now beginning to
be recognized for its profound impact on the development
of radar meteorology.
Finally, as a tribute to the great scientist who fathered
much of what is reported here, we present a picture of Dr.
J.W. Ryde in Fig. 8. A photograph of the other giant in the
field, Dr. J.S. Marshall, appears in Douglas (Chapter 8).
Acknowledgments. The effort of the first author was done
with the partial support of the National Science Foundation
under NSF Grant ATM-84-14199. The effort of the second
author was sponsored partially by NSF Grant ATM-85-
13617. We greatly appreciate the assistance of the librarians
at the Archives of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
nology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Royal Signals and
Radar Establishment (RSRE), Malvern, England, and the
Meteorological Office, Bracknell, England. We are es-
pecially indebted to Dr. E.G. Bowen, co-inventor of radar
MEASUREMENT OF RAINFALL BY RADAR 97
and former director of the Radiophysics Division, CSIRO,
Australia, and to Dr. J.E.N. Hooper formerly of RSRE,
England, for important information on the early history
of radar. We are pleased to acknowledge the assistance of
Unda Pylant and Janet Wood in editing and typing. Finally,
we are greatly indebted to Dr. Pauline Austin for her care-
ful reading of the manuscript and for valuable suggestions
for additions and changes which have helped to improve
this paper.
APPENDIX:
DETERMINING THE FIRST DETECTION
OF PRECIPITATION ON RADAR
We are indebted to E.G. Bowen for supplying the fol-
lowing information from his new book, Radar Days, in
advance of its publication by Adam Hilger, Bristol, United
Kingdom, and by Taylor and Francis, Philadelphia.
Bowen brought the resonant cavity magnetron to the
United States in September 1940 as a part of the secret
mission led by Sir Henry Tizard. It was replicated by Bell
Telephone Laboratory, and the first working 10-cm radar
system was put together from components developed in
a crash program by several industrial firms and delivered
to the Radiation Laboratory at MIT. The first U.S. system
was operated from the roof of the Radiation Laboratory
during January and February 1941 and detected echoes
from buildings and from aircraft at ranges of 4 to 5 miles
over Boston airport in February 1941. Further work at the
Radiation Laboratory during 1941 resulted in the devel-
opment of airborne radar. Surely, in light of these devel-
opments, precipitation echoes must have been detected in
February 1941 or shortly thereafter.
It appears, however, that the construction of th~ first
radar and the detection of precipitation with it occurred
in the United Kingdom prior to its development in the
United States. The General Electric Corporation Research
Laboratory in Wembley had a 10-cm radar system working
on the roof of its laboratory beginning in July 1940 and
reported the detection of echoes from aircraft during Oc-
tober and November 1940. Ryde was working at Wembley
at the time, and these developments may have motivated
him during the formulation of his theoretical work. A sim-
ilar 10-cm radar was also in operation in the United King-
dom at the Air Ministry Research Establishment (AMRE)
in Swanage beginning in August 1940. Both of these radars
had the sensitivity to detect rainfall of moderate intensity
at short ranges.
We conclude, then, that the first detection of precipi-
tation on radar probably occurred in the United Kingdom
in late 1940 or early 1941. The first formal report of the
detection of meteorological echoes did not occur until the
work of Bent (1943) in the United States.
 98
Chapter 13
Advances in Precipitation Physics Following the
Advent of Weather Radar
A. S. Dennis, Bureau of Reclamation
W. F. Hitschfeld, *McGill University
1 INTRODUCTION
The people who developed weather radar were a mixed
lot. Some were trained weather forecasters in the armed
forces ordered to "look after" weather radar sets installed
in or near their weather offices. Some were electrical en-
gineers involved with the design and testing of radar sets
for military use. Others were physical scientists and en-
gineers of miscellaneous backgrounds.
The equipment of the earliest weather radar sets was
not easy to use. A set was generally operated from a stuffy,
heavily curtained shack at the base of a solitary and rickety
tower which supported the antenna-installations that
only a true enthusiast could appreciate.
This chapter discusses how those enthusiasts exploited
weather radar in the years after World War II to produce
unprecedented advances in the fields of cloud and precip-
itation physics. Initially there was much skepticism con-
cerning the potential of weather radar as a quantitative
tool, and it took a while for cloud physicists to accept that
first winning formula: "Radar sees all of the rain and none
of the cloud." Eventually, excellent working relationships
developed between radar meteorologists and cloud phys-
icists at several institutions. Until then, most cloud phys-
icists had done either microphysical studies (for example,
of cloud droplet growth) or studies of cloud types, ceilings,
and so on. The manner in which these micro- and macro-
scale approaches were brought together by the advent of
weather radar is the subject of this paper.
Research carried out in North America, Great Britain,
Western Europe, and Australia is described here; important
work during the same period in the Soviet Union is not
covered due to the senior author's unfamiliarity with the
Russian scientific literature. The paper is further limited to
the pre-Doppler period, which ended around 1960, and
also excludes any detailed considerations of radar rainfall
measurements or radar detection of severe storm phenom-
ena such as hail, which are covered elsewhere in this
volume.
*Deceased May 1986. This paper is based in part upon a manuscript
prepared by Dr. Hitschfeld for presentation at a meeting of the American
Geophysical Union in Baltimore, Maryland, in May 1986. As Dr. Hitsch-
feld's illness prevented his attendance, the actual presentation was made
by R. R. Rogers.
2 THE STATUS OF CLOUD PHYSICS
IN 1945
We begin by reviewing the state of cloud and precipi-
tation physics as the field existed at the end of World War
II. The formation of clouds and the processes by which
cloud droplets sometimes combine to form precipitation
particles occupied the attention of many European scien-
tists during the nineteenth century. By 1900 it was gen-
erally known that the atmosphere contains myriads of tiny
particles in suspension, and the larger and more hygro-
scopic of these particles function as cloud condensation
nuclei (CCN) whenever a parcel of air is cooled below its
dewpoint. Calculations showed that continued conden-
sation could not lead to raindrop formation in any rea-
sonable period of time, so it was generally understood that
the formation of a raindrop required the combination of
many cloud droplets. Coalescence of cloud droplets due
to collisions, possibly promoted by turbulent eddies or
electrical effects, was postulated as a mechanism for rain
formation, but the various suggestions were not in a sat-
isfactory quantitative form.
Observations of the existence of supercooled water
droplets in many natural clouds led Wegener and others
to hypothesize that ice crystals occurring in mixed clouds
would grow rapidly by deposition at the expense of the
supercooled water droplets, which would tend to evapo-
rate. The resulting large ice crystals could grow further by
continued deposition or by accretion and eventually reach
the ground as either snow or rain, depending upon the
surface temperature. The tendency for cloud droplets to
remain supercooled at temperatures down to -20° or even
-30°C in some cases was attributed to a lack of ice nuclei
(IN) in the atmosphere. This hypothesis was developed
further by Bergeron and found almost universal acceptance
following his classic presentation at a meeting of the In-
ternational Union of Geodesy and Geophysics in Lisbon,
Portugal in 1933 (Bergeron, 1935). A strong argument in
favor of the hypothesis was the observation that precipi-
tation often falls from the bases of cumulus clouds in
Western Europe about the same time as the cloud tops
give evidence of glaciation.
During the 1930s German meteorologists conducted re-
search flights to investigate possible differences between
continental and maritime clouds and to identify natural
 ADVANCES IN PRECIPITATION PHYSICS FOLLOWING THE ADVENT OF WEATHER RADAR 99
IN. They considered particles upon which ice deposits di-
rectly from the vapor phase to be the most important
among the various types of IN in the free atmosphere and
called such particles "sublimation nuclei." Findeisen (1938)
considered that it might be possible to produce significant
effects upon the weather, including modification of pre-
cipitation, by adding very small quantities of sublimation
nuclei to supercooled clouds. During World War II he con-
ducted a number of well-orchestrated seeding trials while
working out of a laboratory in Prague, Czechoslovakia,
which was under German occupation. In a memorable
case on 19 September 1942, "fallstreifen" were observed
following the release of powdered diatomaceous earth into
a shallow layer of supercooled altocumulus clouds (Schulz,
1947).
It is difficult to realize today how totally the Bergeron
hypothesis dominated the mental processes of most me-
teorologists from 1933 to 1945. Belief in its universal ap-
plicability was widespread in the face of evidence to the
contrary. Bergeron himself stated that some tropical rainfall
forms by coalescence of liquid droplets. In the discussions
of Bergeron's paper in Lisbon, Angstrom reported an ob-
servation of rain (not drizzle) from orographic clouds not
reaching the freezing level. Heywood (1940) reported a
rain shower at Hong Kong in which the cloud top, as ob-
served from an airplane, failed to reach the freezing level.
However, the burden of proof had shifted to Bergeron's
critics. As Simpson (1941) wrote in a review presentation,
"My meteorological friends in India are convinced that
rain frequently occurs without the tops of the clouds
reaching the freezing layer, but unfortunately they are un-
able to support this opinion with recorded observations."
While Simpson concluded nevertheless that the Bergeron
process did not necessarily apply to rain in the tropics, not
all meteorologists were as cautious. Kotsch (1947), re-
porting on a weather reconnaissance ffight out of Guam
on a rainy day, apparently in late 1944, recorded his sur-
prise at finding a fairly even cloud top at 1.6 km above
sea level instead of the expected cloud towers rising above
the 0°C isotherm (Fig. 1).
3 THE ADVENT Of WEATHER RADAR 1
3.1 Rain versus No Rain
Following the war, many scientific and technical reports
were declassified or became available from previously
enemy nations, and scientists around the world began to
catch up on key developments in their various fields of
specialization. One such development was microwave ra-
dar, which had made startling advances behind the cloak
of military security. Pioneers quickly recognized that this
new tool could revolutionize atmospheric science. Soon a
number of war-surplus sets were pressed into service and
1Hitschfeld (1986) provides an expanded version of the material in this
section.
operators began the process, which continues to this day,
of amassing weather radar data. Most of the sets used for
weather radar studies were either S-band (radar wave-
length near 10 em) or X-band sets (wavelength near
3 em).
The most elementary research task to be accomplished
was the confirmation of the hypothesis that radar sets could
locate precipitation within clouds without responding to
cloud particles. The theory, as developed by Ryde (1946)
on the basis of the Mie equations on scattering and ab-
sorption of electromagnetic waves, seemed clear enough
(see also Atlas and Ulbrich, Chapter 12.) Virtually all hy-
drometeors function as Rayleigh scatterers at S-band and
most hydrometeors do so at X-band as well. Therefore
their radar backscattering cross sections vary with the sixth
power of their diameters, providing a tremendous bias in
favor of large particles. In a typical situation the smallest
hydrometeor capable of reaching the ground without
evaporating completely is about 0.3 mm in diameter, many
times larger than the typical cloud droplet of 15 to 25 ~m
diameter. The concentrations and sizes of typical raindrop
and cloud droplet populations showed that precipitation
shafts should have radar reflectivity factors many thou-
sands of times greater than those of nonprecipitating
clouds. The calculations and empirical evidence combined
to show that ordinary cloud droplet populations were un-
detectable on all the S-band sets available in 1946 and on
all X-band sets at ranges greater than about 1 km. This
meant that all weather echoes on such sets could be in-
terpreted as precipitation rather than cloud echoes. While
some radar sets of this vintage detected mysterious "angel"
echoes in clear air, most such echoes could be attributed
to birds or swarms of insects.
The possibility of radar echoes from rain not reaching
the ground remained. Could a rain shaft be held up in-
definitely by strong updrafts or evaporate completely be-
tween cloud base and the ground? Empirical data soon
confirmed that in almost every case a new radar echo was
followed by rain at the earth's surface within a few min-
utes. Evidently, updrafts strong enough to support rain-
drops are not steady state or else the raindrops fall to the
side of the updrafts. The concern about evaporation below
cloud base was also found to be exaggerated (in terms of
rain versus no rain: subcloud evaporation is significant in
attempts to measure rainfall rates). Evaporation can wipe
out a significant rain or graupel shower only in arid regions
with very high cloud bases, such as New Mexico. However,
snowflakes fall more slowly than raindrops, and radar
echoes from snow can exist over a given site for several
hours without snow being observed at the ground.
3.2 Morphology of Radar Echoes
Morphology is defined as the study of the form or struc-
ture of objects. It is not surprising that the first radar me-
teorologists were concerned with the morphology of pre-
100 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

( 0)

20
......
LIJ
, ... ''
LIJ 0°C ' '-..:."
0°C
t... ......... ,
I
t... - -,,
0 '\ \,-
,
,,
(/) '
0 'I ,,
I

z --
'I
I \ I
<f
,- -.. /
I
(/) I
:::>
0
:I:
10
I '
I ... -"\
,
,-... --....... I

I- ' \
'
z I
,
'-
---,,,,''
I-
:I:
<!)

w
:I:

SL

(b)

Fig. 1 (a) Expected and (b) actual conditions on a weather reconnaissance flight out of Guam late in World War
II (Kotsch, 1947).

cipitation echoes. Even those who had no means for that precipitation echoes occurring under different mete-
measuring radar reflectivity nor access to the theoretical orological situations appeared very differently on radar
framework for interpreting reflectivity data were aware screens.
 ADVANCES IN PRECIPITATION PHYSICS FOLLOWING THE ADVENT OF WEATHER RADAR
The first distinction drawn was that between the rather
extensive echoes with diffuse boundaries and an enhance-
ment of echo from the 0°C level, which were found to be
characteristic of stratiform precipitation, and the discrete
echoes with sharp edges and no enhancement near the
0°C level, which were observed with precipitation from
convective clouds. The concept of thunderstorm cells had
entered the meteorological literature some years earlier in
connection with studies of lightning activity (e.g., Shipley,
1941), and that fact may explain why the discrete radar
echoes in convective situations were soon named "cells."
Although there was no proof that they corresponded to
the electrical cells previously identified, some researchers
(e.g., Workman and Reynolds, 1949) assumed that the
cells observed on radar screens corresponded to the fun-
damental units of both precipitation formation and elec-
trification in thunderstorms. The concept of convective cells
is explored further in section 5.1 in connection with the
Thunderstorm Project.
The radar cells in turn were classified as being scattered
more or less at random or organized into lines. It was gen-
erally assumed that the former distribution represented
random convection within an unstable air mass and that
the latter was indicative of a front (often a cold front).
Several of the early papers on radar meteorology (e.g.,
Maynard, 1945; Bent, 1946; Jones, 1950; Ligda, 1951) were
largely devoted to such distinctions. Some authors de-
scribed other distinctively shaped echoes, such as spiral
rainbands within hurricanes and hook echoes at the edges
of intense convective cells, which were found by empirical
investigations to be associated sometimes with hail or tor-
nadoes.
3.3 Quantitative Studies
Quantitative weather radar studies progressed rapidly
in the postwar years. As those studies are covered in other
chapters in this volume, their mention here is brief.
Quantitative radar meteorology rests upon the premise,
established very early, that the radar reflectivity, 71, of any
given region of the atmosphere is proportional to the sum
of the backscattering cross sections, u;, of the particles
within it. That is,
(1)
For Rayleigh scatterers of the same type,
1/ ~ 1!1.: ~ D .6 = I K I 2 • z (2)
A4 L.. I A4
I
where IK I 2 is a dielectric factor, Xis the radar wavelength,
and D; denotes the diameter of an individual scatterer. The
sum of the sixth powers of the particle diameters, Z, is
called the radar reflectivity factor.
The radar equation (see Battan, 1959, pp. 24-26) brings
in radar parameters and provides a means for relating mean
101
echo power flux at a radar antenna to the concentration,
size distribution and dielectric properties of the hydro-
meteors at various ranges along the beam. Early attempts
to close the loop by comparing measurements of mean
received power to observed raindrop-size distributions re-
vealed discrepancies (the missing 7 dB), which occupied
the attention of investigators for many years but ultimately
were resolved in a satisfactory manner (Probert-Jones,
1962).
As the backscattering cross section of a Rayleigh scatterer
varies with the sixth power of its diameter, it is apparent
that a given concentration of falling rain provides a much
stronger radar signal if it is in the form of large rather than
small drops. (Admittedly, it also provides a higher rainfall
rate, but the difference is not so pronounced.) Therefore
the finding by Marshall et al. (1947) that raindrop-size
distributions are determined to a considerable extent by
the rainfall rate itself was crucial, as it made possible the
statement of empirical relationships between rainfall rate
and radar reflectivity.
The Marshall-Palmer (1948) formula in its adjusted
form of
(3)
where Z is the radar reflectivity factor in mm 6 m - 3 and R
is rainfall rate in mm h-I, has been quoted around the
world (e.g., Imai, 1960; Borovikov et al., 1970). It is sur-
prising how widely this formula, originally derived for
steady rain in eastern Canada, has been applied to other
geographic areas. In many cases the formula has been ad-
justed for particular seasons or synoptic situations and for
other forms of precipitation.
3.4 Attenuation
Attenuation of radar signals occurs as a result of scat-
tering of energy out of the beam and of absorption of
energy by the hydrometeors. Ryde (1946) used the Mie
equations to calculate attenuation as a function of wave-
length and of precipitation type and rate. Attenuation is
more important in rain than in snow and increases sharply
as one moves to higher frequencies.
Attenuation is not very important for S-band radar sets
but can amount to tens of decibels for X-band sets viewing
distant targets through heavy rain (Ryde, 1946). Atten-
uation is the limiting factor on attempts to exploit fully the
fact that the backscattering cross section of a Rayleigh
scatterer varies inversely with the fourth power of the radar
wavelength. The K-band sets operating at wavelengths of
8 mm to 1.25 em have proven extremely valuable for stud-
ies of very light precipitation and can even detect some
forms of cloud at short ranges (e.g., Plank et al., 1955).
However, the attenuation at K-band is so severe that K-
band sets are not ordinarily used for storm detection pur-
poses.
102 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Atlas and Banks (19S1) showed how attenuation could
affect the appearance of echoes on a PPI (Plan Position
Indicator) scope in addition to causing underestimates of
Z. For example, the apparent center of an intense rain cell
viewed on an X-band radar scope is closer to the radar
than is the actual center. In extreme cases a roughly circular
cell may appear concave on the side away from the radar
set due to loss of signal from the region beyond the intense
core.
Some attempts were made during the 19SOs to develop
algorithms to compensate for the effects of attenuation,
but none led to any significant breakthroughs. Hitschfeld
and Bordan (19S4) showed that corrections for the effects
of attenuation are very sensitive to errors in radar calibra-
tion.
4 BRIGHT BANDS, UPPER BRIGHT
BANDS, AND SNOW GENERATING
CELLS
4.1 Bright Bands and the Melting
of Snowftakes
This paper concentrates upon the appearance of precip-
itation echoes rather than reflectivity measurements.
However, there are situations in which the morphological
and quantitative approaches must be merged in order to
provide a satisfactory outcome. One such situation involves
the bright band, the layer of enhanced radar echo that
occurs in stratiform precipitation near the 0°C level. The
radar reflectivity in the bright band can exceed that in the
dry snow above it by 1S dB or more.
Apparently the bright band was first documented by the
Canadian Army Operational Research Group during World
War II (see Atlas and Ulbrich, Chapter 12). The Canadians
discovered that the bright band was associated with the
melting layer, several hundred meters thick, and centered
a little below the 0°C isotherm. The association of the
bright band with melting snow was confirmed by several
other research groups using aircraft (e.g., Bowen, 19S1).
Hooper and Kippax (19SO) placed the center of the bright
band just over 100m below the 0°C isotherm. Presumably,
their attempts and those of others to relate the bright band
to the 0°C isotherm referred to a 0°C level determined
from radiosondes or from rather crude aircraft measure-
ments. Absorption of heat by melting snow tends to create
an isothermal layer of several hundred meters depth at
0°C, a fact already known to Findeisen (1940) and which
makes it impossible to specify the height of the local 0°C
level with such great precision.
As the value of I K I 2 for water is about five times ( 7
dB) greater than that for ice (0.93 versus 0.19), it is not
surprising that the reflectivity of snowflakes increases as
they melt into raindrops. This difference alone, however,
cannot explain the existence of a bright band.
Ryde (1946) thought that the increase in reflectivity
downward between the -S°C and 0°C levels was prin-
cipally due to snowflake aggregation, that reflectivity in-
creased further just below the 0°C level due to melting,
and that the decrease in reflectivity below that was due to
decreased particle concentrations, which in tum are due
to the greater fall speeds of raindrops ( S m s - 1) as opposed
to snowflakes (1.3 m s- 1).
Byers and Coons (1947) suggested that the bright band
was due to enhanced particle growth in a mixed -cloud
region just above the 0°C level. This conclusion, however,
did not stand up because the enhanced growth would
likely take place above the 0°C level, say at temperatures
of -S°C or so, while the bright band tends to be centered
below the 0°C level (Cunningham, 1947). Austin and Be-
mis (19SO) proposed a fairly complete explanation of the
bright band that assumed no change in precipitation rate
through the melting level. Their calculations showed that
changes in radar reflectivity due to aggregation of ice crys-
tals and the melting of ice, coupled with changes in particle
size concentrations due to changes in fall speed, could ex-
plain most of the observed effects (Fig. 2).
Further calculation showed that aggregation alone could
not explain the increases in reflectivity between -S°C and
the melting level, so attention turned to the effects of water
films on melting snowflakes. Kerker et al. (19S1) calculated
that the backscattering cross section of a water-coated
sphere rapidly approaches that of a water drop of the same
diameter as the thickness of the water film increases. Atlas
et al. (19S3) extended the studies to nonspherical particles
and found even more dramatic effects of water coating.
Both the backscattering and the attenuation cross sections
of water-coated, oriented, nonspherical particles can ex-
ceed those of all water particles of the same mass by factors
of 10 or more. After 19S3 it was generally agreed that
enhanced reflectivity of water-coated ice particles signifi-
cantly contributes to the bright band.
4.2 Upper-Bright Bands and
Snow-Generating Cells
Around 19SO a number of articles appeared that de-
scribed additional quasi-horizontal band structures in radar
echoes from storms. Miles (19S1) observed bands both
above and below the melting layer in storms in Southern
Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), but most researchers (e.g.,
Bowen, 19S1; Wexler, 19S2) spoke only of upper-bright
bands, that is, bands observed above the usual bright band
associated with the melting layer. Attempts to associate
upper bright bands with a specific temperature, as in the
case of the bright band proper, were not successful; the
upper bands were observed at various temperatures, al-
though there was some preference for temperatures of
-12°C and -16°C.
Two types of microphysical explanations were offered
for the upper bright bands. The first invoked changes in
 ADVANCES IN PRECIPITATION PHYSICS FOLLOWING THE ADVENT OF WEATHER RADAR 103

2 3 4 5 10 20

-
....
T
....1
0
Freezin Level
w
> 200
w
....1
(.!)
400
z
N 600
w Effect
w
cr 800
u..
!t 1000

--------- ---
0
....1
w 1200
Ill
w
u 1400
z
<{
1-
(/)
0

Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of the effects of three factors contributing to the bright band (Austin
and Bemis, 1950).

snow crystal habit or enhanced probability of aggregation
at the temperatures in question. The credibility of such
explanations was diminished by the fact that the bands
occurred at different temperatures and in some cases ac-
tually appeared to be descending slowly. The descent of
the upper-bright bands led Bowen (1951) to the second
type of explanation, namely, that they were echoes from
sheets of intensified precipitation, possibly caused by the
encounter of descending ice crystals with layers of super-
cooled water with resultant riming and enhanced radar
reflectivity.
Lhermitte (1952) described upper-bright bands observed
on RHI (Range Height Indicator) radar scopes in France.
He mentioned several possible explanations and in par-
ticular showed that some of the upper bright bands might
simply be echoes from trails of snow falling through a
wind field with vertical shear.
On 2 November 1951 the McGill University Stormy
Weather Group photographed an RHI scope during a
snowstorm in which the wind direction was relatively in-
variant with height and the wind speed increased linearly
with height. The photographs clearly showed snow-gen-
erating cells with horizontal and vertical dimensions of a
few kilometers near the -15 °C level and trails of snow,
which in this case assumed the shape of parabolas, falling
from the cells. Marshall (1953) showed that the parabolic
shape was consistent with particles falling with a constant
speed near 1.3 m s -l once they fell out of the generating
cells and that the slope of the trails some 50 to 100 km
behind the cells was as small as 0.05 (Fig. 3). Additional
studies at McGill and elsewhere showed that snow-gen-
erating cells and the resultant snow trails were observed
in many storms, and the term "upper-bright band" dis-
appeared from the literature.
Several interesting papers in the late 1950s probed fur-
ther into the behaviors of snow trails and snow-generating
cells. Atlas (1955) produced pictures of "stalactites" pro-
truding downward 2 or 3 km from the underside of snow
trails. He attributed their formation to instability brought
on by the cooling associated with sublimation at the un-
derside of the falling snow trails.
Snow generating cells can form in the absence of con-
vective instability, but apparently they cannot appear in
a very stably stratified air mass. Douglas et al. (1957) found
.,
Q
-"
I
t-
J:
42 36 30 24 18 12 6 0
RANGE (miles) at bearing 260 ± 10°
Fig. 3 Calculated shapes of snow trails as viewed on RHI display
of radar scanning in the vertical on azimuth matched to wind shear
vectors in Montreal on 2 November 1951. Snowflakes are assumed
to fall from generating cells near 4.6 km (15 000 ft) with constant
speed of 1.3 m s- 1• Dots show actual range-height information for
points along six individual patterns composited on one trail. (After
Marshall, 1953.)
104 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
that they tend to occur some 0.5 to 1 km above frontal
surfaces rather than in the frontal mixing zone, a result in
agreement with previous reports. Not all radar observations
of snow are characterized by discrete snow-generating
cells. In some cases diffuse and almost uniform precipi-
tation echo is observed, which slowly increases in intensity
downward until the bright band intensification sets in
around -4°C. Boucher (1959) brought some order to the
various observations by showing how the radar echoes
from snowstorms over the northeastern United States var-
ied systematically with respect to position about the storm
center and with the state of cyclonic development.
5 OBSERVATIONS OF PRECIPITATION
IN CONVECTIVE CLOUDS
5.1 The Thunderstorm Project
This section traces the history of the radar observations
of convective precipitation which, taken together with
other observations in the free atmosphere, laboratory ex-
periments, and numerical experiments on computers, rad-
ically changed our views about how precipitation forms
in convective clouds.
In 1945 the rapid growth of commercial aviation raised
concerns about flight safety, including the hazards of flights
in or near thunderstorms. At the same time it was realized
that an ambitious study of thunderstorms combining radar
sets, specially instrumented aircraft, and conventional
meteorological instruments might pay handsome divi-
dends. This led to the Thunderstorm Project, carried out
under the leadership of Prof. Byers of the University of
Chicago (Byers and Braham, 1949). The Thunderstorm
Project was in the field in Florida in 1946 and in Ohio in
1947.
A study of the Florida results during the winter of 1946 j
47led to the conclusion that nearly all of the severe tur-
bulence in the thunderstorms penetrated was associated
with vigorous convective cells as identified on radar. This
finding was one of the motivations for the development
of airborne weather-avoidance radar in the United States
and Canada.
Careful intercomparisons of radar echoes with obser-
vations collected by aircraft and other means in the Thun-
derstorm Project led to the classical description of the three
phases in the lifetime of the typical convective cell. The
first phase, characterized by rising air throughout the cell,
is typically echo-free; the appearance of radar echoes inside
the cell marks the transition to the mature phase. The ma-
ture phase is characterized by a moderate to strong radar
cell, rain and possibly hail falling from cloud base, and
the beginnings of a downdraft, even while the updraft
continues elsewhere within the cell. The collapse of the
updraft marks the end of the mature stage. The dissipating
phase is characterized by weak downdrafts, weakening
radar echoes, and diminishing precipitation.
Of course, the kind of convective cell evolution just de-
scribed differs markedly from that of the large, quasi-
steady-state storms described later by, for example, Cun-
ningham (1960) and Browning and Ludlam (1962). The
review by Donaldson (Chapter 15) provides further dis-
cussion of the history of convective storm research using
radar.
5.2 Observations of Rain Formation
in All-Water Clouds
We have already referred to some observations of rain
from clouds wholly at temperatures above freezing. In ad-
dition we note H. Wexler's (1945) observations of rain
from shallow low clouds associated with a tropical hur-
ricane off Virginia. By 1948 most meteorologists familiar
with the evidence were convinced that rain could form in
the tropics by an all-water process, although not all would
have agreed with the statement of Leopold and Halstead
(1948) that the "majority of tropical convective showers
come from clouds that do not reach into sub-freezing
temperatures." Mordy and Eber (1954) presented conclu-
sive data on rainfall from warm clouds in Hawaii. They
reported rainfall on ten days with no instance of a cloud
top temperature below 7°C.
Meanwhile, several investigators had extended studies
of "warm rain" into the temperate zones using a combi-
nation of aircraft and radar equipment. Typically an air-
borne radar was used to locate showers that did not
appear to extend above the0°C level and then the aircraft
was used to check the cloud top temperature and to probe
the clouds producing the showers. Bowen (1950) and
Smith (1951) reported on cases of moderate to heavy rain
near the coast or over the sea off southeastern Australia
falling from clouds which were everywhere at tempera-
tures above 0°C. Jones (1951) reported a similar occurrence
near London, England. Bowen (1951) reported on some
of the same observations as Smith (1951) and also on some
showers from clouds with summit temperatures just below
0°C in which aircraft probing did not reveal any ice par-
ticles.
5. 3 Further Studies of Showery
Precipitation Using Radar Data
Radar offered the means to pursue the matter further,
not only by locating precipitation shafts within clouds but
by revealing differences in characteristics of the hydro-
meteors. Bowen (1951) noted the almost universal exis-
tence of bright band in echoes from continuous rain and
the lack of bright band in most "columnar" echoes (his
term for echoes from convective cells due to their appear-
ance on RHI scopes). He postulated that the difference
 ADVANCES IN PRECIPITATION PHYSICS FOLLOWING mE ADVENT OF WEAmER RADAR
was indicative of two distinct precipitation processes, the
Bergeron process in the former case and an all-water co-
alescence process in the convective cells, even in those
reaching above the 0°C level.
As previously mentioned, the frequently observed co-
incidence of cloud top glaciation and rainfall at cloud base
was one argument used in support of the Bergeron hy-
pothesis of rain formation. The ability of radar to detect
initial precipitation formation inside a cloud, perhaps sev-
eral minutes before any visual indication of it, made radar
an obvious tool to put such observations on a more precise
basis.
An interesting study by Braham et al. (1951) combined
visual sightings of convective clouds in New Mexico with
radar observations of the same clouds. It was found that
no clouds with tops warmer than -l2°C produced pre-
cipitation echoes, and the probability of an echo reached
50% only when the cloud top rose to about the -25°C
level. These results seemed to confirm the importance of
the Bergeron process and also emphasized the apparent
scarcity of the natural ice nuclei needed to initiate it.
5. 4 Studies of first Echoes
Comparisons of the probability of echo appearance to
cloud top temperature do not exploit fully the information
provided by height-finding radar sets. Obviously, precip-
itation may form at some distance below cloud top, so a
cloud top temperature below 0°C does not guarantee that
the echo formed at temperatures below 0°C. Focusing on
the actual first echoes instead of cloud top temperature
reduces the uncertainties somewhat. Even with this re-
finement, positive differentiation between the Bergeron
process and coalescence by radar observations alone is
possible only when the first echoes occur entirely at tem-
peratures above 0°C and close enough to the radar to make
possible their early detection and reasonably accurate de-
termination of their heights.
First echoes were observed in some cases by scanning
promising cumulus clouds with an RHI set and noting the
height at which the first echoes appeared. In other cases
three-dimensional volume scans were performed and the
resulting records examined for first echoes. Generally the
first method was more precise because of the 3 to 5 min
that typically elapse between successive scans of the same
region with whole-sky recording.
Battan (1953) examined Thunderstorm Project radar
data from Ohio and found that 60% of the first echoes in
his data sample formed at temperatures entirely above
freezing. Although the possibility of recycled ice particles
was considered, Battan concluded that the coalescence
process is of great importance to shower formation over
much of eastern North America during the summer. Plank
et al. (1955) determined on the basis of K-band radar ob-
servations that even in New England an occasional shower
forms without involvement of the ice phase. Feteris and
105
Mason (1956) reported that first-echo observations pointed
to coalescence as the operative precipitation mechanism
in many showers in England also.
First echo studies were soon extended to more conti-
nental climes in the southwestern United States. Clark
(1960) concluded that most summer showers in Texas do
not depend upon the presence of ice, which was not too
surprising because Texas in summer is an outpost of the
tropics. However, Ackerman (1960) used first-echo data
to show that even in the arid lands of Arizona many
showers are initiated through the coalescence process.
5.5 Relationships between Coalescence and
Ice-Phase Processes
The demonstrated fact that rain forms by coalescence
over a wide range of conditions forced the development
of theoretical cloud physics throughout the 1960s. Space
here does not permit a recapitulation of that development,
including the anguish caused by the "Hocking Limit" and
the ingenious ways in which some cloud physicists tried
to get around it by exploring the possible roles of giant
salt nuclei, turbulence, and electrostatic effects.
By the late 1950s many meteorologists had come to view
the Bergeron process and coalescence as competitors, both
potentially active in every cumulus cloud with a top colder
than 0°C. Some progress had been made in distinguishing
clouds producing first echoes by coalescence from those
producing first echoes by an ice process. It was known that
clouds forming in maritime air masses precipitate by co-
alescence more readily than do those forming in conti-
nental air masses, and that high cloud water concentrations
speed the coalescence process. Following up the work by
East (1957) and others, MacCready et al. (1957) developed
nomograms for distinguishing the two types of clouds on
the basis of cloud base temperature, cloud top temperature,
updraft speed, and liquid water concentration. Cloud base
temperature is an important criterion for making the dis-
tinction, as it largely determines the cloud water concen-
tration at any given height above cloud base. The nomo-
grams of MacCready et al. indicated that first echoes in
clouds with base temperature exceeding 5° or 10°C are
usually due to coalescence. Further consideration showed
that coalescence and the Bergeron process could comple-
ment each other, with the formation of large drops by
coalescence speeding cloud glaciation (Braham, 1964).
Earlier, Marshall suggested that snow falling from higher
clouds could seed cumulus to initiate showers, and Dennis
(1954) found some evidence in radar data to support this.
(As an aside, we note that Dennis's attempts to sketch the
three-dimensional relationships among showers and trails
of falling snow helped lead the Stormy Weather Group
into the development of CAPPI (Constant Altitude Plan
Position Indicator) charts, which were first produced by
piecing together rings cut from photographs of a succession
of PPI displays at different elevation angles.) Today it is
106 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
generally recognized that a multitude of interactions occurs
among the hydrometeors inside a single cumulus cloud,
that neighboring convective cells sometimes exchange hy-
drometeors, and that thunderstorm plumes may drift
hundreds of kilometers downwind as "orphan anvils" to
seed other convective clouds (Hitschfeld, 1960). The
complexities of the microphysical processes help explain
why two-dimensional cumulus cloud models with reason-
ably complete microphysics tax even the present day, high-
capacity CRAY computers and why three-dimensional cu-
mulus cloud models tend to have greatly simplified mi-
crophysics.
6 SPECIAL TOPICS
6.1 Attempts to Measure Turbulence
We have already referred to the development of weather
radar to help airliners avoid severe turbulence while flying
through areas of precipitation, especially thunderstorms.
Cloud physicists also were interested in turbulence during
the 1950s because of the possibility that turbulence plays
a role in the initiation of precipitation by promoting co-
alescence of cloud droplets. East and Marshall investigated
this possibility for several years but finally concluded that
the intensity of atmospheric turbulence is about ten times
too low for it to have any significant role in the initiation
of precipitation (e.g., East, 195 7, p. 62).
Two very different approaches to the detection of tur-
bulence were used in the pre-Doppler days. The first, al-
ready mentioned in connection with the Thunderstorm
Project, consisted of attempts to relate turbulence to specific
echo patterns on radar scopes. For example, Jones (1952)
reported at the Third Weather Radar Conference that a
Spitfire test aircraft in England encountered turbulence
near the edges of bright echoes rather than well inside
them.
The other, more sophisticated, approach was based
on the fact that turbulence is one of the factors leading to
statistical independence of the fluctuating echoes from
randomly distributed scatterers. Ingenious attempts tore-
cord the resultant audio-frequency fluctuations of instan-
taneous echo intensity included the R-meter and high
speed photography of radar displays to show the returns
from individual pulses of radiation (see Rogers, Chapter
16 ). The attempts did not lead to any practical method of
measuring turbulence because of the masking effects of
several other factors that contribute to the audio-frequency
fluctuations; those factors include the wind, as it drives
precipitation particles across the spherical surfaces of con-
stant phase, wind shear, and differences in the fall speeds
of the hydrometeors in the scattering volume. Battan (1959,
pp. 144-146) reviews developments in this area during
the 1950s. Attempts to exploit audio-frequency fluctuations
in radar echo intensity detected at conventional (incoher-
ent) radar sets were superseded in the 1960s by the intro-
duction of Doppler radar sets, which extract much more
of the information about particle motions contained in the
signals returned to a radar set.
6.2 Studies in Atmospheric Electricity
We have already referred to Workman and Reynold's
(1949) use of radar sets in their studies of thunderstorm
electrification in New Mexico. After several years of ad-
ditional observations Reynolds and Brook (1956) con-
cluded that precipitation is a necessary but not sufficient
condition for the onset of thunderstorm electrification. Al-
though radar estimates of the temperatures of first echoes
are of some value in studies of possible electrification
mechanisms, these echoes do not provide unequivocal
distinctions among them. The problem of charge separation
remains unsolved.
A very interesting application of weather radar con-
cerned the long known phenomenon of rain gushes as-
sociated with lightning flashes. Some meteorologists
thought that lightning might be the cause of the gushes,
while others argued that lightning was the product of rain
gushes, rather than their cause, and that the flashes ap-
peared to come first only because of the time required for
a rain gush to fall to the ground. By simultaneously ob-
serving radar echoes and electrical activity in a thunder-
storm passing overhead in the Bahamas, Moore et al.
(1962) discovered that, after some lightning flashes, rain
shafts formed in some tens of seconds in cloud volumes
previously devoid of radar echoes. They attributed their
observations to rapid coalescence of liquid droplets fol-
lowing removal of electric charges that had inhibited co-
alescence previously.
Early radar observers of thunderstorms in Canada and
Southern Rhodesia occasionally recorded transient echoes
associated with lightning. Ligda (1956) interpreted the
transients as echoes from lightning channels, which are
highly ionized. He used time-lapse films from 23-cm radar
sets, which show only the most intense precipitation, to
produce astonishing motion pictures of electrical activity
in thunderstorms. His photographic techniques (Fig. 4)
revealed cloud-to-cloud lightning flashes extending along
lines of convective cells over the central United States for
distances exceeding 100 km. Chapter 18 by Williams, Ma-
zur, and Geotis provides a more thorough treatment of
this subject.
6.3 Use of Radar in Weather
Modi&cation Projects
Attempts to modify clouds by seeding ended temporarily
in Europe with the disappearance of Findeisen in 1945,
but they were taken up vigorously in the United States.
One of the most exciting events in cloud physics during
the period covered by this paper was the discovery at the
 ADVANCES IN PRECIPITATION PHYSICS FOLLOWING THE ADVENT OF WEATHER RADAR
Fig. 4 Lightning echo recorded on a 23-cm radar set at Fordland,
Missouri on 11 October 1954. The lightning channels, revealed by
"photographic subtraction" (not retouching) of echoes recorded on
successive scans appear in northwest quadrant of upper picture. (After
Ligda, 1956.)
General Electric Research Laboratory of artificial means of
glaciating supercooled clouds by seeding them with dry
ice or silver iodide (e.g., Schaefer, 1951). That discovery
led to numerous weather modification projects, both op-
erational and experimental.
Scientists have used radar sets in weather modification
projects to identify suitable situations for seeding and as
aids to evaluation. The Cloud Physics Project of the late
1940s used ground-based radar and a small X-band set on
the B-17 seeding aircraft (Coons and Gunn, 1951). The
crews used the radar sets to ensure that cumulus clouds
selected for seeding did not contain precipitation particles
before seeding. After seeding was accomplished, the crews
observed neighboring clouds for natural echoes, which
would indicate that the seeded cloud too might have been
107
on the verge of producing precipitation without interven-
tion.
When supercooled stratiform clouds are seeded, lines of
echo sometimes appear on PPI scopes that correspond to
the seeding tracks. Takeda (1964) published a striking ex-
ample of such an echo from artificial precipitation follow-
ing dry-ice seeding in Japan (see Fig. 4 of the review by
Kodaira and Aoyagi, Chapter 9).
The first randomized cloud seeding experiment that gave
a statistically significant result accepted by most statisticians
involved water spray seeding of cumulus douds over the
Caribbean Sea at rates up to 1 m 3 per kilometer of flight
path (Braham et al., 1957). The response variables used
included the probability of occurrence of a radar echo fol-
lowing treatment and the period that elapsed .b etween
treatment time and the appearance of the echo. It should
be noted that the treatment applied to a test cloud could
be either water spray seeding or no seeding, depending
upon the random decision for that particular cloud. The
average elapsed time to first echo was 11.9 min for the
no-seed cases and 6.4 min for the clouds seeded at the
highest rate.
Radar observations have influenced the design of many
cloud seeding projects. An outstanding example is the or-
ganization of some of the early hail suppression experi-
ments in the Soviet Union around the concept of "accu-
mulation zones," which were identified with radar echoes
observed aloft in convective cells late in their growth phase
(Sulakvelidze et al., 1967) . Because of the success claimed
by Soviet scientists for such projects, this accumulation-
zone concept influenced the design of the National Hail
Research Experiment in the United States and was the
motivation for the Grossversuch IV hail suppression test
in Switzerland.
7 MESOSCALE STUDIES
Radar has had profound impacts on many phases of
meteorology, including aviation forecasting, cloud physics,
and the theory of precipitation formation, but its impact
on mesoscale meteorology may prove to be the most im-
portant. In fact, one can argue that mesoscale meteorology
did not exist prior to the advent of radar.
Despite the careful work by members of the Norwegian
school and others, it was never possible to tie precipitation
patterns to synoptic-scale cyclones and fronts in a com-
pletely satisfactory way. Although precipitation is asso-
ciated in a general way with fronts and cyclones, it is gen-
erally spotty and the patterns vary from one synoptic-scale
system to the next.
Radar proved to be the ideal equipment to observe pre-
cipitation patterns. Early radar work showed the broad,
diffuse echoes associated with warm fronts and the dis-
crete, intense cells that accompany some cold fronts. It
also showed amazing variations: some intense thunder-
storms near warm fronts, bands of convective cells in the
108 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
warm sectors of frontal cyclones, and fronts with no pre-
cipitation at all. Above all, it emphasized that precipitation
is organized into systems too small to be resolved on con-
ventional weather observing networks but too large to be
seen in their entirety by a single observer.
Ligda (1951) may have been the first to use the term
mesoscale to describe precipitation patterns. His technique
of combining observations from several radar sets to de-
lineate mesoscale features, especially squall lines, subse-
quently produced striking views of many storms in the
central United States. Those early radar views of precipi-
tation cells and bands within frontal cyclones were useful
in attempts to deduce what might be observed from space
platforms. When satellite cloud photographs became
available in 1960, it was gratifying to see how well the
midlatitude cloud systems conformed to expectations based
on the frontal theory of cyclones and composite radar scope
displays. Of course, there were some surprises too, in-
cluding clear areas penetrating almost to the centers of
some intense cyclones.
Despite the use of quite sophisticated statistical ap-
proaches (e.g., Kessler and Russo, 1963), attempts to make
short-range forecasts by extrapolation of radar echo mo-
tions have had only limited success, largely because of the
rapid evolution of precipitation patterns. Some meteorol-
ogists now believe that the next major advance in short-
range weather forecasting will involve the use of mesoscale
or regional numerical models to predict the development,
movement, and dissipation of precipitation areas within
the larger low-pressure areas. Radar data would be very
valuable input for such models and, as such, might have
more value than they do as a starting point for simple
extrapolation exercises based on intensity trends and ob-
served cell tracks.
8 CONCLUDING REMARKS
Since this paper is limited to events up to about 1960,
it can hardly point the way to a future involving Doppler
radar sets and computerized data processing. Preoccupa-
tion with advanced systems and techniques, however,
should not blind us to the strides made during the 1940s
and 1950s by researchers using conventional radar. The
work of Battan, Bowen, and other pioneers in radar me-
teorology changed the whole field of cloud physics, solving
some old puzzles but opening enough new ones to keep
their successors busy for decades.
Acknowledgments. The lead author made extensive use of
the library of the National Center for Atmospheric Re-
search in the preparation of this paper. He also acknowl-
edges the services of Dr. Sidonie Safonov of the Bureau
of Reclamation in translating articles from German.
 109

Chapter 14

Polarization Diversity in Radar Meteorology:

Early Developments
Thomas A. Seliga, Communications and Space Sciences Laboratory,
The Pennsylvania State University .
Robert G. Humphries,* Resource Technologzes Department,
Alberta Research Council
James I. Metcalf, Air Force Geophysics Laboratory

1 INTRODUCTION the early stages of research, but little attention, compared

to other radar opportunities, was given to the phenomenon
Polarization is a fundamental descriptor of electromag-
through the 1960s, except at select organizations and often
netic waves and, as such, has received the attention of for short periods of time. Many of the ideas that have
scientists for over three centuries, beginning with the dis- proven useful today for precipitation characterization were
covery of double refraction in crystals by Bartolinus and considered during this period, although a number of very
the discovery of polarized light by Huygens in the sev-
important insights reside outside the peer-reviewed liter-
enteenth century. Dramatic advances in the understanding ature. This chapter focuses on these contributions and ex-
of optics and electricity occurred thereafter, particularly amines several important cases. The complete story may
throughout the nineteenth century, culminating in Max- never be known, but the roles of the state of technology,
well's classic formulation of the electromagnetic theory, institutional priorities, individual interests, and the avail-
Hertz' extensive experiments on radiation fields, and Lord
ability of resources, among other factors, clearly were im-
Rayleigh's investigations in electromagnetic scatteri~g. portant in the development of the field.
These laid the groundwork for the development of radio,
radar, and all that was to come in telecommunications
during the twentieth century. 2 CONCEPTS OF WAVE
The importance of polarimetry in radar was immediately POLARIZATION
evident with the first use of pulse methods to probe the
The general form of an electromagnetic wave can be
ionosphere by Breit and Tuve (1926). These experiments
described as an elliptically polarized wave where the E-
not only were the forerunner of the major radar devel-
field rotates at a rate w in either a clockwise or counter-
opments that began prior to World War II, but also led to
clockwise direction (Beckmann, 1968). This may be ex-
important breakthroughs in plasma physics by stimulating
pressed mathematically in a number of ways, and given
the development of the theory needed to explain the dou-
in terms of two linear components or two circular com-
bly refracting nature of the ionosphere. Thus, radar po-
ponents, or any two orthogonal components. In ~eneral
larimetry was an essential component of the very first ra-
three independent parameters are needed to descnbe the
dars.
state of polarization of a monochromatic vector wave field.
As radar evolved during the war, atmospheric effects
For example, the amplitudes E1 , E2 and the relative phase
were recognized as fundamentally important, since de-
between these two orthogonal linear component waves,
partures from free space propagation and interference from
or the amplitudes Er and E1 and the relative phase between
precipitation were often observed (Ridenour, 1947). The
these two counterrotating circularly polarized waves, can
latter effects led to the use of radar for observing and
be used for this purpose. .
tracking storms, followed by an extended history of re-
Poincare (1892) introduced a spherical visualization of
search and deployment of operational radars throughout
the different states of polarization where the equator rep-
the world. Circular polarization was found to be particu-
resents linear polarization, the North Pole corresponds to
larly relevant to the radar clutter problem of detecting tar-
right-hand circular polarization and the South Pole to left-
gets in the presence of rainfall as illustrated by White
hand circular polarization. The Stokes (1852) parameters
(1954). The significance of polarization was evident from
are simply the Cartesian coordinates of the points on the
sphere or, alternatively, of the parameters of the polariza-
• Present affiliation: MacDonald Dettwiler, Richmond, British Columbia, tion ellipse. The Stokes parameters are readily related to
Canada. observable quantities, expressed as a combination of either
110 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
linearly or circularly polarized components. Another im-
portant representation is the coherency matrix, J, which
describes a set of four intensities that are directly related
to the Stokes parameters. Unpolarized, fully polarized
monochromatic, and the superposition of waves may all
be described by this matrix.
In addition to the polarimetric description of waves, the
relationship between the incident wave and response of
the target to the electromagnetic excitation must be de-
scribed. This is usually done through the scattering matrix
representation, which relates the scattered wave fields to
the incident wave fields (Sinclair, 1950). This transfor-
mation is a fundamental descriptor of the scattering process
in that it completely defines the polarimetric properties of
a radar target. Although the literature is replete with major
works on electromagnetic scattering, the contribution of
van de Hulst (1957) clearly stands out as having greatly
influenced the development of radar meteorology, includ-
ing polarimetry. This monograph presents a thorough re-
view of basic theory, including concepts of scattering,
absorption, wave propagation in vacuum and in particle-
filled media, polarized light, and an examination of par-
ticles of various forms.
Giuli (1986) gave an excellent, comprehensive review
of the role of dual polarization in radar. He traced the
major developments and cited the contributions that have
made polarization an important feature in radar. In ad-
dition, Boerner et al. (1981) developed a substantial and
valuable bibliography on polarimetry; it contains signifi-
cant monograph works as well as many citations of indi-
vidual contributions and references to unpublished work.
More specific to the subject of this chapter is a report by
Metcalf et al. (1977), which reviewed polarization radar
and lidar technology in meteorology research.
3 EARLY ACTIVITIES IN
POLARIZATION RESEARCH
IN THE UNITED STATES
In the United States, radar polarimetry followed the path
of theory, equipment, and observations and applications,
but with two different approaches. One was directed to-
ward the use of circular polarization and the other toward
the use of linear polarization.
Atlas (1951) gave a qualitative description of Gans's
theory of scattering from ellipsoidal bodies and from this
derived the dependence of scattering intensity with the
axial ratio of randomly oriented, oblate and prolate water
and ice spheroids at 1.25, 3.2 and 10-cm wavelengths.
These results illustrated that there could be a very strong
dependence on shape of the scattering intensity and that
the amount of depolarization was less for low density snow
and ice particles than for oblate water drops. Interestingly,
Atlas' plots of the variation of the copolar scattered inten-
sity from horizontally oriented oblate particles. contained
the concepts envisioned by Seliga and Bringi (1976) with
differential reflectivity, given that the axial ratio of hydro-
meteors are size dependent according to the results of
Pruppacher and Pitter (1971; preceded by earlier works
on drop shapes by Spilhaus, 1948; Jones and Dean, 1953;
Magono, 1954; Jones, 1959). Atlas's major conclusions,
aside from the intrinsic information in the computations
of scattering from various types of hydrometeors, were
that the scattering dependence of shape and alignment of
hydrometeors, including sensitivity to polarization, should
have important ramifications for the interpretation of the
bright band.
Atlas et al. (1953) and Stevenson (1953), the latter of
whom extended Gans's theory to larger size scatterers,
used scattering computations to demonstrate the utility of
circular depolarization ratio (CDR) and linear depolariza-
tion ratio (LOR) radars for investigating microphysical
shape effects; these greatly influenced the design of the
polarization diversity radars developed by the National
Research Council of Canada in the late 1960s. Additional
understanding of the polarimetric properties of hydro-
meteors resulted from experimental backscattering studies
of ice models by Harper (1962) in the United Kingdom,
Atlas and Wexler (1963) in the United States, and from
the theoretical and computational efforts of Oguchi (1960,
1964, 1966) in Japan, whose work focused on problems
related to the propagation of radio waves through storms.
The latter subject has had an enormous influence on radar
polarimetry, and comprehensive references to this large
body of knowledge may be found in reviews by Hogg and
Chu (1975) and Oguchi (1984).
Concurrent with the work directed specifically to me-
teorology, very important studies were carried out at The
Ohio State University (OSU) by Prof. Edward Kennaugh
on contract to the Air Force between 1949 and 1957. The
reports of this work were compiled in a set of commem-
orative volumes by Moffatt and Garbacz (1984). These
reports focused on the polarization characteristics of var-
ious targets, including rain, and were motivated in part by
the need to understand the effects of rainfall on target
detection. Kennaugh's studies were both theoretical and
experimental, and examined a number of fundamental
polarization concepts related to radar. Examples of these
are the use of the target scattering matrix and polarization
sphere; generalized echo area; optimum polarization; po-
larization diversity; and polarization properties of rainfall.
Now that Kennaugh's work has been more widely pub-
licized, it is certain to impact greatly the future develop-
ment of polarimetry in radar meteorology.
Among the early meteorological observations using po-
larization techniques were those carried out at the Mas-
sachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Newell et al.
(1955, 1957) proposed using the scattering properties of
ellipsoidal hydrometeors and their response to circularly
polarized waves to determine a measure of the "round-
ness" of the scatterers. Since their antenna was unable to
 POLARIZATION DIVERSITY IN RADAR METEOROLOGY: EARLY DEVELOPMENTS
receive both circular components simultaneously, they
chose to utilize the ratio of the respective powers received
in the channel of transmission due to transmitted waves
of linear and circular polarization. They called this "can-
cellation" and noted that this ratio may be sensitive to
particle orientation. Their radar system exhibited a can-
cellation limit of -19 dB operated at 3 em with a 2 deg
beamwidth and 40 kW peak power. Their results were
represented in histograms deduced from 1347 observations
showing cancellation responses in snow, the melting layer,
and rain, as well as histograms for summer showers that
show the great difference between the melting layer and
rain. They interpreted the cancellation measurements in
terms of the axial ratios of equivalent ellipsoids, assuming
these ellipsoids are randomly oriented, of the same phase
state, and with the same axial ratios. Similar measurements
of the melting layer were made later with circular polar-
ization techniques in Canada (see section 5) and with dif-
ferential reflectivity (Hall et al., 1980; Bringi et al.,
1986a,b). Newell et al. (1955) also noted that the maxi-
mum reflectivity in the melting layer occurred at a height
varying from 0 to 150m above the height of the maximum
in the cancellation. In addition to shape effects, they con-
cluded that "partial preferred orientation sometimes occurs
in the melting layer, but random orientation is the pre-
vailing circumstance, certainly in rain, in which case our
cancellation ratios are uniquely dependent on shape."
These results were derived from measurements made in
the winter using both horizontal and vertical polarizations
and comparing the two returns as is done for differential
reflectivity measurements. They also compared cancella-
tion ratios and reflectivity levels (Z ) and concluded there
was no dependence of cancellation ratio on reflectivity as
might be expected from a consideration of drop shape and
rainfall intensity. They were unable to conclude anything
experimentally regarding hail, but did state that they an-
ticipated" extreme cancellation ratios." Recent observations
of differential reflectivity (Bringi and Hendry, Chapter 19a)
and aircraft observations of raindrop shapes and orien-
tation (Bringi et al., 1984) do not support Newell et al.'s
conclusion that raindrops are randomly oriented, although
Newell et al.'s relative linear polarization data on copolar
returns in different regions of the cloud are comparable to
differential reflectivity data now regularly measured with
polarization radars.
Both the reports by Newell et al. and an earlier report
by Atlas and Donaldson (1955) at the Air Force Cambridge
Research Center (AFCRC) reflect a basic awareness of
physical phenomena that are central to modem polariza-
tion diversity measurements; namely, the oblateness of
raindrops and the irregular nonspherical shape of hail-
stones. The understanding at that time was that large,
nonspherical hailstones would have a preferred orienta-
tion, with their larger dimensions horizontal, so that they
would be indistinguishable from rain in measurements of
the cancellation ratio, the circular depolarization ratio, or
111
the linear polarization differential reflectivity. Although
the measurements of raindrop shape by Magono (1954)
were cited by Newell et al. (1955, 1957) the relationship
of size and shape appears not to have been fully appre-
ciated by radar meteorologists (Barge, 1972; Seliga and
Bringi, 1976) until it was measured with more precision
by Pruppacher and Pitter (1971).
Bridges (1964) presented a survey of five radar remote
sensing techniques to measure the particle drop-size dis-
tribution of water clouds and rain. Of particular interest
is the technique of sidescattering in the Rayleigh and Mie
regions. This bistatic approach has not received much at-
tention in meteorology but is used in other fields, especially
with the advent of laser techniques in the laboratory. For
example, Kerker (1969) gave an extensive review of the
theory and application of electromagnetic wave scattering
for the determination of particle size distributions, focusing
on problems of physical chemistry and including polar-
ization principles. Bridges suggested that "for distributions
having drops with about the same diameter, the diameter
could be estimated by measuring the ratio of the vertically
polarized component to the horizontally polarized com-
ponent." He also suggested that the copolar ratio be com-
bined with the sidescattered power at either polarization
to deduce constants of two-parameter drop-size distribu-
tions, similar to the differential reflectivity backscatter
concept of Seliga and Bringi (1976 ). The second technique
of interest is based on polarization effects in the Rayleigh
region. In this case Bridges suggested that the cancellation
and reflectivity could be combined as the basis from which
the two-point drop-size distribution of heavy rain could
be determined. The larger diameter drops depart more from
spherical conditions, and rain containing proportionally
more of the larger drops can be identified by a measure-
ment of greater cancellation ratios. Bridges believed that
the results of Newell et al. (1957), discussed previously,
indicated that this method might be feasible.
Atlas (1966) was issued a patent based on circular po-
larization principles for use in aircraft guidance in storms.
This patent relied on transmitting right circular polarization
and receiving alternately right and left circularly polarized
waves. The measure of cancellation would then be used
to aid in the detection and characterization of rain and ice
hydrometeors. An attempt to implement this concept on
the CPS-9 radar at AFCRC was inconclusive. Along with
the measurements at MIT and others from that period, this
effort suffered from deficiencies of available equipment.
Dual-port antennas were not generally available for me-
teorological research, the polarization purity of antennas
was not high, fast switching of transmitted polarizations
was unrealized, and receiving systems did not permit real-
time sampling and display of multiple parameters mea-
sured at multiple range gates.
Thus, in the late 1950s, there was little impetus in the
United States for further meteorological research with po-
larization diversity radar techniques, despite the continuing
112 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
interests in hail detection and quantitative precipitation
measurement. Radar meteorological research in the United
States emphasized quantitative reflectivity measurements,
interpretation of the structure of precipitation systems, the
estimation of rainfall rate from reflectivity measurements,
and, especially in the 1960s, the development of Doppler
techniques.
Two other factors most likely also contributed to the
lack of a strong interest in radar polarimetry in the United
States during the 1960s. The advent of Sputnik in 1957
and the development and deployment of weather-observ-
ing satellite systems shortly thereafter caused a revolution
in the atmospheric sciences. The first photographs of global
weather systems provided new insights and posed new
challenges to meteorologists, drawing much attention away
from reliance on traditional observational systems includ-
ing the developing radar meteorological remote sensing
platforms. A second factor was the withdrawal of support
for related research in the universities in the early 1960s
by agencies of the Department of Defense. Established
meteorological radar programs at MIT, McGill University,
and the Illinois State Water Survey, as well as many other
scientific and engineering research fields, lost base support.
Not until the late 1960s and early 1970s did the National
Science Foundation (NSF), through its Meteorology Re-
search Program and the National Center for Atmospheric
Research, begin to make up for the loss of national support
in radar meteorology at the universities.
In the United States, only Louis Battan at the University
of Arizona continued to investigate the polarization de-
pendence of meteorological backscatter through the 1960s
( Battan and Theiss, 1970). These measurements were lim-
ited to vertical incidence and included absolute reflectivity,
linear depolarization ratio, and the Doppler spectrum of
either of the received signals, but not both simultaneously.
Battan continued this work into the 1970s. In the early
1970s, research on cloud physics and storm electrification
by Marx Brook at New Mexico Institute of Mining and
Technology led to the first simultaneous coherent reception
of horizontally and vertically polarized signals. Signal
spectra, spectral power ratios, and complex cross spectra
computed from measurements made in 1975 were pre-
sented in several conferences but have never been formally
published because of ambiguities in their physical inter-
pretation. This effort was prematurely terminated when
the radar at New Mexico Tech was struck by lightning;
this radar has recently been restored to operational con-
dition, with improved capability.
4 EARLY SOVIET ACTIVITIES IN
POLARIZATION RESEARCH
Soviet scientists were among the first to apply polariza-
tion radar techniques to meteorology. The majority of this
work occurred in the 1950s and 1960s with the last radar
conference paper appearing in 1975 in the Preprints of
the 16th Radar Meteorology Conference, Houston, Texas
(American Meteorological Society) . The history of polar-
ization research followed the path of theory to set the
framework, equipment developments, observations of
douds and precipitation, and then other specific applica-
tions such as weather modification.
Shupiatskii (1959) reported on calculations of polariza-
tion parameters resulting from radar scattering by non-
spherical particles. The calculations are based on Cans's
theory applied to ice and water ellipsoids. The results re-
ported are similar to those of Atlas et al. (1953). Another
theoretical study by Gershenzon and Shupiatskii (1961)
looked at scattering of elliptically polarized waves from
nonspherical atmospheric particles. This appears to be the
earliest mention in the Soviet literature on how to deter-
mine the phase state in a cloud. The work of Shupiatskii
( 1959) is the starting point in determining the cancellation
ratio versus the shape factor; and he argued that since
heavy rain is composed of deformed wet particles and hail
is dry, hail should depolarize less.
These papers provided the framework for the interpre-
tation of observational data. Shupiatskii and Morgunov
(1963) described a polarization radar system consisting of
two antennas and a single receiver. The use of a single
receiver eliminated calibration problems and the difficulties
of matching receivers. Observations of precipitation re-
vealed that wet snow depolarized more than dry snow or
rain and that the radar bright band depolarized more than
rain or snow. They noted that the antenna became a lim-
iting factor in some of the measurements. It would appear
that the integrated cancellation ratio was of the order of
-20 to -25 dB. Minervin and Shupiatskii (1963) also re-
ported that for nonconvective douds the depolarization
was greater when ice or snow was present than when only
rain was present.
In North America, one of the driving forces behind re-
search in radar polarimetry was weather modification. This
was also the case in the 1960s for Soviet scientists. Mor-
gunov and Shupiatskii (1964) reported on the use of po-
larization techniques to evaluate cloud seeding experiments
that were carried out during August 1961. Observations
at 5 km height, prior to seeding, revealed depolarizations
of -17 to -19 dB which were interpreted as scattering
from liquid drops. After seeding, at 3 km height the values
were -9 to -10 dB and at 5 km height they were -8 to
-12 dB. The larger depolarizations were interpreted to be
the result of ice crystals formed by the seeding agents. In
other words, the radar was able to observe a phase change
as a result of cloud seeding.
This small sampling of Soviet research is representative
of the type of early radar polarimetry work carried out in
the 1960s. The pattern of development is similar to that
elsewhere, and, although equipment limitations are evi-
dent, these efforts helped to encourage others to pursue
the development and application of radar polarimetry
techniques to meteorology.
 POLARIZATION DIVERSITY IN RADAR METEOROLOGY: EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 113
5 EARLY CANADIAN ACTIVITIES IN
POLARIZATION RESEARCH
In Canada, the major advances in radar polarimetry fol-
lowed two parallel paths based on technology developed
at the National Research Council (NRC). Related funda-
mental work was done earlier by Kerker and Hitschfeld
(1950) and Atlas et al. (1953). Initial work at NRC started
in the late 1950s and early 1960s when the Radio and
Electrical Engineering Division was involved in precipi-
tation clutter suppression techniques for military radars
and evaluation of the performance of a circularly polarized
military radar during precipitation. In 1956 the Alberta
Research Council (ARC) began a collaboration with NRC
in Ottawa and McGill University in Montreal to study
hailstorms in Alberta (Hitschfeld, 1971). The NRC in-
stalled a 3.2-cm Decca DC-19 radar in Penhold, Alberta
in 1957 and replaced it with a 10-cm FPS-502 in 1963.
Meanwhile, NRC was studying the characteristics of pre-
cipitation as a signal propagation medium. These studies
led to the development of a polarization diversity 1.8-cm
radar (McCormick, 1964; Hendry and McCormick, 1968;
McCormick and Hendry, 1979), which was first operated
in 1968. This development was spurred on by the recog-
nition that investigations into clutter suppression and pre-
cipitation measurements using polarization techniques had
been limited by the poor polarization quality of the an-
tennas used (e.g., see Shupiatskii and Morgunov, 1963).
Meanwhile, NRC was designing a dual polarization an-
tenna for the FPS-502, using a feed hom that was scaled
from the 1.8-cm feed hom. This antenna was installed in
Alberta in the spring of 1967 (Allan et al., 1967); its goal
was to detect hail in convective storms by means of the
circular depolarization ratio and the cross-correlation of
simultaneously received signals of right and left circular
polarization (McCormick, 1968). The research efforts at
both NRC and ARC were influenced by research in the
Soviet Union, where polarization diversity radar mea-
surements had been conducted in conjunction with
weather modification programs as noted earlier (e.g., Ger-
shenzon and Shupiatskii, 1961; Minervin and Shupiatskii,
1963).
Canadian measurements of the circular depolarization
ratio initially yielded ambiguous results, but within five or
six years it became evident that the cross-correlation was
a good discriminant of hail, because of the tendency of
hailstones to be randomly oriented, contrary to the pre-
vailing opinion in the 1950s. Progress continued to be
hampered by limited capability for real-time display of the
measured quantities; real-time display of the cross-corre-
lation was implemented in 1972 (Hendry and Allan, 1973).
The lack of early unambiguous results from either of the
Canadian radars contributed to the resistance encountered
by the 1975 proposal from Dr. T. A. Seliga at the Ohio
State University to investigate the differential reflectivity
technique.
From 1970 onward, results of measurements by ARC
and NRC were presented in almost every conference on
radar meteorology. The theory of dual circularly polarized
measurements of precipitation developed by Dr. Glendon
McCormick (1968) was incorporated into the doctoral the-
ses of Dr. Brian Barge (1972) and Dr. Robert Humphries
(1974) and ultimately published formally (McCormick and
Hendry, 1975). Early results of measurements of the
shapes and orientations of hydrometeors were published
by McCormick et al. (1972), Hendry et al. (1976), and
elsewhere in the literature of meteorology and electrical
engineering.
By the mid-1970s, as a result of the studies at Ottawa
and Alberta, it was concluded that rain tended to fall with
its symmetry axis vertical and that the degree of correlation
between the main and orthogonal components was higher
for rain than for hail. Furthermore, it was thought that the
circular depolarization ratio could help distinguish rain
from hail, but propagation effects could not be ignored. A
combination of the circular depolarization ratio, the radar
reflectivity factor, and the cross-correlation was shown to
be sensitive to the precipitation type and hence useful for
the identification of the hydrometeors present.
The remarkable achievements in Canada resulted from
the fortuitous combination there of all the elements nec-
essary for productive scientific research: a firm purpose,
competent people, good ideas, adequate financial re-
sources, and strong technical support. According to
McCormick, the antenna developments at NRC would
have been impossible without "a good and patient machine
shop."
6 OTHER EARLY CONTRIBUTIONS TO
RADAR POLARIMETRY
Browne and Robinson (1952) most likely reported the
first cross-polarization measurements of scattering from
hydrometeors, focusing on the response in the melting
layer with a vertically pointing radar. Hunter (1954), also
at the Telecommunications Research Establishment (now
Royal Signals and Radar Establishment) in England, re-
ported on a 3.2-cm, obliquely pointing radar capable of
receiving dual, circularly polarized signals. He reported
orthogonal circular polarization measurements of various
types of precipitation, including rainfall rates of various
intensities, the melting band and fine snow. The results
agreed fairly well with what was expected from theoretical
considerations. More detailed information on these and
other measurements at 8.6 mm were given later by Gent
et al. (1963 ). (See Probert-Jones, Chapter 7, for a discussion
of the early work in England.)
A decade later Hodson and Peter (1964) reported on
observations made in South Africa. Their measurements
supported the assumption that raindrops fall as oblate
spheroids. They also observed that the cancellation from
hail was greater than from rain; they presumed this was
due to the different dielectric properties of hail, given a
 114 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
similar shape. They further interpreted their cancellation
measurements in terms of equivalent drop size by relating
cancellation measurements to theoretical predictions based
on the drop ellipticities of Best (1947). Measurements using
Laws and Parsons's (1943) drop-size distributions pre-
dicted larger than expected rainfall rates. Hodson and Peter
were clearly on the right track toward the discovery of
how to use dual polarization measurements for recovering
better estimates of rainfall characteristics.
7 BEGINNINGS OF THE MODERN ERA
IN THE UNITED STATES
The modem era of meteorological research with polar-
ization diversity radars in the United States can be traced
to research conducted at The Ohio State University (OSU)
beginning in 1973. The origin of this research constitutes
an interesting interdisciplinary story. It was led by Dr.
Thomas A. Seliga, who had joined the OSU faculty in
1969 as part of a recruitment effort to strengthen the Uni-
versity's research programs in the atmospheric sciences.
His professional background was primarily in the propa-
gation and scattering of radio waves in the ionosphere. As
a graduate student and faculty member at The Pennsyl-
vania State University, working in the Ionosphere Research
Laboratory, he became knowledgeable about a technique
of determining electron densities and collision frequencies
in the D region from measurements of the small differential
amplitude and differential phase of backscattered radio
signals as the ionosphere is intermittently perturbed by a
second radio transmitter. He was thus very familiar with
polarization phenomena and with differential measure-
ment techniques. While at the National Science Foundation
in 1967-68 as Program Director for Aeronomy, Seliga was
introduced to radar meteorology and became aware of the
multiparameter problem of radar rainfall estimation.
The coincidence in 1972 of a lack of funding for contin-
uation of Seliga's research in radio propagation in ionized
media and the establishment at OSU of an interdisciplinary
Atmospheric Sciences Program fortuitously provided the
basis for Seliga to enter the field of radar meteorology and
attack the long-standing problem of rainfall estimation.
With V.N. Bringi, who entered OSU as a graduate student
in 1972, Seliga considered the shapes of raindrops and
hypothesized that it should be possible to measure the
differential reflectivity of raindrops even if the distortion
of the drops were small (Pruppacher and Pitter, 1971).
Research results emerging from Canada tended to support
this concept, as they showed that raindrops had a high
degree of common orientation. The ensuing research, sup-
ported by OSU internal funds and by Bringi's University
Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) fellow-
ship, showed both the physical significance of the differ-
ential reflectivity and the feasibility of measuring it (Seliga
and Bringi, 1976). A key element of the theory was the
use of radar measurements to determine both the coeffi-
cient and the exponent of a drop-size distribution. Within
a few years, proof of concept measurements were reported
both in the United States by Seliga et al. (1979) and in
England by Hall et al. (1980).
Other efforts in polarization diversity radar research in
the United States during the 1970s and early 1980s, such
as the work of Seliga and Bringi (1978), Metcalf and Echard
(1978), and Pasqualucci et al. (1983), were closely tied to
theoretical and experimental developments in Canada.
These are described further in Chapters 19a and 19b.
8 CONCLUSIONS
The authors recognize many other contributions to radar
polarimetry from other countries and scientists, but this
history is intended to focus on the early developments.
Early progress in this field was limited both by capabilities
of available equipment and by uncertainties in interpre-
tation. More important, perhaps, was the fact that ad-
vances in polarimetry were overshadowed by other ad-
vances in radar meteorology, including the systematic
integration of radar technology (power measurements) into
studies of clouds and weather systems, and the introduc-
tion in the 1960s of Doppler measurements, which im-
mediately began yielding new insights into storm dynam-
ics. These measurements, however, were incomplete and
did not adequately answer several of the most important
questions, including whether accurate rainfall estimation
and reliable hydrometeor phase discrimination are possi-
ble. Polarimetry, supplemented by advances in supporting
technology, now appears to have produced major progress
toward these ends, as suggested by the reviews of current
developments by Bringi and Hendry (Chapter 19a), Met-
calf (Chapter 19b) and Jameson and Johnson (Chapter
23a). Future prospects for research in the area are excellent,
particularly if the many possible applications to be im-
pacted by polarimetric radar measurements are considered;
e.g., see Seliga (1980), Seliga et al. (1982), Hall (1984),
Hendry and Antar (1984), and Leitao and Watson (1984).
Fields potentially benefiting include hydrology, cloud
physics, climatology, weather modification, communica-
tions, agriculture, and weather nowcasting.
Acknowledgments. The authors are grateful for support
provided by their respective institutions during the prep-
aration of this paper. At Penn State, support was provided
partially by the U.S. Army Research Office under Contract
DAAL 03-87-K0031, and by the University of Florence in
a cooperative agreement with The Pennsylvania State
University.

Chapter 15
Foundations of Severe Storm Detection by Radar
Ralph f. Donaldson, ST Systems Corporation
1 INTRODUCTION
Radar meteorology was initiated by an imaginative re-
versal of perspective. During World War II, radar proved
to be a great help to the Allied cause, perhaps most spec-
tacularly in the Battle of Britain. Radar operators soon rec-
ognized, however, that detection of aircraft and other mil-
itary targets might be compromised by a phenomenon
somewhat disparagingly called "weather clutter." Fortu-
nately, an elite corps of meteorologists had the vision to
realize that the nuisance of weather clutter could, with
research, provide a powerful new observational tool for
meteorology. The author's initial point of contact with this
group of pioneers was (then) Major Joseph Fletcher.
Commander R.H. Maynard (1945) of the U.5. Navy was
the first author to introduce the opportunities of radar to
the general meteorological community. He showed scope
pictures of echoes from thunderstorms, cold-frontal
showers, and typhoons taken during 1944 and 1945. More
importantly, he made a statement, appropriate now as well
as then, in support of research in radar meteorology: "The
phenomenon of radar echoes due to weather immediately
suggests practical applications of radar in connection with
storm detection and consequent improvements in short
range weather forecasting. . . . However, it should be
emphasized that the physical processes involved in me-
teorological radar echoes are not completely understood
at the present time."
This historical survey of severe thunderstorm identifi-
cation highlights some of the early key events that laid the
foundation for significant advances. A review of the current
status of this specialty is presented in Chapter 30a by Bur-
gess and Lemon. Comprehensive reviews of earlier prog-
ress in severe storm detection were prepared by Atlas
(1963) and Donaldson (1965) for conventional radars and
by Lemon et al. (1977) for single Doppler radars.
The exposition presented here has been limited to a few
leading events. The author acknowledges that subjectivity
could bias these selections, and recognizes the many ex-
cellent contributions to techniques of severe storm iden-
tification that will not be cited specifically in this chapter.
l STORM STRUCTURE
At the end of World War II, the greater availability of
radar for meteorological application clearly provided an
outstanding opportunity to improve warnings of the haz-
115
ards of severe thunderstorms. Knowledge must be acquired
before it can be applied, however, and this truism must
have motivated Byers and Braham (1949) and their col-
leagues as they organized and accomplished, with great
success, the Thunderstorm Project of 1946 in Florida and
of 1947 in Ohio. The scope of their observations and the
lasting significance of their findings are truly impressive.
Their discovery of the three stages (developing, mature,
and dissipating) in the life cycle of a simple convective
cell, classified according to the structure of vertical currents,
is now familiar to the meteorological community. They
also discovered that this simple picture is frequently com-
plicated by new cells growing up alongside the old ones.
Lou Battan (1953), who was responsible for analysis of
radar data of the project, reported that the duration of
echoes in the simple cells averaged only 23 minutes, but
a few of the larger echoes lasted more than 50 minutes,
and he concluded that these were multicellular units that
could not be resolved by the existing radar equipment.
Byers and Battan (1949), in a study of the effects of
vertical wind shear, vividly illustrated a case where a new,
vigorous cell grew just upshear of an older cell, and the
project report states that this structural relationship fre-
quently occurred. This is probably the initial study by radar
of a multicell storm. Another fascinating suggestion was
offered by the authors of the Thunderstorm Project report
during their discussion of squall lines. They directed our
attention to perturbations in the surface line of disconti-
nuity, called "micro-waves" by Dansy Williams (1948),
associated with a surrounding area of low pressure named
"micro-low," and suggested that micro-lows may supply
the triggering action for tornadoes. Today these features
would be called mesolows or mesocyclones. Many years
later, Nolen (1959) found that about three-fourths of the
tornadoes he studied appeared in association with a line
of echoes in a wave pattern, which he called a LEWP.
The next major synthesis in our understanding of thun-
derstorms occurred more than a decade later, when
Browning and Ludlam (1962) analyzed radar observations
of the unusually long-lived severe Wokingham storm in
England, which deposited very large hail. Their observa-
tions strongly suggested that a few storms, given the proper
environmental support, evolve into a stage of quasi-steady
airflow wherein small hail, while falling, reenters the up-
draft and may grow to enormous sizes. These storms, now
known as supercells, travel to the right of environmental
winds and may endure for several hours. Walter Hitschfeld
116 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

(1960) had already discovered that the two offspring of a
splitting storm may diverge markedly, with one member
of the pair moving considerably to the right, and the other
member considerably to the left, of the winds at all storm
levels.
Soon after completing his study in England, Keith
Browning joined the Air Force Cambridge Research Lab-
oratories and collaborated with Donaldson (Browning and
Donaldson, 1963) in analyzing an Oklahoma supercell for
which we had obtained radar data. This storm, the first in
the United States to be recognized as a supercell, also
spawned several tornadoes near the town of Geary, Okla-
homa. Figure 1 shows vertical sections of the reflectivity
structure of the Wokingham and Geary supercells. The
persistent updraft column is clearly marked by the vault,
later designated the bounded weak-echo region, or BWER,
by Chisholm (1970). Prior to conceptualization of the dis-
tinctive supercell circulation, Garrett and Tice (1957) and
Bigler (1958) had also observed spectacular BWERs in tor-
nadic storms. Although supercells are rare, their detection
is very important for severe storm warnings, because they
produce all of the extremely violent tornadoes and most
of the large hail.
It is now appropriate to go back to the early postwar
years for another useful trend. The U.S. Air Force estab-
lished Project AWMET-8 within the All-Weather Flying
Division in late 1945. One objective was to discover the
safest mode of air travel in all kinds of weather with the
aid of airborne radar. Robert W. Miller (1947), summarizing
the results, reported that the greatest turbulence was found
at the edges of convective echoes, not within them. It was
also noted that these storm echoes, especially in rapidly
growing storms, had sharp edges. Meanwhile, motivated
by a desire to speed up reflectivity measurements, David
Atlas (1947), an active participant in the project, invented
isoecho contouring circuitry that suppressed the more in-
tense levels of echo return. As an unexpected by-product,
the remaining echo effectively presented an indication of
reflectivity gradient, inversely proportional to the width
of the contour. Atlas immediately recognized the potential
usefulness of this display for real-time severe storm avoid-
ance by aircraft. Subsequently, two commercial air carriers,
American Airlines (Ayer et al., 1949) and United Air Lines
(Harrison, 1954), tested isoecho contouring circuitry and
found it very useful for avoiding turbulence as well as
hail.
Another event of major historical significance was the
publication by Stout and Huff (1953) of radar scope pho-
tographs (Fig. 2) showing a pronounced hook-like ap-
pendage curving cyclonically from the right rear side of a
tornadic thunderstorm in Illinois on 9 April 1953. A later
report by Huff et al. (1954) provided a detailed analysis
of this storm. As news of this unusual echo shape rapidly
spread throughout the radar meteorology community,
many more hooked echoes were found, some of them ac-
companying tornadoes.
Serendipity played a major role in the discovery of the
Illinois hooked echo. Donald Staggs, an electrical engineer,
was checking out the operation of a recently refurbished
radar. As part of his testing procedure, he placed the radar
in full operation, and was astounded to see an echo pattern
that he thought might be indicative of a tornado. Very
alertly he devoted his full attention to assuring that both
radar and scope camera continued to operate properly in

WOK INGHAM GEARY

STORM STORM
40
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STATUTE MILES NAUTICAL MILES

Fig. 1 RHI photographs illustrating the similarity of the echo struc-
ture of the Wokingham and Geary storms during their most intense
phases, with a sketch illustrating the key features. Storm motion in
both photographs is from right to left. (From Browning and Donaldson,
1963.)
Fig. 2 Hook echo of Champaign, Illinois tornado photographed by
Donald Staggs of Illinois State Water Survey on 9 Apri/1953. At the
time of this photograph, 1715 CST, the tornado was located in the
southern end of the hook. (From Stout and Huff, 1953; this photograph
courtesy of Glenn E. Stout.)

order to obtain frequent pictures of this most unusual phe-
nomenon. Staggs deserves commendation for his contri-
bution to radar meteorology.
Some productive administrative developments followed
in the wake of the new interest in the possibility for radar
warnings of tornadoes. The Texas Tornado Warning Net-
work, a cooperative radar project of Texas A&M University,
the U.S. Weather Bureau, and a number of cities in the
southern Great Plains, was initiated in 1953 under the
leadership of Archie Kahan of Texas A&M. The AMS
Committee on Radar Meteorology issued statements
(Marshall, 1954; Bemis, 1955) encouraging research and
suggesting procedures for radar observations of tornadic
and other severe storms, including an implicit recommen-
dation of Doppler technology.
The initial enthusiasm for tornado hook echoes was
moderated somewhat by Bigler (1955), who showed 33
pictures of precipitation echoes during the occurrence of
a tornado or funnel cloud; only three had a well-defined
hook echo. In all fairness he pointed out that most of the
tornadoes were small and observed at fairly distant ranges,
so resolution of the radar beam was not sufficient to show
small details. Despite such problems, and a great deal of
subjectivity in identification, hook echoes are regarded with
respect today by forecasters using radar. It is recognized
that well over half of tornadic storms never display a hook,
but when a well-defined hook does appear the false alarm
rate is found to be very low, and a tornado is likely to be
in progress or to follow soon. Anticipating these statistics,
Bigler himself (who had advocated a cautious approach to
hook echoes less than a year before) was credited with the
first tornado warning based solely on radar, which kept
many school children safely sheltered from exposure to
possible injury (Bigler, 1956).
Among the most effective results of the Stout and Huff
observation of a tornado hook echo was the inspiration
provided to Ted Fujita, who focused his considerable tal-
ents for mesoscale analysis on this storm. Fujita (1958)
offered a convincing demonstration, summarized in Fig.
3, of how the minute-by-minute radar photographs traced
the development of a tornado cyclone, consistent with Ed
Brooks' (1949) discovery of this feature years earlier
through a study of a closely spaced network of pressure
and wind trends in the vicinity of tornadoes. This impor-
tant finding of mesoscale rotation associated frequently
with microscale tornadoes would later prove its worth in
the Doppler era.
3 ECHO TOPS
The maximum height of storm echo tops had long been
suspected as an indicator of severity. Arthur Bent (1946)
had suggested that echo tops in excess of 4.5 km might
typify thunderstorms. The earliest evidence was provided
by Rockney and Jay (1953), who reported on a study con-
SEVERE STORM DETECTION BY RADAR 117
Fig. 3 Mesoanalysis of the wind and pressure field and radar
echo in the environment of the Champaign, Illinois tornado at
1710 CST 9 Apri/1953. (From Fujita, 1958.)
ducted during 1951 to 1953 using Weather Bureau radars.
They found considerably more hail with echo heights of
9 km or greater, compared with storms of lesser height.
Dick Douglas and Walter Hitschfeld (1959), in their first
report of a comprehensive and illuminating study of Al-
berta hailstorms, found an increa:;iug probability of hail
with higher echo tops. Donaldson's (1959) observations
in southern New England showed the same trend, but
with somewhat taller storm echoes for corresponding levels
of hail probability. The tallest hailstorms were reported in
Texas by Rex Inman (1961). These regional differences
were pointed out by Douglas and Hitschfeld and the con-
trast was illustrated in a review paper by Douglas (1963).
For echo tops reaching 12 km, for example, the probability
of hail is negligible in Texas, moderate in New England,
and almost a certainty in Alberta. In consideration of these
regional and also seasonal differences, Douglas (1960a)
suggested that penetration of a storm top beyond the tro-
popause and into the stable stratosphere is indicative of
much greater energy in the storm and therefore a greater
probability of hail production.
Subsequently, AI Chmela, Charles Shackford, and
Donaldson found the heights with respect to tropopause
of 581 New England storm echoes taken over three years
(Donaldson et al., 1960). The median heights of the rain-
only storms fell short of the tropopause by 1.2 km, those
with small hail just reached the tropopause, and those
with large hail (2 em) penetrated by 1.5 km. Echo tops
penetrated the tropopause by more than 3 km on five days
included in this study. Tornadoes occurred on four of these
days and widespread large hail on the other day. The en-
ergy required for penetration was calculated, and this
measure was considered a superior indicator of severe
storms with large hail andjor tornadoes.
118 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
4 ECHO REFLECTIVITIES
The estimation of storm echo intensities has also pro-
vided guidelines for severe storm identification. Langille
and Gunn (1948) showed contours of water content along
a vertical plane through a group of showers, using cali-
brated steps in the radar receiver gain. The minimum de-
tectable power at each gain step defined a value of echo
reflectivity at a given range, and the boundaries of echoes
remaining at each gain step could be interpreted as con-
tours of rain water content.
A study of thunderstorms in New England also used a
series of receiver gain steps. Vertical profiles of maximum
reflectivity in different classes of storms were estimated
according to reports received from a network of cooperative
observers (Donaldson, 1961). The antenna scanning pro-
cedure utilized a series of stepped increments in elevation
angle as the antenna scanned continuously in azimuth,
thus providing an efficient volumetric scan. These obser-
vations, acquired with a 3-cm radar, indicated that the
median hailstorm had greater maximum reflectivity than
the median thunderstorm without reported hail, and the
greatest reflectivity was found in the median tomadic
storm. These differences, portrayed in Fig. 4, were most
striking at middle altitudes, because the reflectivity of
rainstorms generally decreased with increasing altitude,
but the reflectivity in the median hailstorm had a slight
maximum aloft, and in tomadic storms, a pronounced
maximum in reflectivity appeared at 6 km. A generally
similar pattern of results, using 3-cm radar and estimation
of echo power thresholds, was reported for surveys of
MEDIAN Z', 01 PROFILES: 1157-11158 THUNDERSTORMS
45
40
55
so
20
10
oooo RAIN•II2collt
HAIL· ISICOIII
~1/I.HAIL·t•c••••
TORNADO· II COHt
Fig. 4 Median profiles with height of the maximum reflectivitlj
in 1957-58 New England thunderstorms. The 51 cases of hall
include the 29 cases of large hail, and the 11 tornado profiles
are taken from the all-inclusive rain and hail categories. (From
Donaldson, 1961.)
Texas convective storms by Inman (1961) and Illinois
storms by Wilk (1961), and in the severe Wokingham hail-
storm in England by Atlas and Ludlam (1961).
Radar measurements at a wavelength of 10 em were
first validated for hail detection by the accurate measure-
ments of Geotis (1963) in New England. He used Kodaira's
(1959) isoecho contouring device, which provided range-
normalized reflectivity contours after signal integration by
means of a quartz delay line. Geotis found generally in-
creasing reflectivities with increasing hailstone size, but no
reflectivity maximum aloft.
Detection capability of severe storms by radar improved
dramatically with the invention by Greene and Clark
(1971) of the VIL technique (an acronym for vertically in-
tegrated liquid) and its successful testing by Elvander
(1975). This excellent technique takes into account both
reflectivity and height of storm echoes but carries an un-
fortunate name; perhaps "vertically integrated liquid
equivalent," or VILE, is a more apt description of the
method-and a better indication of how severe storms are
regarded by their surviving victims.
The several cases of unexpectedly large 3-cm reflectiv-
ities measured aloft in a few supercells inspired productive
research contributing to basic findings on the backscatter-
ing properties of electromagnetically large ice particles.
The observational evidence indicates maximum 3-cm
reflectivities at least as large as 70 dBZ, taking into account
Kodaira's (1960) caveat that threshold power measure-
ments may overestimate the true average power by as
much as 6 dB. The first set of hail samples collected at the
ground in Alberta by Douglas (1960b) did not approach
such a high value of reflectivity. The shortfall from radar
measurements did not seem to be convincingly explainable
by regional differences or sampling limitations. Conse-
quently, Atlas et al. (1960) conducted an experimental in-
vestigation of the backscattering of large ice spheres, both
wet and dry. Soon after, Herman and Battan (1961) per-
formed calculations of ice backscattering in the same size
ranges and confirmed very closely the experimental results
of Atlas et al., showing enhanced scattering of dry hail for
diameters comparable to and larger than the radar wave-
length. This improved data helped to explain some of the
radar observations, particularly in storms with very large
hail. The decrease of observed reflectivity with diminished
height could then be explained as a combination ?f greater
attenuation at lower altitudes in a regime dommated by
liquid water, and the wetting of large dry hai~ fa~ling into
higher temperatures and greater amounts of hqmd water.
The rare occurrence of a reflectivity maximum aloft ob-
served at 5- and 10-cm wavelengths suggested a storage
mechanism, perhaps by successive convective cells grow-
ing alongside one another in a few especially vigorous
storms.
Continuing research during the next few years added
further illumination. Physical considerations led to the
conclusion that hailstones growing in the core of an intense

storm with large water content at temperatures below 0°C
would most likely have a coating of spongy ice-water mix-
ture. Battan and Herman (1962) proceeded with calcula-
tions of the backscattering of ice spheres with a spongy
coating and found a small but significant increase over
scattering by water-coated hail at diameters of one-third
to one-half the wavelength. Joss and List (1963) then con-
firmed this increase by clever experimental measurements
in a hail tunnel. The next step was a discussion of the
applicability of these results by Atlas, Hardy, and Joss,
who pointed out that, for radar observations at a wave-
length of 3 em, 1-cm particles composed of an ice core and
spongy-ice shell would have a reflectivity of 70 dBZ for
very reasonable concentrations of 3 to 4 gm m- 3 (Atlas et
al., 1964). Thus hail size distributions centered about very
large sizes of dry ice would not be required. Furthermore,
the decrease of reflectivity as the hailstones fall is reason-
ably explained by freezing of the spongy coat if the hail-
stones are ejected from the cloud core at temperatures well
below 0°C. Alternatively, if the hailstones retain their
spongy coat by falling within the cloud core, the spongy
component would melt and fall away at temperatures
above 0°C, thereby reducing the reflectivity. Finally,
Douglas (1964) increased his sample of hailstone size dis-
tributions at the ground by an order of magnitude and,
using improved estimates of hailstone fall speed, calculated
a maximum reflectivity of about 70 dBZ in his larger
sample.
All of this sounds very academic, considering that 3-cm
radar for operational detection of severe storms is a closed
chapter. Much trouble and perplexity would have been
saved if all observations had been made at 10-cm wave-
length. But think of all the fun of research that would have
been lost! I recall very clearly, during a conference in the
early 1960s, an enthusiastic Lou Battan thanking me for
making observations that nobody could plausibly explain
until a lot of interesting collateral research had been con-
ducted. I shall always treasure that moment with Lou.
5 EARLY DOPPLER RADAR
OBSERVATIONS AND
ANTICIPATIONS 1
The beginning of the Doppler era for the detection of
severe storms can be traced to the spring of 1956 when
James Q. Brantley of the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory
met Vaughn Rockney, who at that time was in charge of
the operational radar network of the U.S. Weather Bureau.
Brantley convinced Rockney that Doppler radar had a real
potential for tornado detection, and asked for funding to
1 Further details on many of the early technological developments and
meteorological applications of Doppler radar outside of severe storms
are reviewed by Rogers in Chapter 16.
SEVERE STORM DETECTION BY RADAR 119
modify a low-power CW Doppler radar for that purpose.
The contract was granted, Brantley and his colleague Dan-
iel Barczys (1957) contributed a promising report, antici-
pating the unique high-speed signature if a tornado were
detected, and the radar was set up that year and the fol-
lowing three years at Wichita Falls, Texas, and Wichita,
Kansas. The payoff came with observation of wind speeds
up to 92 m s- 1 in the El Dorado, Kansas tornado of 10
June 1958, reported in a detailed study by Smith and
Holmes (1961).
Vaughn Rockney played a crucial role in making this
exciting discovery possible. In those early days there was
no NSSL (National Severe Storms Laboratory) or WPL
(Wave Propagation Laboratory) to conduct research on ra-
dar meteorological techniques, and a CW Doppler radar
was clearly not a part of the observational responsibility
of Rockney's office. Yet he had the vision to see that the
research should be done and the initiative and resources
to encourage it. This work excited the interest of meteo-
rologists to continue development of Doppler radar for
severe storm and tornado detection. It also demonstrated
that, even with a low-power radar, the particles whirling
around in the tornado funnel were sufficiently reflective
to be detected.
It was recognized that a pulsed Doppler radar, rather
than a CW type, would be necessary for operational severe
storm detection in order to provide ranging capability. The
early pulse Doppler radars were very slow in processing
data, so their use in convective storm research was confined
to a vertically pointing antenna acquiring information on
vertical air velocities and precipitation fall speeds of any
storms that happened to drift overhead. Pioneers in this
mode of storm sensing were Probert-Janes and Harper
(1961) in England and Battan (1964) in Arizona.
Meanwhile Atlas (1963), who had been an early and
strong advocate of the extensive use of Doppler radar for
all aspects of radar meteorology, looked ahead to the fea-
sibility of volumetric scanning of Doppler radars. He sug-
gested flexibility in PRF (pulse repetition frequency) to
identify the high velocities of a tornado at high PRF and
provide unambiguous ranging information at low PRF.
This is exactly the scheme used today by NSSL. Lhermitte
(1964), also looking ahead, portrayed the Doppler signa-
tures of a ring of high rotating velocities for vortices both
smaller and larger than the resolution of a beam scanning
across them. For the vortex larger than the beam, his pic-
ture of mean Doppler velocity as a function of azimuth
anticipated the mesocyclone signature in its core region.
6 MESOCYCLONE SIGNATURES
IN REAL TIME
At AFGL (Air Force Geophysics Laboratory) a fast analog
device, known as the coherent memory filter, painted little
smears of the Doppler spectrum at discrete ranges spaced
at intervals of 855 m. When the radar scanned, movies
120 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
were taken of this range-velocity display; the scanning
speed was coordinated so that each frame of the movie
represented 1°of azimuth, slightly larger than the antenna
beam resolution. Analyzing these movies frame by frame
was tedious, but on occasion very worthwhile. Of course,
this scheme was extremely far removed from real-time
capability.
In 1966 Graham Armstrong, the radar engineer at AFGL,
experimented by plugging the output of the coherent
memory filter into an ordinary PPI scope. The resultant
hybrid was eventually called the PSI, or plan shear indi-
cator, because with a scanning radar the wiggles in indi-
vidual arcs and spacing between adjacent arcs provided a
real-time indication of shear in Doppler velocity in the
azimuthal and radial directions, respectively (Armstrong
and Donaldson, 1969). A large amount of data was col-
lected in mostly uninteresting storms during the next two
years in preparation for announcement of this new tech-
nique at the next radar meteorology conference.
The patient research of Armstrong and Donaldson was
rewarded on 9 August 1968 with an outbreak of nearby
severe storms that included two confirmed tornadoes,
heavy wind damage by a suspected tornado at a harbor
in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and extensive large hail
(some up to 5 em in diameter). The Marblehead storm was
especially interesting because it displayed a shear pattern,
illustrated in Fig. 5, suggestive of a small mesocyclone
during the hour before wind damage. Ground truth was
provided by a poststorm survey. One man who had been
caught outside by the storm had watched the clouds with
considerable perplexity; he said that the storm approached
him from the west, but when it arrived he was very sur-
prised to see the clouds overhead moving from the east.
Fig. 5 PSI (plan shear indicator) photograph of the Marblehead,
Massachusetts storm of 9 August 1968. The inscribed circle encloses
a characteristic pattern indicating a mesoscale cyclonic vortex at an
altitude of 2 km. This is the first observation of a mesocyclone by
Doppler radar. (From Donaldson, 1970.)
Later analysis of the range-velocity movies (Donaldson et
al., 1969) clearly showed Doppler velocity patterns indic-
ative of a mesocyclone.
The scalar pattern of Doppler velocities provides a field
of data that may sometimes lead to plausible inferences
of the vector field of wind velocities, although there is
always reason for doubt since Doppler radar cannot sense
velocity components normal to the radar beam. The ex-
perience with the Marblehead storm suggested to Donald-
son that identification of a mesocyclone by Doppler radar
would be validated if a set of conditions could be estab-
lished in which alternative interpretations were unlikely.
Consequently, Donaldson (1970) proposed minimum val-
ues of shear, persistence, and vertical extent as requisites
for a mesocyclone signature.
Very soon NSSL acquired an excellent 10-cm Doppler
radar equal to the task of dealing with Oklahoma thun-
derstorms. In the troubled skies over Oklahoma, many
mesocyclones were observed and recorded. Drawing from
a five-year period of observations, Don Burgess (1976)
identified 37 mesocyclones, using Donaldson's rules, and
found that 23 of these were associated with tornadoes. All
but two of these mesocyclones produced some manifes-
tation of severe weather at the surface. No verified tornado
occurred during radar observations without a preceding
mesocyclone signature. Furthermore, Burgess found a
substantial mean lead time of 36 minutes between me-
socyclone detection and tornado touchdown. This crucial
landmark study by Burgess was most important in con-
vincing the NWS (National Weather Service), AWS (Air
Weather Service), and FAA (Federal Aviation Administra-
tion) to support JDOP (the Joint Doppler Operational
Project), which led in due course to the development of
NEXRAD.
7 TORNADIC VORTEX SIGNATURES
On the fourth anniversary of the Marblehead mesocy-
clone, Michael Kraus of AFGL, using the coherent memory
filter with range-velocity movies, observed a tornado in
Brookline, Massachusetts, with precise timing and location
given by several meteorologists. These observers, one of
them a forecaster on duty at the National Weather Service
office in Boston and another a meteorology student at
MIT viewing from a tall building on the campus, also noted
cyclonic rotation in a region of the cloud base surrounding
the tornado. Analysis of the Doppler data by Kraus (1973)
showed a small mesocyclone with a much smaller region
in the center in which velocities could not be determined
because the Doppler spectrum was spread over the entire
unambiguous velocity interval, very similar to the signature
predicted years earlier by Atlas (1963) and by Lhermitte
(1964) for small high-speed vortices observed within a
larger antenna beamwidth. A similar region of filled (and
therefore unreadable) velocities had been observed by
Donaldson et al. (1969) four years earlier in a tornadic

storm; since we lacked precise timing information on the
tornado, we suspected (but could not validate) the identity
of this feature with the tornado circulation. Consequently,
this later finding by Kraus is recognized as the first un-
equivocal observation of a tornado by pulse Doppler radar.
The next year (1973) in Oklahoma, a much larger and
more violent tornado that destroyed the hamlet of Union
City was also observed simultaneously by Doppler radar
and several chase teams. Burgess et al. (1975a,b) measured
a pattern of extremely large shear, an order of magnitude
above the threshold mesocyclonic value, between adjacent
beam locations on either side of the tornado. This pattern
persisted for over 40 minutes and at one time extended
from the surface to a height of 10 km. A most significant
discovery for tornado warning was the presence of this
intense shear pattern aloft for at least 20 minutes before
the tornado touched down.
Brown and Lemon (1976) studied nine instances of ex-
treme shear, now called tornadic vortex signature, or TVS.
They formulated tentative guidelines for definition of a
TVS, incorporating small azimuthal diameter, high velocity
difference, limited range extent, persistence, and vertical
extent. Of the nine TVSs, tornadoes or funnel clouds were
reported in seven of them; the other two were not sur-
veyed, so they had no information on whether these two
might have had a tornado. For their formal publication of
these results, Brown et al. (1978) discovered an additional
TVS associated with a tornado. Hence, an extremely low
false alarm rate is implied for the TVS. Its probability of
detecting tornadoes varies according to the relative size of
the tornado circulation compared with the radar beam res-
olution, a feature well illustrated by Brown and Lemon's
theoretical computations of velocity profiles across a Ran-
kine combined vortex for various ratios of beamwidth to
vortex core radius.
8 TOWARD DOPPLER OPERATIONAL
CAPABILITY
One of the final steps required for real-time operations
of meteorological Doppler radar was fast and reliable dig-
ital processing of the Doppler signal. Rummier (1968) of
Bell Laboratories developed the pulse pair technique for
estimation of the mean and variance of Doppler velocity.
After study and recommendation of this technique by
SEVERE STORM DETECTION BY RADAR 121
Groginsky (1972), and its pioneering implementation by
Lhermitte (1972), its meteorological application followed
quickly. A color display of the field of reflectivity and mean
velocity was regarded as an essential component of an
operational system. The first such display for meteorolog-
ical radar was developed by Glover of AFGL and his Ray-
theon colleagues, Jagodnik and Novick (1975), and put
into operation during the spring of 1974. Soon afterward,
Gray, Serafin, and Boyajian of NCAR also developed a
color display and provided the first color pictures of Dopp-
ler velocities, observed during the summer of 1974 (Gray
et al., 1975).
Meanwhile, public awareness of both the need and op-
portunity for significant improvements in severe storm
warnings was powerfully influenced by a series of review
papers presented to the U.S. House of Representatives
Subcommittee on Environment and the Atmosphere at a
special session during the Ninth Conference on Severe
Local Storms. The review by Louis Battan (1976) and the
overview by David Atlas (1976), then serving as President
of the AMS, emphasized the promise of Doppler radar.
The stage was now set for JDOP, but this cooperative
endeavor did not proceed automatically. The supporting
agencies needed to be convinced that their investment in
this venture was underwritten by sound scientific funda-
mentals, with reasonable assurance of significant gains.
During the formative negotiations leading to JDOP, much
credit is due to Ken Glover of AFGL; Captains Roger Whi-
ton and Ray Bonesteele and (then) Chief Scientist Paul
Smith of AWS; Ed Kessler and his NSSL staff, principally
Ken Wilk; and later, Jack Hinkelman of the FAA. These
people exercised responsible and effective salesmanship.
With such creditable support, the concerned agencies
brought JDOP into existence, providing the opportunity
to demonstrate that Doppler radar techniques could prove
worthwhile in severe storm detection-which they did. In
1979 the supporting agencies initiated the development of
NEXRAD, incorporating Doppler capability.
Acknowledgments. I am very grateful to my colleague
Donna Velardi for her patience and skill in helping me
prepare the manuscript. Also, I am most appreciative of
the suggestions offered by Rodger Brown of NSSL during
his review of this paper. This work was supported under
AFGL Contract F19628-87-C-0124.
122
Chapter 16
The Early Years o£ Doppler Radar in Meteorology
R.R. Rogers, Department of Meteorology, McGill University
1 INTRODUCTION
Radar echoes from moving targets are shifted in fre-
quency from those of stationary targets by the familiar
Doppler effect. Although radars designed to exploit this
effect had been in use for many years, the first systematic
observations of weather echoes with Doppler radar were
not carried out until the mid-1950s. By then radar had
already proven to be essential for cloud physics research
and for many applications, such as short-term forecasting
and aircraft storm avoidance. Researchers were quick to
recognize that the new information contained in the
Doppler shift provided a substantial increase in the po-
tential usefulness of radar in meteorology.
By 1965 several laboratories had built or otherwise ac-
quired Doppler radars suitable for weather research. The
applications until then had opened new streams of research
in cloud physics and in studies of severe storms. It was
not until the next decade, however, that the full potential
of Doppler radar was realized; with advances in signal
processing theory and the availability of inexpensive mi-
croprocessors in the early 1970s, it became possible to
handle the flow of data.
Since 1975 much of the research in radar meteorology
has been Doppler-related. The techniques have become
so profitable that the radars now being designed to replace
the existing network of the National Weather Service (the
so-called NEXRAD radars) will be equipped for Doppler
measurements. From the first tentative measurements to
massive operational assimilation has thus taken about 35
years.
This review describes the uses of Doppler radar in me-
teorology until about 1975. It begins by explaining that
even before the first observations the foundation existed
for interpreting Doppler measurements. After describing
the circumstances of the first measurements, the review
outlines the developments in the first decade, up to 1965,
and then in the second decade, to 1975. More attention is
given to the early years than the later ones. References are
not exhaustive, though an attempt was made to include
the ideas or applications that had an important influence
on what followed.
2 BACKGROUND
Skolnik (1980) and Getting (1962) explain that the ear-
liest prewar experimental radar systems were essentially
bistatic CW (continuous-wave) Doppler radars, depending
for detection on the interference produced between the
direct signal received from the transmitter and the Doppler
shifted signal received from a moving target. The advan-
tages of transmitting in pulses were soon recognized,
however, and by the mid-1930s most efforts were devoted
to increasing the peak power output at short wavelengths
and improving the performance of pulse receivers. Target
velocity was determined not by using the Doppler effect,
but from successive target positions. Ridenour (1947, p.
125) comments that, at the start of World War II," . . .
the Doppler effect and CW radar were from the beginning
so closely identified as to create a rather widespread
impression that pulse radar was inherently incapable of
capitalizing on this essential difference between fixed and
moving targets." Yet during the war there was progress in
the design and fabrication of two kinds of pulse radars
employing the Doppler effect for target discrimination, the
MTI radar and the pulse Doppler radar (Barlow, 1949).
In the MTI radar (moving-target identification) a co-
herent oscillator is triggered at the beginning of each
transmitted pulse, phase-locked with the magnetron, to
provide a reference signal for comparison with the received
signals. The reference signal is mixed with the echo to
produce an output that is steady for fixed targets but fluc-
tuates for moving targets. Though the radial velocity could
be determined from the fluctuation rate, this step was usu-
ally not taken. It was sufficient to discriminate moving
from fixed targets; velocity could then be determined from
changes in target location.
Pulse Doppler radar was the name applied to a CW
radar in which the transmitter is amplitude modulated.
Such a radar is coherent from pulse to pulse, unlike the
MTI, in which the transmitted phase changes randomly
from pulse to pulse. This was feasible at frequencies up
to a few hundred MHz but not at higher frequencies be-
cause of the "absence of suitable power amplifiers"
(Ridenour, p. 630). Improvements in the klystron tube
later provided the needed power at high frequencies, but
during the war pulse Doppler radar was evidently not as
widely used as MTI radar.
Even though radar meteorology was born and saw its
early development during the war ( Ligda, 1951; Hitschfeld,
1986), there is no evidence that MTI or pulse Doppler
radars were used intentionally for meteorological obser-
vations, for example for the estimation of wind speed and
direction. However, there was much concern about the

undesirable effects of weather "clutter" on the important
military echoes. It was noted, for example, that while MTI
radars usually were effective in suppressing weather
echoes, sometimes the reduction of these echoes was neg-
ligible even when the radial wind component was small
(Ridenour, p. 644). Much attention was given to the prob-
ability distribution of echo power and the correlation of
successive measurements of the power. To design for the
detection of signals in the presence of weather noise de-
manded an understanding of the noise. Accordingly, the
theory of weather signal fluctuations was in place by the
end of the war, thanks to the work of D.E. Kerr, G.E.
Uhlenbeck, A.J.F. Siegert, and others at the MIT Radiation
Laboratory.
The first researchers to recognize the possibility of me-
teorological measurements based on observations of
weather clutter fluctuations were Alan Bemis, Pauline
Austin, and their coworkers at the newly formed MIT
Weather Radar Project. Their first formal report (Bemis,
1946), included a page on audiofrequency fluctuations.
An equation derived by Siegert, later to appear in Vol. 24
of the Radiation Laboratory series (Lawson and Uhlenbeck,
1950), showed that the power spectrum of signal intensity
fluctuations could be expressed as a convolution of a par-
ticular velocity distribution denoted by S( u), which we
now recognize as the Doppler spectrum. Bemis explained
that the spectrum of intensity fluctuations is closely related
to the distribution of relative velocities of the raindrops,
an idea that was followed up first by Glenn Hilst (1949)
using the Radar Signal Spectrograph (RASAPH) devel-
oped at the Radiation Laboratory in 1944-45, then by
Aaron Fleisher in a series of contributions, culminating in
a report by Stone and Fleisher (1956 ), who used the best
available techniques for correlation and spectral analysis
and demonstrated that the signal intensity fluctuations may
be analyzed to produce a "distribution of the gustiness,"
now recognizable as an even-function equivalent of the
Doppler spectrum. A final contribution to this stream of
research was the development of the R-meter (Rutkowski
and Fleisher, 1955), an analog device for measuring the
root-mean-square gust velocity (i.e., the second central
moment of the Doppler spectrum) by counting the rate of
level crossings of the fluctuating signal intensity.
Others contributing to research on signal intensity fluc-
tuations were Bartnoff et al. (1952) at AFCRC and Hitsch-
feld and Dennis (1956) at McGill University. They mea-
sured the signal autocorrelation function in different
weather conditions to understand the effectiveness of av-
eraging successive pulses in reducing signal fluctuations.
Hitschfeld and Dennis were also the first to show explicitly
how wind shear, turbulence, and sedimentation contribute
to signal fluctuations, thus setting the stage for later in-
terpretation of the spread of the Doppler spectrum. Mean-
while, in England in 1952, Browne measured the auto-
correlation function to infer the root-mean-square relative
DOPPLER RADAR IN METEOROLOGY 123
fall velocities in rain and in snow (Probert-Janes, Chap-
ter 7).
We conclude that the antecedents of Doppler radar re-
search in meteorology consisted of efforts to extract infor-
mation on relative velocities from incoherent radar signal
fluctuations. In the decade after the war, researchers ap-
proached this problem with the best available theory and
the most advanced techniques of signal processing. The
fundamental limitation was hardware: the unavailability
of coherent radar for determining the complete velocity
distribution instead of that of its feeble cousin, the relative
velocity.
3 THE FIRST DOPPLER
MEASUREMENTS
By the mid-1950s it must have been realized that the
limit had been reached on inferring velocity information
from (incoherent) intensity fluctuations, and that further
progress required coherent transmission and reception, yet
it is difficult to find any statement of this kind in the lit-
erature of the day. Improved CW tracking radars and high
frequency pulse Doppler radars were in use by the military
in the early 1950s (Stone 1987, personal communication),
but there is no record of meteorological observations with
this equipment.
The first persons to recognize this potential and seize
the opportunity were Ian C. Browne and Peter Barratt at
the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge. Browne received
his Ph.D. from Cambridge in 1952 with a dissertation on
radar studies of clouds. He joined the staff at the Jodrell
Bank Experimental Station of the University of Manchester,
but continued to collaborate with Barratt, who was still a
graduate student at Cambridge. Interested in measuring
vertical air motions, they devised what might be called a
pseudo-Doppler radar, operating on the MTI principle, by
splitting the beam into two components, one directed ver-
tically to the weather target, the other horizontally to a
fixed ground target at the same range. In this arrangement,
the reflected signals arrive simultaneously at the receiver;
that from the fixed target serves as a coherent reference
and enables the measurement of the Doppler shift of the
weather target. Preliminary measurements in a spring
rainshower of 1953 showed that the shape of the Doppler
spectrum agreed with the spectrum expected from a model
drop-size distribution, but that the measured spectrum was
displaced by an amount consistent with a downdraft of
about 2m s -I. This work was reported only in a brief letter
(Barratt and Browne, 1953), giving no details, and was
largely unnoticed.
A year before Barratt and Browne's experiments, James
Q. Brantley, Jr., was completing a Ph.D. thesis at Cornell
University on the use of Doppler radar in aircraft collision
warning. Graduating in 1952, he continued that work at
Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory (now Calspan Corp., Buf-
 124 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
falo), designing CW radars in different configurations to
give pilots ways of recognizing and avoiding collision tra-
jectories with other airplanes. By 1955 he had built a radar
with a reflex klystron transmitter, 3-cm wavelength, and
a pair of 30-inch dishes mounted side by side, one for
transmission, the other for reception. Signal detection was
by earphones. Helicopters could be distinguished from
airplanes by the propeller modulation, and turboprops
from reciprocating engines. Insects gave odd sounds, as
presumably did rain and snow echoes. Just when and why
he undertook systematic weather measurements is not
clear. It seems that he was not aware of the little-known
work in England. In any event, the first report on CW
Doppler measurements of weather echoes was that of
Brantley and Barczys (1957), presented at the Sixth
Weather Radar Conference of the American Meteorological
Society, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The paper included a theoretical analysis of Doppler
spectra of weather echoes and examples of observations
in rain, snow, and a thunderstorm, at different elevation
angles and in different conditions. It was complete in itself
and went as far as could be expected given the limitations
of CW operation and of coarse resolution in spectral mea-
surement. It showed that the Doppler spectrum can be
interpreted as the reflectivity-weighted velocity distribution
of the scatterers, a relationship that Barratt and Browne
had evidently also deduced.
It is a strange coincidence that Barratt, Browne, and
Brantley all died young, in the midst of productive careers.
Ian Browne left Jodrell Bank in 1955 and was a Lecturer
in Physics at the University of Sheffield and a member of
the newly formed Radioastronomy Group when he died
in December 1957, at the age of 30. James Brantley left
Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory in 1956 for Radiation,
Inc., in Winter Park, Florida. He died of cancer in 1961,
when he was 34 years old and Vice President of Radiation,
Inc. Peter Barratt received his doctorate from Cambridge
in 1955, worked at Decca Radar for two years on meteo-
rological applications, and died in early 1962 while en-
gaged as a physicist by Pye Ltd., at the age of 31. Daniel
Barczys, the only surviving pioneer, is now an applications
engineer specializing in communications systems at Sinclair
Radio, Tonawanda, New York.
4 THE PERIOD PRIOR TO 1965
An approximate idea of the way the subject grew can
be gained by examining the papers at subsequent radar
meteorology conferences. Though the work of Barrett and
Browne and of B~antley and Barczys had signaled the
opening of a new area of research, progress was slow at
first because of practical limitations of both the pseudo-
Doppler technique and the CW operation. To overcome
the limitations required coherent pulse Doppler radars,
but such equipment was not yet available for meteorolog-
ical use.
The next contribution, though still with a CW radar,
presaged NEXRAD. Holmes and Smith (1958) reported on
the identification of a tornado in El Dorado, Kansas, on
10 June 1958, by its Doppler signature. They wrote, "Fol-
lowing a suggestion of Dr. James Q. Brantley, then of Cor-
nell Aeronautical Laboratory, the Weather Bureau began,
in the fall of 1956, an experimental program to determine
the feasibility of a radar operating on the Doppler principle.
. . . A continuous-wave Doppler radar was obtained from
the Navy and modified by Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory
[for our purposes]." The radar operated at a wavelength
of 3 em, with 30-W transmitted power and a beamwidth
of 1.8 degrees. The Doppler spectrum associated with the
tornado indicated a radial velocity of 205 mph. Donaldson
(Chapter 15) explains how this crucial collaboration be-
tween the Weather Bureau and CAL came about.
It was not until the Eighth Weather Radar Conference
(San Francisco, April1960) that the first reports were given
on measurements with a proper coherent pulsed radar.
Probert-Jones (1960a) and Boyenval (1960) described the
Pershore radar, a 3-cm set operating on the MTI principle
with magnetron transmitter and 10-kW peak power, pro-
ducing an intensity modulated display of Doppler velocity
versus range, and having a velocity resolution of 1m s- 1 •
They demonstrated the estimation of drop-size distribution
from measurements at vertical incidence. As Probert-Jones
(1960b) explained, "A 3-cm pulsed Doppler radar became
available at the Royal Radar Establishment for use by the
Meteorological Office in October 1958. Mr. Boyenval, of
the Royal Radar Establishment, had already shown that
this equipment could be used for obtaining the speed of
fall of precipitation particles and, under certain conditions,
for obtaining their size distribution .... "There is no doubt
that this work was prompted by the earlier success of Bar-
ratt and Browne at Cambridge.
Also at the Eighth Conference, Roger Lhermitte, then
with the Observatoire de Magny-les-Hameaux of the
French Meteorological Service, presented two papers, one
on the theory of the "fluctuation spectrum," the other on
measurements of Doppler spectra of precipitation fall ve-
locities (Lherrnitte, 1960a,b). The radar was of the pseudo-
Doppler type, similar to that of Browne, employing one
beam directed vertically to observe the weather and an-
other directed horizontally to provide a reference signal
from fixed ground targets.
Brantley had left CAL late in 1956; the Doppler research
there was picked up again by A.J. Chimera and myself in
1959. We reported (Rogers and Chimera, 1960) on the
interpretation of moments of the Doppler spectrum and
gave examples of spectra from snow, but were still limited
to CW operation.
At the Ninth Conference (Kansas City, October 1961)
only three papers were presented on Doppler measure-
ments. Two, however, were to have a permanent influence
on later research. Lhermitte, now with David Atlas at

AFCRL, used the "Porcupine" radar borrowed from Lin-
coln Laboratory and gave the first report on VAD (Veloc-
ity-Azimuth Display) measurements (Lhermitte and Atlas,
1961). Significantly, this was a move away from detailed
spectral measurements. Atlas had made an audiotape of
a VAD sweep in December 1957, but it was not until Lher-
mitte arrived in 1961 that they developed the basic theory
of wind and divergence measurement. Probert-Janes and
Harper (1961), still using the Pershore radar for vertical
viewing, reported on estimates of vertical air motions in
showers, an application anticipated by Barratt and Browne
that was to remain in the foreground the rest of the decade.
The third paper, by P.G. Stewart (1961), described a
turbulence research program initiated by the Weather Bu-
reau which would include a Doppler radar located in Nor-
man at the National Severe Storms Laboratory. This ini-
tiative, we may suppose, contributed to the subsequent
development of the splendid facilities at NSSL.
Six papers on Doppler studies were presented at the
Tenth Conference (Washington, D.C., April1963). Caton
(1963) reported on VAD measurements of wind and con-
vergence with the Pershore radar and showed that the
convergence values could be integrated over height for
estimates of vertical air motion. Lhermitte and Atlas (1963)
gave the first detailed Doppler analysis of the melting layer.
In two papers, Battan (1963a,b) described the pattern of
vertical velocity and precipitation size in a thunderstorm
and reported on the first Doppler observations of angel
echoes. In later years, he more than any other researcher
was known for contributions to the understanding of up-
draft structure and precipitation growth in thunderstorms.
Pilie et al. (1963), using the CAL pulse Doppler radar in
its earliest configuration, reported on the Doppler tracking
of chaff for wind measurement, a technique not to be fully
exploited for another twenty years. Lhermitte (1963) gave
an updated exposition of the relation between Doppler
measurements and incoherent signal fluctuations. This was
a subject that intrigued several of us at the time. Gorelik
and Mel'nichuk (1961) published their version two years
earlier in the Russian literature and reported it at the con-
ference in Norman in 1966; Rogers (1963) emphasized the
connection between the interpretation of the Doppler
spectrum and the early theory developed at the Radiation
Laboratory. The Soviet researchers were prominent in work
on the information content of signal fluctuations, and later
were to continue with impressive research using coherent
radar systems. Luckily situated in the right place at the
right time, I was able to complete a Ph.D. thesis in 1964
with the title "Meteorological Applications of Doppler Ra-
dar," under the supervision of Richard M. Schotland, then
of New York University.
The 11th Conference (Boulder, September 1964) sig-
nalled a time of substantial improvement in radar equip-
ment. Lhermitte and Kessler (1964) described the pulse
Doppler radar built for NSSL, Kodaira (1964) that for the
Meteorological Research Institute in Tokyo, and Riley Tripp
DOPPLER RADAR IN METEOROLOGY 125
(1964) the rebuilt CAL radar. All operated at X-band. The
Japanese set used a magnetron with a phase-locked oscil-
lator; the NSSL and CAL radars used klystron power am-
plifiers.
Two papers concerned Doppler-related techniques. Atlas
and Wexler (1964) presented the idea of cross-beam ve-
locity measurement using a dual-beam antenna. This idea
was based on what had recently been learned about in-
coherent signal fluctuations. It led eventually to the ex-
periments reported by Glover and Bishop (1968) and is
closely related (though this may not be widely recognized)
to current work on wind retrieval using a single Doppler
radar. Rogers (1964) described a method of using there-
flectivity to estimate the contribution of raindrop fall ve-
locity to the mean Doppler velocity in rain, allowing the
determination of updraft speed.
By the end of 1965 no doubt remained that Doppler
radar offered great potential. Convincingly demonstrated
had been 1) the validity of simple spectral interpretation;
2) the application to vertical velocity and precipitation size
measurement in showers; and 3) the application to me-
soscale wind and convergence measurement. Two prob-
lems-actually fundamental ambiguities-had been rec-
ognized that remain challenges to this day: separating the
effects of particle fall speed and vertical air motion, and
inferring the complete wind vector from the radial com-
ponent and its variation with range and direction. More-
over, the unavoidable compromise between maximum
unambiguous range and maximum unambiguous velocity
created problems then as now. The main obstacle to prog-
ress was technical. Data were still recorded mostlyon pho-
tographic film or strip charts. Spectral measurement re-
quired costly delay lines or cumbersome and expensive
multichannel spectrum analyzers. Data analysis was te-
dious and labor-intensive. Most observations were in the
form of vertical profiles or VAD circuits at a few ranges.
Further progress clearly required better ways of coping
with the flow of data.
5 THE NEXT DECADE
After 1965 developments came rapidly. Breakthroughs
were finally made in data processing. The number of active
researchers increased markedly. Again, the radar meteo-
rology conferences may be used as an approximate index
of activity. Exactly 20 papers had been offered in total up
to 1965, but at the 13th Conference alone (Montreal, Au-
gust 1968) 21 papers were presented in which Doppler
observations or techniques were prominent. At Houston
in 1975 the count reached 29, amounting to nearly one-
third of the papers presented. Because of the explosion of
activity in this second decade of Doppler radar meteorol-
ogy, only a few of the high points can be mentioned.
1966. Herb Groginsky and his colleagues at Raytheon
were working with Dave Atlas and his group at AFCRL
126 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
toward automation of data processing. To improve the
performance of the Porcupine radar, the Doppler spectrum
was measured by a bank of 100 magnetostrictive filters,
whose outputs were sampled and recorded by computer
( Groginsky, 1966) -an interesting example of a combi-
nation of digital and analog techniques.
1968. Graham Armstrong and Ralph Donaldson (1968)
experimented with a coherent memory filter to facilitate
data handling, and on vortex signature recognition, a topic
that continues to be researched in the NEXRAD program.
Bob Peace and Rodger Brown (1968) carried through the
first experimental determination of the horizontal wind
field using two independent Doppler radars-the CAL ra-
dar and the Weather Bureau's mobile Doppler radar. Keith
Browning and colleagues (Browning et al., 1968) reported
on the simultaneous use of two Doppler radars, one
pointed vertically and the other near horizontal, to observe
the same shower.
1970. At the 14th Conference (Tucson) the contributions
were so numerous as to require three separate sessions on
Doppler-related topics. By this time there were two new
major centers of research: the University of Chicago, where
Dave Atlas had moved, and the ESSA Research Labora-
tories in Boulder, where Roger Lhermitte now worked.
Moreover NSSL, under the direction of Ed Kessler, was
becoming a leading center for Doppler research. Of the
many contributions that were presented, the ones of
greatest portent were probably those of Lhermitte (1970)
and Lhermitte and Miller (1970), demonstrating andre-
fining the concepts of dual-Doppler measurement. A sep-
arate session was required to accommodate the papers on
turbulence measurements and observations in snow, sub-
jects that traditionally have received less attention than
convective rain studies.
1972. This should be remembered as the banner year
for data processing. Making their appearance for the first
time in radar meteorology were both the fast Fourier
transform and pulse-pair processing ( Lhermitte, 1972;
Groginsky, 1972). (The FFT had been described by J.W.
Cooley of IBM and J.W. Tukey of Bell Labs in 1965; pulse-
pair processing by W.O. Rummier of Bell Labs in 1968.)
From dual-Doppler measurements in snow, Jay Miller
(1972) determined the detailed structure of the low-level
wind field, preparing the way for a continuing series of
boundary layer studies using dual-Doppler observations.
1975. Six years earlier, Peace et al. (1969) had tackled
the problem of determining the horizontal wind field with
one Doppler radar. Now Cal Easterbrook (1975) recast
and expanded the development in a form that is the start-
ing point of all current research. By this time, a number
of laboratories had carried out dual-Doppler studies of
convective storms and had worked to perfect color dis-
plays, two developments that are now conspicuous ele-
ments of our activities. Tornadoes had been identified by
Doppler radar at NSSL and AFCRL. Important advances
were continuing in signal theory and in digital techniques.
6 RELATION TO CURRENT RESEARCH
In rough outline, Doppler radar research as we know it
today had taken shape by 1975. To be sure, significant
further progress was still to be made in data processing
and display, thanks to the increasing availability of high-
speed, low-cost digital integrated circuits, and to the ded-
ication of a corps of highly competent researchers; but
many current areas of application had been defined by
the end of the second decade. NEXRAD, for all its signif-
icance to our discipline, could have been predicted from
the promising results in hand in 1975.
Major exceptions to this overly simple picture are 1) the
spectacular success of UHF /VHF Doppler wind profilers,
pioneered at the NOAA Aeronomy Laboratory (see Gage
and Balsley, 1978), and further developed by Dick Strauch
and his colleagues at the Wave Propagation Laboratory
(Strauch et al. 1987); 2) the interesting and unexpected
results from Roger Lhermitte's 94 GHz pulse Doppler ra-
dar; 3) current work at NCAR on the design of an advanced
airborne Doppler radar, following the exploratory work of
Jorgensen et al. (1983), and possibly other kinds of rapid
scanning radars; 4) the apparent success of several re-
searchers in extracting thermodynamic information from
dual-Doppler wind fields (e.g., Gal-Chen and Kropfli,
1983).
Through NEXRAD the most massive technology transfer
in the history of radar meteorology is now occurring. What
was feasible a few years ago only in the research laboratory
will soon be available at operational weather offices across
the country. A challenge will be to use this flood of new
data to improve weather forecasts. The broad dissemina-
tion of high quality Doppler data will provide the oppor-
tunity for research applications such as the study of me-
soscale storm systems over long time periods and the
analysis of many types of local weather events. We should
expect a closer integration than before of satellite and radar
data, and an increase in the number of multiple-Doppler
analyses of storms and storm systems.
Apart from this extrapolation of current trends, what
other developments might be expected over the next few
years? With the continuing rapid improvements in data
processing capability, a return to vertical measurements of
the complete Doppler spectrum seems likely for specialized
studies in cloud physics and precipitation development.
This work was abandoned when the pulse-pair processor
made it feasible to record the spatial patterns of the mean
Doppler velocity and the spectral width. Since then the
main current of research has been the interpretation of
data from one or more radars scanning horizontally. No
information is ordinarily retained beyond the mean Dopp-
ler velocity, and poor spatial resolution in the vertical is a
consequence of the emphasis on horizontal coverage. An-
other area that might be revived is the measurement of
wind variability with high temporal resolution for studies
of turbulence and mixing processes. We should also look
 DOPPLER RADAR IN METEOROLOGY 127

for a closer integration of Doppler data with numerical

modeling as a way of assessing the accuracy of the models
and of providing a physical framework for interpreting
the observations. Speculating further is risky because there
will be applications in the next decade that are now un-
forseeable.

Acknowledgments. Dr. Walter A. Flood kindly shared his

recollections of Jim Brantley and the early Doppler radar
research at Cornell Lab. Dr. Chris G. Collier gave me a
copy of the Probert-Janes manuscript on the history of
radar meteorology in the United Kingdom, and provided
biographical information on Ian Browne and Peter Barratt.
Dr. Roger Lhermitte originally planned to write this review
with me, but at the last minute was unable to do so; the
chapter would have benefited from his perspective as a
central player since the beginning of Doppler radar studies
and his close familiarity with current research. He, and
Fig. 1 Jim Brantley, summer 1955. (Photo courtesy of Walter others too numerous to mention, helped shape the review
Flood.) with advice and discussion of the early years.

6 6

5 5

4 4

E E
:JI!

-...
3
-
-" 3
.c.
.c. C1'>
(11
2 ... 2
:X:
1:

c 0

4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 10 8 6 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6
10 8 6
down m /st.c up down m/st.c up

Fig. 2 Two profiles of vertical Doppler velocity in a shower of 8 june 1961, obtained with the Pershore radar. The left profile is for an active
part of the shower, the right for a decaying part, with the transition from snow to rain below 1.5 km clearly indicated. (Illustration from
Probert-fones and Harper, 1962.)
 -8 -6 -2 0
v,mjsec
Fig. 3 High resolution Doppler spectrum of rain viewed vertically. (Sign convention on velocity is
opposite that in Fig. 2.) This example was obtained with the CAL pulse Doppler radar in 1964. The
analog spectrum analyzer had a frequency resolution of 4 Hz, corresponding to a velocity resolution of
1/ 15 m s- 1• The mean velocity, standard deviation, and positive and negative spectral bounds are indicated

along the top.

Fig. 4 The CAL radar in SCR-584 van, winter 1964. George Zigrossi is at the antenna; Bob Peace
prepares to release a ]imsphere balloon in a velocity-tracking experiment.
 DOPPLER RADAR IN METEOROLOGY 129

Fig. 5 Roger Lhermitte with the pulse Doppler radar he built for the Weather Bureau, spring 1966. This radar
and the CAL radar were used in the first dual-Doppler experiments to measure the horizontal wind field in
convective storms.

-
UNIVERSITY OF ARI'Z.ONA
MOBILE WEATHER RADAQ
LABORATORY

Fig. 6 Al Summers (technician), Lou Rattan, and Brooks Martner (graduate student) with the University of
Arizona Doppler radar in Colorado during the NHRE project, 1974. (Photo courtesy of Brooks Martner.)
130
Chapter 17
The History of Radar Studies of the Clear Atmosphere
Kenneth R. Hardy, Air Force Geophysics Laboratory
Kenneth S. Gage, Aeronomy Laboratory, NOAA
1 INTRODUCTION
The investigation of radar echoes from the clear atmo-
sphere has interested scientists since the mid-1930s when
long-wavelength radars, used for ionospheric measure-
ments, detected reflecting layers in the troposphere. The
challenge of explaining the radar echoes from the clear
atmosphere has often proved to be a major difficulty be-
cause of the possibility of at least two explanations for
each of the various types of echoes observed. The challenge
was always intriguing, and as the explanations of the
echoes became accepted, a rapid rush of scientific results
arose as new radar systems were applied to studies of at-
mospheric structure and dynamics.
This history of radar studies of the clear atmosphere is
broken down roughly into four major periods. The first,
starting about 1935 and extending until1949, defines the
time when several types of clear-air echoes were observed
and reported. The 10-200 m wavelength radars used for
ionospheric studies detected reflections in the troposphere
where it was known that ionized regions could not exist.
Toward the end of this period Friend (1949) was able to
associate these tropospheric reflections with regions of
temperature inversions where large gradients of refractive
index would be present. In addition, the first observations
of dot echoes, later designated "dot angels," were recorded.
A controversy arose regarding the source of these dot an-
gels; insects and birds were one possibility and sharp gra-
dients in refractive index were another.
The second period occurred from about 1950 to 1962
and was marked by great interest and experimental work
in propagation beyond the radio horizon. One of the
mechanisms for the radio propagation was the scattering
of radio waves from turbulent structures within the tro-
posphere. The period was significant because the processes
responsible for the tropospheric scatter observed on radio
propagation links were also a factor in the backscatter of
radar energy. This period saw heightened interest in dot
angels as shorter wavelength (from 1 to 10 em) radars
were developed and reports of the angels became com-
monplace. At the same time, horizontally stratified echo
layers were also observed with 10-cm wavelength radars,
and it became evident that radars could play an important
role in probing the clear atmosphere.
The third period from 1963 to 1972 saw a tremendous
increase in activity using powerful and sensitive radars for
investigating atmospheric structures. Notable among the
achievements during this decade were the in situ mea-
surements within the regions of the clear-air radar echoes,
the routine detection of clear-air turbulence out to ranges
of 10-20 km with 10 em or longer wavelength radars, and
the study of convective processes in the boundary layer.
The period came to a close with some incredibly detailed
observations using radars which could resolve atmospheric
waves and layers at resolutions of 1 m.
The fourth period from 1973 to 1982 was characterized
by a major shift in the focus of clear-air radar research
from the UHF and shorter wavelength radars used in the
previous period to longer wavelength radars that operated
primarily at lower VHF frequencies. The new breed of
VHF radars were typically comprised of large phased array
antennas, which often operated unattended at low power.
Using these longer wavelengths, a new class of atmo-
spheric echoes was observed and shown to arise primarily
from stable regions.
Using radars for clear-air studies was not only chal-
lenging and interesting but also led to important opera-
tional applications. Two of the major applications devel-
oped during the 1980s were 1) the use of UHF and VHF
Doppler radars for the routine measurement of the wind
field within the troposphere, and 2) the development of
requirements for the next operational weather radar in the
United States (NEXRAD) which included the capability
to observe low-level wind fields in the clear atmosphere.
Both of these developments will be incorporated into ob-
serving networks which will provide enhanced depictions
of the weather on smaller scales than were previously pos-
sible.
The basic objective of this history is to describe the evo-
lution of our understanding of the clear atmosphere as
observed with radars. This chapter includes 1) a description
of significant research events throughout the history of
radar investigations of the clear atmosphere; 2) the iden-
tification of the key researchers involved in the studies; 3)
an explanation of the causes of the radar echoes from the
clear air; and 4) a summary of the applications that became
possible as a result of the research using radars to probe
the atmosphere.
 THE HISTORY OF RADAR STUDIES OF THE CLEAR ATMOSPHERE 131

TABLE 2.1
Heishts of Radar Layers for Wavelensths of 17.3 to 186m and Heishts of Temperature Inversions
as Measured by an Airplane (from Colwell and Friend, 1939)

Height of C Region by Height of Temperature

Radio Pulae Above Invenion by Airplane
flight Date Sea level (km) Above Sea level (k.m)
1 22 Dec 1938 1.4 1.2
2 28 Dec 1938 1.09 1.04
3 2 Jan 1939 1.2 } two reflections 1.15 } two reflections
1.8 1.7
4 5 Jan 1939 1.52-1.19 1.5 turbulent air
5 6Jan1939 1.14-1.29 } two 1.16 discontinuity
1.50-1.63 reflections 1.56 sharp inversion
6 22 April 1939 1.45-1.75 } two 1.4-1.65 } turbulent
2.3-2.6 reflections 2.1 air

l THE EARLY HISTORY
The early history of radar studies of the clear atmosphere
covers the period from about 1935 to 1949. This history
arose from studies primarily concerned with the structure
of the ionosphere and used radar systems operating in the
1.6 to 20 MHz band (wavelengths from 187 to 15 m).
Colwell and Friend (1936) reported the observation of ra-
dar echoes from layers within a height range of 5-50 km
in the 9 May 1936 issue of Nature. Almost simultaneously
(in the 23 May issue of Nature) Watson Watt et al. (1936)
confirmed these observations and provided additional in-
formation on radar echoes from layers in the troposphere.
As was typical of new or unexpected echoes during the
early days of radar development and extending through
the 1960s, the cause or source of the new echoes was usu-
ally subject to more than one interpretation. In the case of
the earliest radar echoes from regions below the ionos-
phere, there was a tendency to attribute the echoes to lo-
calized regions of ionized strata which might have been
caused by thunderstorms. In keeping with this concept,
Mitra (1936) suggested that the reflecting layers well below
theE layer be called the C region, and Watson Watt and
his group temporarily designated the reflecting region be-
low 100 km as the Z region. However, the evidence quickly
mounted to show that the echoes could not be due to any
type of ionization since many observations of echo layers
were at heights as low as 2 km. The alternative explanation
for the echo layers was partial reflection from boundaries
between different air masses as first put forth by Colwell
and Friend (1939).
Colwell and Friend sent up an aircraft that took readings
of the air temperatures at different heights directly over
the radar station while the heights. of the reflecting layers
were being measured by the radar. The authors used a
radar operating at frequencies between 1.614 and 17.310
observations are shown in Table 2.1; these are the first
known comparisons between the height of a radar echo
layer and the height of a temperature inversion, and the
two heights are in very close agreement. Colwell and
Friend noted that the heights of the reflecting layers did
not show any marked differences using frequencies be-
tween 1.614 and 17.31 MHz, but the strength of there-
flected waves decreased at the higher frequencies. This
decrease in signal strength with increased frequency is
consistent with the concept of partial reflections from
changes in refractive index across the layer.
At the University of Calcutta, several Indian scientists
(S.K. Mitra, P. Syam, LN. Bhar and H. Rakshit) conducted
ionospheric experiments during the period from 1930 to
1935. They also found evidence of reflecting layers in the
troposphere. Rakshit and Bhar (1936), using radars at
wavelengths between 20 and 333 m, observed layers at
heights ranging from about 5 to 15 km. Somewhat later,
Gherzi (1947, 1948), reporting on experiments conducted
in China, described tropospheric echo layers observed with
a radar operating in the wavelength band from 13 to 17
m. He stated that the echoes received from altitudes of 1
to 10 km saturated the scope when he was studying the
weaker echoes at higher altitudes.
In an excellent study of radar angels, Plank (1956) in-
cluded an appendix that summarized the early history of
echoes from the clear atmosphere. Figure 2.1, taken from
Plank (1956), shows the extent of the research and the
key results obtained by a variety of scientists. 1 Research
generally started at the longer wavelengths of 10 to 200
m which were used for ionospheric observations. Watson
Watt et al. (1936), Colwell and Friend (1936), Appleton
and Piddington (1938), and Mitra and Bhar (1938) were
the earliest scientists to observe the radar layers in the
1 Plank (1956) includes the references to the work of the scientists listed

MHz (wavelengths of 186 to 17.3 m). The results of the in Fig. 2.1.
132 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

40,000 BOTH LAYER AND

SEVERAL OBSERVERS REPORT TRANSITORY ANGELS
RELATIVELY STRONG ECHOES FROM HAVE BEEN REPORTED
TROPOPAUSE REGION. TO 40,000 FT. CERTAIN ECHOES HAVE BEEN CORRELATED WITH
AT THIS ALTITUDE VHF INSECTS, BIROS, TEMPERATURE INVERSIONS, MOISTURE
t::i 30,000 ECHOES WEAKER 6 MORE GRADIENTS AND TURBULENT REGIONS.
_ _ _ _ _...___F-"L-"U.._CTUATING THAN H.F. ECHOES. MOST INTENSE ACTIVITY OBSERVED ON
w
u. CERTAIN ECHOES HAVE BEEN ~ORRELATED WARM, CLEAR DAYS.
'
w WITH TEMPERATURE INVERSIONS, MOISTURE
MOST INTENSE ACTIVITY OBSERVED ON MOIST,
E2o,ooo
0 GRAOIE NTS, TURBULENT ZONES, COLO FRONTS
AND AIR- CLOUD BOUNDARIES.
STRONGLY HEATED DAYS.
POWER REFLECTION COEFFICIENTS RANGE 10-11
1- POWER REFLECTION COEFFICIENTS TO I0-11 ~
_1
<( RANGE 10-1 TO 10-14 I
AVERAGE UPPER LIMIT OF ACTIVITY
10,000
._ ~S~EC~A:-ry
STRONG
RING ANGELS
717/11777777717/l/lrll____ / /
OBSERVATION OF
//sEA BREEZE
_j_
WAVELENGTH
Cm 100,000 10,000 1,000 100 10 I .I
LPBANDRADAR-+LBANDRADAR..I s 1 R 1 x LKBANo-1 Q I vJ
I IBAND BAND BAND! RADAR -~. ......
FREQUENCY .3 MEDIUM 3 HIGH FREQUENCY 30 VERY HIGH 300 ULTRA HIGH 3,000 SUPER HIGH 30,000 EXTREMELY 300,000
Me/Sec FREQUENCY FREQUENCY FREQUENCY FREQUENCY HIGH FREQUENCY
- - - - - - - - WATToN~~SONl- - - f - -- - -
~;- --;H~I--- - - --
~I ~T·~
APPLETON GHERZI I
I
TYPE I-II LAYER ANGELS
WATSON
~~---------
t
ANGELS 6 PIDDINGTON WATT f I
-FRIENDMf'i'RA FRIEND I GOULOf
a BHAR - I BROWNE ATLAS GOULD
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -LIGfD-A BA~DWIN BAL6;N:JAsr - - - - -
TIBBETTS FRIIS GOULD
TYPE II GOULD CRAWFORDc~tf,~
FRIEND GOULD 1
ANGELS STONE BROC ATLAS
HOUGH GOULD
STOUT s:~~Gi-Ff
--------------~-~----------

EATON JONES
TYPE:m: LIGDA TIBB~ MENZEL-
ANGELS
BELLAIRE -B~~~~~ERS-
- MANY REPORTED-
SIGHTINGS IN AIR FORCE FILES

Fig. 2.1 Some characteristics of angel echoes as summarized by Plank (1956). Comments identify those altitude regions and places in the
electromagnetic spectrum where angels have been observed.

troposphere. Throughout this period, A. W. Friend partic-
ularly persisted and was a stalwart in using radar for at-
mospheric measurements.
During the 1940s Friend, along with others, started using
shorter wavelength radars. He noted that the echoes ob-
served in the clear atmosphere with a 10.7-cm radar were
not as numerous nor as strong as those observed at much
longer wavelengths. He also described observations of
"dot" echoes which were detected both when the radar
beam was directed vertically and in a plan position indi-
cator (PPI) mode. However, Baldwin (1943, 1948) of the
Bell Telephone Laboratories first reported the observation
of dot echoes or angels. During the summers of 1943 and
1944, using radars at 3- and 10-cm wavelength in the vi-
cinity of the Chesapeake Bay Annex of the Naval Research
Laboratory, Baldwin and others detected and tracked a
number of invisible targets at ranges of 0.7 to 5.5 km and
elevation angles of 5°-90°. The echoes were always in
motion and generally traveled with the speed and direction
of the wind; many of the targets or echoes were tracked
for periods of up to 4 min.
Thus, up through the early 1940s at least two types of
radar echoes from the clear atmosphere had been observed
and studied. The earliest detected echoes were observed
at vertical incidence and only at the longer radar wave-
lengths; these are indicated as type I angels in Fig. 2.1,
and they were often associated with temperature inversions
within the troposphere. These type I angels are undoubt-
edly of the same nature as the quasi-specular echoes which
were observed and studied in much greater detail using
VHF radars during the fourth period (1973 to 1982). The
second kind of echo was observed with radars operating
in the 3- to 10-cm wavelength region and appeared as
point or dot targets; these are indicated as type II angels
in Fig. 2.1. The next 20 years produced numerous papers
and scientific debates on the cause of these two types of
echoes. In addition, other types of clear-air echoes would
be observed and would lead to important contributions to
our understanding of atmospheric structure and dynamics.
Plank (1956) showed some of the features of these dot
echoes in Fig. 2.1. His paper also provided detailed de-
scriptions of the characteristics of the dot echoes in terms
of their daily and seasonal variability and also discussed
possible causes of the echoes. These features will be de-
scribed more fully in sections 3 and 4. Plank classified
some angels as type III; these were generally radar echoes
 THE HISTORY OF RADAR STUDIES OF THE CLEAR ATMOSPHERE
that did not fall easily into the first two types. Some of the
type III echoes may have been caused by anomalous prop-
agation, second-sweep echoes, or sidelobe echoes. As
events evolved, only the type I and type II echoes contin-
ued to interest researchers over the following years.
Friend (1949) attempted to explain the cause of the var-
ious types of radar echoes from the clear atmosphere which
had been observed at meter and centimeter wavelengths.
His theory involved the computation or derivation of
power reflection coefficients which could arise as a result
of various refractive index structures within the clear at-
mosphere. With the benefit of greatly improved theoretical
studies and experimental data obtained in the late 1970s
and early 1980s, it is evident that Friend's theory is ap-
plicable to the layers observed at vertical incidence with
radars having wavelengths of meters or longer. At the
shorter radar wavelengths, it is improbable that refractive
index changes over half a wavelength could exist in the
atmosphere to yield the reflection coefficients which are
needed to account for Friend's early observations using a
10.7-cm radar of relatively low power. However, large
changes in refractive index over vertical distances of 11
em were measured by Lane (1968); as a result of his radar
and refractive index observations, Lane suggests ". . . the
possibility of a partial-reflection mechanism cannot be en-
tirely ignored, especially at wavelengths greater than 10
em and in thin stable inversions produced by persistent
anticyclones." Atlas (1964, 1965) developed some of the
concepts for the partial reflection of radar waves and ar-
gued that specular reflections may also be possible at
shorter radar wavelengths.
3 THE PERIOD FROM 1950 TO 1962
3.1 Tropospheric Propagation
The decade of the 1950s was a period of considerable
activity in experiments and theoretical studies of over-the-
horizon (OTH) radio propagation. With expanding re-
quirements to transmit more information both regionally
and globally, communication engineers were primarily re-
sponsible for exploring how the atmosphere would affect
OTH propagation. As communication links were set up,
it was discovered 1) that the received signal at longer dis-
tances was considerably stronger than expected, and 2)
the reason for the enhanced signals was the scattering from
the atmosphere within the common volume of the trans-
mitting and receiving beams. This is shown schematically
in Fig. 3.1. The reflection of long radio waves occurs from
the ionosphere, and it was primarily this type of OTH
propagation which had been investigated prior to the
1950s. From the perspective of clear-air radar studies the
work on tropospheric scattering was important because
the mechanisms responsible for the scattering are closely
related to the backscatter and partial reflection that give
rise to clear-air radar echoes.
133
STRATOSPHERE
Fig. 3.1 The different types of propagation showing the reflection
from the ionosphere, refraction due to the profile of refractive index
in the atmosphere, and tropospheric scattering. (Adapted from Fig.
II.l of du Castel, 1966.)
As described in section 2, Friend (1949) was concerned
primarily with the process of partial reflection of radio
waves from atmospheric layers which were perpendicular
to the vertically pointing radars. In a short note, Pekeris
(1947) derived equations which gave the energy of sound
scattered in an inhomogeneous medium and noted that
his treatment of the problem would also apply to the scat-
tering of electromagnetic radiation in an optically inho-
mogeneous medium. Extending Pekeris' work, Booker and
Gordon (1950) were the first to carry out a theoretical
treatment of possible scattering mechanisms of radio waves
within the troposphere. Almost simultaneously, Megaw
(1950) in England described the effect that atmospheric
turbulence would have on the propagation of electromag-
netic waves. These works were followed by more com-
prehensive studies by Batchelor (1955), Villars and Weiss-
kopf (1955), Silverman (1956), Megaw (1957), Bolgiano
(1958), and in the Soviet Union by Tatarskii (1961). Be-
cause of the rapid advance in the understanding of tro-
pospheric scatter by electromagnetic waves, the October
1955 issue of the Proceedings of the l.R.E. was devoted to
the subject.
One of the key issues surrounding the discussions of
OTH radio propagation was the relative roles and impor-
tance of isotropic scattering and partial reflection. For radar
systems, partial reflection would be a factor only for ver-
tically pointing radars since large refractive index gradients
are predominantly in the vertical direction. For forward-
scatter communication systems, however, both reflection
and scattering are possible contributors to the received
signal.
The general theory of the scattering of electromagnetic
waves by refractive index fluctuations has been treated by
Tatarskii (1961) and is summarized in this volume (Gos-
sard, Chapter 27a). The key expression derived by Tatar-
134 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
skii relates the structure constant (Cn 2 ), which is a measure
of the variability of the refractive index within the inertial
subrange, to the radar reflectivity. For isotropic scattering
at a scale within the inertial subrange, the expression is:
11 = 0.38C/;\ - 1 ; 3 • (3.1)
The reflectivity factor, 1], has units of em - 1 when Cn 2 is in
units of cm- 2 13 • Equation (3.1) is the basis for many of
the theoretical and experimental radar studies of strong
refractive index turbulent regions in the clear atmosphere
during the 1960s and early 1970s.
As an aid in understanding the source of radar echoes
in the clear atmosphere, it should be noted that particles,
which are small relative to the wavelength of the radar,
will have a radar reflectivity given by
(3.2)
where K is related to the complex index of refraction of
the particle, Dis the particle diameter, and the sum is taken
over a unit volume. Equation (3.2) is the Rayleigh ap-
proximation; it can be applied with very small errors for
clouds and raindrops when radar wavelengths greater than
3 em are used. Comparing (3.1) and (3.2), it can be seen
that particle scatter can be distinguished from scatter due
to variations in refractive index by measuring the reflec-
tivity at more than one radar wavelength. As will be seen
in section 4, the simultaneous use of multiwavelength ra-
dars led to a greatly improved understanding of the source
of the clear-air radar echoes.
Both scattering and partial reflections give rise to OTH
propagation. The relative importance of these two pro-
cesses was a subject of vigorous debate in the developing
years of research on troposcatter propagation. A group of
French scientists ( du Castel, Misme, Voge and Spizzichino)
were advocates of the importance of partial reflection and
much of their work is presented in a book by du Castel
(1966). As an indication of the tremendous interest in OTH
propagation, du Castel has listed 409 references related to
this subject for the years up to 1961. The main difficulty
in the experimental measurement programs for OTH radio
systems was trying to sort out the contributions to the
signal from partial reflections and from isotropic scattering.
Experiments performed at the University of Wisconsin in
the late 1960s and early 1970s helped to clarify these issues.
Birkemeier et al. (1968) and Atlas et al. (1969a), using
Doppler processing of 940 MHz bistatic radar data, ob-
served turbulent layers of the same kind that had been
seen earlier (see section 4) by monostatic radars. In ad-
dition to the turbulent echoes, non-Doppler shifted spec-
ular echoes were also observed (Atlas et al., 1969b; Gage
et al., 1973) that were well correlated with atmospheric
stability very similar to the specular echoes observed later
using monostatic VHF radars (see section 5). The study
of specular and isotropic scattering continues to be an im-
portant area of research, and Gage (Chapter 28a) provides
a thorough review of the subject. He concludes that theo-
retical models of backscattered power from a variety of
atmospheric structures and for a range of radar wave-
lengths still need further development and evaluation.
3.2. Angel Echoes
The existence of dot or point echoes had been recognized
by Baldwin (1948)using 3- and 10-cmradars and by Friend
(1949) using a 10-cm radar. With the increasing availability
of shorter wavelength radars in the 1940s, radars detected
echoes from the clear atmosphere on many occasions. The
observations of dot echoes increased as the detection ca-
pabilities of the shorter wavelength radars increased. Since
there was no visible target to explain these radar echoes
from the clear atmosphere, they were known as ghost
echoes, phantom echoes, or angel echoes. The term" angel
echoes" became the most commonly used name to describe
echoes, which usually appeared as point sources, but the
term was also used to designate other types of unexplained
echoes in the clear atmosphere.
Dot angels were most often observed with vertically
pointing radars and were commonly seen on radars at
wavelengths from 0.86 to 3.2 em. They were also observed
using scanning systems. Plank (1956) has provided a com-
plete review of the many observations of angel echoes up
until the mid-1950s, including a description of the possible
causes of the echoes.
With the background of sensing reflections from the clear
regions of the troposphere by the 10 to 200-m radars used
in ionospheric research and with the known relation of
these reflections to large gradients of refractive index, it
was tempting to explain the dot angels observed at the
shorter 1- to 10-cm radars as due to sharp gradients in
refractivity. On the other hand, at shorter radar wave-
lengths, the backscatter cross sections of single birds or
insects are sufficiently large that they could be detected
out to ranges of several kilometers. Crawford (1949) made
simultaneous observations at two wavelengths of 3.2 and
1.25 em with the radar antenna in a fixed vertical position.
He attempted to create artificially large changes in refrac-
tive index by building fires and pouring water on heated
rocks so that the steam clouds were carried into the beam
of the antennas. As a result of these experiments, Crawford
stated,
Some recent observations indicate rather convincingly that
perhaps the chief, and possibly the only, sources of these
reflections are flying insects and birds. We were led to this
viewpoint when all attempts to synthesize "angels" by ar-
tificially producing boundaries of temperature, humidity, or
turbulence failed completely, and when visual observation
of insects coincided strikingly with the radar observations.
Another view during this period was that dot angels were
associated with the concave-downward cap of a rising

thermal or bubble (Atlas, 1964, 1965). While Atlas aban-
doned his focusing model of convective plumes as the
cause of dot angels immediately following the early Wal-
lops Island experiments (see section 4), elements of the
model remain pertinent to studies of specular reflection.
It was perhaps natural for investigators to align themselves
with one or the other of the two possible causes of dot
echoes during the 1950s because relatively little was known
about either insect or bird behavior on the scales observed
by radar or on the structure of the atmosphere which might
give rise to the radar echoes in the clear atmosphere.
Some radar observations of the sea breeze, first reported
by Atlas et al. (1953) and later by Atlas (1960), provided
added interest in the use of radar for investigating the
clear atmosphere. Using a 1.25-cm radar pointing either
horizontally toward the sea breeze or occasionally in the
vertical, Atlas et al. (1953) demonstrated that the radar
echoes occurred in the vicinity of the sharp changes in
refractive index which were measured with surface in-
strumentation as the sea breeze moved inland.
Toward the end of the 1950s and into the early 1960s,
a second type of echo structure was observed. These were
"angel layers" which occurred as horizontally stratified
layers and were viewed with a 10-cm wavelength radar
either on a range height indicator (RHI) display (Atlas,
1964) or by a vertically pointing radar using a time height
indicator (THI) display (Lane and Meadows, 1963). An
example of one of these stratified layers is shown in Fig.
3.2 which is taken from Lane and Meadows (1963); it
shows a 10-cm THI display and a thin weak layer near a
height of 1.4 km. Plotted beside the THI display is the
record of a refractometer sounding obtained by an aircraft
at the same time as the radar data. The radar layer cor-
responds perfectly with the very sharp gradient of refrac-
tive index near 1.4 km. Much later studies have shown
that the bases of inversions are preferred locations of re-
fractivity turbulence (Gossard, Chapter 27a).
250 "
300
ATMOSPHERIC RtFRAC TIVE INO€ X
1---- - - 1 · 5 M INUTES - -- - - j (PARTS IN 10 6 ABOVE
Fig. 3.2 Simultaneous radar and refractometer soundings at 1755
UTC 29 August 1961. Note that the thin radar layer at 1.4 km occurs
at the same height as the very sharp gradient of refractive index.
(From Lane and Meadows, 1963.)
THE HISTORY OF RADAR STUDIES OF THE CLEAR ATMOSPHERE 135
An event took place in 1957 that in retrospect was the
beginning of three highly productive specialized meetings.
Members of the International Scientific Radio Union
(URSI), the International Geodetic and Geophysical Union
(UGGI), and the International Union of Pure and Applied
Physics (IUPAP) held a joint meeting on radio meteorology
at New York University in August 1957. Papers presented
at this meeting by A. D. Wheelan (1959) and Atlas (1959)
discussed the radio scattering by tropospheric irregularities
and radar studies of "angel" echoes respectively. These
papers, and several others presented at the meeting,
prompted J.S. Marshall, who was referring to URSI and
UGGI, to write in the Preface to the published papers:
We submit, therefore, that a Joint Commission on Radi-
ometeorology should be retained, with membership from
these two Unions, and charged with the responsibility to
maintain constructive intercommunications among radi-
ometeorologists, whether their basic interest lies with radio,
or meteorology, or purely and simply with the composite
appellation.
Subsequently, the Inter-Union Commission of Radio Me-
teorology ( IUCRM) was formed and held its first specialist
meeting in Moscow in 1965 under the title of Atmospheric
Turbulence and Radio Wave Propagation (Publishing House
"Nauka," Moscow, 1967). This first colloquium drew at-
tention to the role of finescale atmospheric structure and
its effects upon radio waves. By the time of the second
colloquium, which was held in Stockholm in 1969 under
the title Spectra of Meteorological Variables with the papers
published in the December 1969 issue of Radio Science
(Vol. 4, No. 12), there had been great advances in the
direct measurements and theoretical considerations of the
structure of refractive index variability. Thus the second
colloquium considered 1) experimental and theoretical
studies of atmospheric structure and associated spectra, 2)
electromagnetic techniques for finescale probing, and 3)
fluid dynamics relevant to finescale structure. The third
and final colloquium in this series was held in La Jolla,
California in June 1972. This meeting was attended by a
mix of scientists from various specialties and led to the in-
depth consideration of 1) experimental and theoretical
studies of atmospheric turbulence and waves on stable
laminae with special emphasis upon their interrelation, 2)
electromagnetic and acoustic techniques for probing such
structure, and 3) fluid dynamics relevant to turbulence
induced in shear flow. The La Jolla Proceedings were pub-
lished in Boundary-Layer Meteorology in 1973 (Vol. 4, Nos.
5 and 6). These three colloquia, with the enthusiastic par-
35C ticipation of scientists with a diverse range of interests,
TY ) provided the environment for the rapid development of a
greatly improved understanding of a wide range of at-
mospheric structures and processes.
Returning to radar studies of the clear atmosphere from
1950 to 1963, it was evident by the early 1960s that dot
angels were a common phenomenon on radars especially
136 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
at wavelengths of 3 em and shorter. At the same time, an
important new type of atmospheric structure was observed;
this structure occurred in thin layers of the clear atmo-
sphere and was detected using the more sensitive 10-cm
wavelength radars that were being put to use for atmo-
spheric studies.
4 THE PERIOD FROM 1963 TO 1972
4.1 The Causes of Radar Echoes in the Clear
Atmosphere
The early to mid-1960s saw a tremendous increase in
the number of investigators who had radars capable of
detecting echoes in the clear atmosphere. These included
Vrana (1961), Hay and Reid (1962), Borchardt (see Atlas,
1964), Roelofs (1963 }, Fehlhaber and Grosskopf (1964),
Battan (1963 ), Ottersten (1964), Lhermitte (1966 ), Saxton
et al. (1964), and LaGrone et al. (1964). The information
acquired about the dot angels was particularly intense
during this period. The year 1964 was a major turning
point not only in resolving the nature of the clear-air radar
echoes but also in providing the stepping stone for unrav-
eling the mystery of clear-air turbulence and, to some ex-
tent, of the structure of the convective boundary layer. In
1964 David Atlas, the Chief of the Weather Radar Branch
at the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories ( AFCRL,
but now called the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory), was
instrumental in initiating an atmospheric research program
using the powerful multiwavelength radars which were
operated by lincoln Laboratory at the NASA Station at
Wallops Island, Virginia. With a source of funding iden-
tified, Atlas put together a team of researchers (headed by
Isadore Katz) from the Applied Physics Laboratory of
Johns Hopkins University, and along with scientists from
his own Branch established a strong radar meteorological
program.
One of the first results from the Wallops Island program
was the persuasive evidence for insects or birds being the
cause of dot angels observed at radar wavelengths of 10
em or less (Hardy et al., 1966). Of greater significance
during this same time period was the realization that sen-
sitive radars could routinely observe the clear-air convec-
tive boundary layer as well as horizontal layers in the tro-
posphere which were sufficiently turbulent to affect
aircraft. Figure 4.1, from Atlas and Hardy (1966), shows
an example of the early data obtained with the Wallops
Island radars. It is a group of RHis for the 3.2-, 10.7- and
71.5-cm radars. Cirrus cloud shows up at the 3.2-cm
wavelength, is somewhat weaker on the 10.7-cm radar,
and does not appear at all on the 71.5-cm photograph.
Such a drop-off in signal strength with wavelength is ex-
pected for Rayleigh scatterers as indicated by the X- 4
wavelength dependence of Eq. (3.2) . The fact that the
numerous dot echoes, appearing between 1 and 3 km in
20 10
RANGE (km)
Fig. 4.1 RHI photos at 3.2, 10.7 and 71.5 em (top to bottom) along
an azimuth of 260 deg for 2140 UTC 3 September 1966 obtained at
Wallops Island, Virginia. The cirrus cloud appears at the shorter
wavelengths whereas the longer wavelength radar detects only the
clear-air refractive turbulence (section 3). The numerous dot echoes
appearing between heights of 1 and 3 km are due to insects. (From
Atlas and Hardy, 1966.)
height, are seen most prominently with the 3.2-cm radar
and not at all with the 71.5-cm radar indicates that the
targets are small relative to the radar wavelength. This
observation of dot echoes, as well as many other types of
measurements (e.g., the tracking by radar of single known
insect species), has led to the conclusion that the dot targets
are insects or birds (Glover and Hardy, 1966; Glover et
al., 1966) .
The thin layers in Fig. 4.1 near the surface and at a
height of 1 km seen with the two longer wavelength radars
are not attributed to particle scatter; if this were the case,
the layer would appear much stronger at the shorter
wavelength. Instead, the layers are caused by backscatter
from variations in refractive index (Hardy et al., 1966); in
their paper, it is shown that the wavelength dependence
of the echo layers is consistent with Eq. (3.1) which is
based on the theory of scatter by refractive index variations.
In addition, it has been confirmed that these clear-air radar
layers are associated with increased refractivity fluctuations
as measured directly with refractometers mounted on air-
craft or suspended below a helicopter (Konrad and Randall,
1966 ) .
Atlas was also responsible for the first simultaneous
measurements of refractive index variability and radar re-
flectivity at Wallops Island. In the spring and early summer
of 1966, he organized a joint experiment with John Lane
 THE HISTORY OF RADAR STUDIES OF THE CLEAR ATMOSPHERE 137

of the Radio and Space Research Station at Slough in 4.2 Clear-Air Turbulence
England. Lane and his colleagues had developed a fast-
Once it was established that the radars at Wallops Island
response refractometer which they brought to Wallops Is-
could detect fluctuations in the refractive index field, there
land. The refractometer was suspended below a helicopter,
were rapid developments in using the radars for clear-air
and the radar echo characteristics were obtained in the
turbulence (CAT) research. The potential for detecting
layers which were being probed by the refractometer. The
CAT by radars was recognized several years earlier by
refractometer was able to respond to fluctuations at a scale
Smith and Rogers (1963); their key paper, which quantified
of about 3 m; however, the 10.7-cm radar interacts with
the radar detection of turbulence in the clear air, was pub-
a scale of only 5.35 em (Gossard, Chapter 27a). Thus, it
lished in one of the proceedings of a long series of weather
was necessary to extrapolate the measured power spectrum
radar conferences sponsored by the American Meteoro-
of refractive index down to the 5.35 em scale assuming
logical Society. This is only one example of many dem-
that the -513 power law of the inertial subrange was
onstrating the value of regular weather radar conferences
applicable. By doing this, good correspondence was found
where preliminary or early research results can be dissem-
between the reflectivity measured by the radar and the
inated quickly and efficiently. The CAT research was ex-
reflectivity based on the refractive index measurements.
emplified by several papers on the detection of the tro-
Kropfli et al. (1968) refined the technique by mounting
popause (a theoretical paper by Atlas et al., 1966a;
the refractometer on an aircraft that flew radially toward
experimental confirmation by Atlas et al., 1966b) and on
the radar. While the radar was tracking the aircraft, the
the radar and aircraft detection of CAT (Hicks et al., 1967;
radar reflectivity was being measured in one or more range
Glover et al., 1969; Crane, 1968; Hardy et al., 1968;
gates which were located ahead of the aircraft. Thus, the
Browning et al., 1970; Reed and Hardy, 1972).
refractivity structure measured by the radar would be
The first of several papers on the development and
sampled by the aircraft refractometer but at a slightly later
breaking of gravitational waves was presented by Hicks
time (on the order of 10 sec). The results of these types
and Angell (1968). The dramatic radar photograph that
of experiments (see Gossard, Chapter 27a) demonstrated
appeared in their paper is shown in Fig. 4.2 which shows
the adequacy of the theory and proved conclusively t~at
the "braided structure" soon to be the hallmark of many
turbulent refractive index variations could be detected With
investigations of unstable gravity waves or Kelvin-Helm-
sensitive radars at 10-cm or longer.
holtz instability. Later studies by Browning (1972),
Some important questions remain, however. Under some
Browning and Watkins (1970), Browning et al. (1970),
circumstances (see section 4.2), backscatter can occur from
layers that have thicknesses of the order of only 1 m. Atlas Starr and Browning (1972), Reed and Hardy (1972), Hardy
et al. (1973), and Glover et al. (1969) demonstrated the
et al. (1969c) imply that the spectral energy within the
inertial subrange responsible for these thin radar layers
would be restricted to scales that are less than 1-10 m.
Such values of the outer scale are much smaller than any
previously reported values. Thus, the details relating. to
the isotropic and homogeneous nature of the refractive
index turbulent structure at scales of the order of 1 m still
need to be defined; similarly, the direct application of tur-
bulence theory to explain the quantitative radar backscatter
observations from layers with thicknesses of only 1-10m
requires further validation.
When either the radar pulse volume or insect concen-
tration is large, several insects may be detected simulta-
neously, and rather than a coherent-like signal observed
from just a single target, the signal intensity will fluctuate.
In some rare circumstances, insects have been responsible
for fluctuating signals or echoes seen with a modest 3-cm
radar out to ranges of 50 km (Hardy and Ottersten, 1969).
Battan (1973) provided a summary of many studies that
used radars for clear-air observations. What emerges from Fig. 4.2 An RHI obtained from the 10.7-cm radar at Wallops Island
Battan's summary is that insects or birds are the overriding on 1 June 1966 at 1932 UTC. The range marks are at 5 n mi (9.3
km) intervals and the nearly horizontal marker near the top of the
cause of clear-air echoes observed with radars having
photo is at a height of 20 000 ft (6.1 km). The braided structure
wavelengths of 3 em or less. On the other hand, powerful appearing near a height of 3.5 km occurs in a visually clear atmosphere
radars operating at wavelengths of 10 em or longer rou- and is the result of breaking waves in a statically stable layer. The
tinely detect clear-air echoes, which are the result of back- echoes below 1.8 km are due to scattering from convective structures
scatter from strong refractive index fluctuations. in the boundary layer. (From Hicks and Angell, 1968.)
138 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
close relationship between these billow-like patterns and
CAT. The paper by Reed and Hardy described persistent,
intense clear-air turbulence in an upper-level frontal zone
over the Eastern Seaboard. Hooke and Hardy (1975) made
a further study of this case using data from four micro-
barographs in the Washington, D.C. area; it was found
that gravity-wave-associated pressure oscillations, mea-
sured with the microbarographs, appeared to be directly
related to the upper tropospheric wave structure which
was observed at the same time with the 10-cm radar at
Wallops Island. It was suggested that wave generation by
shear instability in the upper tropospheric airflow and the
resulting vertical momentum transport may be important
elements of the global atmospheric momentum budget.
Glover and Duquette (1970) summarized two years of
CAT research using the Wallops Island radars and aircraft.
The results of their study are shown in Table 4.1. They
found that all altitude intervals corresponding to clear-air
radar layers between 0.5 and 15 km, when probed with
the fighter jet aircraft, were turbulent. In total there were
53 flights during the winters of 1969 and 1970. About
12% of the light or greater turbulence above 6 km was
not detected by the radar, but the stronger turbulence was
generally detected with greater probability than the lighter
turbulence.
More sensitive radars than those at Wallops Island are
able to detect stratified layers which occur in the lower 10
km of the stratosphere, and these layers may be detected
out to ranges of 200 km from the radar (Crane, 1970).
For the detection of refractive index fluctuations, the 23-
cm wavelength radar of Lincoln Laboratory in Westford,
Massachusetts is about 10 dB more sensitive than the ra-
dars at Wallops Island. Robert Crane probed these layers
with a high flying aircraft and found that the thin turbulent
stratospheric layers detected by the radar contained light
or moderate turbulence as reported by the aircraft.
Dobson (1970) was the first scientist to describe Doppler
measurements which were obtained from the scattering
of refractive index fluctuations in the clear atmosphere,
and her measurements were made both in the convective
region of the lower atmosphere and in thin layers of the
midtroposphere. Air motions within a train of large am-
plitude Kelvin-Helmholtz billows in the clear atmosphere
have been determined from nearly simultaneous mea-
surements by a fully instrumented aircraft and a ground-
TABLE 4.1
Percentage of Observed CAT Detected by Wallops
Island Radars during 1969 and 1970
(from Glover and Duquette, 1970)
Altitude (km)
CAT loteDIIty 0.5-3 3-6 6-9 9-ll ll-15
Less than light 100 88 44 67 100
Ught or greater 100 100 81 93 92
based high power Doppler radar (Browning et al., 1972,
1973). For one of the cases reported by Keith Browning
and his colleagues, the pattern is consistent with the Kel-
vin-Helmholtz billows being a train of vortices each ex-
hibiting a vertical wind shear of 0. 06 s - 1, with downward
and upward motions of about 1 m s - 1 • The aircraft, flying
through the upper parts of the billows, encountered tur-
bulence of up to moderate intensity as it penetrated the
crests of the billows.
Another astounding development during the late 1960s
was the FM-CW radar built by Jurgen Richter and Earl
Gossard (Richter, 1969; Gossard and Richter, 1970) . Their
radar pointed vertically and had a resolution as small as
1 m. It was located in San Diego, California where the
marine boundary layer is often marked by a strong inver-
sion and wind shear. In a series of significant papers ( Gos-
sard and Richter, 1970; Gossard et al., 1970, 1971; Atlas
et al., 1970), the FM-CW radar observations were inter-
preted in terms of the influence of trapped and untrapped
internal gravity Wi1;Ves on statically stable shear flows in
the lower clear atmosphere. An example of the data from
the FM-CW radar is shown in Fig. 4.3, which shows the
time-height observation of Kelvin-Helmholtz shearing
instability made with a vertically pointing 10-cm wave-
length radar. The sequence shows the growth, breaking
and decay of a billow. Radar-reflectivity structure seen in
Fig. 4.3 may be as thin as a few meters, although Atlas et
al. (1969c) report some layer thicknesses of only 1 m. The
obvious existence of these very thin layers as the key re-
gions of radar backscatter demonstrate that, for the larger
pulse volumes typical of the radars used in many earlier
experiments, the significant scattering layers would have
filled only a fraction of the total pulse volume; conse-
quently, the reflectivities observed using the relatively large
pulse-volume radars would generally underestimate the
reflectivities of the strong scattering layers. The many im-
portant results coming from the analyses of the FM-CW
data have led to a greatly improved understanding of Kel-
vin-Helmholtz instability and the interaction of instabilities
on a variety of scales.
4.3 Clear-Air Convection
Powerful radars at wavelengths of 10 em or longer con-
sistently detect variations in refractive index associated
with free convection in the clear air. During conditions of
strong surface heating and light winds, these radars reveal
thermal-like, clear-air structures about 1-3 km in diameter
and several hundred meters in height (Hardy and Otter-
sten, 1969; Konrad, 1970; Harrold and Browning, 1971).
An example of these small convective cells, as detected in
a low-elevation PPI scan, is shown in Fig. 4.4a. Since the
refractive index fluctuations in these small cells are stron-
ger near their boundaries than in their centers, the echo
structure is doughnut-shaped. Figure 4.4b is a sketch of
an atmospheric structure which would lead to the observed
 THE HISTORY OF RADAR STUDIES OF THE CLEAR ATMOSPHERE
Fig. 4.3 The FM-CW time-height observation of Kelvin-Helmholtz shearing instability made with a vertically pointing, 10-cm wavelength
FM-CW radar located near San Diego, California on 6 August 1969. The times are PST and the height scale is in meters. The sequence,
from left to right, shows the growth of a billow, its breaking, and subsequent decay. (From Gossard et al., 1970.)
echo pattern. As indictated in the sketch, the flow within
the cell is upward in the center, and the relative flow
around the periphery is outward and possibly downward.
Using the radars at Wallops Island, Konrad (1968) re-
(b)
RADA'l BEAM
LAY ER
RANGE
Fig. 4.4 (a) Sector PPI photo at 3-deg elevation angle taken at 1452
UTC 15 August 1967 with the 10.7-cm radar at Wallops Island.
Echoes in horizontal section at the appropriate altitude and range
display the characteristic doughnut shape. (b) Sketch of vertical section
of the cell structure. The radar outlines the boundary of the cell,
where the refractive index fluctuations are largest; when the radar
is scanned in azimuth, a doughnut-shaped echo results. (From Hardy
and Ottersten, 1969.)
139
ported that the convective cells or thermals are seen vir-
tually throughout the year over both land and sea. Konrad
and Kropfli (1968), confining their observations to clear-
air convection over the sea, reported that the entire radar
echo pattern moves along with the mean wind within the
convective layer. Konrad (1970) described the develop-
ment of the convective field and showed that the depth
of convection increases during the heating of the ground
surface in the morning. In nine of the ten cases reported,
the height of the convective domain rose almost linearly
at a rate of about 0.08 ms- 1• Harrold and Browning (1971)
found that the upper limit to the convection varies in height
by several hundred meters over horizontal distances of
tens of kilometers. More importantly, Harrold and Brown-
ing showed that when the thermal structure of the at-
mosphere is conducive for showers to develop, then the
showers form only within those discrete areas of deeper
clear-air convection (marked by higher tops of the con-
vective region) which had persisted for some hours.
The radar investigations of the clear atmosphere, carried
out during the late 1960s and the 1970s, demonstrated
that sensitive radars could be used to define structures
within the boundary layer as well as in selected rather thin
layers throughout the troposphere and lower stratosphere.
These studies were largely responsible for including a re-
quirement of the Next Generation Weather Radar
( NEXRAD) to be able to detect clear-air echoes from the
boundary layer. From the Doppler measurements within
the boundary layer, it will also be possible to determine
regions of convergence where the initial formation of con-
vective activity is likely to occur. The studies also laid the
groundwork for the use of longer wavelength radar sys-
tems for obtaining wind profiles.
5 VHF /UHF RADAR STUDIES FROM
1973 TO 1982
During the early 1970s the focus of activity in clear-air
radar research shifted to the use of lower frequency (longer
wavelength) radars that had previously been used pri-
marily for ionospheric research. The new direction origi-
nated in work performed at the Jicamarca Radio Obser-
140 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
vatory in Peru (Fig. 5.1). During this early period, Tor
Hagfors was the Director of the Jicamarca Radio Obser-
vatory. This new direction commenced following discus-
sions between Gordon Little, Director of NOAA's Wave
Propagation Laboratory, and John Green, Chief Engineer
of the Jicamarca radar. Little was very familiar with the
developments in radar probing of the clear atmosphere
already in progress at Wallops Island. In 1968 and 1969,
Green proceeded to modify the Jicamarca radar and obtain
echoes from the lower atmosphere. After 1969, the Jica-
marca facility was operated by Peruvian scientists and en-
gineers under the direction of Ronald Woodman. Wood-
man actively pursued the clear-air research and obtained
Doppler wind velocities in both the lower atmosphere and
the mesosphere (Woodman and Guillen, 1974). This paper
is widely regarded as the seminal work that led to the
active research using VHF radar in the decade that fol-
lowed.
After the work at Jicamarca many researchers recognized
the potential of VHF radars for exploring the clear atmo-
sphere. In particular, those who had been previously active
in ionospheric research could foresee the value of these
radars for studying the dynamics of the middle atmo-
sphere, the region of the atmosphere that includes the
stratosphere and the mesosphere and lies roughly between
10 and 100 km. The Sunset radar was the first VHF radar
built exclusively for observing the lower neutral atmo-
sphere; it was constructed in a canyon west of Boulder,
Colorado in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and op-
erates at a frequency of 40 MHz. The first results from the
Sunset radar were published in 1975 (Green et al., 1975).
Early research using the Sunset radar focused on compar-
isons of wind measurements with balloon and aircraft data,
turbulence measurements, Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) insta-
bility, and observations of quasi-specular echoes from the
stable atmosphere (Warnock et al., 1978; Gage and Balsley,
Fig. 5.1 Photograph of the ]icamarca radar located near Lima, Peru.
1978; VanZandt et al., 1978; Gage and Green, 1978, 1979;
Green et al., 1979; Green and Gage, 1980; VanZandt et
al., 1979). The Sunset radar also observed bimodal Doppler
spectra from clear air and precipitation for the first time
(Green et al., 1978).
Another radar built as a direct result of the Jicamarca
research was the SOUSY (SOUnding SYstem) radar. The
53-MHz SOUSY radar was constructed during the years
1974 through 1976 in the Harz mountains of the Federal
Republic of Germany by the Max-Planck Institute for
Aeronomy in Lindau. The group from the Max-Planck In-
stitute (Czechowsky, Klostermeyer, Rottger, Riister and
Schmidt) were primarily concerned with the dynamics of
the atmosphere up to 100 km. To obtain experience with
this type of radar and radar techniques, Rottger and Riister
worked together with Woodman at the Jicamarca radar
for two weeks in 1975, and Woodman spent eighteen
months in Lindau during 1976 and 1977. The first results
using the SOUSY radar were presented at the 17th Radar
Meteorology Conference ( Czechowsky et al., 1976; Riister
and Woodman, 1976). Early research using the SOUSY
radar concentrated on atmospheric waves, KH instabilities,
and quasi-specular echoes (Rottger et al., 1978; Rottger
and Liu, 1978; Rottger and Schmidt, 1979; Klostermeyer
and Riister, 1980; Czechowsky et al., 1979).
During the late 1970s Ben Balsley, Warner Ecklund, and
David Carter at NOAA's Aeronomy Laboratory conducted
several experiments that established the capabilities of
VHF j UHF Doppler radars for profiling atmospheric
winds. Initial experiments used the 1290-MHz Chatanika,
Alaska radar and the 430-MHz Arecibo radar (Balsley et
al., 1977; Farley et al., 1979) . In both experiments com-
parisons were made between radar-observed and rawin-
sonde-measured winds. A portable VHF radar was oper-
ated briefly in Alaska by Ecklund et al. (1977). Up to this
time all VHF radars operated in a campaign mode for ex-
periments of limited duration. However, Ecklund et al.
(1979) demonstrated the capability of Doppler radars for
routine wind measurement. Using the unattended Platte-
ville, Colorado radar as a prototype system, they obtained
hourly wind profiles for two days in early 1978. An ex-
ample of the wind profiles determined from the measure-
ments is shown in Fig. 5.2.
The Platteville radar was built by the Aeronomy Lab-
oratory as a prototype of a much larger and more powerful
facility to be built at Poker Flat, Alaska. The 50-MHz Poker
Flat radar was constructed during 1979 with support from
the National Science Foundation. The Poker Flat radar was
designed to operate unattended and to take data contin-
uously. The radar uses four large antenna arrays each cov-
ering an area of 100 x 100m. A total of 64 100 kW peak
power transmitter modules were operated together to give
the radar sufficient sensitivity to observe the troposphere,
stratosphere and mesosphere simultaneously. First results
for the Poker Flat MST radar were reported by Balsley et
al. (1979). This radar is described in some detail by Balsley
 THE HISTORY OF RADAR STUDIES OF THE CLEAR ATMOSPHERE
RADAR- DERIVED WIND VELOCITY
Platteville, Colorado
Fig. 5.2 Hourly wind profiles observed by the Platteville radar. (From
Ecklund et al., 1979.)
et al. (1980). The research carried out using the Poker Flat
radar has had an enormous impact on our understanding
of the coupling of the middle and lower atmosphere (see,
for example, Balsley et al., 1983). After nearly seven years
of continuous operation, the Poker Flat MST radar was
turned off at the end of 1986. An archive of Poker Flat
data will eventually reside at NCAR.
Using the facilities described above it has been possible
to demonstrate the measurement capabilities of UHF /VHF
clear-air Doppler radars. A brief summary of these mea-
surement capabilities include horizontal and vertical ve-
locities, turbulence, momentum flux, atmospheric stability
and precipitation (Gage, Chapter 28a).
During the early 1980s the Japanese began construction
of the 46-MHz MU (Middle and Upper atmosphere) radar
located at Shigaraki, Japan. The radar is operated by the
Radio Atmospheric Science Center at Kyoto University.
Built at a cost of nearly 16 million dollars, it is undoubtedly
the most sophisticated radar of its kind in the world today.
The radar was completed and dedicated in 1984.
6 APPLICATIONS OF WIND-
PROFILING DOPPLER RADARS
In the past few years we have witnessed substantial ad-
vancement toward the development of wind protiler tech-
nology for operations and research. The first steps in this
direction were taken by NOAA's Wave Propagation Lab-
oratory (WPL) which established the first network of wind
profilers. The Colorado Wind Profiling network is de-
scribed in Strauch et al. (1984). This network has provided
data in support of mesoscale research by WPL (e.g., Za-
mora et al., 1987) and for nowcasting and short-range
regional forecasting activities of NOAA's Program for Re-
gional Observing and Forecasting Services (PROFS) as
described, for example, by Gage and Schlatter (1984).
These developments can be viewed as the initial steps in
the transfer of technology from the research community
141
to the operational sector, and took place following the ap-
pearance of three related articles in the September 1982
Instrumentation Issue of the Bulletin of the American Me-
teorological Society (Balsley and Gage, 1982; Larsen and
Rottger, 1982; Carlson and Sundraraman, 1982). Tech-
nology transfer activities gained momentum with the es-
tablishment within WPL of a wind profiler technology
transfer group. This group was formed to oversee the es-
tablishment of a demonstration network of 30 wind pro-
filers to be deployed in the central United States during
the early 1990s. This network is intended to test the pos-
sibility of utilizing wind profilers as supplements to, or
replacements for, conventional rawinsonde data. The es-
tablishment of the profiler network could be just the be-
ginning of a new emphasis upon ground-based remote
sensing for routine profiling of the atmosphere. A more
complete sounding capability could be accomplished by
hybrid systems as discussed, for example, by Hogg et al.
(1983 ).
The first wind profiler data to be incorporated routinely
into global analysis and forecast models are from Christmas
Island (2°N, 157°W) in the tropical Pacific. The Christmas
Island wind profiler was established in 1986 by the Aeron-
omy Laboratory with the support of the Tropical Ocean
Global Atmosphere (TOGA) program. This profiler has
routinely transmitted hourly wind profile data via satellite
every six hours since April1986. The data are incorporated
into the Global Telecommunication System for worldwide
dissemination. After a period of evaluation the data are
now being used in routine analysis and forecasting prod-
ucts of the National Meteorological Center (NMC) and
the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
(ECMWF) . The Christmas Island profiler may be the first
in a future global network of wind profilers (Gage et al.,
1988).
7 CONCLUDING REMARKS
The history of radar studies of the clear atmosphere is
characterized by contributions of several key scientists and
by a few events which helped greatly to assure the steady
progress toward the use of radars for defining atmospheric
structure and processes. A. Friend and A. Crawford were
certainly on the right track in the 1940s since Friend cor-
rectly identified the correspondence between radar layers
and refractive index gradients and Crawford demonstrated
very strong evidence for insects being the source of dot
angels. Closer attention to the work of these two scientists
might have alleviated the confusion regarding angel echoes
which existed during the 1950s. In the middle of the 1950s,
V. Plank completed an exhaustive review of the experi-
ments and knowledge of radar echoes from the clear air;
his report formed an excellent basis for the progress and
improved understanding that developed in the 1960s.
D. Atlas, with his enthusiasm and persistent quest for
unraveling the puzzles of clear-air radar echoes in the
142 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
1950s and 1960s, played a large role in the eventual so-
lution. Atlas analyzed data from radars operating at wave-
lengths of 1.25 and 10 em during the 1950s and described
echoes from the clear atmosphere observed with both sys-
tems. In keeping with the advances in the experimental
arena, V. Tatarskii in 1961 correctly derived the theory
which provided a quantitative relationship between the
radar reflectivity and the refractive index structure.
Through the use of the powerful multiwavelength radars
at Wallops Island, Atlas and his co-workers made rapid
advances by first resolving the mechanisms giving rise to
angel echoes and secondly by the innovative use of the
radars for deriving important features of turbulent and
convective processes in the atmosphere.
During the late 1960s, the development of the FM-CW
radar system by Gossard and Richter provided another
opportunity for a great leap forward in terms of probing
the finescale structure of the atmosphere. Finally, the
promise of Friend's earlier results for using radar as a sys-
tem for, the continuous probing of the atmosphere was
fulfilled through the development of long-wavelength ra-
dars; these radars, used previously for ionospheric re-
search, were modified for tropospheric and stratospheric
wind soundings (Woodman and Guillen, 1974).
In any emerging science and technology area, progress
is most rapid and efficient when there is a positive inter-
action between scientists who have common interests and
goals. The weather radar community has been fortunate
in deriving great benefits from the long and regular series
of conferences that stress the use of radar for probing the
atmosphere. With respect to the studies of the clear at-
mosphere, a special series of three meetings was organized
by the Inter-Union Commission of Radio Meteorology and
brought together a small number of scientists having a
variety of backgrounds and interests. The three meetings
served to focus on particular aspects of remote probing
and the structure and dynamics of the clear atmosphere;
as a result of these meetings and the participants' papers
which were published in special volumes, advances in the
understanding of atmospheric processes were particularly
fast and significant. The history of radar studies of the
clear atmosphere has demonstrated that, although the ad-
vances may have been uneven, the overall result has been
a very impressive gain in the knowledge of the atmosphere.
Acknowledgments. The authors wish to thank Vernon G.
Plank for volunteering to locate some out-of-print reports
and for his significant contributions to the understanding
of angel echoes. Gerhard Schmidt provided a "Brief His-
tory of the SOUSY Group" at the Max-Planck Institute for
Aeronomy in Lindau, Federal Republic of Germany. The
authors also benefited from discussions with David Atlas,
Ralph Donaldson, Isadore Katz, Jiirgen Rottger, Ben Bal-
sley, John Green, Earl Gossard, Bob Kropfli, Gordon Little,
Dave Hogg, Tom VanZandt, and Ron Woodman concern-
ing various aspects of this history.

Chapter 18
Lightning Investigation with Radar
Earle R. Williams, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Vladislav Mazur, National Severe Storms Laboratory
Spiros G. Geotis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1 BRIEF HISTORY OF LIGHTNING
STUDIES WITH RADAR
1.1 The 1940s
In 1943, within two years after the first thunderstorm
observations with a microwave radar (Ligda, 1951), the
first published account of a lightning observation occurred,
with a radar of 1.5-m wavelength (Pawsey, 1957). About
the same time, Shono (1947) reported detection of light-
ning with a 4-m wavelength radar in Japan. The general
method of lightning observation, which has been followed
by many subsequent investigators, was to direct a fixed
radar beam above the most vertically developed region of
thunderstorms in order to avoid strong backscattering sig-
nal from precipitation that masks the lightning echoes.
The first photographs of lightning echoes were made in
1949, using a 10-cm wavelength radar at MIT (Ligda,
1950).
1.2 The 1950s
The first interpretations of lightning as a radar target
developed from the more quantitative observations in this
decade by Browne (1951), Miles (1952), Marshall (1953),
Ligda (1956), Hewitt (1957), and Atlas (1958). Inquiries
into the plasma physics of lightning began, and compar-
isons were made with parallel work in the analysis of radar
echoes from meteor trails (see, for example, McKinley,
1961). The electron density of the lightning plasma was
identified as a critical parameter in determining whether
the lightning target should be treated as a lossy dielectric
or as a good conductor. The interpretations of the observed
echoes varied widely-from highly ionized single channels
(Ligda, 1956) to large regions of a low-level and uniform
ionization (Atlas, 1958). The importance of precipitation
in masking lightning echoes was recognized by Marshall
(1953) and by Ligda (1956).
In his major observational study with 23-cm wavelength
radar, Ligda (1956) developed a classification of lightning
geometric structures and identified lightning discharges
extending as far as 150 km horizontally. Atlas (1958) ob-
tained novel "pictures" of the vertical cross section of
lightning echoes with a 10-cm wavelength radar, which
showed lightning in the weaker reflectivity region near the
143
cloud top. He also identified and quantified the "sferics"
signals radiated by, rather than reflected from, the lightning
discharge. Hewitt (1953, 1957), the first investigator with
expertise in lightning phenomenology, studied echoes in
efforts to identify lightning processes and substructure.
1.3 The 1960s
This period is most certainly the "dark ages" for radar
lightning studies, because not a single paper on this subject
was published. The focus of research at that time was the
development of radar as a quantitative meteorological in-
strument with particular emphasis on detecting tornadoes
and other severe weather.
1.4 The 1970s
Important developments in both the theory and obser-
vation of lightning echoes were seen in this period. If the
1960s were the dark ages, then the 1970s were certainly
the renaissance for lightning studies in general, especially
noticeable in the Soviet Union where lightning research
with radars was stimulated by earlier studies in the United
States.
On the theoretical side, Dawson (1972) examined the
effects of plasma condition on the radar cross section at
different wavelengths. He also performed calculations on
the temporal evolution of the radar cross section of a cloud-
to-ground channel following a return stroke. Divinsky
(1976) suggested a model of a lightning radar target that
considered the backscattered signal as an incoherent sum
of contributions from an array of linear channel elements.
He also estimated the radar cross section of such a target
for both overdense and underdense plasma conditions.
On the observational side, lightning studies with S-band
radars in the United States became more fully integrated
with other electrical measurements, e.g., electrostatic field
change measurements (Szymanski and Rust, 1979; Holmes
et al., 1980). In the Soviet Union, where the longer wave-
length radars (VHF and UHF bands) were used for light-
ning studies at an early stage of research to minimize the
obscuration effects of precipitation echoes, Divinsky et al.
(1975) and Galperin et al. (1976) measured characteristics
of lightning echoes such as the radar cross section, dura-
tion, and rise and decay times. With the long wavelengths,
 144 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

the concept of lightning as an overdense plasma became

I.
familiar.

1.5 The 1980s

This period has seen a growing interest in radar mea- I
surements of lightning, with a proliferation of research
goals and techniques. Among the achievements are the
first Doppler signature of lightning channels (Zmic et al., I
1982; Lhermitte, 1982), polarization studies (Mazur and
Walker, 1982), comparisons with storm structure (Mazur
et al., 1984), dual wavelength measurements of lightning
radar cross section (Williams and Geotis, 1986), and stud-
ies of the interaction of lightning with aircraft (Mazur et
al., 1985). During the 1980s there has been continued
emphasis on use of narrow-beam, long wavelength radars
(Proctor, 1981; Mazur et al., 1984; Holden et al., 1986).
A summary of scientific progress over these forty years
is the subject of the remaining sections of this chapter.

2 PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS Of
LIGHTNING AS DETERMINED
BY RADAR
2.1 Description of Lightning Echoes
The description of radar echoes from lightning includes
the spatial extent of the echoes, their durations, radial pro-
gression, and pulse-to-pulse variability. Nearly all obser-
vations of lightning with radar demonstrate the extended
nature of the target, i.e., the echoes show continuity in
range over scales substantially greater than typical pulse
lengths (Fig. 2.1). The mean spatial extent along the beam
is of the order of a few kilometers and appears to increase
with the lateral extent of the precipitation. Ligda (1956)
reported one lightning echo in the stratified region behind
a squall line with an extent of 160 km.
The durations of lightning echoes are very similar to
optical durations and range from a few tens of milliseconds
to several hundred milliseconds (Atlas, 1958; Divinsky et
al., 1975; Holmes et al., 1980). A multistroke lightning
echo obtained with a VHF-band radar (shown in Fig. 2.2)
exemplifies the durations of both individual echoes and
the entire flash. Unlike the optical waveforms of lightning
that show "spikes" with submillisecond durations asso-
ciated with large transient currents (K-changes and return
strokes) and much longer "dark periods" in between, the
radar echoes show a more continuous variation of intensity.
This can be explained by the "saturation" of an echo signal
when the plasma is overdense and by the existence of
echo from weakly ionized channels which are not prom-
inent optically. It is now generally believed that the ion-
ization that causes the radar reflection is maintained by
electrical currents that flow continuously throughout the
period of a flash (Holmes et al., 1980; Mazur et al., 19 85 ) .
1
I.
I
Fig. 2.1 Lightning echo signals from an L-band radar (PRF = 360
per second) with every fifth sweep indicated. Letters mark distin-
guishable individual echoes. The continuous spatial extent of several
kilometers as well as the temporal progression along the radar beam
(e.g., echo C) is clearly evident. (Provided by Mazur.)
Although the horizontal extent of the lightning target
has been proposed by Ligda (1956) as a criterion to dis-
tinguish intracloud from cloud-to-ground discharges, no
clear means are available for definite identification of
lightning type on the basis of the character of the echoes.
Curiously, a similar ambiguity exists in the interpretation
of optical waveforms from lightning recorded above clouds
(Brook et al., 1984).
The progression of the radar echo in range in fixed-beam
observations has permitted several investigators to infer a
velocity along the beam (Ligda, 1956; Hewitt, 1957;
Holmes et al., 1980; Mazur and Rust, 1983). The radial
progression speeds lie in the range of 2 X 10 4 m s - 1 to 1.2

I RADIATION
. " ..
r~·.
.~f
·.
'. 'l· t:.
(,
l
t I . 1
I
t
r.1. ,_ . 2
3 -4
' a.. ~
E
~
w
~
TIME-+
z
c(
a:
Fig. 2.2 Lightning echo of a multistroke (presumably cloud-to-ground) flash observed with a VHF-band radar.
The picture is made from an A-scope with Z-axis modulation by a camera with continuous film movement.
Numbers mark echoes from individual strokes. Radiation ("sferics") accompanying lightning coincides with echo
onset. Note also that echoes diminish prior to individual strokes. (Adapted from Mazur and Rust, 1983.)
X 10 5 m s- 1 • While such speeds are consistent with the
slow progression velocities of VHF radiation sources as-
sociated with lightning (Proctor, 1983), the faster velocities
(10 6-10 7 m s - 1) characterizing some lightning processes
have not been identified in radar echoes.
Lightning echoes, like precipitation echoes, exhibit con-
siderable variability from pulse to pulse (Holmes et al.,
1980; Williams et al., 1988). These fluctuations can be
attributed to 1) interference effects caused by independent
reflections from a distributed target, elements of which are
in a different stage of temporal variations of their plasma
characteristics, and 2) interference effects from the back-
ground precipitation. Observations of reduced fluctuations
at longer radar wavelengths (Proctor, 1981), where back-
scattering from precipitation is significantly less, tend to
support the latter interpretation.
l.l Geometric Structure of Lightning
The geometric structure of lightning discharges is not
completely understood. Photographic images of lightning
reveal only a part of the total discharge structure, namely
that outside the cloud, while a part inside the cloud remains
optically obscured. The visible part consists of branched
channels with lengths ranging from kilometers down to
tens of meters. Well-known radar images of lightning
structure obtained in the PPI mode with L-band radar by
Ligda (1956) have characteristics of tree-like assemblies
of channels (Fig. 2.3). There are some indications (see,
LIGHTNING INVESTIGATION WITH RADAR 145
I
I'
I
5
1 100 ms 1 15 km I
e.g., Krehbiel, 1986) that lightning is a double-ended tree
structure which connects regions of opposite charges. The
evidence for spatial continuity in the lightning echo sup-
ports a volume target interpretation, i.e., an array of ele-
ments organized in a treelike structure (Holmes et al., 1980;
Williams et al., 1988). This concept is consistent with radar
images of lightning classified by Ligda (1956). The ob-
served range dependence of radar returns from lightning,
when judged against the point, linear, and volume target
concepts, agrees best with the volume target prediction
(Williams et al., 1988).
In theoretical calculations of the lightning radar cross
section, the assumption that the channel elements are long
and thin in comparison with wavelength is commonly ac-
cepted (Divinsky, 1976; Mazur and Doviak, 1983). The
radar cross section of a thin wire element is strongly peaked
at normal incidence of the linearly polarized wave and
decreases markedly at oblique incidence. For this reason,
the favorably oriented elements in the dendritic structure
dominate the radar cross section.
The channel length per unit volume, Lv, is estimated by
Williams et al. (1988) to be 5-10 km km- 3 on the average,
but with a wide variability. In their calculations, Williams
et al. (1988) used theoretical models of thin wire dendritic
structures of total cross section equal to those observed
with radars. If the channel length per unit volume is related
to preexisting space charge density as it is in laboratory
experiments (Williams, 1985), then the observations of
lightning reflectivity may have diagnostic value for the
electrical structure of storms .
146 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Fig. 2.3 Basic types of lightning echo images drawn from photographs of the radar PPI scope. (Adapted
from Ligda, 1956.)
2.3 The Plasma Condition of Lightning
Radar Targets
A fundamental problem in the interpretation of lightning
echoes concerns the nature of the plasma itself. What is
the electron density and associated temperature of the hot
plasma channel producing radar returns? Is the radar fre-
quency less than the plasma frequency fp (condition of
"overdense" plasma and conductor behavior) or greater
than fP (condition of "underdense" plasma and lossy di-
electric behavior)? These questions have not been resolved
with radar observations because of the simultaneous com-
plications of the plasma condition and the geometry of
the scatterer, both of which affect the radar cross section.
Indeed, researchers have different conclusions concerning
the plasma condition and the lightning geometry. The radar
cross section of lightning can be produced either 1) by a
uniformly ionized volume (Atlas, 1958); 2) by an array
of numerous elements in an underdense plasma condition
(Holmes et al., 1980); or 3) by a smaller number of linear
elements in an overdense plasma condition (Mazur and
Rust, 1983).
Laboratory arcs in air have temperatures of about 6000 K
( Cobine, 1941) and associated electron densities of 10 19-
10 20 m - 3 (Yos, 1963) . A laboratory arc with a steady cur-
rent as small as 1 A is sufficient to fulfill this condition.
Considerable evidence shows that quasi-steady currents
in the 10-100 A range flow throughout the interstroke
period of both natural (Krehbiel et al., 1979) and triggered
(Hubert et al., 1984) lightning flashes. This will make the
plasma overdense at all wavelengths of meteorological ra-
dars (Williams et al., 1988).
2.4 Wavelength Dependence in Lightning
Echo Observations
Theoretical predictions for the radar response of un-
derdense plasma channels (Dawson, 1972) have provided
considerable impetus for multiwavelength observations of
lightning. Observations with aligned beams at X= 5.4 and
X = 11 em (Williams et al., 1988) show the surprising
result that stronger echoes are usually recorded at the
shorter wavelength with an apparent wavelength depen-
dence of X- 2 • When the effects of precipitation masking
are considered, a flat wavelength dependence is found and
is not at variance with model predictions based on the thin
wire approximation (Divinsky, 1976; Mazur and Doviak,
1983 ).
The infrequent detection of lightning with a 5-cm wave-
length radar is not the result of a small cross section, as
previously believed (Holmes et al., 1980), but is explained
by the masking effect of the precipitation targets with their
X- 4 wavelength dependence as suggested by Marshall
(1953), Ligda (1956), and Williams et al. (1988). These
results are shown in Fig. 2.4 which illustrates the potential
for precipitation masking at all but the longest wave-
lengths. Also shown in Fig. 2.4 is the considerable (about
20 dB) flash-to-flash variability in volume reflectivity as-
sociated with lightning. Most of the variability is probably
 LIGHTNING INVESTIGATION WITH RADAR 147

IOm r----------------- -----------------.

Mi l lstone Hi II
>.. = 68cm
92 observations

..........
E lm
..c
+-
CJ'I MI T S- ba nd
c >..=II em
-Q)
Q)
999 01bservations
300
>
200
~ 100
~

0 0
"0
0 IOcm 150
0:: 100
50

Number of observations

\
\

Iem
-12 -II -10 -8 -7 -6 -5
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
Volume Reflectivity 7J ( m2 m3)
Fig. 2.4 Summary of measurements of volume reflectivity associated with lightning
at >., = 5.4, 11, 68 em. Also seen on this log-log plot are lines of fixed reflectivity
associated with precipitation (30 and 55 dBZ), which illustrate the potential for pre-
cipitation masking at shorter wavelength. (Adapted from Williams eta!., 1988.)

the result of differences in the total channel lengths within
the radar pulse resolution volume, but anisotropy may also
contribute to this variability.
3 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
LIGHTNING AND STORM
STRUCTURE
3.1 Vertical Distribution of Lightning
The scanning speed of conventional radar antennas (10
revolutions per minute) makes it possible to "catch" the
two-dimensional (azimuth and range) basic structure of
individual lightning flashes in the PPI mode (e.g., Ugda,
1956). This mode of observation is not fast enough, how-
ever, to detect echoes from most flashes in order to study
distribution of lightning within a storm. By using the fixed-
beam mode for a period of a few seconds, and elevating
the beam in increments equal to the beamwidth (Mazur
et al., 1984), an integrated picture of the distribution of
lightning flashes with altitude and range can be obtained.
Ughtning activity, regardless of flash type and echo in-
tensity, is measured by flash density, i.e., the number of
flashes per minute per kilometer along the radar beam.
Applying this technique, Mazur et al. (1984) found the
flash density to be bimodal with altitude in storm cells
that exhibit vigorous vertical growth, and unimodal oth-
 148 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
erwise (Mazur et al., 1986). The lower maxima in flash
density were found between 6 and 8 km, while the upper
maxima were near the top of the storm cells (13-15 km).
Combined observations with X- and VHF-band radars
of storm structure and lightning flashes, respectively, by
Kachurin et al. (1976), showed that while lightning is gen-
erally confined within the 10 dBZ reflectivity contour, the
maxima of lightning activity do not generally coincide with
the maxima of precipitation reflectivity in storms, and also
that the displacement of these two maxima can vary from
coincidence to 12 km.
Using UHF- and S-band radars for continuous obser-
vation of a multicell thunderstorm, Mazur et al. (1986)
identified the following repetitive pattern in the variations
of reflectivity structure and lightning distribution in indi-
vidual storm cells: 1) during the initial rapid growth of a
cell, lightning activity concentrates on the leading edge of
the 50 dBZ core of the cell, and between this cell and its
dissipating neighboring cell; and 2) in the decay phase of
the cell, lightning activity spreads inside the cell and de-
creases in rate.
3.2 Small-Scale Echoes with High
Repetition Rate
Because the volume reflectivity associated with precip-
itation in the VHF band(;\= 2m) is significantly smaller
(at least 30 dB) than that of lightning, it was possible to
obtain radar echoes from small discharges undetectable at
shorter wavelengths (Mazur, 1986). These small-scale
discharges occurred during the period when the cell's 50
dBZ core had reached its maximum altitude, and they were
located in a narrow (1-2 km) region inside the part of the
storm with the highest density of flashes. The small dis-
charges had a maximum rate of 200 per minute, an average
duration of 12 ms, and an estimated radar cross section
ranging from a fraction to a few meters square. Mazur
(1986) suggested that these discharges were produced by
a triggering mechanism for natural lightning in the storm,
at a frequency much greater than the rate with which the
cloud electrical dipole could sustain full-scale (several ki-
lometers long) lightning flashes.
3.3 "Associated" Lightning flashes
In an analysis of time intervals between flashes that are
spaced several kilometers apart within an individual cell
or in a multicell storm, Mazur (1982) defined a category
of flashes that follow one another within time intervals
less than 200 ms. (Such intervals are typical for those be-
tween subsequent strokes in multistroke cloud-to-ground
flashes.) The visual observation of lightning strokes oc-
curring in the same general area a few tenths of a second
apart was made by Ligda (1956 ), and more recently from
the Skylab (Cooper, 1976) and from the Space Shuttle at
night by Ahmadjian et al. (1986). Mazur (1982) called
these "associated discharges," and showed that they are
not independent events. He concluded that associated dis-
charges are indicative of an interaction between electrical
processes within a cell or between neighboring cells. A
similar interpretation that an initial discharge alters the
electrical characteristics of a large volume of the cloud and
triggers other strokes was suggested by Ligda (1956). The
physical basis for associated discharges has yet to be de-
termined.
3.4 Interaction Between Lightning
and Its Environment
An investigation of lightning channels with Doppler ra-
dars began only recently (Zrnic et al., 1982; Lhermitte,
1982), and first results have shown that the spectral peaks
associated with precipitation and lightning are often dis-
tinct in the Doppler velocity spectrum. Therefore the spec-
tral analysis results in an increase in the dynamic range of
lightning echo detection, even at radar wavelengths where
the precipitation echo significantly masks the lightning
echoes.
Transient increases in Doppler spectra of precipitation,
with durations of tens of milliseconds, were observed in
nearly every sampling volume containing lightning (Mazur
et al., 1987). Such changes are attributed to the refractive
index discontinuity as the lightning-produced shock wave
propagates through the radar sampling volume. Radar
measurements made with a polarization diversity system
have shown that the large abrupt changes in the propa-
gation conditions following lightning flashes are accom-
panied by disorientation of the precipitation particles at
high altitudes in thunderstorms (Hendry and McCormick,
1976 ).
Simultaneous observations of lightning and precipitation
with Doppler radar provide an opportunity to investigate
the "rain gush" phenomenon, i.e., a sudden increase in
rainfall rate believed to be associated with lightning oc-
currence. Moore et al. (1962) observed an intense growth
of reflectivity (2 dB s- 1) within tens of seconds after a
lightning flash. However, the search for consistent in-
creases in reflectivity and in the downward velocity of
precipitation in Doppler radar observations of lightning-
producing storms produced mostly negative results (e.g.,
Williams and Lhermitte, 1983).
By analyzing the evolution of amplitudes and positions
of the spectral peaks from lightning channels, Mazur et
al. (1985) inferred the rate of lightning plasma decay of
about 0.2 dB ms- 1 • The decay rate of 0.2 dB ms- 1 corre-
sponds to one of the two maxima in decay rates reported
by Holmes et al. (1980) and seems to be the typical decay
rate for intra cloud lightning channels (Mazur et al., 1985).
The other maximum at 1.0 dB ms - 1 corresponds to the
decay rate predicted by Dawson (1972) for return stroke
channels. From lightning studies with a Doppler radar,
Mazur et al. (1985) found the acceleration of lightning

channels to be several times that of gravity. Such accel-
erations are attributable to the earth's magnetic field acting
on channels with continuous current (Lorentz force).
Long wavelength radars have been used effectively to
evaluate the distribution of total lightning activity in a
storm (see section 3.1) in real time and thereby to guide
the NASA instrumented airplane for the purpose of en-
countering lightning strikes (Mazur et al., 1984). The first
direct evidence that most lightning strikes to airplanes are
triggered by the airplane itself resulted from the analysis
of radar echoes of the strikes (Mazur et al., 1984). Light-
ning echoes were observed to originate at locations of the
airplane echoes and propagate bidirectionally away from
the airplane.
4 FUTURE DIRECTIONS IN RADAR
STUDIES OF LIGHTNING
Previous studies of radar echoes from lightning have
been largely concerned with the interpretation of the am-
plitudes and spatial variation of the echoes in the context
of target plasma condition and geometry, and with the
relationship between lightning and precipitation. Surpris-
ingly little attention has been given to using radar in un-
derstanding the physics of breakdown and the discharge
process. There is little doubt that inroads will be made in
this area within the next decade, because radar is the only
means available for probing the lightning plasma where
it is most prevalent-within the boundaries of thunder-
clouds.
4.1 Short Wavelength Measurements of
Lightning Cross Section
The claim that lightning is an overdense plasma for tens
of milliseconds at all wavelengths of meteorological radars
can be further tested by quantitative measurements at short
wavelengths, e.g., X-band. Because of the precipitation
masking at short wavelengths, these observations will be
most effectively performed with circular polarization or
cross-polarization techniques, so that the contribution of
precipitation to the echo is suppressed relative to that of
lightning.
4.2 Behavior of Lightning in the
Interstroke Interval
The behavior of the lightning echo in the interstroke
interval of either cloud-to-ground (return strokes) or in-
tracloud flashes (recoil streamers) is important in under-
standing the reasons for discrete strokes in lightning.
Starting with Hewitt (195 7), several researchers described
a 20-30 dB decrease in radar echoes prior to the discrete
strokes. This suggests that changes in the plasma condition,
rather than the spatial arrangement of space charge in the
cloud or the sudden appearance of new streamer channels,
LIGHTNING INVESTIGATION WITH RADAR 149
are responsible for discrete strokes in lightning. Pulse-to-
pulse echo measurements of lightning with long wave-
length radars will be valuable in investigating this situation.
For observations of lightning close to the radar, the use of
continuous wave (CW) methods may be very helpful in
improving the temporal resolution of echoes, a suggestion
made earlier by Dawson (1972).
4.3 Radar Measurements of
Triggered Lightning
The technique for triggering lightning from electrified
clouds with wire-trailing rockets is now a well-established
research method (Hubert et al., 1984). Simultaneous
measurements of channel current and luminosity provide
a "calibrated" lightning target for radar. Radar measure-
ments of triggered lightning may also answer the question
raised earlier: is there any significant change in the radar
echo from triggered lightning when the current changes
from a quasi-steady level of a few tens of amperes (positive
leader, interstroke intervals) to peak levels of several kil-
oamperes (return strokes)? In this case the channel struc-
ture presented to radar remains the same, while the mea-
sured current (and electron density) changes dramatically.
The lightning's traversal of the radar beam is assured by
the fixed nature of the rocket launch platform. Again, a
CW radar may be preferable for these measurements.
4.4 Three-Dimensional Lightning Structure
The investigation of the three-dimensional structure of
the lightning flash may provide important information
concerning the physics of lightning initiation and pro-
gression, such as
(i) the location of the region of lightning initiation in
the storm during different stages of its development;
(ii) the relationship between background precipitation
and the space charge regions penetrated by the lightning;
(iii) the physics of recoil streamers during the later stage
of intracloud flashes; recoil streamers may occur simulta-
neously or follow the development of leaders.
Passive lightning mapping systems [e.g., the UHF- and
VHF-band interferometric systems (Warwick et al., 1979;
Hayenga and Warwick, 1981; Richard and Auffray, 1985)
or a VHF mapping system (Taylor, 1978)], which locate
lightning radiation sources, plot reasonably well the highly
dendritic structures of numerous short channels that de-
velop during the initiation period. The other part of the
lightning flash structure, namely, long channels (at least
an order of magnitude longer than those in the dendritic
structure) which carry a continuous current of low mag-
nitude, is only partially detected with these mapping sys-
tems. The latter is based on the assumption that recoil
streamers, which radiation sources are mapped, follow the
150 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
channels with continuous currents. Thus, radar may pro-
vide a connected geometric structure of the lightning flash,
as opposed to interferometric systems which depict the
structure as a disconnected one. We also believe that the
three-dimensional radar mapping of lightning with a
"pencil" beam may enable the distinction between a den-
dritic structure and single long channels. The dendritic
structure should be seen as a volume (diffuse) echo,
whereas the main long branches should appear as contig-
uous line elements in the radar reflectivity field. The finite
radar beamwidth will, of course, limit the size resolution
of either element of the structure.
A VHF radar with an electronically controlled, phased
array antenna is uniquely suited for the described task
because of its high scanning rate and long wavelength
(e.g., a volume scan rate of 2500 times per second for the
steerable beam of the MU radar in Japan with a wavelength
of 6 m). The VHF radar returns from lightning channels
will dominate the backscattering from either turbulent air
or precipitation (Holden et al., 1986). Observations at VHF
in the Doppler mode would provide an opportunity to
observe simultaneously echoes from lightning, air, and
precipitation particles in a large volume. The Doppler
spectral peaks associated with air motion and precipitation
motion are clearly separated (Wakasugi et al., 1986). A
spectral peak due to lightning is expected to stand out
relative to those from precipitation and air motion (by at
least 30 dB) and to be shifted in velocity from these peaks.
We also expect to observe 1) an interaction between the
shock wave and the precipitation after the lightning flash,
and 2) an acceleration of the lightning channel relative to
the surrounding air. The three-dimensional radar technique
could be used in the search for enhanced precipitation
growth possibly caused by lightning.
4.5 Lightning Study with Polarization-
Diversity Radar
Polarization-diversity radars provide a valuable tool for
investigating the lightning target. Both circular (Mazur and
Walker, 1982) and cross polarization methods will suppress
the signal from background precipitation and aid consid-
erably in the detection of lightning at short wavelengths.
The differential reflectivity method may provide new in-
formation on the anisotropy of the lightning target and
help to quantify the contribution of anisotropy to the wide
variability in lightning radar cross section. Because of the
transient nature of the lightning target, it is important to
obtain both polarization components simultaneously. Po-
larization methods may also aid in the identification of
specific lightning types; single channel cloud-to-ground
lightning and intracloud lightning in isolated cells may be
predominantly vertically oriented, whereas intracloud
lightning in stratiform precipitation is predominantly hor-
izontally oriented.
Acknowledgments. The authors thank D. Atlas, M. Brook
and C. Holmes for constructive suggestions in their reviews
of this paper.
II. SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY
 153

Chapter 19a

Technology of Polarization Diversity Radars for Meteorology

V.N. Bringi, Colorado State University
A. Hendry,* National Research Council of Canada

1 INTRODUCTION such as those of Atlas et al. (1953) and Stevenson (1953),

the necessity of constructing CDR and LOR radars with
Conventional radars for meteorological measurements
significantly better performance was evident if micro-
radiate and receive waves of a single fixed polarization.
physical shape effects were to be determined without the
Almost invariably, linear polarization is used. Generally,
contaminating effects of polarization impurities. This need
present-day conventional systems have Doppler capability
for high performance was the factor that initiated the de-
and thus they measure the first three moments of the
sign of improved polarization diversity radar systems by
Doppler spectrum, the zeroth moment being the usual ra-
the National Research Council of Canada for use in Alberta
dar reflectivity which depends upon the sixth moment of
and at Ottawa.
the particle size distribution (for Rayleigh scatterers) and
While the initial goal was to obtain improved measure-
to a lesser extent on the thermodynamic phase state (via
ments of CDR from which drop oblateness could be de-
the dielectric constant). Thus three target characteristics,
termined, provision for measurements of relative phase
namely the reflectivity and the mean and the spectral width
and coherency in dual-channel circularly polarized systems
of the Doppler spectrum, are measured for each resolution
were also incorporated into the 1.8-cm NRC radar at Ot-
cell in the volume covered by such a radar. The science
tawa and the Alberta Research CouncillO-cm radar in the
and technology of Doppler radar measurements are de-
late 1960s. These additional capabilities were for the pur-
scribed in the book by Doviak and Zmic (1984}, while
poses of determining the extent to which precipita~on
signal processing techniques are reviewed in this book
particles have a common alignment, and for measunng
(Passarelli and Keeler, Chapter 20a).
their mean orientation angle.
In contrast to conventional radars, polarization diversity
Using the fact that raindrop oblateness is related to size,
systems provide either for the variation of one or both of
and that the drops are highly oriented, Seliga and Bringi
the transmitted and received wave polarizations, or provide
(1976) showed on theoretical grounds that the median
for dual-channel reception of orthogonally polarized
volume diameter (of an assumed exponential drop-size
waves. These radar polarimetric techniques, the subject of
distribution) could be related to ZvR. They also proposed
this review, thus permit the measurement of additional
a scheme whereby ZvR could be measured by switching
target echo characteristics. For precipitation, these polar-
the transmitted polarization state between horizontal (H)
ization characteristics are related to the mean values and
and vertical (V) states on a pulse-to-pulse basis and re-
distributions of size, shape, and spatial orientation of the
ceiving the copolar signal via the same receiver and pro-
particles filling the radar resolution volume, and also to
cessor chain. The fact that ZvR could be measured in rainfall
their thermodynamic phase state.
and in the range predicted by theory was first shown con-
The use of circular polarization as a means of suppress-
clusively using data from the Illinois State Water Survey's
ing rain clutter in primary detection radars has been widely
CHILL radar (Seliga et al., 1979), which used sequential
recognized; see White (1954). Evidence of particle shape
block switching between H and V states rather than pulse-
effects had been obtained experimentally in the years
to-pulse switching.
1950-53 from observations with a linear depolarization
Following the theoretical work of Seliga and Bringi
ratio (LOR) radar (Browne and Robinson, 1952) and with
(1976 ), the group at the Appleton Laboratory (now called
dual-channel circularly polarized radars (Hunter, 1954;
the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory) in the United King-
Gent et al., 1963). A notable early contribution was that
dom went forward with building a fast polarization switch
of Newell et al. (1957). For a review of the early history
which could switch the polarization state of the transmitted
of polarimetric radar techniques, see Seliga et al., Chapter
wave on a pulse-to-pulse basis. Time series data analysis
14. These early results were limited by the relatively poor showed that the standard error in ZvR could be reduced to
polarization characteristics of the radar used. With the the 0.1-0.2 dB level (Bringi et al., 1978). In fact, this level
publication of numerous theoretical papers on scattering,
of accuracy was assumed by Seliga and Bringi (1976) to
predict the level of improvement in rainfall estimates that
• Retired. could be achieved by combining ZH and ZvR. Further mea-
154 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
surements by the RAL group showed that raindrops could
be distinguished from ice-phase hydrometeors by their re-
spective ZvR values (Hallet al., 1980).
The advanced polarimetric radars now in service owe
their technological development to the synthesis of much
more broadly based theoretical work dealing with the
properties of the target scattering matrix and the coherency
matrix. Measurement of the phase and coherency prop-
erties of the backscattered radiation, to supplement the
scalar quantity CDR (or LOR), has been fruitful. The
mathematical relationship between the coherency matrix
and the properties of precipitation particles was presented
by McCormick et al. (1972) and described in further detail
by McCormick and Hendry (1975). The cross-correlation
of orthogonally polarized backscatter components was also
described by Poelman (1976 ). More recently, the concepts
of optimal polarizations, and their representation by the
Huynen fork on the Poincare sphere, have been proposed
for application to radar meteorology (Boerner and El-Arini,
1981) and more fully developed by Nespor (1983) and
Agrawal and Boerner (1988a). A discussion of optimal
polarizations for the partially polarized case (such as occurs
frequently in precipitation) where polarization nulls are
replaced by minima, has been given by McCormick and
Hendry (1985); also, see Agrawal and Boerner (1988b).
The state-of-the-art radars described here incorporate a
wide range of circuits and devices of fairly recent origin.
These include such items as orthogonal mode transducers,
high-power continuously variable phase shifters, constant
phase shift i-f circuitry, coaxial magnetrons (for low-cost
stable transmitters), low-cost cross-correlation circuitry,
fast A I D converters, multichannel digital data acquisition
equipment, and color displays. The most important tech-
nological developments have been the following:
a) high performance dual-polarization antennas char-
acterized (ideally) by matched beam patterns on the two
polarizations, polarization uniformity throughout the
beam, low sidelobes, low cross-polarized lobes, and high
isolation between channels; and
b) fast, high-power, low-loss microwave switches with
high isolation between channels.
The objective of this chapter is to provide a review of
dual-polarized radar techniques used in meteorology with
emphasis on radar technology at the systems level. Section
2 gives a tutorial-type review of dual-polarization radar
theory encompassing the concepts of wave and antenna
polarizations, backscatter matrices, the coherency matrix
formulation of conventional radar observables, and prop-
agation effect considerations. We have drawn heavily on
the formulation developed by McCormick and Hendry
since it forms a convenient basis for the description of
linear and more general elliptical polarized waves.
Section 3 reviews four state-of-the-art meteorological
radars: their capabilities, systems-level block diagrams, and
sample data where appropriate are described. The four
radars chosen for this detailed review are (i) the S-band
RAL Chilbolton radar, (ii) the SIX-band NCARICP-2
radar, (iii) the X-band NRC radar, and (iv) the C-band
DFVLR radar. In addition, section 3 contains a table listing
the main characteristics of these and 16 other dual-polar-
ized radars at various locations around the world. The
principal features of these latter radars are described in
section 3.5.
Section 4 reviews radar system considerations such as
(i) antennas, feeds, polarization switches, and receivers;
( ii) system polarization errors and calibration techniques
to correct for errors; and (iii) special measurement consid-
erations that apply to ZvR radars.
Section 5 briefly reviews the concept of optimal polar-
izations and the use of joint Doppler-polarimetric mea-
surements, followed by general conclusions.
2 THEORY OF DUAL-POLARIZED
RADARS
In this section the essential analytical tools necessary to
understand the basic theory of dual-polarized radars are
described. We have drawn extensively from the work of
McCormick, Hendry and others at the National Research
Council of Canada who have chosen circular polarization
as the basis to describe linear, circular and other more
general (i.e., elliptical) dual-polarized radars. This section
is of a tutorial nature and sets the stage for describing the
techniques used in dual-polarized radars.
Kostinski and Boerner (1986) state that there are two
classical concepts underlying radar polarimetry: (a) the
backscatter matrix description of the target, and (b) the
voltage induced in the radar antenna by the backscattered
wave. The former (a) is a matrix equation that transforms
the incident (or transmitted) wave polarization state to the
polarization state of the backscattered wave and depends
on target properties such as size, shape, orientation, and
dielectric constant, and also on the incident wave fre-
quency, while the latter (b) is based on network theory
and depends on the polarization transformation properties
of the receiving antenna. For meteorological radars another
concept must be added, viz., ensemble or time averaging,
since individual targets filling a radar resolution volume
are not only in relative motion but are also poBsibly fluc-
tuating in the shape I orientation domains so that the
Doppler spectra of the partially polarized backscattered
waves must be considered. Thus, radar obsexvables are
described in terms of the coherency matrix, or alternately
the Stokes or Mueller matrix.
While it is not the intent here to give a comprehensive
reference to early work on the classical concept5, we men-
tion the papers by Sinclair (1950), Gent (195i), Graves
(1956), Wolf (1959) and Born and Wolf (1965). We also
refer to an extensive series of reports covering the period
1949-54 by Kennaugh which were collected md edited
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY
by Moffatt and Garbacz (1984). Other key contributions
to scattering matrix formulations were Huynen (1965) and
Bickel (1965). Bickel's paper succinctly reveals the simple
and direct way in which scattering parameters and target
orientation angle can be related to circular polarization
radar observables.
In section 2.1 the concepts of wave and antenna polar-
ization are introduced, and the action of an ideal micro-
wave polarizer network, which is used to change polar-
ization states, is discussed. Section 2.2 introduces the
backscatter matrix and its transformation when the polar-
ization basis is changed. In section 2.3 conventional radar
observables for linear and circular polarizations are for-
mulated, and in the last section propagation effects are
considered.
2.1 Wave and Antenna Polarization
As far as possible we follow the IEEE Standard (1983)
definitions of wave and antenna polarizations. These
standards are very often not rigorously followed in the
literature, and therefore extreme care is necessary in in-
terpreting results when different conventions are used.
The most general polarization state of a wave is called
elliptical polarization, i.e., at a point in space the extremity
of the electric field vector describes an ellipse as a function
of time. Figure 2.1 shows an example of elliptical polar-
ization for a uniform, plane wave propagating along the
positive Z-axis, i.e., exp[j(wt - kz)]. We shall drop the
time harmonic factor exp(jwt). The polarization state is
given uniquely by the shape and orientation of the ellipse
along with the sense of rotation of the tip of the field vector
when looking along the direction of propagation. The axial
ratio (AR) of the ellipse is the ratio of the major to minor
axes, or AR = cotr, (- 1r I 4 .s;; T .s;; 1r I 4). The orientation
of the ellipse when viewed along its direction of propa-
gation is given by the tilt angle (j ( 0 .s;; (j .s;; 1r) measured
from a reference line to the major axis of the ellipse. The
reference line is chosen here to be along the positive x-
axis or the vertical ( v) direction. The tilt angle is measured
according to the right-hand rule with the thumb pointing
along the propagation direction. The sense of rotation is
Fig. 2.1 Left-hand elliptical polarization state of wave propagating
along the positive Z-axis. Orientation angle is {3 while axial ratio
(AR) is cotr.
155
given by the sign of T or AR, positive values applying to
left-handed polarization states. Notable departures from
this convention include the definition of axial ratio as the
ratio of minor to major axes of the ellipse, and the choice
of reference direction for the orientation angle to be the
horizontal (h) ( Poelman and Guy, 1984). The AR is then
tanr where positive angles now represent right-handed
polarization states. The magnitude of the field vector is
given by IEl = AB I fi. Thus, we can define a unit vector,
e 1 , which is left-hand elliptically (LHE) polarized as shown
in Fig. 2.1. An orthogonal polarization state e 2 can be de-
fined for which the inner product of eland e2 is zero, i.e.,
et · e 2 = 0. The ellipse representing e 2 has the same axial
ratio as the ellipse for e 1 but the major axis is perpendicular
( (j - (j + 1r I 2) and the sense of rotation is opposite to
that of e 1 • The unit vectors e1,2 are also called polarization
base vectors and they form basis vectors for representing
an arbitrary electric field vector, i.e., E = E1e 1 + E2e 2 where
£1,2 are components (complex phasors) of the vector field
E. The most common basis vectors are two orthogonal
linear polarizations (e.g., v and ft), or right- and left-
handed circular polarizations, e+ and e_ 0
The definition of the phase angle of circularly polarized
waves (RHC, LHC) needs to be introduced separately. In
the plane of polarization, it is the angle that the electric
field vector makes, at time wt = 0, with a specified reference
direction (normally chosen as the vertical). The angle is
considered positive if it is in the same direction as the
sense of rotation, and it is negative if it is in the opposite
direction to the sense of rotation.
When considering dual-linear or dual-circular polarized
radars it is convenient to resolve fields using the basis vec-
tors (v, h) which are real-valued, and basis vectors ( e+,
e_) which are complex-valued. Thus, E = Ev + Ehft v
= E+e+ + Le_ where Ev,h and E± are complex phasors,
e.g., E+ = IE+I exp(jOR), L = IE-I exp(jOL), where OR
and (JL are the phases of the RHC and LHC components
of E, respectively. The matrix U transforms the unit vectors
according to ( Kostinski and Boerner, 1986):
[ e+]
e_ = 1[1 -j][v]
fi 1 j ft = [v]ft · (U) (2.1)
The components then transform according to:
(2.2)
where 0 is the transpose of U. Another transformation
between ( e1 1 e2) and ( e+ 1 e_) is given by
[ ~t]
e2
=[m
-n
n* ][~+]
m* e_
(2.3)
156 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

with components related by
where m = sinOei"', n = - j cosOei<~> and det(U) = 1
(McCormick and Hendry, 1985).
Consider the polarization vector
In Fig. 2.2 the RHC and LHC components of 1 are
sketched to demonstrate geometrically the resultant ellipse.
The ellipse can be obtained analytically by using Eq. (2.1)
and coordinate system rotation from (v, h) to (v', h') (Kales,
1951). The rotation angle (3 (positive measured clockwise
from the reference) is given by (OR - OL) I 2 or in this case
as ( ¢ - ~) . Thus,
i, 14 [(sin0 +cosO) (cosO- sinO)
A
The axis ratio (AR) is given by cotr = tan( 1r I 4 + 0) for
LHE, and by -tan( 1r I 4 + 0) for RHE, i.e., when sinO
> cosO. The RHC is obtained when 0 = '11" 12 while LHC
is obtained when 0 = 0. Linear polarization oriented at
angle (3 is obtained when 0 = '11" I 4.
The transformation matrix defined in Eq. ( 2.4) is similar
to that used for describing a lossless microwave polarizer
network which can be considered as a variable ratio power
divider and phase shifter (McCormick and Hendry, 1985).
Figure 2.3 shows a schematic of the polarizer coupled to
a dual-circularly polarized antenna; see also section 3.3.
e Let M be the transmission matrix for the polarizer for
transmission from left to right in Fig. 2.3. The high power
switching action is such that power is delivered to either
input port 1,
[r=(~)]
or to port 2,
hA'] (2 .5)

e1 -
_

e V2 v +J
A' •

1.[2 .
[r=(~)]
reference direction, v depending on the switch state. The transmission matrix M
is

(M) = [ m -n]
n* m*
(2.6)

where the phase shifter 0 in Fig. 2.3b controls the axial

ratio of the transmitted ellipse while the phase shifter ¢
controls its orientation. The phase shifters are continuously
RHC with phase= ell, LHC with phase = n/2-41, variable to generate any state of radiated polarization.
magnitude = Sine magnitude = Cose
Thus, the matrix (M) relates wave amplitudes at the input
plane to wave amplitudes at the plane A by

[M"]
Mb
= [ m -n][Ml]
n* m* M2
(2.7)

where (M1, M2 ) is either (1, 0) or (0, 1). By reciprocity, if

the received wave amplitudes at plane A are (R., Rb) then
for transmission from right to left,
h

(2.8)

Since the duplexers are identical it makes no difference,

Resultant ellipse is LHE. Wave is assumed to
propagate along vxh direction.
Fig. 2.2 Top two diagrams illustrate the RHC and LHC wave com-
ponents with magnitude and phase as indicated. Bottom diagram
illustrates the resultant ellipse.
in principle, whether (R 1 , R2 ) are at the duplexer outputs
or at the input plane.
The polarization state of an antenna associated with a
given port is described as follows. In a specified direction
from the antenna and at a point in the far field, the po-
larization of the (locally) plane wave is used to represent
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY 157

RHC
iPORT 1 IPORT
I
MICROWAVE I
I CIRCUIT
(a) iLHC
iPORT 2 (POLARIZER) I PORT

INPUT M PLANE A
PLANE

I
I
I
PORT 1
I
(b) I COUPLER
PORT 2 I
I
I I
I I
1... )
y
INPUT PLANE PLANE A
M

Fig. 2.3 (a) Radar schematic showing locations of ferrite switch and polarizer. (b)
Polarizer schematic showing the variable ratio power divider and phase shifter. 8 and
rjJ correspond to Fig. 2.2.

the radiated wave at that point. This definition applies for
that port whether the considered antenna is used in a
transmitting or receiving state. Thus, for the receive case
the coordinate systems used to describe the polarization
of the antenna and the incoming wave are oriented in
opposite directions. The IEEE Standard suggests two ways
to handle this situation. One is to transform the polariza-
tion of the incoming wave into the antenna's coordinate
system (Poelman and Guy, 1984), or second, to define a
receiving polarization for the antenna which is that of the
incoming wave to which the antenna is polarization
matched (Kales, 1951). The former method is preferred
for radar antennas (Poelman and Guy, 1984; McCormick
and Hendry, 1975). An alternate representation is given
by Kostinski and Boerner (1986).
2..2. Backscatter Matrix
wave. In compact notation, E' = (S)E 1 where the matrix
S is symmetric whenever the reciprocity condition is sat-
isfied. If the polarization basis is changed to circular basis,
then the matrix (S) transforms to (Sc) where the super-
script c refers to circular basis. If the matrix G relates the
components in the two bases as
(2.10)
then (Sc) = G(S)G. Such a transformation is called a con-
gruent transformation (Bickel, 1965), and it preserves the
bilinear form for the voltage (V) induced in the antenna,
i.e., V = h(S)E 1 where ii is the transpose of the antenna
polarization and (S)E 1 = E' is the backscattered wave; see
also Kostinski and Boerner (1986) and Mieras (1986).
These transformations also imply that

The backscatter matrix is of fundamental importance in

(2.11)
radar polarimetry (Sinclair, 1950; Kennaugh, 1949-54, see
Moffatt and Garbacz, 1984). For meteorological targets it
depends on the distributions of size, shape, orientation
which means the backscattered wave does not obey the
and dielectric constant of the particles filling a radar res-
same transformation rule as the incident or transmitted
olution volume. In addition, the particles are in relative
wave; see Eq. (2.10), Mieras (1986), and the reply to
motion, i.e., due consideration must be given to the Dopp-
Mieras' comments by Kostinski and Boerner (1986 ). Note
ler spectrum. For a single particle the backscatter matrix
(G)* is the notation for the complex conjugate of the matrix
is defined, assuming linear polarization basis (v, h), as
(G). The complex conjugation in Eq. ( 2.11) occurs because
the "handedness" of the backscattered wave is opposite
to that of the transmitted wave. Since G [ = 0 of Eq. ( 2.2)]
(2.9)
is given by

where [Ev, Eh] 1 is the incident or transmitted wave and

[ Ev, Eh ]' is the backscattered (or reflected) or incoming
fi1 [ _,1 .
(G)=-
~] (2.12)
158 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

then oriented at {j = cf> - 1r I 4 (see Fig. 2.2), 8 = 1r I 4 or m

= (1 I Vz) exp(jcf>) and n* = (j I Vz) exp(- jcf>). For vertical
polarization cf> = 1r I 4 while for horizontal polarization cf>
(Sc) =! [1 -_i][Svv Svh][ 1. ~] (2.13a) 37r
= 4. A new matrix (S) = MScM can be defined such
~
2 1 J Svh Shh - J J
1 [Svv - Shh - j2Svh Svv + Shh ] that
=- (2.13b)
2 Svv + Shh Svv- Shh + j2Svh .

McCormick and Hendry (1975) define P± and o(the shape (2.17)

factor and backscattering differential phase shift for circular
polarization) by
where

From McCormick and Hendry (1975) and using the (2.18)

equations illustrated in Fig. 2.4a, b we have for the RHC
wave amplitude (R.) and the LHC wave amplitude (Rb)
at the plane A:
(2.15)
where Cis a constant. Using Eqs. (2.7) and (2.8) in Eq.
(2.15),
[::] = (M)[::] = CMsc[::] = CMScM[::J. (2.16)
The matrix (M) is defined in Eq. (2.6) and (M 1 , M2 ) is
either (1, 0) or (0, 1) depending on the switch state; see
Fig. 2.3a. If the switch state is (1, 0) then the radiated wave
will be elliptical as shown schematically in Fig. 2.2. If the
switch state is (0, 1) then the orthogonal ellipse will be
radiated. The polarizer network can of course be configured
for linear or circular polarizations. For linear polarizations
The elements of (S) are given in Hendry et al. (1987). If
alternate pulses are V and H polarized then for V radiation,
Rtv = CSu = S+-[1 + 11 exp(jo) cos2a) while R2v = CS12
= S+-[P exp(jo) sin2a). Similarly, for H radiation Rth
= CS12 while R2h = CS22 = CS+-[1 - 11 exp(jo) sin2a).
Note that a is the canting in the polarization plane defined
in Fig. 2.5 while S+- is the off-diagonal element of the
matrix (Sc). If only copolar reception is possible, i.e., the
reception of R1v and R2h, then the conventional ZoR can
be defined in terms of ensemble averages of the amplitudes
R1v and R2h which in this configuration will be obtained
from the two separate receiving channels. Receiver
switching will additionally be necessary if R1v and R2h are
required to follow the same receiver path (Hendry et al.,
1987).
For RHC radiation, R1 = CS 11 = P+(S+-) exp[j(o + 2a
+ 2cf>)] while R 2 = S+- . Since cf> is arbitrary we can set it
to zero. If the scatterer is Rayleigh then o ~ 0 and if it
possesses an axis of symmetry then 11+ = p_ = 11. Thus, Rt

--- [: r 2~Yor
1 RHC
I PORT
Ma

ei~ [~:J
-
(a) LHC
PORT = [
Mb

ANTENNA
PLANE A APERTURE

Ra~l
(b)

Rb
II
I
1
-
-
-
-
[::]
I
PLANE A

Fig. 2.4 (a) Schematic of radiated wave using circular basis. G and 1/; are
antenna gain and phase, respectively. Y0 is the free-space admittance. (b) Sche-
matic of received wave amplitudes (R., Rb) when incoming wave is resolved
in circular basis. X is the wavelength.
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY
z
N·Symmetry axis
y
~ntwave
Fig. 2.5 Geometry for determination of canting angle. N gives the
direction of the particle symmetry axis; (J is the polar canting angle
between Z and N; cf> is the azimuthal angle of N; 1/; is the angle
between the incident wave direction and N; N', Z' are projections of
N, Z onto the polarization plane; a is the canting angle in the po-
larization plane. Diagram adapted from Holt (1984).
= v(S+-) exp(j2a). The backscattered ellipse thus has a
LHC component R2 and a RHC component R1 • The axis
ratio of the ellipse is (1 + v)l(1 - v) while the phase
difference is twice the canting angle in the polarization
plane or 2a.
2.3 Radar Observables
We now consider backscattering from an ensemble of
particles uniformly filling a radar resolution volume. As-
sume that the polarizer in Fig. 2.3 is set for linear polar-
ization. If the complex phasors Rli and R2; are, respectively,
the copolar and cross-polar signals due to the ith scatterer,
then
(2.19)
where R1,2 are zero-mean complex random variables whose
phases are uniformly distributed and independent of the
moduli. The amplitudes are Rayleigh distributed (Marshall
and Hitschfeld, 1953). The radar observables can then be
defined through the coherency matrix J (Wolf, 1959; Ko,
1962):
(2.20)
159
The copolar signal power K11 = (I R1 12) is given by
+ tv2 [1- cos(4¢ + 4a;)] } (2.21a)
while the cross-polar signal power K2 2 = ( I R212) is given
by
(2.21b)
where C; is a constant incorporating the wavelength, an-
tenna gain and range to the i th particle; a; is the canting
angle (in the polarization plane) of the ith particle; v; and
o; are defined in Eq. (2.14); and ¢ is the phase shifter
setting (see Figs. 2.2 and 2.3). Equation (2.21) shows the
dependence of the copolar and cross-polar signal powers
on the tilt (or orientation) angle of the radiated linear po-
larization (i.e.,¢), and upon the distribution functions for
v, oand a over the particle populations. For Rayleigh par-
ticles o ~ 0°, but both shape ( v) and canting angle (a)
affect the signal powers. To reduce Eqs. (2.21) to usable
form, McCormick and Hendry (1975) and Hendry et al.
(1987) introduce canting angle models, the simplest being
the delta function model where a fraction p of the particles
(e.g., spheroids) have a common canting angle a while
the remainder are randomly oriented. For this case Eqs.
(2.21a) and (2.21b) reduce to
K11 = IDI 2{ [1 + 2pli cosb sin2(¢ +a)]
+ v22 [1 - p cos4(¢ +a)]} (2.22a)
v2
K22 = IDI 2 2 [1 + p cos4(¢ +a)] (2.22b)
where D is a constant. The variation of K11 and K22 with
¢gives considerable information. The mean canting angle
ais obtainable from the value of ¢ which produces extrema
of Ku and K22. The linear depolarization ratio, LOR(¢), is
given by 10 log(K22/K11 ). Using Eqs. (2.22) the value of
p is obtained from
1+P (K22)max
--= (2.23)
1- P (K22)min •
Conventional ZoR, defined as 10 log(KllhiK11 v) where
Kllh and Kuv are obtained by putting ¢ = 311' I 4 and 'II' I 4,
respectively, in Eq. (2.22a), is given by
ZoR = 1- 2pv cos~ cos2a + ~(1 + p cos4a)l2. (2 .24 )
1 + 2pv coso cos2a + v 2 (1 + p cos4a)l2
160 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

For rain a ~ 0° and if, additionally, the raindrops are in The parameters a and a may be determined by alternating
the Rayleigh limit, then a ~ 0° so that Eq. ( 2.24) simplifies the radiated polarization between RHC and LHC states,
to thus

ZoR = 1- 2pv + ~(1 + p)/2. (2.25)

1 + 2pv + v2 (1 + p)/2
If the cross-polar signal cannot be measured then useful
information can be obtained by measuring ZoR ( ¢) defined
as ZoR(¢) = K11 (¢- ¢ + 1r /2)/Ku(¢), resulting in
2 The formulation of radar observables suitable for nu-
1- 2pv cosa sin2(¢ +a)+~ [1- p cos4(¢ +a)]
2
1 + 2pv cosa sin2(¢ +a)+~ [1- p cos4(¢ +a)]
(2.26)
The measurement of ZoR( ¢) at four values of ¢ has been
implemented in the VPI&SU OCTOPOD radar (Stapor
and Pratt, 1984; Pratt et al., 1984).
Assume now that the polarizer in Fig. 2.3 is set for RH
circular polarization. The copolar signal power Ku = WI
is given by
argW+- argW_ = 4a (2.30a)
argW+ + argW_ = 2(5 + 1r) (2.30b)
where W± refers to RHC and LHC states, respectively.
The correlation term (RIR~) can also be derived for
linear polarizations, and measurements of this quantity
have been presented by Antar and Hendry (1987) as a
function of ¢.
merical computations has been presented by Holt (1984)
and Moninger.and Bringi (1984) to handle distributions
of non-Rayleigh scatterers. The scattering geometry is
shown in Fig. 2.5. The angle() is the polar canting angle
with respect to the local vertical (i.e., the Z-axis), while a
is the canting angle in the polarization plane. In the po-
larization plane, unit vectors v,
li define the polarization
basis, f = Evv + Ehli. When() = 0, principal plane back-
scatter matrix elements Svv(D, 1/;) and Shh(D, 1/;) can be
defined for axisymmetric scatterers such that
[ Ev ]' = [ Svv ( D, 1/;) 0 ] [ Ev ]'.
Eh 0 Shh(D, 1/;) Eh (2.31 )

(2.27a)
The elements Svv(D, 1/;), Shh(D, 1/;) can be computed using
integral equation methods; see for example Holt (1982)
and Bringi and Seliga (1977), where Dis the diameter of
while the cross-polar signal power (or equivalently, the
an equal volume sphere. The horizontally and vertically
reflectivity at circular polarization) K22 = W2 is given by
polarized reflectivities can be written as (Holt, 1984):

I I
(2.27b)
Zvv = ICI 2 N(D)dD dOA((), ¢)1Svv(D, 1/;) cos 2 a

The circular depolarization ratio (CDR) defined as WI /W2 + Shh(D, 1/;) sin 2 al 2 (2.32a)
is thus independent of the canting angle distribution in
the polarization plane. The correlation term W = (RIRO
is complex; its magnitude has been termed ORTT and its
phase has been termed ALD (McCormick and Hendry,
ZHH = ICI 2 J N(D)dD J dOA((), ¢)1Svv(D, 1/;) sin 2 a

1975). The expression for ORTT is + Shh(D, 1/;) cos 2al 2 (2.32b)

where A( 6, ¢) is the polar-azimuthal angle distribution

(2.28)
and dO is the element of solid angle = sin6d6d¢; ZoR (dB)
= 10 log(ZHH/Zvv). For circular polarization WI, w2 and
W can be written as
Thus, ORTT is a product of both "orientation" effects and

I I
"shape" effects. The parameter ALDis defined as
WI=~ ICI 2 N(D)dD dOA((), ¢)1Svv(D, 1/;)
1
ALD = '2 (argW- 1r). (2.29) - Shh(D, 1/1)1 2 (2.32c)
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY
W2 = ~ ICI 2 J N(D)dD J dflil(8, <t>)ISvv(D, t/1)
+Shh(D,t/1)1 2 (2.32d)
W = ~ ICI 2 JN(D)dD Jdflil(8, </>) exp(j2a)
X { Svv ( D, t/1) + Shh ( D, t/1) } * { Svv ( D, t/1) - Shh ( D, t/1) } .
(2.32e)
Holt (1984) has considered three models for the distri-
bution Ll(8, </>)while Torlaschi et al. (1984) and Metcalf
and Ussailis (1984) have used a Gaussian distribution for
a. Moninger and Bringi (1984) and Bringi et al. (1986a,b)
have considered both simple harmonic as well as Gaussian
distributions for the polar canting angle 8. Typical shape
distributions that have been considered include spheroids
and cones, both homogeneous as well as two-layer con-
figurations for simulating melting ice. Bringi et al. (1986a,b)
have coupled a detailed graupel /hail melting model ( Ras-
mussen et al., 1984) to the electromagnetic backscatter
model to describe the vertical profiles of ZoR and LOR as
a function of height. The profiles have also been compared
to CP-2 radar measurements.
Radar observables can also be defined in terms of the
average Stokes vector of the backscattered field which is,
in general, partially polarized ( Giuli, 1986; Boerner and
El-Arini, 1981; Kostinski et al., 1988). We refer to the above
references for further details.
2.4 Propagation Effects
Differential attenuation and differential phase shift due
to propagation in precipitation media have been an inten-
sive area of research in the radio wave propagation com-
munity because of the need to exploit polarization diversity
in microwave and millimeter-wave communication chan-
nels for both terrestrial and earth-space links; see for ex-
ample the review article by Oguchi (1983) and the exten-
sive reference list provided there on the general topic of
electromagnetic wave propagation and scattering by hy-
drometeors.
In radar meteorology the effects of propagation through
the rain medium must be carefully considered whenever
dual-polarization techniques are used. The transmitted
wave suffers depolarization on the path between the radar
and the resolution volume of interest; the polarization state
of the backscattered wave is then transformed by E'
= (S)E 1, and finally the backscattered wave suffers de-
polarization on the return path to the radar. Propagation
effects become important when moderate-to-intense rain
intensities occur along the propagation path, the effects
becoming more severe at shorter wavelengths. A general
treatment of propagation effects using circular polarization
161
as a basis has been given by McCormick and Hendry
(1975) and McCormick (1975). Humphries (1974) showed
that differential phase shift at S-band could seriously affect
circular polarization observables and consequently their
interpretation; see also Seliga et al. (1984). Oguchi (1983)
developed generalized transmission equations for coherent
wave propagation through rain media using raindrop
shape and canting angle distributions. Holt (1984) and
Bringi et al. (1986a,b) have modeled propagation effects
for both linear and circular polarization radar observables.
When circular polarization is used as a basis, the effects
of propagation can be accounted for through a propagation
matrix (P), and the "radar" equation represented by Eq.
( 2.16) can be modified as
(2.33)
Note that the backscatter matrix sc is transformed via a
congruent transformation. Such is not the case when a
linear polarization basis is used, and the final equations
are not as elegant (Holt, 1984). The matrix (P) is given
by (McCormick and Hendry, 1979):
[P]
"(R
= e~ cosh
(tl+R)[ pei<x+2
1
T>
pei<1x-2T>] (2.34)
where 'Y = ('Y 1 + "( 2 )/2, il'Y = "12 - 'Yt and p exp(jX)
= tanh(il'YL/2). The "( 1,2 are the (principal plane) complex
propagation constants for the two characteristic polariza-
tions, L is the path length, and r is the mean canting angle
of the raindrops filling the propagation path. The observ-
able W fW2 can be formulated as
W /W2 = (RtR0/(RzR0
= pv exp[j(5 ± 2a)] + 2p exp[j(x ± 2r)] (2.35)
where p, v, 5 and a are as defined previously in section
2.3. The ± refers to RHC and LHC polarizations, respec-
tively, i.e., the polarizer settings in Fig. 2.3. Figure 2.6,
from Hendry and Antar (1984), shows plots of W /W2 (at
X-band) in the complex plane for heavy rain from which
a, rand 5 can be estimated. The distinguishing character-
istic of the rain plot is the significant progression of the
mean of RHC/LHC plots in the direction of the positive
real axis, which is evidence of differential attenuation.
When the polarization properties of the medium are uni-
form or when the radar observables are dominated by
propagation effects then .:l"f can be determined from
il"( = Lla + j Ll{3 ~ Rn ~ Rm [ ( ~) n - ( ~) m] (2.36)
 162 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

= 10°. At S-hand even intense rain over a path length of

=20 km causes a slight decrease of only a few tenths of
a dB, primarily caused by the very small differential at-
tenuation at S-hand. However, at C-hand ZvR can be af-
fected quite drastically. At both frequencies LDR is affected
significantly.
Sachidananda and Zmic (1985) have computed the bias
error in ZvR due to propagation at S-band when linear
polarization oriented with {3 = 45 ° (or </> = 1!' j 2) is used
on transmission (see Fig. 2.3) with no switching, and with
simultaneous reception of horizontal and vertical polarized
signals. Note that the received states are not co- and cross-
polar to the transmit state. Figure 2.8a shows the bias error
in ZvR versus the two-way differential phase shift at S-
hand with mean canting angle as a parameter. Since the
intrinsic ZvR is 3 dB the propagation effects are quite severe.
Similar effects would probably be seen if RHC or LHC
waves were radiated (with no switching) and ZvR were
computed from the circular polarization observables. Fig-
ure 2.8b shows the bias error in ZoR due to propagation if
polarization switching is used to transmit alternately linear

-0.20 -0.10

Fig. 2.6 Plots of W jW2 in the complex plane for heavy rain, 31
August 1981. Data taken at 1.3° elevation angle, range 29.6-32.6
km, with gate numbers indicated. The mean orientation angle a and
the backscatter differential phase shift 5 for the first occupied gate,
and T, the angle of the anisotropy axis with respect to the vertical,
are shown. For gate 2, 4a = argW+- argW_ = 16°; 5 = f(argW+
+ argW_) - 180° = -14°, where the plus and minus subscripts
denote RHC and LHC, respectively. Figure reproduced from Hendry
and Antar (1984).

where Rm and Rn are the ranges at which W /W2 is evalu-

ated. The values of W jW2 to be used in Eq. (2.36) are the 3.of~~~~~~==::::!:=~~~=====:J·10
z~--=--~--- . __ __ 1km -11
averages of values taken with RHC and LHC polarizations. 2.5 ..............
..............
--- --
.................. 5km--~----
___ ..- ·12
Since propagation through a medium of snow or ice crys- 2.0 ' ..... , , ................................ ___ ,.--------- ------ ..__ -13
tals is nearly lossless at X- or K-bands, the mean of the ...... >'"-.....,.........._ ·- -14
~ ',.,_// 10km' __. ·15 CO
RHC and LHC plots of W jW2 for an oriented medium of 1.5 /'
20km / ',
.............
><:. ~........... -16
~

such particles progresses in a direction closely parallel to ~ 1.0 // ',, ~/_./ ... .........._ -17 ~
N
the imaginary axis, thus differing significantly from the '0 .5 //
/
/·",
',/
-18
...J
'0
W jW2 characteristics of rain. ffi
.0
/ / ',, -19 ffi
/ ', ------:: -20
If radar backscatter properties need to be determined 0 0 / 10km/ '--<---.--- 0
.0

accurately then propagation effects must either be small ·.5

// /~ --------- ' , -21
/ / .--- __.-- 20km', · 22
or they should be accounted for using model-based or other ·1.0
LDR,// / 5 k~ .---.--- ', -23
algorithms. Since ZvR must be measured accurately it is / ------------------ ' , -24
~-~~~~-~~~~=+.~1~km~~~~;=~~~~~ 25
useful to determine how propagation effects alter the in- · 1 -5o 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 4o 45 5o 55 6o 65
trinsic ZoR due to backscatter. Figures 2.7a, b show how Rainfall Rate (mm/hr)
ZvR and LDR are affected at S- and C-bands, respectively, Fig. 2.7 (a) Propagation effects on ZoR and LDR computed at S-
by propagation paths of varying lengths filled uniformly hand. The propagation path is filled uniformly with Marshall-Palmer
with rain rates of 10-60 mm h - 1• The rain medium consists distribution of raindrops with equilibrium shapes; the polar canting
of a Marshall-Palmer raindrop-size distribution, the cant- angle distribut.ion is Gaussian with 0 = 0°, a = 10°. (b) As in (a)
ing angle distribution being Gaussian with 0 = 0°, u except computations performed at C-band.
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY 163

6.0

ZoR = 3 dB / CANTING ANGLE

SIMULTAN;£EUS 8=-Bo
•LO SAMPLING ' ~

m +45°
POLARIZATION . /
/~6
- - o
"0
2.0 / ---- --..· 4 '
0::
0
~~-- ~::S."-
N

(a) G() 0.0

lr
0
lr
5 - 2.0
(f)
<1:
m -1: . o

TWO-WAY DIFFERENT IAL PHASE SH IFT, rp (deg)

- ·~.5

ZoR =3 dB
ALTERNATE:!: 45°
iii
"0
- O."l
POLARIZATIONS
0::
0
N
G() -0.3

(b) lr
0
lr
lr -0.2
w
(f)

~
m
- 0.1

0.0
o. 60.

T WO - WAY DIFFERENTIAL PHAS£ SH IFT, rp (deg)

Fig. 2.8 (a) ZvR propagation effects computed by Sachidananda and Zrnic (1985). Transmitted
wave is linearly polarized with (:J = 45° with no switching. Simultaneous reception of H and V
polarized waves is assumed. The abscissa represents two-way propagation differential phase shift
in rain. (b) As in (a) except the transmitted wave is switched between (:J = 45° and -45°.

polarization oriented with {j = ±45 °. Again, simultaneous
reception of horizontal and vertical polarized signals is
assumed. The bias error in ZvR is reduced significantly by
this scheme to levels comparable with the conventional
ZvR measurement scheme; see Fig. 2.7a. It is conceivable
that similar levels of ZvR bias errors could probably be
achieved at S-hand by polarization switching between
RHC and LHC states and by deriving ZvR from the circular
polarization observables.
Corrections of propagation effects based on rain models
have been proposed by Holt (1984), Aydin et al. (1986)
and McGuinness et al. (1987). If ZvR and reflectivity are
measured, then at the first range gate (which is unaffected
by propagation) it is possible to estimate the parameters
of an exponential raindrop-size distribution (Seliga and
Bringi, 1976). Knowledge of this distribution and assuming
uniformity enables the propagation effect to be taken into
account for the second gate, and so on. Unfortunately, it
is not possible to verify the accuracy of this technique since
it is model-dependent, but the accuracy may be expected
to deteriorate with increasing range.
Bebbington et al. (1987) have developed a new method
for correcting propagation effects at circular polarization
(at S-band). They consider the transformation of the co-
164 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

TABLE
Characteristics of 2.1 Polarization

I
Rutherford NCAR NCAR Alberta
Appleton CP-2 CP-2 NRC NRC of CHILL Research
Characteristic laboratory S.Band X-Band of Canada Canada DFVLR S.Band Council VPI A: SU

Geographic Chilbolton, Boulder, Boulder, Ottawa, Ottawa, Oberpfaffen- Urbana, Penhold, Blacksburg,
Location of Radar U.K. Colorado Colorado Ontario Ontario hofen, F. R.G. Illinois Alberta Virginia

Polarization Type Zo,, LOR Zo• LOR CDR, LOR (<I>) CDR, LOR(<!>) CDR, LOR(<!>) Zo• CDR, LOR Zv• (<!>)
Zv•<l>
Wavelength (em) 9.75 10.7 3.2 3.1 1.8 5.3 10.7 10.4 10.7

Peak Power (kW) 560 1200 200 100 40 500 1000 500 250
Pulse Length (,us) 0.5 0.15-1.2 1.0 0.8 0.4 0.5, 1, 2 0.25, 0.5, I 1.75 0.8

PRF (s- 1) 610 "'1700 .. 1000 1000 2000 490, 1200, 400-1250 480 480
2400

Antenna Type Center fed Center fed Two Offset fed Offset fed Offset fed C nter fed Center fed Paraboloid
paraboloid paraboloid Cassegranian paraboloid paraboloid paraboloid paraboloid paraboloid
paraboloids

Antenna Size (m) 25 8.5 2.4 2.7 1.6 5 8.5 6.7 4

Feed Type Scalar feed, Potter horn Rectangular Potter horn, Potter horn, Corrugated Potter horn Potter horn, Rotating horn
turnstile waveguide turnstile turnstile horn, OMT turnstile
junction junction junction junction

Beam width 0.25 0.93 0.94 0.9 0.89 1 0.96 1.15 2.5
(degrees)
Az. Coverage 360 360 360 330 330 360 360 360 360
(degrees)
Elev. Coverage 90 90 90 93 92 92 90 21 90
(degrees)
Polarizations Ll -Vor Ll -V or Ll -H LHC, RHC LHC, RHC Any elliptical, Ll -Vor LHC, RHC LIN stepped
Radiated Ll ·H LIN-H any linear or any linear 3° increments Ll ·H Ll 22 1ho /pulse
elliptical or elliptical in direction incrementable
in 1h 0 steps
Simultaneous y y y y y N
2-Channel
Reception
Polarizations Copolar or Copolar to LI -H& Copolar and Copolar and Copolar and Copolar to Copolar and Copolar to
Received orthogonal transmit Ll .v orthogonal to orthogonal to orthogonal to transmit orthogonal transmit
to transmit transmit transmit transmit to transmit
polarization
Max. Sidelobe - 20 - 21 "" - 30 < - 30 < - 30 < - 32 < - 20 - 23 AZ, "" - 20
Level (dB) - 30 EL
Max. Antenna = - 32 -21 - 36 < -29 < - 28 < - 28 "" - 20 =-20
Linear X-POL
Lobes (dB)
Antenna ICR (db) = 40 ""40 "'>37
(Circular
Polarization)
y y y y
Phase &
Correlation
'
Capability
Polarization Mechanical, Ferrite N.A. Ferrite Manually Ferrite switch Ferrite Motor Continuously
Control Method (transmit); switch switches operated switch driven rotating
PIN diode, (transmit polarizer polarizer polarizer
(receive) path)
Polarization Pulse by Pulse by N.A. 1.2s < 10 s Pulse by Pulse by 30 s Stepped
Control Period or pulse pulse pulse pulse 22 1/> 0 in 2.08
Rate ms
Channel-Channel ... 40 >30 >30 >52 >52 ... 30 25 >40
Isolation
(Excluding
Antenna) (dB)
Doppler Capability N y N N N y y N N
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY 165

3.1
Diversity Radars

SHAPE Laboratolre CNR/ PWRI

Tuhnical ESAA: NOAA NOAA d'Aerologle lnslltuto di New Mexico (DND) of Delft Univ.
Center NSSL AFGL FGJ/IAS SPANDAR ERLJWPL ERLJWPL (RABELAIS) Electron lea Tech Japan of Tech.
The Hague, Cimarron, Sudbury, Graz, Wallops Boulder, Boulder, Lannemezan, Italy Socorro, Toyama, Delft, The
Netherlands Oklahoma Mass. Austria Island, Colorado Colorado France I New Mexico Japan etherlands
Virginia
General Zo• Zo. Zo~~::, two Z0 . , with CDR, LDR (t/l) CDR, LDR Zo•• LOR Zo•• LOR Zo•· LOR Zo• Zo• (t/J)
elliptical magnetrons freq. agility CDR LDR(t/J)
3.1 10.7 10 5.31- 5.35 10.56 0.87 3.22 0.86 5.5 3 5.68 8.9
freq. agile
100 500 1000 250 1000 160 40 70 500 20- 25 75 0.1 kW (avg.)
0.4- 2.4 I 1 2 0.5, 1.0 0.25 0.5- 2.0 0.3 0.5, 1.5, 3 1/ 3- 4/3 0.5 625, 1250
(Doppler)
2.0 (pol.)
1- 10 000 1300 100-1302 1 kHz each 960 Variable Variable 3125/ 2688 1200; 1, 2, 4, 8.1120 FM-CW
magnetron 2000 avg. 1250 avg. 500, 250 kHz (Doppler)
280 (pol.)
Cassegrainian Center fed Center fed Center fed Paraboloid Two Cassegrainian Two Offset fed Cassegrainian Center fed Two
paraboloid paraboloid paraboloid collimated center fed paraboloid paraboloid paraboloid center fed
Cassegrainian paraboloids paraboloids
paraboloids
1.8 9.1 7.32 3.66 18.3 1.2 3. 1 1.4 4.6 3.7 2 4.2, 2. 1
Diagonal Potter hom Potter hom Circular Circular Corrugated Corrugated Circular horn Corrugated Corrugated Rear feed Corrugated
horn horn, horn horn horn hom with horn feed
polarization integral
combiner OMT
1.2 0.88H 1 1 0.4 0.5 0.8 0.4 0.92 Az 0.8 1.8 1.4
0.92V 1.02 El
360 360 360 ±365 360 360 360 360 360 360 360

- 3 to 65 90 90 - 10to95 90 170 90 90 - 2 to 90 360 90

28 discrete UN-Vor UN-V Ll -V Ll -V LHC, RHC, RHC, LHC, LIN-V, Ll -V Ll -V LIN-V Any linear
linear & 137 UN-H Ll -H and or Ll -V, Ll - LIN-V, L1 Ll -H RHC, or or or
RH&LH RHC or Ll -H Ll -H H H LHC Ll -H LJN-H Ll -H
elliptical LHC
y y y y y y y

Copolar and Copolar to Copolar to Copolar Copolar to RHCJ LHC or RHCJLHC Copolar & Copolar and Copolar and Copolar to Any linear
orthogonal to transmit transmit and transmit vert.J horiz. or orthogonal, orthogonal orthogonal transmit independent
transmit orthogonal vert.f horiz. linear & to transmit of transmit
polarization to transmit circular polarization
< -25 < - 24.5 - 27 - 28 , -20 < - 20 "" - 20 "" - 24 < - 32 =-30 < - 23 < - 23

< - 25 - 35 = - 20 -37 < - 30 < - 29 < -20

.A. = 23 = 23 18

y N y y N y y

Digitally Ferrite Ferrite & Separate H Mechanical Motor driven Ferrite switch Ferrite Pin diode Ferrite Mechanical
cont. ferrite switch mechanical and V switch polarizer switch switch switch
phase shifter switches transmitters

Variable, up Pulse by Pulse by Pulse by 0.7 s 0.25 s 3125 Hz Pulse by Pulse by 1/9 pulses 10 ms
to 10kHz pulse pulse pulse pul e to pulse pulse pulse (32.1 ms)
rate
"' 22 dB = 27 > 40 > 60 ""30 >30 > 40 >35 >25 ... s5 >35 >30
X-pol
isolation

y y y N y y y y y y y y
166 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

TABLE
Characteristics of l l Polarization

Rutherford NCAR NCAR Alberta

Appleton CP·l CP·l NRC NRC of CHILL Research
Char.cterlstic Laboratory S-Band X-Band of Canada Canada DFVLR S.Band Coandl VPI. SU

umber of Range 256 512 512 12 12 452 1024-4096 148 255

Gates
Range Resolution 300 >30 >30 150 150 75 37'h. 75 & 1000 125/255
(m) Typical ISO Typical 150 ISO

Real-Time Vector N.A. N.A. N.A. N N y .A. .A.

Signal Processing
Capability
Polarization 2 0 , , LOR Zo• LOR CDR, LOR, CDR, LDR. Scatt_ matrix, Zo• CDR, LOR, 2 0 , in 4
Quantities cross-corr. cross-corr. complex cross cross planes
Measured (mag. & (mag. & correlation, correlation
phase) phase) optimal (mag.&
polarizations phase)

herency matrix under the influence of propagation and
show that corrections can be derived from the correlation
data of individual range gates without using iterative gate-
by-gate procedures. They applied this technique to data
from the Alberta radar and showed that circular polariza-
tion techniques at S-hand could be extended to intense
precipitation regions.
3 OVERVIEW Of POLARIZATION
DIVERSITY RADARS
The polarimetric techniques that have been extensively
used for meteorological observations may be classified as
follows:
1) the measurement, on a simultaneous basis, of the
copolar and cross-polar echo signals; and
2) the sequential measurement of the intensity of the
echo in two or more polarization planes in rapid succession.
Some radars utilizing the first technique have enhanced
capability, namely that of determining the complex cor-
relation between the orthogonally polarized components
of the echo. Also, some radars using the second technique
are, by virtue of rapid pulse-to-pulse or pulse train switch-
ing, able to measure (subject to limits imposed by the prf
and carrier frequency) both copolar and cross-polar returns
within a time period that is short compared to the re-
shuffling time of the precipitation particles. Radars utilizing
technique 1 may be described as CDR (circular depolar-
ization ratio) and/ or LDR (linear depolarization ratio) ra-
dars; ZvRradars are those utilizing sequential echo intensity
measurements such as the CHILL radar (Mueller and Silha,
1978). The more advanced systems, e.g., the DFVLR radar
in West Germany, are capable of utilizing both techniques.
Some older systems, such as the Rutherford Appleton
Laboratory radar in the United Kingdom, have been up-
graded to provide for both ZvR and depolarization ratio
measurements. All of these radars, of course, provide for
the measurement of reflectivity and in many cases the
mean Doppler velocity and spectral width.
Table 3.1 lists the characteristics and capabilities of 21
polarization diversity radars which are now, or have been
in the recent past, active at various locations around the
world.
The current state of the art is summarized here by over-
views of the characteristics and measurement capabilities
of the following selected radars: the Rutherford Appleton
Laboratory radar at Chilbolton, United Kingdom; the
NCAR CP-2 system at Boulder, Colorado; the X-band radar
of the National Research Council of Canada at Ottawa;
and the C-hand DFVLR radar in Oberpfaffenhofen, Fed-
eral Republic of Germany.
3.1 Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL)
Chilbolton Radar
The RAL radar is the first to employ pulse-to-pulse
switching to measure ZvR for cloud physics and radio wave
propagation studies. Figure 3.1a is a picture of the radar
antenna whose high resolution (0.25° beamwidth at S-
hand) makes it unique for probing the microstructure of
precipitation. The antenna is a 25-m diameter parabolic
dish with a prime focus feed system shown in detail in
Fig. 3.lb, which also provides a simplified block diagram
of the radar. The feed shape and dimensions were chosen
to illuminate the reflector rim at -14 dB relative to the
center. Figure 3.2 shows the measured principal plane far-
field antenna pattern as well as the cross-polar discrimi-
nation level. Note the rather high first sidelobe level of
-20 dB due primarily to aperture blockage, as well as the
main lobe cross-polar discrimination level of -30 dB. These
measurements include any lack of isolation of the polar-
ization switch.
The following description of the polarizer switch and
feed is taken from Cherry (1987) . Horizontally or vertically
polarized waves are excited in the circular waveguide
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY 167

3.1 (Continued)
Diversity Radars

SHAPE Loboralolre CNR/ PWRI

Technical ESA 6 NOAA NOAA d' Aerologle lnatltuto dl New Mexico (DND) of Delft Unlv.
Center NSSl AFGl FGJ/IAS SPANDAR ERljWPl ERljWPl (RABElAIS) ElectronJca Tech Japan of Tech.

8, 16, 32 768 1000 255 max. 1- 450 328 328 256 1024 max ""375 80 64, 128

Pulse width- ' 150-255 150 300 75, 150 37.5 37.5 ~
75 75 50, 100, 150, 500 75 Typical
N ~ 1, 2, 3, L 2, 3. etc. 200
etc.
y .A. N N N N y

Scattering Zo• Zo• Z0 , , LOR Zo• CDR, LOR, CDR, LOR, Zo•• CDR, Zo•• LOR Cross- Zo• Relative
matrix, with pulse Doppler cross- cross- LOR spectra, scattering
complex to pulse correlation correlation coherence, matrix
cross-carr. freq. shift (mag. & (mag& Zo•• LOR vs
phase) phase) Doppler
freq .

feeding the scalar horn by a waveguide turnstile (see Fig.
3.1). This type of junction works in a manner similar to
the more conventional Magic-T and is described in Ragan
(1948). Energy entering one of the rectangular input
waveguide ports is split between the circular waveguide
and the two adjacent rectangular waveguides. The energy
in these rectangular waveguides is reflected by low loss
adjustable shorting plugs, and one of these short circuit
arms is a quarter wavelength longer than the other. The
result is that both the reflected signals combine to produce
a component in the circular waveguide equal in amplitude
and orthogonal in polarization to the first component in
it. By suitably adjusting the absolute lengths of the short
circuit waveguides, the phase of the two components can
Fig. 3.1a Picture of the RAL radar antenna located in Chilbolton,
United Kingdom.
be matched to produce a resultant, linearly polarized at
45 ° to them. Energy directed down the other rectangular
input waveguide undergoes a similar process, but the result
is to produce the orthogonal polarization in the circular
waveguide. Hence, horizontal or vertical linear polarization
can be produced by selecting one or the other of the two
input ports into the turnstile. The isolation between the
two polarizations exceeds 50 dB over a 0.125% bandwidth
(3.75 MHz at 3 GHz), or 40 dB over a 0.25% bandwidth
(7.5 MHz at 3 GHz); this is determined by the frequency
sensitivity of the phase of the reflections in the short circuit
waveguides.
The single-pole, two-way waveguide switch required to
select either of the ports of the turnstile is based on a design
described in Ragan (1948). Energy from the input wave-
guide is split equally between the two symmetrical arms
of an E-plane "T" junction. One arm is connected through
to an output waveguide, while the other meets a short
circuit. A rotary vane divided into six sectors alternating
between open section and closed metal sections is used to
select which of the arms of the "T" is a through waveguide
and which is a short-circuit arm. As the vane rotates, en-
ergy is switched alternately through the two arms. As the
vane must be free to rotate, no metallic connection can
exist between the vane and the waveguides, and conven-
tional waveguide choke grooves are used to prevent energy
escaping through the gaps between the waveguides and
the vane. The isolation of the switch is approximately
30 dB.
The switch can only transmit energy in either of the
states for a limited part of the rotation of the vane, because
some of the time the vane must be in transition between
the two states. The ratio of transmission time to transition
time is related to the width of the sectors relative to the
width of the waveguide ports including the choke grooves.
For the switch on the Chilbolton radar there is about 35%
transmission time to 65% transition time. The switch was
designed to change polarization 610 times per second, and
168 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Video Sampled
Every 0.25 11 5
Ottecton of
0
DUAl - POlARISATION RADAR POlARIS! A SWITCH AND fEED ASSEMBlY
Fig. 3.1b (Top) Simplified block diagram of the radar system; (bottom) schematic
of the polarization switch and feed assembly.
as the polarization changes state 6 times per revolution,
then the vane must rotate at 6100 revolutions per minute.
This results in about 600 p.s of transmission time to 1040
p.s of transition time.
To make use of the 600 p.s transmission time it is nec-
essary to arrange the radar to transmit its pulse at the be-
ginning of the period, allowing 600 p.s ( 90 km range) for
the returning echoes. The radar is synchronized to the
switch by using infrared emitters and sensors to test the
position of the open sections in the vane. Two emitters
and sensors are used at different positions to sense the
beginning of the transmission period and which polariza-
tion is selected. Signals from the sensors are used by the
control system to generate the pulse recurrence frequency
for the transmitter and to indicate to the digital processing
system which polarization the data applies to.
The rotary vane or disc is rotated by a universal ac j de
H-Port
V -Port
Data Averaged
lor 210 ms
Z, ZOA
B· Bit
Data
~t.neplllt
M11chtd
sularfetd
!y
Hor•lon'lll pol11 ~111 1on 11111o
motor whose speed can be controlled by the supply volt-
age. To prevent air turbulence around the disc causing
excessive energy loss and destructive forces, the disc is
covered on both sides by a thin skin of glass fiber so that
the disc has smooth surfaces. Similarly, the waveguide
ports are fitted with mylar windows.
The polarization switch described above was success-
fully operated for five years. The Rutherford Appleton
Laboratory has recently built a new polarization switch
which uses two waveguide junction circulators to separate
the transmit and receive paths. The mechanical switch is
used only on transmit and a PIN switch is used to select
the receive polarization. Thus, either ZvR or LOR may be
measured. On transmit the switch isolation is 60 dB with
an insertion loss of about 0.25 dB. On receive the isolation
is about 40 dB and the loss about 0.7 dB. The NRC X-band
radar described later also separates the transmit and receive
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY 169

0
2
4
6 Measured Polar Diagram, dB (One Way)
m
~
8
• 10

"*
(J 12
14
...
(/)
16
Q)
Cross-Polar
~ 18 Discrimination
0 20
fl. ---..-- Relative to
Q) 22
Co-Polar level, dB
;
> 24
..!2 26
Q)
a:

34
36
10 20 30 40 50

Angle From Axis of Symmetry, Arc Min. Fig. 3.3a Picture of the CP-2 dual-frequency radar antenna located
in Boulder, Colorado.
Fig. 3.2 Measured far-field antenna pattern. Cross-polar discrimi-
nation data include the finite isolation of the polarization switch.
facturer's (Raytheon) specification for the ferrite circulator;
see Seliga and Mueller (1982).
paths to achieve higher isolation than possible with a bi- Forward 1reverse isolation and insertion loss have been
directional configuration as used by the DFVLR and CP- found to be sensitive to the average power which in fact
2 radars. is the effect of the temperature of the ferrite material rising
To reduce the statistical fluctuations in ZvR, the RAL above the ambient temperature due to RF heating. Figure
processor averages linear power samples at H and V po- 3.4, taken from Carteret al. (1986), shows typical circulator
larizations in both sample time as well as range time, as transfer characteristics as measured for the CIM radar. With
schematically shown in Fig. 3.1b. The range time averaging proper tuning of the circulator it is possible to maximize
is performed on four consecutive 75-m long range bins to the transmit and reverse isolations to =25 dB as has been
get a final range resolution of 300 m. Sample time aver- done with the CP-2 radar. The CP-2 radar peak transmit
aging is performed on 128 transmitted pulses ( 64 at each power was also increased to 1 MW to bring the fer-
polarization). These techniques yield highly accurate ZvR rite material to its optimum operating temperature of
measurements with standard deviation of =0.1 dB. Re- about 40°C.
flectivity and ZvR are available for real-time display. The Measured principal plane antenna patterns for the S-
ZvR measurements from the RAL radar have been pub- hand center-fed parabolic antenna are shown in Fig. 3.5;
lished by Hall et al. (1980, 1984). The radar data have see Keeler et al. (1984). While the main lobes are matched
also been used by other groups in the United Kingdom; well at H and V polarizations, significant pattern mis-
see, for example, Illingworth et al. (1986) and Leitao and matches exist in the sidelobes at ±5 beamwidths away
Watson (1984). from boresight. The effects of such mismatched sidelobes
are discussed by Herzegh and Carbone (1984) as far as
3.1 NCAR CP-l Radar ZvR observations are concerned; see also Herzegh and
Conway (1986).
The unique feature of the CP-2 radar is that it is the
only radar capable of simultaneously measuring mean
Doppler velocity and dual-frequency reflectivity at S- and TABLE 3.2
X-bands, as well as S-band ZvR and X-band LOR. The ZvR Raytheon's SpeciScation for ferrite Circulator
measurement capability was added in 1983 while the LOR SpedSntion Value
capability was added in 1984. A picture of the radar an-
Operating frequency 2.7-2.8 GHz
tenna is shown in Fig. 3.3a, and simplified block diagrams
Typical insertion loss 0.9-1.0 dB
of the X- and S-band systems are shown in Fig. 3.3b.
Maximum insertion loss 1.1 dB
The location of the high-power, ferrite latching circulator
Isolation (forward or reverse) min 20 dB
switch is similar to the polarizer switch location for the
Peak power rating SOOkW
RAL radar. The switch output is coupled to H and V ports Average power rating soow
which feed a dual-mode Potter hom via an OMT. Similar Switching time <15 IJ.S
S-band switches have been implemented for ZvR on the VSWR <1.2
CHILL and NSSL/CIM radars. Table 3.2lists the manu-
 170 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Slip
Rings

V-Pol
Antenna
CP-2 X-BAND ANTENNA MOUNTED ELECTRONICS

I
a

CP-2 S-BAND POLARIZATION SWITCH SCHEMATIC

Fig. 3.3b (Top) Simplified block diagram of the X-band radar and (bottom) the S-band
polarization switch assembly.

The X-band radar has two identical polarization-twist perboloid. A horizontally polarized feed radiates toward
Cassegrain antennas (Jasik, 1961). The main dish is a the subreflector which is composed of a horizontal grating
paraboloid and the auxiliary reflector or subdish is a hy- of wires, and the latter reflects the wave toward the main
dish. The main dish has a polarization-twisting structure
on its surface so that the polarization of the wave changes
).. = 10.7 em
T =I ,u.s
to vertical during the reflection process. The reflected wave
PRT = 768,u.s

1.2 a Port 1-2 30

• Port 1... 3

Iii 1.0· 25 QJ
~ "0

"' ~0
.3"' 0.8 20 ~ (/)

i;;
c: c:
;o
0
-~ -~ 0.

~ 0.6 15 a; ">
0 ~
"'
.5 !E. "
a:
0.4 10

Redrawn from Carter et at. ( 1988)

0.2 5
300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100
Average Power (Watts) S Band

Fig. 3.4 Ferrite circulator switch characteristics reproduced from Fig. 3.5 Principal plane antenna patterns for the CP-2 IS-band an-
Carter et a!. (1986). tenna. Solid line is the HH pattern, dashed line is the W pattern.
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY 171

1.0
Doppler network so that the microphysical data (as derived
.9 from the multiparameter measurements) can be combined
with triple-Doppler derived air motions (Wakimoto and
al
.8
Bringi, 1988; Tuttle et al., 1989) .
'0
ii: .7
0
N
.!: .6
3.3 National Research Council (NRC)
e X-Band Radar
~ .5

~
a The National Research Council of Canada polarization
'0 .4

(ij
.3
diversity radar installation at Ottawa, Ontario is a dual-
polarization system that provides for the transmission of
.2
any desired polarization and for the reception of echoes
that are copolar and orthogonal to the transmitted polar-
"110 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130
ization. In addition to the intensities of these two com-
Number of pulse pairs ponents of the radar echo, the correlation between them
Fig. 3.6 Standard error in ZvR estimated from time series data ob- is determined from measurement of their relative phase.
tained with the CP-2 radar for logarithmic and power-law type re- A dual-channel circularly polarized antenna is used in
ceivers. conjunction with a microwave polarizer circuit to synthe-
size the desired radiated polarization by an appropriate
superposition of RHC and LHC waves.
now propagates "unseen" through the subdish grating Figures 3.7a, b, c show the main elements of the NRC
which is designed to be invisible to vertical polarization. radar; see also Hendry et al. (1983). Polarization switching
This grating is embedded in a dielectric radome-like struc- is effected by separate switches for the transmit and receive
ture which extends out to the edge of the main dish to circuits, that in the transmitter circuit being an array of
form an ideal support for the subdish. On the CP-2 radar, high-power ferrite waveguide switches, while that in the
two such antennas are mounted orthogonal to each other receiver circuit is a 30 MHz high-isolation coaxial cross-
on the same pedestal as the 5-band antenna. Computed over switch. This switching method has been adopted in
three-dimensional far-field copolar and cross-polar pat- preference to a scheme in which both transmitter and re-
terns based on near-field measurements performed at the ceiver switching take place in the same ferrite switch (for
National Bureau of Standards in Boulder, Colorado, are example, see Fig. 7 of Allan et al., 1983) because of the
shown by Rinehart and Frush (1983). These data were superior isolation and phase stability obtainable with the
used at Colorado State University to compute an ICPR of method shown in Fig. 3.7c. The array consisting of three
-30 dB for the antenna. high-power switches provides double the isolation that is
The X-band radar measures reflectivity and LOR using readily obtainable with a single switch, but at the price of
conventional signal processing techniques. The S-band ZvR
is estimated as the ratio of sample mean powers of H and
V polarizations, i.e., linear power samples (rather than
logarithmic samples) are averaged (in sample time), much
like the RAL system, in order to achieve nearly a factor of
two reduction in ZvR measurement fluctuations. Figure 3.6
shows the standard deviation in ZvR estimated from time
series data at H and.V polarizations using the CP-2 radar
for both logarithmic and linear power samples.
The following quantities are available for real-time dis-
play: 5-band Z, ZvR, mean Doppler velocity (v), X-band
Z and LOR (Barron et al., 1986). A pulse-pair processor
is used to compute vand spectral width ( u). The two pulses
are separated by 2 * PRT so that only the HH pulses (or
VV) are used in the pulse-pair computation. Thus, the
Nyquist velocity is one-half the Nyquist velocity available
in the conventional Doppler mode (i.e., no polarization
switching).
The multiparameter capability of the CP-2 radar makes
it a very powerful tool for investigation of convective
storms; see, for example, Bringi et al. (1984, 1986a,b). More Fig. 3.7a Picture of the NRC/X-band antenna located in Ottawa,
recently, the CP-2 radar has been used as part of the triple- Canada.
172 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Fig. 3.7b Simplified block diagram of the NRC radar system.
doubling the insertion loss as well. The isolation between
the input and the decoupled output port is approximately
60 dB. The insertion loss is about 1.1 dB.
While the received signals could be segregated digitally
in the video processor when the polarization switching
mode is being used, thus obviating the necessity for re-
ceiver switching at i-f, this has not been implemented in
the NRC radar in part because considerations of dynamic
range and phase constancy in the i-f portions of the re-
ceiver make it preferable to keep the larger signal in the
Latching
Ferrite
Circulators
Waveguide Switches
v .-----------"A,'----..v ....-----),
Variable Ratio Power Divider
Fig. 3.7c (Top) The waveguide switch schematic; (bottom) details of the microwave polarizer
network.
same channel of the receiver for both states of the polar-
ization switch.
The X-band antenna of the NRC radar shown in Fig.
3.7a is an offset-fed paraboloidal reflector, 2.7 m in di-
ameter, with a Potter-type dual-mode conical feed hom.
A turnstile junction is used to generate RHC and LHC
waves in the feed. The turnstile junction is adjusted and
matched to provide a VSWR of less than 1.02 at each of
the rectangular waveguide ports, and isolation between
channels of greater than 54 dB. The antenna beamwidth
is 0.9°, the highest copolar sidelobes are at a level of -30
dB with respect to the main lobe, and the highest cross-
polarized lobes for linear polarization are at a level of -28
dB. At circular polarization, the integrated cancellation ratio
is in excess of 37 dB.
The microwave circuit (also called "the polarizer") con-
sists of two high-power rotary phase shifters and two spe-
cially trimmed and matched hybrid junctions, connected
as shown in Fig. 3.7c. Variation of the axial ratio of the
transmitted wave is accomplished by the power divider
portion of the circuit; the spatial orientation of the ellipse
is controlled by phase shifter A, which is motor driven
with a reversible variable speed drive. The continuously
variable rotary phase shifters comprise 180° sections of
circular waveguide propagating circularly polarized waves
as described by Fox (1947). The loss compensator is a
section of waveguide whose insertion loss is deliberately
RHC
Port
LHC
Port
RHC
Port
LHC
Port
I
Phase Shifter
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY
increased slightly so that it equals the insertion loss in the
parallel path through phase shifter B. This equalization of
insertion losses is necessary to achieve good isolation. The
microwave polarizer network shown in Fig. 3. 7c is enclosed
in an oven whose temperature is maintained at 41.0°C to
minimize changes in isolation which can occur if appre-
ciable differential expansion of the structure is caused by
fluctuating ambient temperature. The isolation between
channels in the microwave circuit is approximately 52 dB.
When linear polarization is used, its spatial direction is
controlled by phase shifter A (Fig. 3.7c). At vertical and
horizontal setting, the polarization switch allows ZvR to be
measured. A useful operating mode for the radar is one
in which the direction of the polarization is continuously
varied while the copolar and cross-polar components of
the echo are recorded. Rotation rates of the order of ten
degrees per second are commonly used. The utility of this
mode is due to the information contained in the variation
of the components with polarization direction. The polar-
ization base of the NRC radar can be interchanged between
linear and circular within 15 seconds, permitting mea-
surements to be made on the same precipitation cell with
dual-circular as well as dual-linear polarizations (Hendry
et al., 1987). The polarization switching is not on a pulse-
to-pulse basis; rather, sequential block switching is used,
i.e., successive blocks of pulses are of orthogonal polar-
izations. The current minimum block length is 1.4 s but
most results have been taken with a block length of 2 s.
The block length limitation is imposed largely by the set-
tling time of the analog integrators used for averaging of
the video signals. Hendry et al. (1983) and Allan et al.
(1983) provide further details.
3.4 The DFVLR Polarization
Diversity Radar
The DFVLR radar is an advanced research radar with
polarimetric and Doppler capabilities which has recently
been commissioned for cloud physics and radio wave
propagation studies. It incorporates virtually all of the latest
developments in radar polarimetry, and through extensive
use of modem signal processing, graphic displays and
computer techniques, it provides a combination of facilities
that is probably unmatched elsewhere. The technical as-
pects of the radar have been described by Schroth et al.
(1982, 1984, 1988) and by Chandra et al. (1984). Figures
3.8a, b, c summarize the technical features and measure-
ment capabilities of this radar installation.
The antenna shown in Fig. 3.8a is an offset-fed parabo-
loid approximately 5 m in diameter. A corrugated feed
hom with an orthogonal mode transducer provides a high
degree of polarization purity with low sidelobes and low
cross-polar lobes. The OMT on the antenna feed separates
the transmitted and received signals into vertically and
horizontally polarized components. A simplified block
diagram of the radar system is shown in Fig. 3.8b.
173
Figure 3.8c shows a schematic of the four-port polar-
ization switch which comprises a variable power divider
and two 180° latching phase shifters (Enterprise Electron-
ics Corporation, 1986). The variable power divider com-
prises two latching 90° phase shifters, a folded Magic-T,
and a 3-dB quadrature hybrid coupler. At the output of
the power divider the rf power can be divided (ideally) in
any ratio and the relative phase between the output ports
(of the power divider) will be equal and independent of
the power division setting. The two 90° phase shifters are
identical and capable of providing between 0° and 90° of
phase shift in 128 steps (7-bit command states). The phase
shifters are latching ferrites controlled by digital logic and
memory. The accuracy of the power division is provided
by the use of a PROM look-up table to command the pre-
cise current required for each ferrite element in the variable
power divider. Two separate look-up tables are provided
for transmit and receive states. The 180° phase shifters
are also latching ferrite devices with controlled current.
They are reset for both transmit and receive states. The
180° phase shifters are used to generate elliptical or circular
polarizations. The switch contains digital circuits and
memory for the proper setting of the phase shifters. Again,
precision is provided in a PROM look-up table.
The rf power from the transmitter is coupled to port 1
of the polarization switch. During transmit time the ferrites
are set to one state optimized for the selected polarization.
The switch (via the variable power divider and 180° phase
shifters) directs the rf power into ports 3 (V-port) and 4
(H-port) which are connected to the corrugated hom via
an OMT. Immediately after the transmit pulse is completed
the switch changes to the receive state. In the receive state,
the power from each port of the antenna feed is phase
adjusted and combined in the switch so as to direct the
copolar (same polarization as transmitted signal) received
signal to port 1 and the cross-polar (orthogonal polarization
to transmitted signal) received signal to port 2. This is im-
portant because it allows one set of receivers to always
receive the copolar signal and the other set of receivers to
always receive the cross-polar signal.
The copolar received signal passes out of the same po-
larization switch port (port 1) as the transmitted power
input. The signal then passes through the copolar low noise
amplifier (LNA) and copolar mixer. The cross-polar signal
passes out of port 2 of the polarization switch and goes to
the cross-polar LNA and cross-polar mixer.
A calibration unit is also implemented within the an-
tenna mounted electronics. The unit generates a rf signal
which is phase locked to the transmitted rf pulse. This CW
signal is attenuated by a computer controlled step-atten-
uator in 5 dB increments and then divided into two equal
components and injected into directional couplers between
the polarization switch and the antenna. The calibration
signal is gated so that it is injected into the receiver circuit
for only 30 f.LS just prior to each transmit pulse.
The receiver, microwave switch, and all other critical
174 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

7 Bil Oig•lal Conlrol

co -Polar Cross -Polar Cross-Polar poLARIZATION $WITCH CHARACTERISTICS

Co-Pol ar
Log. Video
1.0 1,0 Log. Video

SWITCHING TIME (ANY POL 15)!S

TO ORTHOGONAL POL.):
Latching Ferrite SWITCHING TIME (FOR ANY GIVEN 7)1S
Phase Shifters POL. FROM TRANSMIT TO RECEIVE):
SWITCHING RATE: UP TO 4800 Hz (NOTE 2
V - Port SWITCHING OPERATIONS
NEEDED FOB EACH TRANS.
MITIED PULSE)
BF POWER LIMIT: 400kW PEAK,
480 W AVERAGE
ISOLATION: >30dB
H-Port INSERTION LOSS: • 1.5dB

Variable Power Divider 80 ° Phase

Sh ifte r

Fig. 3.8 (Upper right) Picture of the DFVLR radar antenna located at Oberpfaffenhofen, Federal Republic of Germany; (upper left)
simplified block diagram of the radar. Lower left panel shows the polarization switch schematic, and table on lower right shows switch
characteristics.

microwave components are mounted on the antenna ped-
estal in a temperature and humidity controlled enclosure.
Consequently the waveguide runs to the antenna are short,
thus minimizing phase variations caused by differential
thermal expansion.
The co- and cross-polar IF signals go through similar
paths. Each passes through a dual-preamplifier which splits
the signal into a log IF path and a linear IF path. The linear
IF amplifiers are gain controlled by computer.
The video outputs from the co- and cross-polar log IF
amplifiers pass through slip rings within the pedestal to a
pair of Doppler signal processors. Similarly, the co- and
cross-polar ( lc, Qc, Ix, Qx) signals also pass through slip
rings within the pedestal to the pair of Doppler signal pro-
cessors (SIGMET, 1986 ).
The radar can operate in a variety of modes which can
generally be classified under ( i) a Doppler mode with a
fixed· radiated polarization state and ( ii) a fast-switching
mode where the radiated polarization state is changed from
a chosen reference state to an orthogonal state on a pulse-
to-pulse basis. In both modes the co- and cross-polar sig-
nals (i.e., co- and cross-polar to the transmitted state) are
received as described above. In the Doppler mode the sig-
nal processor outputs consist of reflectivity (Z), mean ve-
locity ( ii'), and spectral width ( u) for both the co- and
cross-polar channels. Thus, the depolarization ratio (LOR,
CDR) is computed and available for real-time display along
with reflectivity and v, u. Doppler co- and cross-polar
power spectra can be obtained at each of the 452 range
gates in a special spectral mode, as also are the time series
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY
samples (lc, Qc, Ix, Qx) for each of the 452 range gates
via a special time series mode.
In the fast-switching reflectivity mode the basic param-
eters computed by the signal processors are the co- and
cross-polar reflectivities (log video) for each of the two
transmitted states (i.e., reference state and its orthogonal).
Doppler information is not available in this mode. For lin-
ear H, V polarization states conventional ZvR and LOR are
available for real-time display together with reflectivity.
Time series for each of the 452 range gates can be recorded
via the special time series mode.
An enhanced version of the fast-switching mode is
available; this is termed the scattering matrix mode. In this
mode the average relative S matrix as defined by Chandra
et al. (1986) and Schroth et al. (1988) is computed by the
Doppler signal processors (SIGMET, 1986 ). The magni-
tudes of the S matrix elements correspond to the co- and
cross-polar reflectivities as defined in the fast-switching
mode. The relative phases of the S matrix elements are
not computed; rather, the phase of the cross-correlation
between copolar and cross-polar signals is computed. The
Doppler processors also compute the two-pulse mean ve-
locity v using copolar pulses spaced 2 *PRT apart rather
than copolar pulses spaced a PRT apart as in the Doppler
mode with no polarization switching. Thus, the Nyquist
velocity in the scattering matrix mode is one-half that in
the Doppler mode. In the scattering matrix mode (e.g.,
using H, V states) both ZvR and LOR are available for real-
time display as well as reflectivity and v. For circular po-
larizations the conventional quantities ORTT or W fW 2 are
not recorded (although computed by the processor); rather
the quantity ALD is recorded but is not available for real-
time display.
Another special mode is termed the "slow-switching"
Mueller mode where up to eight transmit polarization pairs
can be selected. Instead of pulse-to-pulse switching, se-
quential block switching is used; i.e., successive blocks of
pulses are transmitted for each defined pair of polarization
states, e.g., a block of H pulses followed by a block of V
pulses, a block of RHC pulses followed by a block of LHC
pulses, etc., up to eight pairs. The received signals areal-
ways co- and cross-polar to the transmitted state, permit-
ting, for example, the measurement of ZvR( cJ>) and LOR( cJ>)
(Pratt et al., 1984; Hendry et al., 1987).
3.5 Other Dual-Polarized Radars and
Their Capabilities
The characteristics of some of the other radars listed in
Table 3.1 which were not discussed in detail in sections
3.1 to 3.4 are described in this section. A number of the
radars were not designed for dual-polarization measure-
ments, but they have been modified (in some cases quite
substantially) to achieve varying degrees of polarimetric
capability. Thus, the performance of these modified sys-
175
terns, especially with respect to antenna and other micro-
wave components, cannot be expected to match those sys-
tems that were custom designed for dual-polarization
measurements. Among these modified systems, a number
of radars were originally Doppler radars to which dual-
polarized capabilities were added later on, e.g., the Illinois
State Water Survey's CHILL, NCAR CP-2, NSSL/CIM,
and AFGL. Including the four radar systems discussed in
sections 3.1-3.4, nine of the radars operate at S-band, five
operate at X-band, four at C-band, and three at K-band.
The four recent C-band radars, viz., DFVLR, CNR Polar
C55, Graz and Japanese DND radars, were all custom de-
signed for polarimetric capabilities. Among the S-band
systems only one radar was custom built for circular po-
larization-the Alberta Research Council (ARC) radar.
Most of the S-band systems have Doppler capability except
ARC, RAL and VPI&SU radars.
The CHILL radar is a dual-frequency, Doppler radar
with ZvR measurement capability. Unique features of the
CHILL radar are described by Mueller and Silha (1978).
The first slow-switched ZvR measurements in rain were
made with the CHILL radar; see, for example, Seliga et
al. (1979). Since 1981 a ferrite circulator switch has been
used to measure ZvR (Seliga and Mueller, 1982). The radar
has recently been upgraded; in particular, the receiver was
rebuilt and a new signal processor was constructed
(Mueller and Staggs, 1986; Brunkow and Lee, 1986). With
these new capabilities the multiparameter CHILL radar is
a powerful tool for the remote sensing of the microstructure
of precipitation. The ZvR data using the slow-switched sys-
tem have been analyzed by Seliga et al. (1979, 1981) and
Bringi et al. (1982).
The 10-cm radar of the Alberta Research Council is a
dual-circularly polarized system which is also capable of
linearly polarized operation, although the latter capability
has rarely been used. The system is in principle identical
to that of the NRC radar, NRC being the designer of the
polarization aspects of the radar, such as the feed, polarizer
and dual-channel cross-correlation receivers. This radar,
which has been used extensively for hail studies, includes
a sophisticated computer system for the storage and display
of polarization and reflectivity data (Humphries and Barge,
1979). The apparatus for the real-time display of corre-
lation and phase data has been described in a report by
Hendry and Allan (1973).
The NRC Ku-band radar system is described by Mc-
Cormick and Hendry (1979) and its main characteristics
are listed in Table 3.1.
The linearly polarized OCTOPOD radar of the Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg,
Virginia, employs a novel polarization control system
which provides for rotation of the direction of polarization
in synchronism with the transmitter pulse; see Marshall
et al. (1982). The main elements of the radar and its po-
larizer are shown in Fig. 3.9. The direction of polarization
is stepped 22° per pulse, resulting in the transmission of
176 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Rotating
Splash
Plate
180 RPM Polarizer
Paraboloidal
Antenna
Synchronous
Drive Motor
Vertical Sensing
Optical Sync. Pulse
Generator
System Block Diagram Of Octopod Radar
Fixed Circular W.G.
Rotating Section
Section
Polarizer Of Octopod Radar
Fig. 3.9 (Top) System block diagram of the VPI&SU S-band radar;
(bottom) the schematic of the polarizer.
eight discrete polarizations in sequence, with a time interval
between discrete polarizations of 2.08 ms. The rotation
time from (for example) vertical to horizontal polarization
is 8.32 ms. For added flexibility, the direction of the discrete
polarizations may be incremented up to 22° in !o steps.
Reflectivity is thus determinable in eight preselected planes,
and ZvR in four planes. From examination of the variation
of the copolar signal with changing polarization direction,
the mean canting angle may also be determined (Pratt et
al., 1984).
The SHAPE Technical Center radar (STC} was devel-
oped in the early 1970s for applications quite different
from the other radars listed in Table 3.1, i.e., mainly in
the area of defense applications; Poelman and Guy (1985)
give a complete description of research at STC. The heart
of the system is the wave polarizer which allows the radar
to operate with many different states of polarization. The
transmitted signal passes through a duplexer and is split
equally in phase by a hybrid tee. The two outputs are fed
to the polarizer, in each arm of which there is a 4-bit ferrite
phase shifter covering the range 0°-90° in steps of 6~ 0 •
The phase-shifted signals are then cross-coupled by a 3-
dB hybrid coupler. The two outputs are connected to a S-
hit ferrite phase shifter which covers the range 0°-180°
in steps of 6~ 0 • The final two outputs (Hand V polarized)
feed an orthomode transducer which launches power into
the dual-polarized feed hom. The wave polarizer is similar
in principle to the one described in section 3.4 for the
DFVLR radar. The co- and cross-polar received signals pass
through their respective receivers resulting in four 8-bit I
and Q channels ( lc, Qc, lx, Qx). The radar data have been
used in conjunction with advanced vector signal processing
algorithms with the aim of improving the detectability of
targets by suppressing backscatter returns from clutter
and/ or interference signals in the polarization domain;
see, for example, Poelman (1981).
The National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) Cimar-
ron (CIM) radar is an S-hand Doppler radar which has
been recently modified for a ZvR measurement capability
(Carter et al., 1986). A latching ferrite circulator switch is
used to switch the transmitted state from H to V in a pulse-
to-pulse mode. The received signal (IH, QH) or ( lv, Qv) is
always copolar to that transmitted. An "alternate pair"
mode changes polarization on alternate pairs of transmitter
intervals, i.e., the sequence HHVVHHVV, etc. This mode
of operation is most useful when both ZvR and real-time
pulse-pair velocity signal processing are required. The
Nyquist velocity in this mode is the same as in the con-
ventional Doppler mode (i.e., no polarization switching).
The signal processor does not compute ZvR in real time;
rather, time series of the complex video are recorded for
postprocessing. Algorithms for computing differential
phase shift due to propagation in rain have been developed
by Sachidananda and Zrnic (1986a) and applied to the
time series data.
Since 1982 the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory (AFGL)
has been engaged in modifying its S-hand Doppler radar
for polarimetric measurements. Their long-range goals in-
volve transmitting either circular or linear polarized signals
(with rapid switching between either RHC and LHC, or
H and V states), and coherently receiving the co- and cross-
polar echoes. The first phase involved modification of the
antenna and feed system to a dual-polarized configuration
and the installation of a high-power microwave switch;
see Ussailis and Metcalf (1983}, who also discuss the key
design elements of the antenna, microwave package and
receiver. The main antenna modification was the replace-
ment of the original single-mode feed hom with a dual-
mode Potter feed horn and a sloped septum polarizer. The
hom and polarizer are supported by four struts placed at
45° from the linear polarization axes to minimize cross-
polarization effects. A configuration of three ferrite cir-
culator switches has been implemented to alternate the
orthogonal transmitted polarizations from pulse to pulse
while maintaining high polarization isolation. Switching
between linear and circular polarizations is achieved by
means of a network of two mechanical waveguide switches
and a hybrid coupler.
The reflectivity processor uses floating-point computa-
tional hardware to average the received power at H and
V polarizations,. rather than its logarithm. This design fea-
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY 177

1 2 3 4 5 & 1 a 9 10 n 12 n 14 15 1 2 3 4 5 r.... one for V-polarized transmissions (Randeu and Riedler,

13 14 15 1 2 3 4 5 & 1 s 9 w 11 12 13 14 15 1 r,,. 1985). Figure 3.10 shows a schematic of frequency agility
';:; 5650
as applied to the H- and V-polarized transmissions. The
prf is 1kHz for each magnetron with alternate transmis-
..."'~ sions of Hand V pulses. A dual-channel logarithmic re-
ceiver is used to measure the copolar and cross-polar re-
flectivities, i.e., both ZvR and LOR.
5&48 The NOAAIWPL and RABELAIS radars are the only
polarimetric radars in Table 3.1 that operate at 35 GHz
5635 (Pasqualucci et al., 1982; Sauvageot et al., 1986). The WPL
radar (see Fig. 3.11) uses two collimated 1.2-m diameter
Cassegrain paraboloids for the transmitter and receiver. A
5&30
mechanically switchable polarizer allows the selection of
either circular or linear (H or V) polarizations. A similar
polarizer and OMT in the receive antenna allows the re-
ception of copolar and cross-polar signals. The receiver
5&20 has four channels, i.e., co- and cross-logarithmic and co-
and cross-linear. Circular polarization data from this radar,
i.e., CDR, ORTT and ALD, have been analyzed by Kropfli
et al. (1984) and Moninger et al. (1984). Table 3.1 also
includes a description of the NOAAIWPL X-band radar
5&10
system which has capabilities similar to those of the K-
band radar. The RABELAIS radar has recently been com-
ms missioned for cloud physics research; see Sauvageot et al.
t ••• (1986) for an analysis of ZvR data from ice clouds. This
5&00 radar also uses two center-fed paraboloids and is capable
of operating at either circular or linear (H, V) polarizations.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 1& 17 18 IS
l(msJ
The Instituto di Fisica dell' Atmosfera (CNR) radar is
an advanced, coherent, frequency agile, dual-polarized
Fig. 3.10 Frequency-shift pattern for H and V polarized pulses for radar developed for cloud physics and radio wave prop-
the ESA and FG] I lAS (Technical University of Graz) C-band radar
(from Randeu and Riedler, 1985).
TRANSMITTING

ture permits the most accurate computation of Z0 R, as also

ANTENNA

realized by the RAL, NCAR I CP-2 and NSSL I CIM radars;

see also section 4.2. Further modifications now in progress
will enable coherent reception of copolar and cross-polar I.F. REFERENCE
signals, i.e., measurement of the full backscatter matrix
with either linear or circular polarization base. These sig-
nals will be received through both logarithmic and coher- RECEIVING
ent linear receivers to enable the derivation of all power, ANTENNA

cross-covariance, and Doppler parameters across the wid-

est possible dynamic range.
The Technical University of Graz and SPANDAR radars
are the only radars in Table 3.1 that use frequency agility
IN~=~E
LOG }

to achieve a larger number of independent samples for VIDEO

COPOlAR *
estimating ZH and Zv. The SPANDAR is a very high res-
ECHO

r-------jr-<J OUA~~~6URE
olution (0.4° beam at S-band) Doppler radar which mea-
sures ZvR using a mechanical switch and successive block
transmissions of H-and V-polarized pulses. Goldhirsh et
al. (1987) providt;. details. Development of the radar at
Graz, Austria is being performed by the Joanneum Re-
search Center (FGJ) at the Technical University of Graz
under sponsorship of the European Space Agency (ESA).
The ESA and FGJ I lAS radar is a C-band radar which uses * NOTE: TERMINOLOGY APPROPRIATE FOR LINEARLY POLARIZED TRANSMISSION/RECEPTION

two magnetrons, one for H-polarized transmissions and Fig. 3.11 Block diagram of the NOAA 1K-band radar.
178 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
agation research (Leonardi et al., 1984). The antenna is
an offset-fed parabolic reflector with a corrugated hom
and integral OMT which is similar in design to the DFVLR
radar antenna.
Further details on the New Mexico Tech radar are given
by Krehbiel and Brook (1982). The characteristics of the
Japanese DND radar are described byYoshinoetal. (1987).
The S-hand radar of the Delft University of Technology,
The Netherlands, is a FM-CW system originally con-
structed for clear air and hydrometeor measurements
(Ligthart and Nieuwkerk, 1982). This system, which uti-
lizes separate transmitting and receiving antennas respec-
tively 4.28 and 2.12 min diameter, has recently been fitted
for coherent polarization diversity measurements.
4 RADAR SYSTEM CONSIDERATIONS
Polarization diversity radars for meteorological mea-
surements must meet fairly stringent requirements on the
antenna, microwave circuitry (such as polarizers), and in-
deed on all parts of the transmission and reception cir-
cuitry. These requirements exist because polarization ef-
fects in precipitation media are relatively small and their
accurate determination therefore demands the use of pre-
cision apparatus. For example, the differential reflectivity
is small in many types of precipitation, and its accurate
determination requires considerable care in the design and
calibration of the apparatus.
Because most precipitation particles appear to the radar
to depart only moderately from spherical shapes (at least
for particles small compared to the wavelength) accurate
determination of the scalar quantities CDR or LOR requires
the measurement of a small "weak channel" response
which in extreme cases may be at the level of -35 dB or
lower with respect to the "main channel" response. This
is especially the case in the measurement of LOR in situ-
ations where the direction of polarization is in one of the
principal planes of a highly oriented medium such as rain.
Likewise, the accurate determination of the relative phase
and coherency between the two received signals imposes
stringent requirements on systems. The same considera-
tions also apply to advanced radars that estimate the "weak
channel" Doppler spectra, as well as the cross spectrum.
Since many of the Doppler radars listed in Table 3.1
have been specially modified for ZvR measurements it is
important to consider those system effects that impact the
joint measurement of ZvR and Doppler velocity. Likewise,
the use of frequency agility to estimate ZvR should be care-
fully considered since it can degrade the standard error of
the ZvR measurement.
The radars listed in Table 3.1 cover a wide range of
frequencies from 3 to 35 GHz. The choice of operating
frequency is an important consideration since differential
phase shift and differential attenuation caused by propa-
gation through the anisotropic rain medium deserve special
attention. To estimate the backscatter matrix properties,
propagation effects must be small or accounted for by spe-
cial techniques. In some instances a direct measurement
of the propagation effect (both absolute as well as differ-
ential) may be a desirable goal.
In this section a number of system components that af-
fect the accuracy of polarimetric measurements are con-
sidered, viz., antennas and feeds, waveguide switches, and
constant phase circuitry. The various sources of system
polarization errors and special calibration techniques for
polarimetric radars are also discussed. Finally, special
measurement considerations affecting the accuracy of ZvR
are presented.
4.1 System Components A&ecting
Polarimetric Measurements
4.1.1 Antennas and Feeds
In radar meteorology, because of the distributed nature
of the target, the performance of the antenna is of prime
importance. In contrast to the case where point targets are
measured, and good antenna performance on boresight
suffices (Blanchard and Jean, 1983), accurate dual-polar-
ization measurements of precipitation media require (ide-
ally) matched patterns in both polarizations, low sidelobes,
low cross-polarized lobes, and polarization uniformity
throughout the beam. Of course polarization purity
throughout the beam is also highly desirable; however, in
many cases small departures from the ideal may be com-
pensated for in the computation of results if there is po-
larization uniformity.
Ussailis and Metcalf (1983) provided a review of the
cross-polarization of axisymmetric reflector antennas. They
determined that the cross-polarization pattern for linearly
polarized antennas has maxima which lie in 45 ° planes
between the principal axes of the antenna. These maxima
consist of a set of pencil-beam lobes on each arm of the
planes. The integrated cross-polar ratio (ICPR) is defined
as equal to the integrated cross-polar energy emitted by a
linearly polarized antenna divided by the integrated co-
polarized energy emitted by the same antenna. In practice
integration over five beamwidths usually suffices. The
ICPR pertains to the "one-way" effect of antenna errors
in a linearly polarized system; upon reception of the back-
scattered energy, a further cross-coupling, equal to that
occurring on transmission, takes place, so that the "two-
way" effect is ICPR + 6 dB.
While low values of ICPR ( ~ -30 dB) are desirable for
the measurement of LOR, this requirement is not quite as
stringent for ZvR measurements. In fact most of the S-hand
radars in Table 3.1 that have been modified for ZvR prob-
ably have poor ICPR <~ -20 dB); see also the discussion
in section 4.2. It should be emphasized here that low co-

polar sidelobes are one of the primary requirements of
meteorological radar antennas and no compromise should
be made in this regard, i.e., the design goal of low ICPR
should not preclude low copolar sidelobe performance.
Very few of the axisymmetric reflector antennas listed in
Table 3.1 can be considered to have excellent sidelobe per-
formance, the exceptions being the CP-2/X-band, ESA
and FGJ/IAS, and New Mexico Tech radars. Figure 4.1
from Ussailis and Metcalf (1983) shows computation of
ICPR versus f/D for an axisymmetric parabolic reflector
antenna using various types of feeds. The computations
were performed with software developed and validated
by Georgia Tech to predict the co- and cross-polar patterns
of single and double reflector antennas. For example, an
fjD of 0.4 (AFGL antenna) gives ICPR -20 dB, and
further improvements require either a reflector with longer
focal length or a better feed.
Purity and uniformity of the polarization, which are
prime requirements for CDR and LOR measurements, are
greatly dependent upon the antenna feed characteristics,
with reflector precision and the aperture illumination
function also being important. Minimization of aperture
blocking by the feed and by its support structure makes
the attainment of a good polarization pattern somewhat
easier. Offset-fed reflector antennas have been used, for
example, in the NRC, DFVLR, and Polar C55 radars to
virtually eliminate aperture blocking. The polarization-
twist Cassegrain geometry of the CP-2 X-band antenna
also eliminates aperture blockage. Ussailis and Metcalf
(1983) describe the double offset Cassegrain geometry of
Wilkinson and Burdine (1980); the best achievement of
such an arrangement yielded two -34-dB cross-polar lobes
symmetrically displaced from the principal axis. In addi-
tion, a great reduction in copolar sidelobes was achieved,
i.e., an improvement of 17 dB was obtained relative to the
level expected for a moderate f fD Newtonian single offset
design.
-40 Dijk et al. (1974)
WR284 Feed
Tech Model
-30
Ghobrial ( 1979), Diik et al. (197 4)
Electric Dipole Feed
iii
"0
~ -20
0..
2 Redrawn from Ussailis
and Metcalf ( 1983)
-10
0.25 0.4 0.6 0.8
f/D
1.0
Ok---~----~----_L _____ L_ _ _ __ L _
100 200 300 400
Focal Length (Inches)
Fig. 4.1 Computations of integrated cross-polar ratio as a function
of antenna focal length for axisymmetric reflector antennas.
TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY 179
From a polarization purity point of view, the ideal feed
for a center-fed paraboloidal antenna is a Huygens source
(Love et al., 1986), namely a source with electric and
magnetic dipoles on orthogonal axes in the aperture plane
and radiating equal in-phase fields along the axis of prop-
agation. (See definition 3 for cross-polarization by Ludwig,
1973.)
Equality of the E-plane and H-plane primary (feed)
patterns may be achieved by a multimode hom design or
by various dipole feeds, e.g. Cutler or Clavin feed (Love
et al., 1986). However, it appears that the dual-mode feed
hom originated by Potter (1963) and corrugated (scalar)
horns are the most widely used for polarization diversity
radars. Unlike the former, the latter utilize a hybrid mode,
= typically HEu (a combination of the TE11 and TM11 circular
waveguide modes) and therefore have superior band-
width, an attraction for tunable radars. Both are charac-
terized by low sidelobes and rotationally symmetric pat-
terns; the latter are especially desirable if good polarization
purity is to be obtained. When properly designed, both
the Potter horns and corrugated horns closely approximate
the ideal Huygens source. Single mode conical horns with
large planar flanges are also capable of producing fairly
low cross-polarized lobes of the order of -30 dB (Love et
al., 1986, p. 353).
Offset-fed reflectors, while capable of producing very
low cross-polarization at circular polarization, are not in
general as good at linear polarization as their center-fed
counterparts ( Chu and Turrin, 1973). For example, the
NRC X-band antenna has linear cross-polarized lobes with
peaks of -29 to -31 dB with respect to the peak of the
copolar main beam, while its circular polarization purity
is such that its opposite sense response is of the order of
-40 dB. Love et al. (1986) provide a general discussion of
cross-polarization reduction techniques in offset reflector
antennas. For example, trimode horns with the modes ap-
propriately matched to produce the desired aperture field
distribution can, when used with precision offset reflectors,
yield 10 to 20 dB additional suppression of the linear cross-
polar lobes as compared to Potter type feeds (Love et al.,
1986, pp. 405-407). Trimode horns, however, have not
yet been utilized for precipitation radars.
Although offset reflector antennas exhibit excellent cir-
cular polarization uniformity, such antennas suffer from
beam-squinting effects in the plane of asymmetry. The
right- and left-hand patterns are shifted, in opposite di-
rections, away from the geometric boresight. The magni-
tude of the shift depends upon the geometry of the antenna
( Chu and Turrin, 1973) but is typically quite small. For
the NRC antennas, with f/D = 1.11 and offset angle () 0
1.5 = 35 o, the beam separation in the azimuth plane has been
experimentally measured as approximately 1/ 15 of the
500
beamwidth, i.e., 0.06 °. [An approximate formula given by
Adatia and Rudge (1975) predicts a relative displacement
of less than 0.05°.] At a range of 50 km, the experimentally
determined value represents a lateral displacement of 52
180 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
m, and therefore the effects on meteorological measure-
ments are believed to be negligible.
To separate the orthogonal signals which are present at
the feed hom terminal in a two-port antenna, an orthog-
onal mode transducer ( OMT) is required. The chief OMT
requirements are high isolation between ports, excellent
impedance match, low insertion loss, and adequate power
handling capability. Many of the radars listed in section 3
employ turnstile junctions for this function. They may be
adjusted to couple to various polarization pairs, e.g.,
crossed linear, opposite sense circular, or, if desired, any
orthogonal elliptical polarization pair in the circular wave-
guide arm. Combined feed and OMT isolations greater
than 50 dB at a spot frequency can be obtained with care-
fully constructed and matched turnstiles coupled to the
feed hom.
As described in section 2, when polarizations, other than
those specifically generated by excitation of the two ports
of a dual-polarized antenna, are to be radiated and re-
ceived, a polarizer network is required so that the desired
polarization can be synthesized by a suitable superposition
of the two base polarizations. Such polarizer networks,
comprising a variable ratio power divider plus a variable
phase shifter, may be integrated with the waveguide switch
(as in the DFVLR radar) or may be separate (as in the
NRC radar). The performance of the polarizer is strongly
affected by the VSWR of the components attached to its
ports. A discussion of the effects of mismatch on the per-
formance of hybrid junction polarizers is given by Ussailis
and Metcalf (1983), who point out that an isolation of
-40 dB requires a VSWR of less than 1.02 on all ports of
the hybrid, a condition that limits the bandwidth of the
system. Ussailis and Metcalf also discuss a trimmer network
originally described by Hollis et al. (1970) which can be
used to improve the polarization isolation over a narrow-
band.
In addition to the polarizer, turnstile junctions used for
mode separation are inherently narrowband devices. Fur-
ther effort may be required if the isolation performance
which these narrowband devices exhibit is to be obtained
in broadband chirp or multifrequency radars.
4.1.1 Waveguide Switches
Polarization control may be effected in various ways,
depending upon requirements which may include, for ex-
ample, continuous or near-continuous variation of the po-
larization, or alternatively, rapid switching between dis-
crete (usually orthogonal) states. In two-channel systems,
a prime requirement (as discussed earlier) is high isolation
between channels. For ZvR radars, isolation is not usually
a stringent requirement since the radiation of a very small
fraction of power on the orthogonal polarization can be
easily tolerated. Mechanical (chopper) switches such as
that used on the RAL radar can be made to yield high
isolation, but ferrite switches tend to have fairly low iso-
lation, with common values of the order of 25 dB.
Pulse-to-pulse polarization switching has been imple-
mented in many of the radars described in section 3. Such
a provision allows for the comparison of orthogonal echo
components within time scales that are less than the re-
shuffling time of the particles. This capability is important
for ZvR and combined ZvR-Doppler measurements, and it
is also expected to be useful for CDR and LOR measure-
ments.
The location of the polarization switch within the overall
system is an important determinant for the system isola-
tion. When a ferrite switch is used on transmit only, it is
possible to obtain isolation in excess of 40 dB over a narrow
frequency band by the use of reactive tuning elements on
the switch ports (Allan et al., 1983). Isolations of 52 to 60
dB can be obtained if a three-switch configuration as shown
in Fig. 3.7b is used, at the cost of increased insertion loss.
With a transmit-only waveguide switch configuration, use
of a separate switch in the receivers is desirable. The latter
operates in synchronism with the waveguide switch, but
carries i-f or video frequencies only. Consequently, attain-
ing high isolation is not usually difficult.
An alternative location for a ferrite switch is at or near
the dual-channel feed hom. In this case, bilateral operation
prevails and a separate receiver switch is unnecessary.
Since both transmitted and received signals are passing
through the device, however, it is much more difficult to
obtain high isolation between a multiplicity of ports. Us-
sailis and Metcalf (1983) proposed the use of a logic-based
update network which samples the main and isolated ports
and adjusts the current in each of the phase shifters to
correct for isolation deficiency. A further potential concern
is the possibility that the phase characteristics of the switch
may vary owing to internal heating or to high-power non-
linearities in the ferrite material. To date, information on
these potential problems is incomplete.
State-of-the-art high-power ferrite switches provide
isolation of =25 dB over a broad band, insertion losses of
the order of 0.5 to 0.7 dB, switching (transition) times of
the order of microseconds, and cycling rates of up to 3
kHz. Driving power requirements are modest because
latching-type ferrites are used, and standard logic line
drivers may be employed. Power ratings of 250 kW at X-
band and 500 kW at S-hand are typical.
4.1.3 Constant Phase Circuitry
The key critical requirements in the design of two-chan-
nel receivers are phase tracking, amplitude tracking, and
interchannel isolation. In two-channel systems where
measurement of the phase of the cross-correlation is de-
sired, the preservation of phase information and the
avoidance of phase nonlinearities are vital. Some of the
radar system considerations pertaining to the preservation
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY
of phase information are discussed in the following para-
graphs.
An obvious requirement is the use of a common local
oscillator for the r-f to i-f receiver mixers. However, this
creates a coupling path for leakage between channels
which, if excessive, will impair isolation. Since the trou-
blesome leakage is from the main channel to the "weak
signal" channel, use of a ferrite isolator in the drive line
to the main channel mixer will usually suffice for the pres-
ervation of adequate isolation.
Ideally the i-f amplifiers should have phase character-
istics which are independent of signal level, and the am-
plifiers should have matched phase versus frequency
, slopes. In practice the former ideal is more difficult to ap-
proach, and consequently the dynamic range over which
adequate phase performance is exhibited may be limited
to 30 to 35 dB. Excessive variation in phase (say >5°)
tends to occur at the high i-f signal levels required for
conventional video detection; therefore the use of detectors
that are linear in both amplitude and phase at low drive
levels is desirable. Well-behaved phase versus frequency
characteristics of the filter networks employed in the re-
ceivers are important. Flat-phase or low phase-ripple filters,
etc., are potentially helpful in attaining these character-
istics. Equalization of the phase versus frequency char-
acteristics of the i-f amplifiers, required for good phase
tracking over a bandwidth commensurate with the spectral
width of the radar pulses, can be achieved by insertion of
an appropriate length of coaxial cable in the receiver ex-
hibiting lowest dispersion.
For short-range observations, fast recovery duplexers
and crystal protectors should be used to provide for rapid
settling of the phase characteristics of the system after the
transmitter pulse. Ideally, the elements in each channel
should be identical in design. Amplitude tracking and low
amplitude ripple within the passband are also desirable
attributes of two-channel receiving systems.
4.2 System Polarization Errors
Systematic polarization errors can affect radar measure-
ments of precipitation in a variety of ways. For ZoR radars,
mismatched antenna beams (including sidelobes) and po-
larization impurities may bias or affect the accuracy of the
measurement. For two-channel radars, such quantities as
CDR, LDR, W, ORTT, etc., can be significantly affected,
especially where the weak-channel return is very small in
relation to the main-channel return, situations that prevail
for light rain and other forms of precipitation where the
particles exhibit a high degree of symmetry. The subject
of polarization errors is complex and has been treated in
detail by McCormick (1981) and Metcalf and Ussailis
(1984).
Polarization errors in two-channel CDR or LDR radars
arise from several sources. First, unwanted coupling may
exist between channels in such circuit elements as the po-
181
larizer, and between coaxial cables and other i-f compo-
nents. This type of coupling is usually stable (for passive
circuit elements), and although it may vary somewhat over
the spectral width of the signals, it has a definable effect
which in principle can be removed during computation.
On transmission, this spurious coupling in the microwave
circuitry causes the excitation of a small amount of un-
wanted component in the antenna radiation, even if the
antenna is perfect, and a reciprocal effect occurs on recep-
tion. Spurious coupling in the i-f components affects the
received signals only, but fortunately such coupling may
readily be reduced to levels that are negligible in compar-
ison to those occurring in the r-f section.
Imperfections in the polarization purity of the antenna
radiation pattern have the added characteristic that in
general the purity will vary throughout the beam, es-
pecially where significant cross-polarized lobes exist. Con-
sequently, when a distributed target such as precipitation
is illuminated, the resultant error is an integrated effect
that cannot be completely nullified in the computation of
results, i.e., the antenna has a performance limit, which
is, for circularly polarized antennas, the integrated can-
cellation ratio (Offutt, 1961) and for linearly polarized an-
tennas, the integrated cross-polarization ratio (Metcalf and
Ussailis, 1984). Usually the antenna errors are not con-
sidered separately from the microwave circuit errors, but
are instead incorporated into overall error terms which
describe the performance of the entire channel.
Polarization errors arise also from microwave switching.
Depending upon the location of the switch in the system,
the errors may occur on transmission only (e.g., as in the
NRC radar) or on both transmission and reception (e.g.,
as in the DFVLR radar). In the former case, the switch
introduces an additional source of error, since the trans-
mission and reception characteristics of the system differ;
however, use of a three-switch configuration as discussed
earlier can make this source of error negligible in most
practical situations. Where the switch handles both trans-
mitted and received signals, the errors, although larger
than those arising in passive microwave circuitry, can be
treated in the same way as antenna errors, even though
ferrite circulators used as switches do not exhibit reciprocity
(Metcalf and Ussailis, 1984).
To illustrate the magnitude of CDR inaccuracies resulting
from system errors, consider the determination of a CDR
of true value -30 dB, under two conditions: first, with an
ideal antenna, but with SO dB isolation in the microwave
circuit; and second, with an antenna radiating uniformly
throughout the pattern 0.5% of unwanted field component,
but perfect isolation in other parts of the system. In the
first case, leakage into the weak channel will be 20 dB
below the echo component therein, and, if no correction
is made, the observed CDR may vary from -29.2 to -30.9
dB, depending upon the relative phase between the spu-
rious coupling and the true echo. In the second case, again
without correction, the observed CDR can lie between
182 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
-28.7 and -31.5 dB. Errors of similar magnitude would
occur in LOR measurements. Blanchard and Newton
(1985) conclude that the system isolation should be at least
16 dB greater than the difference between true like and
cross-polarized components for acceptable system accu-
racy.
For dual-channel radars operating either at (or near)
circular or at (or near) linear polarizations, the mathe-
matical treatment of polarization errors is simplified
(McCormick and Hendry, 1979). The simplification occurs
because. the return in one channel is much smaller than
that in the other for most forms of precipitation. With this
simplification, the system polarization errors can be de-
scribed in terms of two small complex quantities, one for
each channel, and by a factor describing the pattern in-
equality. For circularly polarized systems, these are E+, E-
and {j where E+ is the error term applicable to the RHC
channel, E- is the corresponding LHC term, and {j is a
measure of the beam squint and other gain inequality of
the antenna ports. The corresponding factors for the lin-
early polarized case are E1, E2 and [j 12. Measurement of
these error quantities is discussed in section 4.3.
The complex factor {j may be related to the antenna gain
as follows. When unit amplitude RHC and LHC waves
are incident on the antenna, the signal outputs from the
respective RHC and LHC ports (designated a and b) may
be written as
R. = Ae;"'
where 1/; is the phase function of the antenna, and A and
B are proportional to the respective gain functions. (On
boresight, A and B are real and have values A 0 and Bo.)
The factor {j is defined by {j = VA I B. For an ideal antenna,
{j = 1 throughout the beam. In practice {j 0 ( = VAo I Bo) is
usually close to unity, and any departure of it from unity
can be absorbed in the overall system calibration. Signif-
icant departures of {j from unity occur for offset-fed an-
tennas. McCormick and Hendry (1979) show a typical plot
of the magnitude of {j in the principal plane of asymmetry
of an offset-fed antenna (the NRC Ku-band antenna). The
phase of {j varies by only a few degrees over the main
beam.
The meaning of the error terms can be described briefly.
The radiation vectors of the emission from a circularly po-
larized antenna with input ports a and b may be written
in terms of the error factors E+ and L as
where i± are real and close to unity for a well-designed
system. Since i± 2 + I E± 1 2 = 1 from total power consider-
ations, the error terms are small quantities. Thus, E+ is a
measure of the (unwanted) LHC component admixed with
the desired RHC component (and vice versa for E-). The
factors E± and {j may usefully be combined in a polarization
error matrix X given by Eq. (18) of McCormick (1981):
Correspondingly, for the linear polarization case, the ma-
trix X12 , given by
contains the analogous quantities. Subscripts 1 and 2 per-
tain to orthogonally polarized linear channels.
For distributed targets, the averages £+, 'f_, '£1 , £2 , iJ and
iJ12 are significant. As shown in McCormick (1981) and
Metcalf and Ussailis (1984), these quantities can be used
to correct the radar observations for polarization system
errors. For example, correction of the cross-covariance is
given by Eq. (37) of McCormick and Hendry (1979), i.e.,
where (W IW2 ) 1, the ratio observed with an ideal (error-
free) system, is obtainable by inversion. In practice, iJ does
not depart greatly from unity. An analogous expression
for the linearly polarized case is given by Eq. ( 68) of
McCormick (1981) or equivalently by Eq. (30) of Metcalf
and Ussailis (1984). The expressions for correction of CDR
and LOR are somewhat more complicated and are best
seen in the above referenced papers.
Metcalf and Ussailis have considered the effects of po-
larization errors on the determination of ZoR. The math-
ematical expressions tend to be lengthy, but the salient
points of their discussion can be summarized here. They
find only second-order errors for a mean canting angle of
0°, but larger errors for nonzero mean canting angles. Er-
rors of 0.1 dB or more in ZoR for values of ICPR of -25 to
-30 dB can occur when a~ 5°. In practice, a is usually
close to zero for rain as shown by the histogram of
McCormick and Hendry (1974). Errors in ZoR should thus
be quite small for typical values of ICPR.
The "one-way" integrated cross~polarization ratio for a
linearly polarized antenna is defined by Metcalf and Us-
sailis as
It 12
ICPR = 1 - I f 12
where f = £1 and 1 - If I = (i;) 2 • Thus, ICPR is the ratio
of the total cross-polarized power transmitted to the total
copolar power transmitted. (The subscript 1 refers to one-
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY 183
way transmission.) For illumination of a uniform medium
comprising symmetric or nearly symmetric scatterers, ICPR
is the ratio of cross-polar to copolar signal intensities in
the backscattered wave. As mentioned earlier, upon re-
ception a further deterioration equal to that occurring on
transmission takes place, so that the cross-polar to copolar
ratio at the receiver inputs has a lower limit of ICPR + 6
dB. Well-designed antenna systems exhibit integrated
cancellation ratios (ICR) exceeding 40 dB, and ICPRs of
the order of -30 dB.
Polarization errors due to antenna sidelobe mismatches
at the two principal polarization states can be important
in areas of large reflectivity gradients, e.g., updraft zones
of convective storms. This topic has been considered by
Herzegh and Carbone (1984), Johnson (1984) and Sach-
idananda and Zrnic (1986b). Rinehart and Tuttle (1982,
1984) were the first to discuss the effects of mismatched
antenna patterns OJ1 dual-frequency data processing.
Johnson (1984) has presented computations of sidelobe
contributions to the ZvR and dual-frequency signal for a
two-area storm model in terms of both sidelobe strength
and sidelobe mismatch. He concludes that it would gen-
erally be better to minimize the copolar sidelobe magni-
tudes irrespective of how well they match. Herzegh and
Carbone (1984) have simulated ZvR errors in the presence
of large reflectivity gradients using measured CP-2 antenna
patterns. They find that for the CP-2 antenna, sidelobe
mismatches at Hand V polarization states can contribute
to large errors in ZvR, especially in regions adjacent to echo
boundaries and in embedded local minima in the reflec-
tivity field. High reflectivity gradient regions are of interest
because they frequently coincide with hydrometeor growth
and decay, e.g., layered or trail structures in widespread
precipitation (Herzegh and Conway, 1986 ). Such regions
may also generate very weak depolarized signals (i.e., low
SNR) leading to unreliable or unattainable estimates of
LDR or CDR in these microphysically interesting regions.
Sachidananda and Zrnic (1986b) consider the effects of
sidelobe contamination on both ZvR and the differential
propagation phase shift cf>vP. They point out that main
lobe matching at the two polarizations can be achieved
reasonably well, while it is very difficult to match the side-
lobes. Also, matching the sidelobes may not be useful since
the scatterers illuminated by the sidelobes should have the
same ZvR as that of the scatterers illuminated by the main
beam, in order that the estimated ZvR be error free. Oth-
erwise there would be some bias error depending on the
difference in ZvR values in the main beam and sidelobes
and their relative power. When the sidelobes are not
matched, the sidelobe powers in the Hand V polarizations
differ due to the ZvR of the targets as well as differing
antenna response at H and V polarizations. Sachidananda
and Zrnic also analyze the effects of sidelobe contamination
on the phase of the signal and conclude that cf>vP is much
more susceptible to sidelobe contamination than ZvR. Fur-
ther study and analysis seems to be required on this topic.
McCormick (1981), McCormick and Hendry (1979) and
Metcalf and Ussailis (1984) have obtained estimates of the
complex polarization error terms using vertical incidence
data in light rain. In this method, the residual values of
the cross-correlation are measured with the antenna
pointing at the zenith during light rain. Since light rain at
vertical incidence exhibits no preferential orientation (a
condition that can be confirmed by noting the absence of
any variation in echo characteristics as the antenna is ro-
tated in azimuth at 90° elevation angle), the residual cross-
correlation is caused exclusively by system errors, and a
single measurement (for each polarization) suffices to de-
termine the combined effect of antenna and other system
errors integrated over the beam.
The determination of the error quantities with an ex-
ternal polarization reference source can be summarized as
follows. When a circularly polarized radar system whose
error quantities are to be measured is illuminated by a
calibration antenna of opposite sense, the radar receiver
output will be proportional to the vector sum of the errors
of the two antennas. (If both antennas were ideal, there
would be a complete polarization mismatch, and therefore
no receiver output.) If the phase of one error term can be
varied, a calibration procedure (called the circle plot tech-
nique) follows, in which the polarization error of the re-
ceiving antenna can be separately determined.
An essential requirement is that the feed structure (or
alternatively the entire structure) of the calibration antenna
can be rotated about line of sight, i.e., while remaining
boresighted with the radar antenna. This causes the phase
of the error component to run through 360°, and a plot
of the combined error terms on the complex plane will be
a circle whose center position specifies the radar antenna
error quantity and whose radius is a measure of the error
of the calibration antenna. (Further details are given by
McCormick and Hendry, 1979.) An advantage of this
method is that E for the radar antenna may be mapped
throughout the beam by adjusting the azimuth and ele-
vation in steps, following which I'E I and IE 12 can be es-
timated.
A close relationship exists between the circular and linear
polarization error characteristics of dual-channel systems,
and it is possible to calculate one set of error quantities
from the other. Equations are given in McCormick (1981)
for this purpose. It should be emphasized that in well-
designed systems the error quantities can be made quite
small (at least for narrowband operation), and if so, in-
terest in them and limitation by them will tend to be greater
in the case of research radars than for operational radars.
4.3 Calibration
As might be expected, the more complex the systems,
the more involved the calibration required. The following
discussion is intended to describe the salient points of the
184 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
calibration requirements peculiar to polarization diversity
radars.
For ZvR radars, the main polarization-related calibrations
required include determination of any change in radiated
power caused, for example, by differential insertion loss
of the waveguide switch; change in antenna gain factor
(including beamwidth) between the two polarizations; and
any receiver sensitivity changes occasioned by the switch-
ing process. For an extended target, isotropic and homog-
enous in the observation cell, i.e., filling the beam com-
pletely, these factors may be combined into a single
quantity, namely the change in receiver output power
when the target illumination is alternated between the two
radiated polarization states. Provided that operation at an
elevation angle of 90° is possible, a convenient target is
widespread light precipitation viewed at the zenith. Azi-
muthal rotation of the antenna can be used to verify that
no preferential orientation of the particles is seen at vertical
incidence. For accurate calibration the antenna structure
should be sufficiently rigid so that the antenna character-
istics are essentially independent of elevation angle.
If operation at 90° elevation angle is not possible, ZvR
calibration can be performed by separate determination of
the various factors listed above using, for example, an an-
tenna pattern range and I or far-field monitoring of the
radiated power, and reception of signals from an external
variable polarization source such as a rotating test hom.
The latter calibration can be impaired by multipath prop-
agation between the test hom and the radar antenna. Min-
imization of multipath effects requires careful site selection
and appropriate set-up geometry.
The technique of using the sun as a calibration source
has been described by Frush (1984). The most obvious
application of the solar signal is for calibration of antenna
pointing. The CP-2IX-band system has two antennas
mounted on the same pedestal as the S-hand antenna.
Thus, the solar signal provides an excellent way of aligning
the two X-band antennas. The solar "noise" signal is also
randomly polarized at microwave frequencies, except pos-
sibly during magnetic disturbances. On the CP-2 I X-band
system the gain of the two channels (Hand V polarized)
were matched by using the sun as a randomly polarized
input signal. Frush also describes calibration procedures
for ZvR that are more difficult because of the ferrite cir-
culator switch which needs to be operated with high-power
radiation.
The use of meteorological echoes in establishing the ra-
dar receiver calibration is described by Schaffner et al.
(1983). Conventional receiver calibrations are typically
made with signal generators whose signal statistics differ
from the volume-distributed targets for which the calibra-
tion is sought. Moreover, the calibration needs to be done
over the entire dynamic range of the system. The basic
principle used is that weather echo samples are exponen-
tially distributed, i.e., the standard deviation is proportional
to the mean value of the echo power. If two different re-
ceiver characteristics (e.g., logarithmic and power law) are
used to process the time series echo samples then the slope
of the receiver calibration curve can be determined very
accurately ( Gorgucci et al., 1984).
For CDR I LOR radars, the determination of the gain
differential between channels is the main factor to be cal-
ibrated. Unlike single-channel radars, where measure-
ments are made sequentially using a single receiver, a dual-
channel system can suffer gain drifts of opposite sign in
the two receivers. However, with high quality components
and a temperature-stabilized environment, a relative gain
drift of less than one-half dB per week can be obtained.
Thus, for measurement of CDR (or LOR) values of say 20
dB, differential gain changes are not a severe limitation.
For calibration of the gain differential, it is often con-
venient to consider the antenna and the remainder of the
system separately. Since in most cases the antenna system
consists of passive elements only, the gain differential be-
tween antenna ports tends to be constant at least over the
medium term unless there is physical damage to or dete-
rioration of the structure, or a build-up of ice and snow
on the antenna or feed in cold weather. Thus the antenna
gain differential can be established initially by conventional
pattern and gain measurements, then rechecked at intervals
to investigate the long-term effects that may be caused by
atmospheric corrosion of waveguide elements, etc.
Active elements such as mixers, amplifiers, etc., require
regular calibration. A useful technique is to inject signals
from a highly stable source into both receiver ports via
directional couplers located at the antenna terminals. The
receiver outputs arising from such test signals may be re-
corded before and after periods of observation to assist in
validating data. By this means, the gain differential of the
entire system with the exception of the antenna is deter-
mined. When the system incorporates polarization switch-
ing, the gain differential must be calibrated for each state
of the polarizer.
For advanced two-channel systems in which the relative
phase of orthogonal components of the echo is to be de-
termined, phase calibration is an additional requirement.
Such calibrations are greatly facilitated by the use of an
external polarization reference, i.e., a variable-polarization
signal source situated on boresight, ideally in the far-field
region of the antenna and preferably with site conditions
that minimize multipath effects owing to ground reflections
or reflections from nearby buildings or other structures.
The advantage of an external reference source is that the
phase differential between the two channels, from the an-
tenna aperture to the video output, is determined with one
measurement.
For linearly polarized radars, the relative phase is readily
determined by illuminating the radar antenna with linearly
polarized radiation at 45° to the copolar and cross-polar
directions. Such illumination results in equal amplitude
in-phase excitation of the two ports of the antenna, and
the phase differential of the entire system is immediately
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY
obtained from the receiver outputs. (Note the 180° phase
change in one of the components when the direction of
polarization of the illuminating radiation is changed from
+45 ° to -45 °.) Such slant 45 ° illumination can in principle
be used to determine the gain differential as well, but ac-
curacy of such an amplitude calibration depends upon
precise setting of the polarization direction at 45°. In con-
trast, the phase calibration is not critically dependent upon
the slant angle.
For phase calibration of a dual-channel circularly po-
larized system, radiation from an external source, linearly
polarized in the reference direction, is employed. Thus,
with the vertical chosen as the reference direction, the radar
antenna is illuminated by a linear vertically polarized wave
which then excites the RHC and LHC ports with equal
amplitude in-phase components, and the phase differential
of the system is directly obtainable from the receiver out-
puts. In systems employing polarization switching, sepa-
rate determinations are required for the two polarization
states.
4. 4 ZvR Measurement Considerations
In their original paper Seliga and Bringi (1976) proposed
that accurate measurements of ZvR with standard errors
of 0.1-0.2 dB could be achieved by using polarization
switching between H and V states and receiving the copolar
signals through the same receiver chain. This high degree
of accuracy was necessary if improvements in rainfall es-
timates over conventional Z-R relations were to be ob-
tained. Seliga and Bringi (19 76) also briefly proposed the
use of ZvR ( </>) for estimating the mean canting angle of
raindrops for which a high degree of accuracy is also nec-
essary (Pratt et al., 1984).
A key development that led to highly accurate ZvR mea-
surements was the design and implementation of a fast
polarization switch on the RAL Chilbolton radar in early
1978; see section 3.1. Time series measurements showed
that the measurement accuracy of ZvR was not limited by
the random errors normally associated with measuring ZH
(or Zv) (Bringi et al., 1978; Cherry and Goddard, 1982).
Furthermore, Bringi et al. (1983) showed that ZvR esti-
mation using power samples at H and V states would re-
duce the standard error by approximately a factor of two
as compared to using logarithmic samples (see Fig. 3.6).
Sachidananda and Zrnic (1985) further analyzed the pos-
sibility of incorporating ZvR measurements in fast-scan
Doppler radars without compromising the accuracy of
spectral moment estimates. They considered both alternate
sampling (i.e., conventional switching between Hand V
states on a pulse-to-pulse basis) as well as simultaneous
sampling (i.e., transmitting 45°/135° linear polarization
and simultaneously receiving the H and V components in
a dual-channel receiver). While the analysis of Bringi et
al. (1978) considered only uncorrelated pulse pairs (a pulse
pair being a H pulse followed by a V pulse with lag r),
185
Sachidananda and Zrnic considered the more complex case
of correlated pulse pairs. The key factors affecting ZvR
measurement accuracy are the cross-correlation (between
ZH and Zv) at zero lag, PHv(O), the Doppler spectral width
u, the number of pulse pairs (M) available for averaging,
and the signal-to-noise ratio. The cross-correlation at zero
lag PHv(O) in rainfall depends on (i) the raindrop shape-
size relation, ( ii) the canting angle distribution, and (iii)
raindrop oscillations. Sachidananda and Zrnic modeled the
various contributions that cause PHv(O) to decrease from
unity and concluded that even in intense rain Ip Hv ( 0) 12
> 0.98. The key factor that decreases the cross-correlation
is then receiver noise. The standard deviation of ZvR,
termed uvR, increases significantly as the SNR decreases
below 15 dB (Sirmans and Dooley, 1986). Depending on
the Doppler spectral width, it is now well established that
0.12 :s;; uvR :s;; 0.22 dB forM= 64 pairs, and IPHv(O)I 2
= 0.99 when using power samples for averaging and the
alternate sampling mode (Sachidananda and Zrnic, 1985);
these numbers apply when SNR > 20 dB. For logarithmic
samples the error is significantly increased to 0.25 :s;; uoR
:s;; 0.5 dB, assuming the same parameters as above (Chan-
drasekar et al., 1986).
Both Bringi et al. (1983) and Sachidananda and Zrnic
(1985) consider the effects of frequency agility on uvR. For
example, the ESA and FGJ /lAS radar uses two magnetrons
for the Hand V polarized transmissions to estimate Z0 R;
see Fig. 3.10. Sachidananda and Zrnic consider an alternate
sampling scheme where the frequency is changed after
every two pulses, so that subsequent pairs are uncorrelated,
i.e., the sequence (H 1 , V1), (H 2 , V2 ), (H3, V3), ... , (Hn,
Vn) where (Hi, Vi) are at the same source frequency but
lagged one PRT, and the various pairs are independent
because of frequency agility. The standard error in ZvR
was found to be clearly worse as compared to using al-
ternate sampling with no frequency agility, i.e., 0.13 :s;; uvR
:s;; 0.5 dB using power averaging and the same parameters
of IPHv(O)I 2 = 0.99, M = 64. The frequency agility tech-
nique used by the ESA and FGJ /lAS radar would signif-
icantly increase uvR ( -0.8 dB forM= 64) even more than
estimated by Sachidananda and Zrnic. From Fig. 3.10 pulse
pairs at the same source frequency are lagged by seven
PRTs rather than one PRT described above. Logarithmic
samples are also used for averaging. At such large lags the
pulse pairs (of the same source frequency) are weakly cor-
related (depending on Doppler spectral widths). The ESA
and FGJ/IAS scheme is comparable to the SPANDAR
scheme where successive block transmissions at H and V
states are used, with frequency agility used on each block
of pulses and where slow switching between blocks is in-
corporated. In this case the statistical error in estimating
ZvR is totally governed by the random errors in estimating
ZH and Zv separately.
A key requirement for ZvrDoppler radars is that the
processor should compute reflectivity, Z0 R, and Doppler
spectrum parameters in real time under the condition of
186 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
polarization switching between H and V states, i.e., alter-
nate sampling mode. Metcalf and Armstrong (1983) con-
sidered the effects of polarization switching on the accuracy
and possible bias of Doppler spectral moments. They con-
cluded that reliable estimation of autocovariance could be
performed only by averaging the products of signals having
common polarization. This is necessary because of the ef-
fects of differential phase shift due to propagation in an
anisotropic rain medium. For example, both the NCAR 1
CP-2 and DFVLR radar processors use common polariza-
tion signals to compute mean Doppler velocity and spectral
width when polarization switching is used. The Nyquist
velocity is thus one-half the value when no switching is
employed. At C-band and prf of 2400 Hz the reduced
Nyquist velocity (16.5 m s- 1) may not be acceptable in
severe storms.
Algorithms for computing the propagation differential
phase shift ( ¢oP) are described by Metcalf and Armstrong
(1983), Mueller (1984), Jameson (1985) and Sachidananda
and Zrnic (1986a). Only the latter reference provides a
rigorous analysis of statistical errors of two different esti-
mates of ¢ 0p. Sachidananda and Zrnic show that ¢oP can
be estimated with a 0.5° standard error when adequate
time and range averaging are employed. The time series
data used for estimating ¢oP are based on polarization
switching between Hand V states with coherent copolar
reception using a single channel receiver. Sachidananda
and Zrnic (1986b) show that the backscatter and propa-
gation of the H and V polarized waves are manifested as
amplitude and phase modulation of the time series samples
at the polarization switching frequency. The amplitude
modulation can be related to ZoR while the phase modu-
lation can be related to ¢oP. Due to polarization switching
and the consequent modulation, the spectrum of the radar
signal with alternating polarization exhibits two peaks
separated by the Nyquist interval. This necessitates mod-
ifications in the normal algorithms used for estimating the
Doppler mean velocity and spectrum width. The details
are involved and are best seen in Sachidananda and Zrnic
(1986b). If RHv(T) = (H~Vn+!) and RvH(T) = (V~+I
X Hn+2) then estimators for ¢oP (Mueller, 1984) and mean
Doppler velocity (Sachidananda and Zrnic, 1986a,b) can
be written as ¢oP = ! arg(RHvR~H) and iJ = - Vaj1r
X [arg(RHv - J>oP)], where Va is the Nyquist velocity.
With conventional polarization switching, a Doppler radar
processor can now be configured to estimate reflectivity,
ZoR, ¢op, iJ and u. This potentially constitutes a major ad-
vance in the joint processing of Doppler and polarization
parameters.
5 FUTURE PROSPECTS AND
CONCLUSIONS
5.1 Optimal Polarizations
A radar target has four characteristic polarizations,
termed nulls or optimal polarizations; two are the copolar
nulls and the others are the cross-polar nulls. The CO-
POL nulls occur at those polarization vectors of the incident
radiation for which the backscattered wave is polarized
orthogonally to the incident wave. Conversely, at the X-
POL nulls, the backscattered wave has a zero cross-polar
component. These optimal polarizations, for a given scat-
tering object, may be represented by four points which lie
on a great circle of the Poincare sphere. They may also be
described by the Huynen or polarization fork, the axis (or
"handle") of which is a diameter of the Poincare sphere
whose ends are the X-POL nulls. This diameter bisects the
"prongs" of the fork, the extremities of which are the CO-
POL null polarizations (Huynen, 1965; Cloude, 1983).
The optimal polarizations and consequently the Huynen
fork representation are, for a given body, invariant with
respect to the polarization base; for example, see Giuli
(1986). Thus, the calculation and observation of these po-
larizations are important for target identification and clas-
sification. The use of optimal polarizations for meteoro-
logical studies has been proposed by Boerner and El-Arini
(1981) and further discussed by Nespor (1983).
Meteorological targets give rise in general to partially
polarized backscatter. One consequence of this is that the
nulls of the completely polarized backscatter case are re-
placed by minima which exhibit varying degrees of broad-
ness. The locations, depth, and breadth of the minima
(which depend upon the form of precipitation being ob-
served) are therefore target characteristics, which are sub-
ject to measurement and/ or display.
A discussion of optimal polarizations for the partially
polarized case has been given by McCormick and Hendry
(1985). They show that for precipitation clutter, the depth
and spread of the optimal polarization minima are related
to the degree of preferential orientation and to the mean
shape of the scattering particles. The X-POL minima for
precipitation occur approximately at linear polarizations
parallel and perpendicular to the mean canting angle of
the particles, while the two CO-POL minima, which for
near-spherical particles occur close to the two circular po-
larizations, are increasingly shifted to elliptical polariza-
tions as departures from sphericity increase. For rain, which
exhibits a very high degree of preferential drop alignment,
the minima can be expected to be very deep and narrow,
similar to the nulls for coherent backscatter. In contrast,
for some other forms of precipitation, e.g. tumbling hail
and melting layer constituents for which the degree of
preferential orientation is considerably less, the minima
will be broad and shallow.
It is evident that optimal polarizations are an alternative
to cross-correlation and shape factors for the description
of backscattering from precipitation targets. An example
of the technological application of optimal polarizations is
the modified polarization chart representation of rain clut-
ter by Poelman and Guy (1984). The operational utility
of optimal polarizations in precipitation sensing will require
further investigations, for which the DFVLR radar is suited
(Chandra et al., 1987). These investigations should also
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY
include an operational assessment of the impact of prop-
agation effects on the computation and display of optimal
polarizations.
5.2. Joint Doppler-Polarization
Measurements
There appears to be little doubt that the combined use
of Doppler and polarimetric techniques will play an im-
portant role in the description of the interactions between
storm kinematics and microphysical processes. Joint
Doppler-polarization measurements can exist at various
levels of complexity. At the simplest level, Z0 rDoppler
radars (e.g., CP-2, CHILL, CIM) can be part of multiple-
Doppler networks. Conventional multiple-Doppler anal-
ysis of air motions can then be combined with ZoR to yield
qualitative insights into storm evolution. One key require-
ment of fast-scan Z0 rDoppler radars is that the standard
error in ZvR measurements should be kept reasonably small
(.:;;0.3 dB), a goal that can be achieved by estimating ZvR
from linear power samples of ZH and Zv. Another key
requirement is that polarization switching should not
compromise the Nyquist velocity and the standard errors
in estimating conventional Doppler spectrum parameters.
This goal now appears feasible; see section 4.2 and Sach-
idananda and Zmic (1986b). It also appears that differ-
ential propagation phase shift ( ¢vP) can be estimated ac-
curately using the same time series acquired by Zvr
Doppler radars (Sachidananda and Zmic, 1986b). The
cross-correlation between ZH and Zv at zero lag may also
be a useful indicator of particle microphysics. The new
generation of programmable radar processors now under
development (e.g., the CHILL processor or the new CP-2
processor) will enable researchers to develop algorithms
to estimate more accurately these polarimetric parameters
without compromising the conventional Doppler spectrum
estimates. Technological developments for achieving these
capabilities include techniques for evaluating system-in-
duced differential phase shifts (e.g., polarization switch,
antenna) as well as using low sidelobe antennas and dif-
ferent pulsing/ switching modes, such as staggered prfs
(Keeler and Carbone, 1986).
A higher level of joint Doppler-polarimetric capabilities
involves coherent, dual-polarized radars with or without
pulse-to-pulse polarization switching ( Giuli, 1986). For
circular polarizations, Metcalf (1986) proposed that the
"depolarized" signal autocovariance as well as the "cross-
covariance" between the two signal channels at nonzero
time lags would provide additional information about the
microphysics and dynamics of the precipitation particles.
The DFVLR group has also proposed joint Doppler-po-
larimetric measurements using the time series of the S ma-
trices obtained using pulse-to-pulse polarization switching
and coherent, dual-channel reception (Schroth et al., 1988;
Chandra et al., 1987). We anticipate that the use of co-
herent polarimetric techniques will yield new, detailed in-
sights into the evolution of precipitation. Advances in pro-
187
grammable radar processors will also enable the real-time
testing and operational utility of many of these newly de-
veloped algorithms.
6 CONCLUSIONS
In this review paper we have focused on polarimetric
techniques and their application to radar meteorology. Four
state-of-the-art radar systems have been described in some
detail, and other dual-polarized radars and their mea-
surement capabilities are also presented. A fairly compre-
hensive discussion of radar system considerations is pro-
vided, including (i) components such as antennas, feeds,
polarization switches, etc., (ii) polarization system errors
and calibration techniques, and (iii) special considerations
which affect ZvR measurements.
The theory underlying dual-polarized radars has been
provided as a tutorial with emphasis on the use of the
circular polarization basis and the relationships among the
conventional observables such as CDR, LOR, ORTT and
ZvR· While microphysical parameters of the precipitation
particles such as size, shape, orientation and dielectric
constant are responsible for the polarimetric observables,
we have not included detailed material relating polari-
metric observations to microphysical parameters since
much of it is given in Jameson and Johnson (Chapter 23a)
and Joss and Waldvogel (Chapter 29a). Our theoretical
discussion was restricted to considerations of wave and
antenna polarizations, the backscatter matrix, conventional
radar observables, and propagation effects.
In our review of dual-polarized meteorological radar in-
stallations we found that 21 such radars were currently or
recently active, covering the frequency range 3-35 GHz.
A number of radars have used innovative technology to
achieve their special polarimetric capabilities. The newer
radars are prominent in their use of advanced signal pro-
cessing techniques and real-time color displays of radar
observables.
We expect to see both the qualitative and quantitative
interpretation of polarimetric measurements proceed with
substantial vigor in the next decade. Qualitative polari-
metric techniques involving conventional observables (e.g.,
Z0 R, CDR, LOR, ORTT) will be used more generally by
the nonspecialist and perhaps also as an operational tool.
We expect to see continued use of polarimetric Doppler
radars as part of multiple-Doppler networks in future field
programs· so that polarimetric data can be interpreted
within the framework of multiple-Doppler derived air
motions. Such a database would provide scientific impetus
to both cloud physicists and cloud modelers as well as
provide a framework for the interpretation of storm elec-
tricity and microwave radiometer measurements.
On the quantitative side we expect coupling between
electromagnetic scattering and propagation models, and
cloud microphysical models, to strengthen. New interpre-
tive algorithms based on advanced, coherent polarimetric
techniques will need to be compared with in situ mea-
188 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

surements of particle type, shape and orientations giving DFVLR Deutsche Forschungs-und Versuchsanstalt
impetus for the development of advanced airborne sensors fiir Luft-und Raumfahrt e.V. (West Ger-
and storm-penetrating aircraft. Accurate polarimetric many)
measurements will also need fairly complex calibration ESA European Space Agency
procedures. Advanced polarization scanning (or signal fjD Focal Length/ Aperture Diameter
processing) procedures, e.g., to determine optimal polar- FGJ Joanneum Research Center (Austria)
izations, will need to be carefully weighed against the basic FM-CW Frequency Modulation-Continuous Wave
range-velocity ambiguity problem; ambiguity functions F.R.G. Federal Republic of Germany
combining the range-velocity-polarization variables may GaAsFET Gallium-Arsenide Field Effect Transistor
need to be developed (Vannicola and Lis, 1985). Accurate ICPR Integrated Cross-Polarization Ratio
polarimetric measurements in severe convective storms and ICR Integrated Cancellation Ratio
convective complexes will need the development of cor- IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engi-
rection algorithms for propagation-induced differential at- neers
tenuation and phase shift. IF, i-f Intermediate Frequency
In conclusion, this review emphasizes the considerable LOR Linear Depolarization Ratio
advances that have been made in polarimetric radar tech- LOR(¢) Linear Depolarization Ratio when transmit-
nology and the important role of polarimetric techniques ted wave is linearly polarized at orientation
in meteorology. angle cfJ - 1r / 4 from a vertical reference
direction
LHE, RHE Left-Hand Elliptical, Right-Hand Elliptical
LHC, RHC Left-Hand Circular, Right-Hand Circular
LIN-V Linear Polarization with Vertical Orientation
Acknowledgments. One of the authors (VNB) acknowl-
LIN-H Linear Polarization with Horizontal Orien-
edges support from the U.S. Army Research Office's Center
for Geosciences at Colorado State University, and from tation
the National Science Foundation via Grant ATM-8703126. LNA Low Noise Amplifier
He is also grateful to Dr. Peter Meischner of the Institute L.O. Local Oscillator
for Atmospheric Physics, DFVLR, West Germany, for pro- NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research
viding a visiting scientist appointment. Useful discussions NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-
with Drs. Meischner and M. Chandra, and Mr. Fred Ri- istration
NRC National Research Council of Canada
tenberg (also of DFVLR) are appreciated.
NSSL National Severe Storms Laboratory
The authors acknowledge the secretarial and graphics
OMT Orthomode Transducer
assistance provided by the National Research Council of
Canada. The assistance rendered by Dr. V. Chandrasekar
PIN p -type-intrinsic-n -type junction
PRT, prf Pulse Repetition Time, Pulse Repetition Fre-
of Colorado State University was invaluable during the
final stages of preparation of this review. quency
PROM Programmable Read Only Memory
RAL Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (England)
RF, rf Radio Frequency
SPANDAR Space Ranging Radar
SNR Signal-to-Noise Ratio
APPENDIX A: STALO Stable Local Oscillator
STC SHAPE Technical Center
LIST Of ACRONYMS
T jR, TR Transmit/ Receive Switch
AjD Analog I Digital VPI&SU Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Uni-
AFGL Air Force Geophysics Laboratory versity
AR Axial Ratio of polarization ellipse VSWR Voltage Standing Wave Ratio
ARC Alberta Research Council WPL Wave Propagation Laboratory
BPF Band Pass Filter X-POL Cross-Polar
CDR Circl!-lar Depolarization Ratio
CHILL University of Chicago /Illinois State Water
Survey
APPENDIX B:
CIM Cimarron LIST Of SYMBOLS
CNR National Research Council of Italy ALD apparent orientation angle, Eq. (2.29)
COHO Coherent Oscillator C, Ci, D constant in radar range equation
CO-POL Copolar eu; ea,b unit vectors representing elliptical po-
CP-2 Cloud Physics-2 larization
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY
unit vectors representing right-hand ( +)
and left-hand (-)circularly polarized
waves
vertical and horizontal polarized com-
ponents of an electric field; superscript
r refers to the reflected wave
right- and left-hand circularly polarized
components of an electric field; su-
perscript r refers to the reflected wave
G antenna gain; also, transformation ma-
trix between polarization bases
diagonal terms of the antenna error ma-
trix for circular polarization
diagonal terms of the antenna error ma-
trix for linear polarizations
I, ICI lx in-phase signal components
k propagation constant of free space
Ku, K121 K22 elements of the coherency matrix at ar-
bitrary polarization
elements of the coherency matrix when
polarizer is set for horizontal and ver-
tical polarized transmissions, respec-
tively
L path length
m, n elements of matrix representation of the
microwave circuit; also defines pa-
rameters of an ellipse
number of pulse pairs
transmission wave amplitudes at polar-
izer input
transmission wave amplitudes at an-
tenna input
N(D) particle size distribution; D is an equi-
volumic spherical diameter
ORTT apparent degree of orientation
Q,QCIQX quadrature signal components
Rt, R2 received wave amplitudes at duplexer
outputs
received wave amplitudes at antenna
ports
received wave amplitudes at duplexer
outputs when polarizer is set for
transmitting vertical polarization
received wave amplitudes at duplexer
outputs when polarizer set for trans-
mitting horizontal polarization
range to nth or mth pulse resolution vol-
ume
autocovariance between horizontally
and vertically polarized signal returns
at lag of one PRT
elements of the backscatter matrix in a
(v, h) basis
elements of the backscatter matrix in cir-
cular basis
189
elements of the backscatter matrix in
general elliptical basis
v,h. unit polarization vectors along the ver-
tical and horizontal directions
v mean Doppler velocity
v voltage induced in antenna
v. Nyquist velocity
W1, W2, w radar observables at circular polarization
w+, w_ radar observables for right- and left-
handed circular transmissions, re-
spectively
admittance of free space
radar reflectivities at horizontal and ver-
tical polarizations, respectively
ZHH' Zvv same as above
ZoR differential reflectivity
ZvR(¢) differential reflectivity when antenna is
set to radiate, alternately, linear po-
larization oriented at ¢ - 1r I 4 from a
vertical reference direction, and the
linear orthogonal polarization ori-
ented at ¢ + 1r I 4
a, a, a; canting angle in polarization plane,
mean canting angle, canting angle of
i th seatterer
tilt or orientation angle of the major axis
of the polarization ellipse measured
from a vertical reference direction;
also, a measure of antenna gain in-
equality between the two ports of a
dual-polarized antenna
measure of gain inequality between the
two ports of a dual-linearly polarized
antenna
'Yt,2 propagation constants along the princi-
pal axes of an anisotropic propagation
medium
mean and differential propagation con-
stants
o, 5, 0; differential phase shift between right-
and left-hand circular components
upon backscatter
differential attenuation due to propa-
gation
differential phase shift due to propaga-
tion
~(8, ¢) polar-azimuthal angle probability den-
sity function
off-diagonal terms of the antenna error
matrix for linear polarizations
off-diagonal terms of the antenna error
matrix for circular polarization
8 parameter representing the microwave
polarizer; also, axis ratio of ellipse is
given by tan( 1r I 4 + 8)
190 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
polar canting angle and its mean value
phase of circular wave components
wavelength
mean backscatter amplitude ratio at cir-
cular polarization
backscatter amplitude ratio at circular
polarizations
mean circular depolarization ratio
p fraction of particles having a common
mean canting angle a
PHv(O) cross-correlation between horizontal and
vertical polarized reflectivities (Z H,
Zv) at zero time lag
(J standard deviation of the polar canting
angle distribution; also Doppler spec-
tral width
standard deviation of the estimate of ZvR
parameter of the polarization ellipse;
also, mean tilt angle of principal axes
of anisotropy of the propagation me-
dium
parameter representing the microwave
polarizer; also,¢- 1r /4 gives the el-
lipse orientation from a vertical ref-
erence direction; also azimuthal angle
of symmetry axis of particle
differential propagation phase shift be-
tween vertical and horizontal polar-
ized waves
p,X parameters representing differential at-
tenuation and differential phase shift
between the principal plane propa-
gation constants
antenna phase; also, angle between the
incident wave direction and the par-
ticle symmetry axis
w wave frequency
n solid angle

Chapter 19b
Technology of Polarization Diversity Radars
for Meteorology: Panel Report
]ames I. Metcalf,* Air Force Geophysics Laboratory
1 INTRODUCTION
From the earliest years of meteorological radar research,
the potential utility of polarization techniques was rec-
ognized by several research organizations. Their experi-
mental and analytical endeavors are described by Seliga
et al. (Chapter 14). The polarization dependence in the
response of a meteorological radar is determined by the
anisotropic character of most cloud and precipitation par-
ticles. Consequently, through analytical or empirical mod-
els, the measured quantities can be related to sizes, shapes,
orientations, or thermodynamic phases of hydrometeors
in the propagation or backscatter media.
Polarization diversity radar techniques are therefore
valuable for deriving microphysical characteristics of
clouds and precipitation. These techniques can contribute
to a variety of research topics and applications: hydro-
meteor evolution, precipitation development, cloud elec-
trical phenomena, quantitative rainfall measurement, dis-
crimination of ice and liquid water in clouds, hail detection,
aircraft icing detection, and the description of microwave
and millimeter-wave propagation in clouds and precipi-
tation. In combination with Doppler radar techniques, po-
larization techniques can contribute significantly to the
development of conceptual models of cloud and precipi-
tation systems.
However, the promise of polarization diversity radar
technology can only be realized if several challenges are
• Metcalf served as leader of this panel. Other members were Kultegin
Aydin (Pennsylvania State University), N. Balakrishnan (National Severe
Storms Laboratory), Wolfgang-Martin Boerner (University of Illinois),
V.N. Bringi (Colorado State University), Marx Brook (New Mexico In-
stitute of Mining and Technology, retired), Madhukar S. Chandra
(DFVLR, West Germany), Charles Frush (NCAR), Spiros Geotis (MIT),
Eugenio Gorgucci (IFA, Italy), Archibald Hendry (National Research
Council, Canada, retired), Paul Herzegh (NCAR), Anthony R. Holt
(University of Essex, United Kingdom), Robert G. Humphries (Mac-
Donald Dettwiler, Canada), Anthony Illingworth (University of Man-
chester, United Kingdom), Arthur R. Jameson (Applied Research Corp.),
Paul Krehbiel (New Mexico Tech.), Leo P. Ligthart (Technische Univ-
ersiteit Delft, The Netherlands), G.C. McCormick (NRC, retired), Ray-
mond McGuinness (University of Essex), Eugene Mueller (Illinois State
Water Survey), Reginald Newell (MIT), Tomohiro Oguchi (Communi-
cations Research Laboratories, Japan), Fausto Pasqualucci (Hughes Air-
craft Co.), Gianfranco Scarchilli (IFA), Amo C. Schroth (DFVLR), Thomas
A. Seliga (Pennsylvania State University), Enrico Torlaschi (Universite
a
du Quebec Montreal), James S. Ussailis (Ussailis Engineering), and
Fumio Yoshino (Public Works Research Institute, Japan).
191
met. Foremost among these is the need for expanded in-
teraction between radar specialists and the broader sci-
entific community. To view polarimetric radar technology
as the exclusive domain of specialists is to raise a barrier
to the interdisciplinary work that is needed to develop
broader understanding of the value of this technology in
meteorological research and applications. The vitality of
this scientific interaction has an impact on a variety of
other issues, including effective verification of polarimetric
radar measurements, planning for the development and
use of facilities, and application to operational needs. In
this report we discuss these and other issues that will shape
the future development and use of polarimetric radar
techniques. Advancement of the technology and its ap-
plications will rely also on the advancing technology of
signal processing, which is discussed in Chapters 20a and
20b. Interpretation of polarimetric radar measurements
in cloud physics is discussed further in Chapters 23a
and 23b.
l PRESENT CAP ABILITIES
In the past decade there has been a significant increase
in the number and capability of polarization diversity me-
teorological radars. Of the 21 polarimetric radars discussed
in the accompanying review by Bringi and Hendry (Chap-
ter 19a), 14 were either new or modified for polarimetric
measurements within the past ten years and 8 within the
past five years. Some of these radars have undergone fur-
ther modification to provide more flexibility. These de-
velopments collectively support the assessment that the
state of the art of polarization diversity meteorological ra-
dars includes at least 1) simultaneous coherent reception
of two orthogonal polarizations, and 2) rapid switching
of the transmitted signal between two orthogonal polar-
izations. It has been suggested that these attributes are
sufficient for a complete measurement of partially polarized
backscatter from meteorological media, provided that the
choice of polarizations is such as to yield a measurable
signal in each channel of the receiver. The state of the art
is further defined by the characteristics of the best polar-
ization switches, antennas, receivers, and data systems now
in use.
192 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Much of the recent interest in polarimetric techniques
is due to the expectation that the use of the differential
reflectivity between horizontally and vertically polarized
signals would yield improved quantitative measurement
of rainfall. This power ratio, which was described by Seliga
and Bringi (1976), is now the most commonly measured
polarimetric quantity. Several experimental programs have
shown improvement of rainfall measurement with this
technique, especially at moderate or greater rainfall rates
and at relatively short ranges (e.g., Goddard et al., 1982;
Aydin et al., 1987). Some uncertainties remain, however,
about its quantitative interpretation (Bumgarner and
Dooley, 1986; Yoshino et al., 1987). The differential re-
flectivity appears to be a good indicator of the presence of
the ice phase, particularly the presence of hail in convective
storms (e.g., Aydin et al., 1986). The interpretation of
measurements of low density ice particles, which have a
smaller effective value of dielectric constant than raindrops,
is more difficult. Two recent studies involving comparison
of measurements by radar and by airborne particle instru-
ments (Liu and Herzegh, 1986; Bader et al., 1987) showed
that if only the absolute and differential reflectivities are
available then there are ambiguities in the particle type
inferred from the radar data.
The recent development of theory for interpreting po-
larimetric meteorological radar measurements has more
than kept pace with the availability of corresponding mea-
surements. For example, McCormick (1979) described the
derivation of differential reflectivity from measurements
with circular polarization, and Bebbington et al. (1987)
improved that derivation with a correction for propagation
differential phase shift at 10-cm wavelength. Jameson
(1987) and Jameson and Dave (1988) showed the possi-
bility of deriving from measurements with linear polar-
ization the quantities usually measured with circular po-
larization and vice versa. Jameson and Dave also described
a technique by which the cross-covariance of the two co-
polar amplitudes EHH and Evv measured by a "differential
reflectivity" radar could be used to correct a bias in median
volume diameter D0 estimated from measurements of dif-
ferential reflectivity. Metcalf (1986) showed the possibility
of using all the Doppler parameters available from a dual-
receiver radar to gain increased information on the micro-
physics of the backscatter medium. The recent work of
Schroth et al. (1988) presents the case for nearly simul-
taneous measurement of the four complex amplitudes that
constitute the scattering matrix (S matrix) and for com-
puting all the covariances among them. Schroth et al. also
emphasize that the covariances involving products of am-
plitudes from oppositely polarized transmissions, e.g., EHH
and Evv, must be corrected for the phase shift that arises
from the mean motion of the scatterers during the inter-
pulse period.
Several radars are capable of generating all the data
necessary to implement or evaluate the latest theoretical
developments. The 5-cm (C-band) radar at the Deutsche
Forschungs- und Versuchsanstalt fiir tuft und Raumfahrt
(DFVLR) in West Germany is an outstanding example.
Some other radars have nearly complete capability, in that
they lack only rapid switching or receiver coherence. The
most flexible data systems, such as that of DFVLR, have
easily accessible options either to record averages of pow-
ers, covariances, and Doppler mean velocities and spec-
trum variances computed in real time or to record time
series data at multiple ranges for off-line analysis and al-
gorithm development. Some polarimetric radars are ca-
pable of measuring a limited subset of the quantities of
interest; e.g., differential reflectivity or linear depolarization
ratio or both. Some of these can also measure the Doppler
mean velocity and spectrum variance.
In the United States the 3- and 10-cm (X- and S-band)
CP-2 polarimetric radar operated by the National Center
for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has been particularly
well used for several years. It was a key sensor of the May
Polarization Experiments (MAYPOLE) in Colorado in 1983
and 1984; the Classify, Locate, and Avoid Wind Shear
(CLAWS) Project in Colorado in 1984; the Microburst and
Severe Thunderstorm (MIST) Project in Alabama in 1986;
and the Convective Initiation and Downburst Experiment
(CINDE) in Colorado in 1987. The latter three projects
were designed to investigate the origins and development
of downbursts and microbursts in convective storms. Ear-
lier research results suggested that these downward air
motions are related to the cloud microphysics through
melting and evaporative cooling of downward-moving air
in the cloud (e.g., Srivastava, 1985). These projects pro-
vided opportunities to investigate this relationship and
other aspects of storm microphysics and to expand the
polarization diversity database. Although the CP-2 radar
was added to MIST reluctantly and late in the planning,
its data have already yielded clues to possible microphys-
ical precursors of downbursts ( Wakimoto and Bringi,
1988). Analysis of triple-Doppler radar data from MIST
has revealed columns of positive differential reflectivity
extending well above the 0°C isotherm coincident with
updrafts (Tuttle et al., 1989). At present the CP-2 radar
is used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-
istration (NOAA) in its Program for Regional Observing
and Forecasting Services (PROFS). Techniques are being
developed to use absolute and differential reflectivities for
discrimination of ice and liquid water in clouds.
The 10-cm Chilbolton radar in the United Kingdom has
been used in coordination with the C-130 aircraft operated
by the British Meteorological Office (e.g., Bader et al.,
1987), and this radar participated in the joint Anglo-
French Mesoscale Frontal Dynamics Project from October
1987 to January 1988. It is currently being used to gather
statistical data for a tropospheric radio propagation study,
operating continuously (24 hours per day) for two weeks
every month. During the intervening times it is available
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY
for measurements of differential reflectivity, linear depo-
larization ratio, and time series of received signals for more
direct meteorological applications.
Some existing polarimetric radars have not been used
adequately in recent years. For example, the 10-cm radar
formerly operated by the Alberta Research Council has
been unfunded for routine operations since 1985; it may
be acquired by another research organization. The 8.6-
mm (Ka-band) and 3-cm radars of the NOAA Wave Prop-
agation Laboratory have been used on an occasional basis,
mainly in externally funded programs. The 3-cm radar
formerly operated by the National Research Council
(NRC) of Canada faced an uncertain future until it was
leased to MPB Technologies, Inc. of Montreal. While the
immediate reason for this underuse is a lack of funding,
the present disuse of the Alberta radar and the leasing of
the NRC radar are related to recent organizational changes
that eliminated the primary mission for each of these ra-
dars. These and other radars that have seen extensive use
in the past have generated datasets that are of great in-
trinsic value but that are also underused. The latter phe-
nomenon results from lack of funds to support analysis,
both in the host organizations and in other funding or-
ganizations, and lack of awareness of the data on the part
of prospective investigators.
In summary, we believe that substantial progress has
been made in recent theoretical developments and that
excellent measurement capabilities are inherent in pres-
ently available radar technology. On the other hand, we
are concerned that this technology is not being used ef-
fectively in many places. Our concern extends both to ra-
dars having performance characteristics of lower quality
than is available and to radars that are not being fully
used, some of which have very good antenna character-
istics, high quality data systems, or other desirable attri-
butes.
3 ISSUES AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The fundamental objective toward which the use of po-
larimetric radars must be directed is an increased under-
standing of physical processes in clouds. Because radars
can sample large volumes of the atmosphere rapidly and
repeatedly, polarimetric radars can facilitate the study of
cloud physical processes on the scale of a whole cloud or
a mesoscale weather system. This increased knowledge of
cloud processes and the continuing improvement of radar
equipment and techniques will contribute to a variety of
practical applications, as suggested in the Introduction.
The most critical issues are (i) the more effective use of
existing radars in research, ( ii) improved verification of
radar measurements, and (iii) technological improvement
of meteorological radars. In the following paragraphs we
discuss these and other issues in detail.
193
3.1 Meteorological Research
Our primary concern, particularly in the near future, is
that existing radars be used with maximum effectiveness.
Some technical objectives can be met through the use of
individual radars in locally staged experimental programs.
Other objectives require the use of polarimetric radars in
multisensor field measurement programs, which generally
offer the best opportunity for verification of radar mea-
surements.
The use of polarimetric radars in large field programs,
even those with specific objectives related to cloud physics,
has been irregular at best. The radar of the Alberta Re-
search Council, for example, was used considerably in a
multisensor environment with coordinated observations
by instrumented aircraft, but it was almost always operated
in a full-volume scanning mode required for the hail
suppression program, which was its primary mission. The
radars of NRC-the 1.8-cm (Ku-band) radar until 1980
and the 3-cm radar from 1981 to 1987-were almost al-
ways operated without ancillary data sources. In 1981 the
3- and 10-cm CHILL radar of the Illinois State Water Sur-
vey ( ISWS), newly modified for pulse-to-pulse polariza-
tion switching, and the new 8.6-mm radar of NOAA were
both involved in the Cooperative Convective Precipitation
Experiment (CCOPE), but becaJ,lse their polarimetric ca-
pabilities were new and untested their use in that exper-
iment was largely limited to evaluation by polarimetric
meteorological radar specialists.
Several major programs in which measurements with
polarimetric radars will be particularly valuable are now
under way or being planned in the United States. One is
the National Plan to Improve Aircraft Icing Forecasts de-
veloped by the U.S. Federal Coordinator for Meteorological
Services and Supporting Research, which includes mea-
surement programs during the winters of 1987188 and
1989 I 90 in Colorado. A variety of remote and in situ sen-
sors are used in this program, but no polarimetric radars
were used during the first winter. Use of the polarimetric
radars of NOAA in 1989 I 90 appears likely. The Tropical
Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM), sponsored by the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
with the goal of improving the global remote measurement
of rainfall in the tropics, offers a particularly valuable op-
portunity for polarimetric radar measurements. This pro-
gram is generating specific needs for ground-based instru-
mentation, including radars, at several sites in the tropics,
and it offers an unusual opportunity to acquire a long-
duration database and to refine the application of polari-
metric techniques to the problem of rainfall measurement.
In addition to supporting the objectives of TRMM, suitably
placed polarimetric radars will be able to acquire data re-
lating to the microphysics of precipitation development,
the electrification of convective clouds, and electromagnetic
propagation characteristics. The Stormscale Operational
and Research Meteorology (STORM) Program field ex-
194 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
periment planned for the early 1990s in the central United
States (STORM-Central) presents another opportunity for
the advantageous use of polarimetric radars. The polari-
metric radar at the National Severe Storms Laboratory
( NSSL) will be of great value in this experiment for doc-
umenting microphysical processes and estimating rainfall,
as it measures the differential reflectivity, the differential
phase shift, and the copolar cross-correlation of horizon-
tally and vertically polarized signals. The results of
STORM-Central would be further enhanced by the inclu-
sion of polarimetric radars having full matrix measurement
capability, which would aid the study of microphysical
and electrical processes in mesoscale convective systems.
In addition to the use of polarimetric radars in multi-
sensor field programs, these radars have important roles
in more modest measurement programs. For example, a
radar under the control of a single research organization
can be used to acquire a long-term record of observations
in a local area. Such a radar can provide more flexibility
for the developing and testing of new components and
techniques than can a radar that must be scheduled for
limited observational periods far in advance. Other topics
suitable for investigation by means of locally managed fa-
cilities include the effects of electric fields on hydrometeors,
first observed by McCormick and Hendry (19 76), and the
use of chaff to reveal entrainment in clouds, as described
by Moninger and Kropfli (1987). The radars of NRC ex-
emplify this category of facility. Other examples are the
10-cm radar at Air Force Geophysics Laboratory and the
3-cm radar at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Tech-
nology, both of which have been used to advantage with
and without extensive ancillary measurements.
3.2 System Performance and
Measurement Accuracy
The theory of polarimetric meteorological radar mea-
surements has progressed to at least our partial under-
standing of the physical significance of all the presently
defined quantities measurable by radar. Major advances
have occurred both in the specification of these quantities;
e.g., the terms of the backscatter matrix (S matrix) and
the power averages and ratios, autocorrelations, and cross-
correlations derivable from those terms, and in the deri-
vation of meteorological information from them. There
are continuing needs for theoretical and experimental in-
vestigations to define the effects of radar system attributes
on the measured quantities and to specify the accuracy
with which the quantities must be measured for useful
interpretation.
Measurements must be taken to determine the levels of
system performance required to obtain useful measure-
ments of polarimetric quantities. Radar system attributes
such as cross-polarization isolation, radiation pattern, an-
gular scan strategy, calibration accuracy, polarization
switching rate, sampling interval, and signal averaging time
must be examined. The effects of antenna pattern mis-
match between orthogonal polarizations and the effects of
sidelobes have received some attention in the recent past
(e.g., Herzegh and Carbone, 1984). Some of the resulting
artifacts are easily recognized, but we need to be able to
identify the less obvious effects. The measurement of the
sidelobe pattern and the analysis of its effects on mea-
surements are not trivial tasks. More effort must be devoted
both to understanding these effects more fully and to min-
imizing them through the use of high quality antennas.
Familiarity with recent work such as that of Kildal et al.
(1988), which describes the effects of feed support struts
on copolarized and cross-polarized sidelobe levels, is es-
sential to optimum antenna design. We expect that all these
investigations will contribute to improved derivation of
meteorological information and to the specification of po-
larimetric radars for operational purposes.
Statistical analysis has been accomplished for some of
the measured quantities, such as differential reflectivity
(Bringi et al., 1983; Sachidananda and Zrnic, 1985) and
differential phase shift ( Sachidananda and Zrnic, 1986).
The first measurements of differential phase shift (Sach-
idananda and Zrnic, 1987) showed fluctuations as large
as ±5°, despite their theoretical estimate of about 0.5°
standard error. Such a large error effectively masks any
useful information on the raindrop-size distribution.
Sachidananda and Zrnic suggest that the degradation may
be due to backscatter in the sidelobes. However, the large
standard deviation may be due to the different phase ve-
locities of electromagnetic propagation modes in large, os-
cillating raindrops. The source needs to be identified and
quantified. Other quantities must be similarly analyzed, to
determine the time scales necessary for their measurements
and to determine the relative accuracy of meteorological
parameters derived from them. For example, the required
accuracy of measurement of circular depolarization ratio
and cross-correlation for derivation of differential reflec-
tivity should be evaluated. The result will help to determine
the relative advantages of using a dual-channel circularly
polarized radar or a fast-switching single-channel linearly
polarized radar.
Polarimetric measurements have traditionally been
based on the derivation of power ratios and cross-corre-
lations between orthogonally polarized signals. These
quantities have been interpreted individually or jointly in
terms of meteorological parameters; e.g., thermodynamic
phase, raindrop size, ice crystal habit, and mean apparent
canting angle. The S matrix terms and derived parameters,
previously discussed, and other representations, such as
the Huynen Polarization Fork in the Poincare Sphere, can
also be interpreted in terms of meteorological parameters.
In addition, it has been suggested that adaptive polarization
techniques may be useful to compensate for propagation
effects in observations at long ranges through precipitation
and to prevent saturation in the radar receiver due to
nearby reflections. Further theoretical studies must be
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY
conducted, and ultimately supported by measurements, to
determine the relative merits of these approaches.
Propagation effects are significant at wavelengths shorter
than about 5 em. The possibility of compensating these
effects in radar measurements and thereby deriving valid
characterization of the backscatter medium at these wave-
lengths is a subject requiring both theoretical and experi-
mental investigation. Recent measurements at DFVLR and
elsewhere hint at nonreciprocal propagation effects in
electrified clouds. Calculations by Oguchi (1988) suggest
possible effects of multiple scattering in the propagation
of millimeter and shorter wavelengths through rain. Un-
derstanding these phenomena is particularly important if
radars of multiple wavelengths are to be used with max-
imum effectiveness for atmospheric research.
In addition to the objectives described above, there is a
need to refine and standardize the nomenclature and no-
tation of polarimetric meteorological radar measurements.
Various conventions have emerged from the diverse roots
of this technology; e.g., meteorology, signal propagation,
radar engineering, and radar cross-section measurement.
Assumptions and approximations that have been incor-
porated into some of the analytical formulations in some
cases limit the accuracy or completeness of the results.
Kostinski and Boerner (1986) and Boerner and Kostinski
(1988), for example, have taken steps toward improved
fundamental understanding of polarimetric theory and
formulation.
3.3 Verification Studies
The quantities measured by a polarimetric radar are in-
fluenced by the shape, orientation, thermodynamic phase,
density, and size distribution of hydrometeors. Also, at-
tributes of a radar system such as antenna pattern mis-
match and calibration errors may introduce subtle distor-
tions of measured quantities. Because measurements of
any polarimetric quantity generally contain contributions
from several of these factors, interpretation of radar mea-
surements frequently involves choosing among several in-
terrelated possibilities. As a result, verification measure-
ments are necessary to establish "benchmark" information
for use in the interpretation of radar data or in testing the
results of theoretical work.
Verification studies for rainfall rates and raindrop shapes
have given us some confidence in the use of polarization
techniques for estimating rainfall rate and the concentra-
tions and mean sizes of raindrops. Uncertainties in the
identification of ice particles were noted in section 2. There
is an urgent need to determine whether the additional
quantities that are measurable by state-of-the-art radars
will permit discrimination among different types of ice
particles or estimation of their sizes and concentrations.
Both the scope and accuracy of verification studies must
be significantly improved in order to deal more fully with
the remaining uncertainties of rainfall measurements and
195
with the issues of ice phase and mixed-phase discrimi-
nation. Particular issues include the discrimination of wet-
ted and unwetted ice particles, the sensitivity of measure-
ments to the degree of orientation of ice particles, and the
characterization of propagation effects in various meteo-
rological conditions. Further questions will surely arise as
examinations of newly measurable polarimetric quantities
are undertaken.
Verification data can be obtained by measurements both
in the laboratory and in the field. Laboratory facilities for
the measurement of backscattering from known water and
ice forms include one being developed by the Consiglio
Nazionale delle Ricerche Fisica della Bassa e Alta Atmos-
fera (CNR-FISBAT) in Bologna, Italy, and at Niigata Uni-
versity and Toyohashi Institute of Technology in Japan.
Measurements of backscatter from dielectric objects were
also performed by Allan and McCormick (1978, 1980).
Laboratory work of this type is complicated by the fact
that measurements made on simulated or actual hydro-
meteors of complex shape or mixed phase at one frequency
are not generally transferable to another frequency because
of the frequency dependence of the refractive index of
liquid water.
Verification studies in the field typically face problems
associated with the degree to which in situ measurements
are representative of those made, generally on a larger
scale, by radar. Other difficulties may stem from the dis-
rupting effects of airflow around an instrumented aircraft,
which may prevent accurate observations of the shape or
orientation of hydrometeors, or from uncertainty in the
location of an aircraft, which complicates coordinated op-
eration of radars and aircraft. Database measurements in
the atmosphere can be made under conditions in which
the microphysical characteristics of clouds or precipitation
remain unchanged for extended periods of time and can
be well defined by in situ measurements at the surface or
aloft. The performance of such measurements in Hawaii
has been proposed so that the height variation of micro-
physical parameters of warm rain can be documented by
measurements along a mountain road. Observatories such
as that operated by the University of Wyoming on Elk
Mountain could also be used for such measurements.
The observation of lightning by radar presents some
unique verification problems. Observations such as those
of Geotis and Williams (1987) indicate that the major limit
to detection at radar wavelengths of 10 em or less is mask-
ing by precipitation, i.e., when the reflectivity factor due
to hydrometeors is higher than about 35 dBZ. Lightning
echoes can be observed at these wavelengths in the pres-
ence of precipitation by means of the cross-polarized re-
ceived signal if a linearly polarized signal is transmitted.
Polarimetric quantities such as the differential reflectivity
and the cross-correlation of orthogonally polarized re-
ceived signals should yield information about the spatial
orientation of the lightning channels. One approach to the
verification of such measurements is to observe by radar
196 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
the lightning discharges triggered by rockets with trailing
wires. Triggered lightning, being both well controlled and
visually verifiable, should provide reference data for the
interpretation of copolarized and cross-polarized reflectiv-
ity and other polarimetric quantities.
The factors outlined here are only a few of the issues
that make verification studies challenging to conduct and
evaluate. Solutions to these problems will involve appli-
cation of new technologies and analysis techniques. We
recommend the convening of periodic workshops for de-
tailed review and discussion of verification techniques.
Topics for such meetings should include the adequacy of
existing techniques, strategies for verification of specific
polarimetric measurements, and technological needs for
improved verification by either in situ or remote measure-
ments.
3.4 Technological Improvements
We believe that the technology of most polarimetric me-
teorological radars now in use limits the quality of the
resulting scientific research. In the United States the 3-cm
radar at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
presently has full matrix polarimetric capability, and the
10-cm radar at Air Force Geophysics Laboratory is expected
to have this capability in 1989. As noted in section 2, how-
ever, the full matrix capability is not the sole criterion of
the state of the art. Improvements to existing facilities can
be made within the present state of the art in such areas
as antenna design, polarization control, receiver design,
and data processing without any "breakthroughs" in the
respective technologies. Hence we urge that existing fa-
cilities be improved in all these areas and that other radars
in the United States be upgraded for full matrix measure-
ment within the next five years. Pursuit of these goals
should be closely coordinated with the planning of new
facilities (see section 4).
Recent advances in several areas permit improvements
in measurement capability beyond that of the best existing
meteorological radars. The best antennas presently in use
have linear copolarized and cross-polarized sidelobes near
-30 and -35 dB, respectively, relative to the peak of the
main lobe. Recent advances in the technology of phased
arrays promise significant reduction of the cross-polarized
radiation generally associated with these antennas. Thus
phased arrays, which typically have very low copolarized
sidelobes, may become feasible for polarimetric applica-
tions. Technological advances may also permit a given
performance level to be achieved at lower cost. For ex-
ample, the circular waveguide hom described by Lee et
al. (1988) may be a low-cost broadband alternative to the
Potter hom or the corrugated hom. Advances in electronic
( nonferrite) switches promise both higher power capacity
and more rapid switching than are now available. The use
of a radome is usually detrimental to the quality of mea-
surements, and most high quality polarimetric radars op-
erate without radomes. For those facilities requiring ra-
domes, additional research should be conducted on the
resulting effects on cross-polarized radiation. Finally, ad-
vances in receiver technology, such as the development
of high dynamic range mixers and improvements in filter
characteristics resulting from computer-aided design,
should be incorporated in the design of new meteorological
radars and in the upgrading of existing radars.
3.5 Operational Applications
The differential reflectivity techniques for rainfall mea-
surement and hail detection are being evaluated in Italy
and Japan with the goal of operational implementation in
the relatively near future. Operational techniques are also
being developed and evaluated in the United States (Lip-
schutz et al., 1986). There are concerns, particularly in the
United States, that these techniques have not been dem-
onstrated adequately. Hence, long-term, wide-area dem-
onstrations of these techniques are needed, analogous to
the Joint Doppler Operational Project in 1977-79, which
was a key step toward the initiation of the Next Generation
Weather Radar (NEXRAD) Program. These demonstra-
tions will require the involvement of operational user
agencies and detailed comparisons with present opera-
tional techniques. The NASA TRMM offers an opportunity
for an operational demonstration in the tropics. Other op-
erational demonstrations should be conducted in middle
latitudes, in both mountainous and flat terrain. The eval-
uation of operational techniques can be greatly aided by
the development and testing of these techniques in Italy
and at the Public Works Research Institute in Japan. Al-
though these efforts involve only differential reflectivity
radars at present, they offer the potential of expansion in
the future.
There must be a related effort to refine both the mea-
surement concepts and the radar system concepts appro-
priate to operational applications. Although the differential
reflectivity is the most commonly suggested parameter for
operational application, the relative merits of other quan-
tities can and should be evaluated theoretically, experi-
mentally, and in terms of their impact on radar system
design and operation. For example, the linear depolariza-
tion ratio may be a better indicator of the presence of hail.
Issues such as long-term reliability, simplicity of operation,
and cost of components and systems must be addressed.
For example, are antennas with very low sidelobes and
high isolation between polarizations affordable for oper-
ational use? Are switchable circulators incorporating ferrite
phase shifters sufficiently reliable for operational use? How
do absolute and differential calibrations affect operational
results? How do the constraints of operation on an aircraft
or a satellite affect measurement capabilities? With the
continuing high level of interest in operational applications,
we envision an ongoing process of transfer of technology
from research into operations as techniques and compo-
 TECHNOLOGY OF POLARIZATION DIVERSITY RADARS FOR METEOROLOGY
nents are improved and as new operational requirements
develop.
4 UNITED STATES NATIONAL
POLARIMETRIC RADAR FACILITY
The development of a national polarimetric radar facility
in the United States is the most divisive issue we faced as
a panel. Proponents suggest that such a facility include
coherent dual-channel radars with fast polarization
switching at several wavelengths from 10 em through 8.6
mm and perhaps 3.2 mm. It could serve the purposes of
1) meteorological research, 2) education in meteorology
and engineering, and 3) technological development. The
radar facility might constitute one component of a major
center for remote sensing, a center that would support
scientists and engineers seeking to develop and apply a
variety of remote sensing techniques.
Those who urge the development of such a facility in
the near future emphasize 1) that a high-quality polari-
metric radar facility is essential to support research and
educational programs in the United States, 2) that the up-
grading of existing radars to the technological state of the
art is extremely difficult, and 3) that the cost of either a
major upgrading or a new polarimetric radar facility is
beyond the resources of any one research organization.
Those who oppose such a development in the near future,
most of whom favor it at a later time, maintain 1) that
such a development requires broad support that does not
yet exist in the meteorological research community, 2) that
the funds necessary for such a development are better
spent, at least in the next five years, on the upgrading and
expanded use of existing radars, and 3) that radars under
the direct control of scientists or engineers in research or-
ganizations are likely to be more effectively used, both in
research and in education. Many issues must be resolved
in order to progress toward the specification of such a fa-
cility. For example, what remote and in situ sensors and
analytical capabilities should it comprise? Should it be
managed by NCAR, by the National Science Foundation
as a facility separate from NCAR, by an academic con-
sortium, or by an interagency governmental organization?
Should it be tied in any way to a specific program such as
TRMM? Where should it be based? Should individual ra-
dars be transportable for use at several locations? These
questions produce a variety of opinions among members
of the panel.
The principal obstacles to the development of a U.S.
national facility at this time appear to be 1) lack of a dear
understanding as to what the facility should be and 2)
lack of broad-based support from the meteorological re-
search community. A well-formulated plan, representing
a consensus of meteorological radar specialists, would
provide the basis for gathering financial support from sev-
eral government agencies. Broad-based meteorological
197
support would improve the prospect for this facility in
competition with other research needs. Much of what we
recommend in the preceding and following sections will
serve to break down these obstacles within the next few
years.
5 SCIENTIFIC INTERACTIONS
As emphasized in the Introduction, vigorous scientific
input or "cross-fertilization" is a critical component of the
development and application of polarimetric radar tech-
niques in meteorology. This field has benefited greatly from
strong ties to the fields of communications engineering,
atmospheric propagation research, and military radar re-
search. While there have been valuable interactions with
disciplines such as cloud and precipitation physics, me-
soscale meteorology, and hydrology, we believe that these
interactions must be significantly broadened to guide the
development of polarimetric facilities and techniques
properly. A variety of specific research goals has already
been described; progress toward attaining them would be
well served by broadened scientific interactions. We sug-
gest several mechanisms to foster these interactions:
• Descriptive articles in publications such as the Bulletin
of the American Meteorological Society, Eos (American Geo-
physical Union), and Spectrum (Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers) would serve to familiarize the entire
meteorological and engineering communities with current
developments of polarimetric radar techniques. Similar
articles or notes in "popular" scientific publications and
trade journals would reach an even broader audience.
• Participation in facility development, field programs,
and data analysis are important components of profes-
sional education. Funding agencies and facility managers
must work together to provide opportunities for temporary
visitorships and exchange programs that maximize the use
of facilities. Coupling such opportunities to academic pro-
grams could serve to strengthen education in this area.
• The informal series of workshops on polarimetric radar
techniques in meteorology should continue. Organization
of future workshops should include participation not only
by radar specialists but also by scientists and engineers
working in cloud physics, precipitation measurement, me-
soscale meteorology, and other related topics. Potential
workshop topics include facility performance, verification
techniques, analysis techniques, and cloud and precipi-
tation studies.
6 SUMMARY
Polarization diversity radar techniques are capable of
revealing information about microphysical processes in
douds and precipitation at an otherwise inaccessible level
of detail. Until very recently, polarimetric measurements
have generally been limited to the absolute reflectivity and
198 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

either the differential reflectivity or the depolarization ratio timately to translate that knowledge into beneficial appli-
and cross-correlation. The differential reflectivity has cations.
yielded some improved estimates of rainfall rate and has
proven valuable in identifying the ice phase in clouds. We
expect that more complete measurements; e.g., comprising Acknowledgments. As panel leader I am grateful for the
reflectivity, Doppler velocity parameters, power ratios, and dedicated efforts of the members of this panel in the de-
cross-covariances, will yield a better understanding of gla- velopment of this report. I hope that this final version ad-
ciation and melting processes, more detailed descriptions equately represents their many ideas and opinions. I am
of ice-phase hydrometeors, and identification of electrifi- also grateful to Mr. Kenneth Glover of Air Force Geo-
cation effects. The major challenges we face are to develop physics Laboratory, who reviewed the report in nearly final
and refine theory for interpreting these quantities, to per- form and suggested several improvements.
form the measurements in various meteorological situa-
tions, and to verify the interpretations.
We recommend that: APPENDIX:
LIST OF ACRONYMS
• Polarimetric radars be more effectively used in me- CCOPE Cooperative Convective Precipitation Ex-
teorological research, both in large field programs and in periment
locally managed programs. The more effective use of these CHILL University of Chicago/ Illinois State Water
radars requires increased interaction between polarimetric Survey
radar specialists and the broader meteorological research CINDE Convective Initiation and Downburst Ex-
community, particularly in the areas of cloud physics and periment
mesoscale meteorology. These interactions will also pro- CLAWS Classify, Locate, and Avoid Wind Shear
vide the basis for further development of operational ap- (Project)
plications. DFVLR Deutsche Forschungs- und Versuchsanstalt
• Verification techniques be developed and refined. fiir Luft und Raumfahrt (West Germany)
These techniques should include not only measurements IFA Istituto di Fisica Dell' Atmosfera (Italy)
by particle instruments on aircraft and on the ground but ISWS Illinois State Water Survey
also intercomparison with other remote measurements and MAYPOLE May Polarization Experiment
with numerical model calculations. This is an important MIST Microburst and Severe Thunderstorm
subject for technical workshops. (Project)
• Much better use of available radar technology be made MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology
in meteorological research radars. Existing radars should NASA National Aeronautics and Space Adminis-
be improved to permit full matrix measurements. tration
• A substantial effort be devoted to the planning of a NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research
national polarimetric radar facility in the United States. NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar
The first step toward this goal will be to develop a con- NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-
sensus on the scientific need, specific capabilities, mission, istration
and management. NRC National Research Council (Canada)
NSSL National Severe Storms Laboratory
Polarization diversity radar technology, both in mete- PROFS Program for Regional Observing and Fore-
orological radar systems and in the interpretation of me- casting Services
teorological measurements, has experienced significant re- STORM Stormscale Operational and Research Me-
cent progress. We must build on these advances to increase teorology (Program)
our knowledge of cloud and precipitation physics and ul- TRMM Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission
 199

Chapter lOa

Signal Processing for Atmospheric Radars

R. Jeffrey Keeler, National Center for Atmospheric Research*
Richard E. Passarelli, Sigmet

1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE attribute of the signal. For atmospheric radars this infor-
mation is often referred to as the base parameter estimates.
Signal processing is perhaps the area of atmosphe~c Fundamental base parameters are:
remote sensing where science and engineering make the1r
point of closest contact. Signal processing offers challenges Radar reflectivity factor Z dBZ
to engineers who enjoy developing state-of-the-art systems Radial velocity V m s-1
and to scientists who enjoy being at the crest of the wave Velocity spectrum width 2 W m s- 1 •
in observing atmospheric phenomena in unique ways.
The primary function of radar signal processing is the
In the course of extracting these estimates, signal processing
accurate, efficient extraction of information from radar
algorithms will improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SN_R)
echoes. A typical pulsed Doppler radar system samples
through filtering or averaging, mitigate the effects of m-
data at 1000 range bins at 1-kHz pulse repetition frequency
terfering echoes such as ground clutter, remove ambiguities
(PRF), generating approximately three million samples per
such as range or velocity aliasing, and reduce the input
second [typically in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q)
data rate by a significant factor. The end result of an ef-
components from a linear channel and often a log re-
fective signal processing scheme is to provide minimum
ceiver]. These "time series," in their raw form, convey
mean squared error estimates of the base parameters along
little information that is of direct use in determining the
with the expected error or a measure of the degree of con-
state of the atmosphere. The volume of time series data is
fidence that can be placed on the estimates (e.g., the SNR).
sufficiently large that storage for later analysis is impractical
Signal processing is primarily used in atmospheric rem~te
except for limited regions of time and space. The data must
sensing as an estimation procedure as well as a detectwn
be processed in real time to reduce its volume and to con-
process as in some aviation applications. The emphasi_s is
vert it to more useful form.
on estimating atmospheric parameters or meteorological
This chapter will discuss the current state of signal pro-
events.
cessing for atmospheric radars (weather radars, ST / MST 1
Data processing takes up where signal processing leaves
radars or wind profilers, and lidars) as well as current
off-although the line of demarcation is not razor sharp.
methods of optimization of signal processing for various
Data processing algorithms take the base parameter esti-
applications and remote sensors. The focus here is s_ignal
mates and further process them so that they convey in-
processing for weather radar systems, but the techmques
formation that is of direct use to the radar user. For ex-
and conclusions apply equally well to ST /MST radars and
ample, data processing techniques imply display
lidars. Zmic ( 1979a) has given an excellent review of
generation, data navigation to a desired coordinate system,
spectral moment estimation for weather radars, and
wind profile analyses, data syntheses from several Doppler
Woodman (1985) has done the same for MST radars.
radars or other sensors, applications of physical constraints
Problem areas and promising avenues for future research
to the measured data, and forecasts or "nowcasts" of severe
will be identified. Finally, the scientific and technological
weather hazards. Many aspects of data processing are
forces likely to shape the future of atmospheric radar signal
covered in other chapters of this volume.
processing will be discussed.
We differentiate between signal processing and data
processing as follows. Signal processing is that set of op- 2 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS Of
erations performed on the analog or digital signals for ef- ATMOSPHERIC RADARS
ficiently extracting desired information or measuring some
The two main classes of radar are electromagnetic and
acoustic. Electromagnetic radars include microwave, UHF,
• The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the
National Science Foundation.
2 The width is defined as the square root of the second central moment
1 A list of acronyms is provided in the Appendix. of the power spectral distribution.
 200 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
VHF, infrared and optical systems. Acoustic radars are only
briefly described here. The signal processing techniques
employed for all these systems are similar (Serafin and
Strauch, 1978); although the way in which the backscat-
tered or partially reflected radiation is sampled, the prin-
cipal noise sources, and the nature of the scattering mech-
anisms are different.
2.1 Characteristics of Processing
2..1.1 Sampling
Because electromagnetic radars employ wavelengths
from several meters to less than 1 ~m, they must use dif-
ferent sampling techniques. There are two constraints on
the sample time spacing (T,) of the backscattered signal.
The first is that the backscattered signal should be coherent
from sample to sample, i.e., the motion among the scat-
terers should be small compared to the wavelength so that
their relative positions produce highly correlated echoes
from sample to sample. The nominal duration of this cor-
relation is called the coherence time (Nathanson, 1969),
i.e.,
T, < fcoh = A/ 4·nW (2.1)
where the true velocity spectrum width W in m s -t is a
direct measure of the relative motions of the scatterers.
The coherence time is a measure of the maximum time
between successive samples for coherent phase measure-
ments. Thus, for short wavelength systems such as lidar,
the backscattered signal must be sampled much more rap-
idly than for a longer wavelength microwave system. The
autocorrelation function (defined later) can provide a direct
measure of the coherence time of a fluctuating target echo.
The second constraint on sampling is that for regularly
spaced pulses; the sampling frequency must be at least
twice the maximum desired Doppler shift frequency, which
prevents the occurrence of velocity aliasing. In this case
the time between samples is governed by
T, < tNyq = A/ 4V' (2.2)
where tNyq is the minimum time between samples such
that the desired velocity V' is at least the so-called Nyquist
velocity. Since V' is typically much larger than W, the latter
constraint usually dominates the sampling requirement.
In fact, if the desired maximum velocity is assumed to be
±25m s-t, then T, ~A/ 100 or PRF ~ 100 /A as a useful
rule of thumb.
2..1.2. Noise
One of the goals of signal processing is to suppress the
effects of noise. The main source of noise in microwave
radar is thermal in nature. This noise power is simply
(2.3)
where k is Boltzmann's constant (1.38 X 10-23 W Hz- 1
m - 2 ), Tsys is the total system temperature, and Bsys is the
total system bandwidth including effects of preselector fil-
ters, IF filters, and all other amplifiers in the signal path
(Skolnik, 1980; Paczowski and Whelehan, 1988). With
recent improvements in low noise amplifiers ( LNAs), little
room is left for sensitivity improvement in conventional
radar receivers. Presently, most microwave radar systems
are sufficiently sensitive that thermal radiation from the
earth makes a strong contribution to the receiver input at
low elevation angles.
Noise from ST /MST radar, because of its lower fre-
quency, has a large contribution from environmental,
cosmic, and atmospheric sources, and is not easily quan-
tified (Rottger and Larsen, Chapter 21a). Therefore, an-
tenna design and the specific radar location and frequency
band of operation define the system noise.
Coherent lidar systems utilize detection schemes that
use optical heterodyning onto cryogenic detectors with a
local oscillator laser of relatively high power mixing with
the weak atmospheric return (Jelalian, 1980, 1981a,b).
Because of the small wavelengths, quantum effects dom-
inate the detection process associated with random photon
arrivals impacting the local oscillator laser. This "shot
noise" contribution is a fundamental physical limitation
of lidar sensitivity.
2..1.3 Scattering
Atmospheric radars respond to a variety of scattering
targets-precipitation, cloud particles, aerosols, refractive
index variations, chaff, insects, birds, and ground targets.
Probert-Jones ( 1962) derived the familiar radar equation
most often used by radar meteorologists for precipitation
scattering:
p = P1G 2¢ 2 cn 3 lki 2Z.L
(2.4)
' 1024ln2A 2 R 2
A detailed derivation can be found in Doviak and Zrnic
(1984), Battan (1973), or Atlas (1964).
This equation includes L, the product of several small
but significant loss terms that are necessary to estimate the
radar reflectivity factor accurately; e.g., receiver filter loss,
propagation loss, blockage loss, and processing bias. Zrnic
( 1978) defined the receiver filter loss as that portion of the
input signal frequencies not passed by the finite receiver
bandwidth, typically 1-3 dB. The other losses depend on
atmospheric conditions and antenna pointing and are
enumerated in Skolnik ( 1980). This equation is correct for
Rayleigh scattering of a distributed target that completely
fills the resolution volume. Non-Rayleigh targets or par-
tially filled resolution volumes will give received power
estimates that cannot accurately be related to precipitation
 SIGNAL PROCESSING FOR ATMOSPHERIC RADARS 201

rate. Rottger and Larsen (Chapter 21a) and Huffaker et
al. ( 1976, 1984) give similar received power expressions
for returns from refractive index variations and from lidar
aerosol returns, respectively.
The required dynamic range for measuring the back-
scattered power from atmospheric targets is very large,
because
1 ) The effective backscatter cross sections of atmo-
spheric scatterers span dynamic ranges of approximately
60 dB for precipitation but span much larger ranges if cloud
particle, "clear air," and ground target returns are included.
2) The R - 2 dependence of the received power for dis-
tributed targets spans a range of 50 dB between 1 and
300 km.
Microwave systems should accommodate the sum of these
two effects and typically can achieve a dynamic range of
order 100 dB for power measurements using either a log
receiver, linear receiver with AGC, or some combination
of these.
.2..1.4 Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)
The ratio of the received signal power to the measured
noise power is defined as the signal-to-noise ratio:
(2.5)
.2. •.2..1 Microwave Radars
Microwave pulsed radars radiate fields with wavelengths
between 20 em and 1 mm and are commonly used as
"weather radars" (Smith et al., 1974; Doviak et al., 1979).
Depending on the wavelength, primary scattering is from
precipitation, insects (Vaughan, 1985), refractive index
fluctuations, and cloud particles. Beams are typically cir-
cular in cross section with widths of 0.5 to 3 degrees, and
the maximum usable ranges for storm observation are 200-
500 km. After a few kilometers range, the pulse volume
is "pancake" shaped, i.e., the pulse depth in range is small
compared to the distance across the beam. Attenuation
effects range from severe for millimeter wavelength sys-
tems to nearly insignificant for 10-cm S-hand systems.
Most centimeter wavelength microwave systems collect
coherent samples over several milliseconds. Millimeter
wavelength radars can make use of the double pulsing
technique (Campbell and Strauch, 1976) to assure coher-
ence and to reduce an otherwise intolerable range ambi-
guity problem. Doviak and Zrnic ( 1984) and Strauch
( 1988) have shown that since only the second pulse of a
double pulsing radar may be contaminated by overlaid
echo from the first pulse of the pair, only random errors
occur in the pulse-to-pulse correlations. These random er-
rors may change very slowly with time so they would ap-
pear to be systematic (bias) errors at a given time.

The SNR is extremely important for analyzing trade-offs

in signal processing. It is a key term, along with spectrum
width and integration time, in analytic evaluation of spec-
trum moment errors.
l.l Types of Atmospheric Radars
A summary of the characteristics of the different types
of electromagnetic radars in use today for atmospheric re-
search is discussed below. Table 2.1 assembles these dif-
ferences.
.2. •.2. •.2. ST /MST Radars or Wind Proftlers
VHF and UHF radars that probe the mesosphere, strato-
sphere and I or the troposphere are called ST I MST radars
and are also known as wind profilers. They observe radial
winds at wavelengths between 30 em and 6 m at near-
vertical incidence ('Gage and Balsley, 1978; Rottger et al.,
1978) . Scattering is from atmospheric refractive index
fluctuations in space, analogous to Bragg scattering. Beam-
widths may be as large as several degrees for tropospheric
sounding, but much narrower beams are used for longer

TABLE 2.1
Remote Sensor Sampling Comparison

Beamwtdtb Pal1e Darattoa Sample Rate

Sea•or Wavelensth Scattereu (des) (J£•) (lb)
Radar
S-band 10 em precipitation 0.5- 3 0.25-4 103
Ka-band 1 em precipitation and cloud droplets 0.5-2 0.25-1 to•
mm-band 1 mm cloud droplets 0.2-1 0.25- 1 105
ST/MST (profilers)
UHF 75 em refractive index 3-10 0.2- 5 104- >10 2
VHF 6m refractive index 3- 10 0.2- 5 103- >10
Udar
infrared 10 l'ffi aerosols 0.01 0.1-3 107
optical <1~tm molecules (near field) <1 > 108
202 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
stratospheric and mesospheric ranges (Rottger and Larsen,
Chapter 21a; Gage, Chapter 28a).
For a nominal 1-m wavelength, the atmospheric coher-
ence time is typically large fractions of a second. Conse-
quently, the sampling rate to achieve coherence is of order
10 Hz. Because of this and the typically weak clear-air
returns, it is advantageous to perform time domain aver-
aging of the samples from pulse to pulse; e.g., at a given
range, N successive complex samples are averaged to yield
a single complex pair. This operation effectively reduces
the sampling frequency and the unambiguous velocity in-
terval by a factor of N, but the fundamental interval is
usually so large that this reduction is of little consequence.
The main feature is that the data rate is reduced by a factor
of N while the SNR is improved N times compared to the
SNR of a dataset sampled N times slower. The reduced
data rate permits computationally intensive processing
such as FFT analysis so that artifacts can be more easily
eliminated. Doviak et al. ( 1983) and Smith ( 1987) describe
the optimum number of samples to average given the ex-
pected radial velocities and dispersions. Otherwise, the
processing is similar to microwave radars following con-
ventional techniques. Rottger and Larsen (Chapter 21a)
describe the details of ST jMST radar processing tech-
niques.
2.2.3 FM-CW Radars
Frequency modulated-continuous wave radars have also
played an important role in boundary-layer remote sensing
(Richter, 1969; Chadwick et al., 1976; Ligthart et al., 1984).
Using an FM chirp waveform to obtain range resolution
of order 1 m and a continuous wave to achieve sensitivity
30 dB greater than a comparably chirped pulse system
with the same peak power, this system has given high-
resolution information on the detailed structure of the
boundary-layer. Individual insects are discernible and can
be differentiated from atmospheric refractive index vari-
ations. Strauch et al. ( 1975) and Chadwick and Strauch
( 1979) have demonstrated both theoretically and experi-
mentally that Doppler, as well as reflectivity information
can be extracted from a distributed target using this pulse
compression waveform at microwave wavelengths. Any
.pulse compression waveform with range-time sidelobes
limits the radar's performance in strong reflectivity gra-
dients. Alternatively, one can use continuous, periodic,
pseudorandom phase coding in a bistatic configuration
with similar advantages as Woodman ( 1980b) describes
for the Arecibo S-band planetary radar.
2.2 . .& MobUe Radars
Airborne and spaceborne radars are an important class
of atmospheric remote sensors; they are discussed in this
volume by Hildebrand and Moore (Chapter 22a). Special
problems are evident when a moving platform supports
the remote sensor. Many of the signal processing problems
have well-known solutions but have not been field tested.
The basic processing algorithms are similar to those em-
ployed with ground-based sensors, but special processing
techniques must be employed to suppress moving ground
clutter and to obtain adequate resolution and sensitivity
from spaceborne instruments.
Synthetic-aperture radar ( SAR) techniques can be used
only if the platform moves rapidly so that atmospheric
targets remain coherent during a "dwell time," thereby
giving a synthetic aperture yielding the desired alongtrack
resolution. SAR mapping of precipitation is possible from
space vehicles because of the great distance traversed by
the antenna during the coherency time of the targets (Atlas
and Moore, 1987). Quantitative measurements of precip-
itation from space involve a broad range of signal pro-
cessing problems to achieve both maximum sensitivity and
a sufficiently large number of independent samples. Ob-
taining reliable average echo power from individual storm
cells while covering a large crosstrack swath in the short
times available to traverse a typical alongtrack beamwidth
requires extremely high processing rates. Research con-
cerning atmospheric target measurements is just beginning
in this important field (Li et al., 1987).
2.2.5 Lidar
Optical or infrared radars, commonly known as lidars,
scatter from atmospheric aerosols at wavelengths between
10 and 0.3 microns (Huffaker, 1974-75; Huffaker et al.,
1976; Jelalian, 1977; Bilbro et al., 1984, 1986; McCaul et
al., 1986). These radars are therefore most useful in the
lower regions of the atmosphere where aerosol concen-
trations are the highest. Molecular scattering dominates at
the shorter wavelengths. Lidar is severely attenuated by
cloud and precipitation, so it is most useful in clear-air
applications (Lawrence et al., 1972; McWhirter and Pike,
1978). Lidar requires a receiving aperture several thousand
wavelengths in diameter to achieve the necessary gain and
sensitivity. Consequently, many atmospheric lidars, both
ground-based and airborne, operate within the antenna
(or telescope) near-field range. A distinct advantage of
this near-field operation is the collimation of the optical
energy into the near-field tube with minimal sidelobe ra-
diation. When in the far field, the beamwidths are mea-
sured in milliradians. Maximum ranges are a few tens of
kilometers, and pulse volumes are usually elongated.
The expected Doppler shifts and coherence times require
sampling at rates of 10-100 MHz, which means that all
the information necessary for complete spectral processing
is acquired from a single pulse. Lidar, by its very nature,
is a fast-scanning atmospheric remote sensor. Current laser
duty-cycle constraints limit PRFs to about 100 Hz, which
produces data rates that can easily be processed and re-
corded (Hardesty et al., 1988; Alldritt et al., 1978).
An important characteristic of acquiring the data in a

single pulse is the degraded range resolution that results
when the pulse propagates outward during the data col-
lection interval. During the sampling interval, "new" par-
ticles are appearing at the leading edge of the illuminated
volume, while "old" particles are disappearing at the trail-
ing edge. This creates an additional contribution to the
spectrum width similar to that caused by antenna scanning
for microwave radars.
2.2.6 Acoustic Sounders
Acoustic radars, also known as echosondes, sodars, or
acdars, are important sensors for the boundary-layer (Lit-
tle, 1969). Acoustic waves are longitudinal in nature and
propagate at about 340m s- 1• Scattering is from temper-
ature and velocity fluctuations caused by turbulent motion
in the atmosphere. The processing techniques, while at
audio frequencies, are similar to those employed by lidar
since spectral data representative of the scattering medium
are obtained from a single pulse rather than pulse-to-pulse
sampling. Because of the slow propagation speed and small
Doppler shifts, sampling the echoes obtained from a real
data source is possible. Thus, complex (dual channel) data
processing is avoided. Moreover, the real echoes are sam-
pled at a rate substantially less than the carrier frequency
of the sodar so that zero Doppler shift is offset from zero
frequency. In this manner unambiguous and signed ve-
locity estimates can be made.
3 DOPPLER POWER SPECTRUM
MOMENT ESTIMATION
It is well established that the first three moments of the
Doppler power spectral density or the "power spectrum"
(incorrectly termed the "Doppler spectrum" in the com-
munity) are directly related to the desired atmospheric base
parameters: radar reflectivity, radial velocity, and velocity
spectrum width (Rogers and Chimera, 1960; Groginsky,
1966). Before we discuss the power spectrum and moment
estimation, we find it useful to define the input waveform.
Since the return from individual range cells typically is
generated by scattering from a large number of randomly
distributed particles and/ or refractive index inhomogene-
ities, the received signal process is (by the central limit
theorem) a very good approximation to a Gaussian random
process (Parzen, 1957; Swerling, 1960; Mitchell, 1976).
Thus, signal processing techniques should be assessed in
the context of a statistical estimation theory framework
wherein one seeks the best estimate of the ensemble pa-
rameters given a particular sample function (Wiener, 1949;
Davenport and Root, 1958). This statistical estimation
framework becomes of particular importance when one
wishes to scan a phenomenon quickly since the random
process nature of the weather signal will necessitate a cer-
tain amount of averaging if the desired accuracies are to
be achieved.
SIGNAL PROCESSING FOR ATMOSPHERIC RADARS 203
A single stationary point target at range R reproduces
the transmitted waveform after it has been filtered by the
receiver
z(t, R) =A exp[j211'f(t- 2Rjc)]W(t- 2Rjc) (3.1)
where A is the complex voltage amplitude and W ( t) is a
range weighting function that depends on the transmit
pulse length and the receiver bandwidth (Doviak and
Zrnic, 1984).
Actual targets in the atmosphere are composed of many
individual scatterers, distributed over range, radar cross
section, and velocity. The received waveform for this par-
ticular distributed target then is a sample function of the
random process that produces the atmospheric return. We
estimate the mean characteristics of the random target over
an ensemble of sample functions. The vector sum of the
return complex voltage from the individual scatterers is
z( t, R) = L; A; exp[j 211'/;( t - 2R;/ c) ]W ( t - 2R;j c)
(3.2)
where the subscript i represents the individual particle.
Each particle has a complex amplitude (A;), a Doppler
shifted frequency (/;), and its range (R;). At any given
sampling instant for the kth pulse the received waveform
can be represented in the complex signal plane by a vector
(or "phasor") which has an instantaneous amplitude or
voltage IVk(R) I and phase ek(R) determined by the in-
stantaneous vector sum of the individual scatterers. The
complex signal is then
(3.3)
where h(R) = IVk(R) I cos0k(R) is the in-phase component
and Qk(R) = IVk(R)I sin0k(R) is the quadrature phase
component (Rader, 1984). These expressions illustrate that
(for a specific received polarization) only two quantities
are measurable, the complex amplitude and phase. All
other quantities are derived from these two based on
physical models.
3.1 General Features of the Doppler
Power Spectrum
The concept of the Doppler power spectrum is funda-
mental in radar signal processing ( Haykin, 1985b). A typ-
ical power spectrum, shown in Fig. 3.1, is a plot of the
returned power as a function of the Doppler shifted fre-
quency components in the target resolution volume. The
usual sign convention (taken from spherical coordinates)
is that a positive Doppler velocity corresponds to a velocity
away from the radar; the rate of change in range is positive.
This corresponds to a negative Doppler frequency shift.
The velocity limits ±Vmax are determined by the Nyquist
204 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
-40~~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~~
-0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
VELOCITY/2Vmax
Fig. 3.1 Doppler power spectrum (128 point periodogram) of typical
weather echo in white noise. Estimated parameters are velocity = 0.4
=
Vm•x- velocity spectrum width 0.04 Vm•x- and SNR 10 dB. = fallspeed dispersion, antenna rotation (Nathanson, 1969)
constraint that at least two samples per wavelength or pe-
riod are required to measure a frequency unambiguously
(Whittaker, 1915; Nyquist, 1928; Shannon, 1949). For a
uniform pulse repeitition time r. (equally spaced samples)
the so-called Nyquist velocity is
Vmax ="A/ 4T 5• (3.4)
The interval [-Vmax' +Vmax] is called the unambiguous
velocity interval or the Nyquist velocity interval, and all
possible velocities are measured within this interval. The
reality of sampling theory dictates that sampled Doppler
spectra exist on a circular frequency domain rather than a
frequency line extending both directions from zero (Gold
and Rader, 1969). Thus, as a target velocity increases be-
yond Vmax, it aliases or "folds" onto the negative velocity
region of the Nyquist velocity interval (Passarelli et al.,
1984).
The signal power spectrum rests on a platform of white
noise, so called because the noise power spectral density
is independent of frequency. White noise is caused by sev-
eral factors including thermal noise from the receiver,
phase noise from the transmitter j receiver system, artifacts
from the spectrum estimation algorithm, artifacts from
receiver nonlinearities, and quantization noise from the
A/D converters.
It is convenient to approximate the signal portion of the
spectrum with a Gaussian shape having a mean velocity
and a width. The area under the signal portion of the spec-
trum, not including the contribution of white noise, is the
returned power. Depending on the distribution of velocities
in the pulse volume and the scattering mechanism, asym-
metric spectra and j or multimodal spectra may occur. Sec-
ond trip echoes are a common cause of bimodal spectra
in klystron systems. Janssen and Van der Spek ( 1985)
found that about 75% of observed precipitation spectra
had the assumed Gaussian shape.
For ST j MST radars the spectrum is often assumed to
be Gaussian, but spectra measured at near-vertical antenna
beam directions (zenith angle less than about 10°) very
regularly show one or more strong spectral spikes super-
posed on a Gaussian-shaped base. The spikes result from
a corresponding number of quasi-horizontal laminar re-
fractive index structures producing partial reflections, while
the Gaussian floor results from scattering by turbulent re-
fractive index structures. Moreover, the aspect sensitivity
due to the quasi-horizontallaminar structures may produce
strongly asymmetric mean power spectra if several single
0.5
power spectra are averaged for oblique antenna beam di-
rections.
The width of the velocity spectrum has a number of
contributions including wind shear, turbulence, particle
and, in the case of lidar, range propagation of the pulse
during sampling. It is difficult to separate instrumental ef-
fects from the desired signal contributions.
The goal of signal processing is to deduce the charac-
teristics of the signal portion of the spectrum. The other
contributions from clutter, noise, and artifacts must be ei-
ther minimized or removed by the various steps of pro-
cessing. The two basic approaches are 1) frequency domain
processing using the power spectrum, and 2) time domain
processing using the autocorrelation function. Each ap-
proach has its advantages and disadvantages but the es-
sential information available from each is identical since
the power spectrum of the sampled signal and its auto-
correlation function comprise a discrete Fourier transform
(OFT) pair (Oppenheim and Schafer, 1975; Tretter, 1976):
N-1
S(n/o) = L R(mT.) exp(-j27rnmjN) (3.5a)
m=O
N-1
R(mT.) = N- 1 L S(n/0 ) exp(+j27rnmjN) (3.5b)
n=O
where S(n/0 ) is the Doppler spectrum in multiples of the
fundamental frequency shift / 0 = 1jNT5 and R(mT.) is
the autocorrelation function in multiples of the sample
timer•. This is the discrete version of the celebrated Wie-
ner-.Khinchine theorem (Wiener, 1930; Khinchine, 1934).
The information content is identical in the two approaches.
The primary difference between time and frequency do-
main processing is that the information concerning +he
lower spectral moments is distributed over several fre-
quencies of the power spectrum, while it is concentrated
in the small lags of the autocorrelation function.
Sampling theory dictates that both S(n/0 ) and R(mT.)
be periodic. That is, the spectrum repeats at multiples of
the sampling frequency and the correlation function re-
peats at multiples of N times the sampling period (NT.).
When highly coherent spectral components (e.g., clutter)
are present, the correlation usually will not decay to zero
within theN samples. Thus, the periodicity requirement
of R(mT.) may produce biased estimates. Care must be
exercised in these cases.
 SIGNAL PROCESSING FOR ATMOSPHERIC RADARS 205

3.2 Frequency Domain Spectral Moment windowing). For this window, the periodogram of a single
Estimation point target has the first sidelobe only 13 dB down from
the peak. This is not a problem for estimating the mean
The techniques for estimating the Doppler power spe~­
and variance of the designed signal, but if strong clutter
trum and its moments directly are straightforward (Haykin
is present, then the sidelobe power from the clutter that
and Cadzow, 1982). However, some basic questions must
leaks throughout the Nyquist interval can mask weaker
be answered first. We implicitly assume a data model for
weather echoes. Table 3.1 shows characteristics of several
weather and clutter spectra when we choose a spectrum
common windows. Harris ( 1978) and Marple ( 1987) both
estimation technique. A specific data model such as a sum
give an extraordinary description of window functions. In
of sinusoids or white noise passed through a narrowband
general, the lower the sidelobes offered by a window, the
filter is best analyzed by a spectrum analysis technique
broader its mainlobe response. This broadening degrades
compatible with that data model. Robinson (1982) em-
the spectral moment estimates.
phasizes this point in his historical review of spectrum
The windowed periodogram P(f) can be evaluated at
estimation. Marple ( 1987) stresses the importance of an
any frequency f in the Nyquist interval. The Fast Fourier
appropriate model fitting analysis and gives a very well-
Transform (FFT) is simply a highly efficient technique for
organized discussion of classical and modem spectral es-
evaluating the OFT at N equally spaced discrete frequencies
timates using digital techniques.
(Welch, 1967). Although the FFT algorithm is attributed
to Cooley and Tukey ( 1965), a recent investigation into
3.2.1 Fourier Transform Techniques the history of the FFT by Heideman et al. ( 1984) attributes
an algorithm very similar to the FFT for computation of
The Doppler power spectrum may be estimated from
the coefficients of a finite Fourier series to Gauss, the Ger-
the Discrete Fourier Transform (OFT) of the complex sig-
man mathematician. Apparently the first implementation
nal. The OFT decomposes the observed data into a sum
of the FFT on a weather radar was in December 1970 at
of sinusoids having amplitude and phase that will exactly
the CHILL radar (Mueller and Silha, 1978).
reproduce the observed data. It is easy to show that these
N discrete components are adequate to reconstruct the en-
tire continuous spectrum as long as the complex data sam- 3.2.2 Maximum Entropy Techniques
ples {zk} are taken at a rate equal to or greater t~an the
The aforementioned Fourier transform techniques have
bandwidth of the signal. The advantage of measunng the
been understood since the time of Fourier and Gauss and
full Doppler spectrum is that spectral impurities such as
are well documented by Jenkins and Watts (1968). Only
ground clutter, bimodal spectra or artifacts can be sup-
recently have techniques based on covariance estimates
pressed by intuitive (if nonoptimal) algorithms.
and probabilistic concepts been explored. Kay and Marple
The periodogram, a frequently used estimator in weather
( 1981) and Childers ( 1978) termed these parametric tech-
radar as well as many other fields, is an N point spectrum
niques "modem spectrum analysis." Marple ( 1987) points
estimator in which the standard deviation of each spectral
out that maximum entropy, maximum likelihood, and
value equals its mean value. Usually several spectra are
other techniques are modem in that short data sequences
averaged from a divided time series, or several points are
produce spectral resolutions better than the inverse du-
smoothed over in the periodogram, to improve the accu-
ration of the data sequence, which is characteristic of clas-
racy. The periodogram is defined as the squared magnitude
sical spectrum estimators. Furthermore, fast digital algo-
of the transformed data sequence {zk} (Blackman and Tu-
rithms have been developed that allow computing hard-
key, 1958; Cooley and Tukey, 1965; Oppenheim and
Schafer, 1975):
N- 1
TABLE 3.1
Characteristics of Time Series Data Windows
P(f) = N -1 I L hkzk exp(- jl1r{k) 1 2 • (3.6) (Marple, 1987)
k=O

The hk term is the "window" that modifies the waveform Hishe•t Sidelobe Eq11ivalent Half-Power
being transformed. Window Sldelobe Decay Rate Bandwidth Bandwidth
Name (dB) (dB/octave) (biP•) (bio1)
Window functions generally have a maximum value
centered on the time series and are tapered near zero at Rectangle - 13.3 -6 1.00 0.89
Triangle - 26.5 - 12 1.33 1.28
the ends. This tapering reduces the spectrum smearing, a
Hann - 31.5 - 18 1.50 1.44
leakage of spectral energy introduced by the discontinuity
Hamming - 43 -6 1.36 1.30
imposed by sampling when the end points are joined.
Gaussian -42 -6 1.39 1.33
Windowing also effectively reduces the number of points
in the time series. The simplest window is hk = 1 (or no Equiripple - so 0 1.39 1.33
206 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
ware to perform the computations in the required time
frames. This interest in alternative spectrum estimators can
be explained by categorizing expected performance im-
provements as increased resolution or increased detect-
ability. Both Jaynes ( 1982) and Makhoul ( 1986) attempt
to clarify some confusion and misleading notions related
to the maximum entropy techniques.
Maximum entropy (ME) spectrum analysis estimates the
spectrum using parametric techniques to define the spec-
trum. The parameters are typically derived from the data
samples or some estimated autocorrelation sequence. The
ME technique was developed by J.P. Burg (1967, 1968,
1975) as a geophysical prospecting technique for high-
resolution measurement of sonic wave reflections and ve-
locities. Makhoul ( 1975) shows that the all-pole ME spec-
trum model can approximate any spectrum arbitrarily close
by increasing its order L. He shows that the ME spectra
minimize the log ratio of the estimated spectrum to the
true spectrum integrated over the Nyquist interval. The
MST radar community (Kostermeyer, 1986) and the lidar
community (Keeler and Lee, 1978) have used the maxi-
mum entropy method for characterizing atmospheric tar-
gets. Sweezy ( 1978) and Mahapatra and Zrnic ( 1983)
computed maximum entropy spectrum estimates on sim-
ulated weather radar data and compared them with Fourier
transform and pulse pair estimators. Haykin et al. ( 1982)
describe how maximum entropy techniques can be applied
to Doppler processing of radar clutter, including weather
and birds, for aviation hazard identification.
Atmospheric echoes, whether from precipitation, aero-
sols or turbulence, can be modeled by autoregressive ( AR)
techniques as narrowband filtered noise. These AR and
the standard Fourier techniques appear to represent the
essential spectral features well, although little quantitative
work is available for comparison in the atmospheric echo
application. Van den Bos ( 1971) and Ulrych and Bishop
( 1975) show that maximum entropy spectrum analysis is
equivalent to least-squares fitting of a discrete time, all-
pole model to the observed data. As noise is added to the
observations the autoregressive moving average (ARMA)
model is more appropriate (Cadzow, 1980; Marple, 1987).
The justification for studying maximum entropy spectra
is its ability to estimate complete spectra from the first few
lags of the autocorrelation function rather than only the
first lag with the pulse pair 3 or all the lags (in which only
the first few are known with any confidence) with the
Fourier transform (Radoski et al., 1975). This property
may be critically important when the sampled datasets are
very short. Baggeroer (1976) computed confidence limits
for ME spectra that are applicable to atmospheric echoes.
The order of the ME spectra defines the number of lags
and the number of poles in the filter through which white
noise is passed in modeling the data. A larger order allows
3 The pulse pair frequency uses only R( 1) and is described in section 3.3.
non-Gaussian spectral detail to be more accurately rep-
resented; e.g., a weak atmospheric echo in the presence
of a much stronger ground clutter.
The basic technique uses the sampled input data to
compute R(O), R(1), . . . , R(L) for the Lth order esti-
mator. Additional lags are realized by requiring that the
entropy (in an information theoretic sense) of the prob-
ability density function having the extended autocorrela-
tion function is maximized. This extended autocorrelation
function allows computation of coefficients for a whitening
or linear prediction filter. The ME spectrum is computed
from these filter coefficients, which are defined by the ma-
trix equation
(3.7)
where A is the filter coefficient vector, R is the autocor-
relation matrix, and Pis the autocorrelation vector (Ulrych
and Bishop, 1975). The coefficient estimates can be rapidly
computed with the Levinson algorithm (Makhoul, 1975;
Anderson, 1978).
This filter removes the predictable components from the
input data, and the optimum filter of order L minimizes
the prediction error. The Lth order ME spectrum estimate
can then be computed:
u 2 (L)
~(f)= L (3.8)
11- L amexp(-j2·n"fm)l 2
m=l
where am are the elements of A and u2 (L) is final prediction
error. Burg (1967) gives the "forward-backward" tech-
nique of estimating the linear prediction coefficients di-
rectly from the data which frequently permits more detail
to be shown in the spectrum. Smylie et al. ( 1973) and
Haykin and Kesler (1976) give the complex form of the
ME spectrum estimator. Friedlander ( 1982) and Makhoul
( 1977) describe lattice structures for ME spectrum estimates
which are computationally more efficient and identical to
Burg's method. Papoulis ( 1981) attempts to interrelate the
various aspects of maximum entropy and spectrum esti-
mation in his mathematical review paper; Marple (1987)
presents a more readable exposition. Cadzow (1980, 1982)
extends the ME concept to rational models.
Keeler and Lee ( 1978) and Mahapatra and Zmic ( 1983)
have shown that the pulse pair frequency estimator is
identically the mean (or the peak, in this special case) of
the first order maximum entropy spectrum. The atmo-
spheric remote sensing community has been using the
simplest form of ME for almost two decades! Its relevance
to accurate parameter estimation for weather radars, ST /
MST profilers, and lidar signals is an active research area
(Haykin, 1982).

3.2..3 Maximum Likelihood Techniques
Maximum likelihood (ML) estimation is a statistical
concept that gives the most likely outcome or minimum
variance estimate of an experiment based on a set of known
probabilities. ML estimates of spectral parameters are ef-
ficient, i.e., no other unbiased estimator has a lower vari-
ance. It is well suited for estimating parameters of a spec-
trum whose shape is known or assumed when neither a
priori knowledge nor a valid cost function associated with
moment estimator error is known (Van Trees, 1968). Zrnic
(1979a) used ML techniques to derive the minimum vari-
ance ( Cramer-Rao) bounds of spectral moment estimators
for application to atmospheric radar data. He compares
present estimators to these bounds and ,interprets Levin's
( 1965) results in a modem framework. Moreover, he shows
that the pulse pair estimator is ML for a Markov process.
In general, closed form solutions for ML estimates of
spectrum moments are quite complicated and difficult to
compute. The optimum (ML) processor depends on the
underlying signal statistics which in tum depend on the
spectrum shape and SNR. Shirakawa and Zrnic ( 1983)
evaluated the ML estimator for sinusoids in noise and
found a slight improvement over the pulse pair estimator
at low SNRs. Novak and Lindgren ( 1982) derived the exact
ML mean velocity estimator for Gaussian-shaped spectra
using more than one autocorrelation lag. Their technique
is similar to Lee and Lee's (1980) poly-pulse pair velocity
estimator. Miller and Rochwarger ( 1972) show that for
independent pairs, the pulse pair estimator of mean fre-
quency is ML for an arbitrarily shaped spectrum as long
as the normalized width is small. Sato and Woodman
( 1982) used a least-square fit algorithm to estimate spectral
parameters, including noise and clutter parameters, by as-
suming prior knowledge of the spectral shapes. Woodman
( 1985) shows that this technique is an ML estimator of
the spectral characteristics. It is gratifying that the simple
pulse pair estimators approach the minimum variance
bound over a wide range of SNRs.
If the spectrum shape is completely unknown, the ML
spectrum gives the most probable estimate, which con-
centrates the spectral energy at the input signal frequencies
while minimizing other spectral energy in a statistically
optimum sense (Capon, 1969; Lacoss, 1971). The statistical
rationale for using ML estimation is that the ML spectrum
estimate provides a minimum variance, unbiased estimate
of the power at a given frequency. Burg ( 1972) has shown
that in the mean the Lth order ML spectrum is just the
following combination of ME spectra up to order L:
L
[SML<f>r 1 = L -l 2: [SME,m<f >r 1 . (3.9)
Thus, the mean ML spectrum is a smoothed version of
mean ME spectra. It has many of the same properties as
ME spectra but the details are obscured by combining all
SIGNAL PROCESSING FOR ATMOSPHERIC RADARS 207
order ME spectra. There have been theoretical studies of
ML spectra but little application to atmospheric data. Klos-
termeyer ( 1986) has computed ML spectra for VHF radar
data.
3.2..4 Classical Spectral Moment Computation
The spectrum moments can be directly related to the
reflectivity, velocity, and dispersion parameters desired for
further analysis. Computing these moments has historically
been performed using classical moment calculations based
on techniques from probability theory when considering
the power spectrum as a density function of frequency or
velocity components of the desired signal (Denenberg,
1971, 1976). For sampled data systems, the "sampling
theorem" imposes certain requirements on moment and
transform computations that cannot be ignored-namely
replication in the frequency domain and circular convo-
lution (Oppenheim and Schafer, 1975).
If the power spectrum of the received signal is denoted
by S(f ), then the classical spectrum moments are given
by
(3.10)
The zeroth moment (M0 ) is the area under S(/) and rep-
resents total weather, clutter, and noise power. Of course,
we are usually interested only in the weather power, so
the clutter and noise powers must be estimated and re-
moved. Noise power is generally easy to remove, but clutter
removal causes difficulties to the parameter estimation
process.
The classical normalized first movement represents mean
velocity and is given by the linear weighting of S(f) over
the Nyquist interval
fc = JfS(f)df /Mo (3.11a)
V = ("A/2)/c· (3.11b)
Note that white noise biases the velocity toward zero, and
for a pure noise spectrum the mean velocity is identically
zero. Various techniques have been described for mitigat-
ing this bias, most of them requiring manipulation of the
power spectra. Thresholding the spectrum points with
some value near the noise spectral density is common but
some sensitivity is lost (Hildebrand and Sekhon, 1974;
Sirmans and Bumgarner, 1975a; Klostermeyer, 1986).
The spectral balancing technique rotates S(f) until the
weather spectrum is near zero so that the weather and the
noise share the same zero mean velocity. The amount of
rotation represents the mean velocity of the weather com-
 208 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
ponent and removes errors due to aliased spectra. The same
effect is obtained by computing the offset first moment
I (f- f,)S(f )df = 0 (3.12)
where f, is varied to obtain equality.
The normalized second central moment represents the
velocity dispersion within the pulse resolution volume.
Shear, turbulence, and precipitation motion (fallspeed os-
cillations, etc.) contribute to a distribution of radial veloc-
ities (Nathanson and Reilly, 1968). A contribution from
antenna scanning during the finite dwell time may also be
signficiant (Nathanson, 1969). The velocity dispersion
(width) is the square root of the second central moment
of the spectrum estimate:
(3.13a)
W = p. j2)u1. (3.13b)
Spectrum estimation algorithms are fairly time consuming
to invoke, and once the frequency domain is entered, sub-
stantial computation is still required to extract the mete-
orological moments accurately. The main reason for en-
tering the frequency domain lies in the ability to filter
spectral artifacts or identify multimodal spectra more eas-
ily. In cases where spectra are unimodal and generally free
from artifacts, more efficient time domain processing is
typically used.
3.3 Time Domain Spectral Moment
Estimation
The basis for time domain moment estimation is the
transform relationship of the autocorrelation function of
the complex signal to the power spectrum. An estimate of
the autocorrelation can be easily calculated from the com-
plex input time series { Zk} ,
N-m-1
R(m) = (N- m)- 1 L zk*Zk+m (3.14)
k~O
where m is the lag between the two data series and * de-
notes conjugation. For uncontaminated spectra, usually
only a few lags are necessary to obtain the moments of
interest. This represents a substantial savings in compu-
tation over the frequency domain approach. The general
relationship between the complex autocorrelation function
and the nth classical spectral moment is
(3.15)
where R [nJ ( 0) is the nth derivative of the autocorrelation
function evaluated at lag= 0 (Papoulis, 1962; Bracewell,
1965). The first three spectral moments are used to estimate
the reflectivity, radial velocity, and velocity dispersion or
width, respectively (K. S. Miller, 1970; R. W. Miller, 1972).
3.3.1 Geometric Interpretations
The complex autocorrelation function, the basis for time
domain moment estimation, is often depicted as its real
and imaginary components, but an alternative three-
dimensional representation allows a better understanding
of the covariance, or pulse pair, mean frequency estimator.
The complex R(m) could be considered as a three-dimen-
sional helix that is wide at the center and tapered toward
zero radius at the ends with a Gaussian-shaped envelope.
Figure 3.2 shows a drawing of this continuous autocor-
relation helix. A sampled autocorrelation helix will consist
of points spaced at the PRT. Note that zero lag, R(O), is
at the center and has no imaginary component. The radius
at lag 0 represents the signal power and the real delta
function at lag 0 represents the noise power. The width
of the Gaussian envelope of the helix represents the inverse
velocity spectrum width or dispersion. The rate of rotation
(pitch) of the helix defines the mean velocity of the signal.
For a given spacing of autocorrelation function samples
the angular rotation between a pair of samples is a measure
of mean velocity. Thus, the angle of the complex estimate
R( 1) gives the mean velocity of the received signal ex-
pressed as a fraction of the Nyquist interval, which is the
pulse pair estimator used almost universally for mean ve-
locity in weather radar and lidar processors.
A useful geometric interpretation of the relationship be-
tween classical spectral moments and the autocorrelation
function can be found in Passarelli and Siggia ( 1983). This
interpretation illustrates many of the properties of pulse
pair estimators.
3.3.2. Pulse Pair Estimators
The advent of the pulse pair, double pulse, or complex
covariance technique (Rummier, 1968a; Woodman and
Real axis
X
Fig. 3.2 Three-dimensional representation of the complex autocor-
relation function as a helix. Radius of helix is proportional to total
signal power P,; pitch of helix is proportional to velocity V; width
of envelope is inversely proportional to velocity spectrum width W.
Delta function represents noise power, Pn.

Hagfors, 1969; Miller and Rochwarger, 1972; Berger and
Groginsky, 1973; Woodman and Guillen, 1974) for mean
velocity estimation was revolutionary since the algorithm
arose at about' the same time that it could be implemented
in hardware for a significant number of range bins. Lher-
mitte ( 1972) and Groginsky ( 1972) first reported on hard-
ware signal processors and weather radars using this tech-
nique. However, covariance processing for velocity
measurements apparently was first used in March 1968
for ionospheric velocity measurements (Woodman and
Hagfors, 1969). Woodman and Guillen (1974) also re-
ported covariance-based velocity measurements in the
mesosphere at the Jicamarca MST radar in 1970. This al-
gorithm development in the MST community was inde-
pendent of Rummier's work. The pulse pair algorithm led
to an exciting growth in the use of Doppler radar by the
scientific community ( Groginsky et al., 1972; Lhermitte,
1972; Sirmans, 1975; Lhermitte and Serafin, 1984).
Other time domain algorithms such as the vector phase
change (Hyde and Perry, 1958) and the scalar phase
change (Sirmans and Doviak, 1973) are closely related to
the pulse pair estimator, but their performance is inferior.
Sirmans and Bumgarner ( 1975b) compare these and other
mean frequency estimators.
It is well known that the first few lags of the the auto-
correlation function are sufficient to deduce spectrum pa-
rameters of interest. Papoulis ( 1965, 1984), Bracewell
(1965), Woodman and Guillen (1974), and Passarelli and
Siggia ( 1983) show that the autocorrelation function can
be represented by a Taylor series expansion in terms of
the central moments of the Doppler spectrum with the
low order moments being the leading terms. In other
words, the first few lags of the autocorrelation function
contain the moment information of interest. For an arbi-
trary spectrum, these expansions have the form
R(mT.) = A(mT.) exp[- jq>(mT.)). (3.16)
The even function A(mT.) is determined primarily by the
even central moments (e.g., power, variance, and kurtosis),
while the odd function <P(mT.) is determined primarily by
the mean velocity and the odd central moments (e.g.,
skewness). Estimators can be generated for any moment,
provided that a sufficient number of autocorrelation lags
are measured. Note that white noise power Pn biases the
magnitude for lag zero.
The total received power must be corrected for noise,
i.e.,
(3.17)
The pulse pair mean velocity estimator is obtained by tak-
ing the argument of the first autocorrelation lag,
V = (>.j2)(2·n-T.)- 1 tan- 1 [ImR(T.)/ReR(T.)). (3.18)
SIGNAL PROCESSING FOR ATMOSPHERIC RADARS 209
The pulse pair spectrum width is given by
(3.19)
where p(T.) = IR(T.)I/R(O) is the normalized first lag
and the SNR must be determined independently.
3.3.3 Circular Spectral Moment Computation
for Sampled Data
Sampled data systems utilize the complex plane and
z-transform theory to formally express the relationships
between the time and frequency domains (Oppenheim
and Schafer, 1975). For example, the OFT of the auto-
correlation function is formally the z-transform of the
sampled autocorrelation function evaluated on the unit
circle in the z plane, i.e., Iz I = 1 or z = exp [- j 21r[]:
N-1
S(f) = L R(mT.)z-m lz=exp[-j2rf]· (3.20)
m=O
The unit circle on the complex z plane is important in un-
derstanding concepts of sampled or discrete data systems,
specifically concepts of digital signal processing. Figure 3.3
shows the z plane and the frequencies associated with var-
ious points on the unit circle. Zero frequency, where
ground clutter usually appears, corresponds to z = 1, and
the Nyquist frequency (where velocity spectra alias into
the next Nyquist velocity interval) corresponds to z = -1.
Thus, the z plane representation of spectral space allows
an immediate and simple geometric interpretation of ve-
locity aliasing and the velocity ambiguity arising from
sampling too slowly. Analysis and synthesis of digital filters
require heavy application of z-transform theory, thus easily
allowing visualization of the effect of various types of
ground clutter filters, for example.
It is natural to compute spectral moments on the unit
circle rather than along the frequency line in the Nyquist
velocity interval. The zeroth moment or total receiver
power is still that area under the spectrum, whether on a
I
I
Z = -1
I
I
(2T -1 I
-tt- \
f=± sl \ Origin
~A\;~'
~J ~ '~=0
1\Z== f
-j
-(4 Ts f 1 Z plane
Fig. 3.3 Periodogram power spectrum plotted on unit circle in the
z plane. The velocity aliasing point, the Nyquist velocity, is at z
= -1.
210 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
line or on a circle. Higher order moments can be different
for the two cases (Passarelli et al., 1984).
A simple geometric derivation shows that the first cir-
cular moment, f" of the estimated spectrum, S(f ) , is the
normalized frequency at which the center of mass on the
circle is located:
f _ _1 _1 L S(21rnjN) sin(27rn/N)
(3.21)
Jc- ( 21r) tan L S(27rn/N) cos(27rn/N)
where the summations run over 0 to N - 1. Trigonometric
manipulation converts this equation to
N-1
L S(21rnjN) sin[27r(n/N- /c)]= 0, (3.22)
n=O
which shows that [c is the sinusoid weighted mean of the
spectrum estimate (Zrnic, 1979a). The numerator and de-
nominator of (3.21) are the imaginary and real parts of
R(mT.), and the circular first moment is identically the
pulse pair frequency or velocity estimator. Figure 3.4 shows
a comparison of the classical linear weighted mean fre-
quency estimator and the circular sinusoidal mean fre-
quency estimator.
Two points are clear from this discussion: 1) white noise
does not bias the pulse pair frequency estimate because
the noise does not weight any particular frequencies on
the circle, and 2) symmetric spectra have identical first
moments using either the classical (linear weighting) or
the circular (sinusoidal weighting) computations. Asym-
Classical:
L(f- flin) S(f) =0
Circular:
L sin [211" (f- fc;rl]S(f) = 0
Fig. 3.4 Comparison of classical and circular (pulse pair) first mo-
ment estimators. Classical estimate is determined by linear weighting
of spectrum estimate; circular estimate is determined by sinusoidal
weighting.
metric spectra produce different first moment estimators
but there are no compelling reasons to prefer linear
weighting over the more common sinusoidal weighting
(the pulse pair estimator). Indeed, for sampled data systems
the circular moment computation is more natural than
classical moment computation.
3.3.4 Poly-Pulse Pair Techniques
If we accept the premise that knowing lags of the au-
tocorrelation function past the first allows a processor to
extract additional information about the received signal,
then we should expect to reduce the variance of velocity
estimates by using not only R( 1), but R( 2 ), R( 3), etc. The
variance reduction can be realized only if the received sig-
nal is coherent over the additional lags. Lee ( 1978) pro-
posed the poly-pulse pair algorithm for lidar signal pro-
cessing. Velocity estimates can be found from a weighted
average of the estimate given at each lag, where the smaller
lags are given higher weighting since the correlations are
higher. Poly-pulse pair velocity estimates (using a few
lags) produce lower variance estimates than the pulse pair
estimates when the spectrum width of the signal is only
a few percent of the sampling frequency (Lee and Lee,
1980).
Strauch et al. ( 1977) evaluated poly-pulse pair for
3-cm radar processing. They concluded that for typical
velocity spectrum widths and PRFs (sample rates) used
with X-band Doppler radar, the coherence time was fre-
quently too short to give a significant improvement in the
velocity estimates. However, for infrared lidar the coher-
ence times and sample rates permit a significant improve-
ment in reflectivity, velocity, and width estimates (Bilbro
et al., 1984). Furthermore, Rastogi and Woodman (1974)
and Srivastava et al. ( 1979) used multiple lag estimates of
the correlation function to estimate moments of a Gaus-
sian-shaped spectrum. Several independent estimates of
the autocorrelation function can be found and a Gaussian-
shaped curve can be fitted to these samples. Sato and
Woodman (1982) used this nonlinear curve fitting tech-
nique to estimate signal, clutter and noise parameters at
the Arecibo ST radar.
3.4 Uncertainties in Spectrum Moment
Estimators
Any estimator has an associated uncertainty. In atmo-
spheric radar signal processing the velocity spectrum mo-
ments are estimated with some uncertainty that depends
on the processing interval, the coherence time or velocity
width, and the SNR. Zmic has published extensively on
weather radar spectrum estimator uncertainties; his results
are succinctly described in Doviak and Zmic ( 1984). A
summary is given here.
 SIGNAL PROCESSING FOR ATMOSPHERIC RADARS 211

3.4.1 Reftec:tivity
~

0
>
(\J

Marshall and Hitschfeld ( 1953) describe the probability '

<>
0(/)
density function of the distributed weather target. The re-
1.0
ceived signal Is a complex Gaussian process with a Rayleigh
amplitude distribution and an exponential power distri- ~
z
bution. Thus, the mean received signal power is P. with 0
variance P/, and the coherence time is determined by the ~
spectrum width of the signal. The number of independent >
LLJ
signal samples in a given integration time Td seconds is 0
0
approximately M 1 = 2hwTd (Doviak and Zmic, 1984) a:
<t
where w is the spectrum width (standard deviation) in 0
Hertz. The number of independent noise samples is M z
= TdiT., the total number of samples in the dwell time.
~
(/)
0.1 0.2 0 .3 0.4
Therefore, the variance of the mean power estimate is ap- NORMALIZED SPECTRUM WIDTH CTvn
proximately
Fig. 3.5 Velocity error as function of spectrum width and SNR.
(3.23) Spectrum width is normalized to Nyquist interval, O'v n = wI 2Vmax
= 2WT, I X. M is number of sample pairs and error is normalized to
Nyquist velocity interval, 2v. = 2VmiU'· Small circles represent sim-
Doviak and Zmic (1984) show that if the number of in- ulation values. (From Doviak and Zrnic, 1984.)
dependent signal samples is smaller than about 20 and a
log receiver is used, the bias in the estimated received
power depends on M1 and its variance is not exactly pro- but correlated pulse pairs. Two conditions, both of which
portional to 1 I M1 • A square law receiver does not en- are usually satisfied for a large number of samples (M),
counter these problems. Marshall and Hitschfeld ( 1953), are necessary for the analysis to be accurate:
as well as a recent review by Ulaby et al. (1982), show
that the ratio of the mean power to the fluctuating power
M ~ X1411WT. (3.24a)
associated with a single sample of a Rayleigh quantity is
5.6 dB. Therefore, for M 1 independent sai,!!EJes the signal
power estimates are known within 5.6 IV M 1 dB. Averag- (3.24b)
ing independent samples obtained in range can further
reduce the variance. where W is the velocity spectrum width and p(T.) = R(T.) I
R(O) is the autocorrelation function at lag r. (the PRT)
normalized to unity. At high SNR and for large enough
3.4.2 Velocity M that both conditions are satisfied, and for contiguous
Woodman and Hagfors ( 1969) used statistical analysis pairs typical of radar Doppler processing, and for Gaus-
of Gaussian random variables to estimate the uncertainty sian-shaped spectra, the variance of the velocity estimate
is
of pulse pair velocities. Berger and Groginsky ( 1973) ap-
plied perturbation analysis to derive the variance of the
independent and contiguous pulse pair frequency esti- var(V) = XW IBhMT•. (3.25)
mators. Zrnic ( 1977b) later extended their results to spaced
Table 3.2 summarizes the velocity uncertainties at high
SNR for three cases: 1) contiguous samples, 2) independent
TABLE 3.2 sample pairs, and 3) the minimum variance bound.
Expressions for Variance of Velocity Estimators Expressions are given both in terms of the actual spectrum
at High SNR*
width in m s -I (W) and normalized to the Nyquist velocity
Type of Cafe Var{V) U1illg W VarfV) Utillg W.
interval (Wn) · Figure 3.5 shows the standard deviation of
>,2
velocity estimates normalized to the Nyquist velocity in-
Contiguous samples >. w terval and to the square root of the number of samples M
(typical case) 8 JtrMT, l6 J1rMT/ W.
as a function of the normalized spectrum width. The SNR
w2
Independent pairs -2M ~W2 is a parameter for the two sets of curves-those for the
SMT/ "
typical contiguous pairs and those for less typical spaced
Minimum variance 4ST,2 w• 3>.2 w 4
pairs of pulses (Campbell and Strauch, 1976; Doviak and
bound M>-2 MT/ "
Zrnic, 1984). Reasonably accurate velocity estimates can
• Assumes Gaussian spectra in white noise, low normalized velocity width be obtained for a given M down to SNR = 0 dB as long
(W. = W j2V.,..), and large M. Expressions apply to both pulse pair and as the Gaussian standard deviation velocity width is less
Fourier transform estimators. than about 0.2 of the total Nyquist velocity interval2Vmax·
212 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Woodman ( 1985) discusses errors for multiple lag ve- ,."'

locity estimators that are statistically dependent. By ~
Cl
weighting the ~orrelation estimates in an optimum fashion, (/)

he concludes that for high SNR only a few (two or three) ~~

? 1.0
lags are necessary. z
0

3.4.3 Velocity Spectrum Width

~
>
~ 0 .5
Benham et al. ( 1972) and Berger and Groginsky ( 1973)
Cl
applied a perturbation analysis to the spectrum width es- a::
<t
timator, and Zrnic ( 1977b) later extended their results to Cl
z
arbitrarily spaced pulse pairs. The primary result for high
~
SNR, contiguous pairs, and narrow, Gaussian-shaped (/)
01 02 03 0.4
spectra is that the variance of the velocity width is NORMALIZED SPECTRUM WIDTH, <Tvn

var(W) = 3>-.W j641{;MT5 • (3.26)

Fig. 3.6 Width error as a function of spectrum width and SNR.
Spectrum width is normalized to Nyquist interoal, u,. = Wj2Vmax
Table 3.3 summarizes the width uncertainties at high = 2WT,jX. M is number of sample pairs and error is normalized to
SNR for three cases: 1) contiguous samples, 2) independent Nyquist interoal, 2Vmax· Small circles represent simulation values.
sample pairs, and 3) the minimum variance bound. (From Doviak and Zrnic, 1984.)
Expressions are given both in terms of the actual spectrum
width in m s -t (W) and normalized to the Nyquist velocity 4.1 Doppler Techniques for Ground
interval (Wn)· Figure 3.6 shows the normalized standard Clutter Suppression
deviations of the width estimates as a function of nor-
malized spectrum width for a range of SNRs. The width Ground clutter poses a significant problem for both co-
estimator is relatively good if the normalized width is be- herent and incoherent radar applications. Clutter biases
tween 0.02 and 0.20 of the Nyquist interval and the SNR the reflectivity, mean velocity and velocity spectrum width
> 5 dB. estimates. It significantly reduces the effective area of cov-
erage at close range where the azimuth resolution is best.
Even weak clutter can frequently mask clear-air echoes.
4 SIGNAL PROCESSING TO Fortunately, signal processing can greatly reduce the effects
ELIMINATE BIAS AND ARTIFACTS of clutter. Zmic and Hamidi (1981), Zmic et al. (1982),
The primary goal of an effective signal processing and Evans ( 1983) address various aspects of Doppler clut-
scheme is to provide accurate, unbiased estimates of the ter cancellation.
characteristics of meteorological echoes. This means that Clutter cancellation is possible for both coherent
in addition to moment estimation, the signal processing (Doppler) and noncoherent systems. Noncoherent tech-
algorithms must also eliminate the degrading effects of niques rely on the Rayleigh distribution of the amplitude
ground clutter targets, range aliasing, and velocity aliasing. fluctuations of weather echo to differentiate between clut-
This challenging apsect of signal processing has received ter and weather (Geotis and Silver, 1976; Tatehira and
considerable attention in the recent literature. Shimizu, 1978; Aoyagi, 1983). The performance of this
approach uses the correlation of successive samples, which
depends on the Doppler spectrum width (Sirmans and
TABLE 3.3 Dooley, 1980). Clutter cancellation on most modem sys-
Expressions for Variance of Width Estimators at High tems is performed via Doppler techniques. Coherent
SNR*
ground-based systems rely on clutter being nearly station-
ary and use high-pass digital filters to eliminate targets in
Type of Cue Vu(W) U•tng W Var(W) U•lng W ,
a narrow bandwidth near zero velocity. Groginsky and
Contiguous samples 3J. W 3J.2
Glover ( 1980) give requirements and clutter filter speci-
(typical case) 64J7rMT, 128 J7rMT/ w.
fications and design concepts particular to weather radar
w, A2
- - w, systems.
Independent pairs - BMT/ "
2M
Minimum variance 2ssor,• w6 45J.2
- w6
bound MJ.• MT/ " 4.1.1 Antenna and Analog Signal
Considerations
• Assumes Gaussian spectra in white noise, low normalized velocity width
(W" = W j2V,..,.), and large M. Expressions apply to both pulse pair and The first line of defense against clutter is an antenna
Fourier transform estimators. with low sidelobes and a good radar site. Mainlobe clutter

is very difficult to suppress because clutter targets are usu-
ally much stronger than weather targets. However, since
sidelobes are usually down at least 20 dB (one way) from
the peak power, signal processing is effective in suppress-
ing resulting clutter power without problems caused by a
saturated receiver.
Shorter wavelengths generally offer better signal-to-
clutter signal ratios than longer wavelengths given the
same targets. This is because the power returned from
Rayleigh scatterers goes inversely as the fourth power of
the radar wavelength, while large clutter targets will be-
have more like specular reflectors having a lesser wave-
length dependence (Barton and Ward, 1984).
Superior clutter cancellation performance depends crit-
ically on the linear dynamic range of the transmitter Ire-
ceiver system. This dynamic range is governed primarily
by the system phase noise and the linear dynamic range
of the receiver itself. The phase stability of the oscillators
used in the radar will determine the degree of clutter can-
cellation that is possible. The effect of phase noise is to
spill power from a coherent target into white noise. In the
case of a strong clutter target and a weak weather target,
even a relatively small amount of phase noise can obscure
a weather target under the phase noise floor. For Gaussian-
distributed phase noise and a coherent clutter target, the
maximum clutter-to-phase noise power ratio (CNR) that
can be achieved for small phase errors is straightforward
to compute as
= {j-2 for ( 4.1)
where {j is the pulse-to-pulse rms phase error in radians
of the complex (baseband) signal. The maximum CNR
that can be tolerated is equal to the clutter-to-signal ratio
(CSR) that corresponds to a signal-to-phase noise power
(SNR) of about 0 dB. For example, a klystron transmitter
can achieve better than 0.1 degree rms phase error which
corresponds to 55 dB CNR. A signal at 55 dB CSR would
have an SNR of 0 dB. If 55 dB of mainlobe clutter power
could be cancelled, and only the phase noise power re-
mained, there would be an adequate SNR for Doppler
processing. Some coherent-on-receive magnetron system
may achieve only 5 to 10 degrees of phase stability (21 to
15 dB CNR) depending on the quality of the phase lock
loop that synchronizes the receiver to the transmitted pulse.
Therefore, it is frequently not cost-effective to design a
signal processor capable of more than 20-25 dB of clutter
cancellation for these systems. A well-designed magnetron
system can achieve much better phase stability.
In many systems, the dynamic range of the linear re-
ceiver poses the fundamental limit on the ability to separate
weather signals from strong clutter signals. If the linear
receiver has a dynamic range of 50 dB, then this will be
the order of the maximum clutter-to-signal ratio that can
SIGNAL PROCESSING FOR ATMOSPHERIC RADARS 213
be handled. High-performance clutter cancellation com-
mensurate with the phase stability of a klystron requires
a "fast AGC" gain control and, essentially, floating point
digital data conversion. Other AGC techniques are less
effective and may degrade the existing inherent quality of
a stable system, but because they introduce less noise than
a typical magnetron transmitter, they can be used in mag-
netron systems without sacrificing performance.
The simplest form of clutter cancellation by Doppler
signal processing is to ignore strongly reflecting narrow
width targets that have velocities near zero. On a color
velocity display, for example, those bins can be assigned
the background color. More sophisticated processors use
either time domain digitial filtering or frequency domain
filtering; the approach used depends on the general phi-
losophy of signal processing that is employed for spectrum
moment estimation.
4 .1.2 Frequency Domain Filtering
Frequency domain processing was discussed earlier.
Clutter is typically a narrow spike ( <1 m s -t) centered
about zero frequency or DC (direct current). Weather
echoes are usually broader, so it is possible to remove the
latter and then interpolate the weather signal across the
gap. The first step in frequency domain filtering is to enter
the frequency domain via some spectrum estimation tech-
nique. This is usually done via an FFT. The choice of the
time domain window is critical since the window sidelobes
should be matched to the dynamic range characteristics
of the transmitter I receiver system. For example, a 57 -dB
Blackman window (Harris, 1978) is not justified for a
magnetron system that has a phase noise limited SNR of
25 dB.
Removal of clutter in the frequency domain is easily
performed by the human eye, and it is not difficult to de-
velop algorithms that achieve - 30 dB suppression. Pas-
sarelli et al. ( 1981) discuss several algorithms for frequency
domain clutter cancellation and point out the adaptive na-
ture of the general technique, i.e., both the notch width
and depth of the filter can be adjusted to remove only the
clutter that is present, with minimal distortion of over-
lapped weather or noise. On the other hand, time domain
filters usually, but not necessarily, have a fixed notch width
and stopband attenuation.
4.1.3 Time Domain Filtering
Time domain digital filtering has been an active research
area for over 20 years (Kaiser, 1966; Gold and Rader,
1969; Oppenheim and Schafer, 1975; Rabiner and Gold,
1975; Tretter, 1976; Roberts and Mullis, 1987). Precise
control of the digital transfer function allows filter char-
acteristics not obtainable with analog filters. Digital filters
fall into two general categories, finite impulse response
(FIR) filters and infinite impulse response (IIR) filters. Both
214 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
are used in current weather radars in which the I and Q
values are filtered separately. An example of a simple IIR
filter is an exponential average of the I and Q values to
determine and remove the DC offset. An example of a
simple FIR filter is to calculate the DC offset over a fixed
number of pulses and then subtract this value from the
pulses. In practice, more general FIR and IIR filtering tech-
niques are used that attenuate not only the DC, but also
the low-frequency components around DC to achieve
clutter suppression of more than 40 dB. Figure 4.1 shows
a typical high-pass filter. Filter design is fairly mechanical
and the parameters that are adjusted are the stopband at-
tenuation, the stopband width, the transition bandwidth
and the passband ripple, which if too large can bias the
mean velocity.
The IIR filter is computationally more efficient to imple-
ment than a comparable FIR filter but, because of its tran-
sient response characteristics, it is best run in a continuous
mode with minimal perturbation such as those caused by
slow AGC changes or PRF changes. Initialization of the
filter can improve the transient response characteristics.
0 channel power estimate. The ratio of the signal power to
-10
iii
3 -20
z log channel signal power is
Q
1- -30
~
:::>
z
w
1- -40
~ When multiple PRT measurements are made for the
-50
-60
6
0 2 3 4 5
VELOCITY (m s- 1)
Fig. 4.1a Clutter filter frequency response for a three-pole infinite
impulse response (IIR) high-pass elliptic filter. For ground clutter
width of 0.6 m s - 1 and scan rate of 5 rpm, this filter gives about
40-dB suppression. V, = stop band; Vp = pass band. (From Hamidi
and Zmic, 1981.)
Fig. 4.1b Implementation of third order IIR clutter suppression filter;
z- 1 is 1 PRT delay. K1-K4 are filter coefficients. (From Hamidi and
Zmic, 1981.)
Hamidi and Zrnic ( 1981 ) and Groginsky and Glover
( 1980) evaluated IIR filters for weather radar systems.
FIR filters offer linear phase performance and are well
suited for batch processing of pulses since they operate on
a finite number of pulses. This makes them well suited to
slow AGC or multiple PRF techniques (i.e., where the PRF
is held constant while a batch of pulses is collected and
then changed for the next batch).
Other types of clutter suppression algorithms also should
be mentioned. Anderson's ( 1981) test of the "mean block
level subtraction" technique offers 20 to 30 dB of clutter
cancellation. The parametric clutter cancellation techniques
described by Passarelli (1981, 1983) use physical models
of clutter and weather along with estimates of the auto-
correlation function at various lags to compute the clutter
power and then estimate various Doppler spectral mo-
ments. Clutter suppression of 30 dB or more has been
achieved. Sato and Woodman ( 1982) use a nonlinear pro-
cessing scheme to fit the observed clutter spectrum and
extract the spectral moments when clutter is about 50 dB
stronger than the signal.
When a separate calibrated log channel is used for re-
flectivity measurement, an uncalibrated linear channel can
be used to remove the clutter contribution from the log
the signal plus clutter power r = P,[s] I P,[s+c] is the same
in both the linear and the log channels. Therefore, after
computing r from the coherent (linear) channel data, the
10 logP,[sJ = 10 logP,[s+cJ + 10 logr. (4.2)
purpose of extending the unambiguous velocity interval,
nearly all clutter filters have problems. Anderson ( 1987)
describes an interpolation scheme for the dual PRF ASR-
9 radar.
4 . .l Range /Velocity Ambiguity Resolution
A fundamental trade-off exists with constant PRF
Doppler radar. A large unambiguous range (Rmax) requires
a low PRF:
PRF = Xj2Rmax· ( 4.3)
However, a large unambiguous velocity (Vmax) requires a
large PRF:
PRF = 4Vmax/'A. ( 4.4)
Another PRF trade-off is that accurate measurement of
the mean velocity requires a high PRF since the Doppler
spectrum width must be narrow relative to the Nyquist
interval (high coherency), whereas accurate intensity
measurements require a low PRF to acquire independent

samples (low coherency). Signal processing offers several
techniques for expanding the unambiguous range and un-
ambiguous velocity. These trade-offs illustrate that the
choice of PRF i:nust be optimized for different applications.
A performance benchmark for comparison purposes is
an S-band ( 10-cm) radar operating at 1-KHz PRF with an
unambiguous velocity range of ±25m s- 1 and an unam-
biguous range of 150 km. This unambiguous range is not
adequate for assuring that second trip echoes will not be
present. The unambiguous velocity is not sufficiently large
to ensure that aliasing will not occur, but double aliasing
(velocities greater than 75 m s- 1 } will be rare. At C-band,
the unambiguous velocity is halved so that double aliasing
will be fairly common and single aliasing will occur rou-
tinely. Reducing the PRF to minimize second trip echoes
will make the velocity aliasing problem even more serious
at C-band.
Coherent lidar and profiler systems do not exhibit
range I velocity ambiguities. For Doppler lidar, the sam-
pling rate during a single pulse can be made sufficiently
high with no impact on the unambiguous range. For the
case of a wind profiler operating at a high elevation angle,
the long wavelength and the steep angle of incidence pro-
vide such a large unambiguous velocity that most profiler
processing schemes utilize coherent averaging to reduce
the effective sample rate while simultaneously preserving
processor resources.
For microwave radar, range I velocity ambiguity is a se-
rious problem in many applications (Doviak et al., 1978).
Fortunately, there are several techniques for mitigating
these ambiguities. Each technique has its advantages and
shortcomings, and selection of a technique is usually op-
timized for specific applications.
4.2.1 Resolution of Velocity Ambiguities
Several techniques for handling range I velocity aliasing
are not truly signal processing techniques, but rather tech-
niques that use physical modeling to correct aliased data.
An example is to use continuity to detect when velocity
folding occurs, i.e., one does not expect to see 25 m s - 1
discontinuities in velocity from bin to bin (in range or azi-
muth), so they are assumed to be caused by aliasing. The
disadvantage of this approach is that one must have some
region with a known velocity to invoke continuity correctly.
Also, this technique requires that the echo coverage be
fairly continuous and may need manual input to perform
final editing (Bargen and Brown, 1980). Hennington
( 1981) uses another physical modeling approach by esti-
mating the mean wind profile obtained from a sounding
or other source to correct aliased velocities. The technique
works well when the perturbation velocities are small
compared to the Nyquist interval. A similar technique de-
scribed by Ray and Ziegler (1977) uses the velocity dis-
tribution along a radial to dealias velocities. Merritt ( 1984)
employs both continuity and a wind field model to dealias
SIGNAL PROCESSING FOR ATMOSPHERIC RADARS 215
isolated areas. Boren et al. ( 1986) describe an artificial in-
telligence approach. Bergen and Albers ( 1988) have in-
vestigated two- and three-dimensional dealiasing for
NEXRAD algorithms.
Several signal processing techniques extend the unam-
biguous range I velocity. The criteria useful in evaluating
the techniques are:
1 ) The algorithm should not preclude the use of clutter
cancellation techniques.
2) The final moment estimates should have a compa-
rable accuracy and be made in a comparable time (number
of pulses) to standard velocity estimation techniques.
3) The cost of implementing the technique should be
comparable to standard velocity I range processing.
In general it is not possible to meet all of these criteria.
4.2.1.1 Batch PRY
One approach to velocity I range ambiguity resolution
is interlaced PRT sampling, whereby a short PRT is used
for velocity measurements and a long PRT is used for re-
flectivity estimates (Hennington, 1981). For example, sev-
eral pulses at a short PRT are first transmitted, followed
by a clearing period (no transmission) and then one or
two pulses separated by a long PRT for the reflectivity
estimate. The basic assumption is that the PRT for the
reflectivity estimate is sufficiently long so that there are no
second trip reflectivity echoes. The short PRT velocity es-
timates will have two classes of range aliased echoes, those
that are overlaid with the first trip echoes and those that
are not overlaid with the first trip echoes. When there is
no overlap, the velocity estimates can actually be assigned
to the correct range. When first and higher trip echoes are
overlaid and one dominates the others in power by 10 dB
or more, then the velocity of the strong echo can be cor-
rectly estimated. The disadvantages of this batch technique
are:
1) Loss of velocity data where first and second trip
echoes are overlaid and powers are nearly equal.
2) The technique may preclude the use of effective
clutter cancelling.
3) The data acquisition time is increased because the
long PRT pulses are unusable for making velocity esti-
mates.
A similar approach is to have two radars share a common
antenna; this is also known as a dual-frequency approach
(Glover et al., 1981). One radar can sample at a long,
constant PRT and the other can sample at a short, constant
PRT. Alternatively, two scans can be made at each ele-
vation, a long PRT scan for reflectivity and a short PRT
scan for velocity. These techniques are clearly more ex-
pensive but they allow excellent clutter cancellation.
Multiple PRT and multiple PRF techniques can be used
to dealias velocities. Here, "multiple PRT" means that the
216 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
PRT is changed on a pulse-to-pulse basis whereas "mul-
tiple PRF" means that the PRF is fixed while a batch of
samples is collected and then changed for the next batch
of samples. The general technique is described by Sirmans
et al. (1976). Dazhang et al. (1984) and Zmic and Ma-
hapatra ( 1985) describe an actual implementation.
4.2.1~2 Dual PRY Technique
In the dual PRT (or staggered PRT) method the two
PRTs usually are in ratios of either ~ or ~. The first lag
complex autocorrelation for each PRT is calculated, av-
eraged over a number of pulses. Then, the expanded ve-
locity is calculated from
The corresponding unambiguous velocity is
( 4.6)
According to this expression, a 3:2 PRT ratio yields an
unambiguous velocity that is twice that corresponding to
the short PRT, while for a PRT ratio of 4:3, the expanded
velocity interval is three times this value. Why not expand
further? Since the variance of the expanded velocity es-
timate is based on the difference between the two fun-
damental estimates, its variance is roughly proportional to
twice that of each fundamental estimate. Fortunately, the
expanded velocity estimate need be used only to roughly
dealias the two fundamental estimates. The velocity esti-
mate can be improved by averaging the two velocity es-
timates to get the final estimator provided they have been
correctly dealiased. This averaging technique provides an
estimator that uses all available pairs of consecutive pulses,
rather than half the available pairs.
Since the dual PRT technique dealiases velocities by a
large factor, the radar can be operated at a lower PRF and
thus have a larger unambiguous range. Doviak and Zmic
( 1984) point out that another advantage of the dual PRT
technique is that second trip echoes will be incoherent or
"whitened" and thus not bias the first trip velocity esti-
mates.
4.2.1.3 Dual PRF Technique
A disadvantage of the dual PRT technique is that stan-
dard clutter filters are very difficult to implement. This can
be overcome for some filtering schemes by using a dual
PRF technique wherein a sequence of pulses is collected
at each of two PRFs and then each sequence is processed
separately. The data processing is identical to the standard
pulse pair processing except that the velocity from the pre-
vious sequence is used along with the velocity from the
current sequence to dealias the current velocity. The sam-
pling statistics are similar to the pulse pair, except that for
this technique to be viable the mean velocity change be-
tween adjacent sequences must be small.
Because the PRF is fixed while each batch is collected,
the dual PRF technique can employ a batch processing
clutter filter such as an FFT or an FIR filter. An IIR filter
can be used, but several pulses will be required to clear
the filter between PRF changes. Because the basic dual
PRF processing is essentially the same as standard pulse
pair processing at a constant PRF, it is easier to implement
on an existing system. Unfortunately, the dual PRT feature
of "whitening" the second trip echoes is lost when dual
PRF sampling is used.
4. 2. 2 Resolution of Range Ambiguities
Low PRF radars minimize overlaid echo but require so-
phisticated velocity dealiasing techniques. If we promote
the occurrence of overlaid echoes by using a higher PRF
to provide a large unambiguous velocity, then the range
aliased echoes must be resolved.
Many range dealiasing techniques use phase codes to
distinguish between first and second trip echoes. The sim-
plest is the magnetron technique for which each trans-
mitted pulse has a random phase. A typical magnetron is
coherent-on-receive only for the current pulse. This means
that contributions from multiple trip echoes are not co-
herent, so they appear as increased white noise power.
Consequently, the mean velocity and spectrum width are
unbiased by overlaid multiple trip echoes. A problem with
this technique is that the reflectivity cannot be deduced
unless various received noise sources can be evaluated
quantitatively. Also, the additional white noise caused by
multiple trip echoes reduces the sensitivity to first trip
echoes and degrades the accuracy of mean velocity and
width estimates.
A similar technique can be developed using a fully co-
herent system such as a klystron in conjunction with a
phase shifter to change the phase of the transmitted pulse.
This permits the transmission of pseudorandom phase se-
quences that have "white" properties ( Chakrabarti and
Tomlinson, 1976; Sawate and Dursley, 1980). The I and
Q values can be "recohered" relative to the first trip or the
second trip, etc., by using the appropriate phase shifts so
that Doppler spectra can be evaluated for each trip (Laird,
1981). This technique offers information for both the first
and second trip returns, but does not solve the problem
of reduced sensitivity for overlaid echoes.
Siggia ( 1983) addresses this issue by filtering the first
trip echo from the second trip echo and vice versa, to re-
duce noise contamination. The technique works well as
long as the two Doppler spectra (first and second trip) are
not so broad that they occupy a large fraction of the Ny-
quist interval. Zmic and Mahapatra ( 1985) evaluated this
technique.
Sachidananda and Zmic ( 1986) describe a different
technique where, instead of inserting phase shifts to

"whiten" the second trip echo, the phase shifts are inserted
to cause the second trip Doppler spectrum to be a split
bimodal spectrum whose autocorrelation for lag 1 is zero.
The second trip echo then does not bias the first trip ve-
locity estimates.
All of these "phase diversity" techniques are well suited
for standard clutter filtering techniques. However, sub-
stantial signal processing computations are required to im-
plement some of them.
4.3 Polarization Switching Consequences
Bringi and Hendry (Chapter 19a) describe various po-
larization techniques that provide valuable target infor-
mation but make clutter suppression and velocity dealias-
ing more difficult. Differential phase propagation,
scattering, and instrumental effects preclude use of simple
Doppler processing techniques ( Schnabl et al., 1986).
However, it is possible in principle to extract both the
Doppler information and differential phase shift simul-
taneously (Sachidananda and Zmic, 1989; Doviak and
Zrnic, 1984). Keeler and Carbone ( 1986) describe a dual
PRT scheme that allows processing two orthogonal polar-
ization states separately prior to velocity dealiasing. The
alternating horizontal and vertical polarized pulse sequence
mitigates contamination caused by range aliasing since the
overlaid second trip echo is depolarized ( Doviak and Sir-
mans, 1973).
Processing techniques to provide clutter suppression,
velocity and range dealiasing, and polarization processing
simultaneously are just beginning to receive serious atten-
tion.
5 EXPLORATORY SIGNAL
PROCESSING TECHNIQUES
Implementations of modem signal processing algorithms
on atmospheric radars have evolved slowly in the last sev-
eral years. Modem digital signal processing algorithms
have been difficult to implement for a variety of reasons,
but the algorithms are well known ( Kailath, 1974). Pro-
grammable processors with the speed to implement many
of these algorithms and to explore their application to dis-
tributed targets, rather than point targets, is now possible.
5.1 Pulse Compression
Pulse compression, or wideband waveform, schemes for
improved radar range resolution were first theoretically
described by Woodward's (1953) fundamental paper.
Klauder et al. ( 1960) and Cook ( 1960) later described the
linear FM (chirp) pulse, which has been widely used in
military radars. Reid ( 1969) described a CW meteorological
radar using pseudorandom coding. Barton ( 1975) edited
a collection of pulse compression papers that detail the
SIGNAL PROCESSING FOR ATMOSPHERIC RADARS 217
chirp technique. Lewis et al. ( 1986) emphasize poly-phase
coded pulse compression waveforms.
Probably the first use of pulse compression for atmo-
spheric distributed targets was on the Arecibo ionospheric
radar (Farley, 1969; Gray and Farley, 1973). The STORMY
weather group at McGill University implemented a
compression scheme for reflectivity processing in the early
1970s (Fetter, 1970; Austin, 1974). Their use was to pro-
vide many independent samples of intensity within a given
range cell to improve the reflectivity estimate. They did
not attempt any velocity measurements with their pseu-
dorandom phase coded pulse. In the late 1970s Krehbiel
and Brook ( 1979) reported using a wideband noise wave-
form on the New Mexico Tech "Redball" radar to provide
reflectivity estimates during the short dwell time of their
fast scanning radar. Chadwick and Cooper ( 1972) and
Keeler and Frush ( 1983a,b) have described the principle
of pulse compression Doppler measurements on micro-
wave weather radars using distributed targets. Chadwick
and Strauch ( 1979) have demonstrated an FM-CW wave-
form on a 10-cm Doppler weather radar. Woodman
( 1980b) shows how a continuous-wave phase coded
waveform was used in the bistatic mode at Aredbo. Re-
cently he has obtained full spectrum information using
this technique.
Pulse compression is a well-established waveform design
technique in the military and aviation radar communities
and has been used in the ST j MST radar community
(Crane, 1980; Gonzales and Woodman, 1984; Sulzer and
Woodman, 1985) and the lidar community (Oliver, 1979).
However, it has not been seriously investigated for micro-
wave Doppler weather radar use. The reasons for this are:
1) Range resolution and transmit power using standard
high peak power pulsed radars have been adequate to
achieve the required scientific goals.
2) Dwell times have been limited by mechanical scan-
ning rates to tens of milliseconds, thereby yielding the sev-
eral independent samples of the Rayleigh fluctuations
necessary to obtain accurate reflectivity estimates.
3) Presence of range time sidelobes on pulse compres-
sion waveforms causes range smoothing and large bias
errors in high reflectivity gradients.
5.1.1 Advantages of Pulse Compression
The driving force for exploring pulse compression in
weather radars is the desire for ground-based and airborne
Doppler radars to sample the volume rapidly at a spatial
resolution adequate for mesoscale or cloud physics anal-
yses. These systems fall into the short dwell time category.
Dwell times of only a few milliseconds are insufficient for
averaging independent Rayleigh fluctuations to reduce the
variance of parameter estimates. Therefore, independence
must be gained in some other way, in particular by multiple
frequency schemes or spatial averaging. Marshall and
218 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Hitschfeld ( 1953) pointed out that frequency separations
greater than the inverse pulse width give independent
Rayleigh retu~s. Pulse compression waveforms give in-
dependent returns (to first order) at spatial resolution pro-
portional to the inverse bandwidth (Nathanson, 1969).
Either technique gives independent returns over short
dwell times ( <5 ms) so that the antenna beam can be
scanned at least an order of magnitude faster than typical
weather radars (Keeler and Frush, 1983b). Strauch ( 1988)
proposes a burst chirp waveform relevant to short dwell
time weather radars.
Another application of pulse compression waveforms is
in solid state transmitter systems, which typically are peak
power limited to low values compared to klystron trans-
mitters, but can sustain very long pulse widths and gen-
erate average powers comparable to the tube systems with
greater reliability. Pulse compression techniques could be
used with these high duty cycle systems to achieve range
resolution corresponding to a much shorter pulse length.
The NOAA network wind profilers will incorporate pulse
compression for this purpose.
5.1.2 Disadvantages of Pulse Compression
There are trade-offs associated with using pulse
compression to achieve faster scan time. The trade-off in-
volves reduced radar sensitivity with a compressed pulse
compared to a single frequency pulse of the same duration
and power. While the full benefit of the average trans-
mitted power is achieved, the noise bandwidth must be
increased to accommodate the pulse bandwidth. Therefore,
the SNR of the individual samples is degraded. Keeler and
Frush ( 1983a) describe how this trade-off relates to the
"time-bandwidth product" (TB) of the compressed pulse.
For the same average transmitted power the increase in
independence is TB and the decrease in SNR is TB. For
example, a chirp waveform 1 J.LS long sweeping 10 MHz
of bandwidth has a TB = 10. Range samples spaced by
more than 15 m are independent and have an SNR ten
times lower than the uncompressed 1-J.LS pulsed waveform.
Frequently, the independent range samples can be aver-
aged to provide estimates with a reduced variance while
allowing much faster scan rates.
The primary disadvantage is a contribution to the back-
scatter from range time sidelobes. Because the receiver filter
output is the cross-correlation of the received waveform
and the time reversed transmit waveform (a matched fil-
ter), range time sidelobes will cause data "blurring" in
range space similar to that caused by antenna sidelobes in
the transverse spatial dimension. Range time sidelobes
(and antenna sidelobes) are especially troublesome in high
reflectivity gradients. Because atmospheric targets are dis-
tributed in space, the integrated sidelobes contribute to the
distortion. They are analogous to the integrated antenna
sidelobes that contribute interference from distributed
targets at the same range. The contamination problem is
particularly troublesome in downward-looking radars from
air or space platforms when one desires to estimate pre-
cipitation directly above the strongly reflecting earth sur-
face. Careful waveform design and tapering based on dig-
ital waveform generation rather than analog devices may
alleviate the range time sidelobe distortion (Farina, 1987).
For echoes with sufficiently long correlation times, as is
the case of ST /MST radars using long wavelengths, com-
plementary codes (Golay, 1961; Schmidt et al., 1979;
Woodman, 1980a; Gossard and Strauch, 1983; Wakasugi
and Fukao, 1985) completely cancel the range time side-
lobes. More robust schemes, like quasi-complementary
codes (Sulzer and Woodman, 1984) show good results in
practice when nonlinearities in the system distort the de-
sired pulse shape. This sidelobe cancellation is not directly
compatible with the shorter wavelength weather radar and
lidar systems.
The second disadvantage for pulse compression wave-
forms is the increase in minimum range caused by trans-
mitting a long pulse. Reception cannot begin until the entire
transmit waveform is finished. Pulses longer than several
microseconds are unacceptable for close ranges. The NWS
wind profiler solution is to extend the scan time using a
short pulse mode for short ranges and a long pulse mode
for long ranges. Other techniques also exist.
A third disadvantage relates to the availability of band-
width. Research systems are not seriously constrained, but
operational systems may require bandwidths that do not
fit into the channelized frequency assignments.
5.1.3 Ambiguity Function
The trade-off in sensitivity for a larger number of in-
dependent samples gives considerable flexibility in wave-
form design-so much flexibility in fact that the concept
of the "ambiguity function" was developed by Woodward
( 1953) to study the effects on range and velocity ambi-
guities for a specific waveform. For our purposes this am-
biguity function is indispensable for understanding the re-
ceiver response to targets at other ranges and other
velocities than those to which the receiver filter is matched.
Weather targets are distributed in range and velocity by
their very nature and are especially sensitive to these un-
desirable responses.
The ambiguity function defines the ability of a waveform
to resolve different targets in range and velocity based on
the power response of a filter matched to some specific
range time and Doppler shift (Nathanson, 1969; Skolnik,
1980; Brookner, 1977). Figure 5.1 shows the ambiguity
diagram for a single FM chirp waveform in range ( r) and
velocity ( cf>) space. Targets having nonzero velocities at
ranges different from the desired range ( r = 0) contribute
significantly to the filter output. The function evaluated
along the r axis (i.e., cf> = 0) is identically the autocorrelation
function of the waveform (Frank, 1963).
Weather radars involve estimation of the return power

Fig. 5.1 Ambiguity diagram for single FM chirped pulse waveform
with TB = 10. T is range dimension, cp is velocity dimension. Targets
distributed in (T, cp) space contribute to the filter output proportional
to the ambiguity function. For atmospheric targets, Doppler shift
frequencies are typically very small relative to pulse bandwidth. (From
Rihaczek, 1969.)
and velocity using a pulse train, rather than detection of
such a target at some position in range-velocity space using
a single pulse. Our primary interest is to study the range
time sidelobes as a function of Doppler offset. It is easy to
show that the plot of the ambiguity function along the
range axis is simply the autocorrelation function (Cook
and Bernfeld, 1967; Barton, 1975) . Real weather targets
having Doppler shifts of order only 103 Hz compared to
pulse bandwidths of 10 7 Hz allow us to concentrate our
attention on a narrow strip of the ambiguity function along
the range axis. All the range time sidelobes in this strip
must be kept small to avoid contamination of targets at
the desired range and velocity. Known waveform design
techniques may allow tailoring of the waveform to our
"small velocity" case to keep sidelobes in this narrow am-
biguity region acceptably small (Deley, 1970; Kretschmer
and Lewis, 1983; Costas, 1984; Lewis et al., 1986).
5.1.4 Comparison with Multiple
frequency Scheme
Krehbiel and Brook ( 1968) and Keeler and Frush ( 1983a)
show that a pulse compression waveform with time-
bandwidth product TB has characteristics similar to a mul-
tiple frequency radar using the same time and bandwidth
factors. Consecutive pulses may be generated at different
frequencies and processed in separate receivers tuned to
the different frequencies. This scheme yields the same
number of independent samples for the same total pulse
duration and total bandwidth. The advantage of the mul-
tifrequency scheme, aside from the straightforward parallel
receiver implementation, is reduced range time sidelobes.
5.l Adaptive filtering Algorithms
At Stanford University in the early 1960s, Widrow and
his colleagues (Widrow and Hoff, 1960) developed a class
of filters that could "learn" their received signal environ-
SIGNAL PROCESSING FOR ATMOSPHERIC RADARS 219
ment and, in time, adapt their characteristics to optimally
filter an incoming signal. Initial applications were in part-
tern classification (Widrow, 1970), but use in adaptive an-
tennas (Widrow et al., 1967) and the closely related field
of spectrum line enhancement (Zeidler et al., 1978) and
noise (interference) cancelling (Widrow et al., 1975a)
quickly followed. Griffiths ( 1975) described instantaneous
frequency estimation techniques applicable to Doppler ra-
dars. Atmospheric radar applications (i.e., nonmilitary)
have been sparse, mainly because the computational load
associated with constantly changing filter coefficients could
not be accommodated until recently. Keeler and Griffiths
( 1977) have reported adaptive frequency estimation
schemes applied to acoustic radars sensing boundary-layer
winds.
With the advent of fast programmable signal processors,
we can expect to see a rash of new applications in radar
for adaptive filtering techniques. Adaptive filter systems
are characterized by both a time variable transfer function
and the ability to self-adjust, or be trained, to their envi-
ronment for optimizing some measurement criterion. A
common index for optimization is the minimum mean
squared error (mmse) between the processed output signal
and a known desired output (or at least one correlated
with the desired signal). Figure 5.2 depicts a two-dimen-
sional (two-weight) error surface. Widrow's ( 1970) pop-
ular least mean square (LMS) algorithm estimates the gra-
dient of the quadratic error surface and steps the weights
toward the minimum error value.
10.0
s.o
6.0
~
(f)
::::!:
4.0
2.0
Fig. 5.2 Prediction error surface for two-weight adaptive filter. The
LMS algorithm estimates the negative gradient of the quadratic error
and steps toward the minimum mean square error (mmse). The op-
timum weight vector is w• = (0.65, -2.10). If the input statistics
change so that the error surface varies with time, the adaptive weights
will track this change. (From Widrow and Stearns, 1985.)
220 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Nearly identical adaptive techniques have been devel-
oped for antenna beam steering by Howells (1976), Ga-
briel (1976, 1980), Appelbaum (1976), Monzingo and
Miller ( 1980 )~ and Compton ( 1988). Adaptive antenna
systems have the capabilities of tracking desired signals in
space, maximizing the SNR, and nulling out undesired
interfering signals. The optimization criterion is maximi-
zation of signal to interference plus noise ratio, which for
many cases is identical to the LMS criterion. For radar
applications the beam can be steered to the desired direc-
tion and the adaptation can simultaneously maximize the
SNR by spectral shaping and spatially nulling any inter-
fering sources. Van Veen and Buckley ( 1988) give a tutorial
review of spatial beam forming techniques.
5.2.1 Adaptive filtering Applications
The structure for a performance feedback adaptive sys-
tem is shown in Fig. 5.3, where we note the input signal
xkl the adaptive processor output y kl the yet to be defined
desired response dkl and the error signal, ek = dk - y k. This
error signal drives an adaptive algorithm, which controls
the transfer function of the adaptive processor and its out-
put y k. Various closed loop structures are possible as are
a variety of adaptive algorithms. Widrow and Steams
( 1985) and Honig and Messerschmitt ( 1984) give excellent
overviews of these structures and algorithms. Widrow et
al. ( 1976) describe the learning characteristics of LMS
adaptive filters in both stationary environments when the
filters converge to an optimal setting and nonstationary
environments where the filter continues to adapt to the
time-variable input signal statistics. Adaptive filters have
found application in data prediction schemes, system
identification or modeling, parameter tracking, deconvo-
lution and equalization, and interference (clutter) cancel-
ling. Usually the application determines the origin of the
reference signal and the specific adaptive algorithm to be
used. Sibul ( 1987) has edited a collection of application
papers for adaptive filters. Further applications in neural
networks and fault tolerant computing are being explored
(Lippmann, 1987; Shriver, 1988).
As an example of an atmospheric radar application, an
adaptive linear prediction filter will improve the SNR of
the received signal so that the moment estimation will yield
Input Desired
xk Response
dk
Fig. 5.3 Adaptive filter structure: the desired response (dk) is de-
termined by the application; the adaptive filter coefficients (WJ and j
or the output signal (yJ are the parameters used for spectrum moment
estimation (from Widrow and Stearns, 1985).
improved estimates. In the frequency domain the predic-
tion filter acts as a narrow band-pass filter having time-
variable center frequency that passes the received signal
while suppressing the spectral noise components. Tufts
(1977) and Anderson et al. (1983) describe this enhance-
ment procedure. The input signal xk is the desired signal,
dk. The previous input samples { Xk-t' Xk-z, . . . , Xk-d
= X Tare filtered to predict, or estimate, xk. The error signal
is the difference between xk = dk and its estimate Yk· The
filter is adjusted using the LMS algorithm so that the mean
squared error signal <ek2) is minimized. Sequentially, then,
the filter adjusts itself to predict the input signal more ac-
curately. Some error will be present but the predicted signal
will have an improved SNR over the input itself. In this
sense, we have an adaptive matched filter that can track
the input signal as its characteristics (e.g., its Doppler shift)
change with time (Tufts and Rao, 1977).
Probing deeper into the mathematics, we find that the
algorithm is estimating the negative gradient of a quadratic
error surface in the L-dimensional adaptive filter weight
vector space and adjusting the filter weight vector Wk to
step toward the minimum mean squared prediction error
with every iteration. This operation plus some supporting
mathematics defines the highly efficient steepest gradient
descent LMS adaptive algorithm (Widrow, 1970; Widrow
et al., 1975b):
(5.1)
where p, is a precisely defined constant that determines
the convergence rate and the excess noise generated by
the adaptation process.
It is easy to show that the one-step prediction structure
leads to the Lth order maximum entropy (ME) spectrum
estimate (Lang and McClellan, 1980; Griffiths, 1975).
Keeler and Lee ( 1978) have shown how the complex, first
order, one-step prediction filter yields the pulse pair fre-
quency estimator, which has been made adaptive. Keeler
( 1978) further reports the bias and variance of an adaptive
ME frequency estimator.
What makes adaptive prediction and SNR enhancement
possible is the difference in correlation time of the desired
narrowband signal (or sinusoid) and the unpredictable
white noise. Similarly, the long coherence time of clutter
input components may allow these interfering signals to
be rejected using adaptive interference (noise) cancelling
filters (Widrow et al., 1975a). For example, airborne
Doppler clutter may be represented by a strong, narrow
spectral return having a variable Doppler shift, and sea
clutter may be sufficiently offset from zero Doppler that
an adaptive scheme may provide adequate suppression in
both cases.
5.2.2 Adaptive Antenna Applications
Adaptive beamforming was motivated by a desire to
steer the main beam in a preferred direction while simul-

taneously nulling interfering sources and maximizing the
signal to interference plus noise ratio at the output of the
adaptive beamformer (Haykin, 1985a; Compton, 1988).
Atmospheric radars are troubled by interfering ground
clutter returns and could benefit from an adaptive antenna.
For example, an RHI scanning radar could dynamically
place a line of nulls along the dominant ground clutter
return angles near 0° elevation, or a ground-reflected mul-
tipath ray could be suppressed. UHF radio communications
present slowly time-varying interfering sources for wind
profilers, which could be suppressed by adaptive array
techniques.
Forming nulls in the array antenna patterns in real time
as the interferers become active or as the antenna elevation
increases may be feasible in many cases. Constraints on
the adaptation speed and antenna scan rates may limit
performance of these proposed systems since stationarity
over a finite time period is usually required. Furthermore,
narrowbeam systems require several thousand array ele-
ments and a digital control system for a truly adaptive
three-dimensional beam. Cost is a limiting factor in this
regard (Mailloux, 1982).
Array processing utilizes multichannel processing al-
gorithms to process the individual signals from each ele-
ment to effect both spatial beam forming and temporal
filtering. Vector and matrix based algorithms introduce
special difficulties. Hay kin ( 1985a) describes array signal
processing algorithms that have been applied to a variety
of fields; e.g., seismology, radio astronomy, tomographic
imaging, sonar, and radar. Recently, Sachidananda et al.
( 1985) proposed sequentially changing (at the pulse repe-
tition rate) the pattern of a phased array antenna. Sub-
sequent Doppler processing allows contributions to velocity
estimates entering through the antenna sidelobes to be
whitened and/ or removed ( Zmic and Sachidananda,
1988).
5.3 Multichannel Processing
As atmospheric remote sensors become more sophisti-
cated and programmable processors achieve greater com-
putational power, multichannel processing algorithms will
become more common. The signals from separate input
channels can be thought of as a vector time series and
processed, or filtered, collectively by using the correlated
information in the channels to produce more accurate pa-
rameter estimates than if they were processed separately
(Marple, 198 7). The coefficients of these multichannel fil-
ters are found by solving a set of linear equations similar
to the single channel equations used in linear prediction
filtering and associated applications. Wiggins and Robinson
( 1965) give a recursive technique for solving these "nor-
mal" equations. Strand ( 1977) and Morf et al. ( 1978) de-
scribe multichannel maximum entropy spectrum estimates,
a direct result of solving the normal equations.
In addition to radar array antenna data, dual polarization
SIGNAL PROCESSING FOR ATMOSPHERIC RADARS 221
data is another example of a multichannel complex input
signal. Horizontal and vertical channels of a dual linear
polarization radar can be processed to yield cross param-
eters. Each input data point can be thought of as a 2 X 2
matrix, the polarization matrix, rather than a complex I
and Q estimate. The set or vector of these matrix inputs is
then processed using complex matrix algorithms that are
designed to optimally and jointly estimate target param-
eters. Processing both channels simultaneously yields ad-
ditional information that could not be obtained if they
were processed independently.
Integrated sensor systems can benefit by multichannel
processing schemes. A multichannel algorithm might make
use of 10-min wind profiler data and 1-min radar or lidar
data. Wind profiles on multiple scales would be produced
with lower error than either system operating alone. Ap-
plication of coherence functions to these multichannel
sensors provides an analytic tool for correlated data that
improves the analysis.
5.4 A Priori Information
Information known in advance (a priori) can be used
to improve atmospheric parameter estimates. Most remote
sensors treat each spatial resolution volume independently
from all others. However, physical constraints in the at-
mosphere limit the rates of change of certain parameters.
These constraints are known in advance and can be used
to constrain the processing algorithm to produce better
estimates of velocity, for example, than if they were ig-
nored. To be most effective this a priori knowledge should
be used as early in the processing chain as practicable. For
example, if one knows (or is confident) that the received
signal consists of a Gaussian-shaped signal spectrum in
white noise, then one should be able to use this prior in-
formation to generate a lower error velocity estimate than
if the information were ignored.
Signal processing algorithms constrained by known a
priori information typically yield simpler and faster algo-
rithms that give lower variance estimates than uncon-
strained estimators. Frequently these estimators are max-
imum likelihood, i.e., minimum variance, and can be
readily computed with modem processing hardware.
6 SIGNAL PROCESSOR
IMPLEMENTATION
Signal processing encompasses analog and digital pro-
cessing of both the transmitted and received radar signal.
Because of timing requirements, most pulse-to-pulse con-
trol functions are also handled by the signal processing
system. In this section we discuss the signal processing
implementations found on modem radars and the tasks
typically allocated to the signal processor.
222 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
6.1 Signal Processing Control functions
Signal processors usually perform a variety of radar
control functions and serve as the interface between the
radar system and the radar data processing system (usually
a host computer). These control tasks include:
• Pulse waveform selection
• Polarization switching
• Phase sequencing
• Pulse sequence generation
• Range gate trigger generation
• Linear channel gain control
• Calibration pulse injection.
Radar control starts at the transmitter. The signal pro-
cessor usually generates the PRF, although good practice
dictates that the basic clock be derived from a reference
oscillator that is shared between the processor and the
radar. PRF control by the processor minimizes the possi-
bility of range bin jitter caused by timing uncertainties in
the A/D sampling and is particularly important if a mul-
tiple PRF processing scheme is employed since the pro-
cessing must be synchronized with the PRF. Because of
the need to preserve the duty-cycle limit of the transmitter,
it is a safety feature and a convenience to have the signal
processor also control the pulse width and bandwidth filter
selection.
Since the signal processor is in control of the PRF, it is
typically assigned the task of controlling all pulse-to-pulse
functions such as phase control for pseudorandom phase
processing and polarization switch control. This approach
assures that the processing is properly synchronized with
all aspects of the transmit-receive sequence.
Built-in calibration test units that operate during normal
data collection are now found on some systems. The idea
is to inject a pulse of known power and phase character-
istics in the last few range bins for each transmitted pulse
or during antenna repositioning intervals with the trans-
mitter off. These bins are then processed identically to all
other bins. The output values can be monitored in real
time for system power calibration and to verify that the
system is functioning properly. In addition, the injected
signal can be made coherent so that the Doppler processing
can be checked. The advantage of this approach is that
the entire receiver and processing system can be verified
without interrupting normal operations.
The remainder of this section is devoted to linear channel
gain control techniques. Currently, the receiver systems
for most applications use analog signal processing tech-
niques for deriving the linear channel I and Q (in-phase
and quadrature) and log channel outputs. The log channel
output is typically used for quantitative power measure-
ments because of its dynamic range capabilities (90-100
dB). The linear channel measurements are used for ex-
tracting information related to the phase of the signal (i.e.,
mean velocity, spectral width, and clutter measurements)
and can provide power estimates as well. The linear chan-
nel measurements operate over a more restricted dynamic
range, typically =40-60 dB, that is usually shifted by
means of an automatic gain control (AGC) loop over a
range of = 100 dB. The linear channel gain control problem
is where digital signal processing often makes its first ap-
pearance in the radar processing chain.
Linear receiver gain control is typically performed via
one of the following methods:
1) IF limiting
2) Sensitivity time control (STC)
3) Slow AGC
4) Fast AGC
5) Multiple receivers.
In the first case, a limiter is inserted at IF before phase
detection (Frush, 1981; Zeoli, 1971; Nathanson, 1969).
The advantage of this technique is that it is extremely sim-
ple to implement and permits the linear receiver to operate
over a fairly wide dynamic range with good mean velocity
retrieval. However, if the Doppler spectrum is bimodal,
such as for ground clutter mixed with a weather spectrum,
then this technique tends to "capture" the stronger signal
and suppress the weaker one. This behavior makes it un-
suitable for systems that require clutter cancellation.
For the STC case, the linear channel gain is increased
with range in an attempt to represent the average char-
acteristics of weather and clutter. Since there is no feedback
based on actual power measurements, it is easy to imple-
ment. However, it is a near certainty that strong clutter
targets will cause saturation of the linear receiver at close
range unless an IF limiting approach is used as well. Like-
wise, weak clear-air echoes that would be detectable at
full gain at close range, will be attenuated beyond detect-
ability.
For the slow AGC, the log receiver measurements from
the previous ray are used to optimize the linear receiver'
gain for the targets that are actually present at each range.
The samples for an integration period are collected while
the gain is held constant. If the log receiver is used for
quantitative power measurements, the actual gain does
not need to be known with great precision (within 3 dB
is usually satisfactory). Also, since the gain is held constant,
the phase shifts that are introduced by the gain control
are constant from pulse to pulse so that these do not have
to be corrected. The primary drawback is that the ability
to distinguish between the clutter and weather components
of the signal may be limited by the fundamental dynamic
range of the linear receiver. Furthermore, strong reflectivity
gradients will cause erroneous gain settings.
The fast AGC, or instantaneous AGC ( IAGC), approach,
for which the gain of the linear receiver is adjusted for
each range and each pulse, is used where there is a high
degree of phase purity in the transmitted pulse (e.g., kly-
stron systems). The power measurement for either the
previous pulse or the current pulse (in which case a delay

line is required) is used to set the receiver gain. This is the
most complicated form of AGC to implement since it re-
quires a very accurate calibration of both the amplitude
and phase response of the receiver as a function of gain
and the input power. Mueller and Silha ( 1978) employ a
real-time calibration and correction scheme so that the
output phase of the linear receiver requires no correction.
Properly implemented, this approach provides wide dy-
namic range linear response for high-performance clutter
cancellation and more accurate estimates of the power than
a log channel.
Another approach is to employ multiple receivers, each
·optimized for a fixed range of input power with the ad-
vantage that all samples can be digitized and the optimal
receiver can be decided with a digital algorithm. Moreover,
switching transients and calibration procedures are mini-
mized.
6.2. Signal A/D Conversion and Calibration
Figure 6.1 shows a block diagram of a typical digital,
time domain Doppler signal processor. The digital signal
processor provides the interface to the radar I, Q, and log
signals, and connects to a host computer that provides the
user interface, data processing, display, and data com-
munications.
After analog phase detection, the I, Q, and log values
are digitized. In the case of a fast AGC, a digital AGC
value may also serve as an "exponent" for a floating point
representation. The precision required for digitizing the I
and Q values depends primarily on the underlying pre-
cision of the linear receiver and the dynamic range limi-
tations imposed by ground clutter induced phase noise. In
computing dynamic range, an additional bit amounts to 6
dB more power measurement capability. However, because
the receiver noise level requires about two bits to integrate
weak signals coherently and one bit denotes the sign of
bipolar data, the usable instantaneous dynamic range is
Fig. 6.1 Block diagram of a typical signal processor.
SIGNAL PROCESSING FOR ATMOSPHERIC RADARS 223
limited to -54 dB for 12-bit samples. This range provides
a margin for an AGC that may not optimize its use of the
receiver dynamic range and offers reasonable clutter re-
jection. For the log channel, the quantization of the digi-
tized signal determines, to some extent, the accuracy of
the final power estimates. Usually the inherent large fluc-
tuation of =30 dB for Rayleigh signals (Nathanson, 1969)
imposes the more fundamental limit.
The AJD converter values should not saturate. The I
and Q saturation causes harmonic generation in the fre-
quency domain. Image spectrum generation about DC in
the spectrum is frequently caused by imbalance in the am-
plitude and/ or phase of the I and Q signals (Hansen,
1985).
Time domain averaging is an important step in pro-
cessing ST JMST radar signals to reduce the noise. The
averaging not only increases the SNR by N, but also in-
creases the dynamic range by 10 log N. The previous dis-
cussions illustrate the need for time series and power spec-
trum displays to optimize radar performance. Just as
important, the host processor must be equipped with soft-
ware to provide the interactive displays that are required
for accurate system adjustment and verification.
6.3 Reftectivity Processing
The precise measurement of the received power is an
important objective for most weather radar systems; for
noncoherent systems, this is the primary measurement. In
the pre-Doppler era, there was interest in the so-called
"power-fluctuation spectrum" and spectrum width esti-
mates (Atlas, 1964; Rutkowski and Fleisher, 1955). Most
radar systems, whether Doppler or noncoherent, employ
a wide dynamic range log receiver that operates at IF. These
systems merely average the log values, which results in
an asymptotic (with the number of independent samples)
2.51-dB bias in the estimation of the average power for
Rayleigh-distributed targets (Doviak and Zmic, 1984).
Correlation
or
Spectrum
...__ _ _~ Estimates
Recording
Display
Communication
224 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
There are other types of receiver responses, such as the
linear and square law receivers, and the log receiver has
the largest standard deviation for power estimates (Zmic,
1975a). However, in view of calibration errors and the
uncertainties in relating power measurements to rainfall
rate, the log receiver performance is adequate for many
applications. When differential reflectivity measurements
are required, one attempts to measure small differences in
power so that the square law receiver is preferred (Bringi
et al., 1983; Chandrasekar et al., 1989).
Two common techniques for power averaging are the
exponential average (Zmic, 1977a) and the uniformly
weighted average. Exponential averaging is calculated us-
ing
( 6.1)
where Pk is the current estimate of average power based
on the new sample Pk and the previous estimate Pk- 1 • Here
C is a weighting constant between 0 and 1. When C is
close to 1, the current pulse is more strongly weighted.
This technique is extremely simple to implement in real
time and provides a new estimate for each pulse. Since
real-time digital processing capabilities have improved, and
analog CRT displays are rapidly being replaced by color
displays, this technique has been largely replaced by a
simple uniformly weighted average over a fixed number
of pulses.
Averaging of independent samples is required to obtain
accurate reflectivity estimates. Since independence is gov-
erned by the coherence time, a fundamental constraint is
imposed on the scan rate for data collection. For example,
at 3 rpm and 500-Hz PRF, only 27 pulses per degree of
antenna rotation can be averaged. Depending on the
wavelength and the spectrum width of the scatterers, not
all of these pulses will be independent. A technique for
increasing the number of independent pulses is to average
in range using a range bin spacing that is greater than the
pulse width. This requires somewhat more processing
power, but results in more accurate reflectivity estimates.
Also, averaging can be adjusted as a function of range so
that the resulting average range interval is comparable to
the beamwidth dimension.
The conversion from dBm to dBZ is done via the radar
equation, which involves the radar constant and range
normalization. The term STC is sometimes inappropriately
used to refer to the digital range normalization performed
in the processor. This term is a reference to the analog
technique used in the past to represent the radar reflectivity
on CRT display. Digital range normalization merely adjusts
the output values appropriately without causing the loss
of sensitivity at short range.
6.4 Thresholding for Data Quality
The goal of thresholding is to have the signal processor
flag data that may be corrupted by bias and artifact. Clarity
of presentation of the spectral moments is important to a
user trying to interpret a display. For subsequent data pro-
cessing and product generation (e.g., CAP Pis, cross sec-
tions, rainfall accumulations), noise, bias and other arti-
facts increase the computational demand on the data
processor and degrade the final product. Finally, thresh-
olding followed by run length encoding for data compres-
sion can greatly reduce the communications bandwidth
requirements for transmitting radar data and products and
reduce the archive resources that are required to store them.
Numerous thresholding criteria and variables are em-
ployed in modem radars:
• Incoherent signal-to-noise power
• Coherent signal-to-noise power
• Doppler spectrum width
• Clutter-to-signal power
• Zero velocity
• Geometric criteria
• Statistical criteria.
The incoherent signal-to-noise power is calculated by
comparing the received power at a range bin with the sys-
tem noise power (S + N IN). This criterion is most com-
monly used to threshold the wide dynamic range power
measurements (e.g., from a log receiver). The coherent
signal-to-noise power is the area under the signal portion
of the power spectrum divided by the total noise power
(SIN). It can be calculated directly from the spectrum or
by using the measured autocorrelations. Similarly, the
spectrum width itself can be used as an indicator of the
accuracy of the Doppler mean velocity and spectrum
width.
Both a low coherent signal-to-noise ratio and a large
spectrum width contribute to a large variance in the ve-
locity and width estimators. Ideally, thresholding should
be made at a constant variance level; e.g., velocity is ac-
cepted if it is within 1 m s - 1 of the true mean velocity.
Unfortunately the relationship governing the effect of SNR
and width on the variance of the velocity estimator is not
simple ( Zrnic, 1977b), hence it is usually not implemented
as a real-time thresholding criterion. Instead, the typical
approach is to use either the coherent SNR and I or the
width separately and adjust the threshold until the displays
are reasonably free of speckles.
A popular measure of the quality of velocity and width
estimates, which accounts for the effects of both the co-
herent SNR and the spectral width, is the normalized first
lagged autocorrelation magnitude IR( 1) II R( 0). It is easily
computed, conveniently bounded between 0 and 1, and
thresholds unreliable estimates reasonably well.
The measured clutter-to-signal ratio (CSR) is often cal-
culated for the purpose of correcting the log receiver power
for the effects of clutter. When the actual CSR exceeds the
dynamic range capabilities of the receiver or the ability of
the clutter filter to remove clutter accurately, then the data
should be discarded. The calculated CSR can then be used
as the thresholding criterion.

Another method of thresholding range bins that are af-
fected by clutter is simply not to display bins that have a
mean velocity within a narrow band about zero velocity.
This technique is effective for Doppler radars that have
no clutter filter, or Doppler radars of limited linear dynamic
range available for cancelling clutter. Both the velocity and
reflectivity can be tliresholded with this criterion. Unfor-
tunately, any weather that falls into the threshold velocity
band is also rejected.
Simple geometric considerations can be used for thresh-
olding data that are not physically reasonable. A very sim-
ple threshold is to eliminate all data above a fixed height
where weather echoes are assured not to occur, e.g., 20
km. Another threshold easily implemented in a processor
is a "speckle remover" that eliminates all isolated range
bins that have no nearest neighbors in range or azimuth.
A speckle remover eliminates aircraft and point clutter tar-
gets and also allows other thresholds to be set to lower
values for greater sensitivity since only double speckles
will be passed.
Finally, statistical criteria involve considerations of local
continuity and rejection of data that are a few standard
deviations away from local mean values. Strauch et al.
( 1984) utilize a very effective "consensus averaging"
technique (Fischler and Bolles, 1981 ) to delete wild points
or outliers for time domain integration of wind profiler
processing. One- or two-dimensional median filtering
techniques also allow deletion of individual or isolated
groups of anomalous data.
The application of thresholding requires caution. One
common problem develops when a linear channel index
is used to threshold both the velocity and the reflectivity.
If this is done it is not uncommon to observe "black holes"
of rejected reflectivity echo (so called if the display back-
ground is black). These often occur in regions of large
shear or turbulence such as thunderstorm cores (Hjelmfelt
et al., 1981) where ample reflectivity is present. This points
out that different threshold combinations, and perhaps
threshold levels, should be used for the different spectral
moments. For example, an acceptable threshold for velocity
will generally not be appropriate for spectrum width since
spectrum width requires a stronger signal for proper es-
timation.
7 TRENDS IN SIGNAL PROCESSING
7.1 Realization Factors
Several key components comprise a realizable signal
processing system-chips, memory, and a large bandwidth
output device. This digital technology has found wide ap-
plications in modem radars (Rabinowitz et al., 1985).
7 .1.1 Digital Signal Processor Chips
In the last five years integrated circuit chips specially
optimized for digital signal processor ( DSP) operations
SIGNAL PROCESSING FOR ATMOSPHERIC RADARS 225
such as multiply-accumulate, on-chip memory and the
supporting logic have developed computational power ex-
ceeding hardwired processors of several years ago, These
DSP chips are available from a variety of manufacturers
and can be installed on commercially available high-speed
busses, such as VME and Multibus II. As integrated circuit
developments in memory continue, on-chip memory will
expand to allow caching and to make DSP algorithms more
efficient. Interconnectability using multiple fast busses and
fast communication ports still allows full implementations
of many DSP algorithms. The commercial availability of
families of DSP chips and busses provides documentation,
technical support, and probable upgrades for faster and
compatible processing speed.
Current 32-bit DSP chips are based on silicon technology
(TTL and CMOS) and can achieve clock rates of tens of
MHz and execution rates of a few Million Instructions Per
Second (MIPS). The next generation of microprocessor
and DSP chips will be fabricated from gallium arsenide
( GaAs) and will allow several processors to be attached
to a single chip component. Clock rates for these advanced
devices will be a few hundred MHz with instruction rates
exceeding 100 MIPS. This technology is growing rapidly.
However, within the next several years the number of
components per chip will be limited by fabrication pro-
cesses and shortly thereafter by physical constraints
(Aliphas and Feldman, 1987).
An important factor that will allow rapid expansion of
radar processing power is the trend of DSP chip manu-
facturers to develop higher performance chips that are
compatible with previous versions. Thus, a relatively sim-
ple redesign of the processor board using the same basic
architecture, combined with reprogrammed algorithms, of-
fers greatly enhanced processing power at low cost.
The ready availability of the processing power obviates
a move toward more real-time processing. For example,
as multiparameter radars and faster scanning radars evolve,
more processing power will be necessary to compute the
quality-checked, autoedited data that is so valuable to real-
time observations. The real-time processing can perform
all the signal processing plus an increasing amount of the
data processing tasks.
7.1.2 Storage Media
External devices for mass storage have long been dom-
inated by magnetic tape. The half-inch tape is the standard,
but various other high-density tape-based media and
technologies are being explored. These include special
high-density tapes such as NCAR's obsolete TBM (terrabit
memory), magnetic tape cartridges, video cassettes, and
the digital audiotape (DAT) devices using helical scan
technology. All of these tape storage media suffer from
serial access delays and are undesirable for on-line, fast
access storage. They are extremely well suited for "write-
once" archiving applications such as radar data acquisition.
Storage capacities of two or more gigabytes can now be
226 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
achieved. Higher capacity and faster transfer rates will
continue to evolve. Winchester disks using "vertical re-
cording" techniques allow high density and fast access
and fit many applications that require fast, random access
storage.
The emphasis in storage media development now seems
to be in optical recording techniques. Compact disk (CD)
technology, being a consumer product, has become rela-
tively inexpensive. The data capacity of optical media is
approaching several Gbytes on a 5.25-inch CD, and data
transfer rates of several Mbytes s - l are possible. Random
access times are being reduced to the millisecond range.
7 .1.3 Display Technology
Real-time color radar displays have become an important
component of remote sensor technology since their first
implementation by Gray et al. ( 1975). Intensity-modulated
PPI and RHI scopes show high-resolution reflectivity dis-
plays, but digital color displays show all the directly mea-
sured variables (e.g., velocity) as well as derived variables
such as differential reflectivity, phase, and depolarization
quantities. Plotting data from multiple sensors in real time,
zooming into specific areas of interest, generating time-
lapsed images, and defining special overlays provide a
measure of flexibility not ayailable only a few years ago.
Special purpose programmable graphics processors allow
these new, yet fairly simple, image processing capabilities.
The next generation of graphics processors will accom-
modate three-dimensional real-time image generation,
color images with transparency, easily manipulated images
to change the viewing angle, and programmability in high-
levellanguages to allow a high degree of user interaction.
The display is the investigator's or the user's contact to
the environment being studied or watched. Particular em-
phasis should be placed on this aspect of the remote sensor
to extract its maximum utility.
7 .1.4 Commercial Radar Processors
Radar processors have historically been developed by
the organization responsible for the entire remote sensor
system. Recently, however, digital signal processors have
become commercially available as special purpose com-
puters for Doppler lidars (Bilbro et al., 1984) and weather
radars (Siggia, 1981; Chandra et al., 1986; Schroth et al.,
1988). The specialized processing algorithms being de-
veloped and applied to atmospheric remote sensors can
be efficiently integrated into many types of remote sensors
and customized to the specific application by different
software.
System engineering of signal processors is changing be-
cause of the improvements in hardware technology and
architectures (Allen, 1985). The biggest change is occurring
in the system engineering methodology. Open software
standards for operating systems (e.g., POSIX), for com-
puter language (e.g., ANSII standards, Ada, etc.), and run-
time environments (e.g., X-OPEN) are being developed
and applied. Data bus standards (e.g., VME) are being
clarified, updated, and adhered to by board and peripheral
manufacturers. Open software standards and workable
data bus standards facilitate cost-effective development
and manufacture of special signal processing boards that
integrate and can be upgraded to the latest DSP chip sets.
7 .2. Trends in Programmability of DSP
The new generation of digital signal processors for at-
mospheric remote sensors is programmable. This is a
marked contrast to hardwired processors in which the al-
gorithms could be modified only with great difficulty and
most often resulting in the loss of the original capability.
Programmable processors allow algorithm modifications,
processing experiments, diagnostic testing, and system
testing while still retaining the capability of returning to a
preexisting mode of operation. Modem digital filtering and
waveform processing using advanced algorithms is now
possible without the constraints imposed by physical lim-
itations of hardware devices. Schmidt et al. ( 1979) and
Woodman et al. ( 1980) described early programmable sig-
nal processors for VHF Doppler wind profilers. Present-
day DSP systems are directly programmable in modem
languages, such as "C."
Advanced processing algorithms using matrix methods,
such as singular value decomposition, orthogonalization,
multichannel optimization techniques, and nonlinear pro.:
cessing algorithms using adaptive and data compression
techniques (Haykin, 1985a; Kay, 1987; Marple, 1987) can
be coded and tested on line in real time, without destroying
the original algorithm implementation. Standard algo-
rithms can be as easily replaced as they can be modified.
Optimization may become an easier task.
As the DSP chips support higher level languages, al-
gorithm portability becomes easier to achieve. Reproduc-
ibility of clone processors and algorithms, for example in
a radar network, is feasible. However, programmable
hardware leads to a new set of development and mainte-
nance problems. A higher level of training and mainte-
nance equipment is required for trouble-shooting a mal-
functioning radar processor. Board-level maintenance may
require a more expensive spare inventory. Programmability
brings new headaches as well as many new features.
Another area of rapid development important to dis-
tributed signal processor architectures is the application of
multiprocessor operating systems. Distributed computing
power on a common high-speed bus requires an operating
system capable of controlling data transfers and bus ar-
bitration and memory management. Presently these op-
erating systems are targeted toward more general purpose
processor chips (e.g., the Motorola 68030), but future ap-
plication will find them on distributed DSP processors as
well. Software development is a key issue in generating
efficient realizations of the DSP algorithms. UNIX is pres-
ently becoming accepted as the common operating system

of choice for many application programs and for devel-
opment of real-time software, which then typically runs
under a UNIX-compatible, real-time operating system (e.g.,
VxWorks, PDOS).
'1.3 Short-Term Expectations
During the next five years we may expect a revolution
in atmospheric digital signal processor technology. This
technology will tend to leave the atmospheric science
community behind, however, unless we prepare ourselves
to take advantage of the evolving hardware and software
advances. We have lived by the pulse pair processor for
over a decade. Other techniques have been explored that
in some instances provide better parameter estimates, but
these have not been feasible to implement in the past. This
constraint is rapidly disappearing.
7.3.1 Range/Velocity Ambiguities
Within the next two or three years we may expect several
research groups to implement new pulsing and processing
schemes for range and velocity dealiasing. These schemes,
driven by the FAA's Terminal Doppler Weather Radar
(TDWR) procurement as well as the NEXRAD implemen-
tations, will allow ground clutter suppression simulta-
neously with velocity dealiasing and overlaid echo
suppression algorithms. Exploration of polarization pro-
cessing improvements will be combined with resolving
range and velocity ambiguities and clutter suppression.
7 .3.2 Ground Clatter Filtering
Effective clutter filtering will be readily implemented on
conventional Doppler radars. However, efforts to integrate
clutter suppression with other processing improvements
will likely encounter several technical obstacles involving
analog components (e.g., polarization switches, IF ampli-
fiers, and transmitter instabilities). Fundamental limitations
related to the narrow clutter spectra may well limit clutter
suppression for radars using dwell times shorter than the
clutter correlation time. Yet to be explored nonlinear fil-
tering techniques may allow effective suppression even
under these conditions.
7.3.3 Waveforms for Fast Scanning Radars
A major limitation of existing Doppler meteorological
radars is their inability to scan a solid angle in space fast
enough to measure a rapidly evolving atmospheric event
with adequate temporal resolution. A dwell time of a few
milliseconds is desired. The proper long-term solution re-
quires an electronically scanned phased array antenna-
a very expensive item. The mechanical solution of simply
scanning faster and using short dwell times is insufficient
to preserve the parameter measurement accuracy. Scan
rates greater than about 100 degrees per second for a 1o
SIGNAL PROCESSING FOR ATMOSPHERIC RADARS 227
beamwidth cause spectrum spreading due to antenna mo-
tion that rapidly degrades the measurement accuracy. A
reasonable alternative is to rapidly scan mechanically at a
rate such that the spectrum spread is not dominated by
the scan-induced component and to use a wideband
waveform (pulse compression or multiple frequency) that
allows a reasonably large number of independent param-
eter estimates to be made in the short dwell time imposed
by the coherence time of the return signal. Some research
groups are testing short dwell time waveforms (Keeler and
Frush, 1983b; Strauch, 1988) on both airborne and ground-
based weather radars.
7.3.4 Data Compression
Data compression algorithms are an important aspect
of signal processing. Data compression can be divided into
two classes: truncation for any range gates at altitudes
greater than the tropopause, and run length encoding or
compaction for strings of data having the same value.
Typically parameter estimates not passing some threshold
test are arbitrarily set to zero and run length encoded. Data
truncation will become more common as programmable
processors are installed.
7 .3. 5 Artiftciallntelligence-bas ed
Feature Extraction
Future computing will be directed at enhancing man's
analytical and inferential skills, rather than routine physical
or mental activities. Symbolic programming techniques
combined with knowledge engineering and artificial in-
telligence techniques show potential for rapid advance;
the same is true for meteorological image processing and
automated recognition and extraction of atmospheric fea-
tures. Two-dimensional signal and image processing al-
gorithms will be implemented using programming archi-
tectures, reducing development time and extracting more
meteorological information from remote sensor datasets.
7 .3.6 Real-Time, Three-Dimensional Weather
Image Processing
Relatively new computing hardware allows ready im-
plementations of various symbolic object processing sys-
tems that can be applied to problems in the atmospheric
science. Coupled with fast graphics processors we can ex-
pect real-time, three-dimensional images produced with
the latest image rendering techniques that allow recon-
structed radar data fields overlaid with in situ measure-
ments from airborne and ground-based meteorological
stations. Graphi~ computers with large video memories
allow time lapsii\g of high-resolution three-dimensional
images and arbitrary cross sections to be displayed using
a variety of techniques currently being developed. Trans-
parency of data elements near the viewer allows obser-
vation of the storm interior.
228 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
7. 4 Long-Term Expectations
Several years from now we can expect revolutionary
changes in th,e way signal processing will increase our
ability to understand atmospheric dynamics in real time.
Combining new hardware forms and more efficient soft-
ware development techniques with evolving communi-
cations technology and the tumbling cost of computing
power will allow remote sensor systems to present readily
assimilated graphical formats. These systems will provide
an interactive user interface taking forms that are only
dreamed about today. For example, tactile feedback tech-
nology will allow a meteorologist to pick up a "thunder-
storm" and rotate it in order to better examine the evolving
towers and outflows.
7.4.1 Advanced Hardware
The present development of GaAs (gallium arsenide)
computing elements may replace silicon-dominated chips
if the promised fivefold speed increases and higher reli-
ability in thermal and radiation extremes are realized.
7.4.2 Optical Interconnects and Processing
Fiber optical communication is capable of extremely high
bandwidth and data rates, and parallel processing using
optical techniques can accommodate data rates many or-
ders of magnitude higher than serial and most existing
parallel digital signal processing schemes. Fiber optic back
planes for computers are now available.
7.4.3 Communications
Processing of atmospheric radar signals has many con-
cepts in common with communications processing, and
the same technologies can be incorporated. By logically
combining the processing functions with the communi-
cations link, both locally and over long distance, new ca-
pabilities will be possible.
7.4.4 Electronically Scanned Array Antennas
Military budgets have financed the development of
highly efficient, very low sidelobe, multiple beam, two-
dimensional electronically scanned array antennas. The
computing power necessary to control the beams is avail-
able but the communications to each array element, the
phase shifters capable of handling high peak powers for
radar systems, and the sheer number of elements required
(several thousand) are very costly. These step scan anten-
nas will allow more rapid volume coverage while retaining
parameter accuracy and will reduce the deleterious effects
of antenna sidelobes. The very high cost of this perfor-
mance increase must be justified for atmospheric radar
applications.
7. 4. 5 Adaptive Systems
Self-learning, time-variable processing systems will al-
low a degree of optimization not possible today. Neural
networking concepts utilize interconnected arrays of pro-
cessing elements that share the processing and commu-
nications load so that the overall computational efficiency
is maximized. The algorithms used in these adaptive sys-
tems can be defined by a training sequence or can be self-
learning during the processing time. Research is concen-
trating on integrating distributed processing concepts with
expected hardware.
8 CONCLUSIONS
8.1 Assessment of the Past
Radar signal processing engineers, in the meteorological
radar community at least, have taken a somewhat narrow
view of signal processing in the past. A large effort has
been dedicated to using the pulse pair algorithm for esti-
mating the first two or three spectral moments, largely
because the existing processing power has been rather
limited to these simple algorithms and because for an im-
portant class of signals the pulse pair algorithm is optimum.
Advances have been made in the ST jMST radar com-
munity in pulse compression, coherent averaging, and
nonlinear least squares parameter fitting techniques, and
in the lidar community in multiple lag processing. Other
techniques have been ignored or rejected simply because
the scientific need for these advances did not exist, or if it
did, the risk of undertaking such a development was not
warranted.
The operational radar community and many researchers
have been unable to explore weak echoes because of in-
adequate sensitivity. There are better ways of improving
radar sensitivity than brute force techniques of more power
and larger antennas. Advanced signal processing tech-
niques must be explored more thoroughly to achieve these
sensitivity gains. Modem spectrum analysis methods for
modeling distributed target echoes in strong clutter and
multichannel processing techniques to extract better in-
formation from collections of remote sensors are areas ripe
for extensive research.
The digital boundaries of the signal processor are being
extended in both directions. Digital IF quadrature mixers
are presently available that will accept IF and local oscil-
lator analog signals and put out digitized I and Q samples.
Digital matched filters operating at IF rather than baseband
(DC) will become a reality. The radar engineering com-
munity is ready to integrate these new components where
warranted.
8.1 Recommendations for the future
Aside from continuing to explore actively many of the
modem signal processing techniques, we would make two
 SIGNAL PROCESSING FOR ATMOSPHERIC RADARS 229

general recommendations regarding future signal pro- 4) Real, live funding for development and demonstra-
cessing activities in the atmospheric sciences. tion of the new technique.
First, many universities have active digital signal pro-
cessing groups in their electrical engineering departments,
and many industries have vast experience in radar signal
processing techniques. Our research community should
strive to interact more strongly with these two on an in- Acknowledgments. The authors wish to thank the panel
ternational scale. University cooperative education pro- members for their verbal and written contributions to this
grams should be explored and encouraged, and university report. D. Zrnic and R. Serafin have been especially helpful
exchange programs involving signal processing experts as with comments on various drafts. V. Chandrasekar, J.
well as meteorologists should also be encouraged. Indus- Evans, G. Gray, J. Klostermeyer, F. Pratte, R. Strauch, R.
trial contacts with radar manufacturers and systems pro- Wiesenberg, and R. Woodman provided helpful written
ducers, such as NEXRAD and TDWR, should be main- comments that have been incorporated into this signal
tained so as to exchange signal processing expertise as well processing review. J. Devine provided expert assistance
as meteorological expertise. with integrating the text, the figures, and the references.
Second, the meteorological radar community should
maintain the lead in sponsoring signal processing sessions
at AMS radar conferences and should sponsor participation APPENDIX:
in other signal processing related meetings. Members of LIST OF ACRONYMS
the ST / MST radar and coherent lidar communities should
be encouraged to attend these sessions (and vice versa)
AjD Analog to Digital
AGC Automatic Gain Control
since our target models, our propagation medium, our
AMS American Meteorological Society
processing problems, and our techniques are nearly iden-
AR Autoregressive
tical. As noted before, members of these communities have
CHILL University of Chicago /Illinois State Water
successfully explored modem algorithms and predated
weather radars' use of the pulse pair and poly-pulse pair Survey (radar)
CNR Clutter-to-Phase Noise Power Ratio
velocity estimators as well as use of pulse compression
CSR Clutter-to-Signal Ratio
and complementary coding schemes.
Finally, as R. W. Lee of the Signal Processing Panel once DC Direct Current
DFT Discrete Fourier Transform
stated, we can now build processors with "megaflops to
DSP Digital Signal Processor
bum." We can use them very easily by implementing new
FFT Fast Fourier Transform
processing algorithms, for example, using a priori knowl-
edge to improve estimates. Computing special diagnostic FIR Finite Impulse Response
FM-CW Frequency-Modulated/Continuous-Wave
outputs that have no bearing on the data collected, but
simply allow the operator to adjust processing parameters, 1/Q In-phase/ Quadrature
is an effective use of processing power. IF Intermediate Frequency
IIR Infinite Impulse Response
IR Infrared
8.3 Acceptance of New Techniques LMS Least Mean Square
ME Maximum Entropy
New techniques are not usually accepted easily by any
ML Maximum Likelihood
scientific community. Twenty years ago Doppler process-
MST Mesosphere/ Stratosphere/ Troposphere
ing using the now standard pulse pair estimator was not
NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research
readily accepted. Why should any new signal processing
NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar
algorithms involving only statistical concepts improve the
NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
accuracy of moment estimates? Skepticism is healthy in
tration
science. Accepting a new technique requires four critical
conditions: PPI Plan Position Indicator
PRF Pulse Repetition Frequency
1 ) An important application or a problem that needs to PRT Pulse Repetition Time
be solved. RHI Range-Height Indicator
2) An intuitive, familiar basis for understanding the SAR Synthetic-Aperture Radar
concepts involved in the new technique, which includes SNR Signal-to-Noise Ratio
a convenient interface for exploring the innards of the new ST Stratosphere/ Troposphere
technique. TB Time-Bandwidth Product
3) A field demonstration to convince the community TDWR Terminal Doppler Weather Radar
that the new technique is indeed an improvement over UHF Ultra High Frequency
the former. VHF Very High Frequency
 230
Chapter lOb
Signal Processing: Panel Report
Dusan S. Zrnic, * Environmental Research Laboratories, NOAA
We have witnessed a tremendous expansion in the
theoretical foundations of signal processing, spurred by a
multitude of applications in diverse fields of engineering
and science. In our radar meteorological community, signal
processing was seldom, if ever, an end in itself-it was
usually the other way around. A new meteorologically
useful parameter was identified, and methods were sought
to extract it from the signal. This has happened with the
velocity and spectrum width parameters, and is occurring
right now with polarization variables. Often signal pro-
cessing theory unifies what on first sight appears as dif-
ferent subjects, by spilling over discipline boundaries and
bearing fruit in unintended applications. The subject of
radar was particularly fertile, and signal processing tech-
niques have found applications in profiling radars, lidars
and weather radars, all of which are subjects of this
volume.
The Signal Processing Panel could not identify imme-
diately at what point signal processing acquires interpre-
tative characteristics that would put it outside the panel's
mandate. That is because the boundary between algo-
rithmic processing and cognitive processing is diffuse.
Cognitive processing in the context of this chapter is a
procedure used to recognize a weather feature (e.g., the
vector wind with a profiling radar). We have decided to
accept the definition by Drs. Keeler and Passarelli (Chapter
20a) that the "base parameter estimates" are a result of
signal processing, but we have chosen to expand this def-
inition to include all manipulations of the data that convert
electrical signals into meteorological parameters.
The panel is grateful to Drs. Keeler and Passarelli for
their in-depth review of this broad subject, and in particular
•Zrnic served as panel chairman. Other panel members were Steve Albers
(NOAA/ERLJPROFS), Jiro Aoyagi (Meteorological Research Institute,
Japan), Graham Armstrong (AFGL/LYR), V. Chandrasekar (Colorado
State University), Margaret E. Courain (South Orange, New Jersey),
J. R. Cruz (University of Oklahoma), James Evans (MIT Lincoln Labo-
ratory), Grant Gray (NCAR), John Green (NOAAJERL/ Aeronomy
Laboratory), Craig Hayenga (Tycho Technology), Dan Holden (Los
Alamos National Laboratory), Jurgen Klostemi.eyer (Max-Planck Institut
fiir Aeronomie, Federal Republic of Germany), Paul Krehbiel (New
Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology), Robert Lee (Lassen Re-
search), Max Michelson (Raytheon Company), Fred Nathanson (Tech-
nology Service Corp.), Capt. Allan Sadoski (AFGL), Rich Wesenberg
(Kennedy Space Center), and R. Woodman ( Instituto Geofisico del Peru,
Peru).
for bringing together the similarities and differences in
processing by weather radars, lidars, and wind profilers.
These are indispensable instruments based on radar prin-
ciples that our community utilizes. A major strength of
the review is the clarity and conciseness with which this
vast subject has been covered, as well as the in-depth ex-
amination of the available literature. Furthermore, modem
methods of extracting information from radars that have
been seldom tested by our community have been de-
scribed. Our subsequent remarks in this panel report are
directed toward 1) broadening the review, 2) exposing the
panel's thoughts and deliberations, and 3) speculating
about the future.
To facilitate discussion and yet keep a unified presen-
tation of processing for UHF /VHF wind profiler radars,
weather radars, and lidars, the panel has produced a con-
ceptual block diagram (Fig. 1), which often can be asso-
ciated with a physical layout of components. The signal
generation and extraction block consists of a transmitted
signal sequence and codes, including polarization, receiv-
ing decoders and filters, and digital in-phase and quad-
rature components. In radar systems, transmitter waveform
design is intimately tied to subsequent processing because
it plays a crucial part not only in detection, but also in the
ability to resolve 1) out-of-trip echoes that can generate
ambiguous ranges, and 2) velocities that exceed the Ny-
quist limit. The parameter estimation block contains pro-
cedures used to obtain estimates of signal power, radial
velocity, and spectrum width as well as polarization vari-
ables if applicable, all of which are referred to by Keeler
and Passarelli as base parameter estimates. Note that this
block may utilize meteorological or model information that
introduces physical constraints. A priori information for
parameter estimation can be as simple as a check of con-
tinuity for editing purposes or a more complicated wind
field model to dealias the velocities. The panel believes
that at present very little use of such information is made
and sees tremendous potential for future expansion.
A more detailed assessment of the status of various sub-
sets in the processing chain is presented in this chapter.
Table 1 provides a summary. We have rated present and
future potential of each of the significant techniques as
moderate if innovations would amount to a small percent-
age in data accuracy improvement (approximately 10%).
If chances are that data could be improved by about 30%,
 SIGNAL PROCESSING 231

PRESENT ---+!+-- FUTURE Doppler radars will use either pulse compression or coding
I with multiple frequencies in order to increase the number
SIGNAL PROCESSING
I of independent samples in a very limited dwell time dic-
SIGNAL VALlO tated by fast rotation rates (Strauch, 1988; Zrnic and
METEOROLOGICAL
GENERATION
AND EXTRACTION DATA Hamidi, 1981). As pointed out in the review, the technique
is well understood, but in practice much work remains in
I
I
order to achieve a 50 dB or more suppression in range-
I
METEOROLOGICAL a priori time sidelobes. Another aspect of space platforms is a need
INFORMATION to establish antenna pointing strategy. Fast motion requires
Fig. 1 Conceptual flow of signal generation, processing, and param- steered phased array antennas and large computations
eter estimation. onboard to reduce bandwidths. Because of forthcoming
interest in global weather and climate (Simpson et al.,
1988) much development in signal design will occur over
the rating is good. Substantial improvement carries an ex- the next ten years. Researchers interested in tornado wind
cellent rating. In the same manner, the likelihood of using speeds may choose short-wavelength, FM-CW mobile ra-
some techniques will be rated. Only techniques and pro- dars with associated signal processing ( Doviak and Zrnic,
cedures that offer some potential are addressed. 1984) .

1 SIGNAL GENERATION AND 1.2.2 Resolution of Ambiguities

EXTRACTION Microwave radars for atmospheric probing are adversely
affected by ambiguities. This problem is insignificant for
1.1 Wide Dynamic Range MST radars and lidars. At present only a few techniques
for ambiguity resolution have been operationally tested.
Present receivers have sufficient dynamic range so that
Keeler and Passarelli give a complete discussion in Chapter
instantaneous AGC control produces good overall perfor-
20a as well as pertinent references. We see good prospects
mance. At the time of the radar conference (November
in this area because ( i) there are promising techniques,
1987), information concerning spectral noise that could
result from gain and phase variations produced by switch-
ing attenuators during dwell time, suggested that over 50
TABLE 1
dB of noise suppression was available. Therefore the over- Status and Future Prospects of Various Signal
all present status of this scheme is judged to be good. The Processing Steps
panel believes that there will be a trend toward digital
matched filters. Besides the convenience offered by the Step Pre.eat Statu future Pro•pects
ability to match a wide range of pulse lengths and shapes, Signal generation and
these devices provide better control of range-time sidelobes extraction
over their analog counterparts. Emergence of fast analog- Linear dynamic range good moderate
to-digital converters (12 bits at 10 MHz) allows digital Matched filtering good moderate
matched filtering with an effective increase in dynamic Pulse coding/ well established good (for rapid
range. The 14- to 16-bit A/Ds at a rate of over 1 MHz compression scan
applications)
that are becoming available together with a wide dynamic
Ambiguity resolution moderate good
range IF amplifier may alleviate the need for an AGC cir-
Clutter cancelling established good
cuit. Further in the future, digital processing of intermediate
Parameter estimation
frequency signals will become possible. Potential im- Estimation of algorithms exist good
provement with these innovations will be moderate. moments with
more sophisticated
methods
1. 2 Signal Design Simultaneous contemplated good
Doppler and
polarization
1.2.1 Pulse Coding and Compression parameters
Use of a priori rudimentary excellent
Both pulse coding and compression are well-established applications
information
techniques in profiling radars, but no significant use is Time continuity minimal use excellent
found in weather radars except for some experiments Hardware and software
dealing with resolution of velocity and range ambiguities. Processing systems good excellent
Prospects are excellent that airborne and perhaps satellite
232 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
and ( ii) with the use of programmable signal processors,
testing new ideas will become much simpler. In the near
future it might become easier to explore an idea immedi-
ately on the radars than to go through an imperfect sim-
ulation exercise that normally precedes an operational test.
Whereas existing techniques such as interlaced sampling
or a_daptive PRT are adequate for 10-cm Doppler radars,
shorter wavelength radars require more sophisticated ap-
proaches. We anticipate that the contemplated Terminal
Doppler Weather Radar will utilize some form of either
phase and/ or time encoding scheme.
1.3 Ground Clutter Cancelling
Both wind profilers and weather radars need clutter
cancellers to maximize their potential utility. This is in ac-
cord with the conclusion of the Precipitation and Hydrol-
ogy Panel (Smith, Chapter 29b), which identified ground
echoes as one significant cause of errors in rain rate esti-
mation. As stated in Chapter 20a, time and frequency do-
main techniques for clutter filtering are well established
and easily implemented when uniformly spaced pulses
are transmitted. Otherwise problems are in store. The panel
believes that prospects are good for advances in clutter
cancellation on radars with dual polarization or dual PRTs,
but at a considerable cost. Stored clutter maps combined
with a clutter canceller will undoubtedly enhance data
utility from radars located in strong clutter environments.
We fully agree with Keeler and Passarelli that the best
strategy in dealing with the clutter still remains an attack
on the antenna where every dB in sidelobe reduction brings
corresponding improvement in the signal-to-clutter ratio.
In the more distant future we see explorations of phased
array antennas with sidelobes that may be controlled via
signal processing (Sachidananda et al., 1985). These tech-
niques are very expensive and thus will not be realistic in
the next decade.
l PARAMETER ESTIMATION
Power, radial velocity, and Doppler spectral width are
the parameters of interest in all three instruments (lidars,
wind profilers, and weather radars) because they can be
related to concentration of aerosols or hydrometeors, re-
fractive index fluctuations, winds, and turbulence. Success
with polarimetric measurements is posing an additional
demand on signal processors to provide depolarization ra-
tios, differential phase, and reflectivity as well as a Muller-
type matrix of variables (van Zyl et al., 1987).
To a large extent, both profilers and NEXRAD-type ra-
dars owe their success to efficient signal processing schemes
that can be implemented on relatively simple digital sys-
tems. These schemes use mostly one-dimensional pro-
cessing of echoes from a range location in order to recon-
struct a two- or three-dimensional depiction of some
phenomena. Occasionally there is an added degree of so-
phistication such as examination of spatial continuity or
some other type of data editing which capitalizes on extra
information not available in the signal itself. We emphasize
here that an estimate of echo power, and mean velocity
or spectrum width from an isolated resolution volume has
by itself diminished meteorological meaning; statistical
uncertainty and possible contamination from range-over-
laid echoes, anomalous targets, ground clutter, etc., remain.
Before accepting spectral moment data, researchers usually
check them for meteorological consistency over contiguous
spatial locations or even examine power spectra if these
are available. Such checks will be performed more and
more by automatic means where payoff in time savings is
obvious. Before discussing this subject, however, we first
address operation on signals without a priori constraints.
2.1 One-Dimensional Processing
2.1.1 Estimation of Moments
Present techniques are satisfactory for the majority of
applications. Sophisticated algorithms may be suited for
special purposes but it is not possible to devise a single
procedure that is optimum for any one instrument all the
time, because optimum estimation depends on signal-to-
noise ratios and power spectrum shape as well as contam-
ination. Assuming that computational power will not be
a constraint, a method should be accepted only if it dem-
onstrates superiority based on statistical principles. We do
not expect changes in the algorithms to estimate power,
although at low signal-to-noise ratios it may be advanta-
geous to estimate power from Doppler filters in which the
presence of signal has been detected. Mean Doppler es-
timators are also well established, but there is room for
improvements in the profiler area at low SNRs. A simple
improvement could involve more than one pass through
the consensus test (Strauch et al., 1984). A second pass
could use a sliding DFT and comparisons of powers of
data that did not pass the test with the minority that has
passed it. Intuitively it appears that a higher payoff would
be achieved with good editing and use of space and time
continuity. An effective means of editing data with low
SNR and artifacts is to use a median filter (Huang, 1981).
These robust nonlinear filters should be tested on individ-
ual spectral powers as well as on two- or three-dimensional
data streams. At moderate signal-to-noise ratios (0 to 10
dB) some improvements could be achieved with significant
increase in processing. Direct estimates of the three mo-
ments could become better if iterative methods are used
where each iteration is followed by a narrowband filter
matched to the spectral parameters of interest.
As the spectral width finds wider acceptance, we will
see an increased interest for methods to improve its ac-
curacy. Overall it is doubtful that vastly different proce-

dures (not contemplated by the signal processing com-
munity at large) will emerge, so the panel sees moderate
prospects for future development in this area. Neverthe-
less, it seems that the biggest payoff will be in good data
editing and elimination of spectral artifacts.
l.l.l Simultaneous Polarization and Doppler
Measurements
In the very near future (next two to five years) research-
ers will test signal sequences and processing schemes that
promise simultaneous estimation of three spectral moments
and polarization parameters with resolution and rotation
rates conforming to NEXRAD specifications (Sachidananda
and Zrnic, 1985, 1988). This emerging activity has good
prospects for success and will first find advocates among
the research community who seek to link dynamic and
microphysical processes in storms. It may also spill into
the operational area of NEXRAD.
2.2 Use of A Priori Information
Researchers have always strived to obtain data of as
good a quality as possible and in this quest have often
resorted to laborious editing procedures. There have also
been some modest attempts to automate quality check of
data, mainly in the areas of velocity dealiasing, ground
clutter contamination, and point target editing. The need
for valid data in operational systems (NEXRAD, TDWR,
profilers) cannot be overemphasized. We thus see that
several automatic techniques suitable for real-time pro-
cessing will be advanced in the near future. These more
advanced techniques will rely on three-dimensional data
continuity and/ or time continuity and meteorological
models.
l.l.l Three-Dimensional Continuity
Median filters in two or three dimensions may become
accepted by the radar meteorological community. Velocity
dealiasing has already shown good potential with the help
of a simple uniform wind model and spatial continuity
(Merritt, 1984; Boren et al., 1986; Bergen and Albers,
1988). It should be relatively simple to edit profiler data
based on continuity of velocity with height; obvious out-
liers can easily be identified, but the more subtle errors
will require ingenious handling.
More complicated models that account for frontal dis-
continuities, rotational flow, etc., could become useful.
Image processing techniques as well as three-dimensional
filtering should find their way into our data handling
(Huang, 1981 ) . These conceptually simple yet computa-
tionally intense editing procedures are worth trying. For
example, data contaminated by echoes from the direction
of antenna sidelobes may be identified from the knowledge
of antenna pattern and the integrated reflectivity field.
SIGNAL PROCESSING 233
l.l.l Time Continuity
At the present time continuity is used automatically only
in a select set of NEXRAD algorithms. Scientists observing
weather phenomena encounter routinely a need to inter-
pret evolving phenomena invoking time continuity. Yet at
the signal processing stage, time continuity is not used
mainly because the data loads are already large and pos-
sible improvements are judged marginal. There is an area
where time continuity could help, however. Namely, winds
from profiling radars should exhibit continuity. This, and
the fact that data loads are small, makes profilers ideally
suited for routine application of time domain filters. Both
recursive filters of the Kalman type and nonrecursive filters
should be considered (Schwartz and Shaw, 1975). We
believe prospects for these are good.
Another area in which time continuity will play an im-
portant role is in the determination of wind components
transverse to the radar beam. Correlation techniques, vari-
ational analysis, and methods based on dynamic equations
for fluids will be investigated (Wolfsberg, 1987). These
methods, somewhat beyond the scope of our panel, will
attract the interest of investigators and will have good po-
tential for success.
3 HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
Digital hardware and software, in fact, have entered
into all aspects of our lives. If we are to judge the future
from the past then intense activity here seems inevitable.
Yet with all the proliferation in processors, displays, and
storage devices, we have not seen an avalanche of these
commercial products hitting meteorological radars. Our
instruments require special purpose processors and high-
resolution, fast update displays that are not yet commer-
cially available at low cost. Therefore our community was
forced to adopt a hybrid architecture of special purpose
processors and off-the-shelf minicomputers and displays.
Things are changing, though, and we recognize several
items that will impact us in the near future:
1) programmable signal processors that will allow
changes to be made in signal processing procedures;
2) high-resolution displays with fast updates that will
allow rapid perusal of data and large looping capacity; and
3) dense mass storage units to handle large amounts of
digital radar data.
Presently, the status of these activities is good and pros-
pects are excellent for future growth. We may witness
three-dimensional displays or even holographic displays.
Enhanced computing capability will be available at a frac-
tion of today's cost and we may even witness the first
devices that employ procedures patterned after human
brain processes and data flow architectures as opposed to
the classical Von Neuman architecture based on a se-
quential stored program (Lippmann, 1987). Parallel pro-
234 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
cessing will be more a rule than an exception as it is today.
Optical computing devices with distributed memories
within various processing units could be made to partially
restore lost information.
4 IMPACT OF NEXRAD, TDWR,
AND PROFILERS
These next generation operational instruments will pro-
vide excellent testing ground and feedback to researchers
as well as signal processing specialists. For the first time,
a statistical assessment of strengths and weaknesses of ex-
isting schemes applied over the North American continent
will become possible. As problems are uncovered (without
a doubt there will be some) attempts will be made to cir-
cumvent them. Acceptance and wider awareness about
these instruments may lead to an increase in interest by
professionals at universities and organizations who until
now have not participated in their development. This will
have a positive impact because it will produce an infusion
of fresh and different ideas into our field.
The continuous flood of dense data from these three
instruments will challenge meteorologists, engineers, and
computer specialists. The first group will be busy assimi-
lating these data into diagnostic and even prognostic mod-
els. Engineers will need to correct system deficiencies and
design improvements that will assure better data quality.
Computer specialists will need to devise common data
formats that will allow easy transportability between com-
puters as well as simple accessibility. This last activity will
require the utmost care and planning in order to avoid
user frustration.
5 CONCLUDING REMARKS
A summary of our look into the future and its relation
with respect to the present status of signal processing is
shown in Table 1. We predict good advances in the ma-
jority of categories, but only two, outside of hardware and
software, were rated excellent. This is perhaps because our
field is based on research accomplishments during several
decades in radars and remote sensing and several centuries
in mathematics and physics. Thus, although chronologi-
cally young, signal processing in meteorological radars is
quite mature. It has, of course, benefited tremendously
from the advances in solid state physics and associated
computing technology. The panel believes that at present
computing speeds are not limiting our advances nor will
they do so in the future. Budgetary constraints may play
a role. Our present skills with machines, particularly in
the areas of pattern recognition and artificial intelligence,
are definitely primitive compared to the workings of hu-
man brains. The biggest strides will be made when the
inner workings of the human cognitive system and intel-
ligence are understood. Only then will we be able to em-
ulate these processes with machines not yet built. It is
doubtful that we will reach such a stage in our lifetimes,
but this is not a reason for despair. After all, humans had
the benefit of some three million evolutionary years pre-
ceded by a few hundred million years of life on this planet.
Acknowledgments. Thoughts and recommendations ex-
pressed in this report are based on significant contributions
of every panel member. Drs. Keeler and Passarelli made
our task easier with their thoughtful review and lucid dis-
cussions at the meeting. We are grateful to Dr. Keeler for
accepting the last-minute challenge to join Dr. Passarelli
as a co-author. Conference organizers, and in particular
the relentless efforts of co-chairmen David Atlas and Ralph
Donaldson, are deeply appreciated. Thanks are also due
to Carole Holder for editing the manuscript and keeping
track of the correspondence.
APPENDIX
LIST OF ACRONYMS
AID Analog-to-Digital Converter
AGC Automatic Gain Control
DFT Discrete Fourier Transform
FM-CW Frequency-Modulated I Continuous-Wave
MST Mesosphere I Stratosphere I Troposphere
NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar
PRT Pulse Repetition Time
SNR Signal-to-Noise Ratio
TDWR Terminal Doppler Weather Radar
UHF Ultra High Frequency
VHF Very High Frequency

Chapter lla
UHF /VHF Radar Techniques for Atmospheric Research
and Wind ProSier Applications
]. Ro'ttger, * EISCAT Scientific Association . .
M. F. Larsen, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson Unwerslty
1 INTRODUCTION
An explosive growth and development in coherent-
backscatter radar techniques for studying the structure and
dynamics of the troposphere and stratosphere has occurred
in the past two decades. Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) and
Very High Frequency (VHF) radars can detect echoes
caused by Bragg scatter from refractive index structure due
to variations in humidity and temperature in both the clear
and cloudy atmosphere, and they have now become ac-
cepted in the radar meteorology community as a valuable
complement to the weather radar measurement techniques
that make use of Rayleigh scattering from hydrometeors.
The UHF and VHF radars typically operate in the fre-
quency range from the low VHF band ( 40-50 MHz) to
the upper UHF band ( 3 GHz). In the low VHF band, Bragg
scatter from electron density variations in the mesosphere
can also be detected.
The UHF /VHF technique has its historical roots in the
work with high-power X-band (9.4 GHz), S-band (2.8
GHz) and UHF ( 420 MHz) meteorological radars (e.g.,
Atlas et al., 1966; Hardy et al., 1966; Ottersten, 1969a;
Watkins, 1971; Battan, 1973; and other work reviewed in
Chapter 17), which also led to the development of the S-
band FM-CW radars (e.g., Richter, 1969), and to the me-
sosphere-stratosphere-troposphere (MST) radar tech-
niques ( 40 MHz and 400 MHz) that were developed with
a handful of high-power ionospheric radars (e.g., Wood-
man and Guillen, 1974). Lhermitte ( 1979), among others,
has already emphasized the need for developing a network
of Doppler radars capable of probing the dynamics of the
atmosphere, and recently the MST radar technique has
been adapted for use in a prototype operational wind pro-
filer network (Strauch et al., 1984).
The literature has grown in proportion to developments
in the field so that it is only possible to mention a fraction
of the many relevant papers and reports. Some of the re-
view articles and books that cover the technological and
signal analysis aspects of the radar technique include those
by Atlas ( 1964), Hardy ( 1972), Wilson and Miller ( 1972),
• On leave from the Max Planck Institut fiir Aeronomie, Katlenburg-
Lindau, West Germany.
235
Battan ( 1973), Gage and Balsley ( 1978), Chadwick and
Gossard ( 1983), Gossard and Strauch ( 1983), Doviak and
Zmic ( 1984a), and Rottger ( 1984a). In addition, quite a
few review and feature articles deal with wind profiling
applications of the technology (e.g., Gage and Balsley,
1978; Rottger, 1981a; Balsley and Gage, 1982; Hogg, 1982;
Strauch et al., 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985; Little, 1982; Larsen,
1983a; Shapiro et al., 1983; Bleck et al., 1984; Brummer
and Bleck, 1984; Chadwick et al., 1984; Gage and Schlatter,
1984; Riister, 1984; Uccellini et al., 1986; Augustine and
Zipser, 1987; Sengupta et al., 1987), along with articles
on scientific results derived from the radar measurements
(Balsley and Gage, 1980; Crane, 1980a; Harper and Gor-
don, 1980; James, 1980; Rottger, 1980a; Gage and
VanZandt, 1981; Larsen and Rottger, 1982; Gage and Bal-
sley, 1983, 1984; Riister et al., 1986). The extensive set of
papers published as proceedings of the three workshops
on Technical Aspects of MST Radar (Bowhill and Edwards,
1983, 1984, 1986) are notable, as are two special issues of
Radio Science (Gossard and Yeh, 1980; Liu and Kato, 1985).
To distinguish the UHF /VHF radar technique from the
conventional weather radar technique, the term "clear-air
radar" is often used (e.g., Preprints of the AMS Confer-
ences on Radar Meteorology, 1984, 1986). This name can
be misleading because radar echoes are also received from
the cloudy air and from precipitation. The term "Doppler
radar" has been used too, but since we take Doppler ca-
pabilities for granted in modem systems we will not spe-
cifically include the term "Doppler" in our general ter-
minology, except in referring specifically to the Doppler
technique for measuring winds. The general technique
discussed in this review has received a very strong impetus
from, and is mostly equivalent to, the MST radar technique
(e.g., Liu and Kato, 1985). More recently, the operational
applications of the radars have been widely recognized,
and operational systems called wind profilers have been
put in use. In this review, the terminology "UHF /VHF
radar" will be used, since the frequency ranges seem to
be the common denominator in all the varied applications
of the technique described in this chapter.
Our review can only give an outline of the development
and present technological sophistication of UHF fVHF ra-
dars. The limited amount of space allows neither an ex-
236 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
haustive treatment of the variety of mechanisms and
methods, nor a full and critical analysis of the vast literature
in the field. Since the UHF/ VHF radar j wind profiler
technology and scientific applications are still developing
at a rapid pace, the advantages and disadvantages of dif-
ferent techniques and methods cannot be assessed to the
extent that we can recommend a unique solution and a
general purpose system that will suit everyone. Instead,
the goal of this chapter will be to give a fairly self-contained
overview and general introduction to UHF /VHF radar and
wind profiler techniques at the level of a tutorial review.
The next section begins with a brief survey of the his-
torical development of UHF j VHF radars, their basic tech-
nical layout, and general capabilities. The scattering and
reflection mechanisms causing the MST radar echoes are
described briefly in section 3 as a lead-in to section 4, which
deals with signal analysis methods for obtaining basic pa-
rameters such as wind velocities, wind variance, and echo
strengths. The advantages and limitations of particular ra-
dar techniques, such as the Doppler and spaced antenna
methods, will also be described in section 4. An overview
of available radar system technology is given in section 5
by means of a comparison of the technical layout of a
fairly flexible and powerful research radar (the MU radar
in Japan) and a typical 405-MHz wind profiler radar de-
signed for operational use. The signal processing and pa-
rameter estimation procedures used in UHF j VHF radar
and wind profiling applications are described in section 6,
with particular emphasis on those aspects peculiar to the
UHF /VHF technique. A discussion of limitations due to
instrumental and atmospheric effects and particular ap-
plications follows in section 7. Special techniques and
methods for determining absolute reflectivities and signal
distribution functions, for measuring winds, wave param-
eters, turbulence characteristics, the effects of diffusion,
the magnitude of momentum transport, and precipitation
characteristics, as well as for locating fronts and the tro-
popause, are summarized in section 8. Special techniques
(such as interferometry), temperature measurements, and
systems such as the FM-CW, pulsed boundary-layer ra-
dars, and bistatic radar systems are described briefly in
section 9. Finally some unsolved problems and the outlook
for future technical developments can be found in sec-
tion 10.
l SOME HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
AND GENERAL CAPABILITIES
The historical development of clear-air radars is treated
in detail in Chapter 17, so only the technological roots will
be summarized here. The technique basically evolved from
the use of the high-power X-, S-and UHF-band radars at
Wallops Island, Virginia; Defford, England; and Westford,
Massachusetts, in the late 1960s (see the review by Hardy,
1972), which recorded the echo intensity as a function of
range and elevation or azimuth. Experiments showed that
the radars could be used to study clear-air convection, tur-
bulence, and a variety of wave and instability structures.
Although the radars were coherent and had Doppler ca-
pability, Doppler-shift measurements were only used in a
very rudimentary way due to the constraints imposed by
limited computing capabilities available for on-line pro-
cessing of the received signals. The radars used in the early
research programs also detected echoes from birds and
insects at times, as well as sea-breeze echoes of uncertain
origin, but we will not treat such returns in our review.
The signals obtained over a range of frequencies showed
that cirrus clouds (containing ice particles) and insects ap-
peared at shorter wavelengths, whereas the longer wave-
lengths only detected the variations or inhomogeneities in
refractive index of the clear air. Figure 2.4 of Chapter 27a
shows an example of a range-height intensity diagram
illustrating clear-air echoes measured with an S-band radar
with the antenna scanning in the vertical plane. Eventually,
the Doppler-shift velocity-measurement capability was
more fully exploited at the higher frequencies, especially
with the Altair and Tradex radars on Kwajalein which were
used to study turbulence and waves (e.g., Crane, 1980b).
Also, a number of the high-power incoherent scatter ra-
dars, which were built to study the earth's upper atmo-
sphere (e.g., Evans, 1969), were employed for radar studies
of the troposphere and lower stratosphere in the 1970s
and 1980s.
During the same period that clear-air echoes were being
studied with the X-, S- and UHF-band radars, Richter
( 1969) applied the frequency-modulated/ continuous-
wave (FM-CW) radar technique at 3 GHz with a vertical
beam in an investigation of the clear-air echoes from the
planetary boundary-layer. An altitude resolution of about
1 m could be achieved with the technique, enabling him
to study the detailed finestructure of convection, inversion
layers, atmospheric wave events, and instabilities (e.g.,
Fig. 2.8 of Chapter 27a). The FM-CW technique has been
dealt with comprehensively in a series of articles, beginning
with the first description of the technique by Richter
( 1969), followed by publications dealing with scientific
results which emphasized the comparison with in situ air-
craft data and acoustic sounders (see Chapter 27a for ref-
erences). Subsequent to the application of the FM-CW
radars in high-resolution studies of the echo intensity,
Strauch et al. ( 1976) were able to implement a Doppler
processing technique for the FM-CW radars. They reported
that in addition to the detection of strong gradients in the
refractive index structure, there was evidence that scat-
tering from a background continuum of turbulent refractive
index fluctuations can be detected when the Doppler op-
erating mode is employed. During the same time period,
Chadwick et al. ( 1976) applied the new technique to pro-
vide measurements of the horizontal wind in the bound-
ary-layer.
The technique of using sensitive UHF j VHF radars to
investigate the atmosphere above the boundary-layer
 UHF /VHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 237

stems not only from the application of the aforementioned
meteorological radars but also from the early days of iono-
spheric radar observations. The basic antenna array design
and the special signal processing techniques for the modem
UHF /VHF radar systems and the operational wind profiler
systems have come directly from the large ionospheric
scatter radar facility at Jicamarca, Peru. In the late 1960s,
the 50-MHz radar in Peru was found to produce echoes
from the lower atmosphere, although no particular atten-
tion was paid to them initially. Woodman and Guillen
( 1974) adapted the data acquisition and analysis proce-
dures that had been used for ionospheric studies to eval-
uate the radar echoes from the mesosphere, the strato-
sphere and the upper troposphere. The first power profile
obtained by backscatter from fluctuations in the refractive
index in the dear air between 10 and 90 km is presented
in Figure 2.1. The observations were made with the Jica-
marca radar operating at 50 MHz, with 1 MW peak power,
5-km range resolution, and a vertical-beam antenna with
an aperture of 84 000 m 2 •
Woodman and Guillen's (1974) contribution included
improvements in the technique for measuring velocities
JICAMARCA RADAR
POWER PROFILE
40 11.54 EST, 14 DEC.I971
as well as the first application of coherent preintegration,
as described in section 6. They recognized the great po-
tential of the technique for remote sounding of the lower
and middle atmosphere, and their studies triggered the
evolution of a new generation of UHF /VHF radars for
atmospheric research. The first of the new radars was built
near Boulder, Colorado, at Sunset by Green et al. ( 1975),
and the SOUSY-VHF radar in West Germany followed
soon after ( Czechowsky et al., 1976). The Sunset VHF
radar operates at a frequency of 40.5 MHz with only 100
kW peak transmitted power and an antenna area of 7200
m 2 • Measurements of the Doppler spectrum of echoes from
the troposphere and stratosphere (see Fig. 2.2) were made
with the Sunset radar, and it was shown (VanZandt et al.,
1975) that the mean Doppler shifts were highly correlated
with rawinsonde winds. Layered structure in the radar
echoes was detected with the SOUSY-VHF radar, and, in
addition to scattering from dear-air turbulence, partial re-
flections from humidity and temperature inversions were
found to contribute significantly to the signal power with
the vertically beaming longer wavelength radars (Rottger
I I I I I I I I
<1.1xt0 1
19km
~
<9.6
18 L..-...
.l
17 2.9•10 1

o Experimental points ~~ _j
1.4xl0 1
-~

c Incoherent scatter level 1.2•10 1

15 ~~
x From turbulence model ~~

- 14 ) 2.6•10 1

-
CD X
~

a: s~ ~,!vel~.!!l!!r~si!!.Q!! ~!!eb- ____ 13 2.3•10 2

1&.1 ~ 12 6.5,10 1

~
:;:
<>
Q;
I II 7.6•10 1
1&.1
> 10 1.4111.102

ti
..J
9 .I 3.2•10 1
1&.1
a: 8 j 2.0•10 1

10
7
J 6.4• 10 1

c 6 ) 4.1xl0 2 6
c
5
J 8.1•102

4km Sv =2.111. 102 Ss "2.0,10 1

I I I I I I.1.Ll LLLLLLLUWU~~LLlL
-40 -30 -10 -10 0 10 10 30 40 m/s -40 -30 -10 -:o 0 10 10 lO 40 m/s

0 ~ ro ~ ~ ~ ro ro oo oo Radial Velocity
Antenna Beam VertiCOI
Rodtol Veloctt y

Antenna Becm 27° W From Zemth

HEIGHT (km)
Fig. 2.1 First backscatter power profile obtained from fluctuations
of the refractive index in the mesosphere, stratosphere and tropo-
sphere, measured with the 50-MHz radar at Jicamarca, Peru (from
Woodman and Guillen, 1974).
23:30 z 7710 3125 23 33 z
Fig. 2.2 Doppler spectra received by the 40.5-MHz Sunset radar
near Boulder, Colorado, with (left) vertically pointing and (right)
off-vertical beams (from Gage and Green, 1978). Sv and 55 denote
the peak spectral power with vertical and oblique beams, respectively.
238 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
and Czechowsky, 1977), in agreement with the earlier
conjectures by Atlas ( 1964) that surfaces of refractive index
discontinuiti~s may produce specular radar reflections.
Such reflections were also observed with the Sunset radar
(Gage and Green, 1978, 1979).
In the second half of the 1970s, radars were built in
several new locations (see Rottger, 1984a, for a list of tech-
nical details, and Table 5.4 of this chapter for a more up-
to-date summary), since it was recognized that important
atmospheric parameters, such as the three-dimensional
wind vector, the structure constant of refractive index tur-
bulence Cn 2, clear-air turbulence intensity, stable stratifi-
cations and wave phenomena, could be observed almost
continuously in the lower atmosphere (Balsley, 1978a,b;
Balsley and Green, 1978; Rottger et al., 1978).
Radar system sensitivity determines the extent to which
measurements can be made in the !foposphere and lower
§.tratosphere, and the radars then are sometimes called ST
radars, while those capable of making measurements in
the mesosphere as well are called MST radars. The name
MST radar was adopted during the workshop on the Use
of Radar for Atmospheric Research in the 1980s (Gordon,
1978). Many of the MST radars operate at frequencies
around 50 MHz, and therefore the name VHF radar is
often used, too. Radars operating in the UHF band around
400, 900 and 1200 MHz have been used in tropospheric
and stratospheric sounding applications, especially in re-
cent years. A bistatic S-band radar (UHF) has been used
for stratospheric turbulence studies (Woodman, 1980a),
and a medium frequency ( MF) radar has been used in
detecting stratospheric echoes ( Czechowsky et al., 1983)
and in making stratospheric wind measurements (Adams
et al., 1986). Although MF and S-band radars have been
used in a few special situations, the most common fre-
quencies by far have been in the VHF range around 50
MHz and in the UHF range around 400 MHz. Since the
radars also measure winds, the term "wind profiler" has
gained acceptance with meteorologists. Wind profiling ra-
dars yield real-time lower atmosphere wind profiles in
continuous unattended operation.
Typical peak pulse powers of UHF/ VHF radars and
wind profilers are several tens of kilowatts, whereas a few
high-sensitivity research radars use peak pulse powers up
to some megawatts. Altitude resolution of 100 m or better
and time resolution of 10 s or less is possible. The antenna
beams are usually pointed in a few directions close to the
zenith by phasing arrays of Yagis or coaxial-collinear
(COCO) dipole antennas. Antennas with gains of about
30 dB are common, corresponding to antenna apertures
of several thousand square meters in the low VHF band
or some hundreds of square meters in the UHF band. Only
exceptionally sensitive research radars, such as those at
Arecibo and Jicamarca, have significantly larger antenna
apertures of about 50 000 and 80 000 m 2, respectively.
The UHF/ VHF radars and wind profilers almost always
operate in the monostatic mode. Coherent detection, digital
control, and digital data acquisition are applied, and pulse
coding is frequently used to enhance altitude resolution
and sensitivity by allowing full use of the average power
that the transmitter can deliver. The basic instrumental
technique, data acquisition, and data analysis methods are
now at the stage where the initial development is complete,
but optimization and refinements are still needed. There
is also considerable room for developing and exploiting
newer applications such as interferometry. At present, a
few radars are designed specifically for meteorological ap-
plication in routine wind profiling (e.g., Strauch et al.,
1984), but most are operated as research radars. In section
5, the technical features of a research radar, the 46.5-MHz
Middle and Upper Atmosphere (MU) radar in Japan (Fu-
kao et al., 1980a), are compared to the features of a 405-
MHz wind profiler radar developed for operational use
and operated in Colorado (Strauch et al., 1983). Basic op-
erating parameters of other MST radars and wind profilers
are presented in Table 5.4.
3 ECHO CHARACTERISTICS,
SCATTERING AND REFLECTION
MECHANISMS, AND CONSEQUENCES
FOR TECHNIQUES,
INTERPRETATION, AND ANALYSIS
Detailed descriptions of observations and theory are
found in the companion review by Gage (Chapter 28a).
We will summarize here the observational aspects relevant
to the application of the radar technique and to the analysis
and interpretation of the measurements.
3.1 General Characteristics
Early results from the Sunset radar and the SOUSY-
VHF radar are shown in Figs. 2.2, 3.1 and 3.2. These il-
lustrate the typical characteristics of echoes detected with
VHF radars operating at frequencies near 50 MHz.
Figure 2.2 shows spectra obtained with the Sunset radar,
illustrating the aspect sensitivity typical for vertically
beaming 50-MHz radars. The left-hand spectra were mea-
sured with a zenith-pointing beam and the right-hand
spectra with an off-vertical beam. The signal spectrum
power is much weaker with the off-vertical than with the
vertical beam. Also, the vertical spectra are only slightly
offset from zero frequency because of the small mean ver-
tical velocity of the atmospheric inhomogeneities in the
radar volume. The off-vertical spectra, on the other hand,
have larger offsets because the inhomogeneities are carried
by the horizontal wind; giving a larger Doppler shift. The
wind velocity can be determined, in tum, by measuring
the Doppler shift. The spectra are wider at off-vertical than
at vertical incidence, suggesting that the scattering/re-
flecting inhomogeneities seen close to the zenith fluctuate
less, i. e., are more stable and persistent, than those at off-
 UHF fVHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 239

24.0

2 1.0 19JUNE 1978 20JUNE 1978

18.0

E
~
15.0
....... 1040-
N
1105GMT
12.0

9.0

10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40
Pr/dB Pr/dB
Fig. 3.1 Power profiles measured with 150-m height resolution and vertical (VE) and off-vertical
(OB = 12.5°) antenna beams with the SOUSY-VHF radar in West Germany at 52.5 MHz (after
Rottger, 1980a) .

vertical. The aspect sensitivity is typical for the longer
wavelength radars operating near 50 MHz, whereas it does
not appear to be important at 430 MHz (Sato and Wood-
man, 1982a) or higher frequencies. Figure 3.1 shows ex-
amples of power profiles measured with 150-m height res-
olution and a 7.5° beamwidth at vertical incidence and at
12.5° off-vertical. A number of the features are typical of
most VHF radar observations of the stratosphere and tro-
posphere. The average power decreases with height by
roughly 2-3 dB per kilometer in the lower stratosphere. A
power maximum is observed with a vertical beam just
6 MARCH 1981
173
above the tropopause, here at 11 km. The power decreases
by roughly 3-6 dB in the troposphere. The aspect sensi-
tivity is more than 10 dB over 12.5° zenith angle. The
difference in power in the vertical and off-vertical beams
is much less pronounced in the troposphere than in the
stratosphere, and the power may even be similar in mag-
nitude when measured with vertical and off-vertical beams
in the troposphere. The signal disappears into the noise at
a level between 16 and 18 km for the oblique beams and
around 24 km altitude for the vertical beam. These power
profiles, measured at 53.5 MHz with pulse coding, 150-m
resolution, 24 kW average power and 31 dB antenna gain,
give a benchmark for estimating the maximum altitude
from which echoes can be detected for a given set of in-
· - ·- ~ l strumental parameters. Hocking et al. ( 1986) extended

~ :::; :::.:.• '· ;:.,: : .: : :~·;:·l: ~:.: ~:. .;: i: : ~, ; ;~;: : ·.: :.,.;.,.:
....
. .. . ...···: ..:::. i; i~:s;;_a! : :: : · :':
such measurements to altitudes around 30 km and noted
that the aspect sensitivity apparently becomes less pro-
nounced above 15-18 km.
The stratospheric power profile is characterized by fine-
structure observed with a vertical beam that is not quite
, ;.: - :;r:; · u::l~u -: : . : .
as apparent off vertical. The structure and its temporal

:: :;: . • :· .:·: .:;::::~~:...:;f.~!::!~:~::::: : :·' . ·,

evolution are evident in Fig. 3.2, which shows a modified
.: :.: height-time intensity plot of tropospheric and stratospheric
echo structures in which the mean power profile has been
1" • ~; :.II~ 1::.: • • • I ; ~ ~ JIi i ! I i :I *I II. ": • •• : : : : ; 1 11: 1a1 UIIIU I' •:: ••• ff I ll ••• ,~:: l Ill: • :1
subtracted to make the finestructure more evident. Very
: •; o o .1

2.3 ' ::T;:;~:!'"::~:!:!!!ii:!~u!!!!!~l:lli!l!llll!ll•n•!!

_llf~ !.U: ... .._ ll!!ii•iiim~uinr•ll.:!:ll!!~~!ll!l'l
u .n uyruUolu•• .. u ..
....oLo..a. •• · .... . ..,.._.... ......... . . . . .
thin structures that sometimes stay within the same 150-
1100 1110 1120 1130 1140 UTC
m-wide height range for several tens of minutes are pres-
Fig. 3.2 150-m resolution height-time intensity plot of tropospheric ent. The stratospheric structures again reveal longer
and stratospheric echo finestructure observed with vertical beam at persistency than the tropospheric structures. Similar fine-
52.5 MHz (from Hocking and Rottger, 1983). structure has been studied in detail by Sato and Wood-
240 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
man (1982a) with the 430-MHz Arecibo radar, although
the layers observed at UHF appear to be turbulent rather
than stable and persistent in nature, as observed at 50
MHz. The power profiles measured simultaneousiy at
larger zenith angles with 46.8-MHz and 430-MHz fre-
quencies at Arecibo show fairly similar features (Rottger,
1986a).
The same characteristics have been seen and studied in
detail in many subsequent investigations with other radars,
particularly with the MU radar (e.g., Sato et al., 1985;
Tsuda et al., 1986). The theory of isotropic scattering ap-
pears to explain some features of the VHF radar echoes
and their consequences, particularly at off-vertical inci-
dence (see Chapter 28a), and most of the features observed
with UHF and higher frequencies. However, anisotropic
scatter cannot be ignored at lower frequencies. Mesospheric
echoes have quite different properties, which have been
described in the review of MF, HF and VHF radar studies
of the mesosphere by Hocking (1987a).
In order to explain the VHF observations, two different
basic echoing mechanisms are required, namely scattering
and reflection (see Chapters 27a and 28a). The real echoing
mechanism probably deviates significantly from either of
the two idealistic cases. For monostatic radars, backscatter
and reflection arise from the component of the spatial
spectrum of the variation of the refractive index n, char-
acterized by a spatial scale along the axis of the radar beam
that is half the radar wavelength, ranging from a few me-
ters for low VHF to less than a meter at UHF. The process
has been called Bragg or turbulence scatter if a radar vol-
ume is homogeneously filled with randomly distributed
and fluctuating irregularities and called (partial) reflection
if an inhomogeneity in the form of stable discontinuities
or steplike variations in the refractive index becomes im-
portant. The latter case most likely occurs at longer radar
wavelengths. These two idealized cases rarely occur and
should be replaced by more realistic models that combine
and modify the simpler mechanisms.
3.2 Radar Equations for Scattering
and ReSection
The refractive index variations that cause the scattering
or reflection are directly related to variations of the at-
mospheric parameters: humidity, temperature, and pres-
sure (corresponding to air density) . The refractive index
for the troposphere and stratosphere at VHF and UHF is
(see Balsley and Gage, 1980):
-6 P -t e Ne
n=1+77.6X10 T+3.73X10 T2 -40.3f02 (1)
where e is the partial pressure of water vapor in mb (hu-
midity),p is the atmospheric pressure in mb, Tis the ab-
solute temperature, Ne is the number density of free elec-
trons per m3 , and f 0 is the operating frequency in Hz. The
ionospheric term proportional to the electron density need
not be considered below the mesosphere (e.g., Hocking,
1985). The wet term, proportional to e, is usually most
important in the lower troposphere, whereas in the upper
troposphere and stratosphere the dry term, proportional
to p, dominates, and the variations in the refractive index
are essentially determined by variations in the temperature.
When atmospheric turbulence mixes the vertical profile
of the refractive index and the associated gradients, fluc-
tuations of n result that cause scattering of electromagnetic
waves. The refractive index structure constant Cn 2 , which
is related to the mean square fluctuations ( iln 2 ) of the
refractive index, is defined by (Otters ten, 1969a):
(2)
where a is a constant (about 5) and L0 is the outer scale
of turbulence in the inertial subrange, which is proportional
to the square root of the turbulent energy dissipation rate
t: and the -3 / 2 power of the buoyancy frequency N8 .
The radar reflectivity for scattering from volume-filling,
isotropic turbulence in the inertial subrange is (Otters ten,
1969b):
(3)
where A is the radar wavelength. The relation holds only
for radar wavelengths several times larger than the micro-
scale of the inertial subrange of turbulence. Also, the as-
sumption that the turbulence is isotropic is questionable
for the wavelength range that characterizes VHF radars.
The microscale depends on turbulence intensity, i.e., tur-
bulent velocity fluctuations, and the kinematic viscosity.
The latter increases as a function of altitude, placing a
lower limit on the radar wavelengths that can be used to
detect echoes from the troposphere and stratosphere ac-
cording to the theory.
The received radar echo power P. for isotropic volume
scatter is given by the radar equation
(4)
where P1 is the peak transmitter power, a an efficiency
factor for the antenna transmission lines, AE the effective
antenna area, r the distance to the center of the scattering
volume, and ilr the range gate width (from Balsley and
Gage, 1980). The scattered power is independent of the
angle at which the antenna illuminates the volume. The
beamwidth can be defined in a number of ways, including
a triangular weighting as above, a top-hat distribution, a
Gaussian distribution, or a parabola. The chosen definition
affects AE and leads to constants other than 81r in Eq. 4 or
the factor of 4 in Eq. ( 5) described below. Differences in
the factors resulting from the various definitions are only
about 10% (see Probert-Jones, 1962, and Atlas, 1964, for
a discussion) .

The aspect sensitivity and persistency of radar echoes
observed by vertically beaming radars operating around
50 MHz indicate that partial reflections from steep vertical
gradients of th~ refractive index (discontinuities) are im-
portant (Gage and Green, 1978; Rottger and Liu, 1978),
and the radar equation has to be extended to cover this
condition. The power received by reflection from a single
discontinuity is
(5)
where p is the amplitude reflection coefficient of the dis-
continuity, which is a function of the radar wavelength
and the vertical refractive index gradient (e.g., Gage et al.,
1981a). The partially reflected power is a maximum when
the radar antenna beam is normal to the extension of the
discontinuity.
A number of critical, but often unrealistic, assumptions
must be satisfied in order to provide a meaningful inter-
pretation when either of the two basic radar equations is
applied. For Eq. ( 4) to apply, the scattering volume has to
be homogeneously filled with irregularities; otherwise a
filling factor F. must be introduced (e.g., VanZandt et al.,
1977). The scattering process has to be isotropic; otherwise
the scattered power will depend on the look angle of the
antenna (e.g., Doviak and Zrnic, 1984b; Waterman et al.,
1985a), which has not been considered in formulating Eq.
( 4). When applying Eq.( 5), the amplitude reflection coef-
ficient cannot be determined uniquely, since it depends
strongly on the shape of the refractive index profile over
a distance of less than one radar wavelength, i.e., the spatial
Fourier transform of the profile evaluated at half the radar
wavelength. Also, more than one partially reflecting dis-
continuity is frequently observed in the radar volume, so
that the reflection coefficient I p 1 2 has to be replaced by
Llr( Fr( M) ) 2, where Fr is a calibration constant, dependent
on the radar wavelength and on altitude (Gage et al.,
1985), and (M) is the mean generalized refractive index
gradient ( Ottersten, 1969c; Hocking and Rottger, 1983).
The generalized reflection coefficient (Fr(M)) 2, multiplied
by Z1rAE/ A2, can be regarded as the counterpart of the
volume radar reflectivity f/. The apparent inconsistency in
the given radar equations is thus eliminated, since Eq. ( 4)
uses reflectivity per unit volume and Eq. ( 5) uses the re-
flectivity of a singular discontinuity.
3.3 Bragg Scatter, Fresnel ReSection,
and Fresnel Scatter
Discriminating between the different scattering and
partial reflection processes is not readily possible without
looking at the aspect sensitivity, temporal and spatial co-
herency, spectral shape, and other features of the radar
echoes. A nomenclature based on the principal differences
in echo characteristics, shown schematically in Fig. 3.3,
UHF fVHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 241
Bragg scatter
N
......
:X:
CJ
Fresnel reflection
w
:X:
REFRACTIVE INDEX VARIATION An
Fig. 3.3 Schematic depiction of the spatial variations ~n of the
refractive index in the vertical direction. The radar range gate is
indicated by A.z. Depending on the structure of n within the range
gate A.z, the different processes of Bragg scatter, Fresnel reflection
and Fresnel scatter can occur. The abscissa could also resemble the
horizontal direction x, namely indicating schematically the relative
horizontal extent of surfaces of constant refractive index variations
n for the different processes. Note that Bragg scatter occurs at every
range where the variation of n is similar to the variation in the
indicated range.
has become accepted in the UHF /VHF radar community.
A number of articles have dealt with the theory and the
experimental methods that can be used to study the scat-
tering and reflection mechanisms (e.g., Gage and Balsley,
1980; Liu and Yeh, 1980; Rottger, 1980b; Hocking and
Rottger, 1983; Doviak and Zmic, 1984b; Waterman et al.,
1985a). Chapter 28a presents an overview of our present
understanding, so we will only delineate the basic char-
acteristics. The applicability of the mechanisms depends
on the radar wavelength, since the refractive index vari-
ations that cause the echoes have no common character-
istics at the different spatial scales corresponding to the
radar wavelengths and the Fresnel zone.
The principal scattering mechanism was introduced to
tropospheric radio propagation by Booker and Gordon
( 1950) and has been extended to include radar backscat-
tering from the clear-air by Otters ten ( 1969a,b,c). The
process is frequently called Bragg scatter (Gossard et al.,
1982); the term turbulence scatter is also used. Bragg scat-
ter can be isotropic, i.e., without causing aspect sensitivity,
if the turbulent irregularities of the refractive index are
homogeneously random and statistically similar in all di-
rections (homogeneous and isotropic). Bragg scatter can
be anisotropic, causing an aspect sensitivity if the statistical
properties of the irregularities, namely their correlation
distances, are dependent on direction. Although the an-
gular (spatial) dependence of the radar echoes, i.e., the
aspect sensitivity, for isotropic and anisotropic Bragg scatter
is different, the temporal variations of the radar echoes
should be similar because of the randomly fluctuating ir-
 242 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
regularities, and the Doppler spectrum should show a
shape that is approximately Gaussian.
Fresnel reflection is observed if a single, dominating dis-
continuity of 'the refractive index with a large horizontal
extent exists in the vertical direction. A distinct aspect sen-
sitivity should be observed. High-resolution, vertical power
profiles should reveal prominent spikes (Fig. 3.1), and
height-time intensity plots should show thin and persistent
structures (Fig. 3.2). The temporal variations should in-
dicate long coherence times. The process is also called par-
tial reflection, because only a small fraction of the incident
power is reflected. Fresnel reflection is also called specular
reflection by some authors if the horizontal surface of the
discontinuity is assumed to be smooth, and diffuse reflec-
tion if the discontinuity is ·assumed to be corrugated or
somewhat rough (Beckmann and Spizzichino, 1963; Rott-
ger, 1980b).
Fresnel scatter occurs if several or many refractive index
discontinuities (instead of a single discontinuity) exist
along the pointing direction of the radar beam in the range
resolution cell. The stratification in the atmosphere gen-
erally causes these discontinuities to be randomly distrib-
uted along an axis close to the vertical direction with a
large correlation distance in the horizontal direction (Gage
et al., 1981a, 1985; Doviak and Zmic, 1984b). The radar
echoes appear to have a distinct aspect sensitivity, but,
because the discontinuities are statistically independent,
the temporal echo characteristics are similar to those of
Bragg scatter. The statistical distribution of the disconti-
nuities produces an average power proffie that varies fairly
smoothly with altitude. An alternative interpretation of
Fresnel scatter at vertical incidence is quasi-specular re-
flection from the horizontally oriented facets of waves on
a multiplicity or a few or more laminae within the pulse
volume such that the reflections from all the facets add
incoherently (see, e.g., VanZandt and Vincent, 1983 ). Al-
though another and perhaps better nomenclature could
be applied in describing this mechanism, "Fresnel scatter"
has become the common terminology used in the literature.
Fresnel scatter and reflection are more likely to occur at
longer radar wavelengths, i.e., in the low VHF band, or in
the bistatic mode even at higher frequencies (e.g., Atlas et
al., 1969). The terms Fresnel scatter and Fresnel reflection
have been introduced because the horizontal correlation
distance of the discontinuities is longer than the radar
wavelength but of the order of the Fresnel zone (zX) 1 12 •
The transition to Bragg scatter takes place for correlation
distances much smaller than a fraction of the Fresnel zone.
The Fresnel zones of typical UHF and VHF radars areal-
ways smaller than the region illuminated by the radar beam
in the far field of the antenna, i.e., typically in the tropo-
sphere above a few kilometers and in the stratosphere.
Thus, the beamwidth limiting effect need not be considered
(Liu and Yeh, 1980). The definition of Fresnel scatter and
Fresnel reflection depends, in some sense, on the radar
range resolution; Fresnel scatter is more likely to be ob-
served with coarse height resolution and Fresnel reflection
with good height resolution. The discontinuities must be
of the order of a radar wavelength or less in the vertical
direction but of broad extent in horizontal direction, which,
because of diffusion, should be more likely to happen at
larger vertical scales. The nomenclature of thin "sheets"
or "laminae" to describe the 50-MHz observations (Rott-
ger, 1980a) was borrowed from oceanography where sim-
ilar finestructure is observed. The reason for the coexistence
of refractive index turbulence and discrete discontinuities
(sheets) may be due to the gradients developing at bound-
aries of turbulent layers, or some other yet unproven
mechanisms, as summarized in Chapter 28a. The com-
parison between simulations and computations by Sheen
et al. ( 1985) and the distribution functions of 50-MHz
radar echoes demonstrates that some fraction of the signals
occurs at altitudes consistent with the model of reflection
from a single, diffuse sheet, causing focusing and defo-
cusing, as proposed by Atlas ( 1964). Boundary layer ob-
servations of multiple-layer finestructure similar to that
observed in the upper troposphere and stratosphere are
described in Chapter 27a.
Although finestructure in the radar echo power proffie
is also observed at 430 MHz (e.g., Sato and Woodman,
1982a; Rastogi and Woodman, 1983 }, at 440 MHz (Wand
et al., 1983) and at 2380 MHz (Woodman, 1980a), it is
not obvious that the finestructure observed at 50 MHz
with a vertical beam is of similar nature or origin. UHF
radars probably detect only Bragg scatter, whereas radars
in the VHF band will usually detect a combination of the
different processes, particularly when using a vertical
beam. The effect is illustrated by the Doppler spectra in
Fig. 3.4, which were measured with a 7.5° wide vertical
beam and 150-m height resolution. The spectra are a com-
bination of weak Gaussian-shaped background spectra on
which narrow spikes are superimposed (see also Rottger,
1980b, and Hocking, 1986, for further examples). Only
the spectrum at 3000 m displays the background, whereas
the other two spectra do not. The Gaussian parts of the
spectra are supposed to be partly due to Bragg scatter from
a background of turbulence and partly due to scatter from
off-vertical irregularities carried by the wind (beamwidth
broadening). The superimposed spikes in discrete fre-
quency bins, which were shown by Rottger ( 1980b) to
exceed the significance limits of Gaussian spectral shapes,
are either due to Fresnel scatter or more likely due to Fres-
nel or diffuse reflection from a rough surface, i.e., several
discrete regions with large reflection coefficients moving
with different velocities. The 50-MHz spectra are not nec-
essarily dominated by spikes if the antenna is pointed far
enough away from zenith ( -10°-15°) such that the
(nearly isotropic) Bragg scatter component dominates. The
spectra in Fig. 3.4, in combination with the evidence of
aspect sensitivity shown in Fig. 3.1, indicate that Fresnel

1,0
· h•3300m
·04 ·02 QZ Q4 ...02 02: -Qc. ~02:
Af-Hz
Fig. 3.4 Doppler spectra of 52.5-MHz radar echoes measured with
a vertical beam (7.5° wide) and 150-m height resolution, averaged
over 80 seconds (from Rottger, 1984c).
scatter and particularly Fresnel reflection generally yield a
larger echo power than Bragg scatter from turbulence
(Hocking, 1986) .
3.4 Consequences of the Scattering/
ReSection Processes
With a near-vertical beam at 50 MHz, the observed
echoes are usually a combination of the scattering/reflec-
tion processes summarized above, although one mecha-
nism may dominate at any given time, and the relative
contributions of humidity and temperature also vary. These
effects have consequences for (a) the interpretation of
UHF /VHF radar echoes, (b) the analysis methods and
data acquisition procedures, (c) the technical design of the
radar hardware, and (d) the choice of operating methods.
The essential considerations, particularly for radars oper-
ating in the VHF range, are summarized here, and some
of them will be elucidated later in the chapter:
1 ) The deduction of the turbulence refractive index
structure constant Cn 2 from signal power or velocity fluc-
tuations is difficult. Although Gage (Chapter 28a) discusses
a model by VanZandt et al. (1978) that can produce values
of Cn2, a number of adjustable parameters in the model
raise doubts about its general applicability. The determi-
nation of the reflection coefficient is possible, in principle,
but it does not allow the shape of the reflecting laminae
to be deduced. It is not yet clear how to distinguish between
the contributions of humidity and temperature variations
to the scattering/ reflection process in the lower and middle
troposphere. The estimate of velocity fluctuations, i.e., the
turbulence energy dissipation rate E from Cn2, is not possible
with any useful accuracy. Discriminating between Fresnel
reflection, Fresnel scatter, and anisotropic and isotropic
Bragg scatter is not possible unambiguously. Frequently,
these processes even have to be regarded as interrelated.
2) Non-volume filling scatter and reflection from sev-
erallaminae have an influence on the accuracy of velocity
determinations. The often simultaneously occurring scat-
tered and reflected signal components need to be separated
and treated by different analysis procedures. The effective
UHF /VHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 243
beam angle is changed due to anisotropic scatter and re-
flection.
3) If off-vertical beams are used, antenna sidelobes close
to the zenith direction have to be sufficiently suppressed
to reduce unwanted signals from reflected components.
Otherwise signal power and velocity estimates will be in-
0.2: 04
accurate.
4) In addition to the evident aspect sensitivity and a
larger persistency, the echoes due to Fresnel scatter and
Fresnel reflection are frequently much stronger than the
echoes due to Bragg scatter, enhancing the radar sensitivity
and allowing 50-MHz radars to detect echoes from higher
altitudes with a vertical beam than with off-vertical beams.
5) The so-called Doppler method is more convenient
and applicable for measuring wind profiles when scattering
processes are dominant, i.e., at large off-vertical angles at
VHF or at UHF generally. The spaced antenna method,
using vertical beams, may be more efficient for measuring
wind profiles when Fresnel scatter or reflection processes
are dominant, i.e., at VHF. These two methods will be
explained in more detail in the following section.
Ongoing work on the subjects summarized under items
1-4 will likely shed more light on the processes, resolve
remaining ambiguities and lead to a generalized procedure
for deducing atmospheric parameters with better accuracy
and reliability.
4 RADAR WIND MEASUREMENT
TECHNIQUES
The capabilities of VHF /UHF radars include the mea-
surement of the three-dimensional velocity vector, the di-
vergence of the velocity field, the determination of mo-
mentum flux and atmospheric stability, and wave,
turbulence and precipitation observations. In this section
we will concentrate on the techniques used to measure the
mean wind field, since this is where the VHF 1UHF radars
have found their greatest application, particularly in the
radar meteorology community and in their application as
wind profilers. We also include a discussion of other pa-
rameters that can be deduced directly or as a by-product
of these wind measurements, such as velocity divergence
and aspect sensitivity. Limitations and precautions are only
briefly mentioned in this section, since they will be dis-
cussed in more detail in section 7. Particular applications
requiring more specialized methods and not yet in oper-
ational use, such as measurements of wave and turbulence
parameters, momentum flux and stability, and the location
of fronts and the tropopause, will be treated in section 8.
Two methods are primarily used for measuring velocities
with VHF /UHF radars, although modifications of these
methods are also applied, e.g., wind measurements from
dual beam patterns (Atlas and Wexler, 1965) or with im-
aging Doppler interferometers (Adams et al., 1985b). One
244 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
method uses two or more narrow beams pointed in dif-
ferent directions. By measuring the Doppler frequency of
Bragg scatter echoes, the wind velocity vector can be de-
termined (Wilson -and Miller, 1972; Gage and Balsley,
1978). This method is usually referred to as the Doppler
method. The second method uses a vertical-beam antenna
for transmission and three or more horizontally spaced,
vertical-beam receiving antennas. The echoes, which in
the low VHF band are typically a result of Fresnel scatter
or reflection, are cross-correlated to determine the wind
velocity (Briggs, 1977; Rottger and Vincent, 1978) in the
technique known as the spaced antenna method. These
two methods are described in more detail in sections 4.1
and 4.2, respectively. Both methods are, in principle, based
on the same physical mechanism, namely that echoes
scattered or reflected from moving irregularities in different
directions show a different Doppler shift, which is mea-
sured with the Doppler method to deduce the velocity.
Fading signal amplitudes or a drifting diffraction pattern
at the ground will result from the interference pattern of
echo amplitudes from moving scatterers or particular re-
flecting regions located in different directions. The fading
pattern is measured with the spaced antenna method in
order to deduce the velocity. The two methods are shown
schematically in Fig. 4.1.
4.1 The Doppler Method
With the Doppler method the Doppler shift of the back-
scattered radar echoes is measured over a set of beam di-
rections as shown in Fig. 4.1. Complex autocovariance or
spectral analysis, and further digital processing outlined
in section 6, yields the radial velocities V 1 in different beam-
pointing directions. These line-of-sight velocities are then
used to calculate the three orthogonal wind components.
The method is, in principle, a simplified version of the
well-known VAD (velocity-azimuth display) method. For
3-DIM VELOCITY MEASUREMENTS WITH VHF-RADAR
SPACED-ANTENNA IVf:Tl-100 DOPPLER METHOD
vertical velocity W
Fig. 4.1 The principle of three-dimensional velocity measurements
with MST radars (after Rtittger, 1981).
a constant zenith angle o, V 1 will vary sinusoidally with
the azimuth angle a if the wind field is uniform. Fourier
analysis of the data series V 1(a) taken at a several azimuths
yields the eastward wind U and northward wind V directly
from the Fourier coefficients, along with the vertical ve-
locity from the constant offset. However, profiling radars
usually observe the vertical velocity with better accuracy
by measuring it with a vertical beam.
The VAD method is simplified in most MST radar ap-
plications by using only three fixed beam positions, one
at a zenith angle o = 0° and two or more other beam
directions at a zenith angle different from zero and at dif-
ferent azimuth angles a. Preferably, the azimuths for the
off-vertical beams should be orthogonal if only two off-
vertical beams are used. We can obtain U, V and W directly
from the measurements of V 1 along the three beam direc-
tions, in what we will call the fixed beam method. The
simplest method uses only two beam directions at different
azimuths and assumes that the vertical velocity, averaged
over a suitable observation time, is negligible. The impact
of atmospheric and instrumental effects on the accuracies
of those methods is discussed in section 7.
To obtain an estimate of the vertical velocity W as well
as the aspect sensitivity, a velocity-elevation display (VED)
can be used. Here the azimuth is kept constant and the
elevation angle is changed from +o to - o. A fit of the
portion of the sinusoidal variation within these limits of o
to the data series V o) yields the projection of the hori-
1
(
zontal velocity U sin ( o) + V cos ( o), and W. The signal
power variation as a function of oyields the aspect sen-
sitivity. U and V can also be determined if the elevation
scan is extended to two azimuth directions. The number
of beam directions necessary to measure U, V and W, as
well as their divergences, was estimated by Chadwick et
al. ( 1984) and is shown in Table 4.1. Three antenna di-
rections are obviously necessary to obtain the full three-
dimensional wind vectors. At least five beam positions are
necessary to measure all the velocity components and the
divergence (Clark et al., 1986a). More information on the
VAD, VED and fixed beam Doppler measurements can be
found in the articles by Browning and Wexler ( 1968), Wil-
son and Miller ( 1972), Battan ( 1973), Peterson and Balsley
( 1979), Koscielny et al. ( 1984), and Strauch et al. ( 1983).
Koscielny et al. ( 1984) discussed uncertainties and biases
that are introduced if only a limited number of beam po-
sitions are used.
An example of the spectra obtained from a VED mea-
surement with a VHF radar is shown in Fig. 4.2 (from
Tsuda et al., 1986). The antenna beam of the Middle and
Upper Atmosphere (MU) radar ( 46.5 MHz) was set at
constant azimuth and moved in zenith angle steps of 2 °.
The Doppler shift increases in proportion to the sine of
the zenith angle, because the horizontal wind component
is nonzero. The remaining Doppler shift when pointing
vertically is due to a vertical velocity W, provided that W
is homogeneous over the range of the antenna scan. Evi-
 UHF fVHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 245

TABLE 4.1
Number of DUierent Beam Directions Needed to Measure Mean Wind Components and Their Divergences•
(From Chadwick et al., 1984)

u v w w w
au ilv iJw
-
iJw
- iJw
-
Namber of beam clJrec:tiont u v w i1x Oy iJz Oy i1x
Two I I 0 0 0 0 0 0
Three I I D 0 0 0 0 0
Four (Case 1) I I I I I I 0 0
Four (Case 2) I I 0 0 0 0 I I
Five (Case 1) I I D I I I I 0
Five (Case 2) I I D I I I 0 I
Eight I I I I I I I I

• 1: Indirect measurement
0: Direct measurement
0: Assumption that the parameter is zero.

dently, the signal power decreases with zenith angle, con- there is a lower limit to the zenith angle, below which
sistent with the fact that the scattering or reflecting medium significant echoes are no longer detected for a given radar
is anisotropic and horizontally stratified. As a consequence, configuration and the determination of velocity becomes
impossible. As found by Rottger et al. ( 1981) using a 46.8-
MHz radar, the power typically decreases by 1-2 dB deg - 1
.-.
;t ~
I o I
11o01 • 11oJI lT
13. 1 ~.:.
Id I
Ul oS9 • 01 o28 LT
l l . 8 k•
in the troposphere and by 2-3 dB deg - 1 in the lower
"'~=
-~0
stratosphere. The zenith angle dependence is only ob-
- 40
~E -so served out to about 10°-15°. These average values have

.. ..
been confirmed by a number of follow-up measurements
0

(e.g., Tsuda et al., 1986). Chapter 28a treats the theoretical

..
~ ~
6" ~ ,. ~
explanation of the angular dependence of these echoes in
s· ~ ~
more detail.
c===:::::::::C:::::: I o• ~ ~==~==~~~~ o·§
· I0 0 10 • 10 I0 The aspect sensitivity, measured by a two-point Doppler
RADIAL VEL OCITY I o/ol RADI Al VEL DC I TY C•I t J
VED method, is clearly evident in Fig. 4.3 (from Wakasugi
.-.
:~ - 30
Ib I
-
"'
:~ - JO
I e I
0 1, 59 • 01 • 28 LT
II . 5 k111
et al., 1985) and shows up in the comparison of the two
lower range-time intensity plots, which were measured
~; - 40 :::;=
.., _ - 40 with a 15° off-vertical beam and with a vertical beam. The
:; ~ -so o· ~ ~~ - sop=:;...._-r stratified (anisotropic) echo structures observed before
F=~~~::::l z·~
•. d
&· ~
F=~~~~~
..
e· ~
~
midnight with the vertical beam are not detected in the
off-vertical beam, whereas around 0400 and between 0900
a· ! a· ~ and 1200 local time the vertical and off-vertical beams
tt====::C::::::J I0 • ~ ~:;::;.:::.::J:=:::::c~...J 10 " ~ detect about the same (isotropic) echo strength. The aspect
·1 0 0 I0 ·10 10
RADIAL VElOCITY I o/ol "AOIAL VELOCITY lo/ol sensitivity is a measure of atmospheric stability and thus
.-.
=~ -JO
I c I
0 1,59 • 0 2 o28 lT
12' . -4 lr: •
.-.
=~ - 30
I f I
QI ,S9 • 02 o18 LT
7 . Q k•
allows the detection of stable layers, e.g., the tropopause.
The topic is treated more extensively by Green and Gage
E: - ·H) ~= - 40 (1980) and in Chapter 28a.
~~ - 50 :; ~ - so Figure 4.3 (upper diagram) shows another result of VHF

..
"'0
l==::::...,r~= radar measurements with the Doppler method, namely
~
the capability of deducing the vertical velocity component
e· ~
e· ~
at sufficiently short time scales to resolve mesoscale fea-
lt:::===:=:i:...~..J 10 " ~ lc:!::==z.__~.=n 10 " ~ tures (see also Larsen et al., 1988). The data were taken
·I 0 0 10 · 10 0 10
RADIAL VELOCITY le/o l RADIA L VElOCITY 1•'-1 during a cold-frontal passage, and it is apparent that many
of the observed velocity features would have been missed
Fig. 4.2 Half-hour averages of echo power spectra observed at 46.5 by the routine 12-h radiosonde observations.
MHz for zenith angles 0°, 2°, 4°, 6°, 8° and 10° at several altitudes Some errors in estimating the Doppler shift arise if the
between 7.9 km in the troposphere and 13.1 km in the stratosphere scattering/ reflection process is not isotropic, particularly
(from Tsuda et al., 1986; reprinted with permission from Birkhti"user at lower VHF, because the beamwidth is finite. The product
Verlag, ©1980). of the antenna beam pattern and the angular distribution
 19-20 J UNE 1984
Vertical and tranwc:rse airflow

12
E
~
10
w 8
0
::J
1--
6
1-- 4
_J
a: 2
15 18 21 0 3 6 9 12
ECHO POWER OF THE MU RADAR

E 10.0
..Jtl.

UJ
8.0 t. .
0
:::>
1- 6.0
..
.. ... .
-
~
1- ~

...J
a: 4.0

2.0
15 18 21 0 3 6 9 12
LOCAL TIME
IAz. Zel = 10. Ol
12.0

e 10.0 i'
·-!.!I
.
..Jtl.
....: •. .,~t·::
. ·• ·~ :; ~ : :i ;... .:• . ..... 4jl· i .
UJ
8.0 .M ,· :.~? · ~~ .!;._I .:1 . .:~. '. -
II ..
0 . .]~ · t . '\ . ..
~'i 'I' : !•·.r . c . "t',; '
"' ..

-
~ . · ·· ... II· f: : ·
1- 6.0 . Ji . ' : . : ' .

1-
...J
a: 'L 0

2.0
15 18 21 0 3 6 9 12
LOCAL TIHE
Fig. 4.3 Time-height cross sections of vertical/ transverse velocity, off-vertical and vertical echo power, measured at 46.5 MHz (after
Wakasugi et al., 1985; ©1979 IEEE).
 UHF JVHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 247

of the aspect sensitivity yields an effective beam direction spacings have to be preselected, the beam pointing angles
that is closer to zenith than the real pointing direction must be preselected when applying the Doppler method.
(Rottger, 1980b). An example is discussed in section 7. For larger zenith angles, the radial velocity gets larger and
The error due· to this effect is largest if a strong reflected the sampling rate has to be made short enough to resolve
component is observed and can result in an underestimate the full shift and width of the signal spectrum. The ap-
of the velocity by more than a factor of 2 (Tsuda et al., plication of either the spaced antenna and/ or the Doppler
1986). The error can be minimized by considering the ap- method has advantages and limitations, and there ob-
parent look angle, computed from the product of the real viously is a trade-off between accuracy, simplicity and cost-
beam pattern and the measured aspect sensitivity angular effectiveness in the planning and operating of a VHF 1
distribution, instead of the electromagnetic beam direction. UHF radar system.
Even for scattering, a similar underestimate can arise if
there are strong horizontal fluctuations of the wind veloc-
4.1.1 Comparisons with Radiosonde
ity, as discussed in section 7. As a result of these consid-
Wind Proliles
erations, the width of the antenna beam should be made
as small as possible. Comparisons of Doppler wind measurements with ra-
There are also several reasons for choosing the zenith winsondes have been carried out with almost all existing
angle of the antenna beam to be as small as possible (e.g., radars. A fair to good agreement has always been reported
Strauch et al., 1984): (e.g., Fukao et al., 1982; Larsen, 1983b). Fukao et al. ( 1982)
studied winds obtained with the Arecibo 430-MHz radar
• The wind field is more spatially uniform for smaller
on 26 different days and concluded that most of the dif-
separations of the probed radar volumes. Deviations from
ferences between the radar and balloon measurements in
uniformity cause a higher offset of the mean and a larger
the lower stratosphere can be explained by experimental
variance of the velocity estimates, especially if only fixed
errors, particularly those in the rawinsonde measurements.
beam methods are used (Koscielny et al., 1984).
The differences in the upper tropospheric wind data were
• The altitude resolution decreases with increasing zen-
explained by the spatial and temporal variations in the
ith angle. The effect is fairly pronounced for broad antenna
wind field, as also found by Rottger ( 1983). Many other
beamwidths.
comparisons of 50-MHz Doppler method measurements
• Since the range r to a specified altitude increases with
with radiosondes and aircraft have been made and have
zenith angle, a loss of sensitivity results due to the range
shown good agreement between the two techniques (e.g.,
square dependence of the echo power.
Gage and Balsley, 1978; Warnock et al., 1978; Ecklund et
• The effective aperture decreases with zenith pointing
al., 1979; Green et al., 1980a; Rottger and Czechowsky,
angle for a fixed antenna aperture assembled in the hori-
1980; Larsen, 1983b; Kato et al., 1986; Riister et al., 1986).
zontal plane.
Frisch et al. ( 1986) compared wind velocities measured
• The anisotropy of the scattering/ reflecting process
with a VHF and a UHF wind profiler and found an almost
yields stronger echoes near zenith. Care has to be taken,
one-to-one correlation. Fukao et al. ( 1982) came to the
however, because the velocity estimates can be biased be-
conclusion that 430-MHz as well as 50-MHz Doppler radar
cause of the apparent-look-angle effect if aspect sensitivity
measurements of winds provide more accurate as well as
is important.
more frequent wind profiles than conventional rawin-
Other effects support the choice of large zenith angles: sondes. Furthermore, the radars can measure the vertical
velocities, providing important supplemental data to the
• For a given ~ V ', the uncertainty of the horizontal ve-
indirect methods that are typically used to derive the ver-
locity is ~V = ~V'jsin(o). However, the larger the zenith
tical velocity from radiosonde data. The radar observations
angle the shorter the coherent integration time allowed to
also allow gravity wave fluctuations ("geophysical noise")
avoid aliasing and comb-filter attenuation. An increase in
to be integrated out; radiosonde observations do not. Lar-
the raw data rate results, but the sensitivity is not reduced.
sen ( 1983a) noted that an MST radar/ wind profiler can
• An instrumental error in the pointing direction causes
provide synoptically meaningful data and that the Doppler
larger deviations of the horizontal velocity estimate for
radar measurements produce data of a quality that is at
small o.
least comparable to the estimates of accuracy for radio-
• The pointing direction error due to the aspect sensi-
sonde data.
tivity at VHF is assumed to become negligible at large zen-
ith angles where isotropic scattering will dominate.
In summarizing these arguments, we find that a general
4.1 The Spaced Antenna Method
optimum pointing angle cannot be proposed, although Like a number of other developments in UHF /VHF ra-
Strauch et al. ( 1984) and Tsuda et al. ( 1986) suggest that dar techniques, the spaced antenna method dates back to
the zenith angle should be larger than 10°. As in the spaced the early ionospheric measurements of velocity (e.g., Briggs
antenna method described in section 4.2, where antenna et al., 1950). In the last decade it has been used extensively
248 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
for mesospheric and lower thermospheric wind measure-
ments (e.g., Fraser, 1984; Meek and Manson, 1987a). The
principles of the measurement of horizontal velocities with
this method are described in detail by Briggs (1977) and
in more recent papers by Briggs ( 1984) and Schminder
and Kiirschner ( 1984) . The vertical velocity is still mea-
sured by the Doppler method with vertical beams. Briggs
( 1980) has shown that the Doppler and spaced antenna
method are basically equivalent, although for practical
reasons the Doppler methods cannot always be used,
namely when a wide antenna beam is used. R0yrvik ( 1983)
concluded that a smaller and less sensitive radar system
benefits most by using the spaced antenna technique, while
a large antenna system, like that at Jicamarca, is not very
efficient in the spaced antenna mode and is used to better
advantage in the Doppler mode.
The analysis scheme applied to the spaced antenna
measurements has become known as the full correlation
analysis (FCA). The method is usually applied to allow
for effects of nonstationarity of scatterers and reflectors.
In the analysis developed by Briggs ( 1968a,b), the so-called
apparent velocity and the true velocity are determined.
The latter is found by applying the FCA. If both velocities
are equal, the relative importance of random changes of
the inhomogeneities, i.e., the turbulent wind variability, is
negligible compared to the mean wind motions. The ap-
plication of the FCA also yields other useful parameters,
such as the horizontal anisotropy of the refractive index
structures and their intrinsic variability. Hocking et al.
( 1988) recently reviewed all the applications, and Larsen
and Rottger ( 1988) describe the possibilities for utilizing
the spaced antenna method for wind profiling.
The spaced antenna (SA) method has been applied suc-
cessfully at several facilities in measuring tropospheric and
stratospheric winds, including the SOUSY-VHF radar
(Rottger and Vincent, 1978; Vincent and Rottger, 1980;
Rottger, 1981b), the Buckland Park radar in Australia
(Vincent et al., 1987) and the Chung-Li VHF radar (Fu,
Chiu and Kiang, personal communication, 1987), although
the Doppler method is by far the most common. An early
objection to the SA technique was its assumption of the
validity of the Taylor hypothesis, namely that the drifting
refractive index inhomogeneities are carried with the wind.
The appropriateness of the approximation has been con-
firmed by comparing spaced antenna velocity data with
data from in situ measurements by radiosondes and aircraft
(Rottger and Czechowsky, 1980).
The application of the spaced antenna method·to MST
radars has shown that the technique has both advantages
and disadvantages compared with other methods for
measuring winds. Aspect sensitivity argues in favor of the
spaced antenna method since it uses vertical-beam anten-
nas and, as a result, an increase in the signal-to-noise ratio
is usually gained. Also, antenna sidelobe effects are less
important. The fixed vertical beam positions are technically
much easier to handle than steerable antenna beams.
However, the spaced antenna method also requires signals
that are scattered or diffusively reflected from off-vertical
directions (Briggs, 1980), which means that a beamwidth
of at least a few degrees must be used. The latter condition
is usually easily fulfilled. It is also evident that the field
pattern on the ground depends on the degree of horizontal
correlation of the reflecting structures, as well as on the
width of the transmitter and receiver antenna beams, i.e.,
a large structure coherency and large antenna apertures
(narrow beams) cause large correlation distances of the
diffraction pattern on the ground (Briggs and Vincent,
1973), placing limits on the antenna size and separation.
A typical choice for the spacing of the receiving antennas
is such that the diffraction pattern drifts from one receiving
antenna to the other in not less than about 10% of the
signal correlation time. Observed average values of the
correlation time are mostly about 1 s, although much
higher and lower values can occur. Typical horizontal ve-
locities are between some meters per second to some tens
of meters per second, with average values around 20 m
s -t, yielding an optimum spacing of several tens of meters
for 50-MHz systems and placing an upper limit on the
antenna sizes, which in tum yields an upper limit on the
sensitivity of a spaced antenna system. For high signal-to-
noise ratios, which normally characterize signals from the
troposphere and lower stratosphere, the antenna size limit
does not impair the application of the spaced antenna
method. Instead, it provides another argument in support
of its application in small and cost-effective systems.
Of course many more details, such as analysis proce-
dures and data selection criteria, must be considered when
planning, designing and operating a spaced antenna sys-
tem, and the reader is referred to the comprehensive papers
by Gossard (1967), Briggs (1968a,b; 1977, 1980), Meek
(1978, 1980), Vincent and Rottger (1980), Rottger
(1981b), Hocking (1983c), R0yrvik (1983), May (1988),
Vincent et al. (1987) and Hocking et al. (1988). A VHF
or UHF spaced antenna system can also be used in the
interferometer mode, which yields additional information
about the spatial structure of waves and turbulence. The
application of the yet rarely used interferometer technique
and its potential for troposphere-stratosphere observations
are outlined in section 9.
4.2.1 Comparisons with Other Wind
Measurements and a Layout of a
Spaced Antenna Wind Proftler System
Vincent and Rottger ( 1980) first showed that spaced
antenna winds are in good agreement with radiosonde
winds. More comparisons were made by Rottger and Cze-
chowsky ( 1980) who reported results from an experiment
showing that aircraft and radar data were in excellent
agreement.
A comparison of a six-day time series of hourly radar
wind data obtained with the SA method and radiosonde

wind data is shown in Fig. 4.4a. The radar data and ra-
diosonde data are in good agreement. The agreement be-
comes even more apparent when the cross-correlation
functions of the radar and radiosonde wind data time series
are computed, as seen in Fig. 4.4b. The cross-correlation
analysis is not to be confused with the signal cross-cor-
relation analysis of the spaced antenna method. The tem-
poral displacement of the correlation functions results from
the effect of propagating synoptic-scale and mesoscale
disturbances causing deviations in the wind velocities
measured at separated locations. The fact that the corre-
lation functions of different radiosonde wind measure-
ments are similar to those of radiosonde and radar wind
data indicates that the data have about the same accuracy.
The radars, however, because of their high time resolution,
allow a much better estimate of the wind persistency, as
shown by the wind velocity autocorrelation functions dis-
played in Fig. 4.4b.
A detailed intercomparison of velocities measured with
the spaced antenna and the Doppler method has been
carried out by Vincent et al. ( 1987), who also made com-
parisons with 80 radiosonde profiles. Typical results are
shown in Fig. 4.5. There are no clear systematic differences
between either the spaced antenna and the Doppler ob-
servations or between the Doppler measurements them-
selves. Despite the small receiving antennas (3 X 16 Yagi
antennas) used for the SA observations, wind measure-
ments could be made up to the same upper altitude limit
as with the Doppler measurements with a much larger
antenna (a 7700-m 2 coaxial-collinear phased array an-
tenna used for transmission and reception). Most likely,
a Chung- Li, Taiwan, Republic of China (Chao et al., 1986).
360°
180°~-.------.-----.------.-----.----~--~
60.-------------------------------------~
U/ms_, Z•9.15km -VHFR-SAD
p=300 mb e RS-HAN
40
20
0+-ro~.-~ro-..-.-~-r.-.-~-r,-~-.~~
12 00 12 00 12 00 12 00 12 00 12 OOUTC12
I 6 FEB I 7FEB I 8 FEB I 9 FEB I10FEB82I
Fig. 4.4a Wind speed U and wind direction in the upper troposphere
measured with the spaced antenna method at the 52.5-MHz SOUSY-
VHF radar.
UHF /VHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 249
the reason is the higher signal-to-noise ratio achievable
with vertical-beam, spaced antennas due to the aspect
sensitivity. Vincent et al. concluded that their statistical
analysis showed excellent agreement, although the spaced
antenna velocities tended to be 1-2m s - 1 smaller than the
radiosonde velocities. Overall, the rms differences between
the sets of measurements were only 3-4 m s - 1, which they
found to be consistent with random errors inherent in each
technique, as well as the spatial separation between radar
and balloon observations (see also Fig. 4.4b).
Vincent et al. ( 1987) note that their study illustrates the
applicability of the spaced antenna method for meteoro-
logical observations. Based on the available results, the
spaced antenna method compares favorably with the tra-
ditional radiosonde and Doppler methods. The spaced an-
tenna method has potential advantages for wind profiling
compared with the Doppler method. As suggested earlier,
one operational advantage (Rottger, 1981a,b) is that no
mechanical switches are needed to phase the antenna as
in the more traditional MST radar applications. Therefore,
the antenna system is simple and less costly since no com-
plex antenna phasing is needed. The advantage as com-
pared to those Doppler radars that use three different an-
tennas with three different antenna directions (without
needing switching) is as follows. The full, vertical-beam
antenna is used for transmission, allowing optimum an-
tenna gain. During reception, the same antenna is subdi-
vided into three equal sectors followed by three parallel
receiving channels for the spaced antenna correlation
analysis. Applying three phase-coherent transmitters to
feed the three sectors would make this system even less
susceptible to single transmitter failures. Such a system is
now in operation at the National Central University at
The radar can also be operated in the Doppler mode and
will allow even more detailed comparisons of the different
modes, such as the spaced antenna, the Doppler, and the
interferometer modes. The SA is computationally more
intensive than the Doppler method, but with today's pro-
4.9.-15.9.80 z =12 km 5.2.-11.2.82 z = 9 km
1.0
p,.
0.5
Pxy
0.5
-24 -18 -12 -6 0 6 12 18 -18 -12 -6 0 6 12 18
t/h t/h
Fig. 4.4b Autocorrelation functions XX of mesoscale wind variability
at a fixed height in the upper troposphere (9 km) and in the lower
stratosphere (12 km), and cross-correlation functions of wind mea-
surements with the spaced antenna XY method (4), and radiosondes
west (1), north (2) and east (3) of the radar (from Rottger, 1984).
250 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

DOPPLER-SPACED ANTENNA COMPARISON 13th FEB 1985

10

9 - - u• 11~7-1207 -- ~
>
'
----- 7• 1241-12~9
- - - 4. 1327-133~
8 ~~·1404-1418

--
..... 0 0 0 ••

~ True Velocity
7 ~ Apparent Velocity

~
E
6
IU
c
:::::> 5
....
!J 4
<t
3

5 10 15 20
ZONAL VELOCITY (mi1)
Fig. 4.5 A comparison of profiles of zonal wind speed measured with the Doppler
method using beam-pointing zenith angles of 4°, 7°, 11 o and 15°, and profiles mea-
sured with the spaced antenna method (true and apparent velocity) (from Vincent et
al., 1987; reprinted with permission from Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial
Physics, Pergamon Press, ©1987).

cessing equipment that is not a major drawback. On-line
processing of spaced antenna data to obtain real-time wind
data for nowcasting is already available (e.g., Rottger,
1981a; Vincent and Hocking, personal communication,
1987) and has been used extensively in the well-estab-
lished MF mesospheric wind profiling system operated in
Saskatoon (Meek and Manson, 1987a). Larsen and Rottger
( 1988) stressed the possibility, supported by the detailed
analyses of R0yrvik ( 1983) and the results of Vincent et
al. ( 1987), that a VHF radar, using small antenna systems,
will be operated to better advantage in the spaced antenna
than in the Doppler mode. UHF systems, on the other
hand, are probably best operated in the Doppler mode
because there is apparently no aspect sensitivity at the
higher frequencies.
5 INSTRUMENTAL COMPONENTS OF
UHF /VHF RADAR AND WIND
PROFILER SYSTEMS
Nearly all the radar systems built after Woodman and
Guillen introduced the UHF /VHF radar method in 1974
apply the Doppler method for measuring wind velocities.
Only a few are equipped so that the spaced antenna
method can be applied. All systems need basic equipment,
such as reasonably high-gain antennas (25-35 dB), and
suitable average transmitter powers of a few hundred watts
to several tens of kilowatts, as well as digital control and
digital data acquisition. Many of the technical details of
typical UHF/ VHF radar and wind profiler systems have
been described by Woodman and Guillen (1974), Green
et al. (1975), Czechowsky et al. (1976, 1984), Balsley
(1978a,b), Rottger and Schmidt (1979), Schmidt et al.
( 1979), Balsley et al. ( 1980), Vincent and Rottger ( 1980),
Woodman (1980b), Woodman et al. (1980), Kato et al.
( 1984), Rottger ( 1984a), Strauch et al. ( 1984, 1985), Fukao
et al. (1985a,b), and others.
This section will summarize the typical layout of antenna
systems, and compare, in brief, the very advanced 46.5-
MHz MU radar in Japan (a multipurpose research system)
and a typical 405-MHz wind profiler radar which is spe-
cially designed for operational applications. System pa-
rameters of radar facilities where relevant technology, data
acquisition, and analysis methods have been applied are
given in Table 5.4.
5.1 Antenna Types and feed Systems
UHF /VHF radars generally operate with quasi-vertical
beams, i.e., the zenith angles are smaller than about 20°-
300. For radar experiments in the troposphere and strato-
sphere, depolarization does not occur and linear polariza-
tion is therefore sufficient. Wakasugi et al. ( 1980), how-
ever, reported a depolarization of a 50-MHz radar signal

from the middle atmosphere which could be attributed to
insufficient instrumental decoupling between the two or-
thogonal polarizations. Basically, four different types of
antenna systems are in use: reflector antennas, dipole ar-
rays, coaxial-collinear (COCO) arrays and Yagi arrays.
Reflector antennas are special-purpose antennas built for
such tasks as upper atmosphere research or tracking sat-
ellites. Because of expense they are rarely used in tropo-
spheric 1stratospheric radar applications. The beam steer-
ing is done either by mechanically moving the position of
the feed antenna (e.g., Arecibo) or by moving the entire
reflector (e.g., Sondrestrom, Millstone Hill or EISCAT; see
Hagfors et al., 1982). A disadvantage is that, because of
the primary feed antennas, the low-angle sidelobe
suppression is not very good, resulting in strong clutter
echoes and a higher susceptibility to interference.
All other antennas consist of phased arrays of many
single elements fed by a cascading network of cables, hy-
brids, and phase shifters. The COCO antenna (Balsley and
Ecklund, 1972; Judasz et al., 1987; Judasz and Balsley,
1988) has the advantage that the elements in one line are
fed by simply interchanging the inner and outer conductors
of a coaxial cable every half wavelength. The outer con-
ductors of the cable act as collinear dipoles. The feeding
is done from the center of a line, which may typically
consist of 16-48 dipoles. Positioning several of these strings
in parallel rows and feeding them by a suitable matching
network results in a COCO array. Radiation and losses in
a coaxial string comprise some natural tapering, tending
to suppress sidelobes in the plane of the string, but how
a COCO antenna string is tapered due to radiation is not
well understood yet. Because the phase relation along a
string is fixed, beam steering parallel to the COCO string
is not possible. Beam steering is achieved by inserting ap-
propriate phase delays in the cables feeding the parallel
rows. The COCO dipoles have to be positioned a quarter
wavelength above reflector wires or screens. The COCO
antenna is inexpensive because coaxial cable is used for
antenna elements and the matching networks are simple.
The successive phasing from one collinear element to the
next, however, limits the bandwidth of this type of an-
tenna. Instead of coaxial cable as the radiator, half-wave
dipoles can be fed with properly adjusted phases to form
a collinear antenna. The collinear dipole lines limit the
steerability of an array, and for this reason most antenna
arrays are used with at least two different fixed beam di-
rections (see Green et al., 1975) or relays are used for
beam steering (e.g., Green et al., 1980b, 1981). A typical
example of such a COCO antenna system is shown in Fig.
5.1 as an artist's conception of the Poker Flat MST radar
facility. Details of the antenna and the radar system pa-
rameters can be found in the articles by Balsley et al. ( 1980,
1981 ) . Balsley et al. ( 1988a) describe how to reduce hor-
izontal sidelobes of near-vertically directed COCO arrays
in order to minimize clutter echoes.
Single dipoles or Yagi antenna elements, forming an ar-
UHF fVHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 251
Poker fl•t MST R•d•r TrJ.ntmittll'f"
Module
Fig. 5.1 Artist's conception of the Poker Flat MST radar with the
200 m X 200 m phased array antenna consisting of four quarters of
32 separate coaxial-collinear antennas, each constructed of 48 half-
wave dipoles made of coaxial cable. The complete array consisted of
12 288 dipole elements forming an effective aperture of 4 X 104m 2,
and a beamwidth of 1.6° with beam pointing in two azimuthal di-
rections at 15° zenith angle (from Balsley et al., 1980) .
ray, are fed by a cascading network of open wire or coaxial
cable systems (e.g., Czechowsky and Meyer, 1980; Cze-
chowsky et al., 1984). The cascading is most appropriately
done in 2 n branchings ( n = 1, 2, ... ) so that parts of the
antenna array can be fed with 1 I 2, 1 I 4, ... power to
provide illumination tapering without dissipating power.
The branching is best carried out in couplers, power di-
viders or hybrids that prevent power reflected from a mis-
match from returning to the transmitter. They also mini-
mize effects due to mutual coupling between the single
antenna elements, which can be critical if phase control is
applied to steer the antenna beam. The phase control is
usually inserted close to the final elements, which may be
connected to form subarrays of 4 or 16 elements. For con-
tinuous beam steering, phasing is most easily done by in-
serting discrete phase delays in steps of 21r I 16 with a
binary phase shifter. The latter can be achieved with only
four relays, switching phases of 22.5°, 45°, 90° and 180°.
The advantage of Yagi versus dipole antenna elements is
that no ground screen is needed because the Yagi has a
reflector. The multielement structure of a single Yagi allows
for a higher gain, improving the filling factor of an array
and resulting in negligible coupling (- -25 dB) between
adjacent Yagi antennas in an array. Typically, Yagi anten-
nas can be constructed with a bandwidth of several mega-
hertz. The bandwidth limiting factors in a Yagi system are
essentially the phase shifters. The losses of a Yagi system
are also considerably less than those in a COCO antenna.
The Yagi systems, however, are obviously more expensive.
An array antenna can be fed from one transmitter, but
subarrays can also be fed separately with multiple phase-
controlled transmitters. The transmitter phase control can
 252 'RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
even be used to steer the antenna beam but similar phase
control of the receiver channels is required, as is done at
the MU radar in Japan (Fukao et al., 1985a). The effects
of antenna ·element structure on element properties, ra-
diation patterns of a phased array, and an investigation
of. edge effects were discussed by Fukao et al. ( 1986a,b).
Antenna patterns have been calibrated by satellites (Fukao
et al., 1985c; Sato et al., 1988), by the sun (Riddle, 1986),
and by radio stars ( Czechowsky et al., 1984; Vincent et
al., 1986), and are in good agreement with model com-
putations.
S.l Kadar Instrumentation for a Research
Kadar and an Operational
Wind Proftler Kadar
The general layout and detailed descriptions of radar
hardware can be found in many publications, particularly
in the proceedings of the three workshops on MST Radar
Technique (Bowhill and Edwards, 1983, 1984, 1986), as
well as in the tutorial review by Rottger ( 1984a). The
technical design of wind profiler radars is described in some
detail by Strauch et al. (1985) and Moran et al. (1987),
and is summarized in section 5.2.2. First, however, we will
describe the main technical features of the MU radar,
namely the Middle and Upper Atmosphere radar operated
in Japan by the Radio Atmospheric Science Center of Kyoto
University (Fukao et al., 1980a; Kato et al., 1984), as an
illustrative example of a UHF /VHF research radar.
5.2.1 The 46.5-MHz MU Radar
The high-technology MU radar has been described in
detail by Fukao et al. ( 1985a,b). The radar facility is shown
Fig. 5.2 Bird's-eye view of the MU radar system. The antenna area
is circular. The booths accommodate small transmitter-receiver
modules for each antenna element. The antenna elements are grouped
in hexagons. The antenna level is lower by 15m than the surrounding
hill on which a metal-net fence 10 m high is built, mainly to avoid
the ground clutter due to sidelobe radiation at low elevation angles.
The two-story building is the control building. (From Kato et al.,
1985.)
in the artist's conception in Fig. 5.2. The basic parameters
of the MU radar system are summarized in Table 5.1. The
MU radar, operating at 46.5 MHz, is the first active phased-
array MST radar system. Each element of the phased-array
antenna is fed by a low-power transmitter and all of the
475 solid-state amplifiers are driven phase-coherently.
Each element contains a transmit-receive switch and a
phase-coherent receiver module. The transmit-receive
modules are connected to a circular antenna array of 475
crossed three-element Yagi antennas. The antenna area is
8330 m 2 and the nominal beamwidth is 3.6°. The beam
can be steered electronically from pulse to pulse in 165 7
directions between 0° and 30° in zenith angle and from
0°-360° in azimuth angle. The peak output power of a
single solid-state transmitter amplifier is 2.4 kW, giving a
total maximum peak power of 1 MW; the total average
power is 50 kW. A block diagram of the MU radar system
is shown in Fig. 5.3 (from Fukao et al., 1985b) .
The entire system, composed of 475 array elements and
transmitter-receiver (TR) modules, can be divided into 25
groups, each group consisting of 19 array elements and
19 transmit-receive modules. The main parts of a TR
module are a solid-state transmitter, a receiver preamplifier,
a TR switch, and a digital phase shifter. Both the up-con-
vert from and down-convert to the intermediate frequency
(IF) of 5 MHz are performed inside the TR modules. The
signal is transferred at the IF between the control building
and the remote TR booths, which are placed around the
antenna area.
The operation of the MU radar is supervised by a pro-
grammable radar controller linked with the 25 TR module
controllers. Various timing signals necessary for real-time
system control are generated according to instructions from
the radar controller. Specially designed software in the
radar controller makes a variety of flexible operations pos-
sible. For instance, the antenna beam can be steered in
each interpulse period (IPP), i.e., up to 2500 times every
second, virtually to any direction within 30° of the zenith.
Moreover, it is possible to excite only a portion of the an-
tenna array and receive the echo in other parts of the an-
tenna and/ or to steer multiple beams in different direc-
tions.
A large amount of data, up to 1024 range gate samples,
can be processed in real time at the MU radar. A super-
minicomputer (VAX-11 / 750) and an array processor
(MAP-300) with a 2-MByte RAM (random access mem-
ory) are installed for this purpose. Before being processed
by the computer, the signals are decoded for pulse
compression and then coherently integrated for data
compression by special purpose hardware.
Multitransmitter MST radars, such as the MU radar, have
the advantage that failure of a single transmitter does not
significantly compromise system operation. Also, a high
peak power can be achieved by coherently phasing the
low-power modules. The first radar facility to use the dis-
 UHF /VHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 253

TABLE 5.1
Basic Parameters of the MU Radar Operated by the Radio
Atmospheric Science Center of Kyoto University,
Japan (from fakao et al., 1985a, b)

Parameter Valae for MU radar

Location Shigaraki, Shiga, Japan (34.85°N, 136.10°E)
Radar system Monostatic pulse radar; active phased-array system
Operational frequency 46.5 MHz
Antenna Circular array of 475 crossed Yagis
Aperture 8330 m 2 (103-m diameter)
Beamwidth 3.6° (one way; half power for full array)
Steerability Steering is completed in each IPP
Beam directions 1657; 0°-30° off zenith angle
Polarizations Linear and circular
Transmitter 475 solid-state amplifiers (TR modules; each with output power
of 2.4 kW peak and 120 W average)
Peak power I MW (maximum)
Average power 50 kW (duty ratio of So/o) (maximum)
Bandwidth 1.65 MHz (maximum) (Pulse width: 1-512 I'S variable)
IPP 400 I'S to 65 ms (variable)
Receiver
Bandwidth 1.65 MHz (maximum)
Dynamic range 70 dB
IF 5 MHz
A/D converter 12 bits X 8 channels
Pulse compression Binary phase coding up to 32 elements; Barker and
complementary codes presently in use

tributed transmitter technique was the Poker Flat MST ra-
dar (Balsley et al., 1980), although transmitter phasing
was not used to swing the beam, and the received signal
was combined before the receiver, which is different from
the active phased array of the MU radar. Segmented beam
steering (±3.2°, 0°, -3.5°, - 7°) in both the north-south
and east-west directions was only used in the final year
of operation of the Poker Flat radar. The modular technique
MU RADAR BLOCK DIAGRAM
of multitransmitter/ multireceiver radars is becoming more
common (e.g., Brosnahan, 1983), and it also allows mul-
tichannel applications, such as in the interferometer tech-
nique. The Radio Atmospheric Science Center in Kyoto
now plans to build an extremely powerful high-technology
MST and ionosphere radar called the Equatorial Radar (see
Table 5.4). This radar will have a sensitivity similar to the
Jicamarca radar and will apply the same modular technique
used in the MU radar (Kato and Fukao, personal com-
munication, 1987).

..
GRQ.I)· I
·~
GROl.P- 2

1
r~
BOOTH 5.2.2 The 405-MHz Wind Pro&ler
J
The study by Ecklund et al. ( 1979) showed that a radar
system could be operated continuously and unattended
for extended periods. This gave a strong impetus to the
development of the wind profiler technology. For opera-
tional applications, the antenna area size and the frequency
allocations are critical components which have led to the
development and operation of 405-MHz radar wind pro-
filers. Strauch et al. ( 1984 ) at the NOAA Wave Propagation
Laboratory built a wind profiler network in Colorado, using
the MST radar technology and standard UHF hardware.
Fig. 5.3 Block diagram of the MU radar (from Fukao et a/., 1985b). The new wind profiling network in the United States will
254 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

consist of 404.37-MHz systems. The basic technical fea-
tures and specifications will be briefly outlined here.
The application of radars for operational wind profiling
has to follow some fundamental objectives and specifi-
cations, as pointed out by Strauch et al. ( 1984). Such wind
profilers must provide vertical profiles of the horizontal
wind throughout the troposphere, operate in nearly all
weather conditions, do so automatically and continuously
with unattended operation, be suitable for widespread use
in networks, and provide data for mesoscale and synoptic-
scale applications. Strauch et al. outlined the requirements
of the meteorological community for vertical wind profiles
with an accuracy of the orthogonal wind components of
better than 1 m s- 1, and a height resolution of 100 m
below 600mb ( -4 km), 300m to 300mb ( -9 km) , and
1 km to 100mb ( -16 km), as well as a temporal resolution
of 15 min for profiles to 600mb, 30 min for profiles to 300
mb, and 60 min for profiles to 100mb. Gage and Schlatter
( 1984) pointed out that wind data are thought to be more
important than temperature data for mesoscale analysis,
and that real-time access to radar wind profiles is extremely
important.
The first 405-MHz radar was constructed in 1984 for
the purpose of testing whether the frequency band of 403-
406 MHz already allocated for meteorological systems
would be suitable for a network of wind profilers (Strauch
et al., 1985). The 405-MHz radars are designed along the
same lines as the 50-MHz radars, with similar principles
for antennas, transmitters, receivers, data acquisition, and
processing hardware and software. So far all the wind
profiler radars operate only in the Doppler mode. The basic
technical parameters of the 405-MHz wind profiler pro-
totype are shown in Table 5.2 (from Frisch et al., 1986).
The operation of the wind profiler prototype has proved
reasonably successful (e.g., Strauch et al., 1986a). Com-
parisons were also made with 50-MHz and 905-MHz radar
wind profiling systems (Frisch et al., 1986), particularly
in the Colorado Wind Profiling Network (Strauch et al.,
1985). The results of the comparisons will be briefly dis-
cussed in section 7.
More recently, a portable 405-MHz wind profiler with
1.2 kW peak power and 25-dB antenna gain has been de-
veloped for observations of the lower troposphere between
some 200m and 3 km (Moran et al., 1987), and a bound-
ary-layer radar operating at 905 MHz has been developed
by Ecklund et al. ( 1988) for providing complementary
wind measurements below 1-2 km altitude, the height
range not accessible by the conventional UHF /VHF radar
wind profilers. A few of the recent results will be discussed
in section 9.
A demonstration network of 30 wind profilers is being
deployed in the central United States to assess possible
improvements in weather services and to prepare for the
STORM Program (e.g., Augustine and Zipser, 1987). The
system parameters are given in Table 5.3. The requirements
and operating conditions for the new profilers are slightly

TABLE 5.2
Basic Parameters of a 405-MHz Wind ProSier Radar (from frisch et al., 1986)

Parameter Value for '05-MHz Wind Pro&ler

Radar
Frequency 405.25 MHz
Authorized bandwidth 1.00 MHz
Peak power 30 kW
Average power 0.4 kW maximum
Pulse width 1, 3, 9 p.S
Pulse repetition period 100, 150, 300 p.s
Antenna aperture 9m X 9m
Antenna pointing 15° off-zenith to north and east
Antenna type Phased array of Yagi- Uda elements
Two-way beamwidth 4.3°

Data processing 1 p.s Pulse 3 p.s Pulse 9 p.s Pulse

Time domain averaging 120 pulses 75 pulses 35 pulses

Spectral average 8 16 24
Maximum radial velocity ± 15.41 m s· • ±16.44 m s· • ±17.62 m s· •
Spectral resolution (64 points) 0.48 m s· • 0.51 m s· • 0.55 m s· •
Height sampling
First height 0.4 km AGL 2.4 km AGL 4.0 km AGL
Height spacing 100m 290m 870 m
Number of heights 24 24 14
 UHF /VHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 255

different from the prototypes (Table 5.2}, and further some of the well-known radars were first described. In
evolution of the design and technical requirements is likely Chapter 28a the relevant scientific results are summarized
as the networks evolve. and evaluated in detail.
The Jicamarca radar in Peru, where the first MST results
5.3 An Overview of Existing were obtained, is described by Woodman and Guillen
MST Radar Systems (1974), Rastogi and Woodman (1974), Harper and
The preceding subsections have described the typical Woodman (1977), Fukao et al. (1980b,c), and Woodman
features of a research radar and an operational wind pro- and Farley ( 1983); the Sunset radar near Boulder, Colo-
filer. In addition to these radars chosen for illustrative pur- rado, is discussed by Green et al. ( 1975, 1980b); and the
poses, more than 20 other MST radars are in operation, SOUSY radar in Germany is described by Czechowsky et
and their main operating parameters are listed in Table al. ( 1976) and Rottger et al. ( 1978). Technical details about
5.4. The product of average transmitter power and antenna both the stationary and mobile SOUSY radars have been
aperture, given in column 4, is the most essential parameter provided by Czechowsky et al. ( 1984) and Schmidt and
in comparing the sensitivity of UHF jVHF radars in a given Czechowsky ( 1986). The Poker Flat radar in Alaska has
frequency range. More background information can be been described by Balsley et al. (1980, 1981); the MU
found in the publications referenced below in which the radar near Kyoto, Japan, by Kato et al. (1984) and Fukao
technical details and the first experimental results from et al. ( 1985a,b); the Buckland Park radar near Adelaide,
Australia, by Vincent et al. (1982, 1987); the 430-MHz
radar at the Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico, by Wood-
TABLE 5.3 man (1980b); the Arecibo 50-MHz radars by Rottger et
Primary System Specifications for the Operational
Wind Pro81ers (After Unisys, 1987) al. (1981, 1986); and the Chung-Li radar in Taiwan, Re-
public of China, by Brosnahan et al. ( 1983) and Chao et
al. ( 1986). The radars forming the operational and pro-
Parameter Valae
totype profiler systems, as well as the analysis procedures
Maximum data height 16.25 km (53 300 ft) that are applied, are described in detail by Strauch et al.
Minimum data height 0.5 km (1640 ft) ( 1984, 1985) and Frisch et al. ( 1986). The Next Generation
Vertical cell spacing 250m
Weather Radars (NEXRAD) will also apply wind profiling
Maximum horizontal wind 200 mph
scans in the "clear-air mode" as described by Durham
Maximum vertical wind 50 mph
( 198 7). Other systems operate in Pennsylvania (Thomson
Frequency band 400-435 MHz (404.37 std)
et al., 1984), in France (Crochet, 1986; Petitdidier et al.,
Peak power 16 kW
1986; Bertin etal., 1986, 1987), in the tropical Pacific (Bal-
Average power 2200 w
sley et al., 1984), and in Illinois (Bowhill, 1986; Green et
Pulse width (compressed) 2/6.67 !LS
al., 1985) . Wind profiler radar systems have now become
Pulse repetition period 100/153 J.LS (nom)
commercially available and plans are under way to set
Antenna type Coaxial-collinear array
them up in various places in the world.
Gain > 32 dB
Sequential beams Vertical, east and north
The original high-power UHF and SHF radars, used in
Sidelobe level - 20 to - 40 dB
the late 1960s to study echoes from the clear air, have
Receiver noise figure 0.5 dB been supplanted to some extent by the high-power radars
Signal processor Digital I and Q
that were specifically built and are mainly used for studies
Data processor MicroVax II of the earth's ionosphere with the incoherent scatter radar
Operating software Higher order language technique. The addition of MST radar control and data
Fault monitoring Microprocessor control acquisition capabilities to these radars has made it possible
Two-way data modem RS-232C landline to use them for lower and middle atmosphere research.
Satellite telecom GOES transmission (401 MHz) Typical peak powers are in the range between one and a
Prime power 115/230 VAC, 50- 60Hz few megawatts and steerable high-gain dish antennas
MTBF >4400 h ( -40 dB) are used. These radars include the 440-MHz
MTTR 60 min radar at Millstone Hill, Massachusetts (Watkins and Wand,
Operational conditions 1981; Rastogi, 1983a), the 1290-MHz radar at Chatanika,
Temperature - 40°C to +50°C Alaska, now at Sondrestrom, Greenland (Peterson and
Humidity 0%- 100% Balsley, 1979; Chang, 1980; Watkins and Jayaweera,
Wind 140 mph (185 mph gusts) 1985}, the EISCAT 933-MHz radar at Troms0, Norway
Rain 3 inches/hour (Rottger et al., 1983), and the 430-MHz radar at the Are-
Snow 4 feet cibo Observatory, Puerto Rico (Woodman, 1980b). At the ·
Ice 3 inches radial latter site, a bistatic 2380-MHz radar, normally used for
radar astronomy to study planets and comets, was also
256 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

TABLE 5.4
MST and Wind ProSier Radars

Radar (locatioa) freqaeacy (MHz) Anteaaa Gain (dl) Avg. Power Aperture Product Altitade Coverage Beam Direction•
Arecibo•• (Puerto Rico) 2380 75' t X 10 10(X) ST Bistatic
430 6t 6 x to•cx ) (M)ST Multi
46.8 42 5 X t07 MST Multi
Buckland Park (Australia) 54.1 351 3 x w• ST S, SA
Chung-Li (TaiwanjR.O.C.) 52 29 1 X 107 ST 5, SA
EISCAT@ (Northern Scandinavia) 933 48 9 X 107 (M)ST Multi
224 43 2 x to•cx > (M)ST Multi N-S
Equatorial Radar• (Indonesia) 47 44 4 x to•cx> MST t44t
Fairbanks• (Alaska) 2t9 40 1 x to• ST 5
Flatland (Illinois) 40.5 27 4 x to• ST 5
India• 53 36 7 X 108 MST Several
)icamarca (Peru) 49.9 44 1 X 1Ql0 (X) MST Several, SA
Millstone Hill"' (Massachusetts) 440 46 5 X 107 (M)ST Several
MU Radar Oapan) 46.5 34 4 X 108 MST 1657, SA
Penn State (Pennsylvania) 49.9 27 9 X 10' ST 2
405 30 3 x to• ST 1
Poker Flat' (Alaska) 49.9 40 3 x to• MST 3
Ponape, Christmas Island (Pacific) 49.8 32 5 x to• ST 1, 3
PROUST (France) 935 51 1 7 x to• ST 1, bistatic
Provence (France) 45- 49 30 s x to• ST Several
Sondrestrom@(Greenland) t290 50 4 X 107 (M)ST Multi
SOUSY (W. Germany) 53.5 31 7 X 107 MST Multi, SA
SOUSY Mobile (Norway, etc.) 53.5 35 7 X 107 MST 6
Sunset' (Colorado) 40.5 24 6 x to• ST >5
United Kingdom• (Wales) -so 28 6 X t07 MST Several
Urbana (Illinois) 40.9 28 2 X 107 MST Several
Wind Profilers 49.8 27 6 X 105 ST 2
(Colorado, Oklahoma) 405 30 3 x to• ST 2
915 40 2 x to• ST 3
Wind Profilers• (30 in Central
U.S.) -404 32 1 X 105 ST 3

• Planning or construction stage

t Operation discontinued
•• Used mostly for radar astronomy
1 Transmitter antenna gain in bistatic mode
@Used mostly as ionospheric radar
(X) Effective P ·A smaller in (M)ST near field
M = mesosphere; S = stratosphere; T = troposphere
SA = spaced antenna capability
(M) = D region, when used as incoherent scatter radar

NOTE: Some of the technical parameters are approximate values either because different operating modes are used, because the terms are defined in
different ways in the research literature, because they are not measurable exactly, or because they had to be deduced indirectly from published data.

used by Woodman (1980a) for high-resolution observa-
tions of turbulent layers in the stratosphere.
6 SIGNAL PROCESSING
6.1 UHF /VHF Radar Signal Characteristics
An introduction to basic UHF/ VHF radar signal pro-
cessing can be found in the articles by Woodman and
Guillen (1974), Riister and Woodman ( 1978), Schmidt et
al. ( 1979), Rastogi ( 1983b), Rottger ( 1984a), Farley
( 1985), and Woodman ( 1985), among others. The radars
under discussion are coherent radars, so amplitude and
phase information is obtained. De-modulation of there-
ceived signal and noise, which has been linearly amplified
to appropriate levels (usually some volts), is done in a
quadrature detector followed by suitable postdetection fil-
ters matched to the transmitted pulse shape. The output

of one quadrature channel is shown schematically in Fig.
6.1 which represents the typical features of UHF I VHF
radar signal acquisition, as outlined below.
The signal .is phase-coherent over many interpulse pe-
riods T;, which allows the coherent integration of signal
samples over 2N interpulse periods. Fig. 6.1 also shows
the phase modulation features for a complementary code
(2 bit) with DC-eliminating phase flip (see section 6.3).
The quadrature components are sampled at ranges k at
time intervals ts, matching the transmitter pulse width t,
and the receiver pulse response.
The time scales or pulse response times t5 , measured on
the time axis tk, correspond to the instantaneous transmitter
and receiver pulse responses and determine the range res-
olution of the radar system. These time scales are typically
1-10 IJ.S, corresponding to 150 m-1.5 km range resolution
and 1 MHz-100 kHz radar system bandwidth, respec-
tively. The signal in a fixed range gate k is sampled every
interpulse period and is determined by a time scale T5 (k)
measured on the time axis ts (Fig. 6.1 ) . For UHF I VHF
radar parameters, T5 (k) is several orders of magnitude
larger than the system pulse response time t5 . The temporal
autocovariance function of a signal in a given range gate
k, is
R(r, k) = A(r, k) exp[-i~(r, k)]
where r is the time lag given in units of T;. The signal
coherence time T5 (k) of a signal in gate k is given by the
lag time at half amplitude of A(r, k). The Doppler shift
k=~~
I
I
I
5
4
Ti
3 ~
2
t 0
k =0
1
2NTi
,, /'
5 ,
j
Ti
4
3
ts /
/ 2Tj
2
1
1 / 2Ti
k=O
Fig. 6.1 Schematics of a range-time amplitude diagram of a typical
MST radar transmission- reception sequence with a 2-bit comple-
mentary code and DC-eliminating phase flip. The sequence consists
of A + A - B + B - , where the +I- signs indicate the phase flip
for instrumental bias elimination and A ,B is the complementary code
pair. (Figure redrawn after Rottger, 1984.)
UHF /VHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 257
of the signal determines the derivative d ~( r) I d r of the
phase~. For a nonzero Doppler shift, d~ I dr + 0, such
that the covariance function oscillates. In terms of spectrum
analysis, the inverse of the coherence time T5 corresponds
to the spectrum width fw , and the phase derivative d~ I
dr corresponds to the Doppler shift / 0 (Fig. 6.2) for a
given range gate k. The amplitude of R(r, k) for zero lag,
namely A(O, k), corresponds to the average signal+ noise
power ( ( Ss)) + ( (SN)) in the range gate k (Fig. 6.2).
To a first approximation, the Doppler shift is determined
by the radial velocity of scatterers and reflectors in the
given range gate, and the spectral width is given by fluc-
tuating velocities of the scatterers and reflectors. In the
troposphere and stratosphere, velocity fluctuations up to
a few meters per second occur. Mean velocities will usually
not exceed several tens of meters per second, since only a
projection of the horizontal velocity will be measured with
radar beams pointed relatively close to the zenith direction.
The relative change of frequency of the radar echo with
respect to the transmitted frequency thus will always be
less than about 10 - 7, and the expected shift and width of
the Doppler spectrum will typically be much less than
about 10 and 100 Hz at VHF and UHF, respectively. The
altitude range of interest is less than 30 km, allowing an
interpulse period of 200 IJ.S or a pulse repetition frequency
of 5 kHz without range ambiguity, given that clutter from
ionospheric ranges is negligible. Thus, the time series of
the radar signals are oversampled by more than two orders
of magnitude at VHF and one order of magnitude at UHF,
provided that one sample per range gate is taken every
interpulse period. The oversampling is consistent with the
earlier statement that the coherence time of the MST radar
>-
VI
w
z
a::
L&.J
3
0
Q..
-fN 0 +fN
FREQUENCY
Fig. 6.2 Schematic power spectrum (based on Balsley and Gage,
1980): ± fN = Nyquist frequency; fo = mean Doppler frequency; fw
= half power spectral width of the signal; Ss = peak signal power
density; ( SN) = expectation of noise power density; ( dSN) = variance
of the power density; ( ( SN )) = average noise power in the total
Doppler spectrum; ( ( SN5 ) ) = average noise power per signal band-
width; ( ( 55 ) ) = total signal power.
258 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
signals at VHF and UHF is much longer than the typical
interpulse period. The range resolution, which is adapted
to useful scales of atmospheric parameters but also limited
due to technological constraints of transmitter/ receiver/
antenna bandwidth, is generally about 150 m, corre-
sponding to a 1-MHz range sampling rate. To cover a
complete altitude range up to the lower stratosphere with
resolution of, say, 150m, more than 100 range gares have
to be sampled, which, together with the interpulse period
sampling rate of 5 kHz, yields half a million complex raw
data samples per second.
6.2. Coherent Integration
In principle, the aforementioned oversampling, which
yields an extremely high raw data rate, is not necessary
for large signal-to-noise ratios, and the pulse repetition
frequency could be reduced to decrease the high data rate.
For low signal-to-noise ratios, the processing of the com-
plete oversampled raw data series improves the detect-
ability. Receiver noise is independent from one interpulse
period to the next, whereas the signal remains coherent
over the same period. Oversampling is thus very useful in
processing weak signals, such as from turbulent scatter,
and a high data rate must be retained. Fortunately, the
data can be compressed by a preprocessing technique that
has become known as coherent integration (Farley, 1985),
preintegration, or time-domain integration (Strauch et al.,
1985), which is done independently for each range gate
k. We prefer the term coherent integration. The method
was first applied to the UHF /VHF radar technique by
Woodman and Guillen (1974). The procedure, as well as
further on-line processing schemes, has since been treated
in detail in the literature (e.g., Riister and Woodman, 1978;
Schmidt et al., 1979; Woodman et al., 1980; Farley, 1983,
1984, 1985; Rastogi, 1983b,c; Rottger, 1984a). Coherent
integration has the advantage that it reduces the data rate
by up to two orders of magnitude in a simple on-line pro-
cedure, and it increases the apparent signal-to-noise ratio.
The apparent signal-to-noise ratio is defined as the ratio
of the narrowband signal power to the wideband noise
power in any given bandwidth.
Coherent integration is a digital box-car low-pass filter
process applied to the raw data sampled at every interpulse
period in a given range gate. The low-pass filtering is
achieved by adding the complex digital data samples for
N pulses (the preintegration period). In order not to alter
the power spectrum of the radar signal, the coherent in-
tegration interval has to be shorter than any signal vari-
ations caused by mean as well as fluctuating velocities;
otherwise the spectrum would be altered due to the comb-
filter effect (Schmidt et al., 1979; Rastogi, 1983c; Farley,
1985). The effect occurs if the coherent integration period
is so long that an attenuation of the high-frequency com-
ponents of the signal results, and the signal spectrum is
too close to the Nyquist frequency [N = 1/(2NT;). Since
the coherence time T5 and the complex signal variations
due to Doppler shift ( d 4> / d r) are an order of magnitude
smaller at UHF than at VHF, the coherent integration time
interval has to be ten times smaller at UHF to avoid comb-
filter attenuation. Consequently, the data compression at
UHF can be at most one order of magnitude, and coherent
integration is much less efficient for reducing the data
transfer rate for 405-MHz than for 50-MHz radars. The
unwanted comb-filter attenuation can be corrected if the
effect is small (Kuo et al., 1984}, and the attenuation can
be ameliorated slightly by applying tapered windows in-
stead of box-car windows. The latter procedure, however,
involves multiplication of the data samples by a factor,
which is not necessary in the box-car coherent integration
where the factor is always +1, or a simple addition. Even
in the decoding and DC elimination processes only a factor
of +1 or -1 is needed and no multiplication is required
(see section 6.3).
The low-pass filtering is equivalent to an increase in the
apparent signal-to-noise ratio because it reduces the wide
bandwidth of the noise, determined by a Nyquist fre-
quency 1 / ( 2T;), to a value close to the highest frequency
of the echo signal. The apparent signal-to-noise ratio is
increased by the factor N (number of coherently integrated
samples per range gate, corresponding to the number of
interpulse periods), essentially because all but 1 1N of the
original wideband noise is filtered out. Farley ( 1985) de-
scribes the consequences in more detail. Exactly the same
results would be achieved by Fourier transforming the
original unintegrated data, but the procedure is not con-
sidered practical because of the very long Fourier transform
needed and because only a small part of the very wide
spectrum contains the signal. The coherent integration
process just narrows the wide spectrum and reduces the
noise fluctuations but does not increase the signal-to-noise
ratio per unit bandwidth. The essential advantage of co-
herent integration is the substantial reduction of the data
flow rate and the improvement of detectability of echoes
with low signal-to-noise ratio, since the full average trans-
mitter power can be used (see section 6.4). Coherent in-
tegration is one of the most common features of modem
UHF /VHF radar data processing technology.
During the process of coherent integration a 180° phase
flip is often applied in order to eliminate any instrumental
DC-bias voltage that may be present in the analog output
of the quadrature detectors. The pulses are transmitted
with alternating phases of 0° and 180° (Fig. 6.1) and ad-
dition or subtraction of the raw data is carried out in the
corresponding interpulse period, thus removing the in-
strumental DC component.
6.3 Coding and Decoding
Another preprocessing step, similar in principle to co-
herent integration, is the decoding of coded pulses. The
main reason for applying phase coding (pulse compres-

sion) is to operate with maximum average power at a given
range resolution and unambiguous range (Kugel et al.,
1978; Schmidt et al., 1979; Woodman, 1980a,b; Farley,
1985; Sulzer and Woodman, 1984, 1985). Coherent in-
tegration can be interchanged with the decoding procedure
since it preserves phase information (Woodman et al.,
1980) so that decoding can be done after coherent inte-
gration, which again reduces the number of decoding op-
erations by a factor of N. Because of the long coherence
time of UHF jVHF radar echoes, complementary codes
are very suitable for this application (Schmidt et al., 1979;
Woodman, 1980b). Theoretically these codes have no
range sidelobes for stationary targets (Golay, 1961). A
complementary code consists of a pair of two phase code
sequences, which have the property that their range cor-
relation function sidelobes are exactly equal but opposite
in sign. In Fig. 6.1 the simplest complementary code, the
2-bit code, is displayed, consisting of phase sequences++,
--, +-, -+. The two pairs in the sequence display the
aforementioned phase alternation for DC-bias elimination,
and the first pair ( ++, --) together with the second pair
( +-, -+) forms the complementary code pair. Changing
the sequence to ++, +-, --, -+ would further reduce
the coherence time requirement to half. In Fig. 6.3, the
coding sequence of a 32-bit complementary code, the cor-
responding range autocorrelation functions, and the com-
posite autocorrelation function, having no remaining side-
lobes, are displayed (from Schmidt et al., 1979). Normally
the two code pairs are transmitted in successive pulses and
the range samples of the pairs are coherently integrated
and then decoded separately. The coherent addition of the
two decoded range sequences then yields the signal at the
desired ranges with an effective sampling time or coherent
integration time of 4N · T;, and the range sidelobes are
completely eliminated for stationary processes. If the signal
J2- BAUO COMPLEMENTARY CODE
~1
-IlJlflJLJUlfl~ 2 completely decoupled antennas. With the non-Doppler
+32
AUTOCORRELATION
CODE 1 AUTOCORRELATION
CODE 1 ANO 2
AUTOCORRELATION
CODE 2 -------' '------
Fig. 6.3 The 32-bit complementary code pairs and their single au-
tocorrelation functions, as well as the composite autocorrelation
function of code 1 and code 2 (from Schmidt et al., 1979).
UHF JVHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 259
coherence is not constant or the phase variation due to
Doppler shift is not zero from one interpulse period to the
next, the range sidelobes are obviously not totally sup-
pressed. This limitation has been evaluated and discussed
in detail by Wakasugi and Fukao (1985).
The shortcoming of long codes, namely that they extend
the shortest observable range, can be overcome by trans-
mitting a sequence of short single pulses and a comple-
mentary code (e.g., Rottger and Schmidt, 1981). Sulzer
and Woodman (1984) applied a quasi-complementary
coding technique that offers significant reduction of range
sidelobes caused by imperfections in the radar transmitter
and lower-altitude truncations produced by receiver re-
covery and blanking. Pulse coding has also been used in
bistatic radar applications (Woodman, 1980a; Petitdidier
et al., 1985) when continuous wave transmitters can be
used. Special code sequences can also be used to eliminate
range ambiguities (Gonzales and Woodman, 1984).
Pulse compression by phase coding is an alternative to
the pulse-to-pulse frequency shifting technique proposed
earlier by Ruttenberg and Chanzit ( 1968) and recently ap-
plied at the Jicamarca VHF radar by Kudeki and Stitt
( 198 7). Whereas pulse compression by coding is an alter-
native to chirping in general, the method of Kudeki and
Stitt may not have a simple equivalence in phase coding.
Phase coding is evidently an alternative to the pulse
compression used in the frequency-modulated-continu-
ous-wave (FM-CW) radars (Richter, 1969), since all these
techniques achieve a given range resolution with the same
system bandwidth. The latter method has the advantage
that the peak power to average power ratio (duty cycle)
is 1 if decoupled transmitting/ receiving antennas can be
used. The pulsed radars, on the other hand, are normally
limited to duty cycles less than about 10% unless bistatic
systems with code applications are used (see section 9.3).
The UHF/ VHF radars are usually operated in the mono-
static mode and use the same antenna for transmission·
and reception, whereas the FM-CW radar technique op-
erates quasi-monostatically with closely collocated but
FM-CW technique it is not immediately possible to sep-
arate the frequency offset due to range from the velocity-
induced Doppler shift. The FM-CW Doppler technique
involves the spectral analysis of the beat frequency from
a number of consecutive sweeps that determine both range
and velocity (see section 9).
After range sampling of the baseband signal, coherent
integration, decoding, and correction and calibration of
the quadrature components, the elimination of nonfading
ground-clutter echoes is carried out (e.g., Riister and
Woodman, 1978). Since the echoes from stationary targets
are usually very coherent, i.e., not Doppler-broadened, a
coherent summation is performed over an interval much
longer than the one used to compute a spectrum or a co-
variance function from the coherently integrated data. The
very long coherent integration attenuates the nonzero fre-
260 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
quency components through the comb-filter effect. The
long-term "ground-clutter DC components" deduced in
this way are subtracted in each range gate from the quad-
rature components of the short-term signal time series used
to compute the spectra or covariance functions. The process
is equivalent to applying a very-narrow-band notch filter
that removes any zero-frequency bias in every range gate
without attenuating the zero-frequency component of the
atmospheric echo. If the ground clutter is fading (e.g., Sato
and Woodman, 1982b), further processing must be applied
after the spectrum analysis to remove the remaining very
low frequency components caused by the fading clutter.
6.4 Detectability
The data preprocessing procedure described in the pre-
vious subsection is usually followed by a frequency spec-
trum analysis or by a covariance (correlation) analysis in
the time domain, since both contain the same relevant
information. In a first postprocessing step, Doppler spectra
or covariance functions are usually "incoherently" aver-
aged over a minute or so after the spectra or the covariance
functions are computed for all range gates during some
dwell time (typically some seconds). The real and imag-
inary parts of the complex covariance function are aver-
aged separately. The incoherent averaging procedure
makes it easier to discriminate the signal from the noise,
i.e., increases detectability. The term "incoherent" is used
because the phase information is no longer used at this
point.
Gage and Balsley ( 1978) defined the detectability of the
received signal in terms of the ratio of the expected power
density Ss of the spectral peak and the noise fluctuation
level ( dSN) after averaging. They defined a detectability
criterion for pure turbulence scattering based on the radar
equation. The relevant quantities used in their definition
are redrawn in Fig. 6.2. Farley (1985) expanded the cri-
terion to include the signal spectrum width f w and derived
an expression for the detectability that was the ratio of the
total signal power ( ( Ss)) to the uncertainty ( dSN) in the
estimate of the noise power (Fig. 6.2). We extend the de-
tectability criterion to cover the reflected signal component
as well, which we assume to be independent of the scat-
tered component. We then get the detectability for the far
field of the antenna:
(6)
where ( ( Ss)) is the total signal power (integral of power
density in the signal spectrum), AE the effective antenna
area, Pave the average transmitter power (product of trans-
mitter peak power, pulse length and pulse repetition fre-
quency), Ar the range resolution and r the range, T0 the
system temperature, and t;nc the total integration time. Also,
(7)
with 11 the volume reflectivity, F1 the volume filling factor
for scattering, F2 a factor determined by the angular size
of the reflected component, (FR • (M) ) 2 the generalized
reflection coefficient, and f w 1, 2 the total signal bandwidth
for scattering and reflection, respectively. In contrast to
the scatter contribution [first term on the right-hand side
of Eq. 7)], the reflection contribution (second term) is ad-
ditionally weighted by the instrumental parameter of half
of the antenna gain GE = 21rAE/ X2 • It is evident that the
detectability for reflection increases faster with increasing
antenna area due to the weighting by GE, which does not
occur for scattering. Also, for a given range resolution and
a given range, and given instrumental parameters Pave' AE
and T0 for a stationary scattering/reflection process with
signal bandwidth f w, the detectability can only be im-
proved by incoherent integration of the spectra or complex
covariance functions. Furthermore, the signal bandwidth
of a reflected component f w 1 is often narrower than the
bandwidth f w2 of the scattered component, which im-
proves the detectability of the reflected component with
respect to the broader scattered component.
For a given average transmitter power the coherent as
well as the incoherent integration does not increase the
signal-to-noise ratio, as defined in Eq. ( 8). Only the de-
tectability improves, since the noise variance is reduced.
As shown in Fig. 6.2, we define the signal-to-noise ratio
as
(8)
( (55 ) ) can be deduced from Eqs. ( 4) and (5), and ( ( SNs))
is given by the system noise temperature. Note that this
is not the apparent signal-to-noise ratio given by ( ( Ss)) /
( ( SN)). For a given range resolution and range, the signal-
to-noise ratio as defined in Eq. ( 8) can only be improved
by increasing the average transmitter power or the antenna
area (respectively antenna gain) or by reducing the noise
temperature. The system temperature at VHF is given by
the sky noise, which varies between several thousand and
10 000 K, depending on beam-pointing direction, latitude
and time of day. At UHF the system temperature is essen-
tially determined by the receiver system temperature,
which can be optimized.
Gossard and Strauch ( 1983) gave a formula for the sig-
nal-to-noise ratio as a function of frequency for scattering
from homogeneous isotropic turbulence. This was used by
Strauch et al. ( 1986a) to determine the performance of
various radars as tropospheric wind profilers. Their esti-
mate is notable in that a 50-MHz profiler is about as sen-
sitive as a 405-MHz profiler with the same average power
but only 3% of the antenna area; the main reason is the
much smaller sky noise level at 405 MHz than at 50 MHz.

A 3% value, however, appears to be the most extreme
estimate since it is based on the maximum difference of
sky noise level and does not take into account the enhanced
SNR at 50 MHz due to Fresnel scatter and reflection.
6.5 Parameter Estimation and Optimization
The mean noise level can be eliminated by subtracting
the mean noise power spectral density <SN) from all power
density values <S( f )) of the averaged spectra or by sub-
tracting the zero-lag amplitude from the covariance func-
tion of a noise sample set or by extrapolating near zero
lag to zero lag. The spectral moments, signal power P5
= <<Ss) ), Doppler shiftf 0 , and spectral widthfw can be
deduced from the Doppler spectrum by standard methods
(e.g., Rastogi, 1983a), or from the covariance function (e.g.,
Woodman and Guillen, 1974; Passarelli and Siggia, 1983).
Following its application in MST radar signal processing,
this is frequently done in on-line analysis procedures such
as the pulse-pair technique for meteorological radars (e.g.,
Srivastava et al., 1979) or Doppler sonars ( Lhermitte and
Serafin, 1984), since the covariance algorithms require less
memory and fewer calculations than the power spectrum
analysis.
There are more sophisticated analysis procedures and
parameter fitting routines for deducing the first three mo-
ments of the spectrum-power, Doppler shift, and spectral
width-to allow for removal of aliasing, elimination of
fading ground clutter, and improvement of the significance
of the parameter estimates (see Woodman, 1985, for a
review). A few of these methods will be summarized here.
The subtraction of noise in the radar signal analysis is
described by Hildebrand and Sekhon (1974) and Ogura
and Yoshida ( 1981). Their procedures make use of the
physical properties of white noise. The latter authors also
point out that their revised maximum entropy method
makes it possible to subtract the estimated clutter com-
ponent from the data by making use of the different cor-
relation times of the clutter and the echo signal. To reduce
the clutter effect, Sato and Woodman (1982b) applied a
nonlinear parameter estimation technique and discussed
the effect of fading clutter on data processing. Their tech-
nique allows the first three moments of the signal spectrum
to be deduced even if it is 50 dB below the clutter level,
and it also takes care of instrumental and processing biases.
In Fig. 6.4 we have reproduced spectral contour plots from
the work of Sa to and Woodman ( 1982b) which depict the
impressive results of the fading clutter elimination. The
right-hand side of Fig. 6.4 shows just the contour lines of
the signal spectra, whereas the contour lines of the original
untreated spectra are shown on the left.
The standard spectrum analysis method used at the
Poker Flat radar has been discussed by Carter et al. ( 1980),
and the real-time analysis was described by Clark and
Carter ( 1980). Chadwick et al. ( 1984) extended the
method and outlined its application to prototype wind
UHF /VHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 261
25 JUNE 1979 0:38 AST
30,-------------~
28
26
24
22
E 20
"'
12
10
-19 8 '
0 19 -19 0 19
Velocity lm/sl Velocity lm/sl
Fig. 6.4 Velocity contour plots measured with the Arecibo 430-
MHz radar on 25 June 1979. The left-hand plot shows the original
spectra with strong fading ground-clutter contribution. This has been
removed by a nonlinear least-squares fitting procedure in the right-
hand plot. (From Sato and Woodman, 1982b.)
profilers for deducing signal power and velocity. The
method is described in more detail by Strauch et al. ( 1985).
Chadwick et al. also describe a method for selecting the
pulse repetition period and the number of coherent inte-
grations to attenuate 60-Hz power-line interference in the
spectra, although the technique was already used in 1979
by Larsen et al. ( 1982). In addition, Chadwick et al. applied
a particular filter to eliminate spectral estimate outliers,
i.e., erroneous values, caused by radio frequency interfer-
ence and replaced them by interpolated values. The curves
reproduced in Fig. 6.5 show velocities before and after
outliers were removed. Evidently, application of the filters
is very advantageous. Other interference elimination
schemes have been developed by German and Mathews
( 1986) and Ying et al. ( 1987). Bemra et al. ( 1985) have
also developed an automated method for detecting outliers
and have applied appropriate interpolation and trend re-
moval. The latter technique has been used by Smith (1987)
to prepare velocity time series for velocity spectra analyses.
Rottger ( 1986b) describes a matched filter analysis for
finding the velocity estimate; this latter method can elim-
inate some aliasing. Kuo et al. ( 1984) have also investigated
a method for detecting and removing aliasing effects. Me-
dian spectra, spectral smoothing, and velocity tracking
262 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

the spaced antenna method are described by Briggs ( 1984),

Hocking ( 1983a), Meek ( 1978), and Hocking et al. ( 1988).
In Fig. 6.6 some results of wind speed and direction profiles
deduced with the spaced antenna method are shown (from
Rottger and Czechowsky, 1980; Rottger, 1981b) . The up-
per diagrams show the distributions of single velocity es-
timates collected within two 27-min periods. Most of the
data points (for instance between 10 and 11 km) are sup-
pressed because stringent selection criteria were applied.
The lower diagram was deduced by applying weighting
functions and velocity tracing. The method of maximum
likelihood of consecutive and adjacent velocity estimates
213853 21-0CI -83 EAS T 10.00 KH and weighting functions deduced from signal parameters
is described by Rottger (1981b). The circles in Fig. 6.6
indicate radiosonde wind data, where H is from a radio-
sonde site 100 km north of the radar and S from a radio-
sonde site 300 km south of the radar. The agreement be-
tween the two datasets is good. Spectral information has
to be carefully extracted from velocity data since outliers,
data gaps, and trends can have a critical influence. Crary
and Forbes ( 1983) have discussed the extraction of tidal
information from fractional data series. Smith et al. ( 1985)
have applied prefiltering and weighting in order to obtain
0
0
better spectral estimates, and Forbes ( 1985) has evaluated
0

'a;-..a:':
a --:-,,r.;o:::a- .,-::.o-=-a-,:c6."7:oo:--~,,,...,o:-:-o-""'
-:-: sa-::.o:-
o --:,:r-
, .-=-=
oo-""'
e•--c.o:::-
o----='is. oo
effects of variability and required temporal and spatial res-
HOURS olutions for tidal analysis.
213853 21-0CT-83 E~S I 10 . 00 KH

Fig. 6.5 Eastward velocity component at 10 km altitude, measured 7 LIMITATIONS AND PRECAUTIONS
with the Platteville 50-MHz profiler. Upper diagram: raw velocity DUE TO INSTRUMENTAL AND
data diluted by radio frequency interference; lower diagram: same ATMOSPHERIC EFFECTS
data filtered by a running consensus window of 12 data points (from
Chadwick et al., 1984). In the preceding section we described how covariance
functions and Doppler spectra are deduced in UHF I VHF
radar applications, and how the three main signal param-
eters (power, Doppler shift, i.e., the mean velocity, and
have been applied by Green ( 1986) in order to improve the spectral width) are determined. However the scatter-
the estimates. ing I reflection mechanism and instrumental effects can
The maximum entropy method (MEM) has been suc- have an affect on accuracy and interpretation, as we will
cessfully implemented by I<lostermeyer ( 1986) and Dewan describe in this section. The measured Doppler spectrum
and Fougere ( 1987). Klostermeyer ( 1986) also applied a is the convolution of the spatial I temporal spectrum of the
maximum likelihood method (MLM) and showed that, at refractive index fluctuations in the radar volume with the
moderate signal-to-noise ratios of 0.3 to 10, the MEM and spectrum of the transmitted waveform, multiplied by the
MLM give better precision in estimates of Doppler shift passband spectrum characteristics of the receiver, which
than the Doppler spectrum estimates. Ogura and Yoshida is mostly matched to the transmitter waveform. Since the
(1981) also applied a revised MEM in order to eliminate signal power spectrum is much narrower in UHF I VHF
the fading clutter components. In these applications, how- radar investigations than the envelope of the transmitter
ever, more studies are still needed regarding the depen- waveform and receiver system passband spectra, the latter
dence of the optimum filter lengths on the signal-to-noise instrumental effects can usually be disregarded. Other in-
ratio and other signal parameters. strumental effects, such as the finite antenna beamwidth
All the methods described above have been applied to and pulse length, as well as the limited number of antenna
data taken with the Doppler method, and the relative mer- beam directions, can seriously affect the data and conse-
its and errors in the determination of wind speeds have quently the interpretations, especially under conditions
been evaluated in a detailed study by May et al. ( 1988a). when anisotropy, nonstationarity and inhomogeneity are
Errors in the spaced antenna method have been evaluated important. The capability of measuring the wind field is
by May et al. ( 1988b), and the special selection criteria one of the most exciting possibilities of the UHF I VHF
that also are applied to velocity estimates deduced with radars. When radars with only simple antenna systems are
 UHF JVHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 263

@ SOUSY - VHF - RADAR \S_V SOUSY- VHF -RADAR

3 OCT 1979 3 OCT 1979
1027 - 1054 1137-1204 GMT 1027 - 1054 1137-1204 GMT
15.7 ' '~ .... .".'.'.'. ,, .] \.:: : !~:"
15.7
... .. ...... ·--: ~ ·. :~'! : ~ ; :~ '

12.7
12.7
E
E . ... . ........... .......... . ...X:

-
·~ ' ~ ' ':. ~
...X:
c:: 9.7- =- .
c::

-
9.7 N
N
..c.
..c. c::n 6.7
en 67 QJ
' (ij ..c.
..c.
3.7
3.7

360" 0° 180°
0 10 20 30 0 10 20 30
direction a
speed lui in ms-1

13.0

Fig. 6.6 Distribution plots (upper diagrams) of wind speed U and

-
E 10.0
...X: 3 OCT 1979 direction, and mean profiles (lower diagram) of speed and direction
N 1137-1204 GMT deduced from the distribution plots by means of a particular weighted
7.0 filter method. The circles denote radiosonde data. (From Rottger and
Czechowsky, 1980; Rottger, 1981b.)

4.0

1.0 •
0

used, however, the unavoidable biases occurring as a result
of spatial variations in the wind field must be considered.
7.1 Precision and Accuracy Due to Antenna
Beam Configurations
Several evaluations of the minimum number of antenna
beam positions needed for particular applications have
been made. As shown by Chadwick et al. ( 1984) , eight
beam positions would be necessary in order to measure
the three-dimensional wind vector and the divergence if
independent measurements at other range gates are not
available along a single beam. Clark et al. ( 1986a) have
shown that five independent beam directions are sufficient
to obtain all the parameters with a single radar. In Table
4.1 (from Chadwick et al., 1984) a number of different
solutions are summarized. Often trade-offs have to be
made when the number of needed measurements is con-
sidered, and the number of beam directions may have to
be limited due to budgetary constraints or other reasons.
Koscielny et al. ( 1984) examined the errors in more detail
and presented equations for the bias and variance of the
uniform wind component estimates under the assumption
of a spatially linear and time invariant wind field. They
also showed that there is an optimum zenith angle of 35 °
for measurements of the horizontal velocities, when the
radial velocity errors are dominated by system noise, i.e.,
low signal-to-noise ratio, rather than by turbulent fluctu-
 264 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

ations of the wind. Determining the optimum beam point-

NORTH-SOUTH
ing angle is a complicated problem; some considerations ·IG.OO ·• .oo o.co 1-00 ., .oo

were summarized in section 3.3. An improved method to ..g ..

remove biases in the horizontal wind field would be to use ""
multistation radars.
,.,, 0 -.. 0
"m
D

7.2 Errors Due to Spatial Wind Variations "'....•" "'....

"•
a::;, or
"'"
"' ""'"'
-
The variability of the wind field in space and time causes ....
another, more complicated uncertainty in wind measure- 0
0
...
-
;,
0
ments. Under these conditions, the vertical velocity can
still be measured without bias, but the horizontal velocity ;; ;;
component cannot (Doviak and Zmic, 1984a; Clark et al., g -h .. oo 0
-e .oo o'.oo a'.oo 1k .oo"
NORTH -SOUTH
1986a). Peterson and Balsley ( 1979) discussed three
Doppler radar techniques, namely the azimuth scan
(VAD), the elevation scan (VED), and the zenith-fixed NORTH - SOUTH
- 16 .oo -a .oo 0.oo a.oo " .oo
mode. They found that the first two methods are subject
to increasingly large errors arising from large-scale inho-
.. ..
0
D "
mogeneities in the wind field that give rise to velocity es-
timate errors, particularly in the vertical velocity. Ob-
m
,.,.,0 0o,.,
viously, the zenith method gives the most accurate vertical D n
"'....,a ....
o,"'
velocities, but care must be taken with the direct mea- rc, 01:
surements as described in section 7.4. "'"
"'....
om
"'
Carbone et al. ( 1986) simulated the relationship between
0 0
measured radial velocity and the wind components under 0 D

disturbed conditions, particularly when the vertical velocity

varies slowly with time but is nonuniform over 5-15 km ..g .
0
- 16 . 00 -a .oo o.oo a .oo ., .00°
spatial scales due to gravity waves. They found that the NORTII - SOUIH
horizontal wind estimate may be in error by as much as NORTH- SOUTH
·16-00 •8.00 o.oo a.oo ,, .oo
10m s - 1 when the vertical velocity varies by about 1 m
s- 1 over the spatial separation of the antenna beams. Tem- .. .g
poral averaging will reduce such errors by an amount de-
0

"
pendent on the typical phase speeds of gravity waves.
In mountainous terrain, the effect of stationary lee waves ,.,o
D
-
0
..
0
"m
D
obviously cannot be eliminated by temporal averaging. "'...., a o , "'....
Clark et al. ( 1985) showed that significant improvements ro or
om
"'" ....
"'
-
"'....
in the accuracy of the horizontal wind component can be
made by including the vertical velocity. The technique re- 0
.
0

"
0

quires at least three beam positions. They still discovered

that substantial disagreement between the horizontal wind
components remained, which they explained as being due
to the horizontal variation of the velocity field. The errors
could be minimized eventually by adding more antenna
positions and by measuring the horizontal wind divergence
terms directly. Another possibility would be to use a radar
located far from mountainous regions (e.g., Green et al.,
1985; Nastrom et al., 1987) since it was shown that there
is a considerable difference in vertical velocities due to
gravity waves over flat terrain as compared to mountainous
regions (Green et al., 1988).
Strauch et al. ( 1987) carried out a statistical study to
demonstrate the importance of including the effects of large
vertical motions caused by gravity waves or precipitation
in calculating the horizontal wind component. Figure 7.1
shows scatter diagrams summarizing their results obtained
with a 405-MHz wind profiler. In the diagrams, the dif-
..g .
0
·16 .00 ·8 .oo 0 .oo a .oo 16 . 00°
NORTH-SOUTH
Fig. 7.1 Scatter diagrams of differences of the wind components (VN
- V5) vs (UE - Uw) measured with the 405-MHz profiler during
February 1986 (from Strauch et al., 1987). (a) No vertical velocity
correction; (b) independent vertical velocity correction; (c) as in (b)
except with consensus of 12 out of 12 possible estimates used each
hour.
ferences between the meridional wind components mea-
sured with northward (VN) and southward (V5 ) pointing
beams are plotted versus those of the zonal wind measured
with eastward ( UE) and westward ( Uw) pointing beams.
In case of a spatially uniform wind field and no vertical
motions, the scatter diagrams should exhibit circular sym-
 UHF /VHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 265

metry. The elliptical shape points to a nonuniformity due
to vertical motions not included in the calculation, while
the location of the centroid of the data points indicates
that the assumption of a spatially uniform wind field was
valid. The inclusion of the vertical velocity for correction
(Fig. 7.1b) decreases the uncertainty and the ellipticity,
which in this case is a measure of the errors in the vertical
velocity measurements. Also, not surprisingly, the scatter
is reduced as more consensus criteria are added to the
analysis procedure and signal-to-noise ratios increase (Fig.
7.1c). The study by Strauch et al. demonstrates that the
accuracy of wind profiler estimates of horizontal wind
components is limited by errors in the radial velocity mea-
surements, including instrumental errors and inhomoge-
neity of the atmospheric velocity field. Their study also
demonstrates the importance of making the correction for
vertical motion when that motion is significant.
7.3 The Apparent Beam Direction
Under certain conditions of anisotropy, i.e., aspect sen-
sitivity observed at 50 MHz, the effective beam direction
is closer to the zenith than the real antenna beam pointing
direction (Rottger, 1980b). The effect occurs because the
effective angular dependence of the echoes is the product
of the real antenna beam pattern and the anisotropic an-
gular pattern of the scattering/reflecting inhomogeneities.
The effect is noticeable, for instance, in the asymmetrical
spectra of Fig. 4.2, measured at 2° zenith angle at 12.4
and 13.1 krn altitude. Because of the asymmetrical bias of
the spectral density toward smaller Doppler frequencies
(Atlas et al., 1969), the mean horizontal velocity will be
underestimated when the real beam pointing direction is
used instead of the corrected pointing direction. The effect
is clearly seen in the example of Fig. 7.2 (from Tsuda et
al., 1986), which shows measurements made with the
46.5-MHz MU radar. In the left-hand diagram, the power
profiles, measured with different zenith angles between
2° and 12° and a one-way antenna beamwidth of 3.6°,
clearly show the strong aspect sensitivity, particularly in
the lower stratosphere (>11 km). On the right-hand side
of Fig. 7.2, the horizontal velocity component deduced by
using the beam pointing direction instead of the corrected
pointing angle is shown. The velocity would be underes-
timated by a factor of about 2 if a strong reflected com-
ponent is present and zenith angles that are too small are
used. At larger zenith angles and at tropospheric altitudes
( <10 km) the angular pattern becomes more isotropic and
the effect of the apparent beam direction is less pro-
nounced. Tsuda et al. ( 1986) suggest that zenith angles
larger than 10° be used to avoid this effect, although sev-
eral decibels of signal power are lost when the large off-

Dec 20 - 21, 1984

16~---r----~----r----,

"
'\..'~...
-_./("",
14 . ')•

"-,. \. ")'- ·~•.

')o .,

.J ·' •
c._..,
e ~

-
12
.1 (/
" "
'>
.¥
'\ . )..
-.
......... l-.,
) \ ,..
,/~
<.,.

8 ?~)'
' '
(/..
~·
~·
/'fl
6 ((/

-50 -40 -30 -20 -10 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

ECHO POWER (dB) EASTWARD COMPONENT (m/s)
Fig. 7.2 Left: Mean profiles of echo power observed in six zenith directions, 0°, 2°, 4°, 6°, 8°
and 10°, indicated by the thick solid, dotted, broken, chained, double chained and thin solid lines,
respectively. The arrow indicates the tropopause height. Right: Mean profiles of the eastward wind
velocities deduced without correction for the aspect sensitivity. The broken, chained, double chained,
dotted and solid lines correspond to the measurements at zenith angles 2°, 4°, 6°, 8° and 10°,
respectively. (After Tsuda et al., 1986.)
266 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
vertical beam direction is used instead of the near-zenith
directions in the troposphere, and 10-15 dB are lost in the
stratosphere. The spaced antenna method (see section 4.2)
would not be affected by the apparent beam effect-on
the contrary, it would gain from the enhanced echo
strength near zenith.
The apparent beam direction effect is most pronounced
at 50 MHz when the Doppler method is used but is not
important at 400 MHz or higher frequencies. Another error,
however, is important at both high and low frequencies,
independent of any anisotropy of the refractive index
structure. Hocking ( 1983a,b) showed that even for isotro-
pic scattering an underestimate of the horizontal wind re-
sults when off-vertical beams are used and when there
are strong horizontal velocity fluctuations. These result in
a dependence of the width and symmetry of the spectrum
on the zenith angle, and the latter has the effect of placing
the apparent beam direction closer to zenith. It can be
shown that the contributions from subvolumes at different
zenith angles within the antenna beam result in a bias
toward the low frequency components of the spectrum.
Thus, both the aspect sensitivity and strong horizontal ve-
locity fluctuations lead to an underestimate of the hori-
zontal velocity.
7.4 Eflects of Tilted Refractive
Index Structures
In general, it can be assumed that refractive index struc-
tures, which are anisotropic, are not horizontally stratified
but are tilted at a small angle. The tilt may be the result
of the presence of waves (e.g., Gage et al., 1981 b) as well
as baroclinic disturbances. Rottger ( 1981c) found a tilt an-
gle of about 0.07° under the latter conditions for one-hour
averaged data from the stratosphere. He pointed out that
a horizontal velocity of 20m s- 1 then yields a radial pro-
jection of 2 em s - 1, comparable to the projection of the
mean vertical velocities. Thus, a small vertical velocity is
measured if the projected horizontal velocity is not cor-
rected for as proposed by Rottger (1981c). The problem
must be investigated further to establish the reliability of
mean synoptic-scale velocities measured with UHF j VHF
radars. Meanwhile, the measurements must be interpreted
with care. UHF radars should not show such effects since
it is generally assumed that there is no aspect sensitivity
due to tilted reflecting structures at the higher frequencies.
Gage ( 1986) considered the consequences of tilts under
the assumption that the airflow is at least approximately
adiabatic and isentropic. Under these circumstances, the
horizontal flow field will be tilted along with the isentropic
surfaces, which may be assumed to coincide with the re-
fractive index surfaces. Gage ( 1986) has shown that in
the presence of wave disturbances "horizontal" motions
on tilted surfaces can have appreciable vertical compo-
nents. As a consequence, the measurement of true vertical
wave velocities is likely to be compromised at times by
horizontal velocities of much larger amplitude. Such an
effect can have a major influence on the frequency and
wavenumber spectra of vertical velocities (e.g., Gage and
Nastrom, 1985a; Fritts, 1984a; Fritts et al., 1984).
Watkins and Jayaweera ( 1985) compared 50-MHz radar
observations from the Poker Flat radar and 1290-MHz ob-
servations from the Chatanika radar near Fairbanks,
Alaska. Both radars detected motions of a few centimeters
per second and the presence of similar short-period gravity
wave motions. When the data were averaged for an hour
or more, significant differences were observed. Watkins
and Jayaweera suggested that the differences may be due
to apparent vertical motions observed with the 50-MHz
radar due to off-vertical echoes reflected from horizontally
moving tilted structures, if instrumental errors are ex-
cluded.
Measurements of the tilt angle necessary for correcting
the vertical velocities can best be made by using phase
measurements obtained with the spaced antenna set-up
operated in an interferometer mode (section 9.4). The
measurements will not only improve the determination of
average vertical velocities but would yield an additional
meteorological parameter, namely the average inclination
or tilt angles of refractive index structures related to is-
entropic surfaces. Knowing the tilt angle will also be im-
portant during pronounced gravity wave events, e.g., when
lee waves and propagating waves with wavelengths of
several kilometers are present.
7.5 Separation of Scattered and
ReSected Components
As discussed in section 3, the 50-MHz radar echoes are
believed to consist of a scattered and a reflected compo-
nent. The two components have to be separated, especially
when a good estimate of the volume reflectivity is desired.
The latter parameter is used to deduce the turbulence re-
fractive index structure constant Cn 2 and the turbulence
energy dissipation rate L
The spectra in Fig. 3.4 are typical of 50-MHz radar ob-
servations, particularly for vertical but occasionally also
for off-vertical beams (Hocking, 1986 ). The spectra have
an irregular spikelike appearance. Rottger ( 1980b) and
Hocking ( 1986) noted that these spikes do not appear to
be associated with Bragg scatter but rather are the result
of Fresnel reflection or scatter. Properly identifying these
spikes and removing their effects before any turbulence
information is extracted from the spectra is important.
Hocking ( 1986) derived an algorithm for spike rejection
and applied it to deduce turbulence energy dissipation rates
(Hocking et al., 1986). Rastogi and Rottger (1982) sepa-
rated the reflected and scattered components by means of
the macroscale and microscale coherence times. Other
possibilities, such as using signal statistics to identify the
reflected components, exist (e.g., Rastogi and Holt, 1981;
Sheen et al., 1985; Kuo et al., 1987) and allow the scattered

component to be separated from the reflected component.
Gage et al. (1981b) evaluated the effect of gravity waves
on reflected and scattered echoes.
The reflected components at 50 MHz are considered
negligible at large zenith angles where isotropic turbulence
can still be detected and the backscattered power can be
more accurately estimated (e.g., Van Zandt et al., 1977;
Green et al., 1984). Since the reflected component appears
to be unimportant at higher frequencies, the radars op-
erating at 400 MHz and higher (e.g., Sato and Woodman,
1982a; Watkins and Wand, 1981) can be used to estimate
the volume reflectivity at any zenith angle, provided the
radar volume is homogeneously filled with scattering ir-
regularities. All the techniques need an accurate calibration
of the transmitted power, antenna gain and received
power.
7.6 frequency Dependence
Monostatic radars are sensitive to variations in the re-
fractive index with scale sizes of half the radar wavelength.
Because shorter scale sizes will be damped by kinematic
viscosity which increases with altitude, there is an upper
limit to the altitude from which reasonable echo strength
would be expected for a given radar frequency. The same
condition shows that longer wavelength radars should be
able to observe to greater altitudes than shorter wavelength
radars. Hocking ( 1985) has treated the wavelength de-
pendence in detail for UHF /VHF radars, and Gossard and
Strauch ( 1983) and Strauch et al. ( 1986a) have discussed
the implications for the optimum choice of a frequency
for wind measurements in the troposphere and lower
stratosphere. Rastogi and Mathews ( 1984) have also dis-
cussed the applicability of different frequencies (3, 50, 200,
400, 900 and 2400 MHz) for UHF /VHF radar operations.
Rtayrvik (1985) compared 2.6-MHz and 40.9-MHz radar
echoes from the mesosphere. A useful parameter for de-
termining the minimum radar wavelength for scattering
from turbulence is the inner scale of the inertial subrange,
which depends on kinematic viscosity and turbulence in-
tensity (e.g., Hocking, 1985). In Fig. 7.3 (from Gossard
and Strauch, 1983) the short-wavelength cut-off of the
inertial subrange is displayed for different turbulence in-
tensities, given by the turbulence dissipation rates E. The
critical wavelength is Ac = 81rl 0 , where 10 is the so-called
Kolmogorov microscale. The radar wavelength must be
larger than Acto avoid large changes in sensitivity when
the turbulence intensity changes. The curves with different
parameter values of E in Fig. 7.3 give an indication of the
maximum altitude where sensible radar measurements are
possible for radars with half wavelengths larger than Ac.
The observations up to 25 km altitude with the 430-MHz
Arecibo radar (Sato and Woodman, 1982a), which may
not be immediately consistent with the theoretical results,
could be explained by very intense turbulent layers in
which the cut-off has been moved to smaller scale sizes.
UHF fVHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 267
L•ght a•rcraft
turbulence € ~ 10
24
I
20
16
12
a L•lly, et al
i = 0 25 lor North Amenca
(14 • 21 km)
o Trout and Panofsky
Moderate a•rcraft turbulence E:" 85
L•ght a.rcraft turbulence £ = 30
No a•rcraft turbulence E= 15
~~~L-~--~15~~20--~2~5--+.30~~3~5~~.0~-.~.--~~
Ac
Wavelength, {em)
Fig. 7.3 The cut-off radar wavelength A, as function of height for
a given turbulence energy dissipation rate (from Gossard and Strauch,
1983; ©1983, Elsevier Science Publishers).
When selecting radar frequencies one obviously also has
to consider the system noise temperature, which varies
approximately as A2 ·3 , i.e., for sky noise the higher fre-
quency radars have lower noise levels than the lower fre-
quency radars. In order to examine sensitivity differences,
Frisch et al. ( 1986) analyzed archived wind profiler data
and computed the performance statistics for the 3-~s pulse
width modes at 50, 405 and 915 MHz. In Fig. 7.4, we
show the results of their analysis to determine the perfor-
mance, i.e., the height above which no wind data were
deducible when the radar was operating (outage). It is
apparent that the 50-MHz profilers are more sensitive in
the long pulse mode than the 405-MHz and the 905-MHz
profilers. Frisch et al. speculate that this may be due to the
increase in backscattered power with height rather than
any differences of backscattered power with frequency.
Frisch et al. ( 1987) have also compared wind profiles mea-
sured at 50 and 405 MHz and have shown that there is
good agreement between the two measurements. Their
statistics also indicate more seasonal variation in the 50-
MHz wind profiles than in the UHF profiles, and that the
405-MHz system performance lies between that of the 50-
MHz and 915-MHz systems. The 50-MHz profiler has the
greatest height change for the same increase in sensitivity,
and the 915-MHz profiler has the least. The average in-
crease in height performance for similar sensitivity changes
(7 dB) was approximately 7 km at 50 MHz, 5 km at 405
MHz, and 2 km at915 MHz. Strauchetal. (1986b) further
investigated the precision of 405-MHz profiles. The anal-
ysis of Frisch et al. ( 1986) indicates that the profiler of
choice for the proposed expanded network ( 405 MHz)
will have almost no outages for three or more consecutive
hours below a height of 14 km, provided that the inner
scale of turbulence is smaller than the Bragg wavelength
at all times for the 405-MHz system. That the latter con-
dition is likely to be satisfied is indicated by the 430-MHz
radar observations made with the Arecibo radar, which
268 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

0 0 0
0 0 0
0
"'

FLEMING

0
0

"' 50 MHz 405 MHz 915 MHz

0 0 0
0 0

'11. 00 25.00 50.00 75.00 100.00 :.~--.,...----..---0

u.OO 25.00 50.0 --::7..-5•-=-oo::---,,oo. oo '11. 00 25.00 so. 00 75.00 IOIJ.OO
% DDWN % DDWN Z DDWN
Fig. 7.4 Percentage of time of no data, i. e., if an outage lasted three or more hours, for two pulse lengths, 3 and 9 J.LS, at the Fleming
50-MHz, the Platteville 405-MHz and the Denver 915-MHz radar wind profilers (from Frisch et al., 1986).

exhibit a maximum altitude around 25 km (Sa to and volume effect is negligibly small for weak ambient wind
Woodman, 1982a). velocities less than about 10 m s - 1 and for an antenna
beamwidth less than 1°. Watkins and Johnston ( 1985)
7.7 Weighting E&ects Due to Vertically
Inhomogeneous Re8ectivity 22 JAN 1980 1: 18:ij7 AST
20 20
\'....,,
20
>l
~
Since the Doppler spectrum results from the reflectivity-

\
.
I
IB IB IB )/
weighted scatter and reflection components and the re- "i I
I "i
~ 16 ~ 16 ~ 16
flectivity is inhomogeneous, errors in parameter estimation ""
c "'
c I
I "'
c
::> ::> ::>
will occur if structure scale lengths do not match range ~
...cr...
~Ill ~
gate and antenna beamwidth (e.g., Hocking, 1983a,b). ...
cr
1.. ' '
...cr JL&

12 12 12
Sato and Fukao (1982) used 430-MHz radar data from
Arecibo to investigate such effects and found that the 10
ijQ
t 10 K
75 100 -20 0 20 0 I 2 3 ij 5
greatest impact occurs when poor altitude resolution, such POWER ldBl VELOCITT 1~/ol SPECTRAL WIDTH 1~/ol
as 3 km, is used. In Fig. 7.5a, profiles of power, velocity
and spectral width measured with 150-m resolution are
reproduced along with the smeared profiles for 3-km res- TEMPDRRL VRRIRTION DF ZDNRL WINO
22 JRN 1960 1:16- 7:16 AST
olution. The low-resolution wind velocity is biased by 10
m s - 1 from the true velocity in the height range where the I ~0 1:·,;..:,.
-t:, . ~:··,······
1 n~. ...... .-·........... ....·. . /-./.-... ._..... ··':;:;:;.:.....,.._ 16.5 km
- I
wind shear is large. Moreover, as Fig. 7.5b shows, spurious
velocity fiuctuations and substantial offsets appear which ~ 1 ~J 60 120 1·.ao .. /·-·./~-~.a..~~pC~o15 . 9 fm

do not correspond to any of the true velocity variations. ~ -I 0 ~ I 1

Of course, as pointed out in section 3, most of the detailed ... 0 60 120 160 240 300 360

finestructure is smeared when coarse resolution is used. ~ -: ~ c::·i·,r·>····,'. ./···;··'' .....·,./·:· · . . . . ·;.. , . . ;.• ... ·'~ IS. 3 k m
May et al. ( 1988a) further investigated the effect of thin > 0 60 120 180 24 0 300 360
scattering layers on the determination of wind velocities
~ ~~S~~~~~-~14.7km
by the Doppler technique. Hocking and Rottger ( 1983) -Io%' ' •,. ~
and Green and Gage ( 1985) evaluated and reanalyzed the
effect of varying background reflectivity on the pulse _:H~~;::·~3-~0.•<.;;014.1 km
length dependence. 0 60 120 lBO 2LIQ 300 360
Another finite range-volume effect which, in contrast T I MF. lm i nl

to the altitude smearing effect, causes a systematic error
in radar wind measurements when a single scattering layer
is simultaneously located in several adjacent range volumes
was studied by Fukao et al. ( 1988c,d). The error appears
as a false vertical shear of the horizontal wind or a false
temporal wind variation even if the ambient wind field is
uniform. Fukao et al. found, however, that the finite range-
Fig. 7.5a Altitude profiles of echo power, velocity and spectral width
measured with 150-m height resolution with the 430-MHz Arecibo
radar (solid lines) and with an effective altitude resolution of 3 km
(dashed line).
Fig. 7.5b Temporal variation of velocity with 150-m height reso-
lution (solid lines) and 3-km height resolution (dashed lines) (from
Sato and Fukao, 1982).

investigated the range-smearing effect that depends on
range as well as on antenna pointing angle. They discussed
the resulting effects on the interpretation of turbulence
occurrence, Doppler velocity, spectral width, and the cal-
culation of turbulent diffusion rates and suggested that the
narrowest possible antenna beam be used. They also
pointed out that for strong signals, antenna sidelobes ex-
tend the smearing. Green et al. ( 1978) and Gage et al.
(1978) have noted enhanced echo intensities when con-
vective douds are in the radar beam (see also section 8.6).
7.8 Spectral Broadening Due to Shear,
Beamwidth, and Velocity fluctuations
When using the signal fluctuations, i.e., the echo co-
herence time, or equivalently the spectral width, to deduce
turbulent fluctuations and energy dissipation rates, con-
taminating effects have to be carefully considered. The
spectral width can be used to deduce the turbulence pa-
rameters only if the turbulence is the dominant cause of
the signal fluctuations. Hocking ( 1983a,b) has studied
these effects in great detail and concludes that beam
broadening is important for all beams more than 2° wide.
Beamwidth broadening of the spectra (Atlas, 1964; Battan,
1973) occurs due to horizontally moving irregularities,
causing a Doppler shift that widens the spectrum, even if
the irregularities are not moving vertically. In Fig. 7.6 a
diagram reproduced from the article by Hocking ( 1985)
shows the minimum extractable mean square velocity due
to turbulence as a function of the horizontal wind speed.
The lines refer to different half-power half-widths of an-
tenna beams. For instance, if the beamwidth is larger than
2° and the horizontal wind speed is larger than 20m s - 1,
the minimum extractable mean-square fluctuating velocity
MINIMUM MEAN SQUARE FLUCTUATING VELOCITY
EXTRACTABLE WITH{a) SOUSY RADAR -
I
I
I dissipation rate can be determined from the spectral width
I (e.g., Hocking, 1986; Brewster and Zrnic, 1986), since E is
I
I /
I
I ,-,
~ can be measured. The latter method does not require the
I ...:;
I ~
/ effects on the spectral width that were outlined in section
10 20 30 1.0
Horizontal wind velocity
{ms·rJ
Fig. 7.6 Minimum extractable mean square velocity as a function
of the horizontal wind speed for various antenna half-power half-
widths (from Hocking, 1985).
UHF /VHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 269
is 0.2 m 2 s-2, or Emin = 10-3 W kg- 1• The curves should
be used as a rough guide only, since some simplifying
assumptions have been made. Other statistical effects, such
as low signal-to-noise ratio, nonstationarity and inho-
mogeneity of the turbulent medium or reflected signal
components, have not been included. The curves show
how crucial the effect is for turbulence observations. Figure
7.6 also shows that the minimum extractable turbulent
velocities decrease drastically as beamwidth decreases. For
tilted antenna beams, the wind shear broadening effect
also becomes important, and it gets worse for larger zenith
angles and longer pulse lengths. Spectral broadening also
occurs if a shear of the radial wind exists across the width
of the beam or across the range gate.
Vertical velocity oscillations due to gravity waves can
contribute to the spectral widening if the averaging period
for the Doppler spectra is a substantial fraction of a gravity
wave period. Horizontally fluctuating velocities are most
important for tilted beams, but can also affect vertical
beams if the beamwidth is large. As described in section
7.2, the horizontal fluctuations can also affect the Doppler
measurements of the mean horizontal wind since they
cause an apparent change in the mean look angle of the
antenna beam.
All the effects outlined above need to be considered
carefully when deducing atmospheric parameters from the
radar measurements.
8 SPECIAL RADAR APPLICATIONS
8.1 Turbulent Di&asion
If the Bragg scatter is from inertial subrange turbulence,
then backscattered power, the turbulence refractive index
structure constant Cn 2 and, consequently, the turbulence
energy dissipation or turbulence diffusion rate are related
through Eqs. ( 2), ( 3) and ( 4). Under the provisions that
(b) OTHER RADARS--
20/
all radar system parameters are well calibrated (e.g., Green
1 Sousy et al., 1983), instrumental effects are eliminated and any
influence from a reflected signal component has been re-
moved (e.g., Hocking, 1986), E can be deduced directly
from the signal power. Alternatively, the turbulence energy
directly proportional to the mean-square fluctuating ve-
/
locity provided only the vertical fluctuating component
J70
--
absolute calibration of the instruments, but the limiting
50 60 70 80 7 must be carefully considered. The methods require that
the background profile of the potential refractive index
gradient and the stability be known in the first case and
that the stability be known in the latter case. Gossard et
al. ( 1982) deduced the refractive index structure constant
and turbulent fluxes from FM-CW radar and balloon data
270 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
in the planetary boundary-layer using similar methods.
More details of the methods can be found in the articles
by Weinstock (1981a,b,c) and Hocking (1985) and in
Chapter 28a. Dewan ( 1981) has discussed the value of
radar observations in studies of stratospheric turbulent
transport.
Several authors have applied the various techniques in
different ways and have deduced Cn 2 profiles in the tro-
posphere and stratosphere, as well as the diurnal and sea-
sonal variability. Comparisons between the experimental
results and theory, models, and other independent mea-
surements have also been carried out (e.g., VanZandt et
al., 1977, 1980, 1981; Gage et al., 1980; Nastrom et al.,
1981, 1986; Watkins and Wand, 1981; Good et al., 1982;
Sato and Woodman, 1982a; Green et al., 1984; Warnock
et al., 1985, 1986; Hocking, 1986; Hocking et al., 1986).
Rastogi and Woodman ( 1983) and Woodman and Rastogi
( 1984) used 430-MHz radar observations of the occurrence
of thin layers of turbulence to deduce the turbulence dif-
fusion rate via a probabilistic method and found that spo-
radically occurring turbulence layers yield a significant net
vertical transport.
8 . .2. Turbulence and Laminar finestructure
Several UHF /VHF radar investigations have shown that
turbulent layers and persistent laminae are frequently
much thinner than a few hundred meters. To resolve these
structures, a high range resolution has to be applied which
in tum is determined by the radar pulse width or pulse
duration. Obviously, the higher the frequency, the larger
the bandwidth can be and the better the height resolution
that can be achieved. To maximize the average transmitter
power to detect weak echoes, pulse compression (phase
coding) or FM-CW has to be used.
Gossard et al. (1970, 1985) detected and analyzed the
finestructure of stable sheet-layer steps in the planetary
boundary-layer with an FM-CW radar yielding a height
resolution of some meters. Woodman ( 1980a) used the
bistatic 2380-MHz radar at the Arecibo Observatory to
study stratospheric turbulence; the technique is briefly de-
scribed in section 9.3. Woodman and Ierkic (personal
communication, 1987) detected stratospheric turbulence
layers as thin as their applied resolution of 15m and mea-
sured their Doppler spectra.
The 50-MHz radars, being more restricted in bandwidth
( -1-2 MHz), usually are limited in height resolution to
150 m, although 75 m was achieved recently in a study
of mesospheric turbulence in a pulse operation (Schmidt
and Klostermeyer, personal communication, 1987). In ap-
plying pulse compression, the complementary code has
become standard for VHF /UHF (Schmidt et al., 1979;
Woodman, 19 80a, b), as described in section 6. 3, partic-
ularly when studying the weak echoes from the middle
and upper stratosphere and the mesosphere. By application
of pulse scanning, filtering, and signal deconvolution by
means of contrast enhancement, Rottger and Schmidt
( 1979) were able to resolve the finestructure of a tropo-
spheric cat's-eye layer of 100-m thickness and found in-
dications of stratospheric laminae much thinner than 150
m (see also Fig. 3.2). Reid et al. ( 1987}, using pulse coding,
resolved a cat's-eye structure in the mesosphere. With a
32-bit complementary code and 150-m resolution, Sato
and Woodman (1982a) used the Arecibo 430-MHz radar
with a 7.5°-15° zenith angle to study stratospheric tur-
bulence and estimated that the layer thicknesses are usually
of the order of 50 m. These authors and also Thomas et
al. ( 1985), who used supplementary balloon measure-
ments, found that thin stratospheric turbulence layers ob-
served with the 430-MHz radar result from wind shear
instability. Many more high resolution studies, including
studies of mesospheric turbulence morphology, have been
carried out with pulse-coded UHF/ VHF radars (e.g., Cze-
chowsky et al., 1979; Rottger, 1980a; Sato and Woodman,
1982c; Sa to et al., 1985) and have greatly improved our
knowledge of lower and middle atmosphere refractive in-
dex structure, namely layers, sheets (laminae), and blobs.
The latter will be discussed in section 8.3.
A different method for studying thin turbulence struc-
tures is the "fine Doppler resolution" technique applied
by Wand et al. (1983) with the Millstone Hill radar. At
low antenna elevation angles, scatterers moving with dif-
ferent velocities in the troposphere and stratosphere can
be resolved by means of Doppler sorting with high-fre-
quency resolution. The same technique was applied by
Rottger ( 1984b) with the EISCAT 933-MHz radar. Wand
et al. estimated the maximum layer thicknesses to be in
the range from 20-300 m. The disadvantage of these
oblique beam methods is that the vertical velocities cannot
be measured.
Possible mechanisms for the generation of laminar
structures detected by vertically beaming 50-MHz radars
include vertical mixing in a locally turbulent region due to
Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. Sharp, steplike gradients will
appear at the boundaries of these turbulent regions as a
consequence of mixing (e.g., Chapter 28a). The other pro-
posed mechanism is that the displacement of low-fre-
quency buoyancy waves acting on the background vertical
gradient of refractivity produces the horizontally stratified
laminae of the refractive index. Radar reflectivities have
been estimated based on such a model (VanZandt and
Vincent, 1983). Experimental verification of the model,
such as measurements of Fresnel reflectivity as a function
of Brunt-Vaisala frequency or inertial frequency and the
aspect dependence of reflectivity, has been suggested. Sta-
tistical characterization of Fresnel scattering/reflection
structures is important. In particular, the studies of signal
statistics of radar returns to determine the statistical nature
of scatterers and reflectors (e.g., Thomas et al., 1986) and
the parameterization of Fresnel returns have proved to be
of great importance (Sheen et al., 1985; Kuo et al., 1987;
Hocking, 1987b).

Our understanding of characteristics of echoes arising
from Fresnel scatter or reflection can be further improved
by combining radar and high-resolution radiosonde ob-
servations. Tsuda et al. (1988a) have made such mea-
surements with the MU radar. They proved that the echo
finestructure is mainly determined by the vertical gradient
of humidity in the lower troposphere. In the upper tro-
posphere and the stratosphere, on the other hand, the echo
structure is related to dominant vertical scales in the buoy-
ancy frequency, i.e., the temperature profile, which in tum
is related to the presence of gravity waves.
Whereas the various techniques described above are
mostly used to study the vertical distribution of radar-de-
tected structures, the horizontal structure over a distance
of a few kilometers can be investigated by applying mul-
tiple beam positions or the spatial radar interferometry
technique (see section 9.4). Riister and Klostermeyer
( 1985, 1987) carried out some studies of mesospheric tur-
bulence bursts with the SOUSY radar with three beam
positions and found that the bursts propagate horizontally
with the mean wind speed and appear to be generated by
Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) in regions of strong
shear, consistent with the finding that there is a correlation
between wind shear and echo intensity at UHF (e.g., Sato
and Woodman, 1982c; Tsuda et al., 1985). Making use of
the fast beam steerability of the MU radar and applying a
full correlation analysis (FCA), Yamamoto et al. (1988b)
evaluated scattering structures and showed that the ve-
locity of the moving scatter pattern did not agree with the
background wind velocity but rather was associated with
the propagation direction of an inertial gravity wave. Rott-
ger and Ierkic ( 1985) applied radar interferometry to track
the motion of mesospheric turbulence blobs and were able,
by evaluating the temporal variation of the Doppler shift
and the incidence angle, to separate horizontal and vertical
motions. Fukao et al. ( 1986c) have used 16 beam positions
at the MU radar facility to reveal the advection properties
and spatial variability of tropospheric structures, which
may be related to both clear-air turbulence and to en-
hancements of refractive index variations in clouds. It
seems clear that the fast multibeam steerability technique,
applied in the Doppler mode, and the spatial interferometer
technique, applied in the spaced antenna mode, provide
new possibilities for the investigation of the three-dimen-
sional structure of refractive index inhomogeneities.
8.3 Gravity Wave and Momentum
flux Measurements
A consensus is developing that there is a relationship
between turbulence, laminar structures, and atmospheric
gravity waves. Turbulence is believed to arise from the
unstable breakdown of gravity waves, preventing further
wave amplitude growth with altitude, and the result is
that a substantial part of the vertically propagating gravity
wave energy is deposited in the middle atmosphere (e.g.,
UHF fVHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 271
Lilly and Kennedy, 1973; tilly and Lester, 1974; Fritts et
al., 1988). The vertical flux of horizontal momentum car-
ried by gravity waves is of considerable interest, since its
divergence due to wave dissipation results in an acceler-
ation of the mean flow (see Chapter 28a for further details
and references). Dewan ( 1985) discussed the nature of
waves and turbulence and considered some practical
methods that can be used to distinguish between the two
phenomena.
VHF /UHF radars can be used to study gravity waves
in singular events and in a statistical manner. Case studies
of wave oscillations due to KHI have, for example, been
carried out by VanZandt et al. ( 1979) and Klostermeyer
and Riister ( 1984), and radar observations and the theory
of convective and dynamic instabilities due to gravity wave
motions have been reviewed by Fritts and Rastogi ( 1985).
The beam steerability of UHF/ VHF radars allows several
wave parameters to be studied. For instance, Rottger and
Ierkic ( 1985) have utilized the spaced antenna set-up in
a postset-beam steering mode to study a wave event. The
principle is shown in Fig. 8.1a. Data I and II are taken at
two spaced receiving antennas, and are combined to form
different beam directions within the transmitter beam. By
inserting the appropriate phase changes in the recorded
data and combining them coherently in an off-line pro-
cedure, narrow beams are generated that can be steered
in different directions. The method is used to measure ra-
dial velocities (arrows in Fig. 8.1a) at different phase lo-
cations of an atmospheric wave, indicated schematically
by the sinusoidal curve. In Fig. 8.1b, the resulting radial
velocity time series is shown, and a phase difference of
the radial velocity observations is indicated. By using three
spaced receiving antennas, the technique can be applied
to deduce the wave frequency and the three-dimensional
wavenumber, as well as the intrinsic wave frequency. The
latter is possible because the mean wind is also measured
with the method and can be used to deduce the Doppler
shift of the wave. Of course, post-beam-steering techniques
can be applied directly with on-line beam steering (e.g.,
Fukao et al., 1980b), although nearly monochromatic wave
events are needed for a meaningful analysis. Rottger
( 1981c) made a statistical study of the vertical coherence
of gravity waves by computing vertical cross spectra of
vertical velocities measured overhead at a single radar.
Ecklund et al. ( 1985) computed vertical and horizontal
cross spectra of vertical wind fluctuations between three
closely spaced radar sites set up at the vertices of a triangle
with some 4-6 km separation. They deduced horizontal
phase speeds and wavelengths from the significant phase
differences at the three sites. Under quiet wind conditions
the spectra show a cut-off very close to the buoyancy fre-
quency (Rottger, 1981c; Ecklund et al., 1985), which,
however, can be smeared out due to Doppler shifts of the
waves by a strong background wind (Scheffler and Uu,
1985, 1986; Fritts and VanZandt, 1986). The frequency
and wavenumber spectra of the vertical, radial and hori-
272 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Fig. 8.1a Principle of off-line post-beam steering by inserting phase
differences in the complex datasets I and II and coherently combining
them.
zontal velocities have drawn considerable interest in recent
years as a means for studying the interrelation of waves
and turbulence (e.g., Balsley and Garello, 1985; Gage and
Nastrom, 1985a; Ecklund et al., 1986). The application of
the UHF/ VHF radar technique has made it possible to
measure velocities with sufficient altitude and time reso-
lution to gain the required spectral information, although
some instrumental, analysis and atmospheric effects still
need to be resolved in interpreting the spectra, as outlined
in section 7. Several other papers have dealt with tech-
niques for studying the statistical properties of gravity
waves, including Lu et al. ( 1984), Meek et al. ( 1985a,b)
and Reid (1986).
The altitude variation of the variance of vertical velocity
fluctuations (w' 2 ) would be a measure of wave propa-
gation and dissipation if the horizontal and vertical wave-
numbers remained constant with height. A better param-
eter, not restricted by the latter condition, is the covariance
( u'w') of the vertical and horizontal velocities. The product
of the covariance and the atmospheric density p, known
as the momentum flux, is constant with altitude for un-
damped, freely propagating waves and can be deduced
from spaced antenna measurements (FCA) of the hori-
zontal wind fluctuations u' and simultaneous Doppler
9 SEP 1980
21.0
z/km
19.5
18.0
16.5
w/cms-1
0540 0550 0600 UTC
Fig. 8.1b Time series of radial velocity measured with beam tilted
to 1.2° north and 1.2° south of zenith (from Rimger and Ierkic, 1985).
measurements of the vertical velocity w' (e.g., Rottger,
1981c). Vincent and Reid (1983) developed a unique
method, stemming from a method developed earlier by
Lhermitte ( 1968), for measuring ( u'w ') using fixed co-
planar antenna beams such as those shown in Fig. 8.1a.
The mean square radial velocity ( v;l) is calculated in each
range gate and for each beam. Vincent and Reid showed
that
(u'w') = ((V~)- (VIfa))
2 sin2o
where o is the zenith angle of the two complementary
beams. By measuring ( u'w') at a number of successive
ranges, the vertical profile of the vertical flux of horizontal
momentum ( u'w') can be measured and the flux conver-
gence with height can be calculated. The acceleration of
the mean horizontal flow is then given by the expression
fu
1 a
= ---;- (p( u'w') ).
p vZ
The beam separation also makes it possible to measure the
mean wind components and, under certain circumstances,
the horizontal wavelength and phase velocity of atmo-
spheric waves. The method for determining fu is gaining

considerable interest, particularly in investigations of the
momentum budget of the mesosphere (e.g., Fritts, 1984b;
Fritts et al., 1984; Reid and Vincent, 1987) and in studies
of the momentum flux in the troposphere and lower
stratosphere with 50-MHz radars (Nastrom and Green,
1986; Fukao et al., 1988b; Fritts et al., 1988). The latter
authors also compared momentum flux measurements
with three beams and four beams when investigating the
zonal and the meridional momentum flux. Reid ( 1987)
has examined the basic assumptions and their influence
on the interpretation of the measurements for different
multibeam positions, taking into account spatial and tem-
poral variations in the velocity field.
8.4 Mean Vertical Velocities
Wind variability due to atmospheric turbulence and
waves is usually the major source of variance of the mea-
sured vertical velocity profiles deduced for meteorological
applications. Waterman et al. ( 1985b) studied the problem,
and they inferred the rms variations in the horizontal wind
for various zenith angle pairs. The uncertainties due to
wind variability mostly can be averaged out if the time
periods chosen for averaging are suitably long. UHF /VHF
radars appear to be suitable tools for measuring the vertical
velocity, but the effect of the variability has to be consid-
ered in some measurements of synoptic scale, i.e., longer
term vertical velocities (e.g., Rottger, 1981c; Larsen and
Rottger, 1982; Gage, 1983; Gage and Nastrom, 1985b;
Nastrom et al., 1985). Because of the vertical velocity vari-
ability, some care must be taken when computing averages.
17.3
15.8
14.3
12.8
E
.= 11.3
Q)
'0 9 .8
.2
·.;;
<( 8.3
6 .8
5 .3
3.8
2.3
12 18 00
Mar . 6 Mar. 7
1981
Fig. 8.2 Contour plots of vertical velocities deduced (left) from ECMWF analysis and (right) from
radar. Negative or downward velocities are hatched on the left and stippled on the right. The
velocity difference between contour intervals is 7.5 em s- 1 for the radar data (from Larsen et al.,
1988).
UHF /VHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 273
The mean vertical velocity is generally only a few em s -t,
whereas the fluctuating velocity is 1-2 orders of magnitude
larger. Consequently, averaging has to be done over a large
number of independent vertical velocity estimates to obtain
a significant mean. Since there are "quiet" and "disturbed"
periods of velocity variability (Ecklund et al., 1985), the
averaging period has to be adapted and is typically several
hours or more. Standing lee waves may contribute to the
errors in deducing synoptic-scale velocities as well (Nas-
trom et al., 1985). Tilts of reflectivity surfaces can introduce
a further uncertainty, as discussed in section 7.4. Nastrom
et al. ( 1985) have discussed case study comparisons of
radar vertical velocity data with synoptic-scale vertical
motions computed from gridded NMC data. Their results
suggest that time-averaged radar vertical velocities are
representative of features smaller than the synoptic scale.
Larsen et al. ( 1988) have presented other case studies of
data taken during warm- and cold-frontal passages. As
depicted in Fig. 8.2 (from Larsen et al., 1988) the mag-
nitudes of the vertical velocity variations are comparable
in radar observations and in operational analysis data from
the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
(ECMWF). However, there are shorter term mesoscale
variations in the vertical velocity that do not appear in the
ECMWF analysis. Balsley et al. ( 1988b) have analyzed
average vertical motions in the tropical atmosphere which
show that a VHF radar/ wind profiler yields reasonable
general features of long-term vertical velocity averages,
but the wind profiler data also show considerable small-
scale detail. Clark et al. ( 1986b) have recently shown that
even the inverse method of deriving horizontal divergence
61 1 MARCH 1981
17.3
14 3
SJ
06 12 GMT 12 18 00 06 lJTC
 274 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

of the wind field from vertical velocity radar measurements

is feasible. These preliminary results provide confidence
that further development of the vertical velocity measure-
ment capability of the radars is possible.

8.5 Fronts, Tropopause, and Temperature

Profile Retrieval
The power received by a 50-MHz radar at vertical in-
cidence contains a considerable component due to Fresnel 7.5 .. •;
:
•'· ' ·, .,'fli"'tll

scatter and reflection. As discussed in section 3, the gen- 00 00 00 00 00 00 GMT 00

eralized reflection coefficient depends on the mean gen-

eralized vertical refractive index gradient which in tum
depends on atmospheric stability. Therefore, enhanced
vertical incidence echoes are often found near frontal zones
and the tropopause where the vertical gradient of potential
temperature is positive, i.e., a structure consistent with a PLAITEVIllE, CO
+ Balloon T1opo.oause
statically stable atmosphere. Gage and Green ( 1978) and • Rad~r Tropopause

Rottger et al. (1978) reported that 50-MHz radars find an

echo peak near or above the tropopause level. The latter
authors also reported echo enhancements observed in a
warm-frontal zone. Gage and Green ( 1979) further E
~
showed a significant correlation between tropopause height Q>
"C
11
:::>
detected by radiosonde and by radar, and Rottger ( 1979)
showed the correspondence between the radar observa- ''•

tions of the frontal zone and local and synoptic weather

observations. Larsen and Rottger ( 1982, 1983, 1985) have
discussed further examples of warm- and cold-frontal
passages, although the latter do not appear to have as
pronounced a reflectivity structure. Horizontal velocity and
vertical velocity changes (see Fig. 8.2) can be used to locate
fronts and the associated jet streams as well (e.g., Riister
and Czechowsky, 1980; Shapiro et al., 1984; Larsen and
Rottger, 1982; Rottger and Schmidt, 1981; Larsen et al.,
1987; Vincent et al., 1987; Fukao et al., 1988a) . On the
other hand, it appears that reflectivity enhancements at
fronts and the tropopause are not as readily observable at
other than midlatitudes. The effects of humidity may in
some circumstances, and particularly in the lower tropo-
sphere, mask the effect of the frontal zone inversion on
the reflectivity profile. Tropopause folding in connection
with the passage of fronts in midlatitude synoptic-scale
disturbances can also be detected and investigated by radar
(see Fig. 3.6 of Chapter 28a).
Figure 8.3a shows the reflectivity measured with a ver-
tical beam in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere
over a period of six days. The characteristic large values
of reflectivity C2 in the altitude region between 11 and 14
km are attributed to the stable region above the tropopause
determined from radiosonde data and marked by arrows.
Also, the echo persistency TE increases in the lower strato-
sphere, indicating high stability. Gage and Green ( 1979)
and Green and Gage ( 1980) have used the radar aspect
sensitivity to determine the tropopause height successfully
within a few hundred meters. Rastogi and Rottger ( 1982)
used the echo persistency to determine the "radar tropo-
5 3
February 1982 March
Fig. 8.3a Reflectivity C 2 and persistency TE measured with a ver-
tically beaming radar between 29 May and 6 June 1978. The arrows
point to the tropopause height obtained from radiosonde data (from
Riittger, 1980a).
Fig. 8.3b Comparison of tropopause heights determined automati-
cally from VHF radar observations with tropopause heights derived
from radiosonde soundings (from Gage et al., 1986).
pause" which they found to be slightly higher than the
radiosonde tropopause. Gage and Green ( 1982) and, more
recently, Gage et al. ( 1986) have developed an objective
method for determining the tropopause height automati-
cally from the radar data. Figure 8.3b shows the results of
Gage et al. for a one-month period. They conclude that
even a simple, low powered, vertically looking, low-res-
olution 50-MHz radar can be used to monitor tropopause
heights routinely. Sweezy and Westwater ( 1986) compared
different methods for determining the tropopause height
from 50-MHz radar observations and found that the
method developed by Gage and Green ( 1982) and the
Fresnel scattering model based on an average vertical
power profile appear to give better estimates than the
 UHF fVHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 275

method using echo persistence or the aspect sensitivity,
which is consistent with the appearance of TE and C2 in
Fig. 8.3a.
The technique of Gage and Green ( 1982) actually allows
a reasonable estimate of the temperature profile to be made
from the radar-deduced stability. Hogg et al. ( 1983) and
Westwater et al. ( 1983) have extended that method by
combining temperature profile estimates from microwave
radiometer measurements with the radar measurements.
In Fig. 8.4 several temperature profiles are displayed; they
show that combining radiometry and radar temperature
profiles yields a significant improvement. Westwater et al.
( 1985) have further extended the method.
8.6 Precipitation Studies
The vast majority of the studies carried out with VHF/
UHF radars have focused on signals from the clear at-
mosphere. Some of the early studies (Green et al., 1978;
Gage et al., 1978), however, already showed that en-
hanced echoes were detected with a VHF radar when
clouds were overhead, presumably due to a combination
of stronger turbulence within the cloud and larger reflec-
tivities attributable to the water vapor. The same studies
showed that double-peaked spectra were detected when
precipitation was within the radar volume with one peak
corresponding to the air motion and the other to the fall
velocity of the precipitation. Wakasugietal. (1986, 1987a)
carried out observations of precipitating clouds with the
46.5-MHz MU radar in Japan and obtained the examples
of double-peaked spectra shown in Fig. 8.5. Fukao et al.
(1985d) also used the MU radar and meteorological C-
and Ku- band radars to show that there is an enhancement
in the VHF echoes in a precipitating atmosphere.
UHF observations at 430 MHz with the Arecibo Obser-
vatory radar showed that the echoes at the higher fre-
quency were completely dominated by precipitation, and
only a single peak associated with the fall speed of the
drops was detected even for light rainfall rates (Larsen et
al., 1982). All of the articles cited in this subsection discuss
the relative contributions of scatter from drops and from
turbulence as a function of frequency in one form or an-
other, but the dependence can be summarized in the form
of the curves in Fig. 8.6, from Larsen and Rottger ( 1987).
The two inclined curves show the reflectivity for precipi-
tation within the range from 30 to 50 dBZ. The two curves
that are nearly horizontal show the reflectivity for turbu-
lence scatter for Cn 2 in the range from 10- 13 to 10- 15
em - 2 1 3 • For these typical ranges, the reflectivity at 70-cm
wavelength ( 430 MHz) will be 20-40 dB less for scatter
from turbulence than for the scatter from precipitation.
The two types of scatter are comparable for a wavelength
near 6 m (50 MHz), in agreement with the observations.
Gage et al. ( 1978) pointed out that the VHF measure-
ments could be used to advantage in cloud physics research
since both the precipitation fall velocity and the air mo-
tions, important parameters in understanding the dynamics
of clouds, can be measured simultaneously. The studies
by Wakasugi et al. (1986, 1987a) extended the idea further
by showing that drop-size distributions can be derived

Denver Colo. 1981 Denver Colo. 1981

Day (MST)• 77 100 Day (MST) • 64 100
- 16 Hour •16 Hour• 4
E Radar RC • 11.8 km Radar RC • 12.2 km
~
- 14
Sonde Trop. • 11.4 km Sonde Trop. • II. 3 km
...J Radiosonde - - Radiosonde - - -
l&J Radiometer ------- Radiometer -------
> 12 Combined - - Combined - -

-
l&J 200 ~
...J E
<t 10
l&J
CJ)
we
~
m6
<t
I-
::I:4
(!)
iij 700
J: 2
850

TEMPERATURE (C) TEMPERATURE (C)

Fig. 8.4 Comparisons of temperature profiles derived from radar data and from radiometer data and the combined
radiometer and radar data with radiosonde temperature profiles (from Westwater et al., 1983).
276 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

7:52 LT 8:30 LT 9:09 LT

12 UHF and a VHF radar may be the ideal combination for
cloud physics studies since the higher frequency provides
-k :::;:::
---- ----""'- ----v"--

~ 10
the sensitivity to small drops within the clouds and the
lower frequency can be used to determine the air motions.
~~~ The echoes from precipitation can provide useful data,
:=t ~ ~
E
CD
-o -" but they can also contaminate routine wind profiler mea-

Jt 3E ~
8
,.... surements unless an appropriate analysis scheme is im-
..... plemented. Wuertz et al. ( 1988) utilized profiler data from

~ k:: =-£_ ~ 6
.....
.....
the Colorado network in a study of 405-MHz measure-
ments obtained when precipitation was in the radar vol-
:~~~
.J
a:
ume. They found that stratiform rain did not pose a prob-

~60~60~60~
4 lem, although the vertical air motion could not be measured
~ 30 30 30 - under such conditions. Not unexpectedly, the quality of
e; 0 0 0 2 the measurements deteriorated when temporally or spa-
-20 0 20 -20 0 20 -20 0 20 tially varying precipitation was above the radar, but the
VERTICRL SPEED lms- 11 choice of analysis scheme was critical in reducing the errors
Fig. 8.5 Doppler spectra measured at vertical incidence during a as much as possible.
precipitation event with a VHF radar. The double hump spectra in- All of the studies cited indicate that great care must be
dicate echoes from precipitation having fall velocities of several m taken in interpreting UHF/ VHF radar data when precip-
s- 1• The nonprecipitation echoes have smaller vertical velocities close itation is present.
to zero. (From Wakasugi et al., 1987.)

from the spectra directly by using the dependence of the
terminal velocity on drop size. Since the air velocity was
obtained from the spectra, no assumptions about the ver-
tical velocity profile had to be made. Experiments designed
to obtain drop-size distributions from higher-frequency-
radar Doppler spectra typically require a number of as-
sumptions about the vertical air motions since that quantity
is not measured. Larsen and Rottger (1987) argued that a
(dB)
0
·50
1::"
9 SPECIALIZED TECHNIQUES
AND SYSTEMS
In this section we describe some special techniques and
systems that utilize the basic UHF /VHF radar technology
although in a different application than the more conven-
tional MST radars or wind profilers. The Radio Acoustic
Sounding System (RASS) and the boundary-layer radar
(BLR), for example, are both based on the radar techniques
described in previous sections but extend the applications,
the former to obtain temperature profiles and the latter to
study the altitudes below 1-2 km which are typically in-
accessible to the UHF /VHF radars. Other special appli-
cations include the improvement in sensitivity or resolution
that can be achieved with the FM-CW technique, bistatic
measurements, and radar interferometry.
9.1 Boundary-Layer Radar

-,... Antenna near-field, ground clutter and transmit-receive

-100 transition effects of radars and wind profilers at 50 and
-
:~

~
u 405 MHz usually do not allow reliable data samples to be
obtained at ranges below several hundred to 1500 m. Since
GJ
a:: "150 this altitude region includes the planetary boundary-layer

i
70cm 6m
and is of great importance in meteorological applications,
a UHF wind profiler for the boundary-layer, the so-called
•2004-----~------~----,---------------
boundary-layer radar (BLR), has been developed and
10-2 10 1
successfully operated by Ecklund et al. ( 1988) in a hybrid
mode with an existing 50-MHz wind profiler. The BLR
Wavelength (m) operates at 915 MHz and uses a rotating microstrip array
antenna of 91 X 91 em 2 on a printed-circuit board. The
Fig. 8.6 Comparison of reflectivity from precipitation and from tur-
bulence. The four curves roughly delineate the ranges that would be antenna is surrounded by a fence to suppress ground-clut-
expected in the atmosphere. Note that the reflectivities are approx- ter returns. The shortest pulse length for the prototype
imately equal for wavelengths around 6 m (50 MHz). (From Larsen transmitter is O.SIJ-S ( -75 m) and the peak power is about
and Rottger, 1987.) 100 W. The IF, radar control and signal processing unit is

similar to that of the 50-MHz radar. The maximum altitude
that could be reached with this set-up was about 2500 m
during clear-air conditions. However, the high frequency
makes the system very sensitive to precipitation, and the
analysis carefully has to take this into account (see section
8.6). For instance, during thundershowers the BLR de-
tected echoes up to 8 km altitude. A hybrid wind profile
obtained during clear-air conditions with the 915-MHz
boundary-layer radar and the 50-MHz wind profiler op-
erated at Christmas Island in the Pacific is shown in Fig.
9.1, which shows a reasonable match between the mea-
surements from the two profilers in the height range of
overlap around 1.8 km. The work of Ecklund et al. ( 1988)
has shown the potential value of small, relatively inex-
pensive, portable boundary-layer radar systems. Until now,
high-power, relatively expensive, steerable-dish radars
operating in the UHF range or higher frequencies have
been required for studies of turbulence and winds in the
planetary boundary-layer (e.g., Kropfli and Hildebrand,
1980; Kropfli, 1986).
CHRISTMAS ISLAND (Rep. of KIRIBATI)
Composite Zonal Wind Profile (50 MHz & 915 MHz Systems)
8 Nov. 1986 (0930-1230 L.T.)
... 50 MHz (Conventional) Profiler
o-o 915 MHz Boundary Layer Profiler
0 Surface Measurement
E
~
:E
Ol
"(ji
I
0~~--~---L--~--~~--~~-L--~
-11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2
Zonal Wind Speed (m/s)
-Westward Eastward-
Fig. 9.1 Composite zonal wind profile at Christmas Island in the
Pacific obtained by combining data from a 50-MHz radar (closed
circles) and from a 915-MHz boundary-layer radar (open circles)
(from Ecklund et al., 1988).
UHF fVHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 277
9.2 The FM-CW Radar
The traditional FM-CW radar technique combines very
high range resolution and close minimum range if the re-
ceiver and transmitter antennas are properly decoupled
(e.g., Richter, 1969; Noonkester and Richter, 1980). The
technique is especially useful for studying the finescale
structure of the planetary boundary layer, and thus can
also complement the UHF/ VHF Doppler radars and wind
profilers which have lower altitude limits around 1-2 km
although pulsed radars with a similar bandwidth can b~
applied just as well (see section 9.1). Since the boundary
layer FM-CW radars are operated at frequencies around
3000 MHz, a fairly large modulation bandwidth up to 250
MHz can be achieved, resulting in a range resolution as
small as one meter. The FM-CW radars are operated as
quasi-bistatic radars with separated and decoupled receiv-
ing and transmitting antennas, which also has the advan-
tage of attenuating ground-clutter returns. The technique
applies a linear frequency modulation of the transmitter
signal and receiver local oscillator. A spectrum analysis of
the beat frequencies from the frequency offset between
the transmitted and the received frequency sweep is made
after each sweep. From the beat frequency analysis, the
range of the returns is determined, and the amplitude of
the returns is a measure of the reflection coefficient of the
refractivity structures. Discriminating between the fre-
quency offset due to range and that due to a velocity-
induced Doppler shift is difficult with a non-Doppler FM-
CW system. The FM-CW Doppler technique introduces
the spectrum analysis of the beat frequency from a number
of consecutive sweeps and determines both range and ve-
locity (Strauch et al., 1976). Chadwick et al. (1976) and
Gossard and co-workers in many studies (see Chapter 27a
for references) have used the FM-CW radar technique
extensively for high-resolution boundary layer studies.
9.3 The Bistatic Radar Technique
Almost all of the UHF /VHF radar experiments have
been carried out in the monostatic mode, i.e., with trans-
mitter and receiver at the same location or even using the
same antenna for transmission and reception. Bistatic ar-
rangements, mostly using forward scatter instead of back-
scatter and with separated transmitter and receiver loca-
tions, have been used occasionally in lower and middle
atmosphere research, but more for the purpose of getting
around a particular technical difficulty than for exploring
their inherent value (e.g., Waterman, 1985). They have
also been used in the past to study transhorizon propa-
gation via troposcatter (e.g., Atlas et al., 1969). The method
is presently used for ionospheric research with the EISCAT
tristatic UHF radar system (e.g., Folkestad et al., 1983).
However, the large distance of some 200 to 350 km be-
tween the tristatic sites of EISCAT, optimized for iono-
spheric observations, is not suitable for lower atmosphere
278 'RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
tristatic experiments. Multistatic systems generally appear
to be less suitable for wind profiling than for special pur-
pose research applications.
Some of the obvious shortcomings of bi- or multistatic
systems are that 1 ) only a single common volume can be
observed at one time and a complete profile cannot be
obtained, as with the monostatic systems, unless the system
is operated in a quasi-monostatic mode with closely spaced
but fully decoupled antennas (e.g., FM-CW radars); 2)
the receiver, transmitter and antennas have to be remotely
synchronized; and 3) the altitude resolution, given by the
beam intersection, is quite coarse, although the problem
can be overcome by pulse coding (Woodman, 1980a).
Several advantages also exist, namely that 1) full-average
CW power can be used to improve sensitivity enormously;
2) a transmit-receive duplexer is not necessary; 3) ground
clutter is a problem only under unusual circumstances; 4)
the Bragg vector can be varied by changing the scattering
angle, namely the common volume, to study the wave-
number dependence of the scattering process; and 5) using
a tristatic set-up, the three-dimensional velocity vector can
be measured in the same volume, which eliminates the
need for the spatial homogeneity assumption.
The bistatic technique has been successfully applied by
Woodman (1980a) and Woodman and Ierkic (personal
communication, 198 7) using the Arecibo 2380-MHz radar
to study the dynamics of stratospheric turbulence with an
altitude resolution of 15 m. Petitdidier et al. ( 1985) and
Bertin et al. ( 1986) used the same technique to study the
troposphere with the 935-MHz radar at St. Santin (now
PROUST) formerly used for ionospheric research. Bistatic
measurements of meteor echoes have been used to study
mesospheric and lower thermospheric winds as well, by
receiving echoes transmitted by 50-MHz wind profilers at
a remote location using the the method called MENTOR
(Meteor Echoes-No Transmitter-Only Receivers) as
described by Adams ( 1986). Bistatic radar measurements
should not be confused with dual-Doppler measurements,
since the latter involve two monostatic radars looking at
the same volume (Doviak and Zrnic, 1984a; Doviak and
Berger, 1980).
9. 4 Radar Interferometry
Neither the Doppler nor the spaced antenna method
(section 4) measures the spatial distribution of the phases
of the electromagnetic field pattern at the ground. Al-
though the amplitude alone is sufficient for spaced antenna
measurements, the radars operated today record the am-
plitudes as well as the phases to increase sensitivity and
so that further processing techniques can be applied.
Combining or comparing the complex signals from differ-
ent spaced antennas is, in a broad sense, an application of
the interferometer technique. In the first spaced antenna
measurements in the troposphere with the 52-MHz
SOUSY-VHF radar, Rottger and Vincent ( 1978) and Vin-
cent and Rottger ( 1980) applied the method in order to
measure the angular spectrum of the radar returns. The
technique is known as radar interferometry (Farley et al.,
1981; Rottger and Ierkic, 1985), or as imaging Doppler
interferometry (IDI) (Adams et al., 1985a,b) and stems
from interferometer measurements carried out in iono-
spheric studies.
Using a coherent spaced antenna radar and computing
the complex correlation functions from the quadrature
components of the signals has several advantages with
respect to the traditional application of spaced antenna
systems, which only requires the amplitude of the complex
correlation function (see Hocking et al., 1988; Larsen and
Rottger, 1988). Furthermore, the measurement of the
variation of signal phase differences between the antennas
as a function of time allows the radial velocity to be com-
puted, and the phase differences of the signals measured
at the three receiving antennas allow the angular position
of the scatterers to be determined. The combination of
both these measurements yields the best measurement of
the vertical velocity in topocentric coordinates. Further
advantages of recorded phase and amplitude information
are that the winds can be deduced from the Doppler spec-
tra, gravity wave parameters can be measured (Rottger
and Ierkic, 1985), and the anisotropy of the scattering/
reflecting medium aloft (see section 7) can be explored by
applying post-beam steering to the data, i.e., phasing of
the antenna system through transformation of the digitally
recorded data. Turbulence patches moving through the
radar beam can be tracked by measuring the change of
angular position with time. Vertical and horizontal veloc-
ities of turbulence patches can be deduced, as described
by Riister and Woodman ( 1976) and carried out by Rottger
and Ierkic ( 1985). Doppler sorting of individual scatterers
can even be applied, i.e., measuring the angular position
for each Doppler shift separately, locating their positions,
and tracking their motion, growth and decay. By tracking
many of the scatterers it will be possible to deduce the
three-dimensional average velocity, which should be equal
to the mean wind velocity if the turbulent scatterers are
"frozen in" the background wind pattern. The incidence
angle of echoes reflected from inclined surfaces of refrac-
tive index gradients can be measured, and eventually the
inclination of isentropic surfaces can be determined. Fi-
nally, corrections can be made for the projection of the
horizontal velocity which, due to layer inclination, dilutes
the real vertical velocity measurements (see section 7.4).
By measuring incidence angles as a function of Doppler
frequency with the frequency-selective interferometry
mode, the horizontal as well as the vertical wind compo-
nent was deduced (e.g., by Adams et al., 1985a,b, and in
recent troposphere j stratosphere measurements with the
Chung-Li VHF radar). The principle is similar to the
Doppler technique with off-zenith beams. It makes use of
the fact that echoes are incident from many off-zenith di-
rections in a vertically pointing, not too narrow beam, and
these can be evaluated with Doppler sorting interferometry
to yield the three-dimensional velocity vector. The method

makes it possible to test the theory of Briggs ( 1980) that
both the spaced antenna and the Doppler methods are
equivalent. Adams et al. (personal communication, 1987)
have even proposed to test if the imaging Doppler inter-
ferometer, which is in principle similar to the Doppler
sorting interferometer, may be more suitable for measuring
tropospheric and stratospheric wind velocities than the
Doppler or spaced antenna method. The technique was
recently applied with the MF spaced antenna radar in Sas-
katoon to follow mesospheric scatterers passing through
the beam, but the conclusion was that the traditional
spaced antenna analysis is physically and practically more
appropriate for such investigations (Meek and Manson,
1987b). Kudeki (1987) has applied the interferometer
method with the 50-MHz Jicamarca radar and has found
that some mesospheric scattering may be due to diffuse
reflection from corrugated refractive index surfaces.
Apparently the spaced antenna approach offers the
possibility of measuring a number of other important pa-
rameters besides the wind velocity (section 4.2). All the
techniques that derive information by evaluating the tem-
poral as well as the spatial variations of amplitude and
phase of the electromagnetic field pattern on the ground
can be described as UHF /VHF radar interferometry, or
as spatial domain interferometry (SOl) in contrast to fre-
quency domain interferometry (FDI). The new FDI tech-
nique has been applied by Kudeki and Stitt ( 1987) to attain
high range resolution for studies of narrow layers in the
atmosphere. The method is based on the frequency hop-
ping technique proposed by Stitt and Bowhill ( 1986) but
resembles the radar interferometer technique in the way
the signals are interpreted and the data analyzed (Farley
et al., 1981). In the FDI, the altitude of localized scattering
or reflecting regions is determined by the phase differences
of signals received at two distinct radar frequencies. The
FDI can be viewed as a discontinuous frequency chirping
(FM-CW) technique, just as the spatial domain interfer-
ometry is a discontinuous alternative to a filled antenna
array. The FDI range resolution should be similar to the
resolution achievable by transmitting short pulses with a
bandwidth comparable to the frequency separation used
in the FDI. However, for separating thin and localized
structures, the FDI may be more suitable. Initial mesos-
pheric observations by Kudeki and Stitt ( 1987) have dem-
onstrated the applicability of FDI, particularly when tur-
bulence layers or persistent laminae are thin, widely
separated, and stratified.
The basic SOl and FDI modes have already been tested,
but much more refinement is needed to fully exploit and
to understand the data provided by these promising new
techniques.
9. 5 The Radio Acoustic Sounding System
UHF/ VHF radars and wind profilers can only be used
to retrieve a temperature profile indirectly (section 8.5).
UHF /VHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 279
There is great interest, however, in obtaining temperature
measurements both in research and in operational appli-
cations. In the 1960s a method for determining temperature
profiles in the boundary layer was implemented by using
the combination of an acoustic-wave transmitter and an
electromagnetic-wave transmitter. The technique has be-
come known as the Radio Acoustic Sounding System
(RASS). The longitudinal acoustic wave modulates the
temperature and density, and consequently the radar re-
fractive index, when it propagates through the atmosphere.
When the acoustic wavelength is matched to the radar
Bragg wavelength (half the radar wavelength for back-
scatter) and both waves propagate in the same direction,
an enhanced radar backscatter amplitude results. For ex-
ample, the wavelength matching condition for a 50-MHz
radar requires that acoustic waves of about 70-100 Hz
frequency be generated since these have wavelengths of
about 3 m to match the radar Bragg wavelength. Since the
acoustic wave propagates with the speed of sound, the
radar backscatter signal will be Doppler shifted by the fre-
quency of the acoustic waves. Since the speed of sound
and the acoustic wavelength change with temperature, a
different acoustic transmitter frequency is needed to match
the radar Bragg wavelength for a given temperature at a
given height. By changing the frequency and detecting the
altitude of the enhanced echo, a temperature profile can
be measured, provided that the k vectors of the acoustic
and the radar wave are equal. The measurement technique
becomes quite complicated due to the dependence of the
acoustic wave propagation on the temperature profile and
Doppler shift caused by the wind. In particular, the acoustic
transmitter has to be located at the right place and the
radar beam has to be pointed in the right direction. In
addition, the right frequency has to be transmitted to pro-
vide these conditions.
At the MU radar in Japan the RASS technique has been
used successfully to measure temperature profiles in the
troposphere and the stratosphere up to about 20 km (Ma-
tuura et al., 1986; Tsuda et al. 1988b). Previously, the
measurement was not possible because of the relatively
low acoustic and radar powers, because of atmospheric
sound attenuation, and because of bending of the acoustic
ray paths by the wind. To overcome these difficulties, Ma-
tuura et al. ( 1986) used 100 W of acoustic power, an
acoustic transmitter with 10 dB gain, and the versatile
beam-steerability of the MU radar. The acoustic transmitter
was moved around the radar to a location calculated on
the basis of the current wind profile (measured simulta-
neously with the radar). For example, Fig. 9.2a shows the
contour profile of the RASS experiment echo power spec-
tra, scaled by the Doppler (sound) velocity and the cor-
responding temperature. By using the wind profile mea-
sured with the radar for Doppler correction of the acoustic
wave, the atmospheric temperature profile was deduced
(Fig. 9.2b). The agreement between the RASS temperature
and the radiosonde temperature profiles shows the great
potential of the method, even though moving the acoustic
280 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

pabilities of and expectations for the wind profiler tech-

20 • 1-3 Augu•t 198l5 nology. While instrumentation and analysis techniques for
providing routine hourly winds are well advanced, there
Radio acoustic measurement are still many open questions and uncertainties in the in-
of temperature profile
in the troposphere and stratosphere terpretation and understanding of the physical processes
that lead to the radar echoes and that qm have an influence
on accuracy and reliability of the measurements, as out-
lined in section 7. The spaced antenna technique compares
s: favorably with the Doppler technique, and an operational
.,"' application by designing a spaced antenna wind profiler
:1:10
prototype appears to be in order. Further advances of the
radar techniques, such as the interferometer applications,
appear to offer possibilities for probing the atmospheric
structure and turbulence responsible for the radar signals.
2-;:-8_0_~_2--;;910:::;---.3-010_-:':~31;.;:.0~--:3;:::2:.:.0_ __:3:.:.;~· Vd (~)
·SC -60 ·40 ·20 0 T ( 'C ) However, there is still a need for intercomparisons between
different measurement techniques and between various
radar frequencies to resolve the many questions that re-
1- 3 RUG 1985 IW I NO EFFECT IS CO"PENSOTEOI main about the scattering mechanisms. There is also a need
a
20
4 ... .
01[, 0
• lE:: S
for close cooperation between researchers and operational
+ ZE :tO
personnel in order to improve the systems and data inter-
- 16
:0::
pretation, even as deployment of operational networks
"' continues. Improved student and researcher training is re-
....:0::
quired to handle and analyze the vast quantities of data
•
that will be forthcoming from the proposed networks.
To further the goals outlined above, we propose the
• RADIO ... uNDE
ISHI0140rtiSAt<J 1 following technological and data analysis studies and de-
~~o~~~~ o ~~~~-~
-s" 2o~~~~
. o~~~~-~
velopments:
TEMPERATURE I'C I
1) A comprehensive comparison of the techniques that
Fig. 9.2a Contours of RASS echo power caused by acoustic waves have been applied to measure the three-dimensional ve-
at frequencies between 88 and 101 Hz measured with 46.5-MHz MU
locity profiles (section 4) has not been carried out and
radar between 1-3 August 1985.
should be attempted.
Fig. 9.2b Temperature profile derived from the RASS echoes shown 2) The consequences of the various limitations delin-
in Fig. 9.2a compared with a temperature profile obtained from ra- eated in section 7 for operational applications need to be
diosonde measurements (closed circles) (from Matuura et al., 1986; explored. Furthermore, the reliability and consistency of
reprinted by permission from Nature, Vol. 323, pp. 426-428, copyright
on-line processing and analysis need to be assessed further.
©1986, Macmillan Magazines Ltd.).
3) Schemes for deducing parameters from the radar data
need to be optimized, and the application of alternative
transmitters and pointing the radar beam in the right di- techniques such as the maximum entropy and maximum
rection are cumbersome. likelihood methods, prediction filters (time and space),
and noise reduction methods should be investigated.
4) The implementation of hybrid systems, such as the
10 CONCLUSION AND OUTLOOK combination of RASS, radiometer, lidar, BLR, and FM-
CW with the VHF /UHF radars, will be essential. Multi-
In this tutorial review, we have tried to include most of station networks, such as the systems planned in the
the relevant technological information about VHF and United States (STORM, NEXRAD) and in Europe (COST),
UHF radars, the so-called MST radars, which are used for will also be advantageous. The development of reliable
scientific studies of the mesosphere, stratosphere and tro- radar systems for remote and unattended operation in in-
posphere, as well as for operational wind profiling of the accessible areas with the provision for telemetry of prean-
troposphere and lower stratosphere. We have avoided the alyzed data is expected.
term clear-air radars for the reasons given in sections 1, 2 5) The advantages or disadvantages of the range of
and8. available frequencies need to be explored. So far, virtually
The UHF/ VHF radar technology has seen a tremendous all measurements have been only at frequencies around
development over the last decade, and the application of 50 and 400 MHz. The allocation problems associated with
the radars as wind profilers is a reasonable consequence, testing new frequencies have to be resolved by working
as underscored by Strauch ( 1985) who described the ca- through the international bodies of URSI (Union Radio
 UHF /VHF RADAR TECHNIQUES 281

Scientifique Intemationale) and ITU (International Tele-

communication Union). Acknowledgments. One of the authors (MFL) was sup-
ported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under
From the viewpoint of technical applications and their Grant AFOSR-85-2016 while this review was being writ-
impact on the scientific interpretation, the complete un- ten. Both of us would like to thank the Panel on Clear-
derstanding of the scattering and reflection process and its Air Radar Technology, and especially the Chairman, Ben
microscale and macroscale variability is of major impor- Balsley, and the original instigator, Dave Atlas, for all their
tance. For this purpose, the spatial and temporal resolutions insightful comments, helpful suggestions, and careful
of radar measurements have to be improved. The spatial reading of the manuscript. We also want to thank the
resolution, in particular, can be enhanced by applying the committee members and the many others who were kind
new interferometer techniques. Eventually a Mills-Cross enough to provide us with valuable comments and pre-
antenna set-up can also be used to improve the horizontal prints and reprints during the process of writing the review.
and angular resolution, and a wideband modulation tech-
nique can be used at the lower frequencies, e.g., a specially
adapted FM-CW mode at 400 or 50 MHz, to improve the APPENDIX:
vertical resolution to some 10 meters. Stochastic signal and LIST Of ACRONYMS
complex deconvolution techniques can be helpful as well. BLR Boundary-Layer Radar
Breakthroughs in understanding the scattering f reflection coco Coaxial-Collinear (antenna)
mechanisms may be expected if raw signal parameters are ECMWF European Centre for Medium-Range Weather
compared with empirical model calculations. A better es- Forecasts
timate of the frequency dependence of the atmospheric FCA Full Correlation Analysis
radar echo characteristics is needed. Collocated, multifre- FDI Frequency Domain Interferometry
quency radars are required for this purpose. We do not FM-CW Frequency-Modulated/Continuous-Wave
know if there is an optimum frequency for studying the HF High Frequency
complete region that includes the mesosphere, stratosphere IDI Imaging Doppler Interferometry
and troposphere. The low VHF band may not be the best IF Intermediate Frequency
choice, and there are indications that lower frequencies IPP lnterpulse Period
may be more useful. Further investigations of how radar KHI Kelvin-Helmholtz instability
reflectivity and persistency data can be included in profiling MEM Maximum Entropy Method
applications for detecting frontal zones and deducing the MENTOR Meteor Echoes-No Transmitter-Only Re-
humidity profile in addition to the retrieval of the tropo- ceivers
pause height will be beneficial. The availability and use MF Medium Frequency
of wind profiler data for scientific research, particularly for MLM Maximum Likelihood Method
improving our knowledge of gravity wave climatology MST Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere
(e.g., Fritts et al., 1984), needs to be considered since MU Middle and Upper Atmosphere (radar)
gravity wave energy and momentum fluxes are now be- NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar
lieved to have important consequences for the circulation NMC National Meteorological Center
at all heights. The latter will require more specialized in- NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-
strumentation and on-line data reduction procedures. istration
Our view on the applications of radars for meteorologicaf RASS Radio Acoustic Sounding System
research and operations has been described in more detail SA Spaced Antenna
in earlier publications (e.g., Rottger, 1981a; Larsen and SOl Spatial Domain Interferometry
Rottger, 1982; Larsen, 1983a; Larsen and Rottger, 1988). SHF Super High Frequency
The general scientific overview is summarized in Chapter ST Stratosphere-Troposphere
28a, and our own view of scientific applications and open STORM Stormscale Operational and Research Mete-
questions is found in Larsen ( 1983a) and Rottger orology (Program)
( 198 7a,b). The most comprehensive and detailed descrip- TR Transmitter-Receiver
tions of technological and scientific aspects of VHF 1UHF UHF Ultra-High Frequency
radars can be found in the three handbooks for MAP VAD Velocity-Azimuth Display
(Middle Atmosphere Program), published by Bowhill and VED Velocity-Elevation Display
Edwards (1983, 1984, 1986). VHF Very High Frequency
282
Chapter llb
Clear-Air Radar Technology: Panel Report
Ben B. Balsley,* Environmental Research Laboratories, NOAA
1 INTRODUCTION
The use of sensitive, coherent radar systems operating
in the UHF-VHF frequency range ( 30-3000 MHz) to
measure and monitor the dynamics of the atmosphere has
to be one of the most explosive and far-reaching devel-
opments to take place throughout all of meteorology. This
field has matured rapidly in the decade and a half since
Woodman and Guillen (1974) published the initial con-
tinuous measurements of the horizontal and vertical wind
fields by a high-powered coherent VHF radar. We have
progressed from initial studies using radar systems dedi-
cated primarily to other uses, to the design and use of
systems specifically intended for continuous measurements
of atmospheric parameters. The success of these devel-
opments is exemplified by the fact that clear-air systems-
indeed networks of such systems-are currently coming
on line as operational entities. The future use of these sys-
tems in the national picture, as well as on an international
scale, is secure.
This report by the Panel on Clear-Air Radar Technology
is intended to provide a consensus view of the review by
Rottger and Larsen (Chapter 21a). This report also extends
their review to include the future of clear-air technology,
since this specific subject was, by design, somewhat outside
the scope of the main theme of their chapter.
Panel consensus on the content of the Rottger-Larsen
review is unanimous: the authors have done an admirable
job of discussing this burgeoning new field of radar tech-
nology. The balance is good, and the length of the manu-
script is appropriate to the content. The extensive refer-
ences are representative of the vast amount of research-
both theoretical and observational-that has taken place
over the past two decades. In short, the panel is confident
• Balsley served as panel chairman. Other panel members contributing
to this report were Russell B. Chadwick (Wave Propagation Laboratory,
NOAA), Wallace L. Clark (Aeronomy Laboratory, NOAA), Warner L.
Ec~un~ (Aeron?my Laboratory, NOAA), Donald T. Farley (Cornell
Uruvers1ty), Shmchiro Fukao (Radio Atmospheric Science Center, Kyoto
University, Japan), John L. Green (Aeronomy Laboratory, NOAA), Mig-
uel F. Larsen (Clemson University), Jurgen Rottger (EISCAT Scientific
Assn., Sweden), Richard G. Strauch (Wave Propagation Laboratory,
NOAA), Robert A. Vincent (University of Adelaide, Australia), Brenton
J. Watkins (University of Alaska), and Ronald F. Woodman (Jicamarca
Radio Observatory, Peru).
that the resulting text on UHF 1VHF radar technology for
atmospheric research will serve the atmospheric sciences
community well in the coming years, and will provide a
consensus view of this subject as it is currently understood.
This chapter presents the panel's assessment of the fu-
ture of clear-air radar technology. A word is in order re-
garding terminology. We have chosen to use the general
terms "clear-air radar" and "clear-air radar technology,"
except where the more restrictive term "wind profiler" is
required. While there is currently no clear agreement within
the community on this terminology, we feel the need to
remain as general as possible until the community itself
arrives at a clear consensus. By the same token, we have
avoided the descriptive adjectives MST and ST (meso-
sphere-stratosphere-troposphere and stratosphere-tro-
posphere) which continue to be used by a large segment
of the international community.
l THE FUTURE Of CLEAR-AIR
TECHNOLOGY
2.1 New Systems
The rapid growth of clear-air radar technology over the
past decade has yielded a number of innovative additions
to the "basic" clear-air radar systems discussed by Rottger
and Larsen. In some cases, these additions reflect only mi-
nor changes to the basic system for specific purposes. In
other instances, the basic parameters of VHF I UHF
monostatic radars for atmospheric science have been al-
tered, either in practice or in concept, in order to examine
a different height range or, alternatively, a different geo-
graphic region. Additional modifications have made it
possible to measure other atmospheric variables. Most of
these advances are relatively recent, and as such, are more
appropriately included in this panel report, which discusses
the future of the technology. The new steps covered here
have yet to result in operational systems; in some cases,
operational systems may not be forthcoming for some time.
In the following sections, specific developments have been
ordered relative to their level of readiness for the meteo-
rological community.

2..1.1 Lower-Tropospheric Radars
One of the major limitations of conventional clear-air
radar systems. lies in their inability to obtain useful infor-
mation in the first two kilometers or so of the atmosphere.
This height range encompasses the planetary boundary-
layer (PBL) and extends well into the free atmosphere.
The importance of this region is well covered in the review
by Gossard (Chapter 2 7a) and in the accompanying panel
report by Kropfli (Chapter 27b) and will not be discussed
here.
Recent advances in clear-air radar technology have en-
abled high-resolution studies of the lowest portion of the
troposphere, including the boundary-layer, using relatively
small, portable, and inexpensive radars operating in the
mid-UHF range. The first of these systems (Ecklund et al.,
1988) operates at 915 MHz, with 1-40 W of average power
and an antenna area of 1-4m 2 • Operation at this power
aperture level (power aperture = average transmitted
power multiplied by the effective antenna area) allows
more or less continuous observations of the first two ki-
lometers of the atmosphere with a resolution of better than
100 meters. A second low power aperture system has been
constructed at 404 MHz (Moran et al., 1988). Although
this system does not probe the lowest 200m of the bound-
ary layer, it is capable of examining the upper boundary
layer and the lower troposphere with 100-150 m height
resolution.
Although these lower-tropospheric radar systems are still
in the prototype stage, initial results show considerable
promise for their use either in a "hybrid" mode with con-
ventional clear-air systems (in order to observe winds all
the way from the ground to the lower stratosphere), or as
a stand-alone device (for use in airport safety applications,
pollution monitoring, networking applications for weather
prediction, etc.).
2..1.2. Clear-Air Radars for Satellite/Rocket
Launch FacUities
The idea of continuously profiling the horizontal wind
field at a satellite or rocket launch facility to establish
launch criteria has been considered for some time. Launch
criteria include the magnitude of the wind, wind shear,
and turbulence. Current technology provides useful, but
not yet optimum, information of this kind. For example,
the accurate determination of high-resolution wind shears
on vertical scales of 25 meters or so throughout the tro-
posphere and into the lower 'stratosphere has yet to be
demonstrated. The design and construction of the first-
generation systems for this purpose are under way, albeit
with somewhat less capability than ultimately desired for
launch support.
2..1.3 Tactical Uses for Clear-Air Radars
The potential for incorporating clear-air radar technol-
ogy-particularly small portable units capable of measur-
CLEAR-AIR RADAR TECHNOLOGY 283
ing winds in the first few kilometers of the atmosphere-
for a variety of tactical military uses is clear. Since these
systems can be mounted on vehicles, aircraft, or even ships,
and since wind information can be a critical parameter in
many tactical situations, it is reasonable to expect that at
least modified versions of conventional clear-air radar sys-
tems will find wide usage in the near future. Indeed, initial
development contracts are currently being let by the mil-
itary.
2..1.4 Clear-Air Radars and the RASS Technique
Remote measurement of the temperature profile by the
RASS (Radio Acoustic Sounding System) technique has
been in use for at least 15 years (Marshall et al., 1972).
The RASS technique uses radar to detect the acoustic ve-
locity of artificially generated sound waves as a function
of height. This velocity is in tum directly related to the
atmospheric temperature. The RASS technique has been
successfully used by Japan's MU (Middle and Upper At-
mosphere) radar to determine the temperature profile from
a height of about 3 km up to about 22 km (Matuura et al.,
1986; Tsuda et al., 1988). Also, temperature profiles in
the PBL and the lower troposphere have been obtained
using the 915-MHz and the 404-MHz lower-tropospheric
radars discussed in section 2.1.1 (Currier et al., 1988;
Strauch et al., 1988). Additional discussions of RASS
measurements in the PBL can be found in panel reports
by Hooke (Chapter 28b) and Kropfli (Chapter 27b).
Whether or not such measurements can be made opera-
tionally has yet to be determined.
2..1.5 Clear-Air Radar Systems for
Airport Safety
One of the most important potential applications of
clear-air radars is that of airport safety. Potentially dan-
gerous wind shears and downbursts that occur with dis-
turbing regularity in the vicinity of aircraft approach pat-
terns at major airports are extremely difficult to detect with
existing techniques. One approach to this problem is to
modify radar systems currently under construction to a
clear-air capability. This approach is under consideration,
and the NEXRAD systems (see Chapters 30a and 30b)
will be studied to determine their efficacy in detecting wind
shear and downdraft near airports. A second approach
would be to use a network of less sensitive clear-air radar
systems in the vicinity of each airport for the same purpose.
These smaller systems (e.g., the lower-tropospheric radar
systems discussed in section 2.1.1) could be produced rel-
atively inexpensively, located in a network in and around
aircraft approach paths, and connected to a central "hub"
for on-line analysis.
2..1.6 Clear-Air Radars on Aircraft
Preliminary studies indicate that current technology is
sufficient to produce small clear-air systems for use in
284 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
commercial aircraft. Such systems would be capable of
continuously monitoring the horizontal wind field within
at least a few kilometers of the aircraft itself. They should
also have the'capability of detecting damaging turbulence
levels a few kilometers ahead of the aircraft. Such systems
would operate at relatively high frequencies (e.g., above
the mid-UHF range), and would therefore also be sensitive
to hydrometeor echoes.
2.1.7 Buoy-Mounted Clear-Air Radars
Except for satellite-derived information, winds aloft over
the vast regions of the open ocean are very poorly moni-
tored. This lack of information is a major problem for ac-
curate weather analysis and prediction. While the problems
associated with mounting small clear-air radars on large
tethered ocean buoys appear formidable, they do not seem
to be insurmountable. Wind measurement up to at least
midtropospheric heights using moderate power levels and
antenna apertures are possible. These data could be tele-
metered via satellite to national analysis and prediction
centers.
2.1.8 Clear-Air Radars on Satellites
Panel consensus on the potential for clear-air radars
mounted on satellites is guarded. The inherent problems
of obtaining reasonably high resolution, two-dimensional
(i.e., zonal and meridional) wind data over all regions of
the globe from a single satellite pass create, at best, an
extremely difficult task. Problems arise from a variety of
sources; the problem of antenna sidelobe echoes from the
solid earth, the inability to obtain orthogonal wind vectors
in the same region from a single point in space, and power
consumption difficulties comprise a partial list of major
obstacles. Further study may show that such problems are
surmountable, and the panel supports such studies.
3 SUGGESTED RESEARCH AREAS FOR
INDIVIDUAL CLEAR-AIR
RADAR FACILITIES
In this section we enumerate several areas for future
research that could be undertaken using one or more clear-
air radars at a single location. While these suggested studies
are intended primarily to provide data to improve current
clear-air technology, they would, in many cases, also clarify
our understanding of the dynamic processes responsible
for clear-air scattering. Additional suggestions for clear-
air radar studies to improve our understanding of atmo-
spheric processes per se are included in the review by Gage
(Chapter 28a) and the associated panel report by Hooke
(Chapter 28b).
3.1 Multifrequency Studies
A number of aspects of clear-air radar technology would
benefit from studies incorporating collocated radars op-
erating on at least three different frequencies. A multifre-
quency experiment would provide, for example, vital in-
formation on the frequency dependence of scattering
processes and turbulence morphology, as well as infor-
mation on gravity wave processes, nonlinear interactions,
and other aspects of atmospheric dynamics. For optimum
results, all systems in the study should have, as far as
possible, properly scaled parameters (range resolution,
antenna beamwidth, averaging times, etc.).
3.2 Studies Incorporating Concurrent
Balloon Observations
The excellent spatial resolution provided by balloon-
borne techniques, in conjunction with profiler studies, can
provide important additional information, for example, on
the roles played by temperature, humidity and turbulence
in the scattering of electromagnetic radiation from the at-
mosphere. Knowledge of the finescale structure of these
parameters would provide an improved understanding of
scattering processes, turbulence intensity versus radar cross
section, and nonlinear wave processes. The use of a high-
resolution FM-CW radar on a large load, high-altitude
balloon would reveal whether or not the mechanisms of
wavebreaking, turbulence, and backscatter resemble those
seen so dramatically in the boundary layer and would help
to resolve conilicting theories.
3.3 Intercomparison between Various
Clear-Air Radar Techniques
Rottger and Larsen (Chapter 21a) discuss a number of
different techniques that collectively are classified under
clear-air radar technology. They go to some lengths to in-
tercompare the capabilities of each technique. There is a
strong consensus of this panel that there should be a careful
intercomparison, insofar as possible, between all tech-
niques. For example, intercomparisons are possible among
conventional Doppler radar techniques, spaced antenna
drifts, and imaging Doppler interferometry at mesospheric
heights. Such a comparison, if made concurrently using
essentially collocated systems, would provide definitive
information on the relative accuracies, strengths, and lim-
itations of each technique. Additional comparisons could
be made between these techniques and the more conven-
tional wind-measuring methods (i.e., rawinsondes, aircraft
wind systems, and meteorological radars) in the tropo-
sphere.
3.4 NEXRAD As a Wind Pro&ler?
Considerations are currently being given to the possi-
bility that NEXRAD radars can also be used as wind pro-
filers, albeit with certain limitations (see additional com-
ments in Chapter 27b). In order to test these ideas, it will
be necessary to prepare the pertinent software and to per-
form a comprehensive series of clear-air tests to determine

NEXRAD's clear-air capability. The panel views this de-
velopment as potentially promising and strongly supports
efforts toward this end.
4 MAJOR UNSOLVED PROBLEMS
Although clear-air radar technology has made major
advances over the last two decades, the consensus of the
panel indicates a need to clarify our understanding of a
number of specific aspects of this new discipline. A partial
listing of these aspects and a discussion of their major
features are given in this section. ·
4.1 Scattering Mechanisms
As discussed by Rottger and Larsen in Chapter 21a, a
number of operative scattering mechanisms are involved
in clear-air studies. The relative importance of each mech-
anism depends upon the operating frequency, the zenith
angle of the antenna beam, and the height range under
consideration. A unified theoretical description of these
scattering processes has yet to be completed. Indeed, our
understanding of the various mechanisms is rudimentary.
A number of observational studies are necessary in order
to provide theoreticians with the data required to develop
a comprehensive scattering theory. At least one of these
studies should be done at a single location using a wide
range of profiler frequencies (see section 3.1 ) . There is
also a great need for in situ measurements from aircraft
and balloons to sample the four-dimensional structure of
clear-air refractivity on scales down to at least tens of cen-
timeters in the upper troposphere and stratosphere.
4.2 Consequences of Undersampling
Sampling as defined here refers to the temporal, spatial
and wavenumber domains. Undersampling is an important
feature, since it is the factor that most strongly determines
the overall accuracy of a given measurement, as well as
the completeness of our knowledge of the underlying pro-
cesses.
In the temporal domain, undersampling describes the
problem of what we might think of as both microscale and
macroscale variability. For example, by not examining the
wind field with sufficient time resolution, it is impossible
to determine the significance of gravity wave activity; con-
versely, by not having a sufficiently long data sample, it
is impossible to develop a correct picture of the long-term
variability of the medium (e.g., seasonal change, episodic
events, etc.).
In the spatial domain, undersampling means (to use a
limiting example) that it would be impossible to obtain a
correct picture of global atmospheric variability by assum-
ing that the atmosphere varies over the entire globe in the
same way as it varies over any single station. Thus, results
CLEAR-AIR RADAR TECHNOLOGY 285
obtained via a spatial undersampling preclude allowing
for the effects of orography, sea-land interfaces, geo-
graphically varying convection, etc.
One example of wavenumber domain undersampling is
that a clear-air radar operating at any single frequency will
give an incomplete picture of the structure of atmospheric
turbulence. This statement follows from the fact that 1)
single frequency systems are only sensitive to the half-
wavelength component of the backscattering turbulent
structure, and 2) a given scale of turbulence in a volume
has significant energy in that volume only if the scale is
larger than the Kolmogorov microscale (the smallest tur-
bulence scale not damped out by viscosity). It follows that
the characteristics of the observed turbulence structure will
be highly sensitive to the wavelength (frequency) of the
probing radar. Thus, longer wavelength (lower frequency)
clear-air radar systems will tend to see more extensive tur-
bulent layers and less finescale structure than systems op-
erating at shorter wavelengths. A complete picture of tur-
bulence structure, therefore, can only be gained through
the use of multifrequency clear-air radar systems.
Nature, in separating layers of turbulence by about a
few hundred meters, plays an important role in determin-
ing the ultimate resolution possible in the atmosphere. This
limitation is of critical importance, for example, in assessing
our ability to measure accurately regions of vertical wind
shear.
Additional comments regarding temporal undersam-
pling can be found in the discussion on profiler networks
in Chapter 28b. Comments on spatial undersampling are
included in both Chapters 27b and 28b.
4.3 frequency Allocations
Our ability to obtain adequate frequency assignments
at appropriate sites and over a sufficiently wide range of
frequencies is a formidable problem faced by the entire
clear-air radar community. The international use of dear-
air radar systems interconnected in large networks (ex-
emplified by the initial 30-profiler network under con-
struction in the U.S. Midwest) will require a series of spe-
cific dedicated frequency allocations. Current operating
frequencies for typical dear-air radars in the United States
lie in the low VHF ( 40-54 MHz), low UHF ( 400-430
MHz), and mid-UHF (915 MHz) frequency bands. The
bandwidth requirement to achieve a (nominal) resolution
of 150 meters along the antenna beam is 1 MHz and is
independent of frequency. Higher resolution requires a
proportionally wider bandwidth.
If recent experience in attempting to obtain operational
frequency allocations for wind profiler operation in the
central United States is transferable to the international
setting, then the clear-air radar technology faces a major
problem. The availability of useful frequencies (with ac-
ceptable bandwidths) in these portions of the radio fre-
quency band is problematical. Of the myriad of problems
286 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
associated with frequency allocation, perhaps the most
formidable is that of satellite interference. It is the con-
sensus of this panel that the overall problem of frequency
allocations should be treated at the highest possible levels,
and considerable care be given to choosing optimum
available frequencies for use by the worldwide community.
Similar recommendations have been made earlier by the
MST radar community (Rottger, 1984).
4.4 Data Archiving
In attempting to deal with the ever present problem of
data archiving, the panel recognizes that one major ad-
vantage of clear-air radar data lies in its high spatial and
temporal resolution. This resolution enables the study of
atmospheric waves, turbulence, and associated phenomena
on scales heretofore impossible. Unfortunately, improve-
ments in vertical resolution by a factor of p and a similar
improvement in temporal resolution by q result in an in-
creased information storage requirement of p X q. If we
then consider a proliferation of clear-air radar sites relative
to current radiosonde sites so that the horizontal resolution
is increased by a factor of r, our storage needs will increase
by the factor p X q X r2 • This product can easily exceed
four orders of magnitude. Obviously, our archiving pro-
cesses must be examined carefully to reduce this problem
as much as possible. Attempts must be made to archive
only those reduced data that are necessary for long-term
analyses.
5 SUMMARY
There is little doubt that the proliferation of individual
wind profilers and profiler networks will provide an im-
mense and invaluable database for a number of scientific
studies. These include, but are not limited to, improved
weather analysis and prediction. The existence of such an
extensive database, however, carries with it significant
problems of database management. An additional emerg-
ing problem is the need to increase our computing capa-
bilities for weather analysis and prediction services; these
are now inadequate to take full advantage of the time and
space resolution provided by the proposed profiler network
in the mid-United States.
On the whole, the future of the clear-air technology is
exceedingly promising. This panel report (in combination
with the Rottger-Larsen review and those by Gossard,
Chapter 27a, and Gage, Chapter 28a) projects the devel-
opment of this technology into the near future. It is rea-
sonable to expect that the next decade will see the expan-
sion over a major portion of the United States of the
preliminary network of operational profilers currently un-
der construction. This expanded network will provide on-
line information for improved weather forecasting and
nowcasting, inflight information on winds aloft, location
and intensity of clear-air turbulence, and a number of other
parameters. On this same time scale, additional clusters of
lower-troposphere profilers located near airports and
launch pads will provide high-resolution observations of
wind shear, turbulence, and probably temperature profiles.
Individual profiler sites at remote locations around the
globe will also provide valuable data via satellite links to
global analysis and forecast centers. Indeed, this has al-
ready begun with the inclusion of Christmas Island profiler
wind data from the Central Equatorial Pacific into both
the NMC and ECMWF global analyses. Finally, for specific
scientific studies, portable wind profilers will serve widely
as important adjuncts to existing measurement systems in
order to better elucidate the dynamics of the phenomenon
under study.
On a somewhat longer time scale, we project the evo-
lution of clear-air systems to include such exotic devel-
opments as airborne clear-air systems to monitor contin-
uously both the wind field and clear-air turbulence in the
vicinity of the aircraft, buoy-mounted troposphere profilers
tethered at deep ocean sites, solar-powered systems for
long-term remote operations, and shipborne profiling sys-
tems. These observing capabilities would contribute greatly
to such programs as the Tropical Oceans and Global At-
mosphere (TOGA), the Global Energy and Water Cycle
Experiment (GEWEX), the International Geosphere Bio-
sphere Program (IGBP), and other studies related to global
change.

Chapter lla
Meteorological Radar Observations from Mobile Platforms
Peter H. Hildebrand, National Center for Atmospheric Research*
Richard K. Moore, Radar Systems and Remote Sensing Laboratory, University of Kansas
1 INTRODUCTION
Over two decades ago Lhermitte ( 1967, 1972) discussed
the possibilities of airborne radars for meteorological re-
search, and Atlas ( 1963) discussed the early attempts at
the Air Force Cambridge Geophysical Laboratories to con-
struct an airborne weather radar. Due primarily to tech-
nological limitations, these plans were never implemented.
The first implementation of a research-quality mobile
weather radar occurred when, under the guidance of Byron
Phillips and others, the NOAA P-3 aircraft were built in
the early 1970s and included nose, belly and tail weather
radars. The NOAA P-3 airborne radar reflectivity obser-
vations have played a strong role in developing our un-
derstanding of hurricanes (e. g., see Black et al., 1972;
Marks, 1981; Barnes et al., 1983; Jorgensen, 1984a,b). The
Doppler capability was initially tested in one of the tail
radars and plans were made for eventual implementation
of Doppler capabilities in both aircraft. The capabilities of
these airborne Doppler radars were evaluated first using
data collected in 1982 by Jorgensen et al. (1983a), and
then more extensively by Hildebrand and Mueller ( 1985)
and Mueller and Hildebrand ( 1985).
After such an auspicious early beginning, why did it
take so long for airborne and space weather radar to be-
come a useful facet of meteorological research? The answer
seems to be based primarily on concerns about the ability
to make scientifically useful measurements, the difficulties
of analyzing the measurements, and cost. Additionally,
there have been concerns about the technological feasibility
and tractability of hardware implementation and, possibly
worse, data analysis. While these cautions may initially
have been well founded, recent analyses of airborne
weather radar data have shown that they are no longer
valid. A growing body of users of spacecraft data has
shown that remote probing instrumentation based in space
can work well-indeed, for certain applications, often bet-
ter than ground- or aircraft-based instrumentation. Further,
the results from the NOAA P-3 radars have convincingly
illustrated that airborne Doppler radar is a tractable re-
search tool with great potential.
Although real, the technological difficulties of aircraft
and spacecraft weather radar do not amount to insur-
• The National Center for Atmospheric Research is supported by the
National Science Foundation.
287
mountable hurdles. The current state of technology and
experience with these types of instrumentation illustrate
the technological feasibility of mobile weather radar. The
huge payoffs of current airborne weather radars and cur-
rent satellite weather observational capabilities illustrate
the large scientific potential and benefit to be gained from
development of mobile weather radars and other remote
probing tools. Additionally, when examined from a total
system point of view, the cost of mobile weather radar
systems may be low in comparison to the cost of making
equivalent observations using other instruments.
We are currently at a point in observational meteorology
where many of the important scientific questions, easily
addressable using current measurement technology, have
been studied. Many new research questions, requiring new
technological assistance relating to important scientific and
human problems, require new observational capabilities.
Examples of these needs include studies of explosive cy-
clogenesis, squall lines, mesoscale convective systems, and
other large or remote weather phenomena. Additional ex-
amples include topics such as entrainment and cloud
physical-dynamical interactions which address small at-
mospheric scales that are not readily accessible with current
technology. Finally, understanding and studies of many
aspects of global weather and air-sea interaction are limited
by the relatively cumbersome and sparse current synoptic
measurement network. Many of the measurement needs
can be achieved through the development and use of mo-
bile weather radars.
This chapter will focus on the scientific potential of air-
craft and space-based weather radar and on certain aspects
of implementation of such radars. The potential capabilities
of mobile weather radars will be discussed in section 2.
Sections 3 through 6 will discuss current weather research
questions, including mesoscale storm structure and dy-
namics, cloud physics and dynamics, airborne navigation
radar, and synoptic and global weather forecasting and
climatology.
2 MOBILE RADAR CAPABILITIES
2.1 Ground Radar Capabilities
Ground-based weather radars have vastly improved our
understanding of the weather. The wide spectrum of pa-
pers in this volume attests to the broad importance of radar
288 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
to meteorological research. The ability of a radar to make
measurements in locations remote from the radar's position
during a short period of time has enabled studies of me-
teorological phenomena that extend over a very large do-
main. From the point of view of the data analyst, the ra-
dar's large observational domain and the well-defined
spatial and temporal frames of reference have made radar
data tractable to work with. The velocity-measuring ca-
pabilities of small groups of Doppler radars have enabled
studies of storm structure, dynamics, and evolution which
simply would not have been possible with other instru-
mentation.
2..2. Candidate Areas for Improvement of
Current Ground Radar Measurement
Capabilities
The major needs for improvement of ground radar mea-
surement capabilities relate to improvements in the spatial
and temporal domain, improved resolution, and the ability
to locate the radar with respect to the weather feature of
interest.
At the global scale, observations of global weather phe-
nomena, e. g., cloud climatology, sea state, etc., all require
measurement capabilities that simply are not tractable for
ground-based sensors. The required spatial domain for
such measurements is the full atmosphere, or at least large
portions of it. The required temporal domain extends from
days through seasons to look at year-to-year variability in
climatology.
On the MCS 1 or cyclogenesis scale, the spatial domain
of a ground radar is simply not adequate to measure the
full storm structure or evolution. This problem becomes
even more acute when multiple Doppler radars are used
to provide measurements of two or three components of
the wind vector field. The difficulty of making adequate
measurements with ground-based radars becomes clearer
when we consider the low probability of the occurrence
of a convective storm, squall line or MCS within the mea-
surement volume. It is thus no wonder that many large
experiments require three to ten Doppler radars to produce
an adequate experimental sampling volume.
Studies of cloud turbulence, entrainment and cloud
physical-dynamical interactions require higher resolution
measurements than are possible with ground-based radars.
Highly sensitive radar measurements with data densities
as high as one measurement every 10-50 m will be re-
quired for progress in these fields.
The quality of data obtained by weather radars is also
related directly to the location of the radar with respect to
the weather. At long range, low-quality data are collected
because of the radar's low sensitivity and poor beamwidth.
1 A list of acronyms is given in the Appendix.
2..3 Potential of Moving Platforms
Weather radar observations from moving platforms can
be made from the best locations, over larger domains, and
for longer periods of time than would be possible from
ground-based systems. The mobile platforms considered
in this chapter include only aircraft and spacecraft. Un-
fortunately, on both aircraft and spacecraft the radars will
have to be designed with economies of weight, size and
power consumption in mind. Efficient, automatic onboard
data processing algorithms will be a necessity. Due to the
design constraints, airborne radar costs appear to be 1.5
to 2 times that of comparable ground-based radars. For
space radar, the design constraints will be considerably
more and the costs are about 20-50 times higher than for
airborne radar. In spite of the increased cost per radar,
mobile instrumentation is likely to be less expensive in the
long run than ground-based instrumentation. For example,
a single airborne Doppler radar might replace a network
of ground-based radars for the purpose of observing me-
soscale storm systems.
For both space and airborne radars, the moving platform
will enable addressing some observational problems not
suitable for ground-based radars. Airborne weather radars
can usually operate from a vantage point that is optimally
suited for making the desired observations. Thus the radar
location, the scan angles, and the time period of obser-
vation can be well suited to the feature being studied. The
resultant airborne radar measurements might be more
complete with respect to the storm space and lifetime than
would comparable ground-based measurements.
The great strength of the space weather radar will be in
the truly unique observations available on global, synoptic
and climatological scales. Satellite observations have al-
ready influenced operational forecasting both qualitatively
(through pictures) and quantitatively (through soundings).
Improvements are sure to continue. Special needs and op-
portunities relate to climate, where weather records of long
consistency are required over the entire globe. Measure-
ments of many parameters are required to detect climatic
anomalies (e.g., the ozone hole) and to understand inter-
connections that relate the atmosphere and ocean together
as a system.
2.. 4 Limitations of Moving Platforms
The major drawbacks of mobile weather radar lie in the
space I weight I power limitations and in certain degra-
dations in data quality that will result from the moving
platform. There are stringent limitations on the physical
design constraints for airborne and space weather radar.
These design limitations will restrict some radar capabilities
directly and will indirectly limit others through the effects
of cost.
For all mobile radars, the moving platform will directly
affect pointing angle accuracy; hence, the radial velocity
 METEOROLOGICAL RADAR OBSERVATIONS FROM MOBILE PLATFORMS
and spectral measurement accuracy. Inaccuracies in
knowledge of the platform velocity and beam pointing
angle will translate directly into inaccuracies in the mea-
sured radial v~locities. For space weather radars, the large
distance between the radar and the weather target will
limit the horizontal and vertical measurement resolution.
At least initially, the space weather radar will have less
flexibility for changes in data collection strategy because
major changes in orbit are impractical, and the resolution
capabilities in both beamwidth and range (i. e., the quasi-
horizontal and vertical measurement directions) will be
strained for getting swath widths greater than a few
hundred kilometers.
3 MOBILE RADAR FOR STUDIES Of
MESOSCALE STORM STRUCTURE
AND DYNAMICS
3.1 Introduction
With the advent of Doppler radar, the understanding
of atmospheric kinematics has increased markedly. The
ability to fully describe flow fields within atmospheric
storms has allowed development of numerical models that
realistically depict the four-dimensional structure of a wide
variety of atmospheric features and disturbances. These
new insights have greatly improved our ability to forecast
the weather.
In spite of the great progress made through use of
ground-based Doppler radars, fully satisfactory observa-
tions of the larger and more quickly moving storm systems
have been elusive. Storms such as squall lines, mesoscale
convective systems, and over-ocean storms including cy-
clones and hurricanes are too large and remote to be ad-
equately observed by ground-based observing systems.
Important phenomena such as air-sea interaction are sim-
ply unobservable on appropriate scales by ground-based
systems.
This has changed with the advent of the airborne Dopp-
ler radar. The program design documents for mesoscale
observational programs such as GALE, STORM and ER-
ICA depend heavily on airborne Doppler radar to make
the necessary measurements of large-scale storm structure
and dynamics-measurements heretofore impossible. The
research goals of STORM (see Anthes, 1983; Zipser, 1984)
are focused on the observations and understanding of
mesoscale convective systems (MCSs). The current lack
of understanding of MCS dynamics seriously hampers our
ability to forecast MCS movement and development. The
STORM program will provide observation and under-
standing of the preconvective environment; the develop-
ment, structure and dissipation of MCSs; the feedback from
MCSs to larger and smaller scales of motion; and the pre-
dictability of MCSs. Due to the time and space scales of
MCSs, the STORM experiment will require measurement
289
resolutions of 10-100 km and a measurement domain of
up to 2000 km. The large size of the typical MCS (Fig. 3.1)
illustrates why the STORM-Central measurement network
requires many ground-based radars. High-quality mobile
weather radars could clearly simplify the observational
needs of this experiment.
The GALE project (Mercer and Kreitzberg, 1986) and
ERICA research (Abbey et al., 198 7) focus on cyclogenesis
off the eastern United States coast. These experiments
concern the same basic observational-understanding-
model development and scientific questions as the STORM
experiment, but posed in different settings. The scales of
measurements for these scientific programs are roughly
the same as those for STORM.
3.2 Airborne Radar Technical
Considerations
3.2.1 Hardware Considerations
The major limitations on radar hardware resulting from
being on an aircraft include the antenna size, weight, and
electrical power, as well as aircraft capabilities such as flight
speed, altitude limitations, and the aircraft's stability in
turbulence. These limitations, plus the scientist's predict-
able desire to have all ground radar capabilities available
in the air, lead directly to the requirement of a large aircraft.
A large aircraft is also safer to operate in large storm sys-
tems or over the ocean.
3.2.2 Airborne Radar Domain and
Resolution Capabilities
The capabilities of an airborne weather radar are based
on radar characteristics such as transmitted power, the
beamwidth and number of beams, and the manner in
which the radar is to be used (e.g., alone, or with other
radars).
The limitations on spatial sampling for an airborne
weather radar relate to the radar beamwidth, range, aircraft
velocity, and the manner of data collection. The limitations
on temporal sampling relate to the manner of data collec-
tion, i.e., the scanning techniques of the radar(s) used to
collect the data. The sampling density is effectively deter-
mined in polar space. Consequently, the spatial sampling
density decreases with range from the radar and is effec-
tively limited to about 1° in elevation (the scanning di-
rection). Even with a slightly wider beam of about 2°,
there is strong advantage to sampling every 1° because
the best possible resolution is obtained. Resolution in the
alongtrack dimension is determined by the aircraft flight
speed and the antenna scan rate.
The accuracy of the Doppler data is determined primarily
by the data collection technique and uncertainties in air-
craft position and beam pointing angle. These uncertainties
 290 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Fig. 3.1 Enhanced infrared satellite image showing (top) a MCS

over the central United States and (bottom) proposed STORM-Central
observational network.

are related primarily to uncertainties in the mean velocity (12 = (1

I
2 + s2
(1 + p2
(1 + (12
bw (3.3)
estimates and in the antenna pointing system.
For a pulse pair mean velocity estimator, the velocity where the subscripts t, s and p represent meteorological
variance due to sampling can be expressed by ( Doviak components of spectral variance due to turbulence, shear
and Zrnic, 1984): and precipitation fallspeed differences, and u~w is a com-
ponent due to differences in the tangential component of
2(V ) = 81r202M
V u2 [(1 + SNR-1)2- o2] (3.1) the mean flow across the radar beam (Atlas, 1964). This
(1 r
tangential spectral broadening component is described by
where Vu is the unambiguous total velocity, SNR is the u~w = 0.300VP cosa (3.4)
signal to noise ratio, M is the number of independent sam-
ples, where 8 is the radar beamwidth, VP is the radar platform
velocity, and a is the angle between the radar platform
(3.2) velocity vector and the beam pointing angle. For the
NOAA P-3 and ELDORA radars, these values are similar:
and u/ is the Doppler spectral variance. The spectral vari- 0 = 2° and VP = 125m s-1. For the P-3 and ELDORA
ance is comprised of many components: systems a is 0° and 20°, respectively. Thus, the value of
 METEOROLOGICAL RADAR OBSERVATIONS FROM MOBILE PLATFORMS 291

(/)
u~w will be approximately 1.3 and 1.2 m 2 s - 2 for the two w
_J
systems, respectively. This relatively large value of u~w for 0...
:::!:
airborne radars will make spectral moment data difficult <(
(/)

to interpret and will slightly increase the uncertainty in 1-

the mean velocity estimates [u 2 (V r)]. (This situation is
greatly exacerbated for the much faster moving spacecraft.)
An evaluation of Eq. (3.4) for an X-band radar having
a PRF of 2 KHz and an input u 2 value of 1 m s- 1 was
formulated. 2 Curves for constant u(V r) are drawn in Fig.
3.2 for u(V r) = 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 m s- 1 as a function of
SNR and the number of independent samples, M. These
curves illustrate that approximately 170 independent
samples will be needed to achieve 1 m s - 1 u(V r) at SNR
= 0. For a spectralu of 1m s- 1 the time to independence
is about 6 ms (Atlas, 1964, p. 404). The P-3 radar typically
scans at 48 ° s -I, for a dwell time of about 21 ms 11 deg.
Although the P-3 radar transmits about 33 pulses during
this period, only three or four are independent. This eval-
uation suggests that the P-3 radar data should be good
enough for meteorological analyses (i.e., u(V r) :o::; about 2
m s - 1 ) for SNR ;;;:. 8 dB. This result is consistent with ex-
perience using P-3 radar data.
The ELDORA system 3 is designed to have greater sen-
sitivity and to scan faster, so that data densities will be
greater. ELDORA will scan up to 144° s- 1, providing data
densities of up to 300 m in the alongtrack direction. The
dwell time will thus be only 7 ms; hence, there will only
be time for one independent sample. To provide adequate
sensitivity, a waveform of four frequencies will be trans-
mitted and up to eight samples in range will be taken to
provide up to 32 independent samples. The ELDORA sys-
tem is therefore capable of achieving data for which the
standard error of the radial velocity estimates, u(V r), is
:o::; about 2m s- 1 for SNR values of ;;:.O dB.
An additional important source of error for airborne ra-
dar is the uncertainty in the beam pointing angle relative
to the airstream, and consequent uncorrected leakage of
the platform velocity into the radial velocity estimates. This
effect can be expressed by
ev = Vp[cosa- cos(a ± da)]
where VP is the platform velocity, a is the angle of the
radar beam with respect to the platform velocity vector,
and da is the error in the a angle measurement. For the
ELDORA case, a= 20°, VP =120m s-I, and ev = ±0.7 m
s- 1 per 0.1° error in a. For the P-3 case, a (the so-called
"tilt" angle) is typically 0°-6° and can range up to 15°.
The errors would scale proportionately.
2U
se of 11 2 ""' 1 m 2 s -2.IS very conservative
.
and Iarger values will routinely
be encountered. In many cases the meteorological components of tur-
b~ence plus t~e 1.2-1.3 m 2 s - 2 component resulting from aircraft motion
will exceed this, and the data quality will be better than illustrated in
these examples.
3~e Electra Doppler Radar (ELDORA) is an X-band Doppler radar that
will be mounted on NCAR's Electra aircraft. This radar is described in
section 3.4.
z
w
0
z
w
fb 100
0
~
~ 10
a::
w
ID
:::!:
::>
z -10 0 10 20
SNR (dB)
Fig. 3.2 The standard error of pulse pair velocity estimates for an
X-band radar with a PRF of 2000 and an observed spectral variance
of 1 (m s- 1F (after Doviak and Zrnic, 1984). Curves for standard
errors of 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16m s- 1 are plotted versus SNR (dB) and the
number of independent samples.
The errors in dual-Doppler radar data analyses are the
result of integration of the sampling errors mentioned
above (e.g., see Ray and Sangren, 1983), errors due to
advection and evolution of the storm during the sampling
period, and errors or omissions in the data at the bound-
aries of the dual-Doppler data analysis grid (Hildebrand
and Mueller, 1985). The net effect of these errors is to
dictate that the airborne radar data need to be collected
over as short a time period and range from the radar as is
practical. To keep the horizontal wind components from
being contaminated by vertical velocities, the elevation
angles should generally be kept to <30°.
3.2.3 Data Processing Considerations
A major consideration that plagues weather radars is
the large volume of data and the difficulty of using the
data for analysis. Although the data can easily be displayed
in real time, the large volume of data makes post-real-
(3.5) time data access and analysis difficult. New mobile weather
radar systems will provide a convenient point for changing
the data gathering, management and analysis routine. Data
handling for the new generation of radars must carefully
consider the decision-making and analysis tasks for which
the radar is to be used. New methods of data access and
cataloging will be required to facilitate the scientific anal-
yses resulting from these radars.
3.3 NOAA P-3 Airborne Doppler Radar
3.3.1 NOAA P-3 Airborne Doppler
Radar Development
During the past few years the value of a practical air-
borne Doppler radar has been clearly demonstrated in tests
of the 3-cm Doppler radar aboard the NOAA P-3 aircraft.
292 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Through combined NOAA and NCAR efforts, this airborne

Doppler radar was developed into an operational Doppler
radar system. Early tests of the system are described in
Trotter et al. ·( 1980, 1981).
Tests comparing the P-3 radar with ground-based radars
were presented by Jorgensen et al. (1983a). They noted
good agreement of the mean velocities measured by both
systems, but considerably larger velocity variances for the
airborne system: 0.5-1 m s- 1 for the airborne versus about
0.2 m s- 1 for the ground-based system (Fig. 3.3). They
attributed the lack of close agreement between the two
systems to uncertainties in the pointing angle of the air-
borne radar system and to the long data collection period
of 20 minutes.
Hildebrand and Mueller ( 1985) and Mueller and Hil-
debrand ( 1985) presented comprehensive comparisons of
airborne and ground-based Doppler data. Hildebrand and
Mueller ( 1985) compared airborne and ground-based dual-
Doppler radar observations of a convective storm (Fig.
3.4). They showed that the airborne Doppler radar pro-
duced dual-Doppler analyses with mean velocity accura-
cies comparable to that provided by the ground-based ra-

dars. They also showed that the same was true for
combinations of airborne and ground-based Doppler ra-
dars.
The process of multiple Doppler radar analysis contains
errors resulting from integration of sampling errors, inter-
polation to the Cartesian grid, boundary condition errors,
and the effects of evolution and advection during data
collection. Hildebrand and Mueller suggested that the er-
rors in the multiple Doppler radar data analyses are not
primarily due to the effects of the about 1 m s - 1 uncertainty
in the airborne radial velocity estimates. Rather, a major
component of the errors seemed to be the result of the
interpolations, boundary conditions, evolution and ad-
-
10 20
20 m/s
Fig. 3.4 Comparison of airborne and ground radar data through a
convective storm. A vertical cut through a convective storm is shown,
with reflectivity contours at 5-dBZ intervals and airflow vectors. The
ground-based Doppler radar analysis is' shown at the top; the airborne
Doppler radar analysis is shown below. The ground-based and air-
borne analyses are in excellent agreement except in the area between
about X = 5 and X = 8 where the airborne radar had missing data
near the top of the storm. This missing data prevented proper mea-
surement of the horizontal divergence field at the top of the storm,
thus producing erroneous vertical velocities below.

vection: effects which degrade all multiple Doppler radar

7
analyses, whether airborne or ground-based.
6 The capabilities of airborne Doppler radars in a triple
] 5
Doppler data analysis were evaluated by Mueller and Hil-
debrand ( 1985). They found that the airborne Doppler
~ 4
radar data could be added to ground-based dual-Doppler
(!)
jjj 3 data to enhance the quality of the analyzed vertical ve-
:I:
locities. In Fig. 3.5, the dual-Doppler analysis (top) indi-
cates a strong decrease in the vertical velocities as the mi-
croburst winds approach the earth's surface. The triple
15 30
Doppler analysis (bottom) correctly depicts the strength
AIRBORNE DOPPLER CP- 4 DOPPLER X- BAND of the vertical velocities at altitudes just above the earth.
VELOC ITY (m s-1) VEL OCITY (m s- 1) REFLECT IVITY The success of the triple Doppler analysis was due to the
(dBZl
airborne radar's ability to collect data from the ideal third
Fig. 3.3 Vertically pointing data from (left) the NOAA P-3 aircraft radar vantage point: looking straight down at a microburst,
Doppler radar and (right) the NCAR CP-4, ground-based Doppler thus providing vertical velocity measurements: Through
radar. The error bars indicate the variability in successive mean ve- guidance from the ground concerning the location of the
locity measurements and are indicative of the accuracy of the mea- microburst, the airborne radar could easily fulfill this task.
surements. (After Jorgensen et al., 1983.) The net effect of the Jorgensen et al. and the Hildebrand
 METEOROLOGICAL RADAR OBSERVATIONS FROM MOBILE PLATFORMS
20 m/s
Fig. 3.5 Comparison of (top) dual ground-based Doppler observa-
tions of a microburst and (bottom) a triple Doppler analysis using
airborne Doppler radar plus ground-based radar.
and Mueller papers was to demonstrate beyond question
the value of airborne Doppler radar for meteorological re-
search. Based on the positive results from these first eval-
uations, numerous additional research efforts occurred.
Jorgensen et al. ( 1983b) studied the air motions within
a developing, sea-breeze-induced rainband and showed
good ability of the airborne radar system to measure the
storm flow features. Marks and Houze ( 1984) used the P-
3 radar to depict the three-dimensional wind fields in the
inner core of Hurricane Debby (Fig. 3.6) and showed the
ability of the airborne Doppler radar to map the winds
over large areas which encompassed several dual-Doppler
wind field analysis areas and several hours of data collec-
tion. The airborne Doppler data allowed the wind fields
to be documented in more detail than had been possible
in previous studies. See Marks (Chapter 25a) for an in-
depth discussion of airborne Doppler radar observations
of hurricanes.
Ray and Jorgensen ( 1988) independently repeated and
verified many of the conclusions of Hildebrand and
Mueller ( 1985) and added an important error analysis for
airborne dual Doppler data.
3.3.2 NOAA P-3 Radar Design and Capabilities
The design and operation of the NOAA P-3 radar is
described by Trotter et al. (1980, 1981), Jorgensen et al.
(1983a), and Hildebrand and Mueller (1985). The P-3
293
airborne Doppler weather radar parameters are given in
Table 3.1.
The radar is mounted in the tail of the NOAA P-3 aircraft
and scans normal to the aircraft flight track in a helical
scan as shown in Fig. 3.7. This scan geometry efficiently
fills the space around the aircraft with radar observations.
For a discussion of the P-3 radar data utilization techniques
see Jorgensen et al. ( 1983a), Hildebrand and Mueller
( 1985), and the P-3 Airborne Meteorological Radar Data
System User's Manual (available from the NOAA Office of
Aircraft Operations, Miami, Florida).
3.3.3 Application to Meteorological Research
The P-3 can be used to gather reflectivity fields and single
and dual Doppler observations either alone or in con-
junction with ground-based radars. Due to its endurance
and design, the P-3 aircraft is ideally suited for long-range
and over-ocean data collection such as in the PRE-STORM
and GALE experiments. The aircraft has a usable range of
about 4300 km, an endurance of about 8-10 hours, and a
maximum altitude of about 8 km.
Even in single Doppler modes of operation the P-3
Doppler radar has impressive data collection capabilities
and can produce good single or dual Doppler data over
an area of 20 000-30 000 km 2 h- 1 . As shown in Fig. 3.8,
good observations of the reflectivity structure can be ob-
tained out to the radar's maximum effective range of 30-
50km.
In addition, good one-dimensional velocity measure-
ments can be made through such a volume. Although this
mode of data collection has not been used much, the com-
bined reflectivity and one-dimensional velocity measure-
ments should be of great value in studying large, essentially
two-dimensional atmospheric features such as squall lines
and hurricane or cyclone banded structures. Due to the
large area that the P-3 radar can cover in one hour, good
evaluations of complete storm structure and evolution are
possible.
Because of the capability of dual-Doppler measurements
from the P-3 radar when using quasi-orthogonal flight legs,
much of the use of that radar has concentrated on dual-
Doppler data collection; for example, see Jorgensen et al.
( 1983a,b), Marks and Houze ( 1984), Hildebrand et al.
( 1983a,b, 1984), Jorgensen and Marks ( 1984), Hildebrand
and Mueller ( 1985), Mueller and Hildebrand ( 1985), Ray
et al. ( 1985), Ray and Jorgensen ( 1988), and Marks
(Chapter 25a) . In addition, a great deal of research from
the PRE-STORM and GALE experiments is yet to be pub-
lished. In the dual-Doppler mode, the P-3 must fly in a
somewhat contorted flight track such that Doppler data
from the individual flight tracks are collected at horizontal
radar pointing angles differing by about 90°. The length
of the flight tracks is limited by a combination of beam-
width and radar sensitivity to a maximum useful range of
30- 50 km. This results in a reduction in the area covered
294 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

20

-
-
~
E
10

-20

-40 -30 -20 -10 0 10

X (km)
Fig. 3.6 Analysis of airborne Doppler-derived winds at the 2.5-km level in Hurricane Debby. The field is a mosaic
of three dual-Doppler analyses. (After Marks and Houze, 1984.)

during the 1-hour flight time, and some spatial intermit-
tency results from the checkerboard areas of dual-Doppler
data collection (see Fig. 3.8). This intermittency can seri-
ously hamper measurements of regular or wavelike aspects
of the weather features of interest. Also, a large analysis
load results with this form of data collection because of
the need to study many dual-Doppler analysis areas.
The P-3 radar data collection domain is limited by radar
beamwidth and sensitivity to a maximum usable range of
30- 40 km. Its minimum usable range is limited by the
picket fence sampling to about 5-10 km. At 10-km range
the 1.35-deg radar beam will be about 235 m wide. Because
the radar beams are spaced by about 1 km in the horizontal,
this means only one-fourth of the space will be sampled.
Thus, at smaller ranges, the sampling is likely to be too
poor to be useful in data analysis without careful inter-
pretation. For a discussion of these problems see Mueller
and Hildebrand ( 1985 ); they used data at a range of about
6 km (about 15% data filling-85% data void) and found
predictable analysis difficulties. The spatial data density
within the measurement volume will be about 1 km in
range and elevation (altitude).
 METEOROLOGICAL RADAR OBSERVATIONS FROM MOBILE PLATFORMS 295

TABL~ 3.1
Characteristics of the NOAA P-3 Radar

CheracterisHc Velae
Wavelength (em) 3.2
Beamwidth (deg) 1.35 horizontal
1.9 vertical
Pulse volume depth (km) 0.075
Gate spacing (km) 0.15
Pulse repetition frequency (pps) 1600
Unambiguous velocity (m s- 1) 25.8
Unambiguous range (km) 94
Elevation step (deg) 1
+
Elevation scan rate (deg s- 1) 48
Alongtrack spacing of beams
(km) 1.05
Minimum detectable signal
(dBZ) at 10 km
with 10 dB 5/N 11
with - 10 dB 5/N -9
400km
Receiver bandwidth (MHz) 2 +
Receiver temperature (deg K) 1600 7oo + +
65° 60°
Antenna gain (dB) 40.3
Fig. 3.8 Schematic depiction of single (hatched) and dual (cross
hatched) Doppler data collection using the NOAA P-3 aircraft. The
3.4 ELDORA Airborne Dual-Doppler ELDORA data collection would be similar to the P-3 single Doppler
area. Each area is the area in which the radar could make single or
Radar Development dual Doppler measurements during a 1 hour period.
The NCAR ELDORA radar (Hildebrand et al., 1986;
Frush et al., 1986; Walther et al., 1986) is designed pri-
marily for observations of medium- to large-scale convec- addressed, but may not be implemented with the initial
tive weather phenomena. The radar is designed to collect system. The radar specifications for the NCAR ELDORA
dual-Doppler data while flying in straight lines, to collect system are summarized in Table 3.2.
data out to ranges of 40-50 km with a data sampling in- The NCAR ELDORA system will include two receivers
terval of about 1 to 1.2 km, to be operated in a manner and transmitters, dual helically scanning antennas, and a
closely related to scientific rather than engineering consid- dual-channel radar processor and data system. The radar
erations, and to archive data in an easily accessible manner. will be controlled by a single console which includes the
With certain limitations, the radar will also be able to collect operator interface, radar control, data recording, and a va-
data at higher data densities within closer ranges. The riety of radar displays. The antenna mounting concept (Fig.
problems of automatic range and velocity folding are being 3. 9) makes use of a rigid rotating structure (the rotodome),
which rotates about the aircraft's longitudinal axis and
includes the antennas, radomes and antenna j radome
mounts. One antenna will point slightly in front of the
aircraft, the other will point slightly to the rear. The radar
beams will thus sweep out conical helixes as the aircraft
flies along. As can be seen from the scan pattern, dual-
Doppler data can be collected while the aircraft flies in a
straight path (Fig. 3.10). This will be an advantage because
it will enable the collection of dual-Doppler data within
'\.1------<~ _.,-J----~ ­ storms too dangerous to penetrate, while the aircraft flies
R parallel to the storm. This can be done much as the NOAA
P-3 aircraft data collection was illustrated for the single
Doppler case in Fig. 3.8. This type of flight pattern will
also allow efficient data collection in which large areas can
be completely observed with little wasted flight time.
In field research programs, the radar will typically be
Fig. 3.7 Geometry of the P-3 helical scan tail radar. flown past or through the weather feature of interest in a
2% RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

TABLE 3.2 rotodome spin axis (see Figs. 3.9 and 3.10) . For ELDORA,
Characteristics of the ELDORA Radar the fore and aft tilt angles (T1 and Tz) will be equal (prob-
ably about 20°), and Eqs. (3.6) reduce to
Characterittic Valae
Wavelength (em) 3.2 eu = V2e,jsin(T)
Beamwidth (deg) 1.8 horizontal
ev = V2e,jcos(T). (3.7)
1.8 vertical
Pulse volume depth (km) 0.03- 0.15
The error in divergence calculated from eu and ev in Carte-
Gate spacing (km) 0.03- 0.15
sian coordinates is
Pulse repetition frequency (pps) 2000- 5000
Unambiguous velocity (m s- 1) 25.8 (3.8)
Unambiguous range (km) 94
Elevation step (deg) 1 (nominal)
An estimate of vertical velocity errors can be derived by
Elevation scan rate (deg s- 1) 0-144 integrating the divergence errors over a representative
Along track spacing of beams storm depth.
(km) 0.3-1 The time lag between the successive observations from
Minimum detectable signal the fore and aft radar beams is related to the aircraft air-
(dBZ) at 10 km speed and the distance from the aircraft by
with 10 dB S/N 0
with - 10 dB SjN - 20 t1ag = 2D tan(T)/TAS (3.9)
Receiver bandwidth (MHz) 2
where D is the distance from the aircraft flight track and
Receiver temperature (deg K) 1600
TAS is the aircraft's true airspeed.
Antenna gain (dB) 40.3
The values of eu, ev, ew and t1ag are plotted in Fig. 3.11
for a variety of tilt angles. The lateral and longitudinal
velocity errors and the integrated vertical velocity errors
straight line at a midlevel altitude. Use of a middle-level are at a minimum for angles between the radar beams of
flight altitude will minimize the contribution of vertical air greater than about 60°.
and particle velocities to the radial velocity measurements.4 The time lag affects velocity errors through advection
The data will be collected in a single volume scan (or da- and evolution. This is because the storm moves and evolves
taset) in a length of time approximately equal to the aircraft during the period between the times the forward and aft
transit time past the storm. For example, a 30-km diameter radar beams look at the storm. In Fig. 3.11 the radial ve-
storm will be completely observed in about 4 minutes. It locity measurement errors due to time lag have been ap-
will take 1.5-2 minutes to begin a second observation of proximated as simply being proportional to a velocity that
the same storm. increases with time as in the lower portion of Fig. 3.11.
The accuracy of the Cartesian velocity estimates derived This velocity roughly approximates the combined effects
from ELDORA dual-Doppler radar data can be determined of storm advection and evolution and the consequent ve-
from the beam intersection angle, the time lag between locity measurement errors due to time lag. The curves in
the forward and rearward observations, and the storm ad- Fig. 3.11 show that increasing tilt angles will increase errors
vection velocity and reshuffling time. Because the ELDORA due to advection and evolution. For the assumptions made
radar scans in a cylindrical coordinate system it is conve- above, these curves suggest that an angle between the
nient to define lateral and longitudinal velocities, which beams of about 40° (an antenna tilt angle of 20°) will
are the velocities in the alongtrack (flight track) and cross- produce the minimum total error resulting from the geo-
track (radial) directions, respectively. The measurement metrical and dual-Doppler time lag effects.
errors in the lateral and longitudinal velocities are given The implementation of good sampling capabilities in the
by alongtrack direction requires construction of a fast scan
eu = 0.5•{[e,jsin(T1)) 2 + [e,jsin(Tz)] 2} 112 radar. If data are to be collected with an alongtrack data
density of 0.5 km, and the aircraft is flying at 125m s - t,
ev = 0.5•{[e,jcos(Tt)] 2 + [e,jcos(T2)) 2} 112 (3.6)
then the antenna will have to revolve at 90° s - 1. If data
where e, is the radial velocity error and T1 and Tz are the are desired every 1° in elevation, the dwell time will be
angles of the radar beams fore and aft of normal to the only 11 JLS. If a simple radar waveform is used, this dwell
time will be too short to allow for more than one inde-
• This is because the midstonn flight level will reduce the elevation angles pendent sample.
(positive or negative) within which data are tyrically c_ollected. Small Several techniques can be used to increase the number
elevation angles will minimize the effects of ~ertical m?tions on the _ve- of independent samples. A short pulse of <1 JLS can be
locity measurements. This will reduce analysiS errors, smce the multi~le
Doppler analysis techniques implicitly assume the radar data to cons1st
used and averaged in range at the expense of some net
of horizontal air motion measurements (see Ray and Jorgensen, 1988). loss in sensitivity. Alternatively, multiple frequencies can
 METEOROLOGICAL RADAR OBSERVATIONS FROM MOBILE PLATFORMS 297

AIC TAIL CONFIGURATION

BEAM "LOOK" ANGLE

RADOME WINDOW
RT/DUROID

EXTERNAL SHELL
ANTENNA SUPPORT
COMPOSITE SANDWICH
STRUCTURE

DIRECTION OF ROTATION

------7-- {~f'"
ROTATION
JOINT
FS
1276

Fig. 3.9 NCAR ELDORA antenna rotodome concept. The antennas are rigidly mounted in a
rotating structure which includes the radome, antennas, waveguide, and any necessary acceler-
ometers for measuring antenna position. The whole rotodome rotates at a constant rate of up to
144 deg s- 1 about a spin axis which is parallel to the earth's surface.

be transmitted, with consequent increased complexity in
the transmitter, receiver, radar processor, and possibly data
recording. Other complex waveforms can also be used with
other penalties in design or data analysis complexity.
The plan for the ELDORA is to make use of limited
range-averaging plus a simple multiple-frequency scheme.
Limiting the range averaging to about four range bins will
minimize the sensitivity loss; limiting the multiple-fre-
quency scheme to two to four frequencies will minimize
radar complexity. Another advantage of a simple, multiple-
frequency radar is the ability to add some range and ve-
locity unfolding capabilities to the radar.

4 AIRBORNE RADAR FOR CLOUD

PHYSICS AND DYNAMICS
Studies of cloud physics and dynamics generally address
problems on smaller scales than those identified in section
3. Particular topics of active research interest include cloud
morphology and dynamics, cloud entrainment, and pre-
cipitation physics. The cloud types range from elements
of cyclone rainbands down to small cumuli and marine
stratus. Characteristic measurement requirements for these
studies include the need for measurements on small spatial
and temporal scales. Also, due to the high resolution and
sensitivity required, mobile radars for these studies should
be airborne in order to get aJclose to the targets as possible.

4.1 Cloud Morphology and Dynamics

Fig. 3.10 NCAR ELDORA dual-Doppler scan pattern utilizing fore
and aft facing radar beams. As the aircraft flies along, the forward
and aft beams scan the volume around the aircraft. The forward and
aft beams intersect at some range away from the aircraft.
Measurements of cloud structure on scales down to tens
of meters currently do not exist in adequate form to allow
validation of hypotheses of entrainment, turbulent eddy
structure, and turbulence-cloud physics interactions.
Mechanisms of vertical transport in clouds, such as updraft
and downdraft structures, are of great interest. In addition,
298 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

10 unclear. Several important problems require observations

9 that are of high resolution but also made over a large vol-
8 ume of the cloud. These problems include the unexplained
7 high ice contents noted at lower cloud levels, the role of
~ 6 entrainment in the formation of drop-size distributions,
E
5 and improved understanding of the relation between pre-
> 4
.._. cipitation evolution and storm dynamics. Studies of these
CD 3
processes are hampered by the lack of good remote probing
2 capabilities which can extend in situ measurement capa-
I bilities to the full cloud volume. Remote probing capabil-
0 ities, possibly aided by dual-polarization measurements,
10 are needed to address these problems. Airborne radars de-
9 signed for these needs will greatly increase the aircraft's
8 effective sampling volume and thus improve the data
'2
·e 7 quality and the understanding of cloud microphysics.
6
(.!)
<( 5
...J
4 4.3 Entrainment
w
:::::!!! 3
i= 2 There is an open debate concerning the important scales
I of entrainment (see Reuter, 1986). Some observational
0 and modeling evidence suggests downward mixing for
0 20 40 60 80 several kilometers in cumulus clouds (Paluch, 1979; Klas-
ANGLE BETWEEN BEAMS (Oeg.) sen and Clark, 1985). Other researchers contend that
small-scale turbulence is most important. This topic is of
Fig. 3.11 Velocity error and time lag analyses. The top portion of special relevance to cumuli and stratus. In addition, due
the figure shows velocity errors for different beam intersection angles.
to the lack of definitive observations, the relation between
The longitudinal (u), lateral (v) and vertical (w) velocity standard
errors are shown. In addition, errors due to the combined effects of mixing mechanisms and the cloud droplet size spectrum
storm advection and evolution are approximated for ranges of 20 and is poorly understood. The different mixing hypotheses are
40 km. The lower portion of the figure shows the time lag (min) ripe for testing using high-resolution data such as could
between the forward and aft looks at the same cloud volume as a be collected using airborne Doppler radars.
function of range and beam pointing angle. Curves are drawn for
ranges of 7, 15, 30 and 60 km.
4.4 Airborne Radar for Cloud Physics
while a great deal has been learned about microburst and Cloud physics and dynamics studies will require a high-
gust front dynamics, full explanations are still needed of resolution, very sensitive radar. Knight ( 1986) suggested
the relations between precipitation loading and evapora- that measurement data densities of a few tens of meters
tion, and microburst forcing and forecasting. will be necessary for many topics, and noted that some
The relation between boundary-layer air motions and research areas might require measurement data densities
marine stratus cloud structure is poorly understood and as small as a few meters. However, it is likely that even
the problem cannot be addressed without good measure- 50-m resolutions will be useful for initial studies and for
ments both of boundary-layer air motions and cloud developing improved designs for later airborne cloud
structure. An understanding of these questions is important physics radars.
for improved models and, thereby, for improved param- Radar sensitivities on the order of -50 to -40 dBZ at 1-
eterizations of transport through marine stratus. km range will be required if features at the cloud edge are
The airborne radars discussed in section 3 are not de- to be resolved. These needs point to a sensitive radar hav-
signed for the high-resolution measurements needed for ing relatively short wavelength. The tradeoff between a
cloud physical research. Measurement scales of 10 to 100 more sensitive, shorter wavelength radar and a less atten-
m and sensitivities of -20 dBZ are necessary minimum uating, longer wavelength radar becomes important and
requirements. Also not discussed is the application of air- can affect the uses of the radar. The sensitivities of radars
borne Doppler radar and chaff for studies of PBL flows in of several different wavelengths are plotted in Fig. 4.1. For
rugged terrain and inaccessible locations. each wavelength, the radar sensitivity is plotted for clear-
air, foggy air (1 g m- 3 ), and air with fog and rain (1 mm
h -t). These plots indicate that while the 35- and 94-GHz
4.2. Precipitation Physics radars are more sensitive, carefully designed 9.4-GHz (X-
The relation between small-scale cloud structure and band) radars may be nearly as sensitive and may suffer
the formation and transport of precipitation is currently far less from the effects of attenuation.
 METEOROLOGICAL RADAR OBSERVATIONS FROM MOBILE PLATFORMS
40
30
m 20
~ 10
.5 0 Studies of cloud particles will be considerably enhanced
E -10
N
-20
-30
-40
40
30
m 20
~ 10
.5 0 the aircraft. The variety of interests will require that up-
E ward or downward looking measurements will be neces-
N
.5
E it illustrated the benefits of adding the direct downward
N
RADAR RANGE (km)
Fig. 4.1 Radar sensitivities as a function of range for 9.4, 35 and
94-GHz radars. For each radar the sensitivity is plotted as a function
of range for dry air (D), for 1 g m-3 cloud (C), and 1 mm h- 7
rain (R).
The capabilities of an X-band system such as ELDORA
can be applied to some aspects of cloud physics studies
(Walther et al., 1988). In its normal scanning mode the
ELDORA system will have data densities of 50 m along
the beam and 180 m along the flight track. Analysis of
radar sensitivity within the nearest 10 km shows a sensi-
tivity of> -20 dBZ out to about 4 km, even in light rain.
These capabilities could be enhanced with a large vertically
pointing antenna. A 1.8-m antenna would provide a 1.2°
beam, which would have a beamwidth of 50 m at 2.4 km
from the aircraft. This antenna would be about 5 dB more
sensitive than the normall.8° scanning antenna.
The difficulties in operating a Doppler radar for the col-
lection of vertically pointing data are significantly reduced
if the antenna is rigidly mounted and the attitude of the
antenna is directly measured with an Inertial Navigation
Unit (INU) or accelerometers. With such a system, antenna
attitude should be measurable approximately to within the
accuracy of the INU, or to about 1' or 0.0167°. With this
accuracy and an airspeed of 150 m s-I, radial velocities
299
should be measurable to an accuracy of about 4 em s -I,
exclusive of sampling errors due to turbulent and beam-
width broadening of the Doppler spectrum and consequent
uncertainties in the mean velocity estimate.
if polarization measurements can be used for determination
of particle shapes and orientations. The second polarization
could be obtained from a fast switch and a second antenna
or dipole array.
Airborne radars involved in cloud physics research may
first be used in vertically pointing (zenith and nadir)
modes. In most cases, the primary use for the radar will
be for measurements in a vertical plane above or below
sary for different types of experiments. The ability to collect
both up and down looking measurements would be a good
future capability.
One frequent mode of operation of such a radar would
be in conjunction with a ground-based Doppler radar. The
value of such data was touched upon in Mueller and Hil-
debrand ( 1985) in their analysis of microburst structures.
While their data suffered from some sampling problems,
looking measurements to the ground-based horizontal
measurements.
4. 5 Airborne Lidar
Lidar is complementary to radar because it relies on
smaller scatterers than does radar. Typically, lidar systems
measure backscatter from the nominally clear-air, using
molecules, particles in the aerosol, or small cloud droplets
as targets. Because of sensitivity to and attenuation by the
small scatterers, lidar data does not extend far into strongly
scattering environments such as dense cumulus or heavy
precipitation, and a lidar system will generally have a much
shorter operating range than typical radar systems. Radar
and lidar would complement each other in a variety of
studies where the lidar could determine components of
the wind field in weakly scattering regions outside the
cloud boundary and the radar would measure in regions
where the cloud is denser. An overlap region could provide
continuity and intercomparison between the two instru-
ments.
This section will discuss the capabilities of airborne lidars
in meteorology. Wavelengths of typicallidars range from
10.6 ~m(middle infrared) to approximately 0.25 ~m(mid­
dle ultraviolet). Laser wavelengths longer than 1.4 ~mare
less likely to cause eye damage than shorter wavelengths
(for a given power density) because the longer wave-
lengths are absorbed in the cornea rather than focused on
the retina. Lidar wavelengths are 300 to 10 000 times
shorter than radar wavelengths, so substantially different
analysis methods are appropriate for the two techniques.
The atmospheric coherence time (approximately the time
300 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
for the scattering particles to move relative to each other
by one wavelength) is at least 300 times shorter for lidar
than for radar, so Doppler velocity estimates must be made
for each lidar pulse rather than for a set of radar pulses.
As a consequence, there is no range-velocity ambiguity in
Doppler lidar.
Three principal types of data from meteorologicallidars
involve 1) aerosol or cloud backscatter profiles, 2) Doppler
velocity measurements, and 3) differential ~bsorption !idar
(DIAL) profiles or hard target returns for measuring the
concentration of various chemical species such as ozone
and water vapor. As with radars, ground-based lidars are
generally more numerous, more bulky, and at a later stage
of development than airborne systems. Schwiesow ( 1986)
gives an introduction to lidar principles and some ground-
based applications. Lidars for research have not yet been
used on satellite platforms, although this has been pro-
posed (e.g., Atlas and Korb, 1981; Menzies, 1986; NASA,
1987).
Airborne backscatter lidars have been used for a number
of years to study the structure of layers in the atmosphere
both below (Uthe et al., 1980, 1982) and above (Mc-
Cormick et al., 1984) the aircraft. Sometimes the back-
scatter coefficient itself is of interest (Schwiesow et al.,
1981a), but more often the change in the profile with dis-
tance along the flight track gives information about the
structure of the mixed layer near surface discontinuities
or about the structure of plumes from surface sources or
volcanic aerosol particles. A convective boundary layer is
often marked by stronger scattering than is the air above,
so the structure of the convection field can be mapped by
an airborne lidar (Melfi et al., 1985; Atlas et al., 1986a).
This application of lidar is particularly suited to an airborne
platform because the aircraft allows a substantial region
of the atmosphere to be observed in a short time period
and allows observations over the open ocean.
Waves in the mesosphere have been studied with an
airborne lidar tuned to selectively excite sodium atoms near
an altitude of 90 km (Gardner et al., 1986). An airborne
lidar can map fluorescent tracer particles used for diffusion
studies (Uthe et al., 1985).
Clouds, even those difficult to see by eye, provide strong
lidar returns. The morphology of high clouds has been
studied looking upward from an aircraft (Russell et al.,
1981; McCormick et al., 1984; Kent et al., 1986), and cloud
tops have been viewed by a lidar pointed downward from
a high-flying aircraft (Spinhime et al., 1983 ). These studies
have used lidars at a wavelength of 1.06 JLm and shorter.
The depolarization of the backscatter gives information on
the phase (spherical droplets or ice crystals) of the cloud
particles.
Airborne Doppler lidars at a wavelength of 10.6 JLm have
used both CW and pulsed operation. Because a lidar tele-
scope (the antenna) is many wavelengths across, beam-
widths are much smaller than in radar, and range reso-
lution based on the depth of focus is possible. Continuous-
wave Doppler lidars have been used to study waterspouts
(Schwiesow et al., 1981 b) and measure airspeed and wind
shear (Woodfield and Vaughan, 1983). A more complex
pulsed Doppler lidar (Bilbro et al., 1984; McCaul et al.,
1987a,b) has been applied to measure the horizontal flow
field in the vicinity of thunderstorms. For this application
the lidar was scanned forward and aft to view each sample
volume from two angles at different times, analogous to
the scan pattern planned for the ELDORA radar.
Differential absorption lidar research is based on mea-
suring lidar returns at two closely spaced wavelengths.
DIAL systems operating in the ultraviolet to provide ozone
profiles have been used to study tropopause folds and the
transport of tropical air masses (Browell et al., 1983, 1987).
DIAL systems based on a C0 2 laser can be made quite
compact (ltabe et al., 1984). They have been used with
the return from the surface to map column density of var-
ious tracer gases (Uthe, 1986).
5 AIRBORNE NAVIGATION RADAR
Virtually all commercial and many privately operated
aircraft are equipped with weather radars. These radars,
designed for the purpose of weather avoidance, are fre-
quently used by pilots for navigation through weather
systems. Typical airborne navigation weather radars are
X-band radars with 3°-8° beams, which scan over a 60°
sector. Some C-hand radars are available. Antenna ele-
vation control is typically manual and is left to the pilot's
discretion. Many antenna systems are stabilized, so that
the radar is usable in turns. The radars have rudimentary
range correction, and on many airborne weather avoidance
radars, provision is made for using the radar to map the
ground. A gain control is frequently included for increasing
the apparent intensity of targets.
Most airborne weather radar displays are now digital
monochrome or color; however, numerous analog displays
still are used. Most displays, digital or analog, show re-
flectivities above about 20 dBZ, and contour at about 10-
dBZ intervals. The radars are generally adequately cali-
brated with respect to the 10-dB contouring. Most modem
radars provide excellent capabilities for automated pilot
checklists to be used during takeoff and landing. Conse-
quently there is a strong impetus for the pilot to tum off
the radar during takeoff and final approach so the display
can be used as an automated checklist, rather than as a
storm avoidance tool.
The newest airborne weather avoidance radars now
have simple Doppler capabilities. Current systems have
simple turbulence measurement capabilities in which
spectral variances greater than some preset threshold
(typically about 5 m 2 s - 2 ) are indicated on the display in
magenta.
The problems with the current generation of airborne
weather avoidance radar lie primarily with the inconsistent
 METEOROLOGICAL RADAR OBSERVATIONS FROM MOBILE PLATFORMS
training and use of the radars for navigation around
weather. Airline attitudes vary. Some emphasize weather
and radar training; others virtually ignore such training.
Most weather~related commercial carrier accidents are at
least in part related to inadequate pilot training concerning
weather radar operation. Good training practices have
produced pilots who are acutely aware of the strengths
and weaknesses of their radars and use them with care.
(See Fujita and McCarthy, Chapter 31a.)
The scientific community needs to actively apply its
knowledge and expertise to airborne weather avoidance
radars. The technological state and capabilities of airborne
weather radars can be improved through inclusion of im-
provements already embodied in research radars. Major
areas of potential improvement include radar scan control,
radar display, and overall design of new generations of
weather avoidance radars. For example, the Doppler dis-
plays can be developed to include radial wind shear in-
formation (Wilson et al., 1980, 1984). Intelligent displays
of derived data, such as wind shear, need to be developed
with the aid of research scientists. Such displays could
vastly improve the pilot's abilities to detect and avoid haz-
ardous weather and thus improve public safety.
For the most part, pilot education is a problem for the
aviation community; however, the scientific community
has a role to play in seeing that the education is accurate
and up to date. This important goal is just now being ad-
dressed (McCarthy, 1988).
Finally, with new airborne weather avoidance radar
systems, there is the possibility of collecting weather ob-
servations of high enough quality that the observations
would be useful for traffic control purposes. Wide-band-
width air-to-ground communications links, now in devel-
opment, could easily enable transmission of the weather
radar observations from the aircraft down to the ground
where they could be used for air traffic control purposes
in quasi-real time (see Golden, Chapter 30b).
6 SYNOPTIC AND GLOBAL WEATHER
(ATMOSPHERE AND OCEAN):
FORECASTING AND CLIMATOLOGY
6.1 Introduction
The atmosphere and ocean form a closed fluid system
with many points of interaction, no beginning and no end.
The quality of the modeling of either fluid system and the
interactions between the two systems will have large effects
on the quality of prognostic models. The interactions be-
tween the El Niiw and atmospheric anomalies are one
well-known example. Another example is the interaction
of sea surface winds, the wave field, and the sea current.
This complex interaction also has fundamental effects on
the atmospheric and oceanic circulations. An additional
example is the role of the atmosphere and ocean in main-
301
taining the global heat balance. The role of tropical rainfall
in providing latent heat to drive the general circulation is
another critical problem in need of global observations of
precipitation. Numerous other examples of important at-
mosphere-ocean interactions can be noted, ranging in
temporal and spatial scales from synoptic forecasting to
global climatological balances (Atlas et al., 1986b).
A major impediment to improved understanding of these
interactions lies in the lack of good observations. True
global coverage is required for the necessary measure-
ments. For synoptic weather forecasting, the data must be
dense in space and time. For global climatology, far less
dense data can produce acceptable information, provided
these data are available over a period of years.
On the synoptic weather forecasting scale, important
measurements include precipitation location and intensity,
winds at the sea surface and aloft (in cloudy layers and
elsewhere), temperature and moisture profiles, surface
fluxes of heat, moisture and momentum, sea surface wave
field and roughness, ocean circulations and eddies, and
sea ice characteristics, including thickness and velocity.
The time and space scales needed are those of synoptic
data densities ( 100 km and 3-12 h). Resolutions needed
range from 25-50 km for wind measurements down to
<25 m for specific interaction measurements, such as
measuring the spectrum of ocean waves. The various
measurements should be made essentially simultaneously
in space and time if the global fluid systems are to be
understood, modeled and forecast as a coupled system.
On the global climatological scale, approximately the
same group of measurements are needed, but with longer
temporal resolution scales: good monthly mean values will
provide an enormous improvement in our knowledge of
the climate system. Due to the reduced temporal mea-
surement requirements, initial space radar efforts have
been largely aimed at the global climatological scale, with
the exception of scatterometer measurements of surface
winds at sea.
Many of these measurement needs may be satisfied by
using a combination of passive and active space-based mi-
crowave sensing technology. Indeed, Atlas et al. ( 1986b)
suggest the surprising view that a major portion of the
above measurement needs might be satisfied with the Ad-
vanced Moisture Temperature Sounder (AMTS) technol-
ogy. A possibly more impressive obstacle to implemen-
tation of the synoptic-scale measurements may lie in the
selection of satellite orbits for appropriate spatial and tem-
poral resolution and global coverage. This obstacle, and
the likely consequent costs, strongly suggests the need for
international cooperative efforts.
Space radar measurement efforts are beginning with
studies aimed at improved scientific understanding of the
phenomena and of the measurement technique. For ex-
ample, the works of Atlas and Matejka ( 1984, 1985), Me-
neghini and Atlas (1986), Atlas and Moore (1987) and
others are directed at developing precipitation measure-
302 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
ment techniques that can be applied to space radar data.
The Seasat (Born et al., 1979; Fu and Holt, 1982) and
Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR; Beal, 1986) programs have
been exploratory. Radar altimeters have become opera-
tional for geodesy and studies of ocean circulation and
have demonstrated their capabilities for point wind speed
and wave height measurement (Townsend, 1980).
6.2 Space Radar Methods
Space radars include altimeters, scatterometers and real-
and synthetic-aperture imaging radars, and special mete-
orological radars that may use either real or synthetic ap-
ertures for resolution. The environment for a radar in space
is very different from that on aircraft. The radar's size and
weight are limited by launch capabilities and the energy
consumption is limited by the ability to collect solar energy
on the spacecraft. Due to the inaccessibility of unmanned
spacecraft, the space radar must be more reliable than a
ground or airborne radar. Moreover, unmanned spacecraft
require that the radar be controllable by telemetry and
that automatic recording and I or telemetry of the data be
accommodated. The cost of the radar is correspondingly
high.
Space radars, with the exception of altimeters, also re-
quire large antennas. For low-altitude missions the result-
ing drag can shorten the lifetime of the spacecraft, although
this can be compensated by carrying extra fuel to boost
the spacecraft as the orbit begins to decay. This is primarily
a problem for missions where vertical profiling of rainfall
is a goal, since the required antenna becomes impractically
large at higher altitudes.
The use of radar altimeters on spacecraft is relatively
mature. The original intent of spacecraft altimeters was to
measure the shape of the geoid and determine local vari-
ations in mean sea level (McGoogan et al., 1974). From
the beginning, however, many investigators realized that
the shape and strength of the returned pulses were deter-
mined by wave height and, to some extent, wind speed
(Monaldo, 1988). An altimeter gives only speed, not di-
rection. The first such altimeter flew on Skylab (McGoogan
et al., 1974). Subsequent GEOS missions and Seasat had
radar altimeters of increasing accuracy (Douglas and Ga-
borsky, 1979; Fedor and Brown, 1982). As the precision
of the altimeters improved, measurements of ocean cur-
rents became possible because of the slight "bulge" in the
sea surface caused by the currents (Bernstein et al., 1982).
Radar altimeters can also measure precipitation if their
designs are slightly modified. The basic problem with ex-
isting designs is that they only record the signals close to
the surface. The signal falloff away from the surface relates
to the wave height: if the signal falls off rapidly the waves
are low, if it falls off slowly they are high. If the recording
is started at the highest altitude expected for precipitation,
the radar altimeter can also be used to measure rain rates.
Because of the sparse coverage, these measurements would
be of value primarily for climatology.
The term scatterometer refers to any radar that is well-
enough calibrated to make precise measurements of scat-
tering coefficients. The term scatterometer thus includes
calibrated imagers as well as special systems. Radar scat-
terometers measure surface winds because they respond
primarily to the ripples (short-gravity and capillary waves)
on the surface. Since the ripple amplitudes respond almost
instantaneously to changes in the surface wind speed (or
stress, u*), the radar signal also does so. The use of an
ocean-viewing scatterometer as a surface-wind anemom-
eter was widely tested with aircraft before and subsequent
to the Skylab initial space experiment, which verified that
such measurements could be made readily from space.
Because the response depends on the angle between the
radar look direction and the wind vector, ambiguous results
can be obtained. Various schemes for determining which
one of these ambiguous solutions is correct have been de-
vised (for a review of this work, see Ulaby et al., 1982,
Chapter 10; 1986, pp. 1649-1684). Future systems will
observe the same spot from more than two directions,
thereby greatly improving the skill of ambiguity-removal
algorithms (Li et al., 1984; Kirimoto and Moore, 1985; Du-
chossois, 1986).
Imaging radars in space have great potential for describ-
ing surface properties, whether on the ocean or on land.
Such radars are largely of the sidelooking variety. In such
a configuration, the range scanning is achieved in the usual
fashion by pulse length, and the "azimuth" scanning by
letting spacecraft motion scan a beam pointing at a fixed
angle to the spacecraft. For a fine resolution (pixel dimen-
sion< 500 min the alongtrack dimension) use of the syn-
thetic-aperture (Doppler beam-sharpening) technique is
required. Most such systems flown or contemplated are
synthetic-aperture radars (SARs), but the Soviet Union
has a series of real-aperture radars with 2 X 2 km pixel
dimensions ( Kalmykov et al., 1986).
The synthetic-aperture concept may best be visualized
in terms of its original name, Doppler beam sharpening.
When a radar with a narrow beam pointed to the side flies
in a straight line by a fixed target, the Doppler frequency
shift of the received signal is given by
fo = -2uxi"AR ( 6.1)
where {3R I 2 < x < {3R I 2, x is the distance along the track
measured from the point where the target is directly to the
side, u is the velocity of the radar platform (the spacecraft
velocity), "A is the radar wavelength, R is the range from
radar to target, and {3 is the horizontal beamwidth of the
antenna. Since the target is first illuminated by the forward
edge of the radar beam, then by the center, and finally by
the aft portion of the beam, there is a Doppler shift in
velocities as the beam passes the target. Before the radar
is abreast of the target, the Doppler shift is positive; f 0
 METEOROLOGICAL RADAR OBSERVATIONS FROM MOBILE PLATFORMS
then decreases linearly until the antenna no longer illu-
minates the target.
Figure 6.1 shows how filtering the Doppler signal can
reduce the size of the selected target region. Several in-
stantaneous Doppler-frequency shift lines are shown cor-
responding to targets located at different points along a
line parallel to the flight line. With a real-aperture radar,
the resolution would be the full extent of the Doppler fre-
quency shift which results from the radial velocity varia-
tions of the target as it passes through the beam. Each
Doppler frequency shift relates to the observation of the
target at a particular location within the beam. The radar
beamwidth can thus be subsectioned through subsection-
ing the Doppler frequency shift. For a specific position
within the beam, only those signals within the desired
subsection of beamwidth are then received. Through this
process, substantially enhanced resolution is attained. The
best resolution attainable can be shown to be the reciprocal
of the time ( {jR / u seconds) taken to pass by the beam.
This yields a resolution approximately half the length of
the antenna. Thus, in principle, for a 1-m long antenna, a
resolution of 50 em can be attained.
Processing of SAR images is usually not done with a
tracking filter, but mathematically equivalent methods are
INSTANTANEOUS FREQUENCY FOR MULTIPLE TARGETS
Target Target Target
I 2 3
- - Frequency when beam
first hits target.
- Frequency when beam
Ieaves target.
(a) Doppler-Shifted Frequencies from 3 Adjacent Targets-
Best Resolution
I demonstrated this capability (Ulaby et al., 1982, pp. 875-
..A
I Targeti1Target21Target 31
Filter Filter Filter
(b) Tracking Filters to Separate Targets
Fig. 6.1 Illustration of the principle of synthetic-aperture radar.
This approach using tracking filters is not actually used, but the
methods are equivalent. The instantaneous frequencies for three ad-
jacent targets, and the tracking filters needed to separate them, are
shown for the time the targets are within the beam of the real antenna.
(a) Doppler-shifted frequencies from the three adjacent targets. (b)
Tracking filters used to separate the targets. Signals from target 1
cannot pass through the filter for target 2, etc.
303
used. For a more complete exposition of processing meth-
ods, the reader should consult books dealing with SAR
(Ulaby et al., 1982, Chapter 9; Elachi, 1982, 1988; Harger,
1970).
The Seasat imaging SAR was the first imaging radar
flown in space (Jensen et al., 1977). Since it was designed
to study wave spectra on the sea, it had a pixel about 25
m square (actually this was an average of four 6.25 X 25
m pixels). The 6.25-m resolution was achieved with an
antenna 12 meters long. Although much scientific dialogue
continues on the meaning of the spectra obtained, the sys-
tem did indeed obtain spectra associated with some fea-
tures of the surface waves. Many other oceanic features
showed up on the images of this and the subsequent Shut-
tle Imaging Radars (SIR-A and SIR-B; Fu and Holt, 1983 ).
Current boundaries and eddies showed up clearly. Surface
tracks of storm winds also were visible in some cases. In-
ternal waves were clear on many images. Although the
wave spectra require fine resolution, many of the other
features would be visible with much poorer resolution, as
indicated by the results from Kosmos 1500 (Kalmykov et
al., 1986).
Land images also have meteorological interest, partic-
ularly because of the sensitivity of the radar signal to soil
moisture (Ulaby et al., 1982, pp. 860-863; 1986, pp. 1828-
1831). The mapping of moisture from a storm track across
Iowa was particularly spectacular with Seasat ( Ulaby et
al., 1983). Moreover, snow cover can be mapped with
imaging radars, although the large day-night variations
can cause difficulties in interpretation (Ulaby et al., 1982,
pp. 875-880; 1986, pp. 1892-1906). Of course, the ability
of radar to map forests, grasslands, and deserts can provide
boundary conditions for meteorological models in areas
where such mapping is otherwise inadequate.
Spaceborne imaging radars are also valuable for map-
ping sea ice. They can show the extent of the ice cover
and of open leads and polynyas. Moreover they differ-
entiate (at least in winter) new ice, first-year ice, and mul-
tiyear ice. Extensive aircraft and spacecraft studies have
880; 1986, pp. 1892-1906), and both the USSR (Losh-
chilov and Voyevodin, 1972) and Canada have used op-
erational airborne ice-mapping systems for many years.
Ice was observed with Seasat ( Leberl et al., 1983), and
Kosmos 1500 is being used operationally to provide ice
information to ship captains ( Kalmykov et al., 1986) as
well as for meteorological purposes.
Various radar schemes for observing hydrometeors are
being contemplated. Although some depend on essentially
continuous-wave measurements, most involve some form
of range measurement to allow height profiling of the pre-
cipitation and/ or clouds. To achieve reasonable swath
width (and therefore coverage) with such systems, the
narrow vertical beamwidth required must be considered.
Figure 6.2 shows the geometry for an off-vertical obser-
vation of rain. Although the cell is narrow in range, it is
304 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
R=-h-
cosB Ph
Ground Res.=~
cos 8
Peh
rv= COs8 sin 8 + rRcos 8
Rain Horizontal Res.= .Beh
h where a is usually taken as 4, but sometimes as 3.5. The
rR(range resolution)
~'\_L
8 1 r v (vertical resolution)
L-------------~~~~
1'.
Horizontal Resolution: Roon Ground
__,11.;
Fig. 6.2 Geometry for off-vertical rain observation.
tilted. This tilt degrades the ability of the radar to measure
the total volume within a reasonable height range. This
prevents use of relatively nonattenuating C-band fre-
quencies often used with terrestrial precipitation radars,
because either the required antenna dimensions or the re-
sultant beamwidth are too large. With higher frequencies
come higher attenuations. On the other hand, the shorter
path through the rain for the space system allows use of
somewhat higher frequencies than with radars that must
look quasi-horizontally.
A major problem with any radar designed to measure
hydrometeors is the selection of a proper algorithm (Gold-
hirsh, 1988). Various alternatives involve measurement
of backscatter at one or two frequencies, differential back-
scatter at different heights, and attenuation or differential
attenuation at different frequencies. For total path atten-
uation, surface-reference techniques have been proposed
(Meneghini et al., 1987). Measuring winds aloft requires
use of Doppler-frequency methods.
Although the spread of the Doppler spectrum due to
vehicle motion and particle motion is considerable, mea-
surement of Doppler centroids with great precision should
be possible.
6.3 Measurement Methods for Sped&c
Meteorological Parameters
6.3.1 Surface Winds at Sea
Measurement of surface winds on the ocean depends
on the response of the ripples (short-gravity and capillary
waves) to the local near-instantaneous wind and in tum
on the response of the radar to the ripples. The spectrum
of ocean waves is often divided into several regions, with
only the ripple region important for radar backscatter at
the gross scale used for wind-vector scatterometry. The
expression for the surface-wave spectrum is complex
(Pierson, 1976; Donelan and Pierson, 1987). In the ripple
region most relevant for scatterometry, the wavenumber
spectrum S(K) [or wavelength spectrum S(A)] takes the
form
S(K) oc Ke-a or S(A) oc (A)ea (6.2)
amplitude of the ripples increases rapidly with wind speed,
following nearly a power law over the middle speed range
(about 5 to 15 m s -t). The spectrum is two-dimensional,
with an empirical form
W(K, 'P) = [S(K)/211"K]{1 + b cos2'P),
-11" < 'P < 11" (6.3)
where b is a constant related to the slope variances in the
upwind and crosswind directions and 'P is the angle be-
tween radar look angle and the upwind direction.
The radar scattering coefficient (scattering cross section
per unit surface area) u 0 is apparently related to W ( K, 'P)
by Bragg resonance. In-phase superposition of returns from
wavelets at the "Bragg wavelength"
A= A/2 sinO' (6.4)
causes them to dominate the radar signal. Here k = 211" 1
A is the radar wavenumber for wavelength A, and 8' is
the local angle of incidence. For ripple heights ~ A, u 0 is
proportional to W ( K8 , 8') and therefore also proportional
to some power of the wind speed.
Empirical measurements from aircraft have shown that
the values of u 0 may be represented by
where the A; are given by
A;= a;(O)ub;(B) (6.6)
with different values of a; and b; for different polarizations.
In the midrange of angles (20° < 8 < 70°), the exponents
b; are of the order of 2, with considerable controversy as
to the exact values.
Various algorithms have been developed for exploiting
these phenomena in order to use radar scatterometer mea-
surements over the ocean to determine surface wind vec-
tors. For a more thorough discussion of this and related
material see Ulaby et al. (1986, pp. 1647-1684).
With measurements at two azimuth angles 'P, multiple
solutions exist for the wind vector. A field of wind vector
"aliases" with from one to four solutions in different
quadrants is shown in Fig. 6.3. With human intervention,
the correct solution can usually be selected from obvious
wind patterns. Several interactive and automatic ap-
proaches have been used to determine the correct solution
 METEOROLOGICAL RADAR OBSERVATIONS FROM MOBILE PLATFORMS
-;;;
cu
cu
....
0> 61
-w
cu
0
0 aperture radar. Since the synthetic-aperture process de-
;:)
I-
59
~
...J
57
EAST LONGITUDE (Degrees)
Fig. 6.3 Wind vector aliases for the Seasat SASS dual-beam scat-
terometer operating in the JASIN test area in the North Atlantic
(Wurtele et al., 1982).
for wind fields. With planned systems such as that on the
European Space Agency's ERS-1 scatterometer (Duchos-
sois, 1986), a third look direction will introduce a third
constraint in azimuth. Automatic dealiasing schemes have
been shown to work about 90% of the time with this sys-
tem. Another approach allows four looks from different
azimuth angles (Li et al., 1984; Kirimoto and Moore, 1985;
Duchossois, 1986).
Although scatterometer winds agree within about 2 m
s -t and 20° with surface measured winds, considerable
discussion has ensued as to just what wind is measured
by the scatterometer. Various suggestions are that the
measured winds are the 19.5-m winds, the equivalent
neutral-stability 19.5-m winds (Chaudry and Moore,
1984), the friction velocity u*, or the wind a half a radar
wavelength above the surface. Sea surface temperatures
(Donelan and Pierson, 1987) and the rms wave slopes
(Keller et al., 1985) probably influence the results to some
extent.
The presence of rain within the beam of a scatterometer
at such a short wavelength causes attenuation that can
disrupt the wind retrieval. A microwave radiometer ob-
serving the same area can provide information on the at-
tenuation to allow correction of the radar signal for the
attenuation. Because the footprints used in most of the
systems are much larger than typical rain cells, this problem
is co~plicated by the fact that radiometer-derived atten-
uations and the effects on radar signals average differently
( Ulaby et al., 1983).
305
The effect on the ripples of raindrops striking the water
can be significant at low wind speeds (Moore et al., 1979).
No sensitivity studies have been performed to establish
the seriousness of this effect on retrieved winds.
6.3.2 Surface Waves
The process by which a radar images the sea is complex.
Motion of the surface during the building of an image
creates inherent distortions in the image, even for a real-
pends on measurement of Doppler frequencies, the prob-
lem is much more complex for the moving ocean surface
than for fixed targets on land. Spaceborne real-aperture
radars cannot achieve adequate resolution to image wind
waves; hence, the more complex synthetic-aperture process
is necessary.
In spite of these problems, spaceborne radars produce
images of wind waves that can be converted into direc-
tional spectra. These images look like waves; the wave-
lengths are at least close to those of the waves, and so are
the directions. Neverthel~ss, despite these similarities, these
images and their spectra definitely are not of wave height.
Some other process is involved.
The radar return for a surface wave image depends on
the same factors as that for a scatterometer. Thus, the slope
of the surface wave and amplitude of the ripples at each
point on the surface govern the strength of the radar signal
from that point. With a real-aperture radar this means that
the image intensity is governed by the aerodynamic-hy-
drodynamic modulation of the intensity of the Bragg-res-
onant ripples. The particular ripple-spectrum component
that is Bragg-resonant depends on the slope in the plane
of the radar look direction. Since the local angle of inci-
dence is smaller for wave faces sloping toward the radar,
the resonant ripple wavelength is longer on those slopes.
This longer wavelength corresponds to smaller K. Since
S(K) = K- 4 , these forward slopes give larger returns for
a given overall ripple-spectrum amplitude. The image
therefore has maximum amplitude at some point on the
wave other than the crest, typically on the forward slope.
The signal amplitude is related to the slope and wind speed.
A SAR image is complicated by the Doppler effects of
motions on the surface. Velocities and accelerations of the
surface serve to defocus and shift the SAR image due to
shifts and spreading which affect the filtering process of
the SAR technique (see Ulaby et al., 1986).
The imaging of waves has been shown to be successful
in spite of these problems. Beal et al. ( 1983) used a series
of images from a Seasat pass to track the source of a swell
pattern across the Atlantic. An example of one of the spec-
tra used is shown in Fig. 6.4. Comparisons of spectra ob-
tained with SIR-B, a surface-contour radar on aircraft, an
airborne Radar Ocean Wave Spectrometer (ROWS), and
other wave information showed that the spectra obtained
in different ways including the SIR-B agreed well in the
306 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Spacecraft
velocity vector
I moQe Energy
DDDB.
0-2 2-4 4-6 6-8 8 -10
Fig. 6.4 Typical two-dimensional Seasat-SAR-deduced wave spec-
trum from a well-organized 100-m wavelength system (after Beal,
1986).
K-space locations of wave trains (Beal, 1986 ). Numerous
other papers have been written on the ocean-wave spectra
obtained from aircraft, Seasat, and SIR-B.
Wave heights along the satellite subtrack can be found
using the shape of satellite radar-altimeter return signals.
When waves are high, both the rise and fall times of the
pulse are stretched out, and the resulting pulse shapes can
be interpreted in terms of wave height. This approach has
been used since Skylab with the various altimeters flown
in space (Fedor and Brown, 1982; Fedor et al., 1979).
6.3.3 Ocean Currents, Eddies, and
SimUar Features
The boundaries of ocean currents have been observed
on radar images for decades, but the most striking evidence
comes from the spacebome SARs. Explanations for the
contrast in radar cross sections across these boundaries
vary: none are generally accepted. Presumably, differences
in atmospheric stability associated with the surface-tem-
perature contrasts across boundaries have something to
do with the observations. An example is shown in
Fig. 6.5.
Oceanic eddies show up well on radar images, especially
the eddies spinning off from the Gulf Stream. The causes
of differences in intensity are presumably the same as for
currents, but current shears associated with the eddies may
produce variations in the wave spectra as well ( Fu and
10 km 1
Fig. 6.5 The boundaries of the Gulf Stream off Cape Hatteras are
seen as a dark curvilinear band in this spacebome SAR image. Note
the wavelike meandering on the east side of the current. (After Elachi,
1988.)
Holt, 1983). Figure 6.6 shows a cold eddy in the region
where the Gulf Stream passes the Grand Banks while
merging with the cold Labrador Current. The reference
also gives examples of imaging of warm eddies.
Winds from tropical rain cells and/ or raindrops striking
the water show up clearly in some SAR images. Since no
studies of this phenomenon have been made with accom-
panying surface information, the exact mechanism is not
known. On one hand, Manton ( 1973) shows that rain
should generally calm the sea by dissipating the wind-
driven capillary and larger waves. On the other hand,
Moore et al. ( 1979) show that rain enhances the ocean
surface cross section, possibly as a result of the ripples and
Rayleigh jets ( stalklike protuberances) produced by rain.
A striking example from Seasat of sea scatter produced by
such storm effects is shown in Fig. 6.7.
Although a SAR is required for wave spectral measure-
ments, many features associated with currents, eddies, etc.,
are sufficiently large that a real-aperture radar, such as the
Kosmos 1500, can be a useful sensor (Shul'gin, 1987).
Radar altimeters are also useful for measurements of cur-
rents. Because the altimeters of the type flown ori Seasat
measure range to within about 10 em, the small variations
in height associated with the flow of currents (and eddies)
can be measured. Obtaining satisfactory results requires
excellent knowledge of the satellite orbit and repeated
passes over the features being studied. Several researchers
 METEOROLOGICAL RADAR OBSERVATIONS FROM MOBILE PLATFORMS 307

have demonstrated the potential of this approach (Douglas

and Gaborsky, 1979; Cheney and Marsh, 1981; Menard,
1983; Bernstein et al., 1982).

6.3.4 SoU Moisture

Both radar and passive microwaves are sensitive to the
presence of moisture in the soil. The dielectric constant of
water is much higher than that of dry soil ( 60-80 versus
3-8), so only a little moisture is required to increase dras-
tically the dielectric constant of the soil above the dry value.
With the radar, this results in large increases in the scat-
tering coefficient; with the radiometer, the emissivity is
decreased.
Unfortunately, the change in the dielectric constant may
be masked by terrain, slope, or by the attenuating and
scattering properties of vegetative cover. Moreover, some
question exists as to the best way to describe the soil mois-
ture measured by radar (Ulaby et al., 1986, pp. 1817-
1822). Figure 6.8 provides a dramatic illustration of the
way soil moisture affects a radar image. In this area of
Iowa, rain storms passed through just prior to the Seasat
overflight. The bands of high soil moisture content are
0 20km
"\ ILLUMINATION
--DIRECTION
apparent. The spacebome sensor of choice is a modest-
resolution SAR, with the possibility that a real-aperture
Fig. 6.6 Seasat SAR image of a cold eddy where the Gulf Stream
passes the Grand Banks and merges with the cold Labrador Current
(from Fu and Holt, 1983).

Fig. 6.7 Seasat SAR image showing tropical rain cells in the Gulf
of Mexico. Although the wavelength was too long to show echoes
from the rain itself, the cells are visible due to their effect on surface
roughness. Light regions are rough areas created by thunderstorm Fig. 6.8 Seasat SAR image of central Iowa showing soil moisture
outflow or raindrop ripples; dark regions are smooth. (From Elachi, streaks (bright) resulting from the passage of thunderstorms (from
1988.) Elachi, 1988).
308 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
radar, particularly if combined with a microwave radi-
ometer, would be useful in relatively flat terrain.
6.3.5 Snow Cover
The radar return from snow-covered surfaces is very
sensitive to the presence of liquid water in the snow. This
dependence is especially strong at higher frequencies such
as 35 GHz. The result is that the backscatter from snow
at 35 GHz can drop as much as 15 dB in a half-hour during
midmorning as the sun partially melts the surface layers.
Dry snow is essentially a volume scatterer, whereas for
wet snow most of the scatter is from a layer very near the
surface. The scattering properties of snow also change with
radar frequency and snow conditions. Because of these
factors, there is a great variation in the diurnal and day-
to-day variation of snow backscatter. Hence, monitoring
snow depth or snow water content with radar from sat-
ellites is extremely difficult and no general techniques have
been developed. See Ulaby et al. ( 1986, pp. 1892-1906)
for a more detailed discussion and other references.
6.3.6 Rainfall Rates and Clouds
6.3.6.1 Rainfall Measurement Techniques
Spaceborne rain radars must use the shorter attenuating
wavelengths because of antenna size limitations. These
wavelengths allow us to use attenuation as a basis for the
retrieval algorithms, since the attenuation in decibels varies
almost linearly with rain rate regardless of drop-size dis-
tribution. Many of the algorithms depend on measurement
of attenuation, A, and its relation to rain rate R. For small
rain rates, the attenuation is small relative to measurement
errors, so reflectivity measurements for the algorithms must
be used.
Attenuation by rain is given by
iH k(h)Rds
A= (6.7)
where A is the total path attenuation in dB, R is the rain
rate in mm h-I, and k is the attenuation coefficient in dB
km- 1 per (mm h- 1). The integral is along the slant paths,
and k is a function of the height above ground h . H is the
total height of the rain and cloud. In the following, we
assume that k is independent of R, so that
A= kRH (6.8)
where k and Rare averages along the path. To deduce R,
we must measure or estimate H. For most purposes this
can be taken as the height to the freezing level, since at-
tenuation is small in ice clouds. This corresponds to the
top of the bright band in stratiform precipitation. This
height may be known from independent meteorological
observations. For convective storms, however, supercooled
rain and clouds may occur above the freezing level, so that
determination of H indirectly is subject to errors.
6.3.6.1.1 Surface-Reference Single-Wavelength
Algorithms
This method depends on measuring the surface return
power in the presence and absence of rain. The two mea-
surements are compared to determine the attenuation due
to the rain, and the attenuation can be used to estimate
the rain rate. This method is subject to three intrinsic causes
of error. For the technique to work it must be assumed
that the comparison nonrainy surface has the same radar
scattering cross section as the surface where the rain is
falling. This requires 1) that the surface be homogeneous,
2) that the rain does not change the surface scattering
coefficient, and 3) that the comparison surfaces are ob-
served with the same incidence angle, or that the differ-
ences in scattering coefficients are known for different in-
cidence angles. All three of these assumptions can be
tenuous (see, e.g., Ulaby et al., 1982, 1983; Moore et al.,
1979). Nevertheless this and an analogous dual-wave-
length technique have been used with some success in the
analysis of airborne radar data by the Radio Research Lab-
oratory (RRL) of Japan and NASAjRRL experiments
(Meneghini et al., 1987).
6.3.6.1.2 Dual-Wavelength Surface-Reference
Algorithms
At least two multiwavelength rainfall estimation ap-
proaches have been considered: an extension of the single-
wavelength approach, and the frequency-agile rain radar
(FARR). In the extension of the single-wavelength surface-
reference method, observations from two radars are used
and it is assumed that taking the average of the results
improves the estimate. In the FARR approach (Moore,
1981) the returns from the same area on the surface at
two wavelengths are compared. For most classes of surface,
the variation of the surface scattering with frequency is
known and is less than the variation of the rain attenuation
(or backscatter). Thus, by taking the ratio of the surface
returns at two frequencies, the effect of surface-return
variation may be removed.
6.3.6.1.3 The Mirror-Image Method
This rainfall estimation technique makes use of reflected
"virtual images" of precipitation which appear "below"
the sea surface when a radar looks down from above (Atlas
and Matejka, 1985). Meneghini and Atlas ( 1986) have
adapted this approach to a space configuration. The main
advantages of this approach are 1) that the attenuation or
associated rain rate can be measured simultaneously with
 METEOROLOGICAL RADAR OBSERVATIONS FROM MOBILE PLATFORMS
the surface cross section, and 2) that no assumptions have
to be made about the surface homogeneity. Thus raindrops
striking the ocean would not change the performance in
the raining area compared with that outside. On the other
hand, this approach can only work in the quasi-specular
region near vertical incidence.
6.3.6.1.4 Conventional Algorithms
The assumption that the rain rate is vertically uniform
may occasionally be valid for stratiform precipitation. If
this is the case the average range-normalized echo power
may be related to the rainfall rate if the extinction coeffi-
cient is known. This simple idea, first discussed by Atlas
and Banks (1951), was revived by Goldhirsh and Walsh
( 1982) for radar altimeters in space. With a 5-km rain
depth, such a system should be capable of measuring rain
rates up to about 50 mm h -l at 14 GHz. A dual-wavelength
version allows a two-parameter estimation of the drop-
size distribution (Goldhirsh and Katz, 1974).
For decades, Z-R relationships have been used with
ground-based and airborne radars. The use of spaceborne
systems that have good enough vertical resolution to profile
the rain echo will permit these algorithms to be applied
from space without the restriction of vertical homogeneity
referred to in the previous paragraph. With two frequencies
(e.g., 14 and 24 GHz), enough information is provided
from the profile to obtain the attenuation and the rain
echo from the different altitudes.
6.3.6.2 Spaceborne Systems for Measuring
Precipitation
Three kinds of radar appear suitable for some kind of
precipitation measurement: altimeters, real-aperture ra-
dars, and synthetic-aperture radars. As previously stated,
the altimeters used for geoidal and sea surface measure-
ments need only minor changes to be useful for rain mea-
suring, but they have very restricted coverage. Real-ap-
erture radars with various scan patterns offer wider (and
therefore more frequent) coverage, but their antennas must
be quite large. Synthetic-aperture techniques allow reduc-
ing the alongtrack dimension of the antennas so that the
total aperture is less than with real-aperture radars, but
their swath widths are narrow.
Fundamental requirements for spaceborne rain radars
are that they have 1 ) enough sensitivity to measure low
rain rates, 2) low enough attenuation for high rain rates
to allow measurement near the bottom of the rain, and 3)
small enough horizontal footprints to avoid partial filling
by typical rain cells. Small enough vertical resolution to
allow some profiling is also desirable. With the antenna
sizes needed to satisfy the footprint requirement, power
levels to achieve sensitivity are reasonable for rain, if not
for cloud. The sensitivity and attenuation problems may
be solved by using dual frequencies: a lower frequency to
309
measure high rain rates, and a higher frequency to obtain
enough sensitivity for low rain rates.
To achieve reasonable profiling capability, the antenna
dimension controlling vertical beamwidth must be large,
as was shown in Fig. 6.2. The orthogonal antenna dimen-
sion need not be large if synthetic-aperture methods are
used. Figure 6.9 shows the nature of the tradeoff between
vertical profiling and swath width. The minimum vertical
resolution at 14 GHz is shown as a function of distance
from the subsatellite point for different antenna apertures;
the satellite altitude is 500 km. This resolution assumes a
negligible range resolution for the radar, so practical radars
have somewhat poorer resolutions. The aperture shown
determines the vertical beamwidth. The horizontal beam-
width is not relevant to vertical resolution. At higher fre-
quencies where the wavelength is smaller, the antenna
may be shorter or the resolution better. Wide swath widths
clearly require large apertures. To achieve vertical reso-
lution better than 1 km at 600 km to the side, an aperture
of almost 16m is needed.
Scanning radars can produce rain information over rel-
atively wide swaths with algorithms not requiring vertical
profiling, and over narrower swaths with vertical profiling.
They may use various scan patterns for either real-aperture
radar or SAR configurations.
Two scanning patterns have been proposed for space-
borne real-aperture rain radars: side-to-side and conical.
The following sections will discuss proposed systems for
each scan pattern. Finally, this section will conclude with
a discussion of synthetic-aperture radar rainfall measure-
ment.
6.3.6.2.1 TRMM Radar
The Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM)
rain mapping radar is designed to measure global rainfall
in support of global atmospheric energetic studies and
studies of the hydrologic cycle. Specific measurement
objectives (Thiele, 1987) include obtaining a three-year
dataset of monthly mean rainfall measurements, averaged
Frequency: 14 GHz Altitude 500 km
"E 1oooo .---.-.---.-----.------.--r---,,-r:T.---.-----.----,
~ 8000
;:::
3 6000
0
en
w
~ 4000
<1:
(.)
2000
~
w
> 0~~~~
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
DISTANCE TO SIDE OF TRACK (km)
Fig. 6.9 Effect of off-track distance on vertical resolution for
a 14-GHz radar with crosstrack antenna sizes between 1 and
16m.
310 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

over 500 X 500 km areas, with a sampling error of a few

percent. Vertical resolution of rain column height to about
0.2 km and horizontal resolution of about 3 km were set
as initial mea.surement goals. Multifrequency radar and
high-resolution radiometers will be used to improve rainfall
measurements.
The TRMM side-to-side scanning strategy is shown in
Fig. 6.10. Normal operation will involve electronically
0.2
scanning the antenna over a ± 17° range centered on the
vertical. The resultant sampling swath width will be about
>-
220 km for the planned 350 km altitude. Within this swath, 1-
iii
vertical profiling of the rain will be possible with a vertical z
w
0
resolution better than 1.5 km. Since the slant-range res- (!)
0.1
olution planned is 250 m, the primary degradation in ver- z
:J
tical resolution is the tilt of the range cell as indicated in Q.
:::iE
<[
Fig. 6.2. A wide-swath (600 km) mode has also been pro- Ill

posed by Im et al. (1987). This will involve scanning out

to about 45 °. At these large off-vertical angles the vertical
resolution will be too poor for vertical profiling of the rain.
The horizontal resolution with the planned antenna
beamwidth (0.71 °) and altitude (350 km) is 4.3 X 4.3 km
at vertical (actually a circle), and degrades to an ellipse of
4.4 X 5.0 km at 17°. This is considered acceptable in terms
of typical rain-cell dimensions.
The TRMM orbit is planned to have an inclination angle
of 35°. A one-day, 16-orbit TRMM path is shown in Fig.
6.11. With such an orbit the sampling density is high near
the upper and lower limits of latitude and decreases near
the equator. The orbits are spaced by about 1400 km. For
the 600-km swath, 43% of the earth near the equator will
be covered; for the 220-km swath, 16% will be covered.
Thiele ( 1987) reports several studies of GATE rainfall that
suggest that the rainfall sampling described above will
produce monthly measurements accurate to about 10%.
0
0 10 20 30 40 60
LATITUDE
Fig. 6.11 Proposed orbit for the TRMM radar showing (upper) the
orbit for 30° inclination and (lower) the spatial sampling density for
30° and 40° orbits (from Okamoto, 1987).
The TRMM radar will primarily use 14 GHz, but a 24-
GHz channel will be added if resources permit. Choice of
the 14-GHz frequency will achieve greater penetration in
heavy rain; the 24-GHz frequency will achieve greater
sensitivity in light rain. Model studies leading to this design
are illustrated in Fig. 6.12 (Okamoto et al., 1988).
Achieving the desired rainfall measurement accuracy
will require ~64 independent samples. To accomplish this
goal and still maintain a small enough dwell time on each
cell to allow continuous coverage, two strategies have been
proposed. One strategy, designed for a pulse compression
radar, is range averaging of four contiguous 62.5-m range

70

----' '
.a 60
'1::1
.......
0 50
fia:: 40
' \
\
\
1.&.1
rn 30
\
\
C5 \
z - - -- Surface Echo
0 20
......
..J 10
~
(!)
0
iii

1oZ1o- 1 1o2
RAINFALL RATE (mm/h) RAINFALL RATE (mm/h)
Fig. 6.12 Signal-to-noise ratios of rain ratios (rain top and bottom)
Fig. 6.10 TRMM radar scanning strategy and design concept (from and sea surface echo for vertical incidence as a function of rainfall
Li et al., 1987). rate (after Okamoto, 1987).
 METEOROLOGICAL RADAR OBSERVATIONS FROM MOBILE PLATFORMS 311

z
bins to produce 250-m range bins. The other strategy is
the combination of "variable" PRF and nonlinear scanning
(Awaka et al., 1988). The sampling requirement will only
be able to be met on the 220-km swath. On the 600-km
swath the sampling requirements cannot be met because
the number of scan positions is too great to permit dwell
times long enough for 64 samples.
This problem could be resolved and higher precision of
measurement achieved if adaptive scanning were used. y
The adaptive-scanning approaches use the radar, or a ra-
diometer, to locate precipitation with rapid preliminary
scans. Alternatively quick decision-making on initial radar
pulses can be used. The radar would then be programmed
to dwell only on those regions having either radar echoes
or elevated microwave brightness temperatures.
The principal technical challenges for the TRMM radar
are the range sidelobes resulting from the pulse expansion-
compression system and antenna sidelobes. These side-
lobes produce severe problems because of the possibility
that a strong echo might appear in a sidelobe and could Fig. 6.13 The geometrical concept for a conical-scan, real-aperture
swamp a mainlobe return from light rain. High peak pow- rain radar (from Moore and Xie, 1987).
ers are difficult to achieve in space, so most space radars
use long pulses to get high energy per pulse with low peak
power. This involves pulse expansion in the transmitter
a careful tradeoff must be made between the length of the
and compression in the receiver if good range resolution
expanded pulse, the range, and the interpulse period.
is to be attained. High pulse-repetition frequencies (PRFs)
The preliminary TRMM radar specifications are shown
are also needed to get enough independent samples. Thus, in Table 6.1.

TABLE 6.1 6.3.6.2.2 A Forward Conical-Scanning Radar

Proposed Characteristics of the TRMM Space Rain
Radar (Okamoto et al., 1988) A radar with a conical scan pattern (Moore and Xie,
1987) offers some advantages over a side-to-side scanning
Cllaracteriatic Valae radar like that for TRMM. Figure 6.13 shows the conical
Satellite height (km) 350 scan pattern. In the side-to-side scan each cell has a unique
Elevation scan away from vertical (deg) 20 geometry; in the conical scan all cells have the same ge-
Swath width (km) 220 ometry. This simplifies data processing and the constant
Beam footprint dimensions (km) vertical resolution simplifies interpretation of profiles. A
Nadir 4.3 X 4.3 significant advantage is that no scan cell is near vertical
Elevation = 20° 4.5 X 5.0 where the surface echo is very strong. Thus, the sidelobe
Number of independent samples 64 problems of the TRMM radar are mitigated using a conical
Range resolution (m) 250 scan. A single PRF suffices, as distinct from an efficient
Pulse repetition frequency (Hz) 4356- 4997 design for side-to-side scan. One disadvantage is that the
Receiver bandwidth (MHz) 0.78 antenna must be larger in order to achieve good vertical
Compressed pulse length (.us) 1.67 resolution at the maximum off-vertical angle.
The design of a conical-scan, real-aperture radar for 500-
Frequency (GHz) 13.8 24 .15 km orbital height is illustrated in Table 6.2 (Moore and
Wavelength (em) 2.3 1.25 Xie, 1987). The antenna is quite large, but its aperture is
Sensitivity at 17° (mm h- 1) only one-fourth that of the Seasat SAR. Only a single fre-
(for S R = 0 dB)
quency of 15 GHz is considered.
Rain top 0.4->100 0.6- >100
Rain bottom 0.4-45 0.7- 13
Antenna dimensions (m) 2.2 X 2.2 1.2 X 1.2 6.3.6.2.3 Synthetic-Aperture Rain Radars
Beamwidth (deg) 0.71 0.71
Antenna gain (dB) 47.7 47.7 Use of synthetic-aperture methods for rain radars can
Peak transmitted power (W) 572 200 allow reducing the horizontal dimension of the antenna,
thereby increasing the vertical dimension while maintain-
312 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

TABLE 6.2 termining the resolution possible. This alongtrack resolu-

Illustrative Example of a Conical-Scan Rain Radar tion r. is

Ch•r•clertsilc V.Jae (6.10)

Satellite height (km) 500
Off-vertical angle (deg) 32 where R is the slant range. For a radar at 500 km pointing
Swath width (km) 358 at 32°, the slant range to the surface is 590 km (plane-
Beam footprint dimensions (km) 4 X 4.7 earth geometry). This results in
Number of independent samples 170
Peak transmitted power (W) 150 ra = 78.9uv (6.11)
Range resolution (m) 30
Pulse repetition frequency (Hz) 7000 where uv is in m s - 1 and ra is in m. Hence, for realistic
Receiver bandwidth (MHz) 5 values of uv, the resolution with SARis considerably better
Expanded pulse length {Its) 50 than would be expected of any real-aperture radar. Pro-
Compressed pulse length (l's) 0.20 cessing for this degraded resolution is much easier than
Frequency (GHz) 15 for the best resolution, and can easily be done onboard
Wavelength (em) 2.0 the spacecraft. One of the problems implied by Eq. ( 6.10)
Sensitivity (mm h- 1) (for SNR = 0 dB) is that the alongtrack resolution changes with the variations
Rain top 0.35-100 of uv, the Doppler spread of the precipitation. Thus, the
Rain bottom 0.35- 60 actual resolution is unknown. Nevertheless, Atlas and
Antenna dimensions (m) 3 X3 Moore ( 198 7) show that the echo intensity is measured
Beamwidth (deg) 0.38 correctly.
Antenna gain (dB) 54.5 Since the SAR technique enables a smaller antenna for
the same resolution as a real-aperture radar, a space radar
antenna of given size could be used to obtain increased
ing the same area. The increased vertical dimension could resolution. The SAR's smaller vertical beamwidth would
permit improved profiling from higher altitudes or at longer also allow scanning for a wider swath. This could be
distances from the ground track. The problem with use of achieved from a higher altitude, thereby further increasing
SAR techniques for weather radars is that air motions the swath width. An 8-m-high antenna would permit a
within the radar pulse volume will defocus or shift the swath of ±400 km with the same vertical resolution as
weather signal. For a given antenna size, the effect of tur- that of the TRMM radar. A different example is given by
bulence is to degrade the achievable resolution of the SAR Moore and Xie (1987).
measurements. Atlas and Moore (1987) showed that this A synthetic-aperture radar is not confined to the side-
widening effect is so great for aircraft radars that SAR looking mode. Moore and Xie ( 198 7) propose an alter-
presents little or no advantage. (See also Atlas et al., 1977, native "squint-mode" SAR which is a SAR variant of the
for a discussion of problems encountered with airborne forward scanning, real-aperture radar discussed above. A
SAR measurements of precipitation.) For spacecraft radars, SAR cannot scan directly ahead, so a gap in coverage along
however, the advantage remains even in the presence of and near the flight line would exist.
turbulence because the echoes do not decorrelate in the
time required for the spacecraft motion to achieve a large 6.3.7 Sea Ice
alongtrack aperture.
Atlas and Moore (1987) showed that a threefold im- The extent and characteristics of sea ice have been mon-
provement in resolution occurs as long as itored by radar for decades. Scatterometer measurements
from surface, helicopter, and aircraft have shown much
l1v~>..uj6L (6.9) about the characteristics of scattering from ice, so that the
images may be better understood. For a complete discus-
where uv is the standard deviation of the Doppler spectrum sion see Ulaby et al. (1986, Chapter 20) .
of the hydrometeors, >.. is the radar wavelength, u is the Sea ice is very complex because its characteristics depend
speed of the radar, and Lis the alongtrack length of the on the conditions of formation, the history of an ice sheet,
real aperture. If we consider a SAR with the same 3.6-m 2 and the current and recent temperature and insolation.
antenna area, but with a dimension of 8 m to allow better Large differences exist between the radar characteristics in
profiling to the side, L = 45 em. For u = 7500 m s- 1 and summer and winter. In winter first-year, multiyear, and
>.. = 2 em (f = 15 GHz) this results in uv = 55.6 m s- 1• other ice classes are readily discriminated on the basis of
Clearly the SAR can give significant resolution improve- signal intensity (image brightness), but this capability
ment over that for a 45-cm aperture. vanishes in summer. The contrasts between ice types, par-
The width of the allowed Doppler filter can be calculated ticularly in winter, depend upon the radar frequency. Re-
and related to the synthetic-aperture length, thereby de- sults from controlled experiments show that winter con-
 METEOROLOGICAL RADAR OBSERVATIONS FROM MOBILE PLATFORMS
trasts improve as the frequency increases, from very little
at L-band through modest at C-band to excellent at up to
about 16 GHz. No quantitative data are available for higher
frequencies. Nevertheless, the presence of a layer of ice is
detectable by radar at any season. Since ice is such a good
thermal insulator, its mere presence makes a dramatic
change in the heat exchange between ocean and atmo-
sphere. The ability to detect it is more important meteo-
rologically than the ability to determine its thickness, which
is so important for navigation and ice physics.
Spaceborne C-band SARs planned for observing sea ice
include the European Space Agency's ERS-1 (Duchossois,
1986) and the Canadian RADARSAT. These are planned
for launch in the early to mid-1990s. The NASA EOS with
C- and X-band SARs will be launched later.
6.3.8 Winds Aloft
A global picture of winds at various altitudes would
have a major impact on the success of atmospheric models
in forecasting. With this in mind, the plans of the EOS
program of NASA include a Laser Atmospheric Wind
Sensor to monitor winds in cloud-free areas by measuring
the Doppler shifts of lidar returns from aerosols (Curran,
1986, 1987). The lidar will be scanned in a circular pattern
beneath the spacecraft. As the spacecraft advances, each
point within the circle will be viewed from two different
directions, thereby permitting measurement of two com-
ponents of the velocity. A similar system could be built to
cover cloudy areas using radar. TRMM frequencies would
serve for rain, but the small size of the droplets suggests
the need for higher frequencies, perhaps 35 or even 94
GHz, as well.
7 SUMMARY
Mobile radars offer the opportunity to observe weather
systems in ways optimally suited for the phenomena being
studied. We have discussed the excellent possibilities for
the use of aircraft and space-based weather and oceano-
graphic radars in a wide variety of studies. The central
characteristic in all of the applications of such radars is
their ability to be moved to the best location for making
the observations. An additional feature of all such systems
is the need to improve the radar sensitivity while scanning
faster than current weather radars. These characteristics
hold at the smallest scales, in which velocities and reflec-
tivities need to be measured at 10- to 50-m intervals for
studies of entrainment mechanisms and cloud particle-
cloud dynamics interactions. These characteristics also ap-
ply to storm and MCS scales of observations, in which
data densities of a few hundred meters are needed
throughout the observing region to answer critical scientific
questions concerning storm dynamics and forecasting. Fi-
nally, these requirements hold for measurements of syn-
optic through global scale weather and ocean measure-
ments that have to be made from space.
313
In every case, mobile radars can open new opportunities.
Scientists will be able to see new structures and phenomena
previously unobservable and thereby address problems
that have previously been intractable. The cloud physics
and dynamics radar will enable examination of the inter-
actions between cloud structure, turbulence and micro-
physics and the basic entrainment mechanisms. The storm-
scale radars such as on the NOAA P-3 and NCAR Electra
will enable observations of large storm systems with the
data collected at uniform high density throughout the do-
main and lifetime of the storm. These radars can readily
be applied to phenomena ranging from small scales such
as microbursts up through studies of mesoscale convective
system genesis, dynamics and forecasting.
Another important application of airborne radars, lidars
and other remote sensors is the need for "air truth" for
satellite observations over regions that are inaccessible to
land- or ocean-based in situ observing systems; e. g., space-
based rainfall measurements over the oceans. We need to
develop the airborne radar and radiometric sensors and
gain confidence in them in order to provide a check on
the measurements made from space.
Spaceborne radars offer many opportunities for mete-
orologically significant measurements including rain rate
and extent, surface winds at sea, winds aloft in rain, ocean
wave spectra, ocean currents, eddies, sea ice, etc. In ad-
dition, space radars show promise for measurements of
soil moisture and snow cover, although currently available
precision is poor. Many of these systems. have already
flown in space; others are planned.
While progress toward developing mobile radars for
meteorological research is exciting, it is not without its
problems. Excellent steps have been taken in developing
test systems that can evaluate the potential of mobile radar
and provide valuable design information. This work has
gone well and much new science has been published. Also,
the technical descriptions have been developed for the next
generation of mobile radar systems.
Unfortunately, this progress has not bridged the gap
from experimental research systems to operational research
and data gathering systems. Making this move will produce
a great leap forward in our ability to observe and study
the atmosphere and oceans. The scientific potential is
enormous; the progress toward fulfilling this potential has
been encouraging. Although sizable commitments of re-
sources will be needed for implementation of the proposed
mobile radar systems, the results will be cost effective,
both in terms of scientific progress and in the comparative
costs of the ground-based remote probing systems which
would be needed to address these same problems.
Acknowledgments. We would like to thank Ron Schwie-
sow for providing much of the material for the section on
airborne lidar, Charles Knight and Jay Miller of NCAR for
314 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

providing information for the cloud physics section, To- ERICA Experiment on Rapidly Intensifying Cyclones
shiaki Kozu and Bob Meneghini of NASA for providing in the Atlantic
information for the space radar section, and David Atlas GALE Genesis of Atlantic Lows Experiment
for his inspiration and suggestions concerning this paper. INU Inertial Navigation Unit
In addition, the Review Panel Chairman David Jorgensen MCS Mesoscale Convective System
(NOAA) and panel members Howard Bluestein (Univer-. NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administra-
sity of Oklahoma), Charles Frush (NCAR), and Peter Ray tion
(Florida State University) provided valuable suggestions NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research
which substantially improved the paper. NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
tration
PBL Planetary Boundary-Layer
PRF Pulse Repetition Frequency
APPENDIX: SAR Synthetic-Aperture Radar
LIST Of ACRONYMS SIR Shuttle Imaging Radar
cw Continuous-Wave SNR Signal to Noise Ratio
DIAL Differential Absorption Lidar STORM Storm-Scale Operational and Research Mete-
ELDORA Electra Doppler Radar orology Program
EOS Earth Orbiting System (NASA) TRMM Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission

Chapter 22b
Airborne/Space borne Radar: Panel Report
David P. Jorgensen,* Environmental Research Laboratories, NOAA
Robert Meneghini, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
1 INTRODUCTION
Mobile radar platforms can provide unique observations
of geophysical phenomena for scientific research and for
operational applications such as reconnaissance and flight
safety. The advantages of an airborne or spaceborne radar
are obvious; the radars provide 1) observations where it
is often impractical or too costly to place a ground-based
radar (e.g., over the oceans or mountains), 2) surveillance
over a large area or over a long time period when the
system of interest is moving, 3) the ability to adjust viewing
angles to minimize uncertainties due to viewing geometry,
for example, along a dual-Doppler baseline; and 4) mea-
surements to complement coincident observations from
other remote and in situ sensors.
In addition to the weather applications that mobile plat-
forms offer, there are other areas of geophysical research
where mobile active remote sensors are important tools-
if not the only ones available to study the problem of in-
terest. For example, ground surface properties (e.g., albedo,
roughness, topography, vegetation, soil moisture, etc.) and
their impact on the evolution of the boundary-layer and
their role in storm systems, hydrology, and earth surface
radiation balance are areas of study in which active remote
sensors on aircraft and satellites are critical.
The increase in observational capability offered by mo-
bile radar platforms is not without trade-offs in technical
capabilities. Mobile radars will be costly and will have re-
duced resolution due to smaller antennas, lower power
output, and increase in measurement uncertainty due to
platform motion. The challenge of the future is mostly
technological. Advances in signal processing, antenna de-
sign, power amplifiers, and other critical system compo-
nents will be required if radar measurements from airborne
and spaceborne platforms are to become a reality.
• Jorgensen served as panel chairman. Besides Jorgensen and Meneghini,
other panel members contributing to this report were David Atlas (con-
ference co-chairman), Peter Black (ERL/NOAA), Howard Bluestein
(University of Oklahoma), Charles Elachi (Jet Propulsion Laboratory),
Charles Frush (NCAR), Nobuhiko Kodaira (Remote Sensing Technology
Center of Japan), Toshiaki Kozu (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center),
S. Walter McCandles, L. Jay Miller (NCAR), Peter Ray (Florida State
University), Jacques Testud (Centre de Recherches en Physique de L'En-
vironnement), and Craig Walther (NCAR).
315
2 COMMENTS ON THE REVIEW
The comprehensive review of this subject by Hildebrand
and Moore (Chapter 22a) gives an excellent discussion of
the current and planned capabilities of mobile radar, par-
ticularly the capabilities of airborne Doppler radar to mea-
sure storm structure and air motion fields over large me-
soscale domains. The rationale is clearly given for a shorter
wavelength and more sensitive radar for studies of cloud
microstructure and for lidar technology to be coupled to
microwave radar for better determination of circulations
in the vicinity of the cloud environment. Commercial
aviation use of radar for weather avoidance is briefly
touched upon. The review also discusses the capabilities
and plans for spaceborne radar which can observe clouds,
precipitation, sea surface winds, ocean wave spectra and
currents, sea ice, and even soil moisture on a global scale.
The panel finds no substantive gaps in the review. The
panel shares the optimism and enthusiasm of Hildebrand
and Moore in assessing the potential of mobile radars for
providing dramatically expanded coverage of weather
phenomena and for the new studies and insights that will
result. The panel also shares the concerns that the high
cost of new mobile observing systems may substantially
delay their implementation and slow progress toward op-
erational systems that would help to improve understand-
ing of global change and improvements in forecasts and
warnings of meteorological phenomena.
3 LIMITATIONS AND TECHNICAL
OBSTACLES
3.1 Airborne Systems
The development of the X-band airborne Doppler radar
on NOAA's P-3 aircraft during the last five years has
demonstrated the utility of an airborne Doppler radar and
shown its applicability to studies of large mesoscale
weather systems. The P-3 scanning rate and airspeed limit
resolution to features of interest that have horizontal
wavelengths on the order to 8-10 km. With this limitation,
the kinematics of many precipitating mesoscale weather
systems, such as hurricanes and squall lines, can be effec-
316 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
tively documented. There are, however, many smaller scale
phenomena such as convective storms for which higher
resolution is needed. In addition, because the P-3 system
employs a single beam, two quasi-perpendicular flight legs
are required for horizontal motions to be derived. In prac-
tice, this type of flight path is often not practical-for ex-
ample, because of proximity to a severe middle-latitude
squall line which is a hazard to safe flight or because of
air traffic control limitations. An additional problem relates
to the serious effects of the short X-band wavelength on
velocity folding and attenuation. The use of X-band and
the desire for a maximum range of about 90 km set the
Nyquist interval to about 13m s- 1 . This velocity compro-
mises the measurements in high-shear environments. The
large amount of attenuation for X-band radar in high re-
flectivity regions of thunderstorms can also severely limit
the usefulness of the radar.
The limitations of the radar on the P-3 have led the
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) to
propose the Electra Doppler Radar (ELDORA), a dual-
beam X-band vertically scanning rapid-scan radar for its
Electra aircraft. A similar system (named ASTERIX) is cur-
rently under development by the French group INSU 1
(Testud et al., 1987). For these radars a rapid antenna
rotation rate up to 40 rpm will reduce the effective hori-
zontal resolution down to 300 m, and would allow for the
study of phenomena with much smaller scales. The dual-
beam design will allow for two independent radial velocity
measurements from a single straight flight leg, thus alle-
viating the need for two quasi-perpendicular flight tracks.
Staggered Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF) techniques
can be used to extend the Nyquist interval by nearly a
factor of 3. These technological advances require over-
coming substantial obstacles. For example, the rapid ro-
tation rate implies that few independent pulses can be
used to produce a stable velocity and reflectivity estimate
unless multiple frequencies are used to produce more es-
timates. The need for multiple frequencies will dramatically
complicate the transmitter/ receiver hardware. Since the
high data rates would swamp existing recording devices,
new onboard processing and recording technology must
be devised. Significant progress is being made in overcom-
ing these obstacles using state-of-the-art engineering
techniques. The panel is fully confident that the NCAR
ELDORA system can be flying within three to four years.
The retrieval of the three-dimensional wind field from
a single straight flight leg is not the only advantage of the
dual-beam design. In regions of severe attenuation (high
reflectivity cores at X- or K-band), an analysis of the "ap-
parent" reflectivities that are measured independently by
the two beams along different paths (i.e., the "stereoradar"
technique proposed by Testud and Amayenc, 1989) may
provide an improved estimate of the field of rainfall rate,
1 Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers.
independent of any assumption about the type and size
distribution of hydrometeors. Although such a technique
has not yet been tested on real data, it is certainly a simpler
two-parameter technique· to implement and interpret on
an aircraft than dual-polarization techniques.
The technological obstacles associated with an airborne
cloud microscale radar are formidable if capabilities such
as polarization and Doppler are included. The radar must
be as sensitive as possible for important motions near the
cloud edge to be resolved, and the antenna must be as
large as possible for high-resolution measurements, yet fit
on an aircraft suitable for cloud physics research. The po-
tential payoffs of coupling an airborne Doppler lidar with
a cloud microscale radar are substantial in improved de-
scriptions and understanding of the physics of small cu-
mulus clouds.
The technological obstacles associated with improved
airborne weather and navigation radar are also formidable
but probably not insurmountable. Not only must Doppler
radar capabilities achieve some ability to detect dangerous
wind shears in low-reflectivity environments, but also some
degree of artificial intelligence may be required to assist
the pilot in interpreting highly complex radial velocity pat-
terns that are substantially contaminated by aircraft ve-
locity and antenna scanning.
3.2 Spaceborne Systems
Although a spaceborne meteorological radar has not yet
been flown, it promises several advantages over passive
microwave sensors for the measurement of rainfall over
land. In fact, the radar would complement the conventional
radiometric observations by providing information on
storm echo height, the presence and location of a bright
band, and possibly a discrimination between regions of
rain and ice hydrometeors within the cloud. Development
of a spaceborne Doppler weather radar appears to be a
formidable task (except near nadir), but it would represent
an advance comparable with the development of airborne
Doppler radar.
Despite the tremendous potential payoff that a space~
borne weather radar would have in providing rainfall cli-
matology over oceans and remote land areas as well as in
monitoring large-scale persistent storm systems, certain
constraints and technical limitations complicate radar
measurements from space. These limitations compromise
the radar design and may limit potential applications. For
example, because the physical size of the antenna is limited
by satellite launch constraints, the use of nonattenuating
wavelengths implies poor resolution and significant deg-
radation of the rain signal by the surface clutter. Because
of these and other problems, most spaceborne weather
radar applications have focused on frequencies above
about 10 GHz.
Another challenge in the design of a spaceborne radar
is to strike a compromise between resolution, swath, and

dwell time. Ideally, a large number of samples (high dwell
time) and good resolution are desired. However, because
of the rapid m~tion of the satellite, the coverage is rather
restricted. Adaptive scanning (Atlas, 1982), synthetic-ap-
erture radar (SAR) techniques (Atlas and Moore, 1987),
and advances in electronically scanning array antennas
may provide the means for obtaining high-resolution and
accurate reflectivity measurements over a wide swath.
A drawback for any sensor operating from a low earth-
orbiting satellite is the poor temporal resolution. Improve-
ments in resolution would require longer range or many
radars. Having a radar on a geostationary satellite is at
this point unrealistic, and the use of many low earth-or-
biting radars can only be considered a very long term goal.
Nevertheless, a growing appreciation of the benefits of the
data can be provided by a low earth-orbiting radar (Simp-
son et al., 1988). Among these benefits are climatological
rainfall statistics on a global basis; linking of precipitation
amounts in the tropics with atmospheric heating and global
circulation patterns; and provision of calibration infor-
mation for the geostationary weather satellites which use
visible and infrared observations of clouds as proxies for
rain.
3.2..1 Reflectivity and Attenuation Methods
As the frequency of the radar is increased above 10 GHz,
attenuation effects will become noticeable. To address this
problem, a number of methods have been proposed in
recent years to obtain rainfall rates from an estimate of
attenuation. As now envisioned, for a single-wavelength
radar operating between 10 to 16 GHz, a simple back-
scattering method (Z-R) would be used at the light-to-
moderate rain rates. Extending the dynamic range to higher
rain rates would require attenuation correction methods
such as surface reference and the mirror-image method,
possibly augmented by combined radar and radiometric
techniques. For a dual-wavelength radar, the options in-
crease significantly. For the intermediate range of rainfall
rates, both attenuation and backscattering methods are
applicable and can provide virtually independent estimates
of the rainfall parameters. Dual-wavelength radars also
have been shown to be of use in distinguishing rain from
hail ( Bringi et al., 1986). At the very light and very intense
rainfall rates, backscattering methods and single-wave-
length attenuation methods, respectively, would be em-
ployed.
One additional promising technique is "stereoradar"
(Testud and Amayenc, 1989). This technique could be
applied from a space platform for estimating global rainfall
by using an attenuating wavelength radar at two different
viewing angles.
Another class of methods combines radar with micro-
wave radiometry. One of the most promising of these
techniques can be viewed as an adaptation of the classic
study by Hitschfeld and Bordan ( 1954) who showed that
AIRBORNEfSPACEBORNE RADAR 317
the errors in the estimate of rain rate from a single atten-
uating wavelength radar could be bounded up to some
range by using an independent estimate of rain rate at that
range. This technique could be accomplished, for example,
for a ground-based reflectivity-only radar by means of a
raingage situated just below the radar beam. A similar al-
gorithm can be constructed from the data obtained by a
radiometer (which, when absorption is dominant, provides
an estimate of path attenuation) and a single attenuating-
wavelength radar. By using the path attenuation as a con-
straint on the attenuated radar return, a reconstructed pro-
file of the rainfall rate can be derived. Variations of this
procedure have been described and tested by Lu and Hai
( 1980) and Hai et al. ( 1985). Generalizations to combi-
nations of radar and multichannel radiometers have been
given recently by Weinman et al. ( 1988). Use of this
method for radar only (where the path attenuation is de-
rived either by a dual-wavelength or surface-reference
method) is described by Meneghini et al. ( 1983). The im-
portance of these and similar methods arises from the
probable use of both radar and radiometer sensors on fu-
ture spaceborne weather satellites.
3.2..2. Diflerential Reflectivity (Polarimetric)
Measurements
The implementation of polarimetry methods from space
presents formidable problems. It is probable that the first
generation of spaceborne radars will have maximum off-
nadir scan angles of 45 °or less. Because raindrops typically
assume an oblate spheroidal shape with a symmetry axis
along the vertical, estimates of the drop shape are de-
graded. Moreover, at shorter wavelengths resonance effects
become significant and the simple relationship between
differential reflectivity (ZoR) and drop oblateness is lost
(Nakamura et al., 1984). Even at low elevation angles the
ZoR method would be of limited utility for frequencies
greater than about 20 GHz (Holt, 1984). Despite these
factors, it is far too early to make definitive judgments
about the utility of spaceborne polarimetric radar. Contin-
ued research into polarimetry methods as well as the po-
larization data that will be available from the SIR-C (Space
Shuttle Imaging Radar), operating at X, C and L bands,
should greatly aid in better understanding the potential of
these methods.
3.2..3 Doppler Measurements
The sources of error in spaceborne Doppler measure-
ments are similar to those inherent in airborne Doppler
radars. The spaceborne errors, however, are potentially
much more severe because of the greater velocity of the
satellite platform relative to the hydrometeors. For ex-
ample, the standard deviation in the Doppler spectrum
due to beam broadening is, to a first approximation, 0.6V () /
A (Atlas, 1964), where 8 is the 3-dB beamwidth, A is the
318 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
wavelength, and Vis the spacecraft velocity. For >. = 2
em,()= 1°, and V = 7 km s-t, the beam-broadening com-
ponent is about 3.7 kHz for stationary targets. Despite this
rather large broadening of the Doppler spectrum, for
crosstrack scanning the spectrum should be well approx-
imated by a zero mean Gaussian velocity. Estimation of
the mean hydrometeor velocity in the beam may be pos-
sible by a measure of the shift in the Doppler spectrum
from zero mean. This has already been done to an accuracy
of about 0.6 m s - l to correct SAR data taken from the
Shuttle (SIR-A and SIR-B missions) for the yawing motions
of the spacecraft ( Li et al., 1985). Some potential also exists
for eliminating or correcting for pointing angle errors and
at least partially accounting for the beam broadening by
use of the mirror-image return (Atlas and Matejka, 1985),
by stereoscopic viewing of the rain using a conically scan-
ning antenna, or by the use of the Doppler information
contained in the surface return.
3.3 Conclusions
All of the obstacles associated with both airborne and
spaceborne radar are essentially engineering design prob-
lems that could be addressed if sufficient resources were
made available. The potential of these new observations
for advancing our understanding of the earth and its
weather and oceanographic systems is truly vast. The ben-
efits of improved understanding and operational services
warrant a substantial effort.
4 FUTURE DIRECTIONS
4.1 Airborne Systems
4.1.1 Near Term (Possible with Present
Technology, <5 Years)
4 .1.1.1 Airborne Rapid-Scan Doppler Radar
(ELDORA)
Some of the deficiencies of the P-3 airborne Doppler
radar are addressed in the planned NCAR Electra Doppler
Radar (ELDORA), which will employ a rapidly scanning,
multifrequency, dual-beam, X-band radar. This radar will
allow for studies of smaller scales of motion than are now
possible with the radar on the P-3, and will permit gen-
eration of horizontal winds from a single straight flight leg
in about half the data gathering time. This radar system
should be ready for field tests in the early 1990s. It will
employ state-of-the-art display and recording devices in
order to handle the tremendous volume of data it will
generate. This radar will be applicable to a wide range of
studies, from the determination of mesoscale wind fields
to the description of convective scale updraft and down-
draft properties.
A dual-beam Doppler radar is planned for the high al-
titude ( 19-20 km) NASA ER-2 aircraft to study air motions
and hydrometeor structure of thunderstorms, squall lines,
and mesoscale convective systems. This proposed radar
would operate at X-band (9.5 GHz) and would have one
beam pointing at nadir and the other beam at an angle of
35°-40° forward of nadir. It would give high-resolution
vertical cross sections of reflectivity, vertical precipitation
particle velocity, and horizontal winds along the aircraft's
track by collecting Doppler velocities as a function of time.
The radar would also have a real-time Doppler processor
capable of calculating Doppler spectra and implementing
special algorithms; it would also have the ability to measure
linear depolarization ratio which is useful in interpretation
of the microphysical state of the hydrometeors that reflect
the signals.
4.1.1.2 Airborne Cloud Microscale Radars
Many studies of convective and stratiform clouds cannot
be undertaken effectively with the P-3 or proposed EL-
DORA radars. Studies related to precipitation physics and
entrainment (mixing) and turbulence/cloud physics in-
teractions, for example, are best done on small cumulus
clouds and before rainfall begins. An X-band radar prob-
ably would be inappropriate for many such studies because
of its lack of sensitivity to very small cloud particles. An
airborne Ku- or Ka-band or even millimeter wavelength
radar, either side scanning or downward or upward look-
ing, mounted on a relatively high-flying aircraft, could ad-
dress many of the problems related to cloud structures on
scales of tens of meters. A downward-looking Doppler
radar would have the advantage of using the ground mo-
tion as a check on the vertical aircraft motion measured
by the onboard navigation system. The radar should be
sensitive enough for cloud edge studies and could be cou-
pled to a similarly scanning or fixed pointing Doppler lidar,
thus extending the velocity measurements into the clear
air. Cloud particle studies would be greatly extended if
polarization diversity measurements or dual-beam mea-
surements (using the stereoradar concept) could also be
made with this radar.
4.1.1.3 Commercial Airborne Radar
for Flight Safety
There is growing concern about safety in the operation
of commercial aircraft in the vicinity of convective clouds.
Recent research on microbursts indicates that dangerous
wind shear conditions near the ground can develop in just
a few minutes, often near radar echoes with reflectivities
<40 dBZ. Although almost all commercial aircraft are now
equipped with some type of forward-scanning weather
avoidance radar, these radars are mostly of the incoherent

type and give only estimates of reflectivity. A new type of
airborne weather avoidance radar has recently been de-
veloped that gives an indication of the spread of the
Doppler spectrum on a color display, yet quantitative dif-
ferential velocity measurements are still lacking. Technol-
ogy is now within reach to design an integrated onboard
weather avoidance system for commercial aircraft that
couples Doppler radar and lidar for the detection of dan-
gerous wind shear and turbulence conditions immediately
ahead of the aircraft. Such a system probably would em-
ploy a sophisticated antenna scanning strategy coupled to
computer-aided interpretation of the return to warn the
pilot about shear conditions in the aircraft flight path. Even
uplinking of ground-measured parameters such as differ-
ential wind measurements at locations around the runway
could be employed as an aid for computer recognition of
dangerous shear and turbulence conditions.
4.1.1.4 Airborne Doppler Lidar
A host of not yet well understood, small-scale, short-
lived, boundary layer phenomena have wind fields that
have never been adequately observed and mapped. For
example, tornadoes, waterspouts, dust devils, and storm-
scale circulations under cloud base have never been probed
in detail. The challenge is to design lidar systems that can
be brought near a phenomenon that may be relatively rare,
in order to study the phenomenon without disturbing the
flow itself and without putting the mobile platform in
danger. Unfortunately, not one operational airborne
Doppler lidar system is currently available for use by the
atmospheric research community. Airborne Doppler lidar
has great potential for providing measurements of clear-
air winds using an ELDORA-like scanning strategy. NASA
has tested a prototype system on its CV 990 aircraft with
excellent results (McCaul et al., 1986). Hildebrand and
Moore (Chapter 22a) discuss many other potential appli-
cations of airborne lidar. Even a vertically pointing system
that would be much less sophisticated than the one NASA
has tested would be extremely useful in documenting the
structure of the convective boundary-layer and of phe-
nomena like roll vortices, waves, and gust fronts.
Helicopters or ground-based vehicles could also be
adapted to carry Doppler lidars and remain near a weather
phenomenon for some time. Advances in solid state tech-
nology have already allowed Doppler radar equipment to
be made small enough to be transported and operated from
vans. Doppler lidars that are insensitive to vibrations and
that can be mounted in a helicopter or in a small van should
be developed. Doppler lidars have already been used on
aircraft to map the wind field in gust fronts and in the
clear boundary layer; they show promise of being useful
in convective field experiments. Technology needs to be
developed to make the radars and lidars small enough to
be easily transported, yet powerful enough to "see" targets
within a reasonable distance. Currently, the lidar's effective
AIRBORNEfSPACEBORNE RADAR 319
range is cut severely in the presence of high water-vapor
content. The effective range of solid state Doppler radars
is small due to power restrictions; thus, more efficient
means of modulating weak continuous-wave signals, such
as frequency modulation, need to be perfected. Portable
wideband recording systems also need to be developed to
store all the data gathered.
4.1.1.5 Integration of Airborne Doppler Radar
Data and NEXRAD Data
In a few short years the operational deployment of more
than 100 Next Generation Weather Radars (NEXRADs)
will result in an unprecedented opportunity to acquire
Doppler radar datasets over virtually the entire contiguous
United States, throughout the year, and over many types
of weather systems. Although the network spacing will
not allow the classical "dual-Doppler" wind synthesis at
convective scale resolution, use of airborne Doppler radar
with the operational NEXRADs will open up the oppor-
tunity to perform horizontal wind synthesis, provided the
antenna scanning is performed in conjunction with the
flight tracks. The panel strongly recommends that data
recording devices be placed on all operational NEXRADs
to capture the raw base level data (as opposed to computer-
generated products) and that procedures be developed for
data archiving and timely dissemination for research pur-
poses. The panel recognizes that "standardized" scanning
of the NEXRAD antenna is required for operational pur-
poses and that "specialized" scan strategies, optimized for
the weather system under study, may not always be prac-
tical. The panel recommends that studies be conducted to
determine the best techniques and flight tracks that could
be used to merge airborne Doppler radar with NEXRAD
data, given the constraints of the operational scanning
methodology.
4.1.1.6 Rain-Mapping Airborne Radars
Hildebrand and Moore (Chapter 22a) give a compre-
hensive summary of both existing and planned airborne
Doppler weather radars. Another class of airborne con-
ventional radars designed to measure rainfall should also
be mentioned. These airborne radars are designed to aid
the development of spaceborne radars and to test methods
of rain estimation from space. One such radar has been
developed by the Radio Research Laboratory of Japan
(Okamoto et al., 1982; Fujita et al., 1985; Meneghini et
al., 1986). The radar has also been used to study radio-
metric methods for the estimation of rain rate and dual-
wavelength scattering characteristics of the ocean surface
for the determination of wind speed and direction (Masuko
et al., 1981). The sensor consists of a dual-wavelength
radar and radiometer where both the active and passive
instruments operate at frequencies near 10 and 35 GHz.
320 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
The resolution volumes are matched ( 8° beamwidth and
75-m range resolution) so that a common volume of rain
is viewed nearly simultaneously by the radars and radi-
ometers. In the normal mode of operation the antennas
are scanned along the cross track direction between ±23 °
of nadir.
From the results of the tests, some tentative conclusions
can be drawn concerning the feasibility of spaceborne
weather radar techniques: 1) estimates of rain rate using
attenuation methods are feasible from a low earth orbit;
2) attenuation methods are most accurate in the inter-
mediate rain rates where the attenuation is strong enough
to provide a good estimate of rain but not so large as to
cause a total loss of signal; 3) for lighter rain rates, the Z-
R method is preferable to the attenuation methods; 4) dis-
crepancies between the rain rate estimates derived from
the different methods can sometimes be resolved by an
examination of the return power profiles, the existence of
partial beam filling, and the presence of nonliquid hydro-
meteors. Future experiments are planned for the T-39 jet
aircraft based at the Wallops Flight Facility. Of particular
interest are tests of the mirror-image algorithms, the de-
velopment of combined radar and radiometer methods for
application to the TRMM satellite, and testing the capability
of either the dual-wavelength radar or the radar-radi-
ometer pair for distinguishing rain from hail and partially
melted hydrometeors.
A similar dual-wavelength airborne radar, now under
development by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is designed
to test concepts for the TRMM and future spaceborne ra-
dars. The objectives of the radar are 1) to demonstrate the
feasibility of accurate large-scale remote rain-mapping; 2)
to support algorithm development by conducting experi-
ments with radar and multisensor instruments; 3) to pro-
vide postlaunch verification and calibration to spaceborne
sensors; and 4) to establish a test platform for development
of new technologies and techniques for satellite weather
radars. In the present design, the radar will be dual-fre-
quency ( 10 or 14 GHz and a higher, more attenuating
frequency at 24 GHz). Nominal vertical and horizontal
resolutions at nadir are 100 and 500 m, respectively. The
radar will have both Doppler and dual-polarization ca-
pabilities. Pulse compression techniques will also be tested
for the purpose of evaluating their potential for spaceborne
weather radar.
4.1.2 Long Term (>5 and <15 Years, Requires
Major Advances)
4.1.2.1 Integrated Airborne Observing System
for Atmospheric Research
The growing need for better understanding of mesoscale
atmospheric processes in order to improve short to medium
range weather forecasts will lead to field efforts in the next
10-15 years that will emphasize larger spatial scales and
longer time periods than have been previously attempted.
There is also a growing awareness among the scientific
community about the interdisciplinary nature of atmo-
spheric science and the need to view atmospheric processes
in terms of the entire "earth system." The increasing ex-
pense associated with the conduct of large, multiscale field
efforts also requires the best possible use of available re-
sources. Future large field efforts will require new tech-
nology for real-time control of aircraft resources. It will be
necessary to integrate many remote sensing and in situ
sensors to allow for proper decisions about deployment of
aircraft to study atmospheric phenomena. A satellite-based
aircraft-to-ground communication system will need to be
developed to link ground sensors with airborne sensors
(such as radar, lidar, radiometers, in situ probes, and
dropwindsondes) to produce a real-time analysis that the
airborne scientist can use to direct the aircraft effectively.
Emphasis will need to be placed on assimilation of different
data sources into analysis schemes, computer hardware,
graphics display technology, and computer-aided decision
making. A fleet of research aircraft that can perform mul-
tiple tasks simultaneously will be needed to cover a domain
the size of a mesoscale weather system. Other technologies,
such as the wind profiler, should be explored and if pos-
sible adapted for use on airborne platforms (see Chap-
ter 21b).
4.1.2.2 Airborne Radar Technology
Development
Improvements to the P-3 and ELDORA systems will be
required in the next 15 years in order to continue the re-
search achievements and extend measurements to smaller
scales of motion. Basic improvements to the antenna (e.g.,
electronic scanning) to allow for better sidelobe control
and smaller beamwidths would be an asset to all programs
that use the radars. Engineering development should pro-
ceed to incorporate polarization diversity measurements
in the airborne Doppler environment. This development
would open up many new avenues for research related to
precipitation types and processes. Development of the
dual-beam technology for the P-3s would allow for many
investigations in which quasi-perpendicular flight legs are
not possible.
There is a growing need for airborne radars to act as
"air truth" validation and test beds for future spaceborne
systems. Most of the parameters measured by satellites
have little or no ground truth, especially over the oceans
and undeveloped regions of the earth. This problem is
especially acute concerning rainfall. New techniques, as
well as new equipment, can be tried on an airborne plat-
form before being launched into space. The following
techniques, which need development and/ or airborne
testing, have promise in rainfall measurement from space:

• Combined radar and microwave radiometer tech-
niques.
• Dual-par,ameter techniques using a vertically pointing
airborne Doppler radar. A simulation by Atlas and Matejka
( 1985) showed that the measurement of reflectivity and
mean Doppler velocity (which is a proxy for median vol-
ume drop diameter) could provide an excellent measure
of rain rate.
• Dual-wavelength techniques for rain rate estimation
and for discrimination of rain from hail.
• The mirror-image method of Meneghini and Atlas
( 1986). The method allows profiling of rain rate and the
total path average rain at near-nadir angles over the ocean
when the radar has a wavelength of about 14 GHz.
• Estimation of convective rainfall by area integrals. At-
las et al. ( 1989) and Rosenfeld et al. ( 1989) proposed that
it should be possible to get very accurate (to within 5%-
10%) measurements of instantaneous area-wide rain rates
(over a domain of -10 4 km 2 or more) by measuring the
fractional area covered by rainfall in excess of a preset
threshold, thus opening the door to excellent global mea-
surements of rainfall from space for climatological and
other purposes. Since the relationship between rainfall and
fractional coverage would vary from one climatological
regime to another, it would be necessary to use an airborne
radar to calibrate the method regionally.
4.1.2.3 Oceanographic Applications
Active airborne remote sensor technology applicable to
problems in observational oceanography includes the laser
profilometer, used to measure wave activity, and a wide
variety of radars for imaging the ocean and measuring
wave spectra and surface winds. Hildebrand and Moore
(Chapter 22a) discuss ocean sensing with both real- and
synthetic-aperture radars. The panel encourages the fur-
ther development of suitable airborne sensors to aid the
oceanographer in observational studies.
Several exciting possibilities also exist for oceanographic
applications of the NOAA P-3 and NCAR ELDORA radars,
even though they were designed for atmospheric studies.
By using the return from the ocean surface, information
can be deduced about surface winds by employing the
radar as a scatterometer even in the presence of rain which
ordinarily masks the signal. Another problem the airborne
radars can address is that of relating the scatterometer cross
sections to the heights of the winds they represent. If a
Doppler lidar is added to the aircraft's capability, then the
wind profile down to the ocean's surface can be measured.
The scatterometer winds could also be related to the
boundary-layer stability by making in situ and radiometric
measurements of boundary layer air temperature and sea
surface temperature. The effects of waves on air-sea ex-
change have hardly been touched upon and should be
addressed with the new airborne radar and lidar systems.
AIRBORNEfSPACEBORNE RADAR 321
4.2 Spaceborne Systems
4.2.1 Near Term (Possible with Present
Technology, <5 Years)
4.2.1.1 Rainfall Measnrement
In the near term, spaceborne rainfall measuring tech-
niques must rely on combinations of backscattering and
attenuation methods because of antenna size limitations
inherent in the current and planned satellite systems for
the next decade. Substantial progress has recently been
made on improving algorithms for attenuation-based
rainfall retrievals and on developing special scanning
strategies such as adaptive scanning which can be used
either to conserve satellite power or to increase coverage.
The panel endorses the concept of the Tropical Rainfall
Measurement Mission (TRMM, due for launch in 1994)
both as a means to test and validate strategies for global
measurement of rainfall using both radar and radiometer
combinations, and to obtain statistics of tropical rainfall
to be used in understanding the hydrologic cycle and in
global circulation models (Simpson et al., 1988). Because
of spatial and temporal resolution restrictions, there will
probably be no operational weather warning or short-range
forecasting applications of the TRMM radar. Rather, the
key objective is to measure tropical precipitation over about
a month in 5° X 5° boxes within ±35 ° of the equator to
help understand the influence of diabatic heating and its
anomalies in controlling climate anomalies such as the El
Nino I Southern Oscillation.
A new technique, recently proposed by Atlas et al.
( 1989) and Rosenfeld et al. ( 1989), shows promise of
greatly enhancing the accuracy of spaceborne rain mea-
surements and allowing usefully accurate measurements
over smaller areas and periods than the 5° X 5° boxes and
1-month periods anticipated by the TRMM satellite. The
method works on the remarkable principle that, for con-
vective precipitation, the area-wide average rain rate over
areas of -10 4 km 2 or larger is highly correlated with the
fractional area covered by rain in excess of a preset thresh-
old. The relationship varies in a physically plausible man-
ner from -one climatological regime to another. Moreover,
the instantaneous measurement hc\s an autocorrelation
time of 5-6 h so that it is representative of the rain rate
for a significant fraction of the time between 12-h satellite
passes. Stratification by storm height enhances the accu-
racy. This opens the door for making accurate regional
scale measurements (areas of 10 4 km 2 or more) of total
precipitation from a space-based radar that measures only
storm height and the fractional area of rainfall exceeding
a preset threshold. Such measurements would be appli-
cable to a wide spectrum of hydrological and meteorolog-
ical problems in addition to the climatological studies for
which they were originally intended. This promising tech-
322 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
nique should be tested with "ground-truth" data provided
by airborne and ground-based radars in a variety of cli-
matological regions around the globe.
4.2.1.2 Atmospheric and Oceanographic
Applications of SAR
Synthetic-aperture radar techniques use the relative co-
herency of the echoes from a target during the time of
travel of the radar platform to produce an effective along-
track antenna dimension which greatly exceeds that of the
real aperture. Atlas and Moore (1987) showed that this
approach offers no real advantage in resolution for aircraft
applications to atmospheric phenomena because of the
rapid decorrelation time of precipitation echoes; however,
at spacecraft velocities, the improvement can be very sub-
stantial. Improvements over existing systems are still re-
quired. For example, precipitation mapping SARs would
require large antenna dimensions in the crosstrack direction
to narrow that dimension of the beam. Spaceborne SARs
scheduled to fly on the space shuttle (SIR-C and X) in the
early 1990s should be able to map precipitation out to
modest ranges ( -200 km) from the shuttle track, even
though they are designed for high-resolution measure-
ments of essentially fixed or surface targets. These SARs
should provide a test bed to evaluate the benefits of further
developments of precipitation SARs.
4.2.2 Long Term (>5 and <15 Years,
Requires Major Advances)
4.2.2.1 Technological Advances
With improvements in antenna engineering and design
of better satellite power systems it should be possible to
measure rainfall from orbiting satellites at 500- to 1000-
km orbits using existing techniques with higher spatial
resolution. One promising technique is the so-called "push
broom" rain radar (Eckerman, 1975); this uses one wide
beam for transmission and multiple narrow beams for re-
ceiving, thereby eliminating the need for scanning and
still achieving a large number of independent samples,
albeit at the cost of reduced sensitivity and the need for
parallel receivers which complicates the equipment design.
Two such satellites should provide about four observations
per day, perhaps with some gaps. A microwave radiometer
in combination with the radar could aid in providing hybrid
algorithms over the oceans. It might even be possible to
measure the mean Doppler velocity of the precipitation,
provided the echoes from the rain exceed those from the
surface.
4.2.2.2 Operational Weather Observing System
A myriad of active remote sensors should be available
on the next generation satellites (termed by NASA as the
Earth Orbiting System or EOS) to observe the earth in a
comprehensive manner. Radars should be available to op-
erate in a multimode fashion, i.e., to use the best techniques
to function as a rain mapper, surface wind scatterometer,
wave spectrum system, SAR, and perhaps as an accurate
altimeter. A circular scanning lidar could also be used to
measure clear-air winds, and the same technique could be
used in cloudy regions with a short wavelength radar. Un-
fortunately, these satellites would still be confined to low
earth orbits because of the tremendous power sources and
antennas required from greater distances.
The scientific issue at hand is to understand the earth
as a system on a global scale. Radar, whether airborne or
spaceborne, can make unique contributions to these goals
and to a wide range of operational applications. The road
ahead is not without many technological and financial ob-
stacles, but we are optimistic about the ultimate attainment
of these important objectives.
Acknowledgments. We are indebted to our reviewers Peter
Hildebrand and Richard Moore, who contributed with their
thorough review of the subjects of airborne and spaceborne
radar technology, respectively. Our heartfelt appreciation
for a successful meeting is extended to the program co-
chairmen, David Atlas and Ralph Donaldson, and to Rob-
ert Serafin for organizing the Technology Session and for
thoughtfully reviewing this manuscript.
APPENDIX:
LIST OF ACRONYMS
ASTERIX Analyse STEreoscopique par .Radar a Impul-
sions en bande ~ (Stereoscopic Analysis by
X-Band Radar)
ELDORA Electra Doppler Radar
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administra-
tion
NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research
NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar
NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
tration
PRF Pulse Repetition Frequency
SAR Synthetic-Aperture Radar
SIR Shuttle Imaging Radar
TRMM Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission
ZvR Differential Reflectivity

Chapter 23a
Cloud Microphysics and Radar
A.R. Jameson, Applied Research Corporation
D.B. Johnson,* Bureau of Reclamation
1 INTRODUCTION
Radar meteorology is the discipline of trying to use back-
scattered electromagnetic radiation to gain information
about the state of the atmosphere, especially with respect
to clouds and precipitation. To interpret the returned signal,
atmospheric scientists only have the four fundamental
properties of electromagnetic waves at their disposal: am-
plitude, phase, frequency, and polarization. While a com-
plete characterization of the atmosphere from these four
parameters will generally be impossible, the goal of me-
teorological remote sensing is to describe as fully as possible
the essential features using the information available.
Depending upon the wavelength, typical scatterers in
the atmosphere are molecules, particulates, hydrometeors,
and discontinuities in the index of refraction. Molecules
and particulates scatter effectively at optical and near-op-
tical wavelengths. Although hydrometeors scatter at these
wavelengths as welt the depth of penetration of such
transmissions is usually very limited. In the atmosphere,
longer wavelengths must be used in order to gain infor-
mation over larger regions and to characterize a storm
completely. It is because of this capability that microwave
radars have become such a natural and important instru-
ment for the observational meteorologist.
In generat information available from radars can be in-
terpreted as point values or as patterns. Ideally, point
measurements can be related to a unique set of micro-
physical conditions. By the time a transmitted wave even
reaches a particular group of scatterers, however, it may
suffer attenuation. Intervening scatterers may also produce
a shift in phase beyond that normally expected due to the
medium's index of refraction. Unlike passive remote sens-
ing techniques, a knowledge of the initial state of the
transmitted wave may make it possible to separate effects
due to the scatterers from those due to propagation through
the intervening medium.
Although the radiation transmitted by a radar is usually
emitted in short pulses and focused by the transmitting
antenna, the illuminated volume expands with range and
rapidly occupies substantial volumes. Consequently, the
backscattered signal is the net result of the superposition
of the many individual waves scattered by the hydrome-
teors within a large but finite pulse volume. While the
* Current affiliation: Applied Research Corporation.
323
connected to the microphysical character of each individual
scatterer, the radar signals themselves are generally en-
s~mble averages of the return from many different parti-
cles. Therefore, radar measurements should be interpreted
in terms of the ensemble properties of the scatterers, rather
than properties of individual hydrometeors.
The most commonly used point measurement is simply
the returned power (mean squared amplitude). This is
widely used to estimate point rainfall rates through em-
pirical relationships between the range- corrected equiv-
alent reflectivity factor (Ze) and the instantaneous rainfall
rate (R). With the advent of Doppler and multiparameter
radars, more sophisticated and elaborate parameters are
being introduced to give better descriptions of the micro-
physical conditions at any point in a storm.
Patterns can be considered in either a spatial or temporal
sense. Interestingly, the patterns themselves can be used
to give microphysical information. The first echo analyses
of Battan (1953) are a good example of this kind of inter-
pretation. In many cases, the microphysical information
that can be gained from analysis of echo patterns is very
well suited for integration into the overall storm structure
and provides a bridge to the mesoscale and synoptic forc-
ings (e.g., Atlas, 1957; Austin and Wexler, 1957; Austin,
1960; Ackerman, 1960; Battan, 1963b). In recent years,
multiple-Doppler studies of storm structure and evolution
have become an important and widely used example of
this kind of analysis.
Cloud physics is the meteorological specialty directly
concerned with the growth and evolution of clouds and
precipitation, and with the microphysical properties of the
associated hydrometeors. Because meteorological radars
usually detect waves that have been backscattered by hy-
drometeors, a natural and symbiotic relationship exists be-
tween cloud physics and radar meteorology. Fully under-
standing the properties and behavior of the meteorological
scatterers requires a knowledge of cloud physics. Radar,
for its part, often provides the only means of studying
many aspects of cloud structure. Some of the most in-
fluential figures in both cloud physics and radar meteo-
rology are scientists, such as Lou Battan, who actively
worked in both fields.
In this paper we will discuss some of the relationships
between cloud physics and radar meteorology and review
a few specific research areas related to the physics of cloud
324 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
systems. We will examine some apparent trends, and dis-
cuss potential research opportunities for the future.
l METEOROLOGICAL SCATTERERS
AND THEIR PROPERTIES
l.l What Does a Radar Detect?
Radars measure scattered microwave radiation. The
transmitter and the receiver are usually co-located, but do
not have to be. In fact, since scattering is not perfectly
isotropic, a complete description of the characteristics of
the scattering source would require receiving antennas at
several locations. While perhaps desirable in principle, such
a measuring scheme would be very difficult to implement.
Most meteorological radars use co-located transmitters and
receivers, with the measurements being restricted to back-
scattered waves.
At any instant, a backscattered wave is completely de-
scribed by an amplitude and a phase. Because of construc-
tive and destructive interference among the backscattered
waves due to small-scale random relative motions of the
illuminated particles, scattering from meteorological par-
ticles is incoherent (Marshall and Hitschfeld, 1953). Since
both the amplitude and phase show considerable fluctu-
ations with time, instantaneous measurements of phase or
amplitude have little or no physical meaning. A useful
mean amplitude can only be obtained after averaging the
signals over some period of time.
While the detection of a mean amplitude can be achieved
using relatively simple systems, measurements of phase
from radars with single receivers require coherent detec-
tion, i.e., the phase of the transmission must be retained
as a reference for analysis during the reception of the
backscattered. radiation. By comparing the phases of the
transmitted and received waves over time, it is possible to
determine the mean time rate of change of phase. This
quantity is directly related to the mean Doppler velocity
of the scattering source with respect to the radar (Lher-
mitte, 1960a). By use of Fast Fourier Transform ( FFT) pro-
cessors and time integration of the backscattered signal,
the full Doppler velocity spectrum can be deconvolved,
giving a squared amplitude-weighted distribution of radial
velocities for the scattering ensemble (e.g., Rogers, 1963;
Atlas, 1964).
By subtracting the time-varying component from time
series measurements, a stationary phase component can
be obtained. Although this component contains useful in-
formation, it is also affected by arbitrary and usually un-
known contributions from the transmitter and the scat-
tering source. If another stationary component is measured
after changing the polarization or frequency, then the rel-
ative phase between the two measurements can be used
to provide useful information (Jameson and Mueller, 1985;
Sachidananda and Zmic, 1986a). Since radar transmissions
can be viewed as plane elliptically polarized waves, any
backscattered wave can be decomposed into a copolarized
component (same sense of polarization as that transmitted)
and an orthogonal or cross-polariZed component (sense
of polarization orthogonal to that transmitted). This means
that extracting relative phase information from a radar
equipped to receive both components simultaneously is
also possible (McCormick et al., 1972; Jameson, 1985a).
In summary, meteorological radars can measure several
potentially useful quantities. The most obvious is the av-
erage power (mean squared amplitude). Historically this
was the first radar measurement routinely available and
by far has been the measurement most often used in me-
teorological research. Over the years it has become possible
to measure mean power (usually range normalized and
expressed in terms of the equivalent reflectivity factor, Ze)
simultaneously at different frequencies and different po-
larizations. Dual-receiver radars can also be used to mea-
sure the cross-correlations between simultaneous co- and
cross-polarized backscattered signals. A radar with a single
coherent receiver can measure the cross-correlation be-
tween orthogonal copolarized backscattered signals pro-
vided it can switch rapidly between the two orthogonal
polarizations. Many radars are now able to measure the
moments of the Doppler velocity spectra, and a few can
even measure the entire spectra simultaneously at several
different ranges in both copolarized and cross-polarized
channels.
From these basic quantities a myriad of different mea-
surements has been derived. Some of these will be dis-
cussed later in this review, while others are presented else-
where in this volume.
l.l Hydrometeors and Other Scatterers
Obviously there must be a scattering source to produce
a backscattered wave. Meteorologically, the most signifi-
cant sources are the liquid and solid hydrometeors that
make up a cloud or storm. The larger precipitation-sized
particles are the best scatterers and the ones most often
detected by meteorological radars. Biological scatterers
(birds, insects) are occasionally of interest, but usually at-
tract the attention of entomologists or ornithologists rather
than atmospheric scientists. Clear-air signals, whether due
to insects, suspended dust particles, or simply fluctuations
in the index of refraction, are often used for boundary-
layer observations (Gossard, Chapter 27a) and wind pro-
filing (Gage, Chapter 28a), but are also potentially quite
useful for studying the evolution of convective clouds.
Unfortunately, most radars are unable to detect the weak
clear-air signals that should be present at the boundary of
a cloud due to discontinuities in the index of refraction.
While chaff can be used to extend the available information
about circulations in the boundary-layer or near nonpre-
cipitating clouds, delineating the boundaries between cloud
and chaff is difficult. In many cases, of course, it would

b~ useful to have radars that are sensitive enough to detect
directly the backscatter from cloud particles. In this case,
the signals would not only directly identify the cloud vol-
ume but also serve as excellent tracers of air motion since
the fall velocities of the cloud droplets are essentially zero.
2.3 Cloud and Precipitation Processes
Before reviewing the microphysical properties of cloud
and precipitation particles that most directly relate to their
scattering behavior (section 2.4), it is useful to place these
properties into a more general context. This section reviews
some of the general microphysical features of precipitation
development and evolution. 1 Specific discussions of radar
investigations relating to these phenomena will be deferred
until sections 3 and 4; see also the accompanying panel
report by Beard and Rauber (Chapter 23b).
I~ gene~al, .clouds can form through any process by
whtch mmst arr can be brought to saturation. These pro-
cesses ~elude the mixing of air parcels having different
properties, radiative cooling, in situ pressure reductions,
and lifting. In most meteorological situations, lifting-
whether by synoptic, mesoscale, orographic or buoyancy
effects-is the most important process. As the air is lifted,
it expands and cools. As the cooled air approaches satu-
ration, liquid water will begin to condense on whatever
cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) are available. Cloud
condensation nuclei are atmospheric aerosol particles of
divers~ size and composition capable of supporting con-
densation growth at the modest supersaturations reached
in the free atmosphere, typically a few percent or less (see
Twomey, 1977). While the concentration and composition
of the CCN can influence the cloud's structure and evo-
lution, they do not determine if a cloud will form or not.
For practical purposes, there are always enough nuclei in
the atmosphere to permit cloud formation once saturation
is reached.
~~e most clouds begin with the activation and growth
of liqutd cloud droplets, their subsequent evolution can
follow a number of different paths. For convenience, we
will se~arate the discussion of cloud and precipitation pro-
cesses ~to three parts: warm processes, cold processes,
and mtXed-phase processes. Warm processes, involving
water in only the liquid and vapor phases, are relatively
easy to. defin~. M?'e~-phase processes are more compli-
cated, mvolvmg hqutd, solid, and vapor phases. In this
dis~ussion, the growth of graupel or frozen drops by col-
lection of supercooled cloud droplets (riming) is taken as
the distinguishing feature of mixed-phase processes. Cold
processes may also involve all three phases, but the solid
phase (ice) is dominant, with little or no riming growth.
1 For a thorough review of cloud physics, the reader should
consult one
of the standard cloud physics textbooks, such as Mason (1971), Rogers
(1976) or Pruppacher and Klett (1978), or recent reviews of the field
such as Beard (1987).
CLOUD MICROPHYSICS AND RADAR 325
2.3.1 Warm Processes
Warm clouds are clouds that are everywhere warmer
than 0°C, and thus are totally free of ice. Precipitation
development is restricted to condensation and coalescence.
At one time, such clouds were thought to be capable of
producing only light rain or drizzle. In tropical regions,
however, intense warm rains reaching or exceeding 100
mm h -t are not uncommon.
The primary property controlling a cloud's evolution is
its water content (East, 1957a,b ). The water content itself
largely reflects the cloud base temperature and depth of
the cloud (see Fig. 2.1). Entrainment 9f environmental air
into a rising parcel of cloudy air tends to reduce the water
content(Stommel,1947;Wam er,1955,1970b;Battanand
Reitan, 1957; Draginis, 1958; Squires, 1958a; Ackerman,
1959; I<hrgian, 1961; Ludlam, 1980) and restrict its lifetime
(Braham, 1960; Isaac et al., 1982; Cooper and Lawson,
1984; Cooper, 1985; Schemenauer and Tsonis, 1985). In
general, mean liquid water contents drop from near-adi-
abatic values in the vicinity of cloud base to approximately
20o/o of adiabatic by the time a parcel has risen to 2-3 km
above cloud base. The height to which the cloud rises and
its rate of ascent are primarily determined by the ther-
modynamic structure of the surrounding environment and
any external forces that are acting on the cloud.
Another property of major importance to all clouds is
the number of activated droplets. Typical droplet concen-
trations range anywhere from a few tens of droplets per
cubic centimeter to more than a thousand per cubic cen-
timeter. The droplet concentration, in concert with the liq-
uid water content, determines the mean droplet size. This
can be a particularly important parameter in several dif-
ferent arenas. In the absence of giant or ultragiant aerosol
particles or other embryo sources, for example, it can be
the primary determinant of a cloud's stability. In this case,
the rate limiting step for producing precipitation becomes
the production of large embryos by random (stochastic)
collisions between the activated droplets. This process is
critically dependent on the mean size of the droplet dis-
tribution (see Mason, 1971; Drake, 1972; Pruppacher and
Klett, 1978). Even after large embryos have been formed,
the mean size of the cloud droplets will still limit the further
development of precipitation by controlling the efficiency
with which the cloud droplets are collected by the growing
drops.
Since the mid- to late 1950s, the droplet concentration
has been considered the single most important determinant
of a cloud's colloidal stability. The whole concept of col-
loidal stability, in fact, has revolved around droplet con-
centrations. Clouds with high droplet concentrations have
been termed "continental" and are considered relatively
stable. "Maritime" clouds have low droplet concentrations
and are considered unstable. While colloidal stability has
usually been defined on the basis of droplet concentration
' alone, it really should be examined in combination with
326 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

e
~
6

Cl) CD
Ul Ul
cu cu
a:l a:l
"C "C
::::J ::::J
0 0
0 0
Cl) Cl)
>
0
>
0 1.0

-
D D

-
ct ct
.:: .::
Cl Cl
'G) 2 'G)
::r: ::r:

~10 0 10 20 30 ~10 0 10 20 30
Cloud Base Temperature ("C) Cloud Base Temperature (0 C)

600 700 800 900 600 700 800 900

Cloud Base Pressure (mb) Cloud Base Pressure (mb)

Fig. 2.1 Liquid water content (g m-3 ) as a function of the temperature and pressure at cloud base and the depth of the
cloud. The left-hand panel illustrates adiabatic water contents (see Ludlam, 1950), while the right-hand panel reflects an
empirical reduction in water contents (Johnson, 1987) to levels more typical of average cloud conditions.

the water content or cloud base temperature (Squires,
1958b; Squires and Twomey, 1958, 1960, 1966; Wexler,
1960a,b; Warner, 1969a,b, 1970a, 1973).
In many cases, the concept of colloidal stability may not
be as pivotal as it once seemed. In mature storms, there
are a number of possible sources of embryos that are large
enough to support rapid precipitation growth. Mason and
Jonas (1974), for example, examined drop growth in suc-
cessive small thermals, where the residue of an initial
thermal including relatively large liquid drops was allowed
to interact with later ones. Once large drops are produced,
of course, fragmentation by collisional breakup can pro-
duce many new embryos (Langmuir, 1948; Brazier-Smith
et al., 1972, 1973; McTaggart-Cowan and list, 1975). Even
in their early stages of development, however, clouds may
contain high enough concentrations of giant and ultragiant
aerosol particles to destabilize the cloud (Johnson, 1982;
Caylor and Illingworth, 1987) . These aerosol particles are
apparently a natural part of the atmospheric aerosol
(Pruppacher and Klett, 1978; Podzimek, 1980; Jaenicke,
1980; Ludlam, 1980; Hobbs et al., 1985) and are likely to
affect any cloud ingesting air from the surface boundary-
layer.
Interestingly, the availability of large embryos alone is
not in itself enough to initiate effective coalescence growth.
Effective growth also depends on the liquid water content
and mean size of the cloud droplets collected by the grow-
ing embryo. Initially, when the liquid water is low, no
embryo, no matter how large, can grow effectively by co-
alescence (Johnson, 1986). This defines an initial "incu-
bation" period, whose extent is primarily controlled by the
liquid water content, with droplet concentration being a
secondary factor. Depending on the cloud base tempera-
ture and degree of entrainment, this incubation period will
typically last until cloud depths exceed a kilometer or so.
l.3.l Mixed-Phase Processes
In many cases, cloud development begins with the con-
densation and coalescence processes described in the pre-
vious section, but subsequently involves ice phase pro-
cesses as well, as the cloud grows to extend above the the
0° isotherm. Precipitation development by collection of
supercooled cloud droplets (riming) is taken as the distin-
guishing feature of mixed-phase situations. Most sum-
mertime convective storms and many winter storms fall

into this general category. Hailstones are an extreme ex-
ample of this kind of precipitation development and have
held considerable fascination for radar meteorologists and
cloud physicists alike (e.g., Foote and Knight, 1977; Knight
and Squires, 1982).
As a rising parcel of cloudy air is carried above the 0°
isotherm, liquid drops (both large and small) will supercool
until nucleated. Ice nucleation is a particularly complex
subject with many different possible modes of nucleation
(see Pruppacher and Klett, 1978; Vall, 1985a). Measure-
ments of the concentrations of ice nuclei are quite difficult
and the uncertainties are large. In general, ice can either
be initiated directly from the vapor by deposition nucle-
ation, or by freezing nucleation of existing supercooled
drops. Drop freezing can take place through immersion
freezing, contact freezing, or by condensation freezing
(Vali, 1985b).
In warm-based clouds (base temperatures warmer than
about 10°C), the coalescence process may be able to de-
velop millimeter drops before they are carried to the 0°C
level. Such large supercooled drops usually freeze quite
easily, often at the -5° or -10°C isotherm (Koenig, 1963;
Braham, 1964, 1968; Hallett et al., 1978). Since their sub-
sequent growth by riming and vapor deposition can be
quite different from that experienced by liquid drops or
graupel initiated as ice crystals, Braham (1986) has sug-
gested that this process be called coalescence freezing to
distinguish it from other physical processes that can lead
to precipitation development such as the ice crystal mech-
anism or the coalescence mechanism. Glaciation of large
supercooled drops in warm-based clouds can significantly
accelerate their growth (Braham, 1964; Johnson, 1987) and
may increase the efficiency of the storm.
Warm-based supercooled clouds are often observed to
have surprisingly high concentrations of ice particles. This
is usually taken as evidence for secondary processes of ice
formation, often termed ice multiplication (Mossop, 1970,
1985), but the mechanism responsible for the increased
concentrations is still in dispute (e.g. Hobbs and Rangno,
1985). In the presence of an active ice multiplication pro-
cess, any large supercooled liquid drops that remain un-
frozen should freeze quickly while the concentration of
smaller ice particles (usually columns) rises rapidly (Lamb
et al., 1981).
Recent studies suggest that the cloud droplet distribution
can play an important role in the efficiency of the Hallett-
Mossop ice multiplication mechanism, and in other ice
forming processes ( Mossop and Hallett, 1974; Hallett and
Mossop, 1974; Mossop, 1978a,b, 1979; Mossop and Wis-
hart, 1978; Hobbs and Rangno, 1985). If we assume a
mathematical form for the cloud droplet distribution, the
suggested drop spectra criteria can be directly related to
the ambient liquid water content (and hence cloud base
temperature and entrainment) and droplet concentration.
Once large supercooled drops or graupel are formed, of
course, their subsequent growth by riming will still be
CLOUD MICROPHYSICS AND RADAR 327
controlled by the liquid water content and mean size of
the droplets (e.g. Beard and Grover, 1974; Pflaum and
Pruppacher, 1979) in exactly the same way that coales-
cence processes depend on the sizes of the collected drops.
Clouds with relatively cold bases can be very different
from their warm-based cousins. The lower base temper-
ature limits the available liquid water and reduces the
depth of cloud available for warm processes to be active
before ice onset. Uquid processes are relatively inactive,
and precipitation development takes place through ice
crystal growth followed by riming (Dye et al., 1974). Su-
percooled liquid water is often present in these clouds, but
the droplet distributions usually consist of relatively small
drops totaling water contents that are often much lower
than those found in warm-based clouds. Water contents
of 0.5 g m- 3 would be considered somewhat high for the
cold-based convective clouds of the High Plains, but would
be rather low for warm-based Midwestern clouds. In win-
ter storms, liquid water contents are usually limited to 0.1
to 0.2 g m- 3 or less.
Primary ice nucleation mechanisms are quite important
in these cold-based clouds, and ice multiplication mech-
anisms are seldom active (Cooper, 1986). The initial
growth of ice crystals is primarily through vapor deposi-
tion, until they are large enough to begin riming. In some
cases, crystal aggregation may form large riming embryos
(Heymsfield, 1986b), whose initial growth by riming may
be enhanced by the porous nature of the aggregate (Lew
et al., 1986a,b). Classically (Hosler et al., 1957; Hallgren
and Hosler, 1960), aggregation was thought to take place
only at temperatures near 0°C, but recent observations
have demonstrated that it can occur at almost any tem-
perature (e.g., Lo and Passarelli, 1982; Heymsfield, 1986a).
As for warm clouds and warm-based mixed clouds, the
cold cloud's liquid water content and mean droplet di-
ameter are critical parameters controlling the rate at which
the ice particles or graupel can grow by accretion. In cold-
based clouds, however, the droplet concentrations may
tend to be a bit higher than in warm-based clouds (John-
son, 1980), with an associated reduction in mean drop
size.
2.3.3 Cold Processes
In cold clouds the supercooled liquid water, if any, exists
in very low quantities and riming is not an important
growth process. The liquid water, when present, merely
ensures that the diffusional growth of the ice crystals will
continue at a rapid rate, based on the differences in vapor
pressure between supercooled liquid water and solid ice
(Bergeron, 1933). In this case, and for mixed-phase clouds
. as well, the survival of the supercooled liquid water is
dependent on the size and number of nucleated ice crystals
that are depleting the vapor supply and the updraft ve-
locity. If the updraft is large enough, liquid water can be
maintained, even in the presence of moderately high con-
328 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
centrations of small ice crystals (Rauber and Grant, 1986).
Cold processes often dominate winter storms and the anvil
regions of large thunderstorms as well as most mid- and
upper-level clouds. Since growing ice crystals are usually
found in much lower concentrations than cloud droplets,
diffusional growth processes can be quite effective in pro-
ducing large snow crystals. It is thus a relatively common
observation to see small cold-based clouds producing sur-
prisingly extensive streamers of precipitation. Aggregation
of crystals can produce large flakes and is clearly one of
the most important growth processes for this class of cloud,
but one that is not well understood (Douglas, 1957; Rogers,
1974; Passarelli, 1978a,b; Passarelli and Srivastava, 1979;
Lo and Passarelli, 1982).
To radar meteorologists, the most interesting feature of
snowfall is often the "bright band" of enhanced radar re-
flectivity associated with the melting of snow (Byers and
Coons, 1947; Hooper and I<ippax, 1950). Since the early
years of radar meteorology, this dramatic feature has at-
tracted the attention of new investigators, motivating a
large body of innovative research. For interesting discus-
sions of the early history of bright band research, see Atlas
and Ulbrich (Chapter 12) and Dennis and Hitschfeld
(Chapter 13). More recent studies of the bright band and
related phenomena are reviewed by Schaller et al. (1982).
2..4 The Physical and Scattering Properties
of Hydrometeors
2.4.1 Important Physical Properties
of Scatterers
The main physical properties of a hydrometeor that
govern its scattering are its size, shape, state (whether it
is liquid, solid, or a combination of both), and fall behavior.
Surprisingly, many of these properties are not well known.
Cloud droplets and submillimeter drizzle drops can be
considered spherical. Larger liquid drops flatten and distort
into shapes that have often been compared to hamburger
buns. While the general shape of raindrops has been
known since the observations of Lenard (1904), shape
studies have continued up to the present day (Blanchard,
1950; Magono, 1954; McDonald, 1954a,b; Jones, 1959;
Pruppacher and Beard, 1970; Pruppacher and Pitter, 1971;
Rasmussen et al., 1985; Beard and Chuang, 1987). In most
cases, these studies have been concerned with equilibrium
shape. In a rainshaft, however, the shapes may be distorted
by oscillations (Volz, 1960; Brook and Latham, 1968;
Johnson and Beard, 1984). At present it is not certain how
oscillations will bias the mean drop shape. Potential energy
well estimates, such as Beard and Johnson (1984), suggest
that oscillations should make the mean shapes more
spherical. Recent evidence from radar polarization data
(Caylor and Illingworth, 1987; Sachidananda and Zmic,
1986b), on the other hand, suggests that drops may oc-
casionally be flattened even more than their equilibrium
shapes. Clearly, more work is needed.
For ice particles, shape estimates are more empirical.
Particle samples and photographs have been examined
and shape distributions developed. In most cases, the shape
information collected was incidental to other data of in-
terest such as fall velocity, size, mass, or bulk density, and
the actual shape information available is rather scanty. For
these complex solid particles, the shape information cannot
be divorced from fall behavior. Particles with Reynolds
numbers less than about 100 fall stably with their largest
dimension horizontal (see Clift et al., 1978). At greater
Reynolds numbers, deviations from horizontal are fre-
quent, with oscillations, fluttering, wobbling, and tumbling
observed. With increasing use of polarization measure-
ments in radar meteorology, there is a great need for more
data of this kind. In particular, statistics are needed on the
shape and orientation of falling ice particles as functions
of particle size and ·habit. A mathematical framework that
may be useful for the characterization of a wide variety
of shapes has been proposed by Wang (1982) and Wang
and Denzer (1983).
Studies of the size distributions of hydrometeors, on the
other hand, have long been a staple of both cloud physics
and radar meteorology. Cloud droplet distributions can be
rather complex but can often be approximated by a gamma
distribution. Raindrop-size distributions have traditionally
been classified as exponential (e.g. Marshall and Palmer,
1948; Sekhon and Srivastava, 1971), while recent studies
have examined other distributions such as the gamma (Ul-
brich, 1983; Ulbrich and Atlas, 1984) or lognormal (Fein-
gold and Levin, 1986, 1987). While modelers and theo-
reticians have often attempted to explain the preference
of nature for a particular form of the drop- size distribution,
there still seems to be no a priori reason to prefer one
distribution shape over another, other than empirical ev-
idence that one works better in a particular application.
Size distributions of aggregate snowflakes have been
measured by Imai et al. (1955), Magono (1957), Gunn
and Marshall (1958), and Ohtake (1968). In general, these
studies all showed that the size distributions could be rep-
resented by a suitable exponential curve (e.g. Sekhon and
Srivastava, 1970). Similar studies for hail have generally
concluded that truncated exponential functions will usually
provide a reasonable basis for estimating the size distri-
bution, at least over typical radar pulse volumes (Federer
and Waldvogel, 1975, 1978; Cheng and English, 1983;
Cheng et al., 1985).
2.4.2 Scattering Properties of Hydrometeors
As discussed in the preceding paragraphs, the potential
contribution of an individual hydrometeor to the average
backscattered power depends upon factors such as size
(especially relative to the radar wavelength), shape, com-
position (i.e., its index of refraction) and, in the case of

hydrometeors with axes of symmetry, its orientation with
respect to the plane of propagation (the plane defined by
the oscillating electric field vector).
The size and index of refraction are the most critical
factors determining the backscatter cross section of a single
hydrometeor. It is well known that when homogeneous
hydrometeors are small with respect to the radar wave-
length, the incident wave penetrates so quickly that the
phase of the wave is essentially uniform throughout the
particle. Consequently the dipole that is produced is
aligned with the incident field. This induced dipole oscil-
lates in response to the incident wave, reradiating some
of the incident energy (Gans, 1912; Ryde, 1946; Atlas et
al., 1953). For solid ice (density = 0.91 g em-3 ), mea-
surements show that this view of hydrometeor backscatter
is valid provided L < ~I 4 where L is the maximum axis
dimension of the particle and ~ is the radar wavelength
(Atlas and Wexler, 1963 ). Following the approach of Van
de Hulst (1957), this criterion can be extended to other
substances through the relation LIm - 11 < ~I 2 , where
m is the complex index of refraction. Hydrometeors sat-
isfying this criterion are called Rayleigh-Cans scatterers.
For example, with~ = 10.7 em and (for liquid water) ImI
= 9.17, this criterion is satisfied as long as the particle
diameter is less than 0.65 em. On the other hand, for snow
and low density graupel, L can be several centimeters.
When the Rayleigh-Cans criterion is not met, the back-
scatter cross sections of the hydrometeors must be calcu-
lated using the Mie equations. In the Mie scattering regime,
the backscatter cross sections and other parameters of
scattering can be multiple-valued functions of particle size
(e.g., Herman and Battan, 1961a,b). There can be signif-
icant ambiguities in interpretations of data from Mie scat-
terers. Since the analysis of radar data in terms of the
properties of the precipitation is already complex, it is for-
tunate that most radar research effort in cloud physics has
been limited to the Rayleigh-Cans regime. This will un-
doubtedly change as shorter wavelengths are used more
fully; in fact, there is already an important exception that
exploits the radar frequency dependence of the boundary
between Rayleigh-Cans and Mie scatter in order to detect
hail (Atlas and Ludlam, 1961).
The radar backscatter cross section and other scattering
parameters not only depend on the size and index of re-
fraction of the hydrometeor, but also are functions of the
hydrometeor shape and the polarization of the incident
wave.lt is well known that in the Rayleigh-Cans scattering
regime the electric field within the particle can be expressed
in terms of the dipole moments induced along each of
three principal axes (Cans, 1912; Atlas et al., 1953; Van
de Hulst, 1957; Barge, 1972). However, the magnitude of
the induced dipole is a function of the electric field "seen"
by the hydrometeor. This field, in tum, depends upon the
orientation of the particle with respect to the plane of
propagation. The possible orientations of any particular
hydrometeor are determined by its behavior as it falls.
CLOUD MICROPHYSICS AND RADAR 329
Although raindrops may cant in the presence of extreme
wind shear or because of collisions and drop breakup,
theoretical considerations (Beard and Jameson, 1983) as
well as radar measurements (McCormick and Hendry,
1974; Hendry et al., 1987) indicate that raindrop canting
angles are rather narrowly distributed about a mean value
near zero. Similarly, particles that are essentially melted
will also be highly oriented (Blanchard, 1957; Rasmussen
et al., 1984b), with the possible exception of large hail,
which may well shed its melt water and keep tumbling.
In contrast, ice hydrometeors should exhibit considerably
greater canting since they often wobble and spin during
descent (e.g., Jayaweera and Mason, 1965; Jayaweera and
Cottis, 1969; Podzimek, 1965, 1968; Ust and Schemenauer,
1971; List et al., 1973; Zikmunda and Vali, 1972).
The size, index of refraction, orientation, and shape of
a particular hydrometeor at one instant, however, is not
critically important to radar measurements; rather it is the
distribution of these quantities over the hydrometeor en-
semble that is most relevant. Considering the size of the
illuminated pulse volume, there is also a lot of averaging
of potentially significant small-scale structures beyond that
involved in taking the ensemble average of a homogeneous
set of scatterers.
While in principle a full characterization of the scattering
medium requires knowing all the moments of the distri-
butions, only a partial description of these distributions
can be obtained using the four fundamental properties
(amplitude, phase, frequency, and polarization), because
many of the measurements will not be independent and
any new measurements may well be sensitive to new vari-
ables. In this sense, the application of radar to cloud physics
problems is open-ended. This is good. Although the com-
plete description of a microphysical system will probably
always remain out of reach, the search for a better de-
scription will persist as a driving force in radar-cloud
physics research.
3 MICROPHYSICAL RADAR
MEASUREMENTS
Since becoming available for meteorological research,
radars have been applied to just about every stage of hy-
drometeor evolution discussed in section 2.3, from their
inception within clouds to their deposition on the ground.
In this section we will briefly review a number of highlights
in the application of radar to cloud physics research. While
not intended to be comprehensive, the review will identify
some of the apparent trends and recurring themes in cloud
microphysics and radar and pofut toward possible future
applications of radar technology to cloud physics research.
3.1 Cloud Observations
Cloud processes determine when, where, and what types
of hydrometeors form in a cloud or storm. They also govern
330 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

the evolution of hydrometeors and, to varying degrees,
the evolution of the dynamics of the cloud. For example,
the entrainment of environmental air may not only affect
the evolution of the cloud droplet spectra (Telford and
Chai, 1980; Baker et al., 1984), but may also be important
in the formation of downdrafts (Takeda, 1965; Hookings,
1965; Seitter and Kuo, 1983) and downbursts (Srivastava,
1985, 1987; Hjelmfelt, 1987). Comprehensive studies of
these processes require radar systems capable of detecting
cloud droplets, possibly augmented by chaff. Moninger
and Kropfli (1987), for example, recently suggested an in-
teresting new technique for studying cloud entrainment
using dual-polarization radar and chaff.
While Atlas and Bartnoff (1953) and Atlas (1954) de-
veloped quantitative interpretations of cloud reflectivities,
the first systematic study of the radar detectability of cloud
droplets was performed by Plank et al. (1955) using a
vertically pointing radar operating at a wavelength of 1.25
em. An interpretation of vertical pointing observations with
respect to synoptic conditions was considered by Boucher
(1959) . The short wavelength radars used for such early
studies, however, were only able to detect particles at the
large end of the cloud particle size distribution. These ra-
dars also typically suffered severe attenuation in the pres-
ence of precipitation. Therefore, after a period of initial
development, most meteorological radars have operated
at wavelengths of 3 em or longer and with only rare ex-
ceptions have not had sufficient sensitivity to detect cloud
droplets.
Although radar-based studies of nonprecipitating clouds
have languished, the use of millimeter wavelength K-band
radars continues in studies of winter storms. In such sit-
uations, attenuation is less of a problem and the relatively
high sensitivity of these radars has been well suited for
detection of snow. This kind of observation is particularly
important when made in conjunction with other remote
sensing observations, such as estimates of the integrated
liquid water content made possible by dual-channel ra-
diometers (e.g., Heggli and Reynolds, 1985).
Only recently has there been a return to using millimeter
wavelength radars for cloud studies. These radars are now
capable of observing much smaller cloud particles than
was possible in earlier studies. Pasqualucci (1980), for ex-
ample, was the first to report Doppler observations of ver-
tical velocities in clouds. Subsequently, a dual-receiver,
dual-polarized 8.6-mm coherent (Doppler) radar was de-
veloped that is suitable for cloud studies (Pasqualucci et
al., 1983). Lhermitte (1987a,b) assembled a particularly
sensitive 3.2-mm wavelength Doppler radar that he has
used in a vertical pointing mode. Figure 3.1 illustrates some

0.78 4----t----------------~------------------+-----------------~----------~

0. 78~--~~--------------~~----------------+-----------------~----------~
14:26 14:25 14 : 24
TIME EST
0 0 .5 1.0 1.5 2.0
CLOUD LENGTH (kml

Fig. 3.1 (Bottom) Radar reflectivity (dBZ) and (top) updraft velocity (m s- 1) presented in height-time coordinates for a shallow fair
weather cumulus (from Lhermitte, 1987b) . Data points were acquired every 5.5 s, with a vertical separation between range gates of
65 m. Arrows indicate the apparent pattern of circulation.
 CLOUD MICROPHYSICS AND RADAR 331

early results from this innovative radar. There is clearly 12

Port Starboard Port
,....-...,;....:~-+---.-=--=r.:....:..:r-=--,....-L-r--~-r---r----,
great potential for work of this sort, which extends remote 13July 1976
sensing technology into new areas of research. Echo lb
10 )C X I( X X
- 30
~--'·.· .....
IT1
-;;; .......>l 0~ - 20 3:
3 •.2. First Echo Studies E • 5 10 -o

.. :. ~
8
E IT1
;o
~
..... -10 ~
Radar offers one of the best means for detecting and J: • Vi111al Topt c
;o
!:! 6
w o Radar Data IT1
investigating the appearance of precipitation-sized particles J: • BoundarJ Scans X )C 0 0
0 ....
throughout a storm. Observations of the temperatures and ~
4 • • ud Base 3
0
heights of the initial radar echoes have been used to study 01•a.am
the relative importance of warm and cold processes in pre-
cipitation formation in different geographical locations 10 14 18 22 1626
(Jones, 1950; Bowen, 1951; Battan, 1953, 1963a; Braham TIME MDT
et al., 1957; Braham, 1958; Koscielski and Dennis, 1976),
and to study possible urban effects (Braham and Dungey, Fig. 3.2 The early echo and visual top history of a storm on 13 July
1976 in northeast Colorado (from Knight et al., 1983). The appearance
1978; Ochs and Johnson, 1980). Such studies have had a
of first precipitation at high altitudes indicates the important role of
long history in cloud physics research dating from the early ice processes in this storm.
·work of Battan, who found that initial Ohio summertime
echoes formed through drop coalescence. In other locations
studies provide strong evidence of initial echo development
through ice processes. Figure 3.2 is an example of such a the influx of moisture required to regenerate and to sustain
recent first echo study, in which the radar data have been generating cells for the two to three hours implied by the
combined with cloud top observations (Knight et al., size of the streamers.
1983) . Hardly any additional research was done on generating
With the development of more advanced radar systems, cells and streamers until Doppler measurements led to re-
first echo studies that incorporate radar measurables other newed investigations. Using vertical pointing Doppler ra-
than backscattered power should now be possible. In the dar measurements, Carbone and Bohne (1975) investigated
past, glaciation could only be inferred from measurements the quasi-two-dimensional dynamics of generating cells,
of radar reflectivity alone (e.g., Battan, 1953). With modern while the complete three-dimensional dynamical structure
polarization measurements it should be possible to detect using two Doppler radars was determined by Bohne
directly whether a first echo is comprised of ice or water (1979) . The dynamical effects of evaporating snow at the
and to monitor the onset of glaciation within a cloud. base of streamers has been studied by Harris (1977), using
vertical pointing Doppler radar data. These studies are a
good reflection of the impact of new technology on re-
3.3 Generating Levels, Generating Cells, search, and they also illustrate the benefits of considering
and Precipitation Streamers microphysical measurements within a framework of dy-
namics.
As illustrated in Fig. 3.3, early qualitative measurements
of backscattered power using vertically pointing radars (see
Dennis and Hitschfeld, Chapter 13) led to the rapid iden-
tification of precipitating clouds at middle to high altitudes
that seemed to generate streamers of precipitation particles
falling into layers of stratiform clouds coexisting at much
lower altitudes ( Lhermitte, 1952; Marshall, 1953; Gunn et
al., 1954; Douglas et al., 1957). Quantitative power mea-
surements were used to estimate precipitation growth along
such streamers (Atlas, 1955; Wexler and Atlas, 1958).
Douglas et al. (1957) computed that there was enough
latent heat of sublimation released at the top of the
streamers (the so-called generating cells) to explain the 10 20 30 40
apparent convection. While Wexler and Atlas (1958) DISTANCE (mi)

showed that the various growth processes were consistent Fig. 3.3 Height-time record obtained by the Stormy Weather Group
with the radar observations, they also found (Wexler and at McGill University using a vertically pointing radar (reprinted
Atlas, 1959) that the generating cells apparently moved from Battan, 1973). Generating cells deposit snow into stratiform
with the wind at their bases. This seems inconsistent with clouds with a clearly defined bright band.
332 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
3.4 Melting Layer Studies
Whether icy precipitation is from streamers or from
stratiform and convective douds, it often falls into an en-
vironment where the temperature is above freezing. On
those occasions when snow melts into rain, radars typically
observe a highly reflective region that has been termed
the bright band (see section 2.3). The basic physics of the
bright band has been understood since the early 1950s
(Austin and Bemis, 1950; Browne and Robinson, 1952;
Newell and Geotis, 1955; Mason 1955; Wexler, 1957), but
not until the availability of Doppler radars (see Fig. 3.4)
could details of the changes in fall speed with height cor-
responding to the aggregation and breakup of the falling
·hydrometeors be documented ( Lhermitte and Atlas, 1963).
The increasing availability of radar polarization mea-
surements has renewed interest in studying the micro-
physical details of melting in order to understand the
structure of the polarization variables through the melting
layer (Johnson and Jameson, 1982; Rasmussen and Prup-
pacher, 1982; Rasmussen et al., 1984a,b). Such studies
apply not only to the melting of snow, of course, but also
to the melting of other ice hydrometeors. The melting re-
gion is especially important for studies of cloud physics,
since it forms a test bed for different microphysical models
used to interpret polarization measurements. Because of
the wide assortment of shapes, the different hydrometeors
in different stages of melting, the mixture of ice and liquid
Fig. 3.4 Simultaneous profiles of reflectivity factor and root mean
square particle fall speed in light steady precipitation with a bright
b~nd (from Lher_mitte and Atlas, 1963). The marked increase in par-
ticle fall speed 1s clear evidence of the transition from snow to rain.
precipitation, and the presence of nonsymmetric scatterers,
an understanding of the melting region will require using
all availa~le radar resources including dual-wavelength
(Humphnes and Barge, 1979) and polarization measure-
ments (Humphries and Barge, 1979; Hendry and Antar,
1984a; Metcalf, 1986; Bringi et al., 1986a,b; Hendry et al.,
1987; Jameson and Dave, 1988). Understanding the com-
plexities of the microphysics of melting and its reflection
in radar signals will require increasingly comprehensive
and complex measurements. In many cases, numerical
models will provide valuable assistance in understanding
~h~se new o~ser;ations. An example of this kind of study
IS illustrated m Ftg. 3.5, where the melting model of John-
son and Jameson (1982) was extended to predict vertical
cross sections of a number of radar parameters as a uniform
initial distribution of graupel falls through a sheared en-
vironment. Sensitivity studies involving such models can
be used to refine our interpretation of advanced radar ob-
servations, and they are another demonstration of the
synergistic interaction between new technology and sci-
entific progress as well as between observational and com-
putational meteorology.
3.5 Drop-Size Distributions
Drop-size distributions are one of the primary mea-
surements of interest to cloud physicists. How drops form
and evolve is the core question in many cloud physics
studies. These distributions are also important to radar
~e~eorologists since the power backscattered from precip-
Itation depends upon the size and concentration of the
hydrometeors and, to a lesser extent, upon the hydro-
meteor shapes. Because these power measurements are
functions of several variables, more than one combination
can yield the same backscattered power. This explains the
failure of attempts to measure rainfall rate (R) directly
from radar reflectivity factor (Z )-instead, statistical Z-R
relationships must be derived. These, however, exhibit ex-
treme regional and temporal fluctuations due to the vari-
ability of drop-size distributions often arising from size
sorting in wind shear ( Gunn and Marshall, 1955).
With the invention of Doppler radar, it became possible
to calculate the drop-size distributions from Doppler power
spectra from vertically pointing radars (Rogers and Pille,
1962). Because the velocity spectra are affected by the
vertical component of the air motion as well as by the
terminal fall velocity of the drops, various techniques have
been devised to separate air velocity from particle veloc-
ities. In addition, turbulent air motions can modify the
shape and width of calculated distributions. Techniques
for determining the effect of mean air motion include rel-
atively simple approaches (Probert-Janes and Harper,
1961; Rogers, 1964; Hauser and Amayenc, 1981; Dazhang
and Passarelli, 1983; Klassen, 1983) as well as more com-
plex dual-wavelength Doppler techniques (Sangren et al.,
1984). In a separate development, an FM-CW (Frequency
 CLOUD MICROPHYSICS AND RADAR 333

~lUilV

·'

~
...
J'.

.. .... ......
~ (
-~
,,~-
••

~ ': ~- ~~t:~:~<·. .

ZoA
CDR

.8

Fig. 3.5 Numerical simulations of vertical cross sections of rainfall rate, equivalent reflectivity factor, differential reflectivity (ZoR),
Circular Depolarization Ratio (CDR), and the magnitude of the circular polarization cross-correlation function p associated with a
steady-state precipitation shaft in a sheared environment (adapted from Johnson and Jameson, 1983).The effects of particle size sorting
and melting produce different patterns for the various parameters. These can be compared to actual observations to identify the essential
physics.

Modulated, Continuous Wave) radar has been used to 3.6.1 Hail Detection
measure drop spectra (Ligthart et al., 1984). Recently, Very
In the 1950s attempts were made to detect hail from
High Frequency (VHF) Doppler radars have shown great
patterns in the radar reflectivity (Donaldson, 1958; Cook,
promise in separating particle motion from the effects of
1958). The power backscattered at one wavelength and
air motion including turbulence (Wakasugi et al., 1986,
1987a,b), often in combination with Ultra High Frequency
(UHF) radars (e.g., Larsen and Rottger, 1987). This ca-
pability is illustrated by Fig. 3.6, showing the vertical in-
cidence Doppler spectra as a tropical thunderstorm drifted
over the giant VHF radar at Arecibo, Puerto Rico.

3.6 Hydrometeor ldenti&cation

Even at the coarsest level, it is often very difficult to
follow the evolution of precipitation in large complex me-
teorological systems. Radar is presently the only known
instrument with the potential for gathering the necessary
measurements on reasonable time and space scales. To
provide a more revealing dataset, remote sensing mea-
surements must be capable of discriminating between dif-
ferent types of hydrometeors. While hydrometeor identi-
fication using radar has been a research topic for over thirty
Fig. 3.6 Vertical incidence Doppler spectra (adapted from Holden,
years (e.g., Newell and Geotis, 1955; Atlas and Ludlam, 1987) from the VHF radar at Arecibo, Puerto Rico, illustrating the
1961; McCormick et al., 1972; Seliga and Bringi, 1976; separation of returns associated with air motions (unshaded) from
Hall et al., 1984; Jameson, 1985b), the technology has those due to precipitation (gray shading). This separation permits
advanced sufficiently to provide practical research tools the conversion of the spectrum of particle fall speed into particle size
only relatively recently. distributions.

polarization, however, is derived from all of the scatterers
in the radar pulse volume. While hail is often associated
with unusually large radar reflectivities, it can also occur
at reflectivities that can be produced by other hydrome-
teors.
The surest means of detecting a particular type of hy-
drometeor is to find a radar measurement uniquely asso-
ciated with some particular physical characteristic of the
particle. Because it was originally thought that many hail-
stones were not spherical (while most smaller hydrome-
teors tend to act like spherical or nearly spherical particles),
circular polarization was proposed as a possible technique
to detect hail (Gershenzon and Shypiatskii, 1961; Barge,
1972). Since for circular polarizations nonspherical par-
tides produce a significant copolarized backscattered signal
(in contrast to perfect spheres, which backscatter only in
the cross-polarized sense), it was hoped that the ratio of
the power in the copolarized channel to that in the cross-
polarized channel (the Circular Depolarization Ratio or
CDR) would be small except when hail was present. Mea-
surements (Barge, 1974) showed that CDR was often small
even in hail probably because the rather small index of
refraction of ice tends to reduce the magnitude of the ex-
pected shape effects. Only when CDR is used in combi-
nation with radar reflectivity have there been successes in
locating hail.
An alternative approach was proposed by Atlas and
Ludlam (1961). Since hail can scatter either like a Rayleigh-
Cans scatterer with a strong size dependence at long radar
wavelengths or like a Mie scatterer with a weaker depen-
dence on size at short wavelengths, the ratio of simulta-
neous measurements of the backscattered power at dif-
ferent wavelengths could be used to locate hail. This idea
was refined to account for the effect of attenuation (Eccles
and Atlas, 1973; Jameson, 1977; Tuttle and Rinehart, 1983)
and has been used recently by a number of investigators
(Jameson and Heymsfield, 1980; Heymsfield et al., 1980;
Tuttle and Rinehart, 1983; Westcott et al., 1984; Bringi et
al., 1986a,b). The combination of dual-wavelength ob-
servations and Doppler-derived, three-dimensional wind
fields permits the detailed study of the likely trajectories
followed by growing hailstones and has led to new insights
into hail formation processes (e.g., Heymsfield et al., 1980).
Recently a different technique has been used to detect
icy hydrometeors. Because of the reduced index of refrac-
tion of ice compared to liquid water and the larger range
of canting angles associated with large solid precipitation
particles, icy hydrometeors appear to radar to be much
more spherical. Consequently, the ratio of the horizontally
Fig. 3.7 Multiple-parameter radar data from a Colorado hailstorm. Linear Depolarization Ratio (LDR), differential reflectivity (ZvR), and
dual-wavelength Hail Signal (HS) are in dB. The reflectivity factor at 10-cm wavelength (Z 10) is expressed in dBZ . HS ~ 5 dB defines regions
of hail. While ZvR is very uniform in locations of icy hydrometeors, LDR exhibits extensive structure that is quite similar but not identical to
that for the HS. The substantial ZvR at low levels (on the right) is likely an artifact caused by different beam patterns for horizontal and vertical
polarizations.
CLOUD MICROPHYSICS AND RADAR 335
copolarized backscattered power to that for vertical po-
larization (the differential reflectivity or ZvR) is smaller for
solid than for liquid hydrometeors. When areas of reduced
differential reflectivity in convective storms extend to the
ground in regions of high radar reflectivity, it is assumed
that hail is present ( Bringi et al., 1984, 1986a,b; Leitao and
Watson, 1984; Aydin et al., 1986; Illingworth et al., 1986).
Since differential reflectivity is not a measure of size, there
can be some uncertainty at times when small ice reaches
the surface as well (e.g. Bringi et al., 1984, 1986a,b). Fur-
thermore, differential reflectivity alone is not likely to be
very successful in detecting hail above the freezing level
when graupel are the dominant scatterers (i.e., cold-based
clouds).
An alternative linear polarization parameter which may
prove particularly useful above the melting level is LOR,
the Linear Depolarization Ratio. This parameter is defined
as the power in the cross-polarized channel divided by
the power in the copolarized channel. (See Bringi and
Hendry, Chapter 19a, for detailed formulations of polar-
ization parameters). Falling hail typically exhibits tumbling
motions (Knight and Knight, 1970; List et al., 1973). This
motion is not entirely random, or large hailstones would
not typically exhibit oblate shapes (Carte and Kidder, 1966;
Browning and Beimers, 1967; Knight and Knight, 1970;
Barge and Isaac, 1973; Matson and Huggins, 1980; Knight,
1986). Consequently, while hail is usually associated with
small but slightly positive values of differential reflectivity,
the linear depolarization ratio for hail should exhibit fairly
substantial values.
The current status of radar hail detection is well illus-
trated in Fig. 3.7. These data collected by the National
Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) CP-2 radar are
from a significant hailstorm near Denver, Colorado. In the
top panel the reflectivity factor (Z 10 ) and differential re-
flectivity (ZvR) at 10-cm wavelength are plotted. On the
bottom the dual-wavelength (10- and 3-cm wavelengths)
hail signal (denoted here by HS) and the linear depolar-
ization ratio at 3-cm wavelength are shown. These latter
two quantities have both been adjusted to remove the ef-
fects of attenuation at the 3-cm wavelength.
While Z 10 has a great deal of structure throughout the
entire depth of the storm, ZvR is small and considerably
more uniform because the precipitation is almost exclu-
sively ice. (The larger values at the very top and bottom
of the storm arise from differences between the beams
corresponding to horizontal and vertical polarizations.) In
contrast the dual-wavelength hail signal and LOR are very
structured even in the icy regions. Substantial regions of

significant dual-wavelength hail signal are often coincident
with locations of the largest values of LDR, although this
correspondence is not perfect. While the dual-wavelength
hail signal is a measure of hydrometeor size, LDR is largely
generated by the canting of nonspherical particles. In sit-
uations when the hail is nearly spherical, little if any LDR
will be produced even by tumbling stones. On the other
hand there are C'anted nonspherical graupel particles that
would not produce a dual-wavelength hail signal but could
still generate substantial LDR. The anomalies between the
two fields in Fig. 3.7, therefore, are a reflection of this
fundamental difference in the origins of dual-wavelength
hail signal and LDR.
3.6.2 Ice-Water Discrimination
The distinction between liquid and solid hydrometeors
is particularly important to understanding the evolution
of precipitation in different climatic regimes. The glaciation
of supercooled raindrops, for example, is important to the
evolution of precipitation and cloud dynamics in the tropics
and probably the subtropics as well. Determining the onset
of glaciation is of particular interest when attempting to
influence cloud evolution and precipitation production
through artificial seeding. The radar discrimination of water
from icy hydrometeors is, therefore, of considerable sig-
nificance.
The radar detection of liquid from solid hydrometeors
must exploit differences in how the two states scatter mi-
crowaves. One approach is to use attenuation. Hydro-
meteors attenuate microwaves by scattering and absorption
of the incident waves. Microwave absorption is much
greater for liquid than for icy hydrometeors. This may be
used to identify liquid precipitation successfully, but there
are several shortcomings. For example, icy hydrometeors
can cause considerable loss by scattering when the cir-
cumferences of the hydrometeors are comparable to the
wavelength. Attenuation is also very wavelength depen-
dent. Hence, the selection of a wavelength exhibiting suf-
ficient attenuation to provide reasonable resolution along
the radar radial can usually only yield measurements lim-
ited to short distances. Some ambiguity in interpretation
in regions that contain melting ice can also occur. If the
icy hydrometeors are sufficiently wet, they scatter micro-
waves almost as though they were entirely liquid (Joss
and List, 1963; Herman and Battan, 1961b).
An alternative approach is to use polarization measure-
ments which have the potential for high range resolution.
Because of the enhanced index of refraction of water over
that for ice and because of the greater gravitational ori-
entation of liquid hydrometeors, rain constitutes a highly
Fig. 3.8 Illustration of 10-cm reflectivity factor (Z) and differential reflectivity (ZoR) from the Chilbolton radar showing (top) ice-water
discrimination and (bottom) an intrusion of substantial ZoR (liquid or very wet icy hydrometeors) above the melting level in a convective
storm. (Color figure by I.]. Caylor courtesy of S.M. Cherry, M.P.M. Hall, ].W.F. Goddard, and A.]. Illingworth.)
CLOUD MICROPHYSICS AND RADAR 337
oriented medium (McCormick et al., 1972) compared to
other types of precipitation (Hendry et al., 1976). While
circular polarization parameters have been used to identify
rain (Barge, 1974; Hendry andAntar, 1984b), perhaps the
most striking approach has been to use differential reflec-
tivity (Hallet al., 1980, 1984). Figure 3.8 (top), from the
Chilbolton radar in England, clearly shows the enhanced
values of differential reflectivity below the melting level.
This increase is largely due to the enhancement of the
index of refraction as the icy hydrometeors become water
coated and more oriented during melting. In convective
storms large values of differential reflectivity are sometimes
found well above the freezing level (Fig. 3.8, bottom).
Depending upon the microphysical conditions, these are
probably produced by the presence of large unglaciated
water drops (Caylor and Illingworth, 1987) or possibly
water-coated icy hydrometeors (Westcott et al., 1984).
An alternative linear polarization parameter that may
also be useful for identifying rain is the linear depolariza-
tion ratio (also discussed in the previous section). In this
case, because rain is so highly oriented, it will be associated
with very small values of linear depolarization and the
signal will not be unambiguous since pristine crystals may
also tend to produce small values of LDR.
3.6.3 Canting
Measurements of hydrometeor canting have been sug-
gested as a means to discriminate among different hydro-
meteors (Hendry et al., 1976; Hendry and Antar, 1984a;
Jameson, 1985b). Wind-tunnel observations of water drops
(Pruppacher and Beard, 1970) and of heavily melted ice
particles (Blanchard, 1957; Rasmussen et al., 1984) reveal
that they are highly oriented with axes of symmetry
pointed vertically. Although raindrops in the atmosphere
may not be quite as well oriented because of drop collisions
(Johnson and Beard, 1984), radar measurements indicate
that the canting angles of raindrops are narrowly distrib-
uted about a mean of zero (McCormick and Hendry, 1974;
Beard and Jameson, 1983; Hendry et al., 1987). This con-
trasts with measurements in snow that suggest signifi-
cantly larger hydrometeor canting (Hendry et al., 1987).
More massive hydrometeors like graupel and hail should
be associated with even wider ranges of canting angles.
The potential importance of hydrometeor canting is a
particularly clear example of the constructive interplay that
can occur between cloud physics and radar. While hydro-
meteor canting has not been of particular interest to clas-
sical cloud physics, it is important to some radar mea-
surements and therefore may be a possible tool in
interpreting remote sensing observations. To use this tool
338 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
effectively, it is necessary for the radar meteorologist to
understand the physical origin of the signal characteristics.
These characteristics can often be described by several al-
ternative sets of parameters, and selection of inappropriate
parameters may lead to incorrect physical models that ob-
scure the actual properties of the hydrometeors. An ex-
ample is the prevalent use of a nonzero monodisperse dis-
tribution of canting angles for many calculations in
communication engineering. While such a distribution can
be used to explain many of the power measurements and
correlations among different polarizations, it is generally
an unrealistic assumption for actual hydrometeors (Jame-
son, 1985b). Because of the preference for many hydro-
meteors to fall with a horizontal orientation and because
of the substantial number of hydrometeors in a typical
radar sampling volume, it will often be safe to assume,
barring strong electrical effects (McCormick and Hendry,
1979), that the mean canting angle is very close to zero.
To the communication engineer either model of particle
behavior would probably be adequate, but to the cloud
physicist it is usually critical that the model reflect the actual
physical characteristics of the scatterers.
4 THE fUTURE
While there have been many significant advances in
meteorological theory and computer simulation, obser-
vations are still an important stimulus to progress in me-
teorology. The discovery of downbursts and their initial
characterizations, for example, were achieved through
photographic and radar observations (Fujita and Waki-
moto, 1983; Mueller and Hildebrand, 1983; Hjelmfelt,
1987). Similarly, our understanding of hail formation has
depended heavily upon radar observations, such as those
of Browning and Ludlam (1962), Chisholm (1970), English
(1973), Browning and Foote (1976), Browning (1977),
Heymsfield et al. (1980), Ziegler et al. (1983 ), Krauss and
Marwitz (1984), Foote (1984), and Nelson and Knight
(1987). Full understanding of meteorological observations,
of course, requires their integration with theory and nu-
merical modeling. Theoretical predictions, however, must
always be held to the touchstone of observational reality.
In examining the history and evolution of microphysical
studies in radar meteorology, a number of related trends
emerge. One is the obvious tendency toward the devel-
opment and use of increasingly sophisticated techniques
and technologies. In attempting to utilize all of the potential
information available from backscattered waves, meteo-
rologists have developed Doppler velocity techniques,
dual-wavelength techniques, and a plethora of diverse
polarization techniques. The development of new tech-
niques and technologies has contributed significantly to a
diversification into new approaches and domains of re-
search.
Further diversification is likely to continue. Substantial
opportunities exist for expansion of research in studies of
nonprecipitating clouds. Apart from such single-cloud re-
search, a vast and largely unexplored research opportunity
lies in identifying and characterizing the properties of hy-
drometeors throughout entire mesoscale systems using re-
mote sensing measurements. This development is likely to
offer the only means for adequately verifying retrieval
techniques that attempt to extract microphysical and ther-
modynamical information from multiple-Doppler wind
field analyses (Ziegler, 1985; Hauser and Amaynec, 1986;
Parsons et al., 1987). Although this objective is worthwhile
in itself, it is only the first step toward the larger goals of
measuring and understanding the evolution of clouds and
cloud systems in terms of their physical properties, and
the interaction of these properties within a dynamical
framework. This framework need not be limited to the
scale of individual clouds or cloud systems. In the next
decade or two, there will be an increased effort to use
spacebome radiometric and radar measurements to quan-
tify the global distribution of precipitation and its effects
on global circulation. Correct interpretation of both the
passive and active satellite measurements will require a
detailed understanding of the radiative and scattering
characteristics of clouds (and therefore the microphysics)
throughout entire systems in a variety of climates.
4.1 Toward More Sophisticated Techniques
and Technology
Over the years, radar meteorology has shown a steady
evolution toward greater sophistication. This trend is ev-
ident in a number of milestones beginning with the onset
of quantitative power measurements. Clouds and precip-
itation were first observed with radars in the early 1940s,
and quantitative interpretations of power measurements
evolved through a series of plateaus to the present. Ad-
vances were ,made on two fronts. Beginning with the basic
scattering theory of Ryde (1946) for spheres, Labrum
(1952) and Atlas et al. (1953) extended the theory to in-
clude nonspherical shapes for small particles. Although
the scattering by larger particles was investigated experi-
mentally by Harper (1962), Atlas and Wexler (1963), and
Joss and List (1963), the initial numerical computations of
Stevenson (1953) and Mathur and Mueller (1955) pointed
the way to the eventual complete numerical solution of
the Mie scattering equations for both spherical (Herman
and Battan, 1961a,b) and nonspherical scatterers (e.g.,
Waterman, 1969). The development of fully quantitative
measurements also required understanding the origin and
statistics of signal fluctuations (Marshall and Hitschfeld,
1953) and beam effects (Probert-Jones, 1962).
In another milestone, Lhermitte (1960b) considered the
physical rather than the statistical origin of signal fluctu-
ations. This led to the development of pulsed Doppler radar
for measuring particle fall speeds and vertical air speeds
(Lhermitte, 1960a; Probert-Jones and Harper, 1961; Rogers
and Pilie, 1962; Rogers, 1963; Battan, 1963b; Lhermitte
and Atlas, 1963) and horizontal winds ( Lhermitte, 1969;
Donaldson et al., 1969; Donaldson, 1970; Kraus, 1970).

Interest was no longer focused exclusively on obtaining
increasingly accurate measurements of the average squared
amplitude of the backscattered wave. For the first time,
the phase (at least its temporal variation) of the back-
scattered wave became an important and meteorologically
useful quantity. The application of Doppler techniques to
studies of air motion in cloud systems is now quite common
and has proved essential to investigating the dynamic
evolution of convective systems (see Ray, Chapter 24a).
Because of the complex variety of hydrometeors and the
wide variations in their ensemble properties, it is necessary
to extract as much information as possible using all the
properties of the backscattered waves. Interest in tech-
niques using more than one frequency for microphysical
research was inevitable. Highlights include the concept of
dual-wavelength hail detection (Atlas and Ludlam, 1961;
Eccles and Atlas, 1973) and its subsequent realization
(Jameson, 1977; Eccles, 1979; Jameson and Heymsfield,
1980; Tuttle and Rinehart, 1983; Westcott et al., 1984),
and the simultaneous use of UHF and VHF vertically
pointing radars to separate wind from particle motion for
deducing drop-size distributions (Larsen and Rottger,
1987).
The development of techniques using more than one
polarization was also inevitable, as described by Seliga
et al. (Chapter 14). Although early exploratory radar
measurements examined both circular and linear polar-
izations (e.g., Newell and Geotis, 1955), the first extensive
meteorological applications of polarization measurements
were made with circular polarizatiOn techniques (Barge,
1974; Humphries, 1974; Hendry and McCormick, 1974).
The introduction of linear differential reflectivity (ZvR) by
Seliga and Bringi in 1976 was another milestone that em-
phasized the potential of polarization measurements for
monitoring precipitation and for microphysical research.
Subsequent studies have led to a general surge of interest
in all kinds of polarization measurements.
Given the clear trend over the last several decades, it is
likely that new techniques will continue to be developed
well into the future. Ultimately, of course, there are only
a finite number of quantities that can be measured, but
there is certainly a long way to go before the possibilities
are exhausted. In any case, the conversion of experimental
techniques into commonly used research or operational
tools requires extensive comparisons with ground-based
and aircraft measurements. Unfortunately this crucial ver-
ification can take decades, as shown by dual-wavelength
hail detection schemes. Similarly, although the first po-
larization observations in precipitation were made over
thirty years ago, the acceptance of these techniques has
only recently become wioespread, perhaps because of an
increased understanding of the ellipticity, orientation, and
fall behavior of hydrometeors.
No matter how important any single technique should
prove to be, many different simultaneous measurements
and techniques will likely be required in order to address
adequately some of the complex problems in cloud micro-
CLOUD MICROPHYSICS AND RADAR 339
physics. There are already many examples of this in the
literature, including fully coherent (Doppler) dual-wave-
length estimate of drop-size distributions from vertically
pointing radars (Larsen and Rottger, 1987; Sangren et al.,
1984); vertical pointing, dual-wavelength, single-Doppler
calculations of hail distributions (Jameson and Srivastava,
1978); dual-wavelength, multiple-Doppler radar studies
of hail formation processes (Heymsfield et al., 1980); dual-
wavelength, dual-polarization precipitation studies in
convective storms (Jameson, 1983; Aydin et al., 1986;
Bringi et al., 1986a); dual-wavelength, dual-polarization
measurements in the bright band (Humphries and Barge,
1979); and fully coherent (Doppler), dual-polarization
studies in precipitation (Metcalf, 1986). The integration
of techniques need not be limited to just those measured
by radar; it is also likely that we will see an increase in
multiple-instrument studies combining measurements
from radar systems with lidar and radiometer measure-
ments. An advanced radar system, for example, can be
used to help sort out the relative magnitudes of contri-
butions by scatter and emission to radiometer brightness
temperatures (Wilheit et al., 1982; Wu and Weinman,
1984).
4.2 Toward Greater Diversl8cation
of Research
In radar meteorology, diversification has been the rule
rather than the exception. Much of this diversification has
naturally originated from the development of new tech-
niques, and this trend is sure to continue.
In recent decades, radar microphysical research has pri-
marily been directed toward investigations of single clouds
or specific structures within a cloud. In spite of this, we
are still really quite ignorant of the details of the dynamics
of nonprecipitating clouds, the interaction of the cloud dy-
namics with the evolving hydrometeor spectra, or even
the spatial and temporal distribution of cloud water and
ice. It is time to expand our capabilities with new instru-
mentation and techniques.
In particular there is a need for "cloud" radars capable
of high resolution Doppler and polarization measurements.
An important step in this direction is the development of
a vertical pointing 95 GHz (3.2-mm wavelength) radar by
Lhermitte (1987a,b). Nevertheless only microbeam radars
( ~1 °) can provide adequate resolution for detailed mea-
surements of small-scale cloud structures. An added po-
larization capability could provide a means for discrimi-
nating between liquid and icy cloud particles over entire
clouds as they evolve. The simultaneous use of two scan-
ning Doppler cloud radars could provide valuable infor-
mation about the three-dimensional wind fields within
nonprecipitating clouds.
In the more distant future, there is sure to be increasing
interest in small-scale structures within larger precipitating
storms. Currently, such structures are evident in aircraft
measurements, but are not resolved by meteorological ra-
dars, which have typical beam dimensions of one degree
340 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
(or larger) . Realistically, studies of this sort will require
long wavelength ( 5 or 10 em) microbeam ( ~ 1°) radars
with rapid scanning capabilities. Although such systems
are currently technically feasible, they are not likely to be
available to the meteorological community for a long time.
While much of the diversification of radar microphysics
research has originated in the development of new tech-
nology, additional diversification is certain to result from
an expansion of studies to larger scales. Much of the clas-
sical work in microphysics has focused on relatively small-
scale phenomena, but there is at present considerable em-
phasis in radar meteorology on multiple-Doppler analyses
and studies of mesoscale systems. To obtain an integrated
understanding of these systems, methods will have to be
found to characterize both temporally and spatially the
phase and properties of hydrometeors throughout entire
systems. For example, the exploration of microphysics on
larger scales is likely to offer the only means for adequately
verifying experimental Doppler-numerical techniques for
extracting microphysical and thermodynamical informa-
tion. Achieving this goal will require an expansion of mi-
crophysical remote sensing capabilities. The development
of airborne and spaceborne systems equipped for micro-
physical remote sensing observations is likely to be im-
portant for the study of cloud systems all the way up to
global scales. While spaceborne measurements are nec-
essary to address the largest scales, initial measurements
from space will necessarily be with rather low resolution.
Microphysical measurements using ground-based and air-
borne systems will be required to characterize the temporal
and spatial distribution of various hydrometeors in order
to aid the interpretation of space measurements.
In addition, there is a need for short path remote sensing
measurements that can characterize hydrometeors in sam-
ple volumes smaller than normal radar sample volumes,
but larger than sample volumes typically used for in situ
measurements. While such instruments could be used on
the ground, they would be a particularly important aug-
mentation for research aircraft (Serafin et al., 1987).
4.3 Toward an Integrated Microphysical
and Dynamical Understanding
of Cloud Systems
The first and second laws of thermodynamics in com-
bination with the principle of mass conservation define all
the possible states of any meteorological system. These
principles are normally expressed in the equations of mo-
tion, the thermodynamic equation, and the equation of
mass continuity. To understand a meteorological system
is to understand its evolution in adherence to these equa-
tions. Since water in one form or another is essential to
most meteorological systems, the equations must involve
terms describing the energetics of water substance, such
as phase transitions and gravitational loading. In many
circumstances, radiational terms involving water are
needed to achieve the necessary energy balance. In general,
then, to understand a meteorological system requires
knowing the distribution and evolution of the liquid and
solid hydrometeors.
One approach to gaining some understanding of the
evolution of the water substance is through numerical
simulations. No existing computer model can yet calculate
the evolution of the mesoscale dynamics simultaneously
with detailed microphysical interactions. For this reason
parameterizations have been developed in hopes of keep-
ing the essential features of most microphysical processes.
Unfortunately, our fundamental knowledge of these pro-
cesses is seldom adequate to formulate realistic simulations.
In addition, as the computational domain is expanded, mi-
crophysical computations must necessarily become more
limited. As the domain expands to global scale, there may
not even be room for highly parameterized microphysical
computations.
Such calculations are useful but cannot substitute for
observations. There is a continuing need for observations
to verify the results from numerical models and to guide
numerical simulations toward greater realism.
Some meteorological systems are essentially controlled
by large-scale dynamic forcings, irrespective of the micro-
physical processes at work. While it may not be necessary
to know the distribution and evolution of precipitation in
order to understand the large-scale evolution of such sys-
tems, there are other perfectly valid reasons for needing
microphysical observations throughout an entire system.
These include studies of cloud radiation balance, the three-
dimensional distribution of released latent heat, the gen-
eration and evolution of the electric fields, and quantitative
precipitation estimates.
A particularly good example is the proposed use of ra-
diometers to measure rainfall from space using the bright-
ness temperatures of the upwelling radiation. Because the
emissivity of rain is much larger than for ice, the amount
of upwelling radiation (the magnitude of the brightness
temperature) can be related to the rainfall provided the
vertical extent of the rain is known (Wilheit et al., 1977).
It is well recognized, however, that scattering by inter-
vening ice canopies over regions of rain can significantly
affect radiometric measurements at the shorter wave-
lengths used for space observations (Wilheit et al., 1982;
Wu and Weinman, 1984). While the importance of the
thicknesses of the regions of rain and ice is generally
known, the radiative properties of clouds and ice layers
will strongly depend upon the scattering characteristics
and spatial distributions of the different types of ice. Be-
cause these distributions vary from system to system and
in different climates, an argument can be made for devel-
oping a climatology of global microphysics.
Technological innovation has been and will continue to
be a driving force advancing and diversifying meteorolog-
ical research, but this does not mean that major advances
cannot be achieved with existing instrumentation. Insight
and a well-defined experiment are infinitely more valuable
than technological innovation for its own sake. When in-
sight is coupled with technological innovation, however,
progress is not only likely but inevitable.
 341

Chapter 23b

Cloud Microphysics and Radar: Panel Report

Kenneth V. Beard * Climate and Meteorology Section, Illinois State Water Survey, and
Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Robert M. Rauber, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign

1 INTRODUCTION microphysics include direct studies of clouds and precip-

itation processes as well as a number of related areas with
The Panel on Cloud Microphysics and Radar met at the
applications in climate, hazards forecasting, air quality and
40th Anniversary Radar Meteorology Conference in Boston
communications.
to consider the review paper by Jameson and Johnson
Radar measurements of clouds and precipitation and
(Chapter 23a) and provide feedback to the authors. The
field studies of microphysical processes in clouds are com-
panel also discussed the present and potential uses of radar
plementary and, to a large extent, interdependent. This
in cloud physics measurements, and agreed that improve-
arises from the need to understand processes on many
ments are clearly needed in instrument systems, not just
scales. The broad goal of research in cloud microphysics
radar, in order to bridge the current gap in scales between
is to understand the nature of the growth and evolution
radar and in situ measurements. Research areas best suited
of cloud particles from nucleation through precipitation,
for cloud physics measurements by radar with enhanced
thus requiring attention to processes on scales much larger
capabilities were identified. This report considers these
than the cloud particles themselves. .
topics while emphasizing the future direction of radar
Many field studies of microphysical processes in clouds
studies to help resolve some of the major unsolved prob-
during the last two decades have attempted to incorporate
lems in cloud physics.
at least one or more radars into the project design. A large
number of field studies using radar have been conducted
2 CLOUD MICROPHYSICAL RESEARCH successfully. Jameson and Johnson, in Chapter 23a, clearly
demonstrate the broad use of radar to address the problems
Atmospheric phenomena in the realm of cloud micro-
of cloud microphysics. Before discussing current and future
physics include all types of clouds and fogs as well as the
advances in our field, we briefly consider the extent and
various forms of liquid and ice precipitation. Studies in
diversity of applications of radar to cloud microphysics
cloud microphysics focus on cloud and precipitation par-
research and cite some examples from the literature.
ticles (individual or populations) and their interactions
Radar has been a fundamental tool in studies of micro-
with the environment. Of key importance are mass ex-
physical processes within cyclonic storms of the midlati-
change processes such as nucleation, growth and fallout
tudes (Houze et al., 1981; Herzegh and Hobbs, 1981; Gor-
leading to the broad characteristics of clouds and precip-
don and Marwitz, 1986) and the tropics (Houze and
itation. As shown in Table 2.1, research areas in cloud
Churchill, 1987; Marks and Houze, 1987), in orographic
storms (Rauber, 1987), stratiform precipitation (Passarelli,
1978), and convection (Knight, 1987). Cloud physicists
• Beard served as panel chairman. Other panelists besides Beard and have made extensive use of radar measurements to inter-
Rauber were A. Barnes (AFGL), R. Braham (University of Chicago), V. pret the microphysical processes associated with precipi-
Chandrasekhar (Colorado State University), M. Glass (Belmont, Mas-
sachusetts), B. Foote (NCAR), M. Hagen (DFVLR, Federal Republic of
tation initiation and growth (Heymsfield and Musil, 1982;
Germany), J. Hansman, Jr. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), D. Rasmussen and Heymsfield, 1987), to study the role of
Holden (Los Alamos National Laboratory), D. Kristovich (University of particle evaporation in developing downdrafts (Srivastava,
Chicago), R. List (University of Toronto), B. Martner (NOAA/Environ-
mental Research Laboratories), R. McClatchey ( AFGL), H. Ochs (lllinois
1985, 1987), and to infer precipitation growth trajectories
State Water Survey), B. Phillips (NCAR), V. Saxena (North Carolina (Knight and Knupp, 1986). Radar has been used to identify
State University), J. Turk (Colorado State University), G. Vali (University generating cells (Carbone and Bohne, 1975; Hobbs and
of Wyoming), J. Vivekanandan (Colorado State University), P. Wang
(University of Wisconsin), E. Williams (Massachusetts Institute of Tech- Locatelli, 1978) and properties of precipitation fallstreaks
nology), and P. Willis (NOAA/ Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteoro- (Harris, 1977; Locatelli et al., 1983), to identify hail growth
logical Laboratory). regions in severe storms (Bringi et al., 1984), and to eval-
342 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

TABLE 2.1 Examples of radars with Doppler and multiparameter

Broad Research Areu in Cloud Microphysics capabilities that have strong potential to contribute to cloud
microphysics research are listed in Table 3.1. The CHILL
Areas Applicatioaa
and CP-2 radars have been the focus of U.S. research on
Evolution of clouds and Precipitation forecasting, climate differential polarization (ZoR) measurements in precipita-
precipitation modeling
tion. Recently a CDR (Circular Depolarization Ratio) ca-
Icing, wind shear, Hazards forecasting
severe storms pability has been added to one of the NOAA/ERL X-band
Weather modification Precipitation enhancement, hail Doppler radars. Similar studies are being conducted in
suppression England (ZoR, S-band, Chilbolton), Canada (CDR, S-band,
Air, cloud and precipi- Air quality, acid precipitation National Research Council) and Germany (polarization
tation chemical pro- diversity, C-band, DFVLR) . Bringi and Hendry (Chapter
cesses 19a) provide further details on these radars. The findings
Hydrometeor scattering Radiation/climate, comrnunica-
reported since about 1982 have been encouraging, but they
and propagation tions
also have revealed the scope of problems encountered
when attempting to derive microphysical parameters from
polarization data.
uate weather modification experiments (Huggins and Rodi,
Ka-band radars, such as the NOAA/ERL circular po-
1985 ).
larization radar (Pasqualucci et al., 1983; Moninger and
The research cited in this paragraph is by no means
Kropfli, 1987), have higher spatial resolution with greater
comprehensive. A thorough review would have many
potential for utilization in cloud microphysical studies. This
other examples demonstrating the importance of radar in
polarization radar has been utilized in field studies, but
cloud physics research. Clearly, we have come far, but the
to date has not been used for cloud microphysics because
potential of radar in cloud physics research has hardly
of poor antenna characteristics.
been exploited.
The development of a fixed-beam bistatic Ka -band
Doppler radar at the University of Washington has dem-
3 CURRENT RADAR TECHNOLOGY onstrated that high spatial and velocity resolution can be
achieved for cloud microphysical investigations and for
Standard weather radars are designed to detect precip- detecting the effects of artificial seeding (Hobbs et al., 1981,
itation and thus are best suited for mapping precipitation 1985). TheW-band bistatic Doppler radar at the University
patterns. This can be of considerable benefit in short-range of Miami (Lhermitte, 1987a,b) has even higher spatial and
forecasts of precipitation and can have some value in de- velocity resolution (see Jameson and Johnson, Chapter
tailed studies of the cloud microphysical problems listed 23a) . At present these radars are limited because they do
in Table 2.1. More sophisticated radars that measure air not scan. The one-dimensional structure and air motion
motions and obtain information on particle characteristics data can be used to infer two-dimensional information for
from multiparameter techniques (such as Doppler, dual- clouds moving through the radar beam-or can be ob-
polarization and dual-wavelength radars) have a much tained directly using a mobile platform.
greater potential to address cloud physics problems. Three important problems must be addressed to utilize
radars more fully in cloud microphysics research: 1) the
TABLE 3.1 inherent scale discrepancy between radar and cloud mi-
Examples of Doppler Radars with Cloud crophysical measurements; 2) the limitations in the use of
Microphysical Capabilities existing radars; and 3) the advances required to realize the
current potential of radars. These three problem areas are
Deacrlptioa Application reviewed in the next section.
Dual-wavelength, dual-polarization Hail discrimination, rainfall
radars rate measurements,
liquid/ice precipitation
SJX-band (10/3 em), 1° beam
(Illinois State Water Survey- discrimination, first echo
4 CLOUD MICROPHYSIC AL AND
CHILL radar, Z0 R; NCAR-CP-2 studies RADAR MEASUREMENTS
radar, ZoR/LDR)
Circular polarization radar Entrainment studies using
X-band (3.2 em), 0.8° beam CDR- chaff technique, 4.1 Inherent Scale Discrepancy
K,-band (8.6 mm), ! 0 beam polarization diversity
(NOAAJERL, CDR) studies of particle
discrimination One of the major challenges that must be met to make
Vertical pointing, bistatic radar Liquid/ice cloud structure, better use of radar in cloud microphysical studies is to
K,-band (8.6 rnm), ! 0 beam small velocities reconcile problems arising from scale differences between
(University of Washington) in situ and radar measurements. Cloud physics instruments
W-band (3.2 mrn), ~o beam Liquid/ice cloud structure, typically measure the characteristics of individual particles
(University of Miami) very small velocities
and are used mostly for airborne sensing of cloud and pre-
 CLOUD MICROPHYSICS AND RADAR 343

cipitation particle sizes, shapes, and concentrations. This
information can be integrated to obtain number and mass
concentration and further processed to yield precipitation
rates. In marked contrast, radar measurements give ensem-
ble properties of typically 10 9 scatterers that can be related
to cloud properties only by assumptions about particle size
distributions.
The two kinds of measurements often do not overlap.
For example, in moderate to heavy precipitation the con-
centration of large particles is usually too low to obtain
reliable measurements using aircraft sensors--such as the
PMS optical array probes. However, the large particles
contribute most to the precipitation rates and dominate
the radar reflectivity. In such situations it is clearly in situ
cloud physics measurements that are inadequate. There
are also many interesting problems dealing with cloud
particles, such as precipitation initiation, where in situ
measurements are adequate but, because of low reflectivity
or resolution, radar information is lacking. In some cases
both radar and aircraft measurements are useful but neither
is completely adequate (such as in determining drop-size
spectra).
The natural gap between cloud microphysics and radar
measurements is narrowing with continual improvements
in measurement capabilities. Better airborne instrumen-
tation is becoming available for measuring precipitation
particles, and advanced radars are using shorter wave-
lengths and additional information from the backscatter
matrix to obtain potentially more characteristics of the
scatterers (i.e., ensemble shape and orientation). Methods
have been proposed and tested that are potentially useful
for cloud microphysics research, based on differential po-
larization (particle shape), depolarization (particle ori-
entation), propagation and differential phase shift (mass
concentration), differential attenuation with respect to
wavelength (hail detection), and linear depolarization ratio
(hail detection). Further research is needed to exploit these
methods fully. In section 4.3 radars of unique design that
help bridge the scale gap to obtain cloud microphysical
information are discussed.
The relationship between cloud microphysics and
Doppler radar measurements is less affected by the scale
gap because direct assumptions about particle sizes are
unnecessary in obtaining horizontal wind fields. Also, the
Doppler radar technique of measuring raindrop-size dis-
tributions from vertical motions benefits from the simple
relation between fall velocity and drop size. Scale differ-
ences still remain, since Doppler radars typically measure
volumes larger than most microphysical variations (e.g.,
the variations seen in rain shafts). Again, research is
needed to close the scale gap.
4.2 Limitations in Use of Existing Radars
Some of the significant unsolved problems in cloud mi-
crophysics can be addressed using advanced radars to
measure air motions and provide information on particle
characteristics. The solutions to these problems will require
carefully designed field programs that incorporate trans-
portable, multiple wavelength, polarization diversity radars
of high resolution. No such radar exists at NCAR or in the
wider U.S. cloud physics community-although a C-hand
polarization diversity radar of 1o beamwidth was recently
built in the United States for research in Germany (Schroth
et al., 1988). Should the NOAA/ERL K.-band circular
polarization radar antenna be upgraded as planned, the
United States would finally have access to a transportable
polarization diversity radar for cloud microphysics re-
search. A strong effort must be organized to equip the
cloud physics community with research radars that have
full measurement capabilities.
It is clear that cloud microphysical research could be
advanced by fuller utilization of existing facilities. This
and similar issues are addressed in the panel report by
Atlas et al. (1989).
4.3 Advances Needed to Reach Current
Potential of Radars
The most desirable radar improvements for cloud mi-
crophysical studies are higher spatial and temporal reso-
lutions (see Table 4.1). Long wavelength radars with very

TABLE 4.1
Radar Improvements for Cloud Microphysical Studies

Improvemea~ Technological Developmea~ Beae8~

Higher spatial and temporal resolutions
Intensive backscatter measurements
Better use of radar information
Better use of instrument combinations
to span scales and physics of interest
Shorter wavelengths al)d pulses, narrower beams,
faster scanning, closer range (airborne radar)
Polarization diversity, multiple wavelengths
Improved processing hardware, analysis
software and displays
Ground-based radars plus airborne radars; X, K
or W-band plus 5-band or C-band; lidar and
radiometers to characterize scattering in dear
and cloudy air as well as in precipitation
More information on microphysical and
velocity variations
More information on particle sizes,
shapes and orientation
Real-time displays of more parameters
at higher resolution, four-
dimensional visualization of
analyzed data
More intensive information on
microphysical variations
Additional parameters on particle sizes,
shape and types
344 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
large antennas, such as those at Wallops Island and Mill-
stone Hill, provide high resolution and sensitivity but are
impractical as transportable radars needed for field pro-
jects. The transportable S-hand and C-hand radars have
beamwidths greater than 1h km at medium range. Radars
of wavelength shorter than 5 em, such as X, Ka and W-
band, are better suited for higher spatial resolution of
clouds and precipitation (see examples in Table 3.1).
Airborne radars have the potential for high spatial res-
olution because of close range, but they are handicapped
in resolution by antenna size limitations and pulse aver-
aging requirements. The addition of a large, vertically
pointing antenna to the proposed NCAR X-band, dual-
beam airborne radar (Hildebrand et al., 1986) would pro-
vide better two-dimensional resolution for studying en-
trainment and mixing at cloud top. The University of
Washington recently installed a vertically (upward and
downward) pointing Ka-band radar on its research aircraft.
Temporal resolution for cloud microphysical studies is
severely limited when radar must also be used to obtain
Doppler winds. Thus, a lack of radars dedicated to micro-
physical measurements is part of the resolution problem.
For the highest temporal resolution, radar pulse averaging
can be reduced to increase scanning rates considerably us-
ing a broadband noise technique. This has been achieved
with the prototype X-band radar at the New Mexico In-
stitute of Mining and Technology (Krehbiel and Brook,
1979). Insufficient funding for maintenance and operation
has impeded the use of this radar in cloud microphysics
studies.
Multiparameter techniques are of great potential use for
cloud microphysics research (Table 4.1), although differ-
ential polarization, attenuation and phase shift have
proven difficult to interpret because the small, differential
signals are susceptible to noise and uncertainties in cali-
brations and sidelobe effects (see Herzegh and Conway,
1986; Sachidananda and Zmic, 1986). Refinements are
needed in radar technology to make these techniques more
useful in cloud microphysical field programs. Nevertheless,
current multiparameter radars should be used in micro-
physical studies, since only by direct comparisons with in
situ measurements can such theoretical radar capabilities
be transformed into useful cloud microphysical informa-
tion.
Improvements in existing radar capabilities will surely
occur with better signal processing and data visualization
(Table 4.1) as current trends continue in higher speed
computing, parallel graphics processing and larger and
cheaper storage. This will allow real-time displays of mul-
tiparameters at higher resolution. The analysis of radar
data will also benefit by rapid access of more complex
fields, allowing rotation of three-dimensional patterns.
Cloud microphysical studies can benefit from field pro-
grams designed to use radar in combination with newer
remote sensing techniques such as lidar and microwave
radiometers (Table 4.1). By using these instruments, more
information can be obtained on microstructure, particle
types and integrated quantities such as liquid water con-
tent.
Virtually all the radar enhancements listed in Table 4.1
are well within technological reach. The main obstacle is
inadequate funding. The renovation of major facilities and
the conduct of field programs in cloud physics and other
areas also require better support. Such problems have been
addressed in the panel report on education and institutional
issues by Atlas et al. (1989).
5 RADARS APPLIED TO SIGNIFICANT
CLOUD MICROPHYSICAL
PROBLEMS
Areas in cloud physics with unsolved problems that can
benefit from radar observations are the following:
• Precipitation (formation in various cloud types and
systems)
• Mixing and entrainment (processes in various cloud
types and systems)
• Cloud chemistry (transport of chemical species in
clouds)
• Cloud electrification (mechanisms in warm and cold
clouds)
• Radiative transfer (radiative properties of cloud par-
ticles)
• Cloud systems (microphysical structures and pro-
cesses).
Solutions require obtaining data on particle types and air
motions in field programs using polarization radars, air-
borne cloud physics probes, and additional remote sensors.
Analyses must address these problems by combining ob-
servations with theoretical and modeling efforts.
5.1 Precipitation
Precipitation formation is one of the traditional problems
in cloud microphysics that is still not well understood (see
review by Beard, 1987). Variations in precipitation for-
mation mechanisms occur in different types of clouds,
cloud systems, climates and seasons. Studies of precipi-
tation formation apply to precipitation forecasting and
cloud radiative properties that, in tum, affect climate pro-
cesses (Table 2.1).
As an example of a problem in precipitation formation,
the production of rain in clouds warmer than freezing is
thought to be critically dependent on very large conden-
sation nuclei. The resultant initial drops are very difficult
to measure using airborne samplers because of small size
(0.1 mm diameter) at low concentrations (1 per liter).
However, these drops are not too small for radar "first
echo" studies at close range. For example, the NOAA/
ERL Ka-band radar can detect drops of this size and con-
centration at a close range of 5-10 km with spatial reso-

lutions down to 50 m. A mobile system, such as the Uni-
versity of Washington's Ka-band airborne radar, has an
obvious advantage for detection of weak scatterers.
The study of ice precipitation formation has similar dif-
ficulties because of initially small particles at low concen-
trations, thus requiring radars of high resolution and sen-
sitivity for first echo studies (for example, short
wavelength, airborne radars). Ice multiplication and ag-
gregation mechanisms, important to both summer con-
vective showers and wintertime precipitation, could be
studied profitably using particle type and size information
obtained from high-resolution polarization diversity radar
data. Such information would also be useful for investi-
gating precipitation-induced downdrafts and thunderstorm
outflows. The evaluation of precipitation evolution by co-
alescence and breakup would be aided by measurements
of the Doppler velocity spectra of precipitation at vertical
incidence. For comparison of model predictions on the
formation of precipitation (e.g., Ochs, 1978), it would be
valuable to have quantitative measurements of the time
derivative of reflectivity in growing cumulus clouds.
5.2 Mixing and Entrainment
Cloud mixing and entrainment-processes thought to
be essential to the formation, maintenance and dissipation
of clouds-are not at all well understood. There is a com-
plete lack of data on the two- and three-dimensional
structure and evolution of cloud mixing at scales less than
a few hundred meters (although 10-m resolution in one
dimension can be obtained from the best airborne particle
sensors). Entrainment studies at larger scales have been
proposed using the CDR-chaff method (Moninger and
Kropfli, 1987) with the NOAA/ERL X-band radar. A spe-
cialized Ka-band airborne radar for the research on en-
trainment and mixing has been proposed by Lee (1987).
It is based on a fixed dual-beam radar to obtain Doppler
motions and reflectivity on scales of a few meters, and
would provide a very small scale, two-dimensional reso-
lution of cloud structure and motion. This instrument sys-
tem would herald a new era of cloud microphysics re-
search, improving the resolution of current radars by sev-
eral orders of magnitude. Definitive measurements of the
entrainment process could be obtained in combination with
a C0 2 Doppler lidar for complementary dear-air mea-
surements.
5.3 Cloud Chemistry
The acid rain problem has focused national and inter-
national concerns on cloud and precipitation chemistry.
Measurements of air, water, and pollutant flows through
clouds, and particle growth, aerosol scavenging and
chemical reactions within clouds are required if we are to
understand the complex processes that lead to acid pre-
cipitation. Storms also act to transport pollutants to middle
CLOUD MICROPHYSICS AND RADAR 345
and high altitudes where they can be carried downwind
over long distances. Measurements of horizontal and ver-
tical motions within storms using multiple-Doppler radar
should lead to better estimates of the time available for
pollution scavenging.
Efforts to address these important problems have been
initiated under the National Acid Precipitation Assessment
Program (NAPAP). However, multiple-Doppler analyses
of airflow through storms have yet to be incorporated into
field investigations of cloud and precipitation chemistry.
Comprehensive studies of cloud chemical processes require
measurements of the wind fields in and around storms,
the concentration of pollutants in storm inflow and outflow
regions, and the amount, rate, distribution and composition
of precipitation. Doppler radar, in conjunction with aircraft
and ground-based instruments, can provide the necessary
measurements.
5.4 Cloud Electri&cation
The understanding of cloud electrification mechanisms
is critically dependent on microphysical properties of
clouds (see review by Beard and Ochs, 1986). Although
there have been numerous field studies of thunderstorm
electrification, the information on particle type and size
from aircraft penetrations is sparse. Particle information
over considerable volumes, if obtained using a polarization
diversity radar, C{)uld greatly increase our understanding
of charging mechanisms in thunderstorms. A rapid scan-
ning radar of the type developed at New Mexico Institute
of Mining and Technology is needed to map the fast evo-
lution of precipitation structures thought to be associated
with lightning. Information on cloud electrification could
be obtained by detecting the changes in motions of droplets
at the boundaries of clouds during electrical discharge us-
ing short wavelength, ground-based or airborne Doppler
radar.
The current lack of adequate radar facilities is an obvious
hindrance to obtaining a good microphysical picture of
electrification mechanisms in thunderstorms. Such ad-
vanced radars should also be applied to the problem of
warm-cloud electrification, which has had no comprehen-
sive studies.
5.5 Radiative Transfer in Clouds
A fundamental problem in dealing with the transfer of
radiation in ice-cloud layers is the difficulty encountered
in the nonsphericity and size of ice crystals and the con-
sequences of preferred orientation. Neither the scattering
characteristics of hexagonal ice crystals nor the orientation
problem has been properly incorporated into the transfer
analysis involving ice clouds (Liou, 1981). Short wave-
length, high-resolution multiparameter radars, such as the
Ka-band radar proposed in section 5.2, may be useful in
studying the number concentration, size distribution and
346 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
orientation of ice particles in optically thin clouds. Such
measurements would provide important new inputs to ra-
diative transfer models and data to evaluate the amounts
of solar and infrared energies absorbed and transmitted
through ice clouds.
Measurements of the global atmospheric radiation bal-
ance require understanding the effects of both cirrus and
deeper clouds on atmospheric radiation. Measurements of
ensemble particle characteristics such as phase, size and
orientation will allow better interpretation of measure-
ments of the angular and I or wavelength dependence of
radiation scattered by clouds. Attempts to map atmospheric
ice content over the globe by satellite must be calibrated
by both radar and aircraft measurements. Aircraft mea-
surements provide detailed in situ structure of particle types
and sizes, while radar measurements provide information
on the ensemble properties. Radar measurements therefore
provide a natural bridge in scale between the small sample
volume measured by aircraft and the global perspective
of the satellite measurements.
Radiative processes near cloud top may strongly influ-
ence cloud evolution, particularly in stratiform cloud sys-
tems. Recent modeling studies (Tripoli and Cotton, 1989;
Chen and Cotton, 1988) have suggested that radiative
cooling may affect microphysical and dynamic processes
in many different types of cloud systems. Diurnal effects
may also be important. Radar measurements of cloud
properties near cloud top can provide better information
on particle characteristics so that radiative exchange pro-
cesses may be modeled more completely. The importance
of radiative cooling in the formation and development of
generating cells in stratiform cloud systems can also be
addressed by well-designed field experiments that incor-
porate multiparameter radar measurements.
5.6 Cloud Systems
Precipitation originates from clouds associated with ex-
tratropical cyclones, midlatitude convective systems, and
tropical cloud systems. A common characteristic of these
systems is their tendency to organize on the mesoscale
(Houze and Hobbs, 1982) and to contain a wide variety
of mesoscale circulations and associated clouds.
Microphysical processes within these complex cloud
systems vary substantially and, in many cases, are still
poorly understood. Our comprehension of feedback
mechanisms between cloud microphysics and storm dy-
namics is of particular importance if we are to understand
the origin and maintenance of mesoscale circulations
within these storms. The use of polarization diversity
Doppler radars and airborne radars can provide necessary
information to integrate microphysics and dynamics in a
more coherent picture of storm evolution.
In many types of convective cloud systems, such as me-
soscale convective complexes, squall lines and supercell
storms, our knowledge of internal microphysical processes
is limited because of our inability to penetrate safely into
the core of these storms with aircraft. New radars open a
window of opportunity to study the microphysical mech-
anisms of particle growth and evolution by providing
multiple parameters from the full backscatter matrix. We
can also determine particle trajectories from Doppler-de-
rived flow fields and help determine microphysical growth
and evaporation processes. Field efforts must continue to
build our base of knowledge so that we can properly in-
terpret these measurements.
Significant progress has been made in recent years in
understanding dynamic and microphysical processes in
extratropical cyclones. Still, much of the research has been
limited to the coastal regions of North America and Europe,
where oceanic climates prevail. Research in extratropical
cyclones must be expanded, particularly into the interior
of continents, where thermal and moisture contrasts are
more extreme and little research has been conducted.
Programs must be developed to study tropical cloud
systems. Our understanding of dynamic and microphysical
interactions in tropical clusters, squall lines, rainbands and
hurricanes has been derived from a very limited number
of studies, primarily in projects such as GATE and MONEX
and in experiments in Hawaii and the southeastern United
States. Conventional radars have been used in only a few
of these studies, and outside the United States Doppler
radar has rarely been used. The recent Hawaiian warm-
rain project, which did not have radar support, clearly
demonstrated the need for multiparameter Doppler radar
measurements. Programs with multiple-Doppler radars
and airborne cloud physics instruments, such as the pro-
posed Hawaiian Rainband Project, should provide the level
of high-quality data required to understand the important
interactions between the dynamics of these tropical cloud
systems and the development of precipitation within them.
6 PANEL RECOMMENDATIONS
Most of the radar improvements listed in Table 4.1 can
be implemented now, since they are attainable with ex-
isting technology. In addition, as shown here, the current
potential of radar in cloud physics research has hardly
been exploited. Therefore, we strongly recommend that
the radar I cloud physics community take the following
actions:
1) Use existing high-resolution, ground-based radars (X,
Ka, and W-band) and airborne radars in new field pro-
grams to address major unsolved problems in cloud mi-
crophysics (listed in section 5).
2) Continue field experiments designed to investigate
the microphysical structures associated with polarization
diversity measurables (e.g., Z0 R, CDR). Only by direct
comparison with in situ measurements can theoretical ra-
dar capabilities be transformed into useful cloud micro-
physical information.
 CLOUD MICROPHYSICS AND RADAR 347

3) Provide input to assist development of high-reso- Hagen, Peter Hobbs, David Kristovich, Robert Kropfli,
lution radar capabilities for studies of cloud microstructure. Brooks Martner, Eugene Mueller, Joseph Turk and Earle
(For example, Project ELDORA, X-band NCAR Electra Williams. This work is based partially on work supported
Doppler Radar; see Hildebrand and Moore, Chapter 22a.) by the National Science Foundation under Grants ATM86-
4) Use new instruments, such as lidar, radiometers, and 01549, ATM87-19498, and ATM87-22688.
profilers, in conjunction with advanced radars to provide
more information for interpreting cloud microphysical
processes.
5) Refine hardware and analytical techniques on exist-
ing radars for remote sensing of particle characteristics. APPENDIX:
For example, the .NOAA/ERL Ka-band radar antenna LIST OF ACRONYMS
could be upgraded to provide a transportable radar in the
United States with complete polarization diversity, sen- AFGL Air Force Geophysics Laboratory
sitive enough for cloud microphysical studies. C-band radar 4.0-8.0 em wavelength
6) Develop improved analysis software for four-di- CDR Circular Depolarization Ratio
mensional visualization of analyzed data and for combin- DFVLR Deutsche Forschungs- und Versuchsan-
ing radar and aircraft data. stalt fiir Luft- und Raumfahrt
7) Develop more advanced radars with shorter wave- ELDORA Electra Doppler Radar
lengths and pulses, narrower beams, and faster scanning ERL Environmental Research Laboratories
rates. Full polarization diversity Doppler radar systems GARP Global Atmospheric Research Program
with multiple wavelengths and improved processing GATE GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment
hardware will be required to address major cloud micro- Ka-band radar 7.5-11.1 mm wavelength
physical problems. Implementing these capabilities in an LOR Linear Depolarization Ratio
airborne system would also be highly desirable. MONEX Monsoon Experiment
8) Support improvements in airborne particle mea- NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Re-
surement instruments with the goal of increasing the sam- search
ple volume to obtain more reliable information on scales NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
comparable to the smallest radar resolution volume. ministration
PMS Particle Measuring Systems
S-band radar 7.5-15 em wavelength
W-band radar 2.5-3.75 mm wavelength
Acknowledgments. The authors appreciate the comments X-band radar 2.5-3.75 em wavelength
on the draft of this report provided by David Atlas, Marten ZvR Differential Reflectivity
348
Chapter 24a
Convective Dynamics
Peter Ray, Department of Meteorology and Supercomputer Computations
Research Institute, Florida State University
1 INTRODUCTION
In addressing meteorological processes, including con-
vection, it is convenient to separate these processes into
their kinematic, dynamic, and microphysical components.
Dynamic processes deal with the forces that initiate and
sustain or alter motion, while kinematic processes describe
the motion field. Microphysical processes obviously ad-
dress the distribution of water substance. When observing
deep convection, the strength of the returned signal that
a radar detects is related to the microphysical field. In ad-
dition, a Doppler radar senses the radial component of the
ensemble of scatters, a kinematic quantity. Radar-derived
divergence and vorticity fields are kinematic quantities.
Dynamic processes can be inferred from observations and,
most importantly, radar has been used to identify structures
and morphology, whose dynamics have been addressed
through theoretical and simulation studies. The construc-
tive interaction between observations, models, and theory
has been responsible for advances in our understanding
of convective dynamics.
In considering dynamics, we are particularly interested
in the forces that promote motion, principally pressure
and buoyancy (which arise from both thermal perturba-
tions and suspended water substance). Acting in the op-
posite sense are the retarding effects of viscosity, turbu-
lence, etc. (although turbulence should not be regarded
as strictly dissipative). These forces give rise to the dis-
cernible structures on which most classifications are based.
Still, no description of convection would be complete
without a description of the flow fields and the substruc-
tures within convection that determine its character.
The literature on convective dynamics is extensive. We
are restricting this review to moist convection with further
biases (in consideration of other chapters) toward middle
latitude deep convection, as well as away from the tempt-
ing historical survey. For this review to reflect the current
state, more recent achievements will be emphasized, with
the understanding that most progress is incremental and
built on the accomplishments of often unrecognized pre-
decessors. Thus, the scope of this study emphasizes "where
we are," rather than the equally important "how did we
get here."
The role of radar in meteorological studies began shortly
after the Second World War. Initial observations were de-
scriptive. Only recently has it become possible to infer the
dynamical properties of convection from radar directly;
this opens a new era of investigation in convection dy-
namics.
Understanding dynamical forcing and interactions has
been greatly enhanced by concurrent advances in obser-
vations, three-dimensional time-dependent numerical
models, and the application of theory. Recent widespread
use of Doppler radar to delineate a storm's internal struc-
ture, and the application of three-dimensional numerical
models to simulate convection, appear to have been the
catalytic technologies. Early reports of the morphology
modeled in three dimensions included those of Miller and
Pearce ( 1974), Wilhelmson ( 1974), and Schlesinger ( 1975)
whose studies provided the archetype of the many studies
that have followed. Schlesinger ( 1982) reviewed the three-
dimensional modeling of storms to that date. Perhaps the
understanding of supercell and severe storm dynamics has
proceeded at a particularly rapid rate, although new rev-
elations and understanding of the processes active for all
types of storms are not far behind and appear regularly
in the literature. This is a very active and fertile area of
meteorology.
This review of convective dynamics is organized along
the following lines. First is an assessment of radar capa-
bility, particularly the use of one or more Doppler radars,
to portray the wind field. Then various types of precipi-
tating moist convection are reviewed. Each type or mode
of convection results from a distinct environment. Often
the distinctions become blurred in the transition from one
stereotype to another, and the temptation to subclassify
has been hard to resist. The urge to refine storm classifi-
cations is encouraged by nature's hesitance to provide fre-
quent, if ever, perfect examples of limiting cases.
It is most satisfying to classify nature into fundamentally
different classes or types. In the case of storms, we would
seek distinct dynamical differences. Ideally, this would be
well correlated with what appears to be different storm
types. One such example is presented in Fig. 1.1 in what
has been called storm taxonomy. These efforts have only
been partially successful, resulting in some confusion with
definitions. We consider the limiting cases of single cell
and supercells, both of which can be described in distinct
dynamical terms. Multicells, squall lines, rainbands, and
mesoscale convective complexes are less easily delineated.

/ . . . ----Mcs; . . . ,
/
I mass continuity) to compute the three orthogonal wind
I
I components. Sometimes, hybrid systems used three radars
I to determine the horizontal wind components without
I
\
\
' ' ,_
Fig. 1.1 Venn diagram of storm types.
In fact, they share common characteristics that have given
rise to the concept of mesoscale convective systems. The
classification used in Fig. 1.1 is based upon observations
of storm structure and aspects of storm evolution. Another
classification, based on environmental conditions, is dis-
cussed in connection with Fig. 3.1. The majority of recent
studies has been on storms characterized by substantial
shear and buoyancy. From this general view, the important
storm processes of splitting, rotation and propagation, and
the characteristics of downbursts, hail, and tornadoes are
reviewed, with special focus on the role of radar in con-
tributing to our understanding of them.
The principal interest of dynamics here is its role in the
convection's evolution, structure, and movement. Thus,
the important processes of storm rotation, splitting and
propagation, including tomadogenesis, are examined.
the review concludes with a section on what might be
expected in the future, given the trends through 1987.
These include the use of radar-derived fields to initialize
models, improved analysis and synthesis methods, and
the extension of analyses to incorporate studies of thun-
derstorm electrification and wet chemical processes.
For an expanded review, the reader should consult other
reviews such as Lilly (1979), Houze and Hobbs (1982),
Miller and Moncrieff ( 1983), and Simpson ( 1983a,b,c).
2 LIMITATIONS OF RADAR
OBSERVATIONS
Single radar measurements inferred much about storm
structure to early investigators and helped them establish
the concepts of single cells, supercells, and squall lines, for
example. The advent of Doppler radar added to the ca-
pability to quantify a component of the unseen fields of
motion within storms and to infer the velocity structure.
Armijo ( 1969) formulated a method of combining the data
from several Doppler radars in a way that allowed the
complete wind field to be calculated. The modem approach
to dual-Doppler analyses has its roots in the methodology
and concepts as found in Lhermitte ( 1970) and Lhermitte
and Miller ( 1970). Most analyses have required at least
three radars to determine the wind field directly and at
CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 349
least two radars and an auxiliary relation (the equation of
reference to the vertical component, and used the conti-
nuity equation to determine the vertical component of the
hydrometeor velocity. Early methods used upward inte-
gration in a cylindrical coordinate system and were referred
to as COPLAN, or alternately COPLANE, analyses. For
computational and display reasons, most of the community
now uses a form of the solution posed in Cartesian coor-
dinates, the most notable exception being the French re-
search group. The development of the basic analysis tools
is given in Appendix A. Here we focus on some of the
significant issues pertinent to the responsible use of Dopp-
ler radar data for quantitative analysis. No set of simple
statement of rules or limitations is possible, for each sit-
uation and application is indeed unique.
As part of the Multiple-Doppler Radar Workshop held
at NCAR in 1980, Ray et al. ( 1980b) discussed aspects of
motion field synthesis and errors. What follows in this
section is both an extraction from that report and an up-
date.
2.1 Time and Space Interpolation
Radar scans through a storm are typically a series of
truncated conic sections, although occasionally pairs of ra-
dars collect specialized coplane scans (Lhermitte and
Miller, 1970; Chong et al., 1983). These scans can be
asynchronous and never are more than a few points within
the sampled volume observed by several radars at a com-
mon time. Typical scan time is in the range of 100-300 s
with the interval between repeated scans often 180-300
s, and sometimes longer.
Two temporal effects are important. The first is the ad-
vection of the storm to a different location during the scan
time, and the different location of a common point in a
storm as viewed by different radars due to the time dif-
ference in their observations. The second effect is evolution.
During and between sampling, a storm may evolve. Thus,
sampling at different times is, in effect, sampling a different
(one hopes only slightly different) storm, and should be
minimized.
To remove advection errors, Gal-Chen (1982) and
Chong et al. ( 1983) derived an expression that minimizes
the average vertical velocity ( ( (oW j 0t ) 2 )) in the moving
reference. This was done earlier by Ray et al. ( 1975) by
estimating a storm vector, through correlating successive
reflectivity fields, and translating the observations to a
common time:
xfixed = Eadvectionat + Xobserved. <2.1 >
350 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Note that it is not enough simply to advect the measure-
ment downstream from the point at which it was taken.
The radar position must also be relocated to preserve the
proper geometry. This result is the same as that shown
more rigorously by Gal-Chen ( 1982) and Chong and Tes-
tud ( 1983), who relocated each coplane after interpolation
rather than the individual data.
The effects of the evolution of the wind field demand
short scanning times and short intervals of time between
scans. This is particularly true for analyses that require
accurate time derivatives.
2.2 Geometric Error
Many of the uncertainties in synthesis are difficult to
identify and quantify, and remain in the analysis and in-
terpretation. These include effects from evolution, inexact
boundary conditions, range folding, and differential ad-
vection. The effects of these and the statistical uncertainty
in the sampled velocity estimate are magnified by the sam-
pling geometry. One global check on the consistency of
the analysis is through momentum checking, described in
Appendix C.
Another useful tool to illustrate the effect of observing
geometry is to assume a statistical uncertainty associated
with each interpolated radial velocity estimate and then
to examine the spatial distribution of how this uncertainty
maps on to the orthogonal wind field. This has been done
by many authors including Ray and Wagner (1976 ), Dov-
iak et al. (1976), and Miller and Strauch (1974), and has
been extended to include analysis of similar errors from
airborne Doppler radar in Ray et al. ( 1985).
As illustrated in Fig. A2, the minimum error is near the
point where the beams from two radars intersect orthog-
onally.
The uncertainty in the wind-component synthesis may
be expressed for the dual-Doppler method for an arbitrary
number of radars (;:;.2) by

(L u~;{R;(x- x;)[L (y- y;) 2 ) - R;(y- y;)[L (x- x;}(y- y;))} 2

u/ =
+ uw 2[L (y -.y;) 2 L (x- x;)(z- z;)- L (x- X;}(y- y;) L (y- y;}(z- Z;)f)
{ L (x- X;)2 L (y- YY- [L (x- X;}(y- y;}f} + cov(u, w) (2.2a)

(L u~;{R;(y- y;)[L (x- xY)- R;(x- x;)[L (x- X;}(y- y;))} 2

+ uw 2[L (x- X;) 2 L (y- y;)(z- Z;)- L (x- X;}(y- y;) L (x- X;}(z- Z;)f)
u/ = { L (x _ X;)2 L (y _ y;)2 _ [L (x _ X;}(y _ y;)) 2}2 + cov(v, w) (2.2b)

where

2 1{ [(1/.12)-(K/2)]} 2 2 u/ u/ ( 2.2c)
Uw 1 = 4 1 + (1/ .12) + (K/2) Uwk+t/ 2 + 2(2.::lx(1/ i1z + K/2W + 2(2.::ly(1/ i1z + K/2)) 2 .

The uncertainty in the direct method can be derived from Eq. (A4). If the symmetric coefficient matrix in Eq. (A4) is
given by [C) and its inverse denoted by [B) =- [Cr 1 and if u~; is the error variance in the radial velocity estimate from
the i th observation point, then the variances of the estimator of the synthesized wind components are given by

L + B12(Y- y;)R; + B13 (z- z;)R;} 2

cr~;{ B11(x- x;)R;
L u~;{B12(X- x;)R; + B22(y- y;)R; + B23 (z- z;)R;} 2 (2.3)
L u~;{B13(x- X;)R; + B23(y- y;)R; + B33 (z- Z;)R;} 2

In practice, determining ( uu 2, CTv 2, uw 2 ) requires at least three

estimates from at least three distinctly different positions.
The minimum error in the horizontal divergence is near
the geometric center of the radar network. However, the
minimum error in the vertical velocity is directly over each
radar location. Except for directly over the radar, the error
in vertical air speed is proportional to 1/ z 2, becoming un-
bounded at the surface. Because of the large error, except
when at least one radar is sampling with an elevation angle
larger than 45 °, the direct method is rarely used except to
determine the horizontal velocity fields. The vertical ve-
locity can then be obtained by integrating the horizontal
divergence. The advantage of this procedure is that the
horizontal velocity components (and therefore the diver-
gence) are independent of w. This is not true for the dual-
Doppler method. Since the vertical velocity in the dual-
Doppler methodology is determined by integrating the

horizontal divergence, the minimum error in the vertical
velocity is located near the minimum error in the horizontal
divergence field. The disadvantage is that three, rather than
two, radars are required, and that the horizontal divergence
is not as accurately determined (for modest uncertainties
in w) outside the area encompassed by the radars, as it is
through the use of the dual-Doppler method. This is dis-
cussed further in Kessinger et al. ( 1987).
2..3 Boundary Conditions
The traditional two-Doppler radar analysis methodol-
ogies are boundary value problems. Uncertainties at the
lower boundary arise because of 1) earth curvature and
the consequent inability of the radar to sample close to the
ground; 2) blocking of the antenna at low elevation angles,
preventing the sampling near the surface; 3) a paucity of
scatterers at some locations; or 4) a bias in the return from
stronger signals from other directions in the beam pattern.
Uncertainties at the upper boundary arise primarily be-
cause the storm top is not steady, although biases from
stronger reflectivities below have been documented. As
explained in Appendix A, there is an amplification of the
error in upward integration. These and other analysis
techniques were examined in Ray et al. ( 1980a); Fig. 2.1
illustrates the physically implausible results that can be
obtained from upward integration. For mature storms,
downward integration yields more satisfactory results.
Other techniques are discussed in Appendix A.
2..4 Airborne Doppler Radar
Airborne Doppler radar is treated extensively in another
chapter in the volume. Only a summary is included here.
At times researchers are limited by the use of ground-
based Doppler radars, and an airborne Doppler radar at
YELOC TI ES
Fig. 2.1 Vertical cross section illustrating a possible undesirable effect of upward integration. Data are
from an Oklahoma storm that occurred on 20 May 1977. (Adapted from Ray et al., 1980a.)
CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 351
least would seem to mitigate these limitations. Such situ-
ations are over the ocean, mountains, or other areas not
easily accessed by ground-based radars. Another limitation
of ground-based radars is the area a network can cover.
If the phenomenon under study is likely to occur within
the radar network, then a ground-based system is ade-
quate. Airborne Doppler radar may be warranted if the
time required for capturing the desired number of events
with the available radar array is too long, or if the event
is likely to move through the network before being ade-
quately observed, or if the phenomenon is larger in scale
than can be observed with the available ground-based ra-
dar network. The system's portability also allows for ob-
servation at closer range, resulting in higher spatial reso-
lution than is often possible with a ground-based radar.
Jorgensen et al. ( 1983) gave a description of the NOAA
P-3 airborne Doppler radar; other aircraft capabilities and
limitations were given in Jorgensen and Marks (1984).
Hildebrand et al. ( 1983) , Ray et al. ( 1985), Hildebrand
and Mueller ( 1985) , and Mueller and Hildebrand ( 1985)
discussed and evaluated analysis methods and compari-
sons with ground-based Doppler radar synthesis. Triple-
Doppler analysis techniques can increase the strength of
downdrafts (vertical motions), partly because of the ab-
sence of the smoothing inherent in dual-Doppler methods.
Some of the outstanding problems with airborne Doppler
radar collection are the long time required to collect the
necessary data for synthesis, relatively coarse resolution
at extended ranges, and low sensitivity. Still, in many in-
stances the value of airborne Doppler radar systems is un-
questionable.
2..5 Resolution
Frequently, greater coherence is observed in the hori-
zontal than in the vertical direction (although it is not un-
HOR!ZONTPL O!STRNCE fKMl
352 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
common to observe just the opposite, or cases in which
the variation is comparable). This is illustrated in Fig. 2.2
from a study by Battan and Theiss ( 1970) . With the rel-
atively high spatial resolution made possible by the close-
ness of the storm ( 0-8 km), spatial gradients are more
accurately represented than for more distant data. In Fig.
2.2, the motions in the upper portions of the storm are
predominantly upward, although variability is large with
gradients on the order of 20 m s -t found both vertically
and horizontally. The lower portions of the storm are
characterized by rather uniform descent in this cross sec-
tion, but with similar maximum gradients. When the hor-
izontal variation in the vertical velocity is large and over
short distances, as revealed by these studies, it is certain
that peak velocity values and structure are lost or aliased.
In the absence of aliasing, these losses generally do not
compromise model comparisons, since the models tend to
be of the same scales. However, an overestimate of the
scales of importance and an underestimate of the maxi-
mum magnitudes in the fields will exist. An example of
the spectral modification is shown in Appendix A. This
could be particularly troublesome for some of the retrieval
procedures that will be discussed later. Blind application
of these techniques might often lead to erroneous results
and interpretation.
Fig. 2.2 Time- height section showing vertical air velocity from a
storm near Tucson, Arizona (from Battan and Theiss, 1970).
3 OBSERVED TYPES OF STORMS AND
THEIR CLASSIFICATION
Cataloguing storm types and representative soundings
provides observational evidence on the distribution of
storm types as a function of the environment. Modeling
is a powerful way of examining the influence of environ-
mental conditions on the type of storm likely to develop.
An additional benefit of modeling is the opportunity to
diagnose model fields (not likely to be observed with sen-
sors) to describe the relevant physical processes better. By
varying conditions and observing the ensuing storm type,
it is possible to build a conceptual model of storm type
based upon its position in environmental parameter space.
It may be possible to distinguish between storm types based
upon inherent dynamical differences, rather than what
might be a superficial difference in appearance.
From the simulations of Moncrieff and Miller ( 1976),
Weisman and Klemp (1982), Rotunno et al. (1988) and
others, the relationship of buoyancy and shear clearly is
fundamentally important in defining storm structure. This
is true for convection ranging from isolated single cells to
complex storms such as squall lines. Certainly, modulating
influences yield the infinite variety of storms observed, but
the basic storm structure seems to be controlled by, and
reflect the details of, the vertical distribution of buoyancy
and winds.
Weisman and Klemp (1982) and Rasmussen and Wil-
helmson ( 1983) examined the conditions under which se-
vere ( supercell) storms might form. The relationship be-
tween storm type and the degree of instability as expressed
by the potential buoyant energy (from the 1200 UTC
sounding) is shown in Fig. 3.1. Buoyant energy is given
by
B=
g
JO(z)_-O(z)O(z) dz ' (3.1)
where 6( z) is the potential temperature of a parcel rising
moist adiabatically, and O(z) is the environmental po-
tential temperature. The use of virtual temperature is pre-
ferred, although the common practice is as presented in
Eq. ( 3.1). The limits of integration extend through the lev-
els where the parcel temperature exceeds the environ-
mental temperature. Rasmussen and Wilhelmson's ( 1983)
analysis suggests that the potential buoyant energy must
exceed 1500 m 2 s - 2 for supercells to form. In the absence
of water loading, mixing, and other effects, the maximum
updraft velocity is equal to the square root of twice the
buoyant energy. Due to the restrictive assumptions, this
represents the maximum vertical velocity attainable.
Weisman and Klemp ( 1986) suggest that when the effects
of water loading, pressure gradients, and mixing are con-
sidered, the actual maximum vertical velocity is about half
that possible from buoyant energy considerations alone.
 CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 353

10~----~--~.---~.---~-----.-----,-----,
9 is convincing evidence that important physics has been
+ With weak unidirectional shear, a short-lived cell de-
+
~0~0----I-OL00~--1~50~0~~2~0~0~0--~2~500~--~3~0~00~~3~5~00~~4~000
POTENTIAL BUOYANT ENERGY tm 2/sec 2)
Fig 3.1 Storm type as a function of 0-4 km mean shear and potential
buoyant energy (PBE). A dot signifies no mesocyclones and no tor-
nadoes; an open circle represents a storm with a mesocyclone and
no tornado; an asterisk indicates a storm with one tornado; and a
plus sign shows a storm with more than one tornado. The shaded
region represents the area of maximum surface vorticity generation
in the Klemp and Wilhelmson three-dimensional model sensitivity
tests (Rasmussen and Wilhelmson, 1983; adapted from Weisman and
Klemp, 1982).
Figure 3.1 has broad implications related to defining
storm types, as suggested by the comments in the previous
paragraphs. This diagram is in a kind of Richardson num-
ber space, with the Richardson number increasing along
the abscissa with increasing buoyancy, and Richardson
number decreasing with increasing shear along the ordi-
nate. Storm types could be classified by their location
within this parameter space.
Weisman and Klemp ( 1982) examined the types of
storms that formed when the initial conditions in a ho-
mogeneous environment were varied. The available
buoyant energy, defined in Eq. ( 3.1), was varied from 1000
to 3500 m 2 s-2, and the one-dimensional low-level vertical
wind shears ranged from 0 to 0.008 s- 1 . Through this
range, many of the different types of storms that are ob-
served in nature were simulated. A parameter, a bulk
Richardson number similar to that of Moncrief£ and Green
( 1972), was defined as
of directionally varying wind shears, the overall agreement
captured.
velops. Subsequent cells may develop down shear. With
increasing values of wind shear, low pressure begins to
develop at middle levels on the updraft flanks. If the shear
is sufficiently strong, the pressure force will cause new
cells to form at the updraft flanks. These will be charac-
terized by an updraft that rotates in a clockwise direction
and moves to the left of the environmental wind, and by
a cyclonically rotating updraft that moves to the right of
the mean environmental wind. This process can be re-
peated in subsequent storm developments.
Moststrong storms in the Northern Hemisphere are ob-
served to move to the right of the mean winds. These
storms are frequently observed to make rightward turns
as they mature. The curvature of the environmental ho-
dograph has been noted in these conditions. Weisman and
Klemp ( 1986) have demonstrated through numerical sim-
ulation studies that different storm structures evolve from
different environments. The turning of the wind shear
vector with height preferentially promotes the severity of
the right- or left-moving storm and can differentiate be-
tween fundamental storm types. Turning of the shear vec-
tors with height is stressed, because it is easily possible to
have curvature or turning of the wind vector with height
(such as would exist with a straight line hodograph) but
have unidirectional shear. With adequate buoyancy, these
conditions lead to the long-lived, steady state, and often
severe storm structures. Klemp and Wilhelmson ( 1978b)
showed that the low-level curvature (1-2 km AGL) was
most important in determining the ultimate storm type.
Coriolis effects have been shown to be unimportant in all
the cases considered.
3.1 Single Cell
The single cell is the basic building block of moist con-
vection. It is the archetype storm and the simplest form of
10 ~ 000 ~
.---------,--.----.---,---,rrrr,----,--,--r-r-rTn,---------.------r---,-,
Model !of- 8 • p • r c ell• ~
Results ~

1 B sz
R=-- (3.2) Observed
Supercells
59
57
56
So4 e•
2 ii 2 Sl
sa s5 s~

where B is the available buoyant energy defined in Eq.

... .
TRZ
( 3.1) and ii 2 represents the square of the low-level vertical '"'. ,
TRI T1!4
Obstrved
Mulllcolls M2MI ~

wind shear. This is sometimes taken as the difference be- and Misc.

tween the mean wind over a 6-km depth and the surface 10 50 100 ~ ICXXJ ~000

wind at 500 m. A spectrum of storm types was classified R

and plotted against the value of R that typified their en-
vironments. This relationship is presented in Fig. 3.2 (see
also Fig. 3.1). Despite the limitations in the number of
temperature and moisture profiles employed, the mode of
initialization, the lack of mesoscale forcing, and the lack
Fig. 3.2 Richardson number R as calculated for a series of docu-
mented storms. Model results are summarized at the top of the figure.
51, 52, . . . , 59 represent supercell storms; Ml, M2, . . . , MS
represent multicell storms; TR1, TR2, . . . , TR4 represent tropical
cases. (Adapted from Weisman and Klemp, 1982).
354 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
moist convection. Conceptually, a single updraft rises,
condensing water. When the updraft can no longer support
the ensuing rain and/ or ice, these fall out. In addition to
a downdraft enhanced by precipitation drag, evaporational
cooling may substantially accelerate the downdraft as the
hydrometeors fall out of a saturated environment into drier
air. The life cycle is typically 30 to 50 minutes. It would
follow that a single cell's origins must be due to a single
impulse (or a single effective impulse). This conceptual
model has largely remained unaltered from the landmark
study of Byers and Braham (1949) . Their model is pre-
sented conceptually in Fig. 3.3.
Bothwell et al. ( 1982) examined what were presumably
sea-breeze induced, middle afternoon storms that formed
in the vicinity of the Kennedy Space Center. Small cells,
with diameters of about 5 km, formed, moved very slowly
and exhibited a characteristic life cycle of one-half to one
hour. It was tempting to consider many of the observed
showers as a single cell, for only a single divergence sig-
nature was seen at the upper boundary. Bothwell et al.
took advantage of the apparent simplicity and symmetry
and modeled these storms with a two-dimensional axi-
symmetric cloud model. Synthetic radar radial velocities
and reflectivities were compared to those actually observed.
Similarities in magnitude and orientation did exist between
these fields, in spite of documented problems in sampling
at low levels, but the cell clearly was not axisymmetric and
appeared to be a single cell only in the simplest approxi-
mation. The evolution was characterized by rapid growth,
with strong divergence at the storm top, a downward gush
of rain, and a slow decay of the rain field. During this time,
the storm moved very little.
With similar sampling restrictions, Ziegler et al. ( 1986)
modeled the microphysical evolution of a thunderstorm
TOWER ING CUMULUS STAGE
Fig. 3.3 (a) The towering cumulus stage, (b) mature stage, and (c) dissipating stage of a short-lived convective cell (from
Weisman and Klemp, 1986; adapted from Byers and Braham, 1949, by C. A. Doswell).
that formed over Langmuir Laboratory near Socorro, New
Mexico. Again, single Doppler radar data provided details
for the conceptual model that was used. These storms
achieved diameters of about 10 km, and appeared sym-
metric about an erect central reflectivity core. The diver-
gence signature at the storm's top level was strong and
also nearly symmetric. The kinematic microphysical re-
trieval, described in Appendix D and more fully in Ziegler
( 1985, 1988) and Ziegler et al. ( 1986), revealed important
storm features that were not axisymmetric, particularly the
recirculation of graupel. Close examination of the time se-
quence of volume scans from the single Doppler radar also
revealed that the simple-appearing storm was actually
composed of a succession of distinct updrafts with an ap-
parent temporal separation of about 12 minutes with a
succession of merging reflectivity cores.
3.2. Supercell
The supercell represents another limiting storm structure
definition. A supercell can persist for long periods (perhaps
hours), due to the orientation of a single, steady, and ro-
tating updraft. Supercells can develop characteristic radar
echo patterns, such as the pretornadic hook echo, weak
echo region ( WER), and bounded weak echo region
(BWER). The most violent weather, i.e., tornadoes, large
hail, and strongest winds, is associated with this type of
storm. An overview of observations of supercell storm
structure and evolution can be found in Lemon and Dos-
well ( 1979). Supercells can evolve from multicell storms
(to be discussed later), and Foote ( 1985) pointed out that
many, perhaps most, supercell storms retain some multicell
characteristics as Vasiloff et al. ( 1986) described in a study
DISSIPATING STAGE
 CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 355

of the transition of a multicell storm to a supercell storm. (a) STRAIGHT HOOOGRAPH

However, there does appear to be sufficient justification
to classify each of the mentioned storm types on the basis
of dynamical differences. These distinctions will be ad-
dressed in other sections of this chapter. Characteristics of
supercell type storms were presented conceptually by
Browning ( 1964, 1965) in a model of rotating storms. This
model, still widely accepted, is shown in Fig. 3.4. The storm
motion is to the right of the mean wind. The morphology
of these fields has been documented best by the synthesis
of single and multiple Doppler radar data. In some in-
stances, these data have confirmed existing conceptual
models, but in all instances they have refined and quan- 20 40 60 80 MIN
tified them.
Supercells are found in environments characterized by (b) CURVED HOOOGRAPH
strong low-level wind shear, curvature of the wind shear
velocity with height, and substantial convective instability.
Frequently the low-level sounding is capped, suppressing
the premature release of instability. Initial storm devel-
opment does not distinguish the supercell from either the
single cell or the multicell evolution. The nascent supercell's
radar reflectivity pattern is essentially vertically aligned,
and the storm's motion is essentially with the mean wind
in the storm layer.
20 40 60 80 MIN
After growing for about an hour, the storm begins to
take on its unique supercell characteristics. The reflectivity Fig. 3.5 Horizontal contour plots of vertical velocity at 2.25 km
pattern elongates in the direction of the vertical wind shear, AGL at t = 20, 40, 60 and 80 min from the three-dimensional nu-
and a maximum gradient in the reflectivity field is observed merical cloud model developed by Klemp and Wilhelmson (1978a)
at the storm's southwest flank. In addition, due to a for (a) a straight line hodograph 1 and (b) the 20 May 1977 sounding.
strengthening updraft, the middle-level reflectivity over- Updrafts (solid lines) and downdrafts (dashed lines) are contoured
hangs the low-level reflectivity in the region of storm in- at 4 m s- 1 increments, beginning at ±2 m s- 1• The heavy line is the
flow. At this time, the storm's motion deviates to the right outline of the 0.5 g kg- 1 rainwater field predicted by the model. In
(in the Northern Hemisphere) such that the storm path is (a) the development is completely symmetric with respect to the di-
to the right of the mean wind, yielding a typical movement agonal line which represents the direction of the shear vector. The
diagonal line in (b) is as in (a) and also corresponds to the direction
to the northeast.
of the shear vector at 2.25 km. Here the development is skewed so
Sometimes the echo pattern can be seen to split into two that the right member is enhanced over the left. (From Rotunno and
parts, one moving to the right and one to the left (usually Klemp, 1982.)
the more northerly course) of the mean wind, just as the
storm is taking on characteristic features of becoming a
supercell. This is illustrated in Fig. 3.5. This splitting of the echo mass is a fundamental part of the evolution, although
only infrequently detected for reasons explained later. The
left-moving member is almost always weaker and fre-
quently does not become distinct.
About another half-hour later, the storm is fully devel-
oped and reaches its quasi-steady state. A hooklike echo
structure develops at the storm's right rear flank, in re-
sponse to developing rotation in the vicinity of the updraft.
This rotation, or mesocyclone, is first observed at storm
middle levels and extends in time both upward and down-
0 IOOkm
ward. In some storms the strength of the updraft is such
Fig. 3.4 Browning's conceptual model for a right-moving supercell that the overhanging middle-level reflectivity field devel-
thunderstorm. Three-dimensional airflow is viewed from the southeast ops a minimum at the location of the updraft maximum.
with up- and downdraft circulations relative to the storm. Storm In vertical cross section this gives rise to the appearance
motion is to the right of the mean wind. The vertical scale is exag- of an echo overhang and to the term bounded (because
gerated fivefold. Position of a gust front is indicated by a barbed line. of the reflectivity minimum) weak echo region ( BWER) .
(Adapted from Browning, 1964). Numerical simulations of supercells have lent some in-
356 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
sight into their structure. Ray et al. ( 1982) explained,
through numerical simulations, the interaction of two su-
percells that grew in proximity to each other. In another
study, Weisman et al. (1983) examined the formation of
the reflectivity minimum, commonly referred to as WER
or BWER, that is found in the proximity of a strong updraft.
They noted that the reflectivity minimum can be associated
with strong updrafts in supercell storms or downdrafts in
unsteady, multicellular storms. In the case of supercell
storms, the minimum is found in the gradient of the strong
updraft, not at its center. The reflectivity minimum was
due to the rotating updraft entraining drier air from above
the moist surface layer and the transport of precipitation
cyclonically around the updraft periphery at middle levels.
Some sup~rcell mesocyclones develop tornadoes. Tor-
nadic circulations are typically an order of magnitude
smaller in scale and contain winds an order of magnitude
greater than that of mesocyclones. Tomadic circulations
are discussed in section 3.4.
3.3 Mesoscale Convective System (MCS)
The term mesoscale convective system was proposed by
Zipser ( 1982) and has recently become widely used to
represent a wide class of convection, ranging from the me-
soscale convective complexes to squall lines. In fact, all
storms, except isolated convection, fall within the broad
classification of a mesoscale convective system. The defi-
nition used here is given in the Introduction; for a system
to be considered a mesoscale convective system (MCS)
here, the following criteria must be satisfied:
• The lifetime of the system must be greater than the
cycle time of air through the system.
• The convective system must be comprised of several
distinct convective elements.
• The convective elements must interact among them-
selves and with the environment such that the morphology
of each is constructively altered by the interaction.
Much organized convection does not meet the MCS cri-
teria, or the geometric constraints required to be classified
as a squall line. However, such convection can produce
copious rain, and it is difficult to imagine that the convec-
tive elements' morphology are not interrelated. Although
(as previously mentioned) severe, intense, or especially
organized systems are not excluded, they have been dis-
cussed separately. In the less intense category, extensive
observations have been obtained in the GATE (Global At-
mospheric and Tropics Experiment), FACE (Florida Area
Cumulus Experiment), and TAMEX (Taiwan Area Me-
soscale Experiment), just to name a few. Tropical and sub-
tropical convection, which often falls into the MCS cate-
gory, is covered elsewhere in this volume, but it should
be noted that while differences are sure to exist in the
details, mesoscale tropical convection may well share a
common dynamical basis with midlatitude convection.
Knupp and Cotton (1987) used data from a variety of
sensors to examine the structure of a small MCS in the
high plains. They defined an MCS as "any group of con-
vective clouds (linear or nonlinear in shape) that contain
at some stage both convective cores and adjacent stratiform
rain regions originating directly or indirectly from con-
vective clouds." We propose here that the definition be
made less restrictive to include any group of coexisting
convective clouds that have a dynamical interaction. This
relaxes the requirement proposed by Knupp and Cotton
for a stratiform region, although such a stratiform region
will be commonly found. When there is a common strat-
iform region, mesoscale updrafts are often observed over-
lying mesoscale descent (e.g., Zipser, 1977; Ogura and
Liou, 1980). The height of transition between up- and
downdraft appears to be near the melting level, suggesting
that the downdrafts might be related to cooling by evap-
oration and melting at lower levels and updrafts to warm-
ing by condensation and fusion (Johnson and Young,
1983). However, it may be related more to the transition
from rear-to-front flow and front-to-rear flow. In this in-
stance, the rear inflow causes evaporation or sublimation
at heights above the 0°C level, which helps drive the me-
soscale downdraft. The fact that strong descent has been
observed just below the melting level suggests an addi-
tional contribution from melting.
The principal findings of Knupp and Cotton (1987)
complement what we already know of squall lines and
MCCs, and are presumably applicable to other MCSs. They
found that the differences in precipitation structure were
a function of location of deep convection relative to the
shear. Unsteady growth occurred on the upshear flank
where new cells formed discretely above a mesoscale out-
flow boundary. Continuous growth and propagation in
the downshear direction (in the direction that the shear
vector is pointing) in the classical squall-line model was
observed in the downshear direction. The observed me-
soscale updrafts were believed to be formed by the merging
of adjacent convective cores, including remnants of earlier
convection. The downdraft region took nearly three hours
to develop, possibly related to some threshold in area and
intensity of stratiform precipitation. The formation of a
midlevel jet was associated with weakening convection
and the expansion of the stratiform precipitation area. The
relationship between the upshear convective region and
the trailing stratiform region was symbiotic in that the up-
shear convection supplied condensate to the stratiform re-
gion, while the stratiform region produced the mesoscale
downdraft that maintained and intensified the low-level
convergence supporting the upshear convection.
3.3.1 Mesoscale Convective Complex (MCC)
Special attention was drawn to long-lived convective
systems frequently found in middle latitudes by Maddox

( 1980). In addition to occasional severe weather associated
with this type of storm, MCCs account for an appreciable
fraction of the rainfall during the growing season in the
Midwest (Fritsch et al., 1986). This convection is charac-
terized by a large and long-lasting infrared satellite image
such as seen in Fig. 3.6. The satellite-based definition of
an MCC is given in Table 3.1. The storm's internal char-
acteristics are not specifically addressed in this definition,
creating some ambiguity in that squall lines are frequently
considered mesoscale convective systems, but also some-
times qualify as MCCs (Smull and Houze, 1985).
Bartels et al. ( 1984) provided an extensive climatology
that indicated that MCCs occur less frequently than smaller
(in dimension) convective systems. Maddox et al. ( 1986)
illustrate in Fig. 3. 7 typical MCC paths for the month of
April. The climatology also indicates that the probability
of occurrence moves northward during spring and summer
months. Mesoscale convective complexes tend to form in
the lee of the Rocky Mountains and move through the
Great Plains during their lifetime. About one-half of the
documented MCCs had their origins west of 100°W and
about one-half formed between 90° and 100°W. Since the
lee of the Rocky Mountains is about 100°W, almost all
MCCs formed no further than ten degrees east of the Rocky
Mountains. The role of the Rocky Mountains is not well
understood, but it should be noted that very few MCCs
have been identified forming east of of 90°W.
MCC movement is correlated with the mean flow in the
700-500 mb layer, although Merritt and Fritsch ( 1984)
discuss conditions that can lead to anomalous movement.
During the MCC's lifetime, local rainfall amounts fre-
quently exceed several inches. These amounts typically
are found over an area about half the size of a Midwestern
state. Maddox et al. ( 1986) state that rainfall is under much
Fig. 3.6 Enhanced IR satellite image showing the Grand, Island
MCC. Image time is 1130 UTC 4 June 1980. Image is from GOES-
East and uses the MB enhancement curve (medium gray -32° to
-41°C, light gray -41° to -52°C, dark gray -52° to -58°C, black
-58° to -62°C, and repeat gray to white shades,;; -62°C).
CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 357
TABLE 3.1
Definition of Mesoscale Convective Complex Based
on Analyses of Enhanced IR Satellite Imagery
(from Maddox, 1980)
CrlterioD Pby.ical Claaracteriltics
Size• A: Cloud shield with continuously low IR
temperature.;; -32°C must have an
area ~ 100 000 km2
B: Interior cold-cloud region with
temperature .;; - s2•c must have an
area ~ 50 000 km2
Duration Size definitions A and B must be met for
a period~ 6 h
Maximum extent Contiguous cold-cloud shield (IR
temperature .;; - 32°C} reaches
maximum size
Shape Eccentricity (minor axis/major axis)~ 0.7
at time of maximum extent
• Initiation occurs when size definitions A and B are first satisfied; ter-
mination occurs when size definitions A and B are no longer satisfied.
of the region where the cloud top temperature is.;;; -52°C.
This area frequently extends to 75 000-200 000 km 2, even
though the definition somewhat arbitrarily sets the mini-
mum requirement at a cloud top temperature of.;;; -52°C
for at least 6 h.
Until recently, much of what was known about MCC~
was inferred from satellite observations. Most MCCs ap-
pear to result from mergers of individual (smaller) con-
vective elements. This convection can itself be a collection
Fig. 3.7 Tracks of MCCs documented from 1978- 82 during the
month of April. Start of the heavy solid line corresponds with initi-
ation, circled number corresponds with maximum extent, and x with
termination, as defined in Table 3.1. Dotted line indicates movement
of a developing thunderstorm prior to MCC initiation. (From Maddox
et al., 1986.)
358 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
of individual storms. MCCs usually form during the late
afternoon, presumably in response to the diurnal increase
in heating that initiates much convection, whether it
evolves into an MCC or not. During the evening hours the
convection organizes, with the MCCs likely to reach their
maximum extent (area of :s:; -52°C} around midnight. This
is also about the time when the low-level jet is strongest,
nearest the gound, and has its strongest westerly com-
ponent. With morning, the MCC is most likely to terminate
as the low-level jet typically backs and weakens. This noc-
turnal maximum in MCC strength is probably responsible
for the nocturnal maximum in precipitation in the central
United States (Wallace, 1975).
MCCs typically develop within an environment char-
acterized by low-level warm advection, an east-west sta-
tionary or warm frontal zone, and upward motion (5-10
Jtb s -t at 500 mb, Maddox et al., 1986) in the Great Plains
ahead of a middle-level short-wave trough. A deep, warm-
core circulation develops with net upward circulation. A
cold core in the upper troposphere is associated with the
strong outflow. However, as Wetzel et al. ( 1983) pointed
out, MCCs do not act in a quasi-geostrophic or classic
baroclinic sense by transporting sensible heat northward.
The upper-tropospheric outflow ( =200 mb) weakens
rapidly after the MCC decays. The amplification of the
short-wave trough coincident with the decay of an MCC
appears to be a large-scale adjustment in response to the
temperature perturbation. Maddox ( 1983) summarizes
MCC structure with the following points:
• Composite analysis of upper-air data shows that MCCs
interact with and modify their large-scale environment
and, thereby, may affect the evolution of meteorological
features over much of the eastern United States.
• The large-scale setting provides a conditionally unsta-
ble thermodynamic structure over a large region ahead
and to the right of the advancing MCC.
• The nocturnal increase in speed and significant veering
of the low-level winds enhances both the warm advection
and influx of moist unstable air; radiative cooling decouples
the entire MCC from the near-surface layer.
• Convective elements occur within a mesoscale envi-
ronment in which the moist layer is deepening and the
vertical wind shear is decreasing. Thus, during the mature
phase, downdrafts may be less intense and precipitation
efficiency higher than in the development and growth
phases.
• The MCC eventually moves into a more stable-and
convectively less favorable-environment, apparently
initiating its demise.
The hypothesis of the MCC definition is that a large,
long-lived canopy of cold cloud indicates persistent me-
soscale lifting in the upper half of the troposphere. This
is in contrast to other types of convection, or even certain
stages of MCC development. An isolated thunderstorm
may produce an extensive anvil by pumping water from
a very limited area of convection. In an MCC, most of the
area under the -52°C shield must be characterized by at
least stratiform precipitation. Middle-latitude MCCs have
recently been studied with radar by Leary and Rappaport
( 1983). In their study, an MCC was found to resemble
convective systems of the tropics as described by Zipser
(1977) and Houze (1977).
Leary and Rappaport (1983, 1987) provided an early
view into the interior of an MCC that initiated, developed,
and matured in western Texas. They found that the char-
acteristic oval-shaped anvil shield was produced by a squall
line. The arc-shaped cellular leading edge was character-
ized by vigorous convection, with a widespread area of
moderate and light rain. Such a radar pattern has become
identified with a broader class of convection, the mesoscale
convective system, where the emphasis of classification is
more on the precipitation field (such as might be observed
by radar) and dynamically induced differences, rather than
external representations (useful as their inferences might
be) such as revealed by satellite observations.
3.3.2 Molticell
If a cell is defined as a distinct updraft, most storms, by
literal interpretation of this definition, are composed of
several cells. The cells are often visually apparent, in ad-
dition to being observed by radar, as discrete reflectivity
maxima. Presumably, comparable numbers of updrafts are
associated with the observed reflectivity maxima. Setting
aside the dynamical point of their origin, multicell storms
can be thought of as a collection of single-cell storms. Per-
haps all storms contain multicell characteristics.
The interaction of storm outflows (from single cells or
other multicells) with the environment or other storm out-
flows has been identified as an important process in the
formation of multicell storms. Convergence along the gust
front's leading edge, usually in the direction of storm mo-
tion, can be sufficient to trigger new updraft development
( Marwitz, 1972a,b,c). If the redevelopment is consistently
along a preferred storm flank, the storm's resultant motion
is characteristically to the right of the mean cloud layer
winds. This preferential discrete redevelopment is char-
acteristically on the southern flank.
Multicells are favored in regions of moderate buoyancy
and low to moderate shear (Weisman and Klemp, 1984).
The echo evolution at four selected heights is illustrated
for a typical multicellular storm in Fig. 3.8. Multicellular
growth is often favored on the left flank when the ho-
dograph contains directional shear. Often it is observed
that a supercell will be found on the southern end (right
flank) of a line of multicellular storms.
With their regenerative capacity, multicells can exist for
a long time. If their movement is slow, they may be re-
sponsible for locally heavy rains. Although hail and tor-
 CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 359

nadoes can be associated with multicell storms, they are
smaller and not as severe as those found with supercell
storms.
3.3.3 Squall Lines
Mesoscale convective systems organized in a linear
fashion are termed squall lines. The study of squall lines
has relied heavily on the use of radar observations. Squall
lines are defined, in practice, as any continuous or broken
line of thunderstorms. This definition of Hane ( 1986) is
similar to that of Rotunno et al. ( 1988), which emphasizes
the appearance of a line or narrow band of active thun-
derstorms. The distinguishing characteristics of squall lines
include the continuity and geometric relationship of the
echoes and the persistence of the precipitation. Illustrations
of different squall lines are shown inFig. 3.9. Frequently,
the strongest echoes and heaviest precipitation are at the
line's leading edge. This is usually the line's most easterly
side; however, for some squall lines, particularly early in
the storm's evolution, no well-developed mesoscale strat-
iform precipitation area exists.
Squall lines usually form in the warm sector in an area
of at least quasi-linear forcing. Wilhelmson and Klemp
( 1981) showed how a linear structure could evolve from
storm splitting in the case of linear shear. This is illustrated
in Fig. 3.10. Almost all thunderstorms require at least a
conditionally unstable environment as well as a mechanism
to release the instability. The initiation may be in response
to a boundary at the surface (e.g., cold front, dryline) or
to dynamical lifting from an upper-level disturbance. Such
a mechanism, acting on a boundary of potentially unstable
air, could produce a line or a complex of thunderstorms.
Once initiated, storms (or their progenitors) can be sus-
tained by their interaction with the environment. For ex-
ample, flow over an outflow boundary can either sustain
existing convection or initiate new convection.
Thunderstorm complexes exist in a variety of forms.
Bluestein and Jain ( 1985) distinguish and illustrate some
of the possible forms in Fig. 3.11 (see also Fig. 3.9 for
comparison). Storm complexes can be loosely coupled in
the sense that storm elements are a broken line (or cluster)
of individual storms, or as a nearly continuous line of
storms. Frequently, a line of individual storms will "fill
in." As pointed out by Hane (1986), when an isolated or
tomadic cell elongates, it usually signals the end of tomadic

20 ....

_fJ_ Jf}) JiJ2 Jif521

-e:;: 1z~
~
6
-40"C
~
2' o•c
•
~ 0
0 6 9 15 2t
Elapsed tune (monl

Fig. 3.8 Schematic PPI sections and vertical cross sections for a multicell storm at various stages of its life cycle.
PPI sections are illustrated for four elevations (3, 6, 9 and 12 km) at six different times. The arrows depict the direction
of cell motion and are also geographical reference lines for the vertical cross sections shown along the bottom of the
figure. Cell3 is shaded to emphasize its history. Vertical cross section is along arrow with the view from the southeast.
(From Chisholm andRenick, 1972.)
360 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Fig. 3.9 PPI displays of squall lines from the WSR-57 radar at the National Severe Storms Laboratory, Norman, Oklahoma.
Squall lines occurred on (a) 26 April1969; (b) 16 May 1977; (c) 10 April1979; (d) 30 May 1979; (e) and([) 9 May 1979.
(From Hane, 1986).

(or its most severe) activity, with any additional tornadic This mode of growth was investigated by Newton and
activity shifting to the southern or southwestern end of Fankhauser ( 1964). Southward building can occur because
the squall line. An existing line of storms may elongate by an upper-level disturbance moves progressively southward
systematically adding new cells to its southernmost end. along a surface discontinuity, or because an existing storm
 CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 361

a b
3 APRIL 1964

1330 1---IOOkm------1

1330

Fig. 3.10 (a) Observed and (b) modeled storm development on 3 April1964. Observed reflectivities> 12 dBZ at 0° and
modeled rainwater contents 0.5 g kg- 1 at z = 0.4 km are enclosed by alternating solid and dashed contours about every 30
min. Maxima in these fields are connected by solid lines. The storms are labeled and the contoured regions are stippled at
several times for better visualization of the storm development. Labels for the modeled storms are the same as the corresponding
observed storms except for the inclusion of M. The scale shown in (a) applies in (b). (From Wilhelmson and Klemp, 1981;
Weisman and Klemp, 1986.)

outflow interacts with the inflow at the southern end of a
squall line, stimulating new convection.
Due to logistical and observing system constraints, and
the squall line's size, relative infrequency, and tendency
to occur during nighttime hours, it has been only in recent
years that squall lines have been studied in sufficient num-
bers to build a conceptual model that properly accounts
for the variability in their observations. The observations
in the United States reveal features similar to those in the
British Isles (Browning and Hill, 1984).
Bergeron ( 1954) and Pedgley ( 1962) provided important
insights into the flow in a squall as illustrated in Fig. 3.12.
The mesoscale region of stratiform rain was characterized
by ascent at high levels and descent at low levels and in
the clear areas ahead of the storm, with vigorous convec-
tion along the system's leading edge. Byers and Braham
(1949) provided the first comprehensive study of squall-
line structure. They established that the lifetime of an in-
dividual cell in a cumulus cloud was between 30 and 60
min. Newton ( 1950) and later Newton and Newton ( 1959)
showed that new convection formed along the convergent
outflow boundary, which they maintained was produced
by the downward transfer of westerly momentum in the
rain area (Fig. 3.13). Conceptually, the low-level inflow
approaches from the east, rising upshear in a region of
relative maximum in wet-bulb potential temperature. Wa-
ter condenses in the updraft and falls into a region of low
wet-bulb potential temperature (dry air) that is approach-
ing from the west. Cooling from evaporation accelerates
this air toward the ground and provides for outflow that
simulates and enhances new convection along the outflow
boundary, thus maintaining convection.
Following Normand ( 1938), Ludlam ( 1963) advanced
the notion that updrafts leaning upshear allow rain to fall
outside the updraft and form a downdraft and low-level
convergent zone, and sustained convection. Newton
( 1966) also identified the importance of this process in the
maintenance of squall lines. More recently, Thorpe et al.
( 1982) with important extensions by Rotunno et al. ( 1988)
and Weisman et al. ( 1988) investigated the two- and three-
dimensional aspects of squall lines. They found that the
details of the environmental shear are extremely important,
but, contrary to early explanations (e.g., Newton, 1966),
the tilt of the updraft is interpreted in a substantially dif-
ferent way. The alignment of updrafts (cells) perpendicular
to the shear acts to mitigate the shear within the system
362 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

CLASSIFICATION OF SQUALL-LINE and Smull and Houze (1985, 1987a) to examine the same
DEVELOPMENT system studied by Ogura and Liou (1980); see Fig. 3.14.

I
The Doppler data indicated that the updraft originates
II
,
II ahead of the outflow and tilts back into the line. Dissipating
~

BROKE~ LINE
II cells are continuously moving toward the rear of the line.
II
(14 Cases) II II Advecting ice particles westward contributes in a water
II budget sense to the extensive trailing stratiform region.
"
(J
Zipser and Matejka ( 1982) and Srivastava et al. ( 1986)
discussed observations of a squall line and trailing strati-
form region in northern Illinois. They found a pronounced
BACK BUILDING
(13 Cases) 0
0
0 /) front-to-rear flow in the stratiform region similar to the
0 Oklahoma squall line case examined by Houze and Smull
( 1982). Zipser and Matejka hypothesized that the upper

tJ
region of the stratiform rain area is provided moisture from
00 0
BROKEN AREAL
oo6~ oo
the convection at the squall line's leading edge and is also
characterized by mesoscale ascent. The lower portion of
(8 Cases) <l'V'~ Oo 0 the stratiform region was dominated by a mesoscale
D<&O 0 downdraft.

0 0 flJ
EMBEDDED AREAL
(5 Cases)
f:oO
Fig. 3.11 Idealized depiction of squall-line formation (from Bluestein
and Jain, 1985).
of cells which, in turn, acts to enhance the formation of
new cells downshear and suppress old cells upshear.
Ogura and Liou ( 1980) performed a composite analysis
of data from a rawinsonde network and deduced the ver-
tical motion field in and around a squall line. They found
a local maximum of ascent at the squall line's leading edge
and another maximum about 100 km behind the leading
edge, near 7 km altitude. The region of maximum meso-
scale descent was also about 100 km west of the line's
leading edge at about 5 km altitude.
Doppler radar was used by Houze and Smull ( 1982)
In an analysis of single Doppler data from two squall
lines observed over Kansas during the PRE-STORM ex-
periment, Smull and Houze ( 1986, 1987b) found the an-
ticipated reflectivity structure, with intense organized
multicellular convection at the system's leading edge and
an extensive area of trailing stratiform precipitation. The
transition zone separating the convective and stratiform
regions was marked by a reflectivity minimum at low lev-
els. The wind fields reinforced the findings of Smull and
Houze ( 1985, 198 7a) of intense updrafts and downdrafts
in the convective region at the system's leading edge, cor-
related with maxima in the horizontal velocity and con-
vective-scale momentum fluxes. In the stratiform region
there is an upward-sloping maximum of front-to-rear flow
aloft and a jet of rear-to-front flow sloping down from the
middle levels at the rear to the ground at the front. This
produced a notch in the back edge of the precipitation
echo. Rutledge and Houze (1987) used the Doppler radar
data analyzed by Smull and Houze ( 1987a) in the context
of a two-dimensional microphysical model to examine the
formation of precipitation falling from the trailing strati-
form region. They found that the position of the heaviest

km
10

- - o AIR-CURRENT AT HEAT SOURCE _,.,_ ISOBAR

- AIR-CURRENT AT HEAT SINK ~ CLOUO ANO PRECIPITATION
ICE-NUCLEUS LEVEL

Fig. 3.12 Vertical cross section through a convective system formed by the fusion of several
convective cells in very humid, unstable air. (From Hane, 1986 after Bergeron, 1954.)
 CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 363

.. -... 400
E
-:
mb
7
0
0
~

20
6
500

15

600
4

700

192 133 Time(minl from 62 44 2012 -7

202 184 -30
R- squoll passaqe R- TR TRW+ R+

140 130 120 110100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 OISTENC E (miles)

Fig. 3.13 Vertical cross section through a prefrontal squall line that passed over the Ohio network of
the Thunderstorm Project on 29 May 1947. Heavy lines indicate surfaces of stable layers (polar front at
left); dotted lines are boundaries of stable layer in squall sector with relatively dry air above it; thin
lines are isopleths of Ow; cloudy area is stippled; arrows showing airflow are schematic. (From Hane,
1986, after Newton and Newton, 1959.)

HORIZONTAL DISTANCE FROM LEADING EDGE OF SQUALL-LINE ECHO (km)

Stroliform Region Transition Convect ive Region

Zone

Fig. 3.14 Conceptual model based upon single Doppler radar observations of a squall line complex
that passed over Oklahoma on 22 May 1976. Estimated cloud outline is scalloped outside the (mostly
solid) contour that outlines the radar echo; heavy lines denote areas of highest reflectivity. Light stippling
indicates regions of system's relative wind component from left to right; heavy shading shows jet of
maximum horizontal wind from right to left. Streamlines show two-dimensional relative flow consistent
with wind and echo structure. (After Houze and Smull, 1982.)
364 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

stratiform surface rainfall was determined by the fallout
of ice particles carried from the convective region by the
strong front-to-rear flow. These particles acquire the bulk
of their precipitable mass through deposition of condensate
made available by the mesoscale updraft. Condensation
in the mesoscale updraft contributed about 70 percent of
the total condensate in the stratiform region.
Using data from four Doppler radars, Kessinger et al.
(1987) deduced the three-dimensional flow in an Okla-
homa squall line. Three fields are presented in Fig. 3.15.
The updraft at the leading (easternmost) edge was nearly
erect with weak updrafts and downdrafts in the stratiform
region. Undoubtedly, a net upward component of vertical
motion was at upper levels. Some of the variability was
likely due to radar synthesis errors.
Examination of flow features perpendicular to and par-
allel to the leading edge of the squall line shows the parallel
flow has, in general, greater magnitude than the perpen-
dicular flow. From the leading edge through the stratiform
region, front-to-back flow characterizes the lowest 6 km
of the perpendicular flow of the squall line. The convective
region has forward flow above 6 km. A region of weak
back-to-front flow exists from the 3-8 km levels at the far
western extent of the squall line, near the postline rain-

19 MAY 1977 1434 CST

POST-LINE

12 .0
...J
(!) 10.0
<!
E 8.0
-"'
1-
I 6 .0
(!)
w
I 4 .0

2 .0

0 .15

12.0
...J
(!) 10.0
<!
E 8.0
-"'
1-
I 6 .0
Q
w
I 4.0

2 .0

0 . 15

12.0
:J
(!)
<! 10 .0
E
-"' 8.0
1-
I
(!)
6.0
w
I 4 .0

2 .0

0 .15
-140 -120 -100 -80 - 60 - 40 -20
x(km)

Fig. 3.15 Vertical cross section from a multiple-Doppler radar synthesizes wind and reflectivity fields
from an Oklahoma squall line that occurred on 19 May 1977. Fields are (a) reflectivity, (b) flow per-
pendicular to the squall line, and (c) flow parallel to the squall line. In a north-south line orientation,
positive velocities are toward the east and north in parts (b) and (c), respectively. (From Kessinger et
al., 1987.)

band. The rear inflow is similar to that observed by Smull
and Houze ( 1985), but is considerably weaker. Differences
between the flow field of this squall line and other middle-
latitude squall lines may be consequences of different en-
vironmental wind profiles and observations at different
stages in their development.
The rear inflow observed in middle-latitude squall lines
is also observed in the numerical experiments of Rotunno
et al. ( 1988), and is believed to be in response to the mass
requirements of the upshear spr~ading outflow. It is ob-
served in mature dissipative stages in nature and also in
the numerical simulations, and sometimes is not observed
at all. Rear inflow is not a common feature of tropical squall
lines. This may be related to the reduced instability, weaker
cold pools, and weaker shear required for their optimum
maintenance.
In most cases, the strongest convection is at the leading
edge, which is also the easternmost edge for middle-lati-
tude squall lines (westernmost in the tropics). This is also
the portion of the storm of relative inflow. Mesoscale de-
scent at low levels exists throughout the remainder of the
precipitation area. Except for the cases exhibiting strong
rear inflow that penetrates forward to the convective line,
the flow at all levels behind the vigorous convection at the
system's leading edge is usually away from the most vig-
orous convection. The principal updraft slopes toward the
rear, but the degree of slope varies among systems (and
within the same system at different times). Frequently, a
radar bright band is observed, although it may only be
evident over a portion of the stratiform region, and it may
not be evident at all. It appears that there is generally rising
motion above the level of the bright band, but its spatial
uniformity and variability in strength vary among systems
and perhaps during the lifetime of a given system. Some
lines seemingly propagate in a steady fashion; others seem
to involve mechanisms such as the continuous formation
and merger of new cells or large, discrete jumps (e.g., Sri-
vastava et al., 1986). As mentioned before, some differ-
ences are certainly attributable to observations taken at
different stages in a system's lifetime. More complete doc-
umentation of the lifetime of such long-lived systems will
certainly clarify some of the ambiguities.
It is tempting to draw upon studies of mesoscale con-
vective systems in the tropics to infer (or contrast) features
observed in extratropical systems. Studies such as Houze
( 1977), Zipser ( 1977), LeMone ( 1983), Roux et al. ( 1984),
and Chong et al. (1987) provide the framework of our
understanding of these tropical systems. Whereas the
convective region of a midlatitude squall line is easily
identified, the stratiform region frequently observed in
tropical systems is not always present in a distinct form.
Some of the early squall lines that were studied were
during the GATE experiment and thus were of tropical
origin. Barnes and Sieckman ( 1984) identified fast- and
slow-moving cloud lines and found that the fast-moving
CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 365
squall lines were associated with an environment char-
acterized by strong low-level shear. This is the same con-
clusion arrived at by Frank ( 1978) who also noted that
the slower moving lines were found in an environment of
weak or no shear. The following discussion on tropical
squall lines is extended in Marks, Chapter 25a.
The work of Newton (1963), Zipser (1977), Houze
(1977), and Sanders and Emanuel (1977) suggests that
the flow is predominately from the front to back at all
levels, implying that low 8, (equivalent potential temper-
ature) air at middle levels must move between sites of
active convection in the process. Newton ( 1963) and Zipser
( 1977) also found a weak return flow behind the leading
edge. This was also apparent in a more recent analysis by
Smull and Houze ( 198 7b) of a tropical squall line. Also
indicated was low-level outflow toward the front of the
squall line. As noted by Rotunno et al. ( 1988), all relevant
studies concluded that the squall line is fed by high 8, air
ahead or downshear of the line at low levels. The air behind
the line is cooler and of lower 8, than the air ahead of the
line. Overall, they conclude that very few features seem
to distinguish tropical squall lines from their middle-lati-
tude counterparts. The only important distinction, they
conclude, is that middle-latitude squall lines occasionally
may be composed of individually steady supercell-type
storms.
Although it is possible to compute kinematic properties
such as momentum transports, vorticity and vorticity ten-
dency, etc., and these properties tell us much about the
state of the storm processes, they only hint at the physical
mechanism. Gal-Chen ( 1978), Hane and Scott ( 1978),
and Hane et al. ( 1981) recognized that since the wind
fields provided by Doppler radar obey the laws of motion,
it should be possible, in principle, to invert the wind field
to obtain the pressure field. That is, instead of starting
with an existing field with a specified forcing to compute
the wind tendency and thereby the wind field at a slightly
future time, they saw the possibility of observing the state
of the wind field at two displaced times and computing
the accelerations (forcing) required to produce that change.
Thus it was recognized that it was possible, in principle,
to compute the temperature and pressure perturbation
fields given one or more wind fields provided by Doppler
radar. The concern from the beginning was that even rel-
atively small uncertainties in the wind fields would lead
to very large errors in the retrieved fields. Preliminary tests
with fields provided by numerical models, where forcing
is known, were encouraging. These tests showed that in
many instances the evolution is slow enough that the use
of a steady state assumption results in only a small error.
The first application of this technique using Doppler radar
data was by Chong et al. ( 1980). Other applications have
been performed by Bonesteele and Lin ( 1978), Brandes
(1984a), Hane and Ray (1985), Pasken and Lin (1982),
Lin et al. ( 1986), and Roux et al. ( 1982, 1984).
366 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
The equations of motion may be written
DV
·- =-
av + (V·V)V = -
-cp8voVTrt
Dt at
(a) (b)
8- (j
+ g[O + 0.61(qv- tJv)- ql ] k" + S (3.3)
(c) (d)
where Vis the three-dimensional air velocity, V the del
operator:, Cp the specific heat of moist air at constant pres-
sure, Ov the virtual potential temperature defined as Ov
= ( 1 + 0.61qv)8 where 8 is the potential temperature, and
qv the mixing ratio of water vapor. The nondimensional
pressure is denoted by 1r and is defined as (p 11000 )k where
p is the dimensional pressure in mb and k = ( Cp - Cv) I Cp
where Cv is the specific heat of moist air at constant volume;
q1 is the mixing ratio of liquid water, which here includes
cloud water content and precipitation. The acceleration
due to gravity is represented by gk, and S denotes the
subgrid turbulent force. Basic and first-order perturbation
states are denoted by subscripts 0 and 1, respectively. The
Coriolis force has been omitted as a result of scaling ar-
guments.
Equation ( 3.3) states that the acceleration of an air parcel
(a) is a result of the sum of (b) the pressure force, (c) the
buoyancy force, and (d) subgrid forces. Most authors have
used the parameterization of Deardorff ( 1975) in evalu-
ating the subgrid scale turbulence. Most of the necessary
mixing ratios can be estimated from radar reflectivity val-
ues; however, cloud water in any phase cannot be directly
measured or estimated. Additional details on the retrieval
of perturbation pressure and buoyancy fields are available
in Appendix C. This technique has been extended by Roux
( 1985) to determine completely the thermodynamic fields
from the relative temperature and pressure perturbations.
Roux et al. ( 1984) applied these techniques to diagnose
the structure of the dynamic fields in a West African squall
line. Doppler radar data were collected using the RON-
SARD dual-Doppler radar system. The radars were op-
erated in the COPLANE (Lhermitte, 1970) scanning mode.
The radar data were complemented by simultaneous mea-
surements from a surface network. Upper-air data were
obtained from a radiosonde launched 30 minutes before
TABLE 3.2.
Root Mean Sqnare Values of the Three Components of the DiJierent Terms in the Equation of Motion
in to- z m s- 3 (from Roux et al., 1984)
au
-av
at (V·V)u s. at (V·V)v
0.9 2.36 0.4 0.4 1.3
the arrival of the squall line. Key features exhibited were
similar to middle-latitude squall lines. In particular: 1) the
wind field appears stationary in the reference frame relative
to the squall line; 2) the air circulation over part of the
squall line was nearly two-dimensional; 3) two distinct
horizontal flows were observed-a flow toward the squall
line due to the squall line's motion relative to the envi-
ronmental flow, and a rear-to-front flow at low levels (be-
low about 4 km); 4) the most intense updrafts were ob-
served at the forward edge; 5) downdrafts were weak and
did not seem to play an important role in the dynamics of
the convective region; 6) the rear-to-front flow found dur-
ing the squall line's mature stage was the major contributor
to the low-level convergence and cold pool so important
in forcing at the leading edge; 7) the maximum reflectivity
values (which were as high as 55 dBZ ) are restricted to
the leading edge and are referred to as the convective re-
gion; and 8) the lower and more uniform reflectivity values,
which may exhibit a radar bright band, are extended to
the rear. This region under the trailing anvil is referred to
as the stratiform region.
In preparing to diagnose the dynamical forcing active
in this case, the radar data were used to compute some of
the terms in the equation of motion. Typical values (av-
eraged over height) are presented in Table 3.2.
The precipitation loading was computed from the re-
lation q, = 0.173 X 10-22 °·613 , where q, is in g m - 3 and Z
in mm 6 m - 3 • The main contribution is from the advective
terms, and the terms expressing temporal evolution and
subgrid scale forces are very weak.
The quality of the retrieval can be assessed by the " mo-
mentum checking" parameter as described in Appendix
C. Values in this analysis ranged from about 0.2 below 3
km and about 0.4 at 4 and 5 km. In the formulation used
by Roux et al. ( 1984) white noise would yield a value of
0.6. They also compared the retrieved perturbation pres-
sure and temperature at the lowest level with time series
data from surface stations. The agreement was generally
quite good, with discrepancies possibly explained by the
effects of temporal evolution during the interval of up to
30 min used to collect surface data to compare with the
retrieved fields.
At the lowest level (0.75 km for pressure and 1.0 km
for temperature) the maximum pressure perturbation
( -1.5 mb) is at the interface between opposing flows and
with small (- -0.5 mb) negative perturbation pressure
aw
Sr at {V·V)w s. lllr
0.2 0.6 2.0 0.2 0.7
 CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 367

in the stratiform precipitation region. The perturbation

temperature field is benign, except near the squall line's
a ~
]" o_,-----------------------~-----------
leading edge where there is a 4°C temperature drop. . . . . . Squail line
motion
Qualitatively, these results are very similar to those that
have been documented in middle latitudes, as well as re-
sults documented on squall lines during GATE.
These results can be explained by considering both hy-
drostatic and nonhydrostatic effects. The hydrostatic pres-
sure difference between the region outside the convection
and within the convective region is a consequence of the
different structure of the air above each region. From ra-
diosondes it was determined that there was about 0.5 mb -A'
pressure increase in the convective region due to hydro- 0~----~~----~----~------r-----~
0 10 20 30 40 50
static effects. The nonhydrostatic pressure increase is due DISTANCE (km)
to the relative speeds and densities of the warm air entering b
the squall line and the cold air outflow. The pressure dif- ALONG AA'
ference can be expressed relative to the hydrostatic pressure +~crostaiiC (PRESSURE

! ---- -- ---- ----- -~m::~~~: -

in each air mass as l::!.p = !pV 2 for each air mass where p nse
and V are the air density and velocity for each air mass,
A A'
respectively. In this case the temperature dropped 4°C with + I TEMPERATURE
wQrm cqld
a corresponding pressure increase of 1.6 mb with respect
to the warm air flow and 1.1 mb with respect to the cold
t- a1r a1r

flow. Thus, nonhydrostatic pressure effects dominate at

the surface. At about the 2 and 3 km levels the perturbation
temperature and pressure patterns are similar and the same
interpretation can be made. A notable difference is that at
3-km height, the pressure maximum is shifted to be po-
sitioned in front of the updraft. This is similar to the results
of Lin et al. ( 1986) who found maximum perturbation
pressure on the upshear side of the updraft and low pres-
sure on the downshear side in agreement with linear the-
ory. The maximum temperature (+3°C) is clearly asso-
ciated with the updraft at the leading edge. At 2.25-km
height the pressure maximum is a result of an obstacle
effect. The temperature maximum provides positive ther-
mal buoyancy at this height and above. Below this height
the updraft seems to be forced by the advection of cold
air from the rear. Above 3 km nonhydrostatic pressure
effects are thought to be small. These effects and their
spatial distribution are illustrated schematically in Fig. 3.16.
A key feature is the intense outward flow of cold air,
which initiates and maintains the forced lifting of poten-
tially thermally buoyant air through a nonhydrostatic
pressure perturbation. Above 3 km the convection is ther-
mally driven. Probably, mixing with relatively cold envi-
ronmental air and cloud water loading reduces buoyancy
until the parcel is relieved of its precipitation burden, at
which point the convection is reinvigorated.
These results might be contrasted to the dynamical
structure deduced by LeMone ( 1983) of a tropical GATE
squall line. There is general agreement between the aircraft
observations of LeMone and the dynamic fields deduced
from radar observation in Roux et al. (1984). LeMone's
density current, which is responsible for initiating the up-
draft, is limited to the lowest 1 km or so, whereas in Roux
et al. it extends to about 3-km height. This difference is
c . . - - - - - - - 11 ALONG 88' f
·rlr:ESSU~E I
-~old a1r """""--
warm air I
:
B_+I,"'T""'EM""'P:-:::E""'RA~T~u""'R~E!.-------/'"""...
.........----_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-:lEI
II _--/u"pdraft _
Fig. 3.16 (a) Conceptual model of the convective region of the 22
June 1981 squall line in the frame moving with the squall line. (b)
Associated pressure and temperature perturbation profiles along AA',
at low levels. (c) Associated presS'Ure and temperature perturbation
profiles along BB', at middle levels. (From Roux et al., 1984.)
reflected in the associated pressure and buoyancy fields.
The buoyancy fields observed by LeMone were more spe-
cifically identifiable with up- and downdrafts. These dif-
ferences may result from differences in the convective sys-
tems themselves, or may simply reflect the differences from
two rather different methods of deducing them.
Modeling of storm systems presents many challenges
over that of modeling isolated convection. As in models
of isolated convection, storm systems may be modeled in
two or three dimensions. Linear storm systems are attrac-
tive to model in two dimensions because of the obvious
extension of fields apparent along the line. The implicit
assumption is that the storm is infinite in extent and that
derivatives along the line are zero (or at least very small
compared to derivatives normal to the line and the deriv-
atives in the vertical direction). The earliest two-dimen-
sional simulations were done by Malkus and Witt ( 1959),
followed by many others in subsequent years. Represen-
368 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
tative of recent efforts is Hane et al. ( 1987). They simulated
the convection of the Oklahoma squall line that was de-
scribed by Kessinger et al. ( 198 7). Proximity soundings
were used to describe the three-dimensional structure
(wind, temperature, and moisture) of the atmosphere prior
to the formation of the squall line. A convergent region
400 m in the horizontal and vertical was included in the
model's lowest layers to simulate a mesoscale feature that
existed that day. This also served as the perturbation to
initiate convection. The resulting simulation has a west-
ward (rearward) sloping updraft with a mesoscale area of
precipitation. New, or periodically invigorated, updrafts
were initiated along the gust front. This maintains the
convection over periods of hours. The resulting depiction
of the convective system contained many similarities to
observed squall lines, even though the restriction to two
dimensions undoubtedly limits an accurate representation
of some storm processes.
Numerical simulation of squall lines by Wilhelmson and
Klemp ( 1983a), using periodic boundary conditions and
equally spaced initial thermal perturbations, resulted in a
line of storms when the initial hodograph also was a
straight line and normal to the discontinuity. If the ho-
dograph exhibited modest clockwise curvature with height
below the 1-km level, a more intense right-moving storm
developed with the left mover developing into a line of
multicell thunderstorms. In a separate numerical experi-
ment, Wilhelmson and Klemp ( 1983b) imposed a small
random temperature perturbation in the area of the con-
vergence line. The structure of the resulting long-lived cells
was different from the storm that would have developed
from a single perturbation.
Schlesinger ( 1984) compared two- and three-dimen-
sional simulations and concluded that two-dimensional
simulations resulted in grealer downward pressure gra-
dients in the updrafts and, therefore, less vertical devel-
opment. The results of Hane et al. ( 1987) appear to support
this conclusion. Another obvious advantage to three-di-
mensional simulation is the ability to capture variations
along the line. Wilhelmson and Klemp ( 1983b) used
soundings from the same day as Hane et al. ( 1987) in a
three-dimensional simulation. They specified a conver-
gence line and used random thermal perturbations along
the line to initiate convection. Periodic boundary conditions
were used along the north and south boundaries. The
model domain extended 40 km in the north-south direc-
tion, enough to capture the morphology of several cells.
The resulting simulation captures the cell motion that was
observed that day. The cells are long-lived, but do not
appear the same as supercells. Since a single perturbation
would have resulted in a supercell, this difference must
be attributable to the interaction between cells. When the
fields were averaged along the line, the composite fields
were compared to a two-dimensional simulation, such as
performed by Hane et al. (1987). The average or composite
fields exhibited the westward tilting updraft, warm up-
drafts, cold downdrafts, and pressure distribution, all sim-
ilar to the results of the two-dimensional simulation. Of
course, important details on the interaction between the
cells that made up the line were lost. There is growing
evidence that at least some squall lines must be viewed as
three-dimensional to properly account for some of the im-
portant dynamical interactions that govern their evolution.
For example, flow in between centers of convection may
be important in the transport of momentum or in trans-
ferring particles from cell to cell, which may promote hail
growth. Due to the larger domains required to contain the
simulations and the attendant increased computational
burden, full simulations are only recently beginning to be
done.
Researchers, including Hane ( 1973) and Thorpe et al.
( 1982), recognized the importance of shear in the mainte-
nance of long-lived systems. They observed that stronger
low-level shear produced longer-lasting squall lines. The
effect of shear orientation, strength and geometry have
been systematically examined using three-dimensional
simulations by Weisman et al. (1988).
Thorpe et al. ( 1982) correctly identified the importance
in the interaction between the cold pool and the environ-
mental shear. In a series of numerical experiments Rotunno
et al. ( 1988) have further shown that in order for the most
vigorous and long-lasting convection possible to take place,
the cold pool's circulation must be balanced by the envi-
ronmental shear. This means that the shear must exist in
the lowest ( -2.5 km) levels.
Recently, Rotunno et al. ( 1988) and Weisman et al.
( 1988) used the cloud model developed by Klemp and
Wilhelmson ( 1978a) to investigate the controlling physics
in squall line organization and structure, confirming the
essential dynamics of certain squall lines of earlier analyses
(e.g., Thorpe et al., 1982). Their investigation was focused
on the relationship between wind shear and the character
of linear convection. They used an environment that was
thermodynamically representative of that in which middle-
latitude squall lines occur. They found that low-level shear
favors the development of long-lived linear systems, but
that the magnitude of the shear required depends on the
properties of the cold pool generated by the squall line,
which in tum depends on the thermodynamic sounding.
Two types of long-lived squall lines were possible. One
was a line of ordinary cumulonimbi that would grow and
decay, and the other was a line of more nearly steady state
supercells. The former occurs when the shear at low levels
is strong and directed perpendicular to the line. The latter
occurs when the shear is strong and deep, and directed at
an angle to the line. This allows the three-dimensional
circulation to develop with each cell without interference
from the neighboring cells.
Without a cold pool, the updraft will tilt downshear.
Ensuing precipitation will form a cold pool (from evapo-
ration), and the boundary thus produced will trigger new
cell development. The strength of the new development

depends critically upon the shear profile. The optimum
profile is a function of the cold pool. In time, the increasing
negative buoyancy in the cold pool's circulation makes it
progressively difficult for new cells to develop, and the
system slowly decays.
Emanuel ( 1986) used linear theory to derive some qual-
itative insight into the dynamical processes that distinguish
precipitating from nonprecipitating moist convection. His
analysis suggests that weakly buoyant precipitating con-
vective lines may have substantial slopes, even without
significant mean shear, and these lines should propagate
slowly with respect to the mean flow. With weak shear,
the weakly buoyant lines should tend to align with the
mean shear and their propagation should also be slow.
With moderate vertical shear, precipitating convection
should form lines oriented across the vertical shear, since
the convection can extract kinetic energy from the mean
flow. The lines should propagate downshear with prop-
agation speeds somewhat greater than the mean wind in
the cloud layer, transporting horizontal momentum down
the low-level gradient. When the shear is large, convective
lines should be skewed with respect to the low-level shear.
Otherwise, three-dimensional convection will ensue.
3.4 Rainbands
Tropical convection, typically occurring in environments
of less available potential buoyant energy and less shear,
has already been examined from the context of squall lines.
Again, reference should be made to Fig. 3.1. Here, the
storm type characterized by virtually no available potential
buoyant energy, but with substantial shear, is examined.
Such a case has been well documented and discussed by
Carbone (1982, 1983) and Parsons et al. (1987) in three
related papers. It is possible to view this type of system as
a gravity current-induced convection, or as an extension
of the discussion of squall lines in the previous section.
In a related study on rainbands, Heymsfield ( 1979) ob-
served precipitation bands in an environment that was
neutral-to-stable to vertical motions. The bands formed
above a warm frontal zone. Associated with the bands
was descent, and a circulation below the melting level,
presumably driven by the melting of ice, focused below
the bands, similar to the suggestion of Atlas et al. ( 1969).
Other aspects of the dynamics were elusive.
Seltzer et al ( 19-85) examined the possible role of sym-
metric instability in the formation of precipitation bands.
Although not all observed features are explained, such as
the propagation of some bands, general agreement was
observed for many of the predicted properties of the bands.
In the Carbone and Parsons et al. studies, a Pacific cold
front approached a low-level jet giving rise to a strong
storm-relative inflow of over 20m s - 1 in the lowest levels.
A narrow, intense line of convection ensued, which even
included the occurrence of a tornado. Maximum reflectiv-
CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 369
ities exceeded 45 dBZ. Although there were periodic vari-
ations along the line, overall the line exhibited an unusual
two-dimensional character. The updraft maximum was
typically found at a height of 2.1 km and the average max-
imum updraft was found to be about 17m s- 1. Behind
the front, flow is toward the front between 0.4 and 2.1
km, with a maximum speed of 8 m s- 1 at 1.2 km height.
Below 0.4 km and not always detected by the Doppler
radar, surface measurements indicated the presence of a
strong (17m s - 1 relative speed at the surface) reverse flow.
Examination of the surface of zero flow relative to the line
reveals a feature that closely resembles that expected from
a density current (Simpson, 1987).
Stability was assessed from proximity soundings. Above
2 km, any parcel ascent would have been in a neutrally
to negatively buoyant condition. Additional details on the
observations of the line and tomadic circulations are given
in Carbone ( 1982, 1983), respectively.
These data were reanalyzed by Parsons et al. (1987)
who retrieved pressure and buoyancy perturbations toil-
lustrate the important dynamics. Further insight was ob-
tained by simulations with a numerical cloud model. From
the deduced pressure fields, they found high pressure be-
low the maximum updrafts, a small increase in pressure
at low levels in going from the warm sector to the cold air
mass, and low pressure located above the cold air mass,
with a minimum above the frontal head. This upward-
directed pressure gradient explains the vigorous updrafts
in the absence of potential instability. Buoyancy retrieval
revealed no evidence for a buoyancy-driven updraft,
lending further support to the view that the updraft was
forced by pressure differences and the forced convergence
along the system's leading edge.
Rotunno et al. ( 1988) pointed out that for this case of
essentially no convectively available potential energy, the
existing (low-level) shear produced nearly optimal con-
ditions for intense long-lived forced convection in which
the speed of the gravity current is balanced by the low-
level shear.
4 STORM FEATURES
It is not surprising that the factors that control the de-
termination of storm types should also be important in
storm evolution. In this section three important aspects of
storm morphology are considered: propagation, rotation,
and storm splitting.
4.1 Storm Propagation
Simple cells are observed to move with the mean wind
in the layer that contains them. If there is much shear, and
particularly if it is confined to the upper storm levels, the
storm will tend to become "sheared-off." Other storms in
the presence of large potential instability and large shear,
particularly shear in the low and middle levels, are found
370 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

to deviate from the mean layer wind. Some storms are z

observed to move to the left of the mean wind and others
to the right of the mean wind. It has been proposed that
the Coriolis effect caused cyclonic, rightward-moving (with
respect to the mean wind) storms to dominate in the
Northern Hemisphere and leftward moving, anticyclonic
storms to dominate in the Southern Hemisphere. Klemp
w
-- I -- U

and Wilhelmson ( 1978b) showed that the Coriolis effect

exerted only a minor influence on storm rotation and y
movement. Rather, the storm motion was sensitive to the
variations in the hodograph. Specifically, a right-moving
storm ensues from a clockwise turning of the wind shear
vectors as illustrated in the hodograph. As illustrated by
Klemp and Wilhelmson (1978a) and in Fig. 3.5, the key
characteristic of a hodograph that distinguishes between (b) CURVED HODOGRAPH
a (severe) multicell and right-moving supercell is the de- z
gree of turning of shear vectors with height. They estab-
lished that the critical level of curvature in the hodograph
is in the lowest 2 km or so. Note again that wind veering
does not imply curvature in the wind shear vector.
L~M
-~-u
Rotunno and Klemp ( 1982) considered linear theory to
lend insight into the rightward bias and the preference for
cyclonic rotation. Some of the details can be found in Ap- l evel M
y
pendix B with additional details available in Rotunno and
Klemp. The relationship for perturbation pressure

dV
7r'- -·Vw' ( 4.1)
az
is a statement that high pressure will form on the upshear
side of the updraft and low pressure on the downshear
side. A negative horizontal pressure gradient forms across
the updraft in the direction of the environmental wind
shear vector. In a simple example, consider an environ-
mental wind that increases linearly with height. The hor-
izontal pressure, and its gradient, will be largest at the
level where w, and consequently the horizontal gradient
of w, is also largest. If there is no change in the wind shear
vector with height, the highs and lows remain vertically
stacked. In the event that the wind shear vector veers with
height, the horizontal pressure gradient also veers with
height. A typical configuration might be high pressure to
the southwest and low pressure to the northeast at low
levels with high to the northwest and low to the southeast
at middle levels. This and the case of constant wind shear
are illustrated in Fig. 4.1. The resulting vertical pressure
gradient will assist rising air on the southern side of the
storms, and inhibit upward motion on the northern side
of the updraft. Often no left-moving storm is observed, at
least casually. This is expected when the directional shear
is marked, as it often is. Of the members of the vortex pair
that form transverse to the environmental shear vector, as
a result of tilting, the vortex of cyclonic vorticity is also on
the right flank, where favorable pressure gradients are
promoting updraft development. Of course, for a coun-
level L
Fig. 4.1 Schematic illustrating the behavior of pressure and vorticity
as implied by Eqs. (4.1) and (4.5), respectively, for (a) a case where
the wind shear vector does not change with height, and (b) a case
where the wind shear vector veers with height. The corresponding
hodographs for environmental flow at low (L) to mid (M) levels are
inset to the left. Horizontal pressure gradients parallel to the shear
vector are labeled at each level along with the preferred locations of
positive (+) and negative (-) vorticity. The orientations of the re-
sulting vertical pressure gradient forces between low and midlevels
are indicated by the black arrows. (From Rotunno and Klemp, 1982.)
terclockwise rotating environmental wind shear vector, the
same arguments would apply for the anticyclonic member
of the emerging storm pair.
As outlined in following sections, Rotunno and Klemp
( 1985) showed how storm propagation could be induced
transverse to the environmental wind shear by presswe
gradients dynamically induced by midlevel rotation. They
found that the considerable contribution of buoyancy was
in phase with the updraft and thus did not contribute to
storm propagation, and that propagation was primarily
due to fluid shear terms in the dynamical presswe. Newton
(1960, 1963) and Newton and Newton (1959) noted the
similarity between the middle-level flow around a thun-
derstorm and the flow around a cylinder at high Reynolds
number where separation occurs on the downwind side
of the obstacle. High presswe should be found at the for-

ward stagnation point where the flow divides and low
pressure at the ~ear stagnation point and along the obsta-
cle's flanks. For a rotating cylinder the Magnus effect
( Prandtl and Tietjens, 1943) would produce a lower pres-
sure on the storm's right flank for cyclonically rotating
storms. Fujita and Grandoso ( 1968) invoked this principle
to explain the rightward propagation of cyclonically ro-
tating storms. Rotunno and Klemp ( 1982) point out that
a difference between their analysis and that of Newton's
( 1960) (and others that followed) obstacle flow analogy
is that they predict the pressure gradient across the updraft
is in the direction of the environmental wind shear vector,
rather than the storm relative winds. Numerical simula-
tions support the explanation of Rotunno and Klemp
( 1982). A storm clearly does not behave as a rigid obstacle
to environmental winds, and a theory that does not require
that severe a boundary condition is more realistic.
4.2 Storm Rotation
The early stages of multicell or supercell development
are indistinguishable from that of the simple cell. It has
been observed that the vast majority (but not all) of ro-
tating storms in the Northern Hemisphere rotate cyclon-
ically.
As noted previously, recognition of the rotation about
a vertical axis found in tomadic thunderstorms is attributed
to Brooks ( 1949). Cyclonic rotation in association with the
updraft is maximized at middle levels. The obvious mech-
anism to create substantial vertical vorticity in a strongly
sheared environment is to tilt mean shear vorticity into
the vertical by a convective updraft. Doing so creates a
pair of counterrotating vortices.
As developed by Klemp ( 198 7), taking the curl of the
equation of motion yields
ar
- = wh·Vhw + r& + F'r
aw
dt ..__,_.,
~ '---v--'
tilting stretching mixing
where S is the Vertical and Wh the horizontal component
of vorticity w, where ( w = V X V) and
dwh
-=
dt
w·VVh + V X (Bk) + Fl,
~ ..__,_.,
tilting and stretching baroclinic generation mixing
The Vh is the horizontal wind component (=u, v) and
Ff., Fl, are mixing terms. Vertical vorticity can be generated
by tilting horizontal vortex lines in to the vertical and can
be increased by vertically stretching the existing vertically
oriented vortex tubes.
The initial vertical vorticity inevitably comes from the
tilting of the horizontal vorticity contained within the en-
CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 371
vironmental wind shear. It is clear from the vorticity equa-
tion ( 4.2) or in the form
ds
-=(f+r)V·Vh- (aw
-- av aw - au)
dt ax az - -
ay az
+ (ap aa _ ap aa) (4 .4)
ax ay ay ax
that cyclonic (positive) vorticity is generated on the south-
em flank of the updraft, where aw I iJy is positive. An an-
ticyclonic vortex develops on the northern flank, where
aw 1ay is negative (assuming au 1az > o).
If we examine the vertical component of the linear vor-
ticity equation as was done by Rotunno and Klemp ( 1982),
we find
Dr'
- = k · (dV
-XVw' ) (4.5)
Dt dz
where r' is the vertical component of the perturbation vor-
ticity vector and w' is the perturbation vertical component
of motion. The right-hand side of Eq. ( 4.5) corresponds
to a linearized form of the tilting of vortex lines. Comparing
the form of Eq. ( 4.5) and Eq. (B11) in Appendix B we see
that pressure perturbations are aligned parallel to the shear
vector and perturbation vertical vorticity is oriented per-
pendicular to the shear vector. Thus, cyclonic vorticity is
produced on the right side of the updraft, relative to the
shear vector, and anticyclonic vorticity is generated on the
left side of the updraft. In the absence of turning of the
shear vector, the vorticity maxima of each sign are vertically
stacked. When the hodograph is curved such that the shear
vector turns anticyclonically with height, Rotunno and
Klemp ( 1982) showed that the positive vertical (cyclonic)
vorticity production is positively correlated with the region
of favorable pressure gradients for updraft production.
As is observed in large-scale meteorology, the pertur-
( 4.2)
bation pressure is negatively correlated with the vertical
vorticity squared [i.e., 1f' oc -(r') 2 ]. This result suggests
that low pressure is induced by cyclonic vorticity on the
updraft flanks. This promotes lifting on the flanks and
contributes to storm splitting. Davies-Jones ( 1985) noted
that only about two percent of the observed supercells are
observed to rotate anticyclonically. This bias has been
( 4.3) shown not to be related to the Coriolis effect, which only
contributes to the enhancement of cyclonic rotation (Mor-
ton, 1966; Klemp and Wilhelmson, 1978b). The typical
hodograph derived from a proximity sounding on days
when supercell (and almost all tomadic) storms form, ex-
hibits a clockwise turning of the wind shear vector (not
just the wind vector). In the absence of directional shear
(just speed shear), two identical storms (only slightly
modified by the Coriolis effect) evolve. The cyclonically
(anticyclonically) rotating storm moves to the right (left)
of the mean wind (Fig. 3.5).
372 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
When convective elements develop in an environment
where there is vertical shear, the buoyant elements develop
rotation about a vertical axis. Lilly ( 1986a) used linear
analysis to examine this process and showed that the ro-
tational energy is extracted from the mean flow. He con-
cluded that the optimum storm structure for transferring
energy from the mean flow to rotational disturbances is a
single updraft propagating with the mean flow and with
counterrotating vortices.
Rotunno and Klemp ( 1982) assumed that a vortex de-
velops in a cyclostrophic pressure field, with a minimum
pressure at the level of maximum rotation (this is discussed
in more detail in the next section). Air is accelerated up-
ward from beneath the pressure minimum. Using a dif-
ferent analysis, Lilly ( 1986a) also concluded that a portion
of the rotational energy is transformed into overturning
the velocity field, which further enhances buoyant energy
release. Thus, the mean shear enhances rotation, and ro-
tation leads to overturning. He points out that the two
exchanges are not optimized by the same flow field, and
that nature probably optimizes the combination. The en-
ergy exchanges are depicted in Fig. 4.2. In the absence of
shear, the route of kinetic energy exchange is depicted by
the left half of the diagram.
To better understand the rotation and the related prop-
agation of rotating storms, Lilly ( 1986b) investigated the
role of helicity effects on the structure and propagation of
long-lived storms. Helicity (Betchov, 1961) is the vector
inner product of vorticity and velocity. An important
property of helicity is that helical flows suppress the inertial
range energy cascade, which tends to isolate the large en-
ergy and helicity containing scales from the inertial range
and dissipation scales. This property could account for the
longevity of rotating (sup'ercell) storms when contrasted
to ordinary thunderstorms.
The nondimensional relative helicity, RH, is defined by
H gration steps. However, closer examination of the spectra
RH=- ( 4.6)
Vw
where V is the vector velocity and the helicity is the inner
product
H = V ·w. (4.7)
Strong correlations have been found to exist between
vertical velocity and vorticity in simulations and obser-
vations of long-lived rotating storms. The strong correla-
tions are due to the contributions of the larger scales. This
was demonstrated by Lilly ( 1986b) by selectively removing
the smaller scales and observing the increase in relative
helicity.
A special case of helical flow is that of Beltrami flow, in
which the vorticity and velocity vectors are parallel, i.e.,
flow of unit helicity. Trajectory calculations of Lilly ( 1986b)
MEAN FLOW
POTENTIAL
KINETIC
ENERGY
ENERGY
DISTURBANCE
DIVERGENCE
KINETIC
ENERGY
TURBULENT
ENERGY
Fig. 4.2 The kinetic energy cycle for rotating convective storms.
Sources are potential and mean flow kinetic energy, with turbulence
and eventual viscous dissipation acting as the sink. Arrows are drawn
in the expected direction of transfer. (From Lilly, 1986a.)
of a purely helicital (Beltrami) flow showed similarities to
those presented by Klemp et al. (1981) of a rotating su-
percell storm, further suggesting the helical nature of su-
percell-type storms.
In a related paper, Andre and LeSieur ( 1977) carried
out a numerical experiment to assess the effect of dissi-
pation on helical flows. After integrating two initially non-
turbulent flows, one helical and the other not, both the
inertial spectral tails developed rapidly and the two sim-
ulations showed superficial similarities after a few inte-
revealed that for an equivalent kinetic energy level, the
helical flow dissipated energy only about one-fourth as
fast as flow without helicity. This significant result is con-
sonant with, and helps explain the success of, large-eddy
simulations of convective storms. Due to computer limi-
tations, early simulations used a rather coarse grid of 2 km
spacing, therefore not resolving waves less than about 8
km in wavelength. Yet, the simulations were remarkable
in resolving many stormscale features and morphology
and showed little sensitivity to resolution or the sophis-
ticated subgrid closure schemes. There is evidence that
these statements are not valid for nonrotating storms (e.g.,
Clark, 1979). Conventional wisdom would suggest that
the limit of predictability would extend to the eddy tum-
over time, or about 30 minutes. It is apparent that simu-
lations of rotating storms can carry information for many
times that limit. This is the expected result when effects
of helicity are considered. This is further evidence sug-

gesting the dynamical importance of helicity to morphol-
ogy of storms.
4.3 Storm Splitting
Visually, and clearly in time-lapse radar depictions,
storms are seen to split. It is observed in both multicell
and supercell storms alike. However, frequently the split
member that is not favored for development is not detected
as a separate entity outside the overall storm mass. There
is evidence of splitting in Doppler radar-derived wind
fields, but the occurrence early in the storm lifetime and
the possibility of other effects that might attenuate its
strength make its observation an uncommon event. Fujita
and Grandoso ( 1968) correctly interpreted many of the
features associated with splitting storms. They attributed
the splitting process to new cloud development within
wake vortices produced by the storm, a view that has given
way to the processes described below.
Subsequent numerical simulations such as by Thorpe
and Miller ( 1978) have emphasized the role of the pre-
cipitating downdraft and the subsequent outflow in form-
ing the split. Recent understanding emphasizes the im-
portance of rotation inducing lifting on the upshear flanks,
leading to splitting.
As previously described, an updraft in a sheared envi-
ronment will produce two counterrotating vortices (Fig.
4.3a). In addition, the updraft produces and accumulates
rainwater. Through precipitation drag and the production
of negative buoyancy, a downdraft forms, enhanced by
evaporation. In the absence of wind shear, the downdraft
spreads out in all directions, cutting off the supply of warm,
moist air, and the cell dissipates. In fact, this is the con-
ceptual model of a single cell. In strong shear, the out-
flowing air cannot move ahead of, and cut off the supply
of, warm moist air to the updraft. Also, favorable pressure
gradients, which develop as a consequence of the shear,
promote new updraft growth on the southern and northern
flanks of the storm. In the absence of veering of the wind
shear with height, an initially symmetric updraft will split
into two separate and equal updrafts, but each with an
opposite sense of rotation, even in the absence of rainwater.
That is, rainwater contributes to (in fact greatly enhances)
but is not required for storm splitting.
An analysis by Rotunno and Klemp ( 1982) argues that
the pressure gradients involved in lifting on the storm
flanks are fundamentally important in storm splitting. They
divide the vertical accelerations into components involving
dynamic and buoyancy forcing. Schlesinger ( 1980) also
recognized the importance of pressure gradients and their
dynamic origin on the splitting updraft, but Rotunno and
Klemp related the dynamic gradients to midlevel rotation.
From an analysis of the divergence of the momentum
equations, they related the dynamic pressure to fluid ex-
tension terms and fluid shear terms, and showed that the
dynamic pressure is proportional to the negative of the
CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 373
vorticity squared (see Fig. 4.2b). The extension terms are
that symmetric part of the deformation field as expressed
in the stress tensor. The contribution to the significant
lowering of pressure at the midlevel updraft flanks was
due to the fluid shear terms with the orientation of the
lower pressure transverse to the shear specific to the ( av 1
ax)aujiJy) term. This relationship of storm rotation and
splitting process, which is observed as a distinguishing
feature in the supercell morphology, is one dynamic basis
for differentiating supercell storms from other classifica-
tions.
As the splitting progresses, the central downdraft tilts
the vortex tubes downward, producing two vortex-pair
circulations (see Fig. 4.2b). The propagation of the updrafts
transverse to the mean wind shear, reorients the storm
relative inflow to the position shown by the dashed arrows
in Fig. 4.2b. This new orientation contains a streamwise
component of horizontal shear vorticity. The contribution
of streamwise vorticity to the development of storm ro-
tation has been recognized by many authors, e.g., Rotunno
(1981), Lilly (1982), and Davies-Jones (1984). They
demonstrated, using linear theory, that the vertical vorticity
generated by tilting streamwise vorticity will be in phase
with the updraft, while the vertical vorticity generated by
tilting horizontal vorticity that is oriented transverse to the
mean wind will have a maximum vertical component on
the updraft flanks.
Davies-Jones (1984) and Rotunno and Klemp (1985)
extended the linear theory analysis to include interpreta-
tions valid for nonlinear flow. They showed that vortex
lines must lie along isentropic surfaces. This has signifi-
cance in the discussion of tornadogenesis.
4.4 Hail
The value of quantifying the presence of hail has long
been recognized. Radar has obvious advantages since large
volumes can be interrogated. Following the theoretical
framework of Mie ( 1908), Stephens ( 1961 ) , Herman and
Battan (1961), Battan (1971), Bohren and Battan (1980,
1982) and Battan and Bohren ( 1983), it is possible to com-
pute the expected behavior of the backscattered and at-
tenuated microwaves from hailstones. For an improved
understanding of the expected radar return, Probert-Jones
( 1962) and Stephens ( 1966) explained a better interpre-
tation of the radar signal. However, to better quantify what
could be obtained by a single measurement, multipara-
meter (wavelengths, polarizations) measurements were
sought.
Dual-wavelength methods (Atlas and Ludlam, 1961;
Eccles and Atlas, 1973) never met the expectations sug-
gested by early theoretical analysis. Although interest in
dual wavelength techniques survives, it does not receive
the same degree of attention it once enjoyed, perhaps be-
cause of a greater interest in polarization techniques, which
374 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

require only a single radar and offer the possibility of op- widely used parameter is the ratio cross sections of the
erational use. horizontal to the vertical polarizations, that is,
The use of differential reflectivity to identify the presence
of hail and liquid water regions in a storm has been re-
ported on by, among others, Seliga et al. (1982). The

Fig. 4.3 Schematic depicting how a typical vortex tube contained within (westerly) environ-
mental shear is deformed as it interacts with a convective cell (viewed from the southeast).
Cylindrical arrows show the direction of cloud-relative airflow, and heavy solid lines represent
vortex lines with the sense of rotation indicated by circular arrows. Shaded arrows represent
the forcing influences that promote new updraft and downdraft growth. Vertical dashed lines
denote regions of precipitation. (a) Initial stage: vortex tube loops into the vertical as it is
swept into the updraft. (b) Splitting stage: downdraft forming between the splitting updraft
cells tilts vortex tubes downward, producing two vortex pairs. The barbed line at the surface
marks the boundary of the cold air spreading out beneath the storm. (From Klemp, 1987,
adapted from Rotunno, 1981.)
 CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 375

The differential reflectivity for ice is much smaller than
for nonspherical water drops. Thus, when a hailshaft ex-
tends to the ground, it is characterized by very large re-
flectivities (due in part to the water coating on the hail)
and low values of differential reflectivity. Through various
methods of relating the measured values, quantitative es-
timates characterizing the nature of the hail or other hy-
drometeors can be made. Bringi et al. (1986a) compared
observations of ZH, Z0 R, and the linear depolarization ratio
[LOR= 10 log(ZHv/ZHH)] with a model of graupel growth.
In the double subscript, the first subscript indicates the
polarization of the transmitted wave, and the second sub-
script the polarization of detection. The use of such data
can lend insight into the microphysical processes that may
be creating or enhancing downdrafts. In Bringi et al.
( 1986b), ZoR is shown to clearly distinguish regions of
hail. Based upon these and other results, they feel that
they can identify hail > 1 em in diameter. These techniques
are discussed more fully by Bringi and Hendry in Chapter
19a. Here it is sufficient to point out the capability of re-
fining the estimate of hail location over that based on radar
reflectivity alone.
There is a positive relationship between the apparent
strength of a storm (size and strength of updraft) and the
size of hail that it produces. The upper-level divergence is
an accurate measure of the updraft strength in a mature
storm. Witt and Nelson (1984), using a kinematic ap-
proach, related the divergence at storm top to the maxi-
mum observed size of hail for Oklahoma hailstorms. They
obtained excellent agreement.
Large hail is observed to come from large storms, both
of the multicell and supercell classifications. A vertical cross
section of a typical multicell hailstorm is conceptually il-
lustrated in Fig. 4.4. Nelson ( 1983) and Miller and Fank-
hauser ( 1983) used wind fields from multiple Doppler ra-
dar data together with a numerical model of hail growth
to examine growth in supercell storms. They found that
most hailstone mass was acquired in one pass across an
updraft at nearly a constant level where temperatures were
warmer than -25°C. Even so, the embryos did appear to
recycle, as described by Browning and Foote ( 1976). Re-
cycling is defined as a closed path in two dimensions. To
account for an observed broad hailswath, hail embryos
were found to have varied origins and early growth his-
tories. Perhaps the most significant point is that for large
hail to be produced, the most critical storm structural fea-
ture is a broad area of moderate updraft (20-40 m s- 1 ) .
This is a necessary condition for significant hailfall; a small
area simply does not yield significant residence times in
the growth regime. Simulations suggested that significant
hailfall was more dependent on the characteristics of the
flow field than on the availability of hail embryos, although

14 THE RAYMER HAILSTORM 14

9 JULY 19 7 3
-

....
12 12
STORM

..
...J
e iO
MOTION

10

....
E

f- 8 8
:J:
!2
w
:J:
6

SURFACE RA INFALL RATE , R mm/h

- 18 - 16 - 14 - 12 - 10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6
DISTANCE AHEAD OF OUT FL OW BOUNDARY km

Fig. 4.4 Vertical section of an ordinary multicell hailstorm, along the storm's direction of travel through a series of evolving
cells (n- 2, n- 1, n, n + 1). The solid lines are streamlines of flow relative to the moving system; on the left their broken
ends represent flow into and out of the plane, and on the right they represent flow remaining within a plane a few kilometers
closer to the reader. Light shading represents the extent of the cloud, and the three darker shades represent radar reflectivities
of 35, 45, and 50 dBZ. (From Weisman and Klemp, 1986, after Browning et al., 1976.)
376 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

in certain situations the reverse may be true. More dis-
cussion on nail growth and its relationship to upper-level
divergence is found in Chapter 30a.
Examination of hailstones yields clues about their past.
Ziegler et al. ( 1983) combined a study of the hailstone
growth history from an analysis of the radial dependence
of wet and dry growth, and the deuterium to hydrogen
ratio, which indirectly gives an indication of the height of
the water deposition. A hail growth model, where growth
was simulated within the wind and water field as deduced
from data taken by two Doppler radars, was contrasted
with these observations. The wind field was supplied by
a synthesis of the Doppler radar data. They found agree-
ment with earlier results of Heymsfield et al. ( 1980) for
the embryo injection mechanism where most of the em-
bryos were injected into the main updraft. No recirculation
was observed or indicated in the hailstone analysis.
The use of real wind fields with models of hail growth
clearly offers the prospect of increasing our understanding
of the hail process. With refinements in providing more
accurate wind fields, improved hail growth models, and
the better specification of the temperature and hydrome-
teor distribution within storms, such as outlined in Ap-
pendix D, our understanding of hail growth will continue.
4. 5 Tornadoes
Tornadoes are associated with rotating storms. If the
storms rotate cyclonically, as they do most of the time in
the Northern Hemisphere where the hodograph curves
clockwise with height, then tornadoes will rotate cyclon-
ically. Occasionally, the wind shear is large and the cur-
vature slight. In this circumstance, it is possible for two
tornadic storms to exist, nearly simultaneously, with an
anticyclonically rotating tornado associated with the left
mover, and a cyclonically rotating tornado associated with
the right mover. In the rare circumstance when the wind
shear is large with cyclonic curvature, anticyclonic tor-
nadoes have developed. A summary of tornado occurrence
data is available in Fujita (1987) .
Brown et al. ( 1978), Brandes ( 1978, 1984a,b), Ray et
al. (1981), Lin and Pasken (1982), Johnson et al. (1987),
and others have documented a sequence of events leading
up to the formation of a tornado. The evolution and struc-
ture of the vorticity field have been calculated from the
four-dimensional velocity field synthesized from the nearly
simultaneous observations from at least two Doppler ra-
dars. Such studies are complicated not only by the small
scales of obvious importance (which become increasingly
difficult to detect with increasing range from the radar),
but also because the final stages of tornadogenesis appear
to take place in a very short time, perhaps ten minutes,
even after a slow process of preparation. The results of
these studies indicate that the vorticity generally increases
most markedly at middle levels. The storm is characterized
by a hook echo, echo overhang, and weak echo region.
Table 4.1 gives maximum values for vorticity and some of
the vorticity generating terms as deduced from multiple
Doppler radar syntheses. As the vorticity increases
throughout the storm, the weak echo structure becomes
surrounded by higher reflectivities at middle levels. Just
prior to the formation of the tornado, the low-level vorticity
rapidly increases. Other commonly observed features in-
clude collapse of the storm top, decrease in updraft inten-

TABLE 4.1
Contribution of Terms in Vorticity Equation from Multiple Doppler Radar Data (Maximum Values)

Investigator Vorticity Tilting Stretching Date/Location

av
itt X Vws tV,~· V
r
,-• .-·
(x•o-•)
.-·
{ X 1o-•)

Ray, 1976 0.012 0.7 7 8 June 1974

Ray, 1976 O.Ql5 20 April 1974
Brandes, 1978 O.Q25 8 June 1974
Heymsfield, 1978 O.Ql5 0.3 30 8 June 1974, Harrah
Johnson et at., 1987 0.03 1.7 20 May 1977, Del City
Heymsfield, 1981 0.005 0.17 0.2 29 May 1979, NIMROD
Klemp et at., 1981 0.03 20 May 1977, Del City
Ray et at., 1981 0.025 20 May 1977, Del City
Brandes, 1984a 0.055 20 May 1977, Del City
Brandes, 1984a 0.040 8 June 1974, Harrah
Brandes, 1984b 0.055 0.8 17 20 May 1977, Del City
Brandes, 1984b 0.40 1.2 12 8 June 1974, Harrah
Brandes et at., 1986 0.035 2 May 1979, Orienta
Brandes et at., 1986 0.050 2 May 1979, Lahoma
 CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 377

sity, the formation of a small-scale downdraft behind the sification of low-level rotation precedes the formation of
updraft, and an inward spiral of the cold-outflow and the rear flank downdraft. Radar-derived estimates indicate
warm-inflow air at low levels. A cold pool and gust front that significant horizontal vorticity ( 2 X 10-2 s -t) exists
become intense near the base of the updraft. The sequence on both sides of the gust front. Behind the gust front,
of events is illustrated in time-height cross sections of up- baroclinically generated horizontal vorticity is directed
draft velocity, vertical component of vorticity, and radar nearly parallel to the front. Thus, streamwise vorticity exists
reflectivity in Fig. 4.5. Radar evidence places the tornado's northeast of the bulging front and cross-stream vorticity
location in the region between the updraft and downdraft, behind.
but within the region of rising air. Klemp and Rotunno Direct measurements of the tornado's maximum winds,
( 1983) and Brandes ( 1984a,b) suggested that the in ten- deduced from the mean velocities, remain elusive. Due to

MAX REFLECTIVITY (dBZ)

5/20177 MAX W (m s- 1 )
16r---~-,~----n---,--,-,----,---,~-.-..-~~--·
y 'f y .,
14
~~JO
12
I0 -20

JO
_,
-_ - --?"-/"'-_...-
"/
....../,.,.
..,.,.... /
/
2o--- //
/ 10
I
10 I
:r: I
I

G"// \
:>.::: ------30
I / ---40
t:;: 8 I //-'\ I ,
I I I
(.D // I I '

__
\
w
..,...
so\30 ' ' ....
6
,_...........
" I
', ___ _
.......
--
60
4

1700 1730 1800 Ie30 !SOO

TIME !CSTI

16 MAX VORTICITY (IOn-3) MAY 20, 1977

14

12

15
Fig. 4.5 Time-height of (a) maximum reflectivity (dBZ) and max-
~10
.::0 imum updraft speeds and (b) maximum vertical vorticity for the Del
City storm of 20 May 1979. Arrows at top of (b) indicate analysis
~ 8
"'w 20 times. Contour values of vorticity are in units of 10-3 s- 1• (From
I 6 Johnson et al., 1987.)
1o----------

30
 378 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

a tornado's small size, radar observations that might de- I 20 dB

scribe circulation details are restricted to close ranges of
the radar (where very large azimuthal shears may exceed
30 m s - 1 between beams), much closer than required to
75.6
document the larger scale circulation in which tornadoes
are frequently embedded. But at somewhat longer ranges
than those required to measure the winds from the mean
velocity estimate, the distributions of winds can be deduced
by an examination of the velocity power density spectrum.
lLI
This is illustrated in Figs. 4.6 and 4.7 for the Del City and (.;)
z
the Binger tornadoes. Wind speeds approaching 90 m s- 1 ~ 7:3.2.
are indicated.
As the storm evolves, a region of strong updrafts and
vorticity maximum begins to cut off by ingesting cool out- 72.0
flow air as the gust front continues to spiral inward toward
-90 0 +90
the updraft maximum. The updraft region responds by VELOCITY (m s-•)
elongating along the gust front. A mature or dissipating
tornado may be in progress during this time. Eventually, Fig. 4.7 Reflectivity spectra densities (in dB) vs the Doppler (radial)
the updraft and vorticity fields weaken, only to regenerate velocity at 16 range locations in the tornado's circulation. The beam
anew (typically) to the east of the old updraft-associated elevation angle is 0.3°. The nearly horizontal lines at each end of
vorticity maximum center. During this time the updraft the spectra are thresholds at 10 dB above the receiver noise level and
region takes on the appearance of a horseshoe, with the correspond to a reflectivity spectra density of -3.4 mm 6 m-3 m- 1 s.
rear flank downdraft in between the sides of the "horse- The vertical scale is 20 dB per division. (From Doviak and Zrnic,
1984.)
shoe." The transformation appears to be characteristic of
storms as they enter the tornadic phase. The contortion of
the updraft area into the horseshoe shape is a consequence
of the strong outflow and the vorticity at low levels. As to the east of the previous locations on the arm of the
the second core matures and occludes, a third core develops horseshoe that is closest to the inflow. This has been ob-
along the gust front and so on. If tornadoes continue to served in tornado damage paths (Brandes, 1977; Burgess
reform, the new formation will usually form progressively et al., 1982).
Ray et al. ( 1983) illustrated the effect of smoothing by
multiple-Doppler synthesis in Fig. 4.8. By comparing sin-
gle-Doppler observations with dual-Doppler-derived wind
fields, the transfer function was computed. Figure 4.8 il-

L:( I''' I''' I''' I:~~·.~. ·<·:.~.·:,: . '' I''' I;,;;.

VELOCITY (m 1 1)

-100 -eo -60 -40 -20 o 20 40 60 eo 100

lustrates the difficulty in estimating the scale and magni-
tude of the strongest and most intense values of the vor-
ticity. These will naturally be those most directly associated

i~ ~- ·~ with the tornado. Additional discussion can be found in

-40 ______ ~ _______ ~ __________ ~0!_5~ ~E::_E!;_ _ ~ _'_ ~-- _ Burgess and Lemon, Chapter 30a.
~ Just prior to tornadogenesis, the maximum vorticity val-
VELOCITY (m
-•oo -so -60 -40 -2o o
s~')

20 40 60 eo 100
ues commonly observed are of the order of 10-3 s-t, with
I I I I I I I I I' I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I maximum values during tornado occurrence typically 2-
HANN
5 (X10- 2 s- 1 ). Two points must be borne in mind in in-
terpreting these values. First is that the measure of vorticity
can depend on the scale of the vorticity field. Second is
the point in the previous paragraph, that certain analyses
restrict the determination of vorticity values. In addition
to the effect of synthesis procedures, radar sampling can
Fig. 4.6 Power spectra of weather echoes, showing statistical fluc- also place restrictions due to the finite beamwidth and the
tuations in the spectral estinlates (denoted by X). RECT signifies the distribution of scatterers within the beam. Actual maxima
spectra of unweighted echo samples; HANN signifies samples
may be an order of magnitude larger.
weighted by a von Hann window. Total number of points is 128.
Solid curves are five-point running averages of the spectral power. The picture deduced by analysis of synthesized winds
This spectrum is from a small tornado that touched down on 20 May is that vertical vorticity associated with tornadogenesis de-
1977 at 1853:50 in Del City, Oklahoma, at about 35 km from the velops initially from the tilting of environmental horizontal
radar. Azimuth, 6.1°; elevation, 3.1°, altitude, 1.952 km; gate, 03; vorticity into the vertical by the updraft. The magnitude
SNR = 31 dB. (From Doviak and Zrnic, 1984.) of this vorticity component can never exceed the value of

1847 RAW DOPPLER RADIAL VELOCITIES o·
45
40
(a)
Fig. 4.8 (a) The radial data obseroed from Norman [coordinates (0,0)] for the 1847 analysis. (b) The proxy radial data taken from the derived
wind field. (From Ray et al., 1983.)
the horizontal vorticity. The vorticity is increased by the
action of the divergence or stretching term in the vorticity
equation. These observations do not explain the devel-
opment of the extreme vorticity values found near the
ground.
Not all tornadoes come from supercell storms and not
all supercell storms produce tornadoes. But evidence sug-
gests that all large, long-lived tornadoes do come from
supercell storms. Perhaps not surprisingly, the preference
for cyclonic tornadoes mirrors the bias found in overall
storm rotation. Observational studies (e.g., Johnson et al.,
1987) document that coincident with tornadogenesis there
is a rapid increase in low-level rotation. As described in a
previous section, coincident with tornadogenesis there is
a decrease in updraft intensity, collapse in storm top, for-
mation of small-scale downdraft behind the updraft, and
the confluence of the cold outflow and warm inflow wrap-
ping into the storm circulation.
As suggested by Mueller and Carbone ( 1987) and others,
modeling studies by Klemp and Rotunno ( 1983) suggest
that strong low-level rotation dynamically induces the
downdraft that promotes the observed occlusion. In their
simulations, the fluid shear term (iJv I iJx)iJu I iJy) was al-
most solely responsible for the creation of the adverse ver-
tical pressure gradient near the ground. Figure 4. 9 sche-
matically illustrates this formation. Here the rotation-
induced pressure perturbation creates a downdraft that
spreads out and creates a new convergence center farther
east along the gust front. The evaporating rear-flank
downdraft air can create a "clear slot" behind the gust
CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 379
SYNTHESIZED RADIAL VELOCITIES
45
40
35
30
25
20L---~~----~~---L7-----~----~L____j
-10 -5 0 5 JO 15
(b)
front. This has been documented visually (Bluestein, 1985)
and predicted by models of the tornadic region of a thun-
derstorm by Klemp and Rotunno ( 1983). In the vicinity
of the circulation center was a region made clear due to
subsidence exceeding 10m s- 1. In a related study, Rotunno
and Klemp ( 1985) showed how the existence of the dis-
tinctive cloud feature known as a wall cloud (see Bluestein,
1985) can arise from the processes that produce the low-
level rotation and downdraft. The wall cloud forms be-
cause, even though its absolute humidity is less due to its
being at a colder temperature, its relative humidity is 100
percent. The lower lifting condensation level produces the
distinctive form.
Fiedler and Rotunno ( 1986) examined the relationship
between maximum wind speed in a vortex (tornado) and
the environment. They observed that the maximum cy-
clostrophic wind speed for a 45-mb central pressure deficit
in hydrostatic balance is 65 m s - 1, where observed tornadic
wind speeds in excess of 100m s- 1 are not uncommon.
They developed a model for vortex structure that agrees
with laboratory-generated vortices. They found that max-
imum speeds are found in a vortex configuration that is
laminar and in which descending air cannot "fill in" the
intense low-level pressure deficit. In this configuration the
azimuthal velocity may exceed the hydrostatic limit.
The rapid amplification of low-level rotation is due to
the baroclinic generation of horizontal vorticity along the
cold air pool. The magnitude of this vorticity can be several
times that possible from the mean shear. This vorticity is
tilted into the vertical and stretched in the inflow.
380 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Fig. 4.9 Three-dimensional schematic perspective viewed from the
southeast of a supercell thunderstorm at the stage where low-level
rotation is intensifying and rear-flank downdraft has intensified. The
environmental wind shear is westerly. Cylindrical arrows depict flow
in and around the storm. Thin lines show the low-level vortex lines,
with vector direction by arrows along the lines and sense of direction
also by circular-ribbon arrows. The shaded arrows represent the ro-
tationally induced vertical pressure gradient, and the stippled arrow
indicates the rear-flank downdraft. The heavy barbed line marks the
boundary of the cold air beneath the storm. (Adapted from Klemp,
1987.)
4.6 Downdrafts and Downbarsts
For many years, downdrafts and gusts have been rec-
ognized as emanations from thunderstorms. Byers and
Braham ( 1949) discussed the importance of the downdraft
in the life of a thunderstorm. The importance has been
emphasized in the previous sections on multicell storms,
squall lines, etc. The downdraft has been investigated in
many publications [see Kamburova and Ludlam ( 1966)
and Srivastava ( 1985) for additional references].
Knupp (1987) found evidence of five types of down-
drafts: precipitation, penetrative, regional compensating,
cloudjupdraft edge, and overshooting. These distinctions
were made after examining many multiple-Doppler radar
synthesized vertical velocity fields, as well as the results
of model simulation experiments. He found that the prin-
cipallow-level precipitation downdraft was composed of
two branches. One branch originates within the PBL and
is characterized by an up-down circulation, and the second
occurs at middle levels. The most significant cause of the
downdrafts appears to be from melting and evaporation.
However, it was Fujita who recognized the damaging
potential of downdrafts and stimulated the recent focus
into this storm feature (Fujita and Byers, 1977; Fujita and
Caracena, 1977). Aerial photographs of the damage from
the tornado outbreak of 3-4 April 1974 revealed signatures
in some debris patterns that were not consonant with that
expected from tornadoes. Some debris was oriented ra-
dially outward from a point, suggesting strong winds em-
anating from a point, such as might be caused by the rap-
idly diverging flow from a strong and focused downdraft.
Fujita ( 1985) ascribed 15 percent of the reported tornado
damage on these outbreak days to these strong radial
winds. Fujita found further support for the strength and
importance of these diverging flows in his analysis of sev-
eral airplane crashes near airports. He named this storm
feature "downburst" in 1976, after investigating a plane
crash at JFK Airport (Fujita, 1976). A more extensive dis-
cussion on downbursts may be found in Chapter 31a by
Fujita and McCarthy.
It became apparent that downbursts were of different
sizes and possibly of different origins. One important type
was the microburst, which was characterized by intense
local (4 km) winds that could reach 75 m s- 1 (168 mph;
Fujita, 1985). A radar-based definition offered by Wilson
et al. ( 1984) required that the low-level radial velocity
difference along a beam be at least 10m s - 1 over a distance
less than 4 km.
Besides simply classifying downdrafts by size, some mi-
crobursts are accompanied by rain and some are not. To
distinguish between these two types, those with no mea-
surable rain (0.01 inch or less) are called dry microbursts,
while those with rain are called wet microbursts. It is ex-
pected that the proportion of these microburst types will
vary geographically. It is believed that dry microbursts
usually emanate from virga and are predominately ther-
modynamically driven by the loss of heat due to evapo-
ration. Since even dry microbursts involve melting and
evaporation, other investigators have chosen to classify
these phenomena based upon radar reflectivity, as outlined
by Roberts and Wilson ( 1984, 1986 ). Examples of low re-
flectivity storms are given in Kissinger et al. ( 1986). Waki-
moto ( 1985) further examined low reflectivity microbursts.
Examples of moderate and high reflectivity storms are
given in Kessinger et al. ( 1984, 1988) and Hjelmfelt ( 1987,
1988). Hjelmfelt ( 1988) contains a morphology of micro-
burst types.
Due to the transitory nature of downbursts, their di-
vergent signature being apparent only near the ground,
their small spatial scale, and occasional obscuration by
ground clutter, a Doppler radar is challenged to locate all
such downdrafts routinely. Most of the Doppler radar ob-
servations have come from the special programs designed
to document downbursts: first NIMROD (Northern Illinois
Meteorological Research on Downbursts) in 1978, then,
among others, JAWS (Joint Airport Weather Studies) in
1982, and MIST (Micro burst and Severe Thunderstorm)
in 1986. These were conducted in Illinois, Colorado, and
Alabama, respectively. All these and other similar field
operations share an emphasis in detecting and docu-
menting strong surface winds with Doppler radar. The
possibility that aircraft safety might be improved with this

technology has lent a strong operational component to
these programs.
In a study of Oklahoma wet downbursts, Wolfson
( 1983) was inspired to advance the hypothesis that when
a storm with supercell characteristics becomes mature, the
gust front stretches the vortex tubes. As a result of the
increase in low-level cyclonic vorticity, the downdraft is
intensified near the circulation center by a dynamically
induced vertical pressure gradient. This would rapidly ac-
celerate air downward. This implies that the downburst is
inherently a low-level phenomenon, a suggestion that
seems to be supported by available observations.
In support of Wolfson's hypothesis, Kessinger et al.
( 1984) compared observations of a downburst-producing
storm with a numerical simulation of a storm initiated with
an environment similar to that of the observed storm. Both
the observed storm and the model results produced a mid-
dle-level mesocyclone that developed downward in time,
eventually producing a small-scale, low-level, intense vor-
tex coincident with the downdraft. Only the presence of
low-level convergence or divergence revealed whether the
circulation was associated with an up- or downdraft.
Using techniques similar to those outlined in Appendix
C, Parsons et al. ( 1985) and Kessinger et al. ( 1988) at-
tempted to evaluate the contribution of perturbation pres-
sure to microburst evolution. Near the location of a mi-
croburst that was observed by multiple Doppler radars,
pressure perturbations were in excess of 0.5 to 0.8 mb, as
is typical of observed values. It spread with time and was
confined to low levels, also as observed. The overall pres-
sure distribution supported a view that the microburst was
driven by negative buoyancy.
During JAWS, Fujita (1985) found that, at least in dry
microbursts, the downdraft was accelerated below the
melting level. This suggests that the latent heat of fusion
(80 cal g- 1 } required to melt ice is an important energy
source for downbursts. In an attempt to better understand
the dynamics of microbursts, Srivastava ( 1985) modeled
the processes in a one-dimensional time-dependent model
for an evaporatively driven downdraft, such as might
characterize the dry microburst of the high plains. He
found that the conditions favoring the most intense
downdrafts occur when the temperature lapse rate is close
to the dry-adiabatic rate, a high rainwater mixing ratio
near cloud base exists, and the downdraft radius is at least
1 km. Comparison with sample JAWS datasets confirms
these expectations, suggesting that the downdraft origins
may well have been at cloud base, rather than at middle
levels or higher.
Srivastava ( 1987) extended the Srivastava (1985) results
to include the effects of melting ice and of large concen-
trations of small drops such as might result from collisional
breakup. The melting of ice was found to be a potentially
important contribution to the generation of downdrafts.
To summarize these two papers: as the atmosphere be-
comes more stable, higher precipitation contents, ice, and
CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 381
larger concentrations of small drops are required to produce
intense downdrafts.
Using similarity theory, Emanuel (1981) argued that
small-scale, intense downbursts could have their origins
as penetrative downdrafts. Observational and model sim-
ulations both show evidence of a systematic entrainment
of potentially cold environmental air at storm middle levels.
The superposition of this air over cloudy air would provide
the potential for downdrafts. When the cloudy air slows
its ascent, the potentially cold air can penetrate downward.
Emanuel also notes the association of downbursts with
severe storms. Strong rotation associated with mesocy-
clones can decrease updraft strength (the vortex valve),
leaving a column of air with high liquid water content
below potentially cold air. Downward motion may also be
forced by rotationally induced pressure gradients, as dis-
cussed by Brandes (1978), Ktemp (1987}, and Carbone
(1983 ).
Understanding the interaction and propagation of the
outflow with the earth's surface will be enhanced by stud-
ies such as that of Droegemeier and Wilhelmson (1987).
The similarity with observed flows and the understanding
of the types of instabilities present, the mixing processes
involved, the effects of interactions with the ambient flow,
and the definition of the internal flow structure, make
modeling an important tool.
5 FUTURE
In recent decades, first conventional radar and then more
recently Doppler radars have enabled quantum leaps in
our understanding pf the dynamics of convection. Probably
the macroscopic view has been largely attained, but the
important role of radar, particularly more sophisticated
radars, will continue as we seek to further quantify pro-
cesses. This will demand increasingly more capability of
radar systems as the need increases to observe storms more
accurately and with greater temporal, if not spatial, reso-
lution. No doubt there will be many refinements in tech-
niques and the emergence of new algorithms to use radar
systems more effectively in the real-time environment. This
will be needed to provide more accurate and longer lead
times for weather hazards. In the near future, however,
there will be important advances in radar applications in
a broad range of meteorological issues. This will be par-
ticularly true for Doppler radar. A few examples are pre-
sented here for their imminence and their relevance to
convective dynamics.
5.1 Initialization of Models
Models are frequently bifurcated into either being hy-
drostatic or nonhydrostatic. Another classification stresses
their resolution or domain of coverage. Those nonhydro-
static models of high resolution (less than about 2 km) are
frequently thought of as cloud models. For years it has
been customary to initialize cloud models by perturbing a
382 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
horizontally homogeneous atmosphere. Realistic integra-
tion times have been limited to only a few hours. This was
adequate for important studies of isolated and often severe
convection; however, the simulation of long-lived systems
(MCSs) is difficult, except through the most formative
stages. As computational capability and model domains
and resolution increase, it will be possible to prescribe a
complex field as the initial state. This will be possible only
by prescribing all the model fields, so as to avoid model
shock. With the dynamic retrieval methods discussed in
Appendix C, and to a lesser extent with the microphysical
fields, most of the model fields can be specified. It will
then be possible to examine the dynamic evolution for
complex or long-lasting storms.
Larger scale models can improve their accuracy by better
knowledge of the boundary structure. Data on the bound-
ary layer structure are available from the Doppler radar.
This new data source is expected to add to the richness of
data sources that now are available for models. The almost
continuous coverage provided by the NEXRAD system of
radars will be an important source of this data both op-
erationally and for research.
5.2 Analysis Methods
The greatest prospects for advancement lie in more
quantitative uses of radar data. All these require more ac-
curate wind fields than were adequate to describe the mor-
phology of storms. Appendix A outlines several approaches
to better synthesis of wind fields. It has been learned that
in many instances downward integration yields more ac-
curate winds than upward integration, and that a subse-
quent adjustment of the wind field from integration sub-
stantially improves the analysis still f:urther. All the
objective analysis techniques are more adept at treating
statistical error than bias errors that are inevitably a part
of real datasets. Some of these errors arise due to human
error in interpretation, some from effects such as range
folding or sidelobes. Others are due to inadequate reso-
lution or unsampled fields near the earth's surface. What-
ever the source of error, the result is a field that, to some
degree, does not accurately represent the true field. We
know this because some of the fields do not look realistic
or do not compare well with other observations (e.g., th~
human eye, or a sensor onboard an aircraft). It may also
be that the fields that are derived do not agree with other
observed fields, or are dynamically incompatible. For ex-
ample, the derived microphysical fields may not agree with
the observed storm's reflectivity structure, or the pressure
perturbation analysis yields a pressure field whose deriv-
atives in one direction do not agree with observed accel-
erations. It is possible to make the observations conform
to these basic physical principles, however. This may result
in a better analysis. The requirement is a better model of
the error field, the specification of which appears not to
be a trivial task.
5.3 NEXRAD and Pro&ler
In the early 1990s, the nation will be largely covered
with a network of NEXRAD (Next Generation Weather
Radar) radars. TheseS-band radars will have a beamwidth
of less than a degree, and other characteristics that would
qualify them as a first rate research radar, as well as an
important tool in the operational meteorologist's inventory.
Some of these will be equipped with the capability of re-
cording and archiving the "base level" data, not just the
products. Base level would include mean reflectivity, ve-
locity, and spectrum width data. This opens up new op-
portunities for researchers to combine other facilities with
the NEXRAD and profiler systems to examine more easily
the geographic diversity of storms, as well as reduce the
costs of field observations. The combination of NEXRAD
and airborne Doppler radar is particularly attractive since
it would combine the spatial flexibility of aircraft with an
extensive ground-based network. Long-lived systems, such
as squall lines, could be followed through their life cycle.
It is hoped that the nation's weather service will see the
long-term benefit in seeking ways to work with the re-
search community.
A network of wind profilers is being deployed across
the central United States, adding to an already existing
dispersed network of research and operational profilers.
This augmentation of over 30 additional profilers will take
this technology from the research arena and from the single
unit site, to implementation of fields of data in our most
fundamental forecast tools. These two networks ( NEXRAD
and the profiler) are illustrated in Fig. 5.1.
5.4 Storm Initiation
It once appeared that storms formed at rather random
locations. Upon closer examination of radar data in the
Fig. 5.1 Schematic of the proposed NEXRAD and demonstration
profiler networks. Stippled area encompasses ranges within 100 km
from a radar.
 CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 383

vicinity of the location where a storm formed, it is often

revealed that what appeared as a stochastic process is a APPENDIX A:
deterministic process. Clear-air boundaries and satellite MULTIPLE DOPPLER. ANALYSIS
imagery can foreshadow storm development. Studies of METHODS
storm outflow are illuminating the details of the interaction The formalism presented here is generalized to enable
of density currents with the environment. the inclusion of more than the requisite number to form
a unique solution. Such an approach has been called over-
5.5 Clear Air determined, reflecting the mathematical nature of how the
problem statement is posed. Simpler, in form, expressions
These comments are distinguished from the obviously exist for the reduced set, particularly if radar locations are
important profiler, which provides winds in the optically judiciously placed in the analysis coordinate system (e.g.,
clear air. Here, it is recognized that microwavelength radars Armijo, 1969). Here, the more general case is presented.
can provide new insights into boundary layer processes. Each radar's location is denoted by the coordinate triple
The radar return can be augmented by the use of chaff. (X;, y;, Z;) and a grid point by ( x, y, z). If u, v, and W ( =w
Chaff can also be used in the free atmosphere to enhance + V1) represent the particle motion in the x, y, and z di-
the signal at storm boundaries. The use of polat?zation rections, then the measured radial velocity (V;) is related
radar will allow some differentiation of the signal from to the Cartesian wind components by
chaff and hydrometeors. This will allow better quantitative
z;) _ V
estimates of processes such as entrainment. u(x- x;)
---'--'-'- + v(y- y;)
+ W(z- - i (A1)
R; R; R;
5.6 Thunderstorm Electri8cation where V 1 represents particle terminal velocity, and the
Radar is the only tool that can even approach sampling range is given by
the full volume where electrification is active or where R; = [(x- X;) 2 + (y- y;) 2 + (z- Z;) 2 ] 112 . (A2)
charge centers reside. It is widely accepted that knowledge
of the wind field is important in understanding the active Generally, radar observations are interpolated to a grid
electrical processes. In addition, accurate wind fields are point in either a Cartesian or a conical section. Differe!'-t
central to techniques such as the kinematic retrieval of methods have been used. Perhaps the most widely used
hydrometeor fields, such as discussed in Appendix D. weighting function has the form
These types of analyses add potentially important addi-
tional information on the composition of clouds that be-
1.8
come electrified. Radar, of course, can only contribute to
a larger set of observations such as in situ measurements
from instrumented balloons and aircraft, and other ob-
servations such as spheric mapping devices. Ultimately, z
Q
all these measurements in combination will help form and 1-
then verify a model of electrification. (.)
z
::::>
~

--
0::
I.U
LL.
(/)
z ................
Cl 0.8 .......
Acknowledgments. The reviews of Edward Brandes, 0::
'
'
1-
Rodger Brown, Richard Carbone, William Cotton, Kerry
Emanuel, Brant Foote, Tzvi Gal-Chen, Carl Hane, Gerald .......
Heymsfield, Mark Hjelmfelt, Kenneth Johnson, Cathy
Kessinger, Joseph Klemp, Kevin Knupp, Paul Krehbiel, Les
'' ........
...............
Lemon, Mitch Moncrief£, Rita Roberts, Woody Roberts, .......
Frank Roux, Mohan Ramamurthy, Steven Rutledge, Jerry
Schmidt, Bradley Smull, Taneil Uttal, and Conrad Ziegler
resulted in important improvements to the manuscript. 0 12 14 16
Partial support for the preparation was provided by NSF
Grants ATM 8604143 and ATM 8619957 to Florida State 30 15 10 6 5 4 3 2
University, NASA Grant NAG 8-631 and by Department WAVE LENGTH (km)
of Energy Contract DE-Fco5-85ER250000 to the Florida Fig. Al Approximate two-dimensional response function. The
State University Supercomputer Computations Research dashed line is the response for a two-dimensional Cressman filter
Institute. with an influence radius of 1 km.
384 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
f = L/;W; (A3)
LW;
where W; is the Cressman ( 19S9) weighting function (e.g.,
Ray et al., 197S). Brandes ( 1978) and others have used a
truncated exponential function. Heymsfield (1976) used
an adaptation of the method of optimum interpolation to
derive a set of weights. Testud and Chong ( 1983) examined
the response of several different weighting functions and
showed that there was less spectral modification of the
field when a cubic spline was used for interpolation. The
effect of spectral modification due to interpolation was
[ ~~(x-y;)(y-y;)
(x-y;)z ~ (x-y;)(y-y;)
~(y-yy
~ (x- x;)(z- Z;) ~ (y- y;)(z- Z;)
The vertical wind component w is customarily determined
from W using a reflectivity estimated terminal velocity from
a relationship such as from Joss and Waldvogel (1970)
p
Vt = 2.62 o.to7 ( Po
)0.4 (AS)
where the parenthetical term is suggested by Foote and
du Toit (1969). The effect of the parenthetical term is to
increase the terminal velocity with height, in response to
the decrease in density. The weakness in Eq. (AS) depends
on the drop-size distribution, and the terminal velocity is
very insensitive to the reflectivity, Z. It is customary for
researchers to modify Eq. (AS) to accommodate different
hydrometeor types and phases as a function of altitude.
The vertical velocity component is accurate only near one
of the radars where elevation angles are greater than 4S o.
At the ground, vertical velocity estimates become un-
bounded. To overcome this restriction, Eq. (A4) can be
used to obtain the horizontal wind components and obtain
w from the solution of the mass continuity equation
au au aw
- +- +-- KW = 0. (A6)
ax ay az
b. COPLAN SOLUTION
For the special case of two radars, the solution for vertical
motion resulted in a linear inhomogeneous partial differ-
ential equation (Ray et al., 1980a);
dramatically shown by Ray et al. ( 1983) for the region
surrounding a tornado in Figs. 4.8 and Al. Testud and
Chong have similarly examined the effects of spatial fil-
tering.
a. DIRECT SOLUTION
Armijo ( 1969) noted that three independent observa-
tions were sufficient to determine the ( u, v, W) components
directly. For observations from at least three radar loca-
tions, the wind component may be found from the solution
of
~ (x-x;)(z-z;) ][u] [ ~ V;(x-x;)R;l
~(y-y;)(z-z;) v = ~V;(y-y;)R; . (A4)
~ (z- zY w ~ V;(z- Z;)R;
where Ct Cz c3 and c4 are functions of position, terminal
I I
velocity, and radial velocity. Armijo ( 1969) pointed out
that a cylindrical geometry was the natural coordinate sys-
tem for solution of Eq. (A7). This yields a velocity com-
ponent parallel to the baseline joining the two radars and
a component perpendicular to the baseline. The solution
is found on a series of planes that all intersect the baseline.
The velocity component perpendicular to the plane is de-
termined by integrating the mass continuity equation (A6)
in cylindrical coordinates with w = 0 at the bottom bound-
ary. For display and further analysis, it was customary to
remap the results from the cylindrical grid to a Cartesian
grid. Early papers employing dual-Doppler results used
this synthesis approach (e.g., Ray et al., 197S; Miller, 197S;
Kropfli and Miller, 197S; Kropfli and Miller, 1976).
c. CARTESIAN SOLUTION
There has been widespread adoption of methods in
which the synthesis is performed on a Cartesian grid,
eliminating the intermediate synthesis on the cylindrical
grid (COPLAN or COPLANE). Recently, Testud (1983)
has promoted the advantage of synthesis in the cylindrical
reference frame on grounds that errors due to time ad-
vection and temporal evolution are minimized. It is possible
that for special applications, certain types of errors will be
reduced, but it is likely that most future analyses will con-
tinue in the Cartesian grid structure.
d. DUAL-DOPPLER SOLUTION
In Cartesian coordinates with observations from at least
two radars and the mass continuity equation there is, in
principle, sufficient observations to deduce all wind com-
ponents. The difficulty arises in that Eq. (A7) must be
 CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 385

solved iteratively. This yields for two or more radars the 0.0 Km Height
relations from Ray and Sangren ( 19S3) or for the two radar
case Brandes ( 197S): 36
27
L RN;(X- X;) L (y- YY
u= - L RN;(y- y;) L (x- x:)(y- y;) 18
L (x- X;) 2 L (y- y;) 2 - [L (x- x;)(y- y;)] 2
9
W[L (y- y;)(z- Z;) L (x- x;)(y- y;)
0
+ - L (y - y i) 2 L (X - X;)( z - Z;)]
L (x _ X;)2 L (y _ y;)2 (ASa) -9
- [L (x- x;)(y- y;)] 2
-18

L R;V;(y- y;) L (x- x;) 2 -27

v = - L RN;(x- x;) L (x- x;)(y- y;) -36
L (y- y;) L (x- X;) 2 - [L (x- x;)(y- y;)] 2
2 -45
W[L (x- x;)(y- y;) L (x- x;)(z- z;) -45 -36 -27 -18 -9 0 9 18 27 36 45
+ -L(x-x;) 2 L(y-y;)(z-z ;)] Standard Deviation (U+ V)
L (y- y;)2 L (x- X;)2 (ASb)
Fig. A2 Standard deviation of horizontal wind field uncertainty (p. 2
- [L (x- x;)(y- y;)f + v 2) 112 at the surface for two radars spaced 40 km apart. This error
analysis is invalid for either COPLANE or Cartesian analysis. In-
This is solved by using an estimate of W and refining it dividual uncertainty of interpolated radar estimates from each radar
is 1 m2 s- 2•
through Eq. (A6). The updated W is then used in a new
calculation of u and v in Eq. (AS). The iteration continues
until convergence is reached. A covariance is introduced
between the horizontal and vertical velocity, but it is small
in most applications. The uncertainty due to geometry is
e. ADJUSTMENT OF WINDS
addressed in section 2.2, and the standard deviation of In the most widely used procedures, based upon Eq.
the horizontal wind field uncertainty at the surface for two
(AS), the wind components are derived by either upward
radars is illustrated in Fig. A2.
or downward integration. Ray et al. ( 19SOa) showed that
Other methods for synthesis on a Cartesian grid have
upward integration frequently resulted in unrealistic ver-
been proposed (Ray et al., 197S) that require observations tical velocities at the storm top and that these errors were
from at least three radars. In this case the analysis is for- reduced when downward integration was employed. This
mulated using variational calculus. A functional is mini- is due to the coefficient which is the ratio of the density
mized
of air at the previously analyzed level to the next level of
integration. This means that the vertical velocity of the
previous level is multiplied by a number > 1 for upward
integration and <1 for downward integration. Thus, for
downward integration uncertainties in the vertical velocity
) - A(au au aw KW )] dxdydz estimate are reduced.
+ 'Y 2( w - w02 ax ay +--
- +-
az (A9)
Still unrealistic values of vertical velocity at the bound-
aries often exist. Frequently, the divergence profile is ad-
justed to yield predetermined vertical velocity values at
where A is a Lagrange multiplier and acts as a strong con-
the upper and lower boundaries. From Ray et al. ( 19SOa)
straint insuring that the solution ( u, v, w) satisfies mass
this is, using the Boussinesq approximation, formulated as
continuity. The weights ~ 2, {3 2, and 'Y 2 are derived from
a variational problem. This was extended by Ziegler et al.
the uncertainty in the determination of each wind com- (19S3):
ponent. The field variables are expanded in a Taylor series.
From Eq. (A9), a set of Euler-Lagrange equations is de-
rived. The solution field of A is then used in a set of ad-
justment equations that correct the original wind estimates. E= JJJ{[~2(u- u0)2 + {J2(v- vo)]dz
This approach is computationally expensive and has seen
limited application. It should be noted that this method
embodies no interpolation to grid points prior to synthesis.
+ A[J (!; + Z)dz + C* ]}dxdy (A10)
386 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

where C* is the horizontally variable net vertical mass flux

for a column and requires the transformation of W * = pw. APPENDIX 8:
The solution of the resulting Euler-Lagrange equations RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRESSURE
is solved by successive overrelaxation. This results in the fORCES AND WIND SHEAR
following adjustment relation:
This is an expansion of the results of Klemp et al. ( 1981)
and Rotunno and Klemp ( 1982) starting with the shallow,
u=u o +1- a"A
-
ax
2~2
(A11a) inviscid anelastic equations

av
az + v · vv = - v11" + f3k
A

(A11b) (B1)

aB
lo
z,
- + -av) dz + C* = 0.
(au
ax ay (A11c)
- + V·VB = -N 2w
at (B2)

V·V =0 (B3)
Care must be exercised to use consistent differencing
when V is the vector velocity [u, v, w] and B the buoyancy;
schemes in Eq. (A11c) and the partial differential equa-
11" = Cp9o(P IPo)R*fc, where p, Po, R* and Cp are the pressure,
tions, from which the Lagrange multipliers, "A, are derived.
surface pressure, and universal gas constant and specific
Some investigators have allowed the weights ~ and f3
heat at constant pressure, respectively. The del operator
(related to the Gauss precision moduli) to be constant.
Strictly speaking, this simplification only requires that ~
retains its usual definition and N =[
(g I 9o )( a8 I az) 2 is r/
the Brunt-VaisaHi frequency and B = gfJ' 190 with gas the
be a function only of y, and f3 a function of x. This gives
gravitational acceleration. Primed quantities indicate a
the simple solution
perturbation about the base state.
If these relations are linearized (V = V + v') about a
r_ o
D- Do= w w (A12) horizontal environmental wind that varies only in height
Zr (V = [Uh(z), Vh(z), 0]) and if we take the divergence of
the linearized horizontal equation of motion, we obtain
where w r is the kinematic upper boundary condition with the linearized equation
the assumption w = 0 at the earth's surface. This then
gives a simple adjustment of w at any level Z1: V ·av' ( av)
-
at + V ·(V·V)v'. + V · w'-
az
........_,__... ~ ~

W1 -
o
W1 =
Z1 <W r
- Zr -
o)
W1 • (A13)
a b

= - V · V 11"' + V · ( B'k). ( B4)

...._,...___. "---v---'
d e
The adjustment tow is linear with height, with a constant
adjustment of the divergence with height, as discussed by
O'Brien ( 1970). Some analysts have chosen to employ the We will assume a homogeneous (B' = N 2 = 0) fluid. Ex-
simple adjustment given by Eq. (A13) without adjustments amining each term in sequence:
to the horizontal wind component. The resulting wind field
then no longer satisfies mass continuity. This is an unde- av' a
a) V·-=-(V·v')=O
sirable result. Chong and Testud ( 1983) also used a vari- at at
ational approach to derive a boundary condition at ground
from the linearized form of (B3) (BS)
level. This approach not only prescribes that true vertical
air velocity equal zero at the surface, but also that the
uncertainty of w at the surface should equal the statistical b) v · (V • V)v' = v · [ uh- av']
av' + vh-
uncertainty of its determination. In this method, the di- ax ay
vergence field is not modified; only the boundary condition iJv' iJv'
is varied. They show, with sample datasets, the improve- = v · uh -ax + v · vh-
ay
ment over simple upward integration where there is in-
adequately sampled low-level divergence. For certain dis-
tributions of winds and uncertainties this approach should
give marked improvement. The same comment can also
be made about the use of adjustment represented in Eqs.
(A10) and (A11 ).
 CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 387

a
= Uhax (V • V + Tz k·ax1
)
auh . av~
II [(1rx- F) 2 + (1ry- G) 2 ]dxdy =min. (C3)

a avh av~
+ vh-
ay (V • V + -az
1
) k ·-
ay
This is a standard variational problem with the Euler
equation in the form of a Poisson equation for perturbation
pressure:
= auh aw~ + avh aw~ = av. Vwl ( 86 )
az ax az ay az (C4)

c) "V· (W 1 az
av) =w V·-az+(Vw)·a;
av 1
av I
subject to the Neumann boundary conditions

= av ·Vwl (87)
(CS)
az
The solution is obtained from sequential overrelaxation
(88) ( SOR). Equation ( C4) is solved for 1r and the horizontal
average ( 1r) subtracted to form the unique solution 1r
e) \!· (B 1k) = 0 from homogeneous assumption. (89) - ( 1r). Then the vertical momentum equation can be
solved for the buoyancy deviations:
Combining Eqs. ( 86)- ( 88) we obtain
B = (0- (O)){j-l + 0.61(qv- (qv)) (C6)

(BlO) = Cp0vg- 1 (1r-(1r))z+r-(r) (C7)

where
If the forcing function can be characterized by a narrow
band width, i.e., a narrow band of Fourier components,
then the Laplacian of the function is proportional to the
negative of itself and The Dw is a turbulence term analogous to that of Du and
Dv and the angle brackets represent horizontal average;
av v w (Btl)
the rest of the terms retain their conventional meteorolog-
az·
I I
-" - - · ical meaning.
Although it is customary to estimate the water quantities
from radar reflectivity or to ignore them, we can use the
values obtained by the microphysical retrieval as outlined
APPENDIX C: below. Also, the tendency terms are often ignored because
DYNAMIC RETRIEVAL the fields are thought to be only slowly varying with time
and because observations tend to be spaced too far apart
The method outlined here is essentially that of Hane et in time to be used properly anyway.
al. ( 1981 ) with the solution for nondimensional pressure If the winds are error free, then the horizontal pressure
1r by the method of Gal-Chen ( 1978). The governing hy- gradients will exactly balance the right-hand sides of Eqs.
drodynamical equations in the x, y directions can be writ- ( C1) and ( C2). Since the pressure solution is a least-
ten: squares fit to these equations, it is the usual case that a
residual will exist. Gal-Chen and Kropfli ( 1984) define a
quantity E, by

1
1l'y = -- (Dv- V1 - V·Vv- fu) = G, (C2)
CpOv

where the subscripts denote differentiation. The other

symbols retain their usual meteorological meaning, except
Du and Dv which represent turbulence. These are taken
from Klemp and Wilhelmson ( 1978a) and involve the use
of eddy mixing coefficients after the Smagorinsky ( 1963)
formulation.
Equations ( C 1 ) and ( C2) can be solved in the least-
square sense
which can be used as a measure of how good the retrieved
pressure gradients are. Sometimes this is called "momen-
tum checking." If E, = 0, the fit is perfect. IfF and G are
random variables, then E, = 0.5. Other bias errors can
occur, which makes the exact interpretation of Eq. (C9)
case dependent and somewhat ambiguous.
388 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Ziegler ( 1985) outlines a method similar to that of Rut-

APPENDIX D:
KINEMATIC RETRIEVAL
Other than in situ data, our best estimates of the micro-
physical structure of storms come from analysis of the
synthesized Doppler wind fields. Using techniques such
as outlined in Ziegler ( 1985), it is possible to examine the
coevolving wind and water field. All the various contri-
butions to the rain process can, in principle, be quantified
for a more complete understanding of the role of micro-
physics in storms. It is believed possible to quantify the
dominant mode of precipitation formation in the convec-
tive cells.
The retrieval of microphysical fields requires a Doppler
radar synthesized wind field with little error; indeed, re-
trieved anomalies often reveal errors in the synthesized
winds. Microphysical retrieval was first done by Rutledge
and Hobbs (1983, 1984) for mesoscale rainbands and later
extended to tropical squall lines by Rutledge ( 1986). More
recently, Rutledge and Houze ( 1987) used the model to
diagnose middle-latitude squall lines. Ziegler ( 1985) re-
trieved microphysical fields in three dimensions for a con-
vective cell. Hauser et al. ( 1987) reformulated the problem
allowing the microphysical and thermodynamical variable
fields to be jointly derived, consistent with the whole set
of governing equations and the wind fields. Every oppor-
tunity to check the results with independent measurements
has confirmed its accuracy.
ledge and Hobbs ( 1983, 1984) for retrieving the temper-
ature and water substance distributions within storms,
given an accurate storm wind field (such as might come
from Doppler radar analysis) and a proximity sounding.
The time-dependent, three-dimensional cloud model in-
corporates transport processes, as well as uses a micro-
physical parameterization that includes stochastic warm
cloud coalescence effects and wet and variable density dry
hail growth. The parameterized microphysical processes
are illustrated in Fig. Dl.
The gamma function is used to represent cloud and rain
distributions, while an inverse exponential function rep-
resents the graupel /hail and snow distributions. The
gamma distribution used in Ziegler ( 1985) is of the form
Nv(v) = N(v + 1)"+ 1 (vfvo)"
X exp[-(v + 1)(vjv0 )jr(v + 1)vo] (D1)
where N is the total concentration (cm- 3 ), Vo the mean
volume (em - 3 ), v the volume, v the shape parameter, and
N ( v) the concentration per unit volume interval. The value
of v is fixed (typically in the range 0 to 3), while N and Vo
vary.
The inverse exponential function is of the form
(D2)

MICROPHYSICAL PROCESSES

MELTING/
EVAPQRATION

I NUCLEATION
DEPOSITION
FREEZING
., ...

"PO":': .
- SELF-
ACCRETION COLLECTION
/ACCRETION - BREAKUP

ACCRETION '- _

fig. D1 Interaction of model cloud microphysical processes. Boxes indicate th_e vario~s forms of t~e
water substance. The enclosed symbols represent the dependent variables associated w1th each spec1e.
Arrows denote direction of mass transfer. (From Ziegler, 1985.)
 CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 389

with N0 the intercept parameter (concentration of particles supersaturated air, while other water phases and ice types
per unit size range at zero size), \II the shape parameter, form from the ensuing interactions. Further sensitivity
and D the particle diameter. studies were conducted in Ziegler ( 1988).
An alternative formulation is the finite difference method
of Berry and Reinhardt ( 1974a) in which the particle dis-
tribution is represented by a set of discrete size categories
and the appropriate microphysical processes applied to APPENDIX E:
each category. For kinematic retrieval, this would be ex- SYMBOLS
cessively computationally burdensome. When compared If not explicitly stated differently, primed quantities refer
with Berry and Reinhardt's ( 1974b) highly resolved finite to perturbation quantities and superscript zero refers to an
difference coalescence model, Ziegler ( 1985) found very observed quantity. Subscripted x, y, and t denote differ-
good agreement using the parameterized model in the La- entiation with respect to subscripted variable.
grangian frame.
Variations of potential temperature, water vapor mixing B buoyancy
ratio, cloud droplet number concentration and mixing ratio, Cadvection advection velocity
raindrop number concentration and mixing ratio, snow C* net vertical mass flux for a column
mixing ratio, cloud ice mixing ratio, and graupeljhail con- Cp specific heat of moist air at constant pressure
centration and mixing ratio are diagnosed from the kine- Cv specific heat of moist air at a constant volume
matic field according to a system of continuity equations. d diameter
The conservation equations for heat and water substances D horizontal divergence
can be represented as follows. For potential temperature D0 observed horizontal divergence
(8): Du, Dv, Dw turbulence contribution
E functional
E, residual value
f Coriolis parameter
f;,f unweighted and weighted average of a vari-
For nonprecipitating water substance (qv, No q" q;): able, respectively
F~.h turbulent mixing forms
aN aN aN aN F variation of pressure in x direction
-= -u 0 - - v 0 - - w 0 -+V'3 •(KVN) G variation of pressure in y direction
at ax ay az d
g acceleration due to gravity
oalnp H helicity, inner product of velocity and vor-
+ SN + Nw - - (D4) ticity
ax
functional
aq = -uo aq- vo aq- wo aq + V' 3 •(K Vq) + s
(Cp- Cv)/ Cv
at ax ay az d q· eddy diffusion coefficient
unit vector in the vertical direction
For precipitating water substance (q" N, qh, q., Nh): linear depolarization ratio
Brunt-VaisaHi. frequency
aN aN aN aN concentration density per unit diameter in-
-= -u 0 - - v 0 - - w 0 -+V'3 •(KVN) terval
at ax ay az d
drop-size distribution
a lnp a(NV1 ) intercept of drop-size distribution
+ SN + Nw 0 - - - (DS)
az az gamma distribution used in microphysical
parameterization (concentration density per
unit volume interval)
Nx, Ny normals in the x and y directions
p pressure
1 a Po surface pressure
+ Sq - - - (pV)
-paz q qc mixing ratio of cloud
q; mixing ratio of ice
where S is a microphysical source or sink rate, V 1 is the q, mixing ratio of rainwater
precipitation fall speed, p the air density, and the rest of qv mixing ratio of water vapor
the symbols retain their usual meaning. The airflow com- R bulk Richardson number
ponents u 0, v 0 , and w 0 are supplied from the synthesis of R* universal gas constant
multiple Doppler radar wind fields. Uquid douds form in R; range from the ith radar to observation point
390 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

RH relative helicity Lly Llz Llt

1 1 increments in space and in time
So, Sn, Sq microphysical sources and sinks X Lagrange multiplier
S, Sx, Sy, s. subgrid turbulent force, components of that 'II slope parameter
force v shape parameter
time cloud shape parameter
wind component in the x direction rain shape parameter
estimate of eastward wind component nondimensional pressure
square of the low-level wind shear reference air density
horizontal east wind component air density
wind component in the y direction backscatter radar cross section for horizon-
perturbation horizontal wind tally polarized wave
horizontal environmental wind varying only uv backscatter radar cross section for vertically
in height polarized wave
vector air velocity O"u2 variance of the u component uncertainty
horizontal north wind component O"v2 variance of the v component uncertainty
2
radial velocity component from the i th radar uv, variance of the terminal velocity component
estimate of northerly wind component O"w2 variance of the w component uncertainty
terminal velocity of hydrometeor uw 2 variance of the W component uncertainty
wind component in the z direction 0 potential temperature
particle speed in the z direction 0, equivalent potential temperature
the product of air density and vertical veloc- {j environmental potential temperature
ity Ov virtual potential temperature
perturbation vertical component of motion Ow wet-bulb potential temperature
kinematic upper boundary condition r, t vertical component of vorticity, and pertur-
estimate of vertical air velocity bation vertical vorticity
vertical velocity of the Kth level vector vorticity
observed vertical velocity at the upper horizontal component of vorticity
boundary
X location of observation in space
X Cartesian coordinate in the easterly direction APPENDIX F:
X; position of the i th radar along the x axis LIST OF ACRONYMS
y Cartesian coordinate in the northerly direc-
tion BWER Bounded Weak Echo Region
Y; position of the i th radar along the y axis FACE Florida Area Cumulus Experiment
z Cartesian coordinate denoting the upward GATE GARP (Global Atmospheric Research Project)
direction Atlantic Tropical Experiment
Z; position of the i th radar along the z axis JAWS Joint Airport Weather Studies
z equivalent radar reflectivity factor MCC Mesoscale Convective Complex
z, a height level MCS Mesoscale Convective System
Zr uppermost level in the analysis MIST Micro burst and Severe Thunderstorm ( exper-
ZvR differential reflectivity iment)
ZH reflectivity at horizontal polarization NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research
Zv reflectivity at vertical polarization NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar
ZHH same as ZH NIMROD Northern Illinois Meteorological Research on
ZHv reflectivity of vertical polarization received Down bursts
signal from a horizontally polarized trans- NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
mitted wave tration
a specific volume PBE Potential Buoyant Energy
~ weights in solution PBL Planetary Boundary-Layer
Ll weights in solution PPI Plan Position Indicator
'Y weights in solution STORM Stormscale Operational and Research Meteo-
r complete (incomplete) Gamma function rology
K logarithmic spatial rate of change of density TAMEX Taiwan Area Mesoscale Experiment
with height WER Weak Echo Region

Chapter 24b
Convective Dynamics: Panel Report
R. Carbone, B. Foote, M. Moncrief!, T. Gal-Chen, W. Cotton, M. Hjelmfelt,
F. Raux, G. Heymsfield, and E. Brandes*
1 INTRODUCTION
Convective dynamics is an important area of scientific
inquiry to which research, employing the use of radar, has
made substantial contributions. Historically, radar data
have contributed to studies of precipitating convection and
convective processes in the clear, planetary boundary-layer
( PBL). Owing to the material covered by other panels, our
remarks here are confined to moist convection and inter-
actions between moist convection and the undis-
turbed PBL.
The Panel on Convective Dynamics found its charge
particularly difficult to execute because of the vast literature
on convection, the extensive array of experimental activ-
ities, and the rapidly expanding interplay between nu-
merical experimentation and observations. This wealth of
activity is, of course, a consequence of the importance of
convection to weather, climate, and related climate dy-
namics issues on a global scale. We have found the chal-
lenge of our task to be both immensely humbling and re-
warding.
We are deeply indebted to Professor Peter Ray for his
thoughtful review of the topic (Chapter 24a). Professor
Ray focused his review on the more organized forms of
deep convection at midlatitudes. This is a major aspect of
convective dynamics to which he brings a unique per-
spective given his long and distinguished career in Mid-
western thunderstorm research. A major strength of Prof.
Ray's review is the vitality and clarity with which he ex-
pounds on fundamental dynamical principles and their
relationship to our current understanding of storms.
• Carbone served as panel chairman. The complete list of panel members
and their affiliations is as follows: Edward Brandes (NSSL), Rodger Brown
(NSSL), Richard Carbone (NCAR), William Cotton (Colorado State
University), Kerry Emanuel (Massachusetts Institute of Technology),
Brant Foote (NCAR), Tzvi Gal-Chen (University of Oklahoma), Gerald
Heymsfield (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), Mark Hjelmfelt
(NCAR), Cathy Kessinger (NCAR), Kevin Knupp (University of Ala-
bama), Paul Krehbiel (New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology),
Les Lemon (UNISYS Corp.), Mitch Moncrieff (NCAR), Rita Roberts
(NCAR), Woody Roberts (NCAR), Frank Roux (CRPE, France), Steve
Rutledge (Oregon State University), Jerry Schmidt (Colorado State Uni-
versity), Ramesh Srivastava (University of Chicago), and Taneil Uttal
(NOAA).
391
Our subsequent remarks are directed toward 1) broad-
ening the scope of Prof. Ray's review; 2) increasing the
emphasis on selected issues; 3) commenting upon limi-
tations to our physical understanding and radar measure-
ment techniques; and 4) identifying scientific issues and
observing needs of the future. In the latter category, our
remarks will emphasize the special relationship between
convection, radar, and similar remote sensing devices.
2 ISSUES REGARDING PRESENT
STATUS
The panel believed that the scope of Ray's review could
be expanded somewhat and that several issues would
benefit from increased emphasis and clarification. These
issues are addressed in this section.
2.1 Diversity of Signi&cant Convective
Modes
The review focuses on most aspects of highly organized
forms of deep convection at midlatitudes. This focus is
justified in large part because so much emphasis in field
work and cloud modeling has been directed toward severe
weather as evidenced by research on tornadoes, hail, and
strong surface winds.
It is desirable to recognize explicitly a continuum or hi-
erarchy of convective events that transcend geographical
and seasonal labels commonly employed to catalogue
phenomena. A wide range of convective phenomena has
been examined by means of radar. Adjectives that describe
convective events include clear, cloudy, rainy, snowy,
imbedded, orogenic, severe (extraordinary), ordinary,
forced, free, frontal, air-mass, PBL-rooted, midtropo-
spheric, upper-tropospheric, tropical, etc. These terms are
neither comprehensive nor exclusive.
During the course of the panel discussion, it was found
to be convenient to organize the discussion around the
two quantities whose ratio makes up the modified bulk
Richardson number, R; that is to say the convective avail-
able potential energy (CAPE), and the kinetic energy as-
sociated with the vertical shear of the horizontal wind.
When buoyancy is large relative to shear, intuition suggests
392 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
upright convection because vertical velocity ( w) is much
greater than horizontal displacement ( ~u) over the cloud
depth. Conversely, when shear is large relative to buoy-
ancy, slantwise convection is expected because w ~ ~u.
As discussed by Moncrieff and Green (1972), a given
value of R constitutes a certain balance (or imbalance)
between the buoyant energy of the storm and the kinetic
energy of the environment with which it interacts. Mon-
crief£ and Miller (1976), Weisman and Klemp (1982),
Rasmussen and Wilhelmson (1983), and Weisman and
Klemp ( 1986), among others, have also discussed various
aspects of storm dynamics in terms of the ratio R. That
work, as summarized in Chapter 24a, supports the notion
that, over the range of parameters studied, storm behavior
depends primarily on R. A strong case can be made, how-
ever, that such a dependence on R alone cannot be extrap-
olated indefinitely, and in the following we attempt to
outline where various convective phenomena may reside
on a plot of buoyancy versus shear. For convenience we
refer to the latter as "R-space" (though the ratio R is not
involved); it is depicted schematically in Fig. 2.1. We
choose to concentrate on R-space, but nevertheless rec-
ognize that other factors such as the vertical distribution
of moisture, the physics associated with downdraft forcing,
the amount of lifting required to bring an air parcel to its
level of free convection, the initiation mechanism, meso-
scale forcing, and the interactions among the developed
fields of clouds may be very important in determining the
convective response in specific situations (see, e.g., the
discussion of Foote, 1985). The role of these factors re-
mains relatively unexplored at present.
The most organized forms of deep, midlatitude storms
occur in high buoyancy, moderate-to-high shear environ-
ments, as shown in Fig. 2.1. This regime has received the
most attention in the past decade or two (and in Ray's
review). What other convective phenomena have been
examined and where do they reside in R-space?
Ordinary "air-mass" convection, typified by subtropical
conditions in the southeastern United States (as well as
a:
~ MIDLATITUDE
:I: FRONTAL
(/)
RAINBANDS
SEVERE
~ STORMS
~
a:
w (1976) and Matejka et al. (1980) concern shallow con-
zw
0 LOW
ORDINARY ORDINARY
~ ENERGY
z SYSTEMS
TROPICAL SUBTROPICAL
S2
POTENTIAL BUOYANT ENERGY
Fig. 2.1 Schematic depiction of convective circulations in modified
bulk Richardson number coordinates.
many other midlatitude locations), was the subject of the
Thunderstorm Project (Byers and Braham, 1949) and sev-
eral field programs thereafter. It occupies the low shear j
moderate-to-high buoyancy region of R-space. Its chief
characteristic is dynamical unsteadiness (Srivastava, 1967)
given the evolution from updraft, to precipitation forma-
tion and downdraft development. Recent data acquired in
the Microburst and Severe Thunderstorm (MIST) Project
in Alabama will likely result in new insights-particularly
with respect to thermodynamical and microphysical in-
teractions.
Ordinary tropical convection occupies roughly the same
region of R-space as do subtropical modes, with the ex-
ception that buoyant energy may be relatively low in most
instances as evidenced by observed updraft speeds of order
5 to 10m s- 1 or less (Lemone and Zipser, 1980; Zipser
and Lemone, 1980; Willis, 1985).
A host of convective phenomena have been observed
in low-moderate shear/ low buoyant energy conditions.
These include fair weather cumulus, Hawaiian rainbands,
midtropospheric convection (frequently imbedded in MCS
stratiform regions), warm-sector regions of midlatitude
cyclones, lake-effect snowstorms, cellular snow generators
at altocumulus and cirrocumulus levels, and postfrontal
shallow convective bands. These low energy systems and
related phenomena have a profound impact on the human
experience. Furthermore, owing to their common occur-
rences, they are, collectively, of some importance in mo-
mentum and heat transport issues on a global scale.
Consider, for example, the unstable conditions that occur
behind many winter cold fronts. The convective instability
is typically small (say 500 m 2 s - 2 ); the cloud top is low
(say 4 to 5 km); the integrated humidity is relatively dry
(say 10 kg m- 2 ); and the 0°C isotherm is near the surface
(say below 1.5 km). The ice phase plays a dominant role
in the microphysics and, more importantly, the micro-
physics may play an increased role in determining quasi-
steady dynamical organization. On the other hand, features
similar to those generally associated with deep convection
(e.g., multicellular evolution, gust fronts, and mesocy-
clones) are observed in these shallow convective clouds.
Aside from interest intrinsic to convective organization,
issues involving baroclinic and convective-scale interac-
tions may be best examined in this environment.
For further reference, works such as Lavoie (1967),
Takahashi ( 1981, 1986) and Smolarkiewicz et al. ( 1986)
concern Hawaiian rainbands; Hobbs ( 1978), Houze et al.
vection in midlatitude cyclones; Passarelli and Braham
( 1981), Braham ( 1983) and Kelly ( 1984) provide char-
acterizations of lake-effect convection; and Srivastava et
al. ( 1986) give an example of imbedded convection in the
trailing stratiform region of an MCS.
Finally, the remaining "comer" of R-space is the zero-
to-low buoyancy /high shear condition where one of the
more common forms of moderate amplitude convection

takes place-so-called line convection or narrow cold-
frontal rainbands. These rainbands can be particularly se-
vere over a limited range of conditions related, in part, to
low-level horizontal vorticity (Rotunno et al., 1988). They
are squall-like in character and do not exhibit cellularity
to the degree that buoyant convection does. They are
driven by "buoyancy of the second kind"; i.e., an ad-
vancing shallow cold pool that sustains the forced con-
vective ascent (in the free-convective parcel sense). See
Browning and Harrold ( 1970), Carbone ( 1982), Hobbs
and Persson (1982), and Parsons et al. (1987).
.2. •.2. Models and Observations-A Principle
of Least Ignorance
During the past decade an increased rate of progress in
understanding the dynamics of certain convective systems
has come about as a result of two approaches that came
of age during that time: multiple Doppler radar observa-
tions and time-dependent numerical modeling. While both
are powerful tools, neither approach is without drawbacks
that can be cause for concern in certain situations. On the
radar side are the problems of 1) unknown boundary con-
ditions on vertical velocity, w, at the upper and lower
boundaries of the data (w need not be zero at the storm
top, and, because of terrain blocking, divergence mea-
surements are often not available near the earth's surface
where w is known), and 2) the common radar sampling
situation that leads to improper estimates of volume av-
erages of reflectivity-weighted radial velocity in regions of
significant gradients of reflectivity or air motion (such er-
rors must be considered nonrandom, and since they de-
pend on the observation angle will vary from radar to
radar in a network). On the modeling side are 1) the ever
present problems of lateral boundary conditions necessary
for all limited-area models, 2) the need for realistic model
initializations (not only because late-time solutions could
depend on the initialization, but because convective de-
velopment and the transition to a severe stage is an im-
portant topic in itself), and 3) the use of parameterizations
of unknown validity for treating subgrid-scale mixing and
precipitation formation. Because of the potential drawbacks
of each approach, neither can be thought of as a conclusive
check on the other when they are used in combination.
They are tools that can be used to gain insight into at-
mospheric processes. To the extent that they give a con-
sistent picture, there is increased confidence that the picture
is correct. Undoubtedly situations exist where an advantage
is realized by using one approach over the other, or at least
starting with one approach. In planning field programs,
for example, it is increasingly advantageous to conduct
some relatively inexpensive model simulations first, to gain
preliminary insight into the physics and help plan a mea-
surement strategy. This tends to be the case particularly
when the situation under study involves a relatively well
defined and simple dynamical system. Examples might be
CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 393
the flow over the island of Hawaii (in which researchers
are also interested in the dynamics and microphysics of
the associated cloud bands), or the flow over the jungle
canopy of the Amazon rain forest (where there is strong
interest in measuring the fluxes of several chemical species
and their reaction rates). With complex meteorological
phenomena, e.g., mesoscale convective complexes over the
American Midwest, there may be no substitute for direct
measurement first, to provide the foundation for subse-
quent simulations.
A principle of "least ignorance" applies. The stronger
approach in a given situation (the one in which we have
the greatest confidence and that involves the least igno-
rance) can often be used first to great advantage (cost and
other practicable aspects must also be considered). The
most insight will be gained when all the approaches avail-
able are used. Confidence will rise when complementary
approaches give consistent results. Results that differ will
be a spur toward further investigation. Derivative studies,
like the current work on thermodynamic retrieval from
Doppler winds, offer further avenues for exploration,
though current retrieval methods are not yet firmly enough
established to lead the way. Objective, diagnostic tools
(e.g., Gal-Chen and Kropfli, 1984; Hane and Ray, 1985)
offer promise that physical significance may be attached
to retrievals when residual errors are sufficiently small with
respect to thermodynamic perturbation fields.
.2..3 Entrainment Dynamics
Doppler radar observations have been quite fruitful in
illuminating convective motions on scales of a few kilo-
meters or greater. One important aspect of convection is
the problem of entrainment and turbulent mixing, which
appears to take place on considerably smaller scales. Here
our knowledge is based primarily on aircraft measure-
ments, laboratory experiments, and theoretical and mod-
eling studies. The importance of entrainment to the dy-
namics of cumulus and cumulus congestus can hardly be
overestimated. Its effects on reducing the liquid water
content to perhaps a few tenths of the adiabatic value,
diluting the cloud buoyancy, and limiting vertical growth
have been discussed extensively in the literature. The work
ofSquires(1958), Wamer(1970), Telford(1975),Paluch
( 1979), and Emanuel ( 1981) has led to a picture of the
cumulus entrainment process that is very different from
lateral entrainment and similarity theories based on lab-
oratory experiments. It appears that most of the mixing
between cloud and environment takes place through the
cloud top, and Klaassen and Clark ( 1985) have presented
simulations of a cloud-boundary instability that may be
at work. According to Emanuel ( 1981), the downward
penetrating elements should have a small horizontal scale
and extend a great vertical distance. Such nonisotropic
mixing would not be well represented by the subgrid tur-
394 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
bulence formulations in common use in numerical models.
Broadwell and Breidenthal ( 1982) conducted laboratory
studies of the coherent structures involved in turbulent
mixing and proposed an alternative to the traditional gra-
dient diffusion model. Their ideas were discussed in the
cumulus context by Baker et al. ( 1984).
2.4 Initiation of Convection
Mesoscale predictability is an aspect of meteorology that
has unparalleled impact on the day-to-day human expe-
rience. The occurrence of convection-particularly thun-
derstorms-is an element of mesoscale predictability that
heretofore has been beyond our understanding at a suf-
ficient level of detail to impact useful information in the
short-period forecast.
In the past few years we have witnessed what appears
to be a dramatic breakthrough for those instances where
PBL forcing is a "missing link" between an environment
that seems ripe for convection and the actual development
of a thunderstorm at a specific location. Some aspects of
this new insight had their origin in the pioneering satellite
analyses of Purdom ( 1982) and collaborators. Radar stud-
ies of dear-air convergence lines were made possible by
technological improvements in the dear-air sensitivity of
research Doppler systems.
A radar study of significance is Wilson and Schreiber
( 1986). They show conclusive statistics (of order 80%)
that convective storms on the high plains near Denver are
forced by antecedent dear-air convergence lines. Convec-
tion appears to be a near certainty when the propagation
of one line leads to its intersection with another. Except
for the intersection case, prognostic value of these obser-
vations remains uncertain because many convergence lines
fail to spawn deep convection and others do so only after
many hours of residence in a given locale. The general
applicability of these results for a variety of geographic
areas remains to be established. An irony of these findings
is that so-called "air-mass" thunderstorms often develop
systematically at the boundaries of mesoscale air masses
rather than pseudorandomly in the midst of a thermo-
dynamically homogeneous region.
The origin of PBL convergence lines is a crucial under-
lying question not yet fully understood. Many are shallow
cold pools-often the consequence of previous convection.
Other convergence lines appear to be associated with me-
sosynoptic-scale features such as weak low-level trough
lines. Convergence may be topographically forced and it
is suspected that differential heating due to cloud cover,
vegetation, soil moisture, and urban area effects may also
force such circulations (Vul'fson, 1956; Braham and Dra-
ginis, 1960; Kuo and Orville, 1973; Myers, 1964; Changnon
et al., 1981; Anthes, 1984; Smolarkiewicz and Clark, 1985;
Pielke and Sega, 1986; Mahfouf et al., 1987; Yan and
Anthes, 1988; Segal et al., 1988). Finally, the potential for
trapped gravity waves such as solitons and undular bores
exists when inversions are present. Some of these questions
are likely to be answered from data recently acquired in
the Convection Initiation and Downburst Experiment
( CINDE). The works of Koscielny ( 1982), Wilson and
Carbone ( 1984), Szoke et al. ( 1985), Wilson and Roseli
( 1985), and Schrieber ( 1986) provide a more complete
description of PBL convergence lines in relation to con-
vective initiation.
The role of cold pools in generating and maintaining
convection in numerical simulations was identified by
Moncrieff and Miller ( 1976). In order to produce a system
that propagated relative to the flow at all levels, it was
necessary to adopt the density current principle. This con-
cept has been used extensively as a maintenance mecha-
nism. Extended theories of density currents were given by
Thorpe et al. ( 1980) and Moncrieff and So ( 1988). An
important aspect of these works is that for fast inflows
(large convective Froude number), air ascends as it flows
through a region being cooled by evaporation. For slower
inflows, behavior more in line with classical density cur-
rents is obtained. The convergence of airflow at the head
of a cold pool appears to be a function of the convective
Froude number.
The physical mechanisms involved in transition from
PBL ascent to free, deep convection are just beginning to
emerge from more detailed analyses of cold pool case
studies. Mahoney ( 1988) has analyzed several events in-
cluding a dual-Doppler examination of intersecting gust
fronts that led to deep convection. To a first approximation,
all cases reveal kinematic structure consistent with gravity
(or density) currents as modeled by Droegemeier and Wil-
helmson (1985, 1986) and observed by Wakimoto (1982).
Particularly intriguing about the intersection case is that
the warm air (between approaching cold pools) is not vig-
orously lifted. Large amplitude ascent appears to be con-
fined to the horizontal vorticity of the counterrotating head
circulations. An inescapable conclusion is that the dynam-
ical problem is inherently three-dimensional. A related
study is that of Mueller and Carbone (1987), which pro-
vides detailed circulations of an isolated gust front. Con-
vection appears to be initiated by a secondary, perhaps
wavelike, mechanism since ascent along the surface wind-
shift line is unable to penetrate an elevated inversion.
2.5 Severe Weather
With respect to tornadogenesis, the panel emphasized
two points. First, we recognize the existence of a "missing
link." We refer to those processes that distinguish between
a mesovortex descending to the ground and the harnessing
of energy into a vortex of "killer" tornado scale and am-
plitude. These processes are not well understood.
The literature is replete with examples of weak to mod-
erate, relatively short-lived tornadoes outside the context

of supercells and mesocyclones as normally defined. Two
recent works illustrating this point are Wilson ( 1986) and
Carbone ( 1983). These events suggest that many ordinary
tornadoes, including weaker tornadoes associated with
supercells, are a consequence of highly localized vertical
vorticity redistribution and production in the PBL.
Flash floods and the distribution of heavy rainfall con-
stitute a form of severe weather not addressed in the draft
review. Important observational analyses and mesoscale
modeling work (e.g., Maddox et al., 1978a,b, 1979; Chap-
pell, 1978; Maddox and Chappell, 1978) provide consid-
erable insight, particularly in orogenic situations and low
shear conditions. Residence time of normal convective cells
appears to be an overriding factor in slow-moving meso-
scale convective systems (MCS).
Intense downdrafts reaching the surface are not among
the classical definitions of severe weather. Fujita and Byers
(1977) among others have identified this class of damaging
"straight-line" wind phenomena as downbursts (and
smaller scale microbursts) which are of considerable prac-
tical impact to aviation safety. Downbursts occur at all
rainfall rates including nonprecipitating cumulus congestus
(with virga in the subcloud layer) as discussed by Mc-
Carthy and Wilson ( 1984) and Fujita and McCarthy
(Chapter 31a). Srivastava (1985, 1987) shows such
downdrafts can be driven exclusively by thermodynamic
considerations related to melting and evaporation of hy-
drometeors aloft. Wakimoto (1985) made a prima facie
case that downbursts occur in subsaturated, adiabatic sub-
cloud environments; this supports Srivastava's model re-
sults. It is not understood why only a small fraction of
convective clouds produce downbursts given that they co-
exist in similar environments with those that do not.
It is now being recognized that as many as 25% of all
MCCs produce severe, straight-line wind damage through
a considerable part of their lifetime (Schmidt and Cotton,
1988). Henrichs ( 1888) and Johns and Hirt ( 1985) referred
to these severe straight-line wind events as "derechos."
Often the derecho events are associated with a radar re-
flectivity pattern that resembles a bow echo (Fujita and
Byers, 1977). The length of the bow-echo squall line,
however, may exceed several hundred kilometers. It is not
known whether large-scale environmental features distin-
guish the derecho-producing MCC or squall line from the
storms without severe winds, or even if the strong surface
winds are outflows from convective-scale downdrafts or
surfacing of the middle-level jet.
2.6 limitations of Multiple Doppler
Analysis
The technical issues associated with limitations in mul-
tiple Doppler analysis have been thoroughly reviewed by
Ray in Chapter 24a. From the panel perspective, slightly
more emphasis might be placed on sampling limitations,
CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 395
boundary conditions, and other factors unrelated to pseu-
dorandom error analysis (Carbone et al., 1985; Nelson and
Brown, 1987).
It is important to explicitly voice concern over the con-
tinuing uncertainty in vertical velocity fields measured
from multiple Doppler data. The community has become
more skillful in obtaining results that are consistent with
hydrodynamic principles, but selection of analysis con-
straints still permits a significant range of results in deep
convection. Fundamentally underdetermined schemes
that invoke iterative solutions for w in unfavorable geo-
metric circumstances are particularly suspect. Such uncer-
tainties may be passed on through thermodynamic retrieval
schemes [although momentum checking criteria (Gal-
Chen and Kropfli, 1984) mitigate this problem).
3 FUTURE SCIENTIFIC ISSUES
A myriad of specific issues concerning future thrusts
was raised in the course of panel discussion; these are
listed in the Appendix. Nearly all were important and
worthy of further consideration. A few were of broader
significance than most, and are emphasized in this section.
3.1 Convective Modes and Parameterization
It is insufficient to consider only the static state of the
atmosphere in attempting to predict the occurrence of
convE!ction. Dynamical initiation mechanisms, such as
gravity waves, gravity currents, and topographically forced
convergence lines, require further examination. Convective
organization may, in some instances, not be a unique
function of the environmental state because different initial
conditions can result in bifurcating solutions. This has
fundamental implications for the predictability of meso-
scale convective systems (MCS) even if building-block
elements of convection conserve dynamical organization
as a function of local hydrodynamic environment.
The insight provided by bulk Richardson number sen-
sitivity tests requires expansion. Confirmation of convective
mode transitions should include lower buoyancy cases in
the presence of moderate shear and less energetic systems
in general. The purpose is to quantify our knowledge of
forcing through exploration of a dynamic range of con-
ditions. Does the notion of buoyant energy/ shear kinetic
energy ratio actually conserve the convective mode over
a wide buoyancy interval?
Clarification of our understanding is, in part, related to
exploration of convective mode dependence on other fac-
tors such as the vertical distribution of shear curvature and
magnitude, moisture, and mode of cell initiation. We can
envision an R-volume diagram, where the convective mode
and its amplitude vary systematically along a third axis.
Hypothetically, that axis could be initiation dependent
where quasi-two-dimensional forcing in the PBL might
396 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
excite convective modes different from midtropospheric
mechanisms with circular symmetry. A more general
characterization would include the prospect of N dimen-
sions for parameterizing all convective modes.
The preponderance of thought in 1987 suggests that R-
space-in terms of long-lived thunderstorm organiza-
tion-will be robust to such challenges over finite dynamic
ranges of shear and buoyancy. The next decade should
put this family of hypotheses to a proper test by means of
simulations and observations.
3.2 Global Structure and Scale Interaction
Convection is generally viewed as a local phenomenon
in the sense that the far field is not important in deter-
mining convective structure. Mesoscale systems, on the
other hand, are implicitly associated with an interaction
between local and far-field solutions. Mesoscale predict-
ability is intimately related to the specific issues of scale
interaction. Among these are initiation and propagation
mechanisms. The future demands better conceptual mod-
els and mathematical explanations of global structure and
attendant scale interactions. In view of the diversity of
tropical and midlatitude MCS organizations observed over
a limited range of environmental conditions, this portends
to be a challenging task.
3.3 Convective Energetics, Transport
Studies
Convective momentum transport is important on a va-
riety of scales, from its parameterization in general circu-
lation and mesoscale models down to the fundamental
structure of individual convective eddies. The momentum
transport on gamma and beta scales is likely to be partic-
ularly important. On these scales, convection is frequently
well organized and theoretical studies suggest that the
generation of momentum from pressure gradients is com-
parable to direct transport arising from velocity correla-
tions. Such transports (also including mass, heat, and
moisture) need to be measured as directly as possible. Pre-
sumably, this may be achieved by means of multiple-
Doppler and single-Doppler analyses and matching with
models.
Closely related to the above is the need for a proper
analysis of the kinetic energy spectrum on the mesogamma
and mesobeta scales. These spectra are associated with the
momentum and vorticity transports attendant to all forms
of convection. The secondary peak (Vinnichenko, 1970)
of the surface global kinetic energy spectrum (on the me-
soscale) needs to be better understood in terms of phe-
nomenology. What is the relative importance of large-scale
kinetic energy dissipative systems (such as fronts and their
substructures) and of large-scale available potential energy
generators such as organized and ordinary convection?
3.4 Anvils and Scale Interaction
A significant subset of the scale interaction issue involves
thunderstorm anvils as they are related to water budget,
diabatic heating, and radiative balance considerations.
Anvil properties depend on factors that include updraft
intensity, longevity, precipitation efficiency, and the en-
vironmental vertical shear. In some storms, a large fraction
of the total moisture flux passes into the anvil. Anvils can
perturb the thermodynamic and wind structure of the me-
soscale environment in such a fashion as to feedback on
the convection itself.
Better measurements in the anvil region are necessary
in order to understand the circulations of thunderstorms
and squall lines and to improve scale interaction models.
Comparisons of radar and satellite observations of these
phenomena indicate that ground-based radars obtain only
limited coverage because anvils are horizontally extensive.
3.5 Scale Selection
The issues surrounding natural scale selection must be
better understood. What is the role of cells in MCSs in
relation to the extensive areas of imbedded convection and
stratiform precipitation? Why do vertical air motion cores
seem to focus so sharply on the 1 to 2 km horizontal scale
in the context of overall storm circulations-often more
than one order of magnitude larger? To what extent are
scale selection differences, if any, between the tropics and
midlatitudes significant?
4 FUTURE TACTICS AND TECHNIQUES
To progress in our understanding of convective dynam-
ics, the future demands a road map. Opportunities on the
horizon are especially rich given the anticipated techno-
logical advances in computing and observing systems. This
section provides specific recommendations to meet the
challenge.
4.1 Analysis Workshop
A meeting sponsored by the AMS (American Meteoro-
logical Society) on Doppler radar analysis, the Multiple
Doppler Radar Workshop, was held in November 1979
(Carbone et al., 1980). A nonbinding charge given to the
workshop panel on motion field synthesis included a re-
quest that a specific plan be developed to evaluate and
test the various analysis approaches (Ray et al., 1980). An
objective assessment plan was never proposed. Today, the
proliferation of Doppler datasets and analysis packages
among users less familiar with radar data, and the ever-
growing list of applications to which the data are being
employed, has only increased the need for such evaluation
and for open discussion of analysis methods. For example,

Doppler radar-derived wind fields have been used to es-
timate thermodynamical and microphysical properties of
precipitating systems. The retrieved variables could serve
as constraints on the radar analysis. How such constraints
should be incorporated into an analysis is not clear. Also,
the widely spaced siting proposed for NEXRAD (Next
Generation Weather Radar) will preclude multiple radar
analysis. To ensure the continued use of the highest quality
Doppler radar data and analyses within the research and
operational communities, the panel proposes that a second
workshop on Doppler analysis, with emphasis on comparative
studies and single- and multiple-Doppler analysis techniques,
be held either in conjunction with or as part of an AMS con-
ference on radar meteorology.
4.2 four-Dimensional Data Assimilation
In the near future, networks of UHF and 10-cm Doppler
radars will be in place and winds will be observed with
unprecedented temporal and spatial resolution. In addition,
high temporal resolution thermodynamic data will be ob-
tained by means of radiometric and combined acoustic/
electromagnetic techniques. Cloud and mesoscale mod-
elers should assess the impact of these data assimilation
opportunities and related problems. This requires a major
development of analysis procedures as well as the quan-
titative evaluation of the impact of new data on predict-
ability.
4.3 Matching Models with Observations
Recent developments in computer technologies as well
as new algorithms for the solution of problems that require
inversions of very large nonsparse matrices hold the
promise that Doppler radar observations can be optimally
assimilated into models.
So-called "adjoint" methods are expected to alleviate
models' shortcomings with respect to initializations and
lateral boundary conditions. It should also be possible to
reduce the sensitivity to observational noise, which is a
major drawback of current thermodynamical and micro-
physical retrieval methods.
The essence of the technique is first to examine the ob-
servations for a span of time over which the phenomenon
is thought to be predictable. One then attempts to construct
a kinematic and thermodynamic field that is consistent
(over the entire time span) with both the model and the
observations. Current retrieval methods may be considered
as a first guess in this process. Using retrieval techniques,
initial conditions can be constructed that, when integrated
forward by the model's dynamics, can produce late-time
fields that are inconsistent with observed radial velocities.
These late-time observations can then be used to constrain
the initial conditions further, thus producing a second
guess. If later-time observations are available, then a third
CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 397
guess can be generated. The process can continue as long
as the most recent observation of the radial velocity field
is correlated with the initial one.
An added advantage of such data assimilation tech-
niques is that they permit the assimilation of observations
with less resolution than the models (e.g., assimilation of
radial velocities with 150-m resolution into models with
10-m resolution). If done properly, the net result will be
that the fine scales will be generated by the model while
the larger scale is constrained by the observations.
The class of techniques discussed above is known, col-
lectively, as "Optimal Control of Systems Covered by Par-
tial Differential Equations" (Lions, 1971) or "Kalman Fil-
ter" (Kalman, 1960; Jazwinski, 1970) or "Adjoint"
methods (Le Dimet and Talagrand, 1986). They have been
used extensively by engineers and mathematicians since
the end of World War II. The stumbling block for their
use in meteorology is the large volume of observations
involved (or grid points in the case of a model). This would
require inversion of large nonsparse matrices. Progress is
being made in developing fast approximate algorithms
suitable for meteorological use (Lorenc, 1986; Le Dimet
and Talagrand, 1986; Wolfsberg, 1987). Furthermore,
many of these computations can be done in parallel, and
parallel supercomputers can make these algorithms prac-
tical.
4.4 Network Doppler Analyses
The operational10 em and UHF radar networks are ex-
traordinarily rich in research opportunity independent of
model assimilation considerations. The national network
of 10-cm Dopplers provides large-scale analysis oppor-
tunities employing variations of harmonic analysis tech-
niques. Concerning the applications to convection, a net-
work permits mesoalpha and mesobeta resolution of clear
PBL forcing of convection. This is particularly exciting
when viewed in terms of mesoscale frontogenetic circu-
lations including the advection of vertical vorticity fields
in addition to traditional VAD (velocity-azimuth display)
analysis products. These fields, over large domains, are
considered essential to understanding both the forcing and
maintenance of MCSs. Finally, it is evident that MCS ki-
nematics can be monitored (at least above the PBL) over
very large spatial domains for the lifetime of organized
systems.
The UHF profiler network is viewed in similar terms.
This quasi-operational network constitutes the threshold
of a major advance in experimental and numerical inves-
tigation. The climatology of vertical velocity in mesoscale
time series to evaluate amplitude of antecedent mesoscale
circulations will be exceedingly valuable in MCS forcing
studies. The analyzed horizontal wind fields will be a key
to unlocking the momentum transport questions on beta
and larger scales. Analyses of shortwave circulations and
398 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
their precise impact with respect to the genesis and evo-
lution of deep convection is another unparalleled oppor-
tunity.
The more general issue of creativity in the use of single
Doppler data was a recurring theme of the discussion on
this topic. While applications of high technology radars
were foreseen and demanded, strong sentiment for com-
plete use of operational Doppler data was comparable in
priority. This argues strongly for implementation of base-data
recording devices on all operationallO em and UHF Doppler
radars and a collateral means of data archival and dissemi-
nation for research purposes.
4.5 Con8rmatory field Programs
Historically, experimental meteorology has emphasized
exploratory investigations-sometimes referred to as
"fishing expeditions." Exploratory objectives have been
the rule rather than an exception in convective storm field
projects. We believe that the future demands a greater reliance
on confirmatory field efforts consistent with fundamentals of
scientific method. Such experiments can be highly focused
and relatively inexpensive when compared to programs
with an exploratory emphasis.
Confirmatory experiments are characterized by a group
of specific, testable hypotheses for which specific mea-
surements and data analyses are designed in advance of
the field program. The hypotheses may be derived from
theory, numerical simulation, or analysis of observations.
Perhaps the most likely source of hypotheses in convective
dynamics will result from numerical experimentation.
4.6 Mesoscale Variability
Before the coherence of MCS circulations with nominal
environments can be evaluated fully, it is necessary to ob-
tain climatological data on the variability of environments
at the mesoscale. This observational need may be achieved
through the remote sensing networks previously discussed
as well as dense networks to provide standard surface data,
surface fluxes, and determination of surface energy bud-
gets. This is anticipated through automated weather sta-
tions including PBL high-resolution thermodynamic pro-
files by means of active remote sensing in the convective
boundary layer.
4. 7 Model Initialization Research
Independent of four-dimensional data assimilation is the
issue of sensitivity to the environment versus model ini-
tialization. Cloud models have tended to initialize con-
vection in arbitrary and, generally, somewhat unrealistic
ways. Techniques need to be refined based upon the find-
ings in PBL forcing from recent observations. Also, the
issue of model boundaries, including lateral boundaries,
will need to be explored further in connection with mul-
tiscale, two-way nested simulations.
4.8 New or Improved Technologies
We believe that operational networks presently sched-
uled for deployment will meet a significant subset of the
research community's needs related to convective dynam-
ics issues. It is of paramount importance, however, to recall
limitations to our knowledge base and discuss solutions
related to new or improved technologies in the research
domain.
4.8.1 Doppler and Whole Circulations
The study of dynamical structures demands observations
throughout whole circulations. Microwave Doppler radars
provide circulation data in precipitation and in the PBL.
Ultra-high frequency fixed-beam Dopplers provide large-
scale environmental flows at arm's length to deep con-
vection. Scanning Doppler lidars are increasingly capable
of providing near environment circulations up to the cloud
boundary at all levels. Satellite-borne radars and lidars
should have the best perspective on tropopause and lower-
stratospheric interactions. Airborne Doppler devices at
centimetric and millimetric wavelengths are crucial to
round out the geometrical, resolution, and sensitivity issues
concerning radar studies of convection. In climate dynam-
ics applications, similar shipboard techniques will also be
necessary. The previously stated devices and platforms are
urgently needed in the short to medium terms for mea-
surement of whole circulations at sufficient resolution.
Doppler capabilities are the highest priority of convective dy-
namics. They require a diversity of measurement platforms as
well as a large fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum.
4.8. 2 High-Resolution/ High-Performance
Doppler
After nearly two decades of multiple Doppler experi-
mentation, we are still saddled with unacceptable uncer-
tainty in vertical air motion results. If fundamental prob-
lems in ordinary convection are to be solved, these
uncertainties must be decreased to provide a complete pic-
ture of mass, momentum, pressure, vorticity, thermody-
namic, and water substance interactions. The entrainment
and mixing problem-central to issues from cumulus pa-
rameterization in climate dynamics through microdynam-
ical issues affecting the evolution of hydrometeors-re-
quires highly space- and time-resolved fields. Applications
of such observations include validation of finescale nu-
merical experiments on mixing, diabatic heating, and re-
lated momentum transports as well as discovery of specific

physical mechanisms associated with dynamical interac-
tions between precipitation and electrification processes.
Which properties of radars are capable of making such
observations, and what assurances do we have that, once
developed, they will mitigate deficiencies in vertical mo-
tions and related thermodynamic and microphysical re-
trievals? It is impossible to provide an ironclad response
to these questions because they demand knowledge of that
which we seek to learn. Inferences from existing data and
objective analyses of random (or variance) errors suggest
that convective elements possess large kinetic energy on
spatial scales of 1 to 2 km (Knight and Squires, 1982) and
exhibit significant evolution on time scales of 1 to 3 min.
Accepting these estimates at face value, we may anticipate
the requirement to contiguously sample convective phe-
nomena at 200-300 m scales within 1 min of elapsed time.
The spatial resolution requirement, together with multiple
Doppler geometric considerations, demands close radar
proximity to convective entities. Close proximity to the
radar then demands a large solid angle of scan. It follows
that radar scan rates should be increased from 30° s- 1 to rates
as large as 300° s- 1 • Such data are essential to permit imple-
mentation of adjoint analysis methods with cloud models in
ordinary convection.
Other performance attributes are also highly desirable.
Most notable are improved illumination functions to mit-
igate sidelobe errors in regions with large reflectivity gra-
dients. Retention of the maximum sensitivity possible is
also necessary concerning "whole circulation" aspects of
the problem. Airborne applications of high-performance
millimeter Dopplers are urgently required to resolve the
smallest, and perhaps most energetic, scales with respect
to cumulus entrainment. Airborne radar technology, in
conjunction_with lidar, is also the most likely candidate to
solve the missing link between supercell mesocyclones and
tornadoes.
4.8.3 Other Remote Sensors
Our recommendations have focused on various aspects
of Doppler capabilities because Doppler is an intrinsically
dynamical measurement central to convection issues. There
are other instrumentation needs to support research in
convective dynamics. An important one is to quantify fur-
ther the location and amplitude of diabatic heat sources
and sinks that are principally microphysically driven.
Multiparameter radars can satisfy much of this need be-
cause polarimetric observations generally permit hydro-
meteor phase discrimination and information regarding
basic changes in size spectra induced by evaporation. Since
the processes of condensation I evaporation and freezing I
melting account for diabatic effects, polarimetric and mul-
tiwavelength approaches are particularly appropriate.
Quantification of these processes by means of such mea-
CONVECTIVE DYNAMICS 399
surements is a major research activity in itself and the con-
vection dynamics community must work closely with multi-
parameter specialists in the next few years.
While we do not fully comprehend its relevance to con-
vective dynamics research, we recognize a blossoming
technology of imaging Doppler interferometry (IDI). Broad
beam illumination of sizable tropospheric volumes and
interferometric signal processing may ultimately permit
true "snapshots" of convective entities in the more distant
future.
4.8.4 Other Observations
The focus of this report is heavily weighted toward radar
and other active remote sensing techniques. It would be
remiss if we failed to recognize explicitly a host of other
observations essential to research objectives in convective
dynamics. Classical surface measurements and soundings,
flight-level research aircraft data, passive satellite data, and
traditional photogrammetric studies are examples of da-
tasets that require assimilation and integration.
Acknowledgments. Every panel member contributed sig-
nificantly to the process and thereby to issues and rec-
ommendations expressed in this report. We are also in-
debted to Dr. Peter Ray who contributed immensely
through his review of the topic as well as in spirited con-
versations at the panel meetings on 1 October 1987 in
Boulder and 10 November 1987 in Boston. Our heartfelt
appreciation for a very successful meeting is extended to
the conference organizers. We are particularly appreciative
of the contributions made by program co-chairmen, Dave
Atlas and Ralph Donaldson. Thanks are also due to Mar-
garet Miller for editing the manuscript under particularly
difficult circumstances.
APPENDIX:
TRANSCRIBED "FLIP CHART" FROM
PANEL MEETING OF 10 NOVEMBER
1987
1. Lidar
2. Airborne Doppler
3. Rapid scan radar
4. Topographic influences
5. Urban influences
6. Imbedded convection
7. Radar performance
8. Sidelobes
400 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

9. Cloud-near environment two-way interactions 19. Shallow convective clouds research

10. Entrainment-high-resolution radar and lidar, chaff 20. Downdraft forcing
tracer 21. Future anvil research
11. Mobile ground-based radar 22. Confirmatory experiments-field program planning,
12. Shipboard radar design
13. Profiler (model initialization soundings) 23. Maturation of discipline-expanded role, broad data
14. Microphysical-dynamical interactions use, data integration with other observing platforms
15. Models and multiparameter-precip efficiency 24. Payoff:
16. Verification of observation-comprehensive by design Forecast convective storms
17. Dissemination of analysis techniques and software- Satisfy curiosity
recognition Water budget, climate dynamics, parameterization,
18. Workshop on Doppler methods, comparisons publish trace species
limitations research Weather modification, cloud electrification

Chapter 25a
Radar Observations of Tropical Weather Systems
Frank D. Marks, Jr., Environmental Research Laboratories, NOAA
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Radars have been instrumental in tropical meteorology
studies dealing with the structure and organization of con-
vective weather systems. Deep convection in the tropics
is a primary mechanism for transporting heat from the
planetary boundary-layer to the upper troposphere (Riehl
and Malkus, 1958). Clouds in the tropics occur in a spec-
trum of sizes ranging from isolated cumulus to mesoscale
convective systems (MCSs), where MCS is defined as in
Zipser ( 1982). Early satellite studies indicated that deep
convection was concentrated in the relatively long-lived
( -24 h) MCSs, referred to as "cloud clusters" (Martin
and Karst, 1969; Frank, 1970; Martin and Suomi, 1972),
identified by their extensive ( 100-1000 km wide) cirrus
canopies. Because of their large size and duration, MCSs
accomplish much of the vertical heat transports required
by the large scales. Reed and Recker ( 1971) showed that
the frequency of tropical MCSs is in tum modulated by
synoptic-scale wave disturbances, indicating that MCSs
are intricately tied to other scales of motion in the tropics.
Furthermore, some MCSs evolve into tropical cyclones,
which affect large regions of the tropics and midlatitudes.
Heat and moisture budgets in the vicinity of tropical
MCSs suggested that circulations other than the moist ver-
tical motions in the convective cells must be present (e.g.,
Gray, 1973). Zipser ( 1969), using aircraft and other de-
tailed observations, deduced that a general mesoscale
downdraft of midtropospheric origin extended over several
hundred kilometers in horizontal scale within a mature
MCS. Similar mesoscale downdrafts were also noted by
Riehl (1969) in oceanic MCSs and by Betts (1973) in Ven-
ezuelan MCSs. From these observations it was apparent
that mesoscale as well as convective-scale motions could
be important circulations in MCSs.
The spatial and temporal scales of tropical MCSs are
ideal for observation by a radar. Hence, studies that take
advantage of the radar's ability to observe and track con-
vective precipitation features provide important contri-
butions to the understanding of the distribution and struc-
ture of precipitation in MCSs, and subsequently the
transport of heat in the tropical troposphere.
Studies of tropical weather systems, in particular tropical
cyclones, began early in the developmental phases of radar
401
meteorology. The spiral echo pattern that is characteristic
of tropical cyclones was one of the first meteorological
features described by radar (Maynard, 1945). The pi-
oneering studies of Wexler ( 1947), Rockney ( 1956), Kess-
ler and Atlas (1956), Kessler (1957, 1958), Jordan et al.
( 1960), and Atlas et al. ( 1963) established radar as an
ideal remote sensing tool for studies of the structure and
evolution of tropical cyclones.
Early statistical studies of radar observations in tropical
precipitating weather systems pointed out the importance
of mesoscale organization. Iwanchuk ( 1973), using radar
observations from the Barbados Oceanographic and Me-
teorological Experiment (BOMEX), and Lopez (1973,
1976), using airborne radar observations over the Carib-
bean, found that small precipitation areas ( <100 km 2 in
area) dominated the total number of precipitation areas,
while large precipitation areas ( > 1000 km 2 in area) ac-
counted for most of the precipitation. Similar results were
found by Cruz ( 1973), using radar observations over land
from the first of two Venezuelan International Meteoro-
logical and Hydrological Experiments in 1969 (VIMHEX-
69), and Wiggert et al. ( 1981), using radar observations
from the Florida Area Cumulus Experiment (FACE) over
the Florida Peninsula.
Betts ( 1973) laid the groundwork for subsequent studies
of tropical MCSs by using VIMHEX-69 radar observations
as a basis for compositing rawinsonde observations to pro-
duce the first composite mass and energy budget of tropical
thunderstorms. VIMHEX-72, using rawinsonde observa-
tions composited within the context of quantitative radar
observations, studied the structure and motion of tropical
squall lines over land (Betts and Stevens, 1974; Betts, 1976;
Betts et al., 1976). The radar observations displayed the
distinct convective and mesoscale precipitation areas
(Miller and Betts, 1977) observed in other tropical regions
(Zipser, 1977).
1.2 Objectives of This Review
The objective of this review is to summarize the scientific
advances in understanding tropical weather systems that
were achieved as a result of analysis and interpretation of
radar observations over the past 15 years. In particular,
knowledge of the character of tropical MCSs and tropical
cyclones has expanded greatly during this time as an out-
come of international field experiments, ongoing hurricane
402 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
research, and improvements in radar technology. The Ap-
pendix lists the major technological advances in radar me-
teorology over the last 15 years.
The most ambitious of the field experiments were the
Global Atmospheric Research Program ( GARP) Atlantic
Tropical Experiment (GATE) and the Monsoon experi-
ments (MONEX). GATE, carried out over the eastern
tropical Atlantic in the summer of 1974 (Kuettner and
Parker, 1976), brought together the necessary funding and
technology to establish a shipborne radar network. MO-
NEX was held over the South China Sea near Malaysia
and Indonesia in the winter of 1978/ 79 (Greenfield and
Krishnamurti, 1979) and in the regions of the Arabian Sea
and the Bay of Bengal in the summer of 1979 (Fein and
Kuettner, 1980). In addition to these experiments, the U.S.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological
Laboratory (AOML) Hurricane Research Division conducts
ongoing research on tropical cyclones. Their studies involve
both storm modeling and observations obtained by exten-
sive aircraft penetrations of hurricanes. In the past ten
years, the instrumentation on NOAA WP-3D research air-
craft has improved sufficiently to have produced a new
generation of hurricane data whose analysis and interpre-
tation is rapidly expanding our understanding of these
storms.
The characteristics of tropical MCSs in GATE and Winter
MONEX have been reviewed in detail by Betts (1978),
Houze and Betts (1981), Houze (1981), Houze and Hobbs
(1982), and Johnson and Houze (1987). Houze and Hobbs
( 1982) and Burpee ( 1986) have reviewed the character-
istics of hurricanes. To minimize redundancy with these
papers, this chapter concentrates on radar observations
that made fundamental advances to understanding of two
basic types of tropical weather systems: 1) tropical MCSs
and 2) tropical cyclones.
Tropical MCSs are discussed in section 2; the emphasis
is on the key scientific advances achieved through analysis
of radar observations recorded since 1974. Tropical cy-
clones are discussed in section 3, and the emphasis is on
recent studies (since 1982) of tropical cyclone structure as
revealed by aircraft and land-based radar observations
(both coherent and noncoherent).
2 TROPICAL MESOSCALE
CONVECTIVE SYSTEMS
2.1 Quantitative Rainfall Estimates
The establishment of the shipborne radar network for
GATE provided the impetus for a number of pioneering
studies of tropical MCSs using radars. A landmark quan-
titative study of the precipitation distribution within these
weather systems was achieved by Hudlow ( 1979). This
study was the first successful attempt at quantitative rain-
fall estimation by a network of digital radars in the tropics
or midlatitudes. In short, the quantitative rainfall estimates
for GATE set a precedent for future radar studies in both
tropical and midlatitude weather systems.
Hudlow ( 1979) determined mean hourly rainfall
amounts for a circular area 200 km in radius from an array
of four shipborne digital weather radars that were posi-
tioned in the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). He
computed mean rainfall patterns for each of the three
phases of GATE. As can be seen in Fig. 2.1, these rainfall
estimates were consistent with shipborne raingage mea-
surements. The mean rainfall patterns revealed the large
variability in the spatial distribution of rainfall, with gra-
dients as large as 200 mm in 16 km. The peak rainfall
amounts were greater than 500 mm (for a 20-day aver-
aging period) over the southeast portion of the area.
The hourly and phase mean rainfall estimates were used
in numerous studies of the GATE weather systems that
ranged from ground truth for satellite-based rainfall esti-
mates (e.g., Woodley et al., 1980) to studies of the heat
and moisture budgets of the weather systems (e.g., Lord,
1982). The temporal and spatial variations of the mean
rainfall estimates were used to describe the modulation of
the precipitation patterns by seasonal shifts in the ITCZ,
traveling synoptic-scale wave disturbances, and mesoscale
weather systems such as squall lines.
l.l Characteristics and Importance of
Stratiform Precipitation
.2. •.2..1 Characteristics of the Stratiform
Precipitation Region
The existence of large areas of stratiform (anvil) precip-
itation in the trailing portions of tropical squall lines (or
"disturbance lines") over land was first noted by Hamilton
and Archbold (1945). Houze (1977) provided the first
documentation of the radar reflectivity structure of the
large region of stratiform rain associated with these squall
lines over the ocean and emphasized the importance of
the stratiform rain to the total rainfall from the squall line
system. The radar structure of the stratiform area was
characterized by its striking horizontal uniformity over a
widespread area ( 70-100 km) and its long duration, typ-
ically 2-3 h (Fig. 2.2). A shallow horizontal layer of high
reflectivity (or "bright band") was observed just below
the altitude of the 0°C isotherm (between -50 and 25 km
from the radar in Fig. 2.2). This characteristic structure is
in sharp contrast to the strong horizontal reflectivity gra-
dients and vertical orientation of the shorter-lived echo
patterns associated with the convective cells 50-60 krn
from the radar.
Houze (1977) documented the evolution of the squall
line over the ocean, which conformed in general with Zip-
ser's ( 1969, 1977) conceptual model of an oceanic tropical
squall line and with the results of other pre-GATE studies
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF TROPICAL WEATHER SYSTEMS 403

PHASE I ISOHYETAL MAP (June 28-July 16)

o-.....1;..;0~20"====="50 km
16

Shading
e Mean ship position
• Precipitation w eighted
D 0 to 0 .01 mm/h ship position
D 0 .01 to 0 .20 mm/h BR Denotes bndge ra in gage
0 0 .20 to 0 .60 mm/h M Denotes nlast rain gage
S Denotes stern rain gage
G:l 0 .60 to 1 .00 mm/h
• 1 .00 and above mm/h
+ 8' 30' N Lat. 23' 30' W l ong .
Contour intervals- 0 .10 mm/h

Fig. 2.1 GATE Phase I isohyetal chart derived from ship radar observations. The isopleths give the phase mean rainfall rates in mm h- 1•
(From Hudlow, 1979.)

of tropical squall lines over land (e.g., Hamilton and Arch-
bold, 1945; Miller and Betts, 1977) . Houze noted the strik-
ing similarity between squall line structure and evolution
over both the land and the ocean, and developed a new
conceptual squall-line model based upon radar observa-
tions (Fig. 2.3). The principal features of Houze's model
were the convective leading portion of the system, con-
sisting of cumulonimbus cells extending to 12-16 km al-
titude, followed by an extensive, precipitating mid- to up-
per-level stratiform cloud shield (or anvil cloud).
404 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

14

12
A' A

- 10
::;:
0.::
1-
r
~
w 4
r
2
0

DISTANCE FROM RESEARCHER RADAR (KM)

Fig. 2.2 Vertical cross section showing the uniform precipitation (between -150 and 50 km) in a large
GATE radar echo. A radar bright band is in evidence in the melting layer just below 4-km height. Data
were obtained with the Researcher radar at 2100 UTC 4 September 1974. The outside contour is for the
minimum detectable echo; inner contours are 23, 28, 33, 38, and 43 dBZ. (From Leary and Houze, 1979b.)

Leary and Houz~ (1979a) generalized the squall line
model to include nonsquall MCSs (they referred to them
as mesoscale precipitation features or MPF). Using the
radar observations as a context, they outlined four stages
of the life cycle of an MCS (Fig. 2.4): (a) formative stage,
(b) intensifying stage, (c) mature stage, and (d) dissipating
stage. During the first two stages of the MCS life cycle the
convective cells predominated, while in the latter two
stages the stratiform precipitation was most prevalent.
Leary and Houze hypothesized that the convective cells
were characterized by strong vertical motions, while
weaker mesoscale motions were present in the stratiform
region ( cf. Fig. 2.3).
Gamache and Houze (1982, 1985) mapped the circu-
lation in a squall line MCS by compositing rawinsonde
data relative to the leading edge of the reflectivity pattern
of the line. In the stratiform region they calculated a me-
soscale updraft of 20-40 em s - 1 above the altitude of the
0°C isotherm and a mesoscale downdraft of nearly equal
magnitude below that altitude ( cf. Fig. 2.3) . The convective
portion of the squall line was dominated by strong ascent.
Many of the features of the conceptual model of a squall
line MCS were corroborated by recent Doppler radar ob-
servations over land from COPT-81 (Fig. 2.5). Chong et
al. ( 1987) documented the strong front-to-rear relative flow
at all levels along the system's leading edge, changing to
a flow concentrated in the mid- to upper levels toward the
rear of the system. Below 3-km altitude, two distinct hor-
izontal flows were present: the front-to-rear flow already
mentioned and a reverse flow coming from the rear of the
system. The boundary between these two flows sloped
toward the rear of the system with increasing altitude and
was the primary source of convergence into the convective
and mesoscale updrafts.
Chong et al. also determined the vigorous convective
vertical motions associated with the convective cells at the
leading edge of the squall system and the mesoscale vertical
motions in the rear of the system. Maximum convective
updrafts of 10 m s - 1 were observed at 2.5-km altitude
along the leading edge of the system, with a secondary
maximum of 6-10 m s- 1 above 5-km altitude 20-30 km
behind the leading edge. They hypothesized that this sec-

16 MATURE
ELEMENT-

~ 12

ijj
r 4

GUST_/ SQUALL
FRONT LINE

Fig. 2.3 Schematic cross section through a squall system. Associated with the mature squall line elements,
dashed streamlines show convective-scale updraft circulation; solid streamlines show downdraft circulation.
Associated with the trailing anvil, wide solid arrows show mesoscale downdraft circulation; wide dashed
arrows show mesoscale updraft circulation. Dark shading shows strong radar echo in the melting band and
in the heavy precipitation zone of the mature squall line element. Light shading shows weaker radar echoes.
Scalloped line indicates visible cloud boundary. (From Gamache and Houze, 1982.)
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF TROPICAL WEATHER SYSTEMS 405

IE A
I.II
i lo
~IC
~
0
E
~6

+
~

2
00~------~~=-----~~~------~~~~-
~~:
200
DISTANCE FROM RAOAR (KM)

B B'

~0 100 200 2~0

DISTANCE FROM RAOAR(I<M)

c C'

0 50 100 150 200

DISTANCE FROM RADAR (KM)
•
• D o'
~ 12

~I~
~ 8
ii 6
4
2

0 150
DISTANCE FROM RADAR (KM)

Fig. 2.4 Schematic of the structure of a mesoscale precipitation feature as viewed by radar in horizontal
and vertical cross sections during the (a) formative, (b) intensifying, (c) mature, and (d) dissipating stages
of its life cycle. The outside contour for radar reflectivity is the weakest detectable echo, and the inner
contours are for successively higher reflectivity values. Heavy arrows on horizontal cross sections indicate
direction of low-level winds. Arrows on vertical cross sections indicate directions of the low-level and upper-
level winds relative to the feature. (From Leary and Houze, 1979a.)
406 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

ondary maximum was a result of increased buoyancy due

12 0405
. .
'? . .
. , 7, ' ..............
._.~.,. COPT 81
.. ,· ·····-~~~~~ to a decrease in water loading and the release of latent
•• , . ..... #'

22 06 81

, .......... .
· · ~.,~.~~~~

......,....., ...,..
. ,~~,~~~--~~ ~
10 ... heat through freezing. Maximum convective downdrafts
.......v were 4 m s-1, in close agreement with the GATE results
~8
determined from aircraft observations over the ocean re-
E
~6 ported by Zipser and LeMone ( 1980).
N Mesoscale motions in the stratiform region were deduced
4 from five VAD (velocity-azimuth display) analyses in dif-
2
ferent portions of the stratiform area. The horizontal
boundary between the mesoscale updraft and downdraft
occurred just below the altitude of the 0°C isotherm ( -3.8
km, Fig. 2.6). Figure 2.6c shows that the magnitudes of
these mesoscale vertical motions in the stratiform region
were 30 to 40 em s- 1 above 3.8-km altitude, and -10 to
-30 ems - 1 below, in close agreement with those deduced
e
8
···I>~&···· by Gamache and Houze ( 1982, 1985). The cross-line wind
~6 .....
't • • • • • ~· • • • ., ...
,...
speed (u) relative to the squall line, in Fig. 2.6a, was greater
N
4 than the speed of the squall line (positive) below the al-
titude of the ooc isotherm ( -3.8 km) and less than the
2 squall line (negative) above that level. The along-line
component (v), in Fig. 2.6b, showed a steady cyclonic
turning of the wind with time from VAD analysis 1 to 5
in a 2-km thick layer just above the altitude of the 0°C
isotherm, suggesting a mesocyclone was present in this
layer at the rear of the system. Mesocyclones above the
8
altitude of the 0 °C isotherm in other tropical MCSs have
E been described in detail by Gamache and Houze ( 1982,
~6
N 1985) and Houze and Rappaport ( 1984). Similar meso-
4 cyclones were evident in the observations of squall line
MCSs described by Houze (1977) and Fortune (1980).
Recent studies of midlatitude squall-line MCSs have re-
vealed a similar mesocyclonic circulation above the bright
12 0424
band in the stratiform region (e.g., Fritsch and Maddox,
1981; Smull and Houze, 1985; Leary and Rappaport,
10
1987).
~8
E
~6 2.2.2 Importance of the Stratiform Precipitation
N
4 The extensive stratiform precipitation in the MCSs led
to studies of the effect of stratiform rain regions in the
overall water and mass budget of a MCS. Rainfall estimates
derived from radar data were used to estimate the contri-
10 bution of stratiform precipitation to the total MCS rainfall.
20x (km) 30 40
Figure 2.7 depicts the total rainfall for three different MCSs.
In each case in Fig. 2.7, the total rain amounts are dom-
Fig. 2.5 Relative wind fields in vertical cross sections through the inated by the convective cells in the formative stage of the
convective part of the squall line on 22/une 1981 along y = 18 km, MCS (typically 2-6 h). As the anvil develops during the
deduced from coplane sequence analyses at 0405, 0411, 0418, and intensifying stage, the stratiform precipitation begins to
0424 UTC. The x axis, parallel to the radar baseline, is very close to account for more of the total rain. In the mature phase the
the system's direction of propagation (toward 246° at 19 m s- 1) . stratiform component is equal to or greater than the con-
Vectors representing 20m s- 1 horizontal and vertical velocity are vective component. The stratiform precipitation remains
shown; note the different scaling for the horizontal and vertical wind strong into the dissipating phase, although the total rain
components. Contours of reflectivity factor (dBZ) are also indicated. gradually decreases. In all three examples in Fig. 2.7, the
(From Chong et al., 1987.)
stratiform rain accounted for roughly 40% of the total rain
during the lifetime of the weather systems. Similar results
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF TROPICAL WEATHER SYSTEMS 407

10 a .....;I:•I: b c
--1

..•..: ---2
••••• 3

_a •..
!\:
-·-4
• • • ••s
E
~ • : I
-6
..; .·,..
+ • •

.· .·,.
• • I
w \
Q
:;:, 4• ••

1- ....,-
t t ''""'"'"

1-
..J
<(

-10 0 20 -10 0 -20 0 20 40

V(m s-1) W{cm s-1)

Fig. 2.6 Mesoscale relative wind components in the trailing anvil part of the squall line of 22 June 1981,
deduced from VAD analysis. Numbers 1 to 5 refer to successive scan locations toward the rear of the squall
line. The components u, v and w refer, respectively, to the cross-line, along-line, and vertical wind. (From
Chong et al., 1987.)

have been obtained for other tropical MCSs (e.g., Houze
and Rappaport, 1984; Leary, 1984; Zipser et al., 1981).
The mesoscale air motions within the stratiform region
were first derived by Gamache and Houze ( 1982). The
squall line MCS mass transport they deduced through
compositing soundings with respect to radar reflectivity
patterns has recently been documented by Doppler ob-
servations (Chong et al., 1987). The Doppler analyses
show that the mass transport in the convective portion of
the MCS was upward through the depth of the troposphere
(Fig. 2.8). Roughly 81% of the upward mass flux in this
portion of the MCS came from across-line horizontal mass
flux convergence in the boundary layer (below 2 km).
The mass transport in the stratiform region of the MCS
was upward above the height of the 0°C isotherm and
downward below that level (Fig. 2.9). The horizontal flux
convergence of the along-line flow in the midtroposphere
(2.5-4.0 km altitude) was the major source of the vertical
mass flux; however, the across-line flow plays an important
role in the lower troposphere.
In view of the significant contribution of stratiform pre-
cipitation to the total rain from tropical MCSs and the
important differences in the vertical mass flux between the
stratiform and convective portions of a MCS, Houze ( 1982)
investigated the contribution of the stratiform region to
the sensible heat budget of an idealized MCS. He com-
puted the net sensible heating in a large area (2 X 10 5
km 2 ) containing an idealized mature MCS (Fig. 2.10). A
mature MCS consists partly of convective cells and partly
of stratiform precipitation falling from a mid- to upper-
level anvil cloud ( cf. Fig. 2.3). He reasoned that the heating
associated with the convective cells, dominated by the re-
lease of latent heat, is distributed through the depth of the
troposphere (dashed curve in Fig. 2.10). The heating as-
sociated with the stratiform portion of the MCS, dominated
by latent-heat release in the mid- to upper-level anvil and
cooling associated with melting and evaporation in the
mesoscale downdraft region below the 0°C isotherm ( cf.
Fig. 2.3), must be added to the convective heating profile.
The resultant heating profile (solid line in Fig. 2.10) has
the bulk of the heating concentrated in the mid- to upper
levels of the troposphere.
Johnson and Young (1983), using Winter MONEX
soundings from a triangular array of Soviet ships, com-
puted the apparent heat source for MCSs at times when
primarily stratiform precipitation existed over the ship ar-
ray. Their composite profile for seven MCSs was in good
agreement in both shape and amplitude with that of Houze
( 1982), thus supporting Houze's hypothesis that the pres-
ence of stratiform precipitation regions in mature MCSs
dramatically alters the vertical distribution of sensible heat
in the troposphere.
Roux et al. ( 1984) and Roux ( 1985) have shown evi-
dence of the concentration of the vertical heating in the
mid- to upper levels of the troposphere through temper-
ature retrievals from the Doppler analyses of the COPT-
81 squall-line MCS described by Chong et al. (1987) (Fig.
2.11). The virtual cloud potential temperature perturbation
(Fig. 2.11 b), which includes the potential temperature
perturbation, the water vapor perturbation, and the mixing
ratio of cloud water content [see Eq. (5) in Roux, 1985],
is positive in the region of front-to-rear flow above 3.8
km. Below this altitude the temperature perturbation is
negative, with the largest negative values near the surface.
Better documentation of the vertical heating profile of
a mature MCS was the objective of the Equatorial Meso-
408 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

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z Fig. 2.8 Results of the mass transport budget in the convective region
Ci of the squall line system on 22 June 1981: (a) cross-line (FJ, along-
a:: line (Fy) and vertical (F.) mass flux convergence as functions of al-
..J titude; (b) profiles of the vertical mass flux M. and the mass flux
...0
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... balance between horizontal and vertical mass exchanges. (From Chong
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dual-Doppler analyses. EMEX gathered over 60 h of
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<i
4
CONVECTIVE ,'' ... ._--.,
,
...

a:: 2
..J ALTITUDE(km)
...0
<l (8)

... 0
1200
8

7
(c)
6
Fig. 2.7 Time variation of total rain integrated over areas covered
by convective and stratiform regions of (a) a squall cluster, and (b)
and (c) two nonsquall clusters. (From Houze and Hobbs, 1982.)

scale Experiment (EMEX) completed during January-Feb-

ruary 1987 over tropical Australia. The principal goal of
EMEX was to use the NOAA airborne Doppler radar to
determine the mean vertical velocity profile, and subse- ·1 . ·5 0 ·5 1 ·4 ·2 0 2 4
quently the mean vertical heating profile, in the convective
[•1o 8 kgs-1J
and stratiform portions of Australian Monsoon MCSs.
Aircraft patterns such as the one depicted in Fig. 2.12 were Fig. 2.9 As in Fig. 2.8 except for the stratiform rain region at the
flown to estimate the vertical velocity using both vertical rear of the squall line on 22 June 1981. (From Chong et al., 1987J
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF TROPICAL WEATHER SYSTEMS 409

12 a 22 JUNE 1981 0421 W1NO ond REfl.ECTl vI TY Y·28k•

""
c.I!>ms·•
'E
t "'--CONVECTIVE -=
w
0

8 12 16 20 24 28 "'"'
!::::
....
dTI dt !DEG/DAY)
_J
a: ____.,...,.. ____ ......... , ....

Fig. 2.10 Total heating of large-scale region (2 X 10 5 km 2 in area)

by a mature cloud cluster (solid curve). The total heating by the 10 20 JO 40 so
Xlkml
convective towers in the cluster (dashed curve) is shown for com-
parison. (From Houze, 1982.)
b 22 JUNE 1981 0421 V C TEMP PERT !°Cl Y•2BI<n
e

2.3 Temporal and Spatial Characteristics of

Ensembles of Tropical Convection
•
.:r.
w
0

The GATE radar observations also provided the first op- ..."'!:::: "'
.J
a:
portunity to describe the spatial and temporal character-
istics of convective features over the ocean (e.g., Houze 0
and Cheng, 1977; Lopez, 1978; Szoke et al., 1986; Szoke 10 20 JO 40 so
Xlkm l
and Zipser, 1986). Lopez ( 1978) examined the temporal
and spatial characteristics of isolated echo cores (cells) and
echo cores in groups. In both cases, the areas of the echo c 22 ...UIE 1981 0421 PRES PE:RT I ..b l Y-28k•
cores were found to be lognormally distributed (Fig. 2.13). e
Less than 1% of the cells had areas >10 2 km 2, with 50%
of the cell areas between 16-30 km 2 ( 1-2 times the spatial 'E
resolution of the radar data used in the analysis). The -=w
0

cores in the isolated precipitation areas were smaller in ...!::::a:"'"'

area than those in groups. .J

Houze and Cheng ( 1977) found that echo duration and

height were positively correlated with echo areas. Lopez
( 1978) showed that the cells within the larger precipitation
areas lasted longer than those in the isolated areas (Fig.
2.14). Roughly 80% of the cells in the isolated precipitation
areas lasted <15 min (the typical frequency of radar ob-
servations in GATE), while 50% of those in the larger
areas lasted over 45 min.
Szoke et al. ( 1986) examined the distribution of the tops
of the echo cores (Fig. 2.15). High heights of echo pene-
tration are not prevalent, with only 30% of the cells having
10-dBZ echo heights above 10 km. A small percentage of
echo heights ( -1%) exceeded 14 km, in good agreement
with Houze and Cheng (1977) . Roughly 10% of the cells
have their maximum echo height below the altitude of the
0°C isotherm, suggesting the occurrence of both the ice
and warm rain processes in the convective cells.
2.4 Vertical Re8ectivity Distribution in
Convective and Stratiform Rain
Szoke et al. ( 1986) examined the vertical reflectivity dis-
tribution of GATE precipitation areas (Fig. 2.16). The mean
reflectivity profile shows reflectivities of modest intensity:
10 20 30 40 so
X(kml
Fig. 2.11 Vertical cross section of (a) wind and reflectivity, (b) "vir-
tual cloud temperature" perturbation in °C, and (c) pressure per-
turbation in hPa or mb, in the frame moving with the squall line.
(From Roux, 1985.)
45 dBZ at the surface decreasing to 20 dBZ at an echo top
of 8 km. The reflectivity decreased rapidly above the al-
titude of the 0°C isotherm or melting level ( -4.2 km).
These observations are consistent with the relatively weak
updrafts ( 3-5 m s -l) characteristic of the convection in
GATE described by Zipser and LeMone ( 1980).
Vertical profiles of reflectivity in echoes containing a
bright band had lower reflectivity below the bright band
than that in the vertical reflectivity profiles of convective
cells. Both vertical reflectivity profiles were quite similar
above the bright band (Fig. 2.16) . The similarity in re-
flectivity profiles above the melting level in both convective
and stratiform regions suggests that it is difficult to distin-
guish whether a local reflectivity maximum above the
410 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

i.S km 87012711

,...,_. EMEX6
19: 06 to 21 : 06

~0-63

38-39
36-37
34-35
32-33
30-31
28 -29
26-27
25-25
2'1-2'1
23-23
22 -22
21 - 2 1
21 - 20
t-IDS
STORM POSITION :
LAT . = 14. 00 S
i on. = 126 . 50 E
DOMAIN :
480 x 480 km

TiMe Comp .

Fig. 2.12 Lower fuselage radar time composite of radar reflectivity for EMEX flight six, 1906-2106 UTC
27 January 1987. Successively darker shading denotes reflectivity values of 21, 23, 25, 28, 32, 36, and 40
dBZ. White areas were not viewed by the radar during this time interval. The solid line with wind barbs is
the aircraft flight track during the composite period. The wind barbs are at 2-min intervals. The lower left-
hand comer of the map is at 14°5, 126.5°E, and the northern Australian coastline is shown.

melting level is convective or not. The vertical velocity responsible for particle growth at these altitudes are the
must be barely greater than the particle fallspeeds, or same in both convective and stratiform regions. Direct mi-
mostly less than 2-4 m s- 1• The similarity in reflectivity crophysical measurements (discussed in the next section)
profiles also suggests that the precipitation mechanisms support this hypothesis.

2.5 Radar Observations as a Context for

750
.!! 500
Microphysical Data
~ 400
"'300 Winter MONEX provided the first opportunity for a di-
.3 rect intercomparison of observed precipitation structure in
I 200
N
E an MCS using a land-based digital radar, the NOAA WP-
~ 100 30 airborne digital radar, and Knollenberg two-dimen-
~ 75
a:: sional hydrometeor imaging system (Houze et al., 1981 b) .
q; !'>0
~ 40 This intercomparison showed the airborne radar was quite
xq;
::!; 30
capable of mapping the quantitative reflectivity field in the
::E
~
monsoon MCSs. This result enabled Churchill and Houze
w
u
~
( 1984a) to use the NOAA airborne radar and microphysics
data in studies of precipitation mechanisms active in mon-
.5 1 2 5 10 30 50 70 90 95 98 99 99.9
soon MCSs outside of the range of land-based radars .
ACCUMULATED fREQUENCY - PROBABILITY (%) Churchill and Houze ( 1984a) used the airborne radar
Fig. 2.13 Cumulative frequency distribution of the maximum area observations during Winter MONEX as a context within
attained by GATE radar echo cells that are isolated and members of which to map the two-dimensional particle image data
aggregates (from Lopez, 1978), and radar echo cells from Hurricane collected by the NOAA WP-30 aircraft. Their analyses
Frederic (from Parrish et al., 1984). documented the prevalence of ice in the anvil portions of
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF TROPICAL WEATHER SYSTEMS 411

100
240
;!
180 !!.....
t20 Cells from Groups >-
.!!go (393) \_ u
8 75 z
; 60 + GATE CELLS w
:::>
~ 45 + 0
I w
:530 + Q:
u.
!
w
~
FREDERIC
Cells (1184)
....
<l
...J
:::>
~
:::>
u
0
5 10 15

.Ot .5 t 2 5 tO 30 50 70 90 95 9e99 99.9

ACCUMULATED FREQUENCY- PROBABILITY ('Yo)
Fig. 2.14 Cumulative frequency distribution of the duration of GATE
radar echo cells that are isolated and members of aggregates (from
Lopez, 1978), and radar echo cells from Hurricane Frederic (from
Parrish et al., 1984).
a mature MCS. They found very little liquid water in either
the anvil or convective regions at altitudes of 7-8 km and
found ice particles that indicated growth by vapor de-
position. These observations suggest that ice is present
throughout the stratiform region above the melting level
in mature MCSs, and that convective clouds growing
within such an MCS also contain large quantities of ice
above this altitude.
Houze and Churchill ( 1984) stratified the particle image
data collected in ten Winter MONEX MCSs according to
the radar structure observed with the WP-30 radar. They
partitioned the data into four echo classes: convective,
strong stratiform, weak stratiform, and very weak strati-
form. In convective precipitation areas, particle concen-
trations of 100-300 L - l were found frequently, leading to
speculation that ice multiplication was active in the con-
vection. Convective clouds growing in such an environ-
ment would be naturally seeded, depleting the liquid water
content. The prevalence of ice and the lack of liquid water
above the melting level in the convective regions of mature
HEIGHT OF 20 a 10 dBZ LEVELS (km)
Fig. 2.15 Cumulative frequency distribution of the height of the 20-
and 10-dBZ reflectivity levels by line type. The number of cells in
each category is indicated. (From Szoke et al., 1986.)
Churchill and Houze ( 1984b) used the Winter MONEX
reflectivity and in situ particle observations to diagnose
the mesoscale vertical velocity and cloud-ice content over
a 12-h period in the stratiform anvil of a MCS. The me-
soscale updraft magnitudes were 10-23 em s-I, and the
cloud-ice contents were 0.1-0.3 g m- 3 • Their vertical ve-
locity estimates agreed well with estimates obtained for
the same MCS by Johnson ( 1982) using the kinematic
method with soundings taken from the Soviet ship array.
Houze and Churchill (1987) examined the structure of
precipitation features in a monsoon depression over the
Bay of Bengal during Summer MONEX with the airborne
radar and microphysics instrumentation. They determined
10
.....
E
~

MCSs are consistent with the sharp drop-off in reflectivity 1-

above the melting level discussed in section 2.4 ( cf. :z::
(!) 5
Fig. 2.16). w CODE SYSTEM
The strong stratiform precipitation areas were charac- :z::
terized by particle types that originated in the convective
areas along with particle types that had grown in a more
stratiform environment. The weak stratiform precipitation
exhibited microphysical structure different from that seen
in the convective areas, mostly indeterminable-shaped 10 20 30 40 50
particles suggesting they were aggregates of crystals. These REFLECTIVITY (dBZ)
particle structures and apparent growth mechanisms were Fig. 2.16 Mean vertical reflectivity profiles for cells from GATE and
consistent with the presence of weak mesoscale ascent in hurricanes. The number of cells in each category is indicated. (From
the anvils of the stratiform regions. Szoke et al., 1986.)
412 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
the vertical distribution of ice microphysics in stratiform
precipitation areas identified by the airborne radar. Their
observations of precipitation growth and fallout implied
that mesoscale upward motion strong enough to promote
ice particle growth was prevalent at upper levels in the
stratiform regions of the MCSs. However, this mesoscale
updraft was not strong enough to prevent sedimentation
of the particles or to maintain liquid water in the presence
of ice.
2.6 Observations of Tropical MCSs in
Other Parts of the Tropics
Subsequent to GATE, radar observations of tropical
MCSs have been carried out in other major precipitation
zones of the tropics-continental regions (COPT-81 ) and
monsoon regions (Summer and Winter MONEX, EMEX).
All of these studies have pointed out the similarity in
structure, life cycle, and precipitation mechanisms found
in MCSs.
Houze et al. ( 1981a) described the life cycle of a typical
nonsquall MCS that was observed over the South China
Sea during Winter MONEX. This MCS formed diurnally
off the northern coast of Borneo at the low-level boundary
between the land breeze from Borneo and the northwest
monsoon flow. The MCS progressed through the same
stages of the life cycle identified by Leary and Houze
(1979a).
Houze and Churchill ( 1987) examined the structure of
precipitation features in a monsoon depression over the
Bay of Bengal during Summer MONEX with the airborne
radar and microphysics instrumentation. They found that
the MCSs present in the monsoon depression resembled
those previously described in GATE and Winter MONEX.
Each MCS contained intense convective cells, but the area
covered by precipitation was predominantly stratiform.
3 TROPICAL CYCLONES
3.1 Radar Observations of Tropical
Cyclone Structure
3.1.1 Vortex-scale Features
Many of the common features of tropical cyclones, such
as the eyewall and the rainbands, were described in the
early radar studies of Wexler ( 1947) and Rockney ( 1956).
Radar observations often serve as a context for describing
tropical cyclone structure. Willoughby et al. ( 1984a) com-
bined radar observations from the NOAA airborne radars
together with the flight-level wind information to relate
the observed radar structure in a number of hurricanes to
the wind field in a consistent manner. They described the
storm structure in terms of a "stationary band complex"
(SBC) that consisted of an eyewall, a principal rainband,
connecting bands, and several secondary rainbands outside
the eyewall (Figs. 3.1 and 3.2 ) .
The principal band marks the outer boundary of the
inner core of the vortex. Outside this rainband, streamlines
converge into the band or are deflected around the inner
core. A secondary wind maximum is typically observed in
the principal band.
The primary (rotational) circulation of the vortex dom-
inates the flow inside the principal band, where the eyewall
is the focus of the upward branch of the secondary cir-
culation of the vortex (characterized by flow radially in-
ward at low levels, upward in the eyewall, and radially
outward at high levels) . The eyewall may vary in diameter
from 12 to 80 km.
The secondary rainbands are smaller than the principal
rainband and tend to be embedded in regions of stratiform
precipitation surrounding the eyewall. No wind maxima
are found in these rainbands and the vertical velocity is
weak. The connecting band is a special form of the sec-
ondary bands. It is characterized by stratiform precipitation
and little vertical motion. One or more connecting bands
are found between the downwind portion of the principal
band and the eyewall ( cf. Fig. 3.2).
Willoughby et al. ( 1984a) noted that concentric eyewalls
may be found inside of the principal rainband in strong
storms (maximum winds >50 m s- 1 ), with large inner
core circulations. The outer eyewall contained a secondary
wind maximum and had the same characteristic circulation
Fig. 3.1 Schematic representation of the stationary band complex,
the entities that compose it and the flow in which it is embedded.
(From Willoughby et al., 1984a.)
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF TROPICAL WEATHER SYSTEMS 413

0128 z

I
0 6 12 24 48 72 96
km

Fig. 3.2 (a) Horizontal distribution of reflectivity in Hurricane Alicia from

the National Weather Service WSR-57 (10-cm) radar at Galveston, Texas, at
0128 UTC 18 August 1983. Reflectivity contours are for 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40
dBZ. The aircraft flight track from 0100-0200 UTC is indicated by the solid
line, and the analysis boxes, denoted by the thick solid line, are labeled 1 and
2. (b) Schematic of the precipitation features depicted in (a) showing the com-
ponents of the stationary band complex as defined by Willoughby et al. (1984a).
The contours are at 25 and 40 dBZ. The tick marks in (a) are 24 km apart. The
Texas coastline is depicted by the solid line and the radar position at Galveston
(GLS) is labeled. (From Marks and Houze, 1987a.)
414 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
and structure as the inner eyewall. The outer eyewall often
contracts inward with time, eventually replacing the inner
eyewall. Marks ( 1985), using airborne radar composites
over a six-day period in Hurricane Allen of 1980, showed
that the eyewall diameter changes as the hurricane inten-
sity changes. As the vortex strengthened, the eyewall di-
ameter contracted.
The vertical reflectivity structure of the inner core of a
hurricane (Fig. 3.3) is very similar to that of a mature MCS
(Jorgensen, 1984a; Marks, 1985; Szoke et al., 1986, cf. Fig.
2.3). The eyewall (located at radii 12-25 km) is charac-
terized by large horizontal reflectivity gradients and the
large vertical extent of the reflectivity maximum. Sur-
rounding the eyewall is an extensive region of stratiform
precipitation (10-40 km outside the eyewall) marked by
a pronounced bright band just below the altitude of the
0°C isotherm (Jorgensen, 1984a; Marks, 1985). The re-
flectivity maxima in the eyewall and the rainbands tend
to slope downwind with decreasing altitude (Marks, 1985).
3.1.l Eyewall Structure
Until five years ago, details of the structure of the hur-
ricane eyewall had been pieced together from flight-level
data obtained in many storms (Shea and Gray, 1973; Gray
and Shea, 1973; Willoughby et al., 1982; Jorgensen,
1984a,b). Since 1982, the Hurricane Research Division of
AOML has used the prototype NOAA airborne Doppler
radar to record the three-dimensional wind and reflectivity
data throughout the inner core of tropical cyclones (Marks
and Houze, 1984, 1987a). Figure 3.4 shows an example
of the Doppler-derived wind field of the inner core of
H~r:=:J
;'! 0 0 ' • 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
DISTANCE FROM STORM CENTER !Kml
Fig. 3.3 Profiles of radar reflectivity and tangential winds in Hur-
ricane Alicia. The data were recorded from 0109 to 0128 UTC 18
August 1983 (leg 1 in Fig. 3.2). The radar reflectivity cross section
was obtained by compositing vertical rays from the tail radar at four
samples per minute. The horizontal arrow indicates the altitude of
the aircraft. (From Burpee, 1986.)
Hurricane Gloria of 1985 at 6.5-km altitude. The Doppler
wind field covers a horizontal area of 144 X 144 km and
extends from 0.5 to 14.0 km altitude in 0.5-km intervals.
The three-dimensional wind data were recorded in 1 h.
Flight-level winds from the same time are equivalent to a
one-dimensional sample 400 km in length. Storm structure
on scales of 50 km and 1-2 h that were impossible to infer
from flight-level data can now be observed.
Marks and Houze (1987a) utilized airborne Doppler
observations to describe the inner core structural features
of Hurricane Alicia of 1983 as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico
toward landfall near Galveston, Texas. Vertical incidence
Doppler analyses showed convective-scale updrafts along
the inner edge of the eyewall that sloped radially outward
with increasing altitude (Fig. 3.5). The maximum updrafts
were positioned radially inward and slightly above the
reflectivity maximum in the eyewall. A weak convective-
scale downdraft coincided with the reflectivity maximum
in the eyewall. The magnitudes of the convective drafts
are in good agreement with those from flight-level obser-
vations described by Jorgensen et al. ( 1985).
Pseudo dual-Doppler analyses revealed that, to the first
approximation, the eyewall was two-dimensional in na-
ture, dominated by the primary (azimuthal) and secondary
(radius-height) circulations of the vortex (Fig. 3.6). The
primary circulation consisted of a core of maximum tan-
gential wind that slopes radially outward with increasing
height. The slope of the maximum tangential wind is sim-
ilar to the slope observed in the composites of flight-level
data (Willoughby et al., 1982; Jorgensen, 1984a,b) and in
model simulations. (Willoughby et al., 1984b). The peak
winds were observed at low levels (1.5-2.5 km) .
The secondary circulation was characterized by a lower
tropospheric layer of inward directed flow that extended
well above the boundary-layer in the vicinity of the eye-
wall. The maximum inflow was at 2.0-4.5 km. A layer of
intense radial outflow from the eyewall was concentrated
at upper levels (10-14 km) . The airborne Doppler data
provided observational confirmation of the upper tropo-
spheric portion of the secondary circulation predicted by
numerical model simulations (e.g., Willoughby et al.,
1984b), which occurs at altitudes higher than can be
reached by hurricane research aircraft.
The airborne Doppler analyses revealed asymmetries in
the secondary circulation consistent with theoretical and
observational studies of Shapiro ( 1983) and Willoughby
et al. ( 1984a). Shapiro ( 1983), using a boundary-layer
100 model of a translating hurricane, showed an asymmetry
in the eyewall mesoscale updraft at the top of the boundary
layer as a result of the storm's motion. The updraft at the
top of the boundary-layer in the front half of the storm
was stronger than that behind the storm. The Doppler
observations in Alicia (which was moving toward the
northwest at 5 m s -t) indicate that this is true not only at
the top of the boundary-layer, as discussed by Shapiro,
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF TROPICAL WEATHER SYSTEMS 415

Airborne Doppler Wind Field

.-----,------.,.--::--.----r-__.:_.:........,---,---,-----,---,----, a! ti tude' 850925!1
.' 6 . 5 km
~ '\'\ J-;\'\~ ""i'' 'l'l ~ - Gl oria
.-'f
0014 - 0113
~~ ~-1:\1'\"""\'\""i'\~
,A>.. ~~ t8-63
16-t?
11-15
12-13
10-11
38- 39
35-37
32-31
f l ight track 29-31
lt=~~hh~T-:!r-&-2Ir-TT.IT:Q 26 - 28
23-25
20-22
15-19
10-11
) 11 . 1 km ticks MDS

STORM POSITION:
lat . = 24 . 63 N
lon . = 69 95 W
i; . _P REpfftll BY,

1-t.miCFt£
RESEARCH DIVISION
......!F

~MIAMI, FL

Fig. 3.4 Time composite of the tail radar reflectivity and the airborne Doppler-derived winds at 6.5-km
altitude in Hurricane Gloria at 0014-0113 UTC 25 September 1985. The analysis covers a region 144 X 144
km and the tick marks are 14.4 km apart. The reflectivity is shaded at 10, 15, 23, 29, 35, and 40 dBZ.
Superposed over the reflectivity field is the horizontal Doppler wind field shown every 9 km. Also superposed
over the reflectivity and Doppler wind field is the flight track of the aircraft (solid line) with flight-level
winds plotted at 1-min intervals. The wind-plotting convention is flag, 25m s- 1; barb, 5 m s- 1; half barb,
2.5 m s-1• The storm center determined from flight-level observations is denoted by the hurricane symbol.

A
LEG I (NNE)
REFLECTIVITY (dBZ)

1.5 ... .. ·········· ·· ···· ····

0 10
RADIAL DISTANCE (kml

Fig. 3.5 Radius-height cross section of reflectivity (dBZ, left) and Doppler-derived vertical velocity (w, right) for leg 1 in Fig. 3.3. The aircraft
flight level is depicted by the horizontal dotted line. Regions of w exceeding 2 m s- 1 are heavily shaded and regions of negative w are lightly
shaded. (Adapted from Marks and Houze, 1987a.)
416 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

E
-"'

f-
I
t?
w
I

DISTANCE FROM EYE ( km)

48

..
36
E Fig. 3.6 (a) Schematic of the radius-height circulation of the inner
a: 24 core of Hurricane Alicia. Shading depicts the reflectivity field, with
U.J
1- contours of 5, 30, and 35 dBZ. The primary circulation (azimuthal,
z
U.J
12 m s- 1) is depicted by dashed lines and the secondary circulation by
u
::::E
the wide hatched streamlines. The convective downdrafts are denoted
a: by the thick solid arrows, while the mesoscale updrafts and downdrafts
0
1-
V)
0 are shown by the broad arrows. The level of the ooc isotherm is
::::E labeled. (b) A schematic plan view of the low-level reflectivity field
e: -12
0
in the inner core of Hurricane Alicia superimposed with the middle
of the three hydrometeor trajectories in (a). The reflectivity contours
U.J
u in (b) are 20 and 35 dBZ. The storm center and direction are also
:i
1-
-24
shown. In (a) and (b) the hydrometeor trajectories are denoted by
V)
a 2 dashed and solid lines labeled 0-1-2-3-4 and 0'-1'-2'. (From Marks
-36 and Houze, 1987a.)

- 48 -48 -36 -24 -12 0 12 24 36

DISTANCE FROM STORM CENTER (km l

but also throughout the depth of the eyewall. The front-
back asymmetry in the eyewall updraft also resulted in a
front-back asymmetry in the height of the outflow layer.
The height of the outflow was 1.5-2.0 km lower behind
the storm than it was in front. East-west asymmetries in
the inflow at low levels p.5-5.0 km altitude), similar to
that described by Willoughby et al. ( 1984a) and Powell
( 1982), were also observed. The radial flow was inward
on the east side of the storm outside the eyewall and out-
ward on the west.
Vertical-incidence Doppler observations in the stratiform
precipitation region located just outside the eyewall (at
radii 21-40 km in Figs. 3.5 and 3.6) showed general ascent
(averaging 0.3-1.3 m s- 1 ) above the melting layer and
descent of slightly smaller magnitude below, similar to the
mesoscale circulation deduced in a mature tropical MCS.
The ascent aloft, which was slightly stronger than that
estimated in tropical MCSs, was most likely part of the
up-branch of the secondary circulation associated with
condensational heating in the eyewall region (Shapiro and
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF TROPICAL WEATHER SYSTEMS 417

Willoughby, 1982), while the descent below was probably

driven by melting (Atlas et al., 1969; Leary and Houze, a
1979b; Lord et al., 1984). The Doppler radar data provided 8
the first direct observational confirmation of descent oc- 7
curring at and below the melting level in a hurricane.
6
Marks and Houze ( 1984) analyzed airborne Doppler
E
data from a developing storm (Hurricane Debby of 1982). ...: 5
They found that, at altitudes of 2-4 km in a portion of the ..... 4
developing eyewall, two mesoscale wind speed maxima :I:
(!)
and a mesoscale vortex were superimposed on the vortex- w 3
scale circulation. The wind speed maxima and the meso- :I: 25
2
scale vortex contained most of the cyclonic vorticity in the
developing eyewall. The cyclonic vorticity associated with
these features was being advected toward the center of O 344°1(. 3!J4DK
50 60 70 80 90 100 110
the storm by the vortex-scale, inwardly spiraling circulation
of the developing storm. This advection of vorticity may RADIAL DISTANCE FROM STORM CENTER (km)
have influenced the evolution of the hurricane.

3 .1. 3 Rainband Structure

Atlas et al. ( 1963) first pointed out that hurricane rain-
bands have both stratiform and convective structure.
Rainbands have fewer vertically oriented cores of reflec-
tivity and fewer organized updrafts than an eyewall
(Barnes et al., 1983; Jorgensen, 1984a; Jorgensen et al.,
1985). Radially outward from the eyewall, the rainbands
are characterized by extensive horizontally homogeneous
reflectivity patterns with bright bands just below the melt-
ing level ( 4.5-5.0 km altitude; cf. Fig. 3.4) . Jorgensen
( 1984a) estimated that the stratiform precipitation in the
rainbands covered areas ten times larger than the convec-
tive precipitation.
Rainband structure appears to be more three-dimen-
sional than that in the eyewall. Flight-level observations
of rainbands show considerable variability between suc-
cessive penetrations at the same level (Barnes et al., 1983).
In addition there is considerable variability in the structure
of different rainbands (Barnes et al., 1983; Barnes and
Stossmeister, 1986). Thus characteristic features of rain-
bands are much more difficult to specify than are those of
the eyewall. Since 1982, aircraft studies of hurricane rain-
bands have used airborne Doppler radar (Jorgensen and
Marks, 1984; Powell and Black, 1984; Powell, 1986, 1987a;
Barnes et al., 1987). The Japanese are also making dual-
Doppler observations of typhoon rainbands as they make
landfall (Ishihara et al., 1986; Tabata et al., 1986). A con-
sensus on the evolving rainband structure is emerging from
these studies.
Most of the rainband studies have examined the struc-
ture of features within the principal band. The observations
generally show a crossband circulation consisting of a me-
soscale updraft sloping outward with height, with inflow
at low levels and outflow at high levels (Fig. 3.7a). This
basic crossband flow is modified by the presence of con-
vective features that move azimuthally along the rainband.
w
u -24 ~~~~~~~~---L---L---L __- L_ _~
z -96 -72 -48 - 24 0 24 48 72 96 120
~
(/) DISTANCE EAST FROM STORM CENTER ( km)
3
Fig. 3.7 (a) Vertical cross section of the Hurricane Floyd rainband.
Thin solid lines indicate the average radar reflectivity. Typical me-
soscale and convective-scale motions are represented by arrows. The
numbers along the arrows are equivalent potential temperatures. (b)
Horizontal cross section of the rainband, showing the aircraft track,
radar reflectivity, the location of cells and stratiform precipitation,
the 150-m flow, and equivalent potential temperatures. (From Barnes
et al., 1983.)
Barnes et al. ( 1983) and Willoughby et al. ( 1984a)
pointed out that the upwind end of the principal band
tends to be mainly convective, and there is a transition to
less convective and more stratiform precipitation toward
the downwind end, in a manner similar to that described
by Atlas et al. ( 1963) ( cf. Fig. 3. 7b). Powell and Black
( 1984) used airborne Doppler observations to show that
the crossband flow changed from the upwind to the
downwind end of the principal band in Hurricane Debby
of 1982. Upwind there was little crossband flow at low
levels, while the inflow from the outside of the band in-
creased on the downwind end of the band. They also noted
an increase in convergence into the band on the down-
wind end.
418 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Barnes and Stossmeister ( 1986) described the structure
of a secondary band in Hurricane Irene of 1981. The struc-
ture of this band was different from that of the principal
bands in other hurricanes. There was no consistent cross-
band circulation and the evolution of the band was strongly
affected by the eyewall circulation. Their analysis indicated
that downward motion from the eyewall was a likely cause
for the rainband dissipation.
3.2 Hurricane Rainfall
3. 2..1 Rainfall Distribution and the Importance
of Stratiform Precipitation
The prevalence of stratiform precipitation in hurricanes,
characterized by the presence of the radar bright band
near the altitude of the 0°C isotherm, has been noted in
many early studies (e.g., Wexler, 1947; Atlas et al., 1963;
Senn, 1966; Black et al., 1972). Recent quantitative pre-
cipitation estimates derived from land-based and airborne
radar observations in hurricanes have documented the
importance of the predominantly stratiform precipitation
surrounding the eyewall to the overall rainfall pattern of
the storm (Marks, 1985; Black and Burpee, 1987). Marks
( 1985) examined the precipitation distribution within the
eyewall region and the region surrounding the eyewall for
six days in Hurricane Allen of 1980 using airborne radar
data (Fig. 3.8). Marks found that the eyewall contained
the heaviest rain rates (a factor of 6 greater than those
outside the eyewall), but encompassed a relatively small
area. The precipitation in the region surrounding the eye-
wall (out to 111 km), while having lower mean rain rates
owing to its stratiform nature, covered a much larger area
than the eyewall. Hence, 50%-60% of the rainfall within
this inner portion of the storm center fell in the predom-
inantly stratiform precipitation in the region surrounding
the eyewall.
In a similar study using land-based radar data from three
hurricanes (David in 1979; Alicia in 1983; Elena in 1985),
Black and Burpee (1987) found that the percentage of
rainfall that was observed in the region surrounding the
eyewall was larger than that in Allen when the rainfall
amounts were averaged in time. The region surrounding
the eyewall contributed roughly 80% of the total rainfall
within 85-km radius of the center during the 16 h of data
in Hurricane Alicia, and 70% over the 30 h of data in
Hurricane Elena.
Marks and Houze (1987a) used the airborne Doppler
observations to investigate the source of the stratiform
condensate in the region surrounding the eyewall. The
Doppler-derived wind field analyses, combined with some
basic assumptions about the microphysical properties of
the hydrometeors in the eyewall, enabled them to infer
the hydrometeor trajectories in the inner core of the storm
MEAN STORM
DIRECTION (290°)
2.6mmh-t
1.3mmh-t
lllkm
2.2mmh-t
(0.8) (0.9)
1.6mmh-t
(0.8)
1.9mmh-1
(0.6)
2.3mmh-t 2.4mmh-t
X s
TOTAL 0-lllkm 2.7 mmh-t (0.9 mmh- 11
EYEWALL REGION 0- 35 km 11.3 mmh-t (4.2 mmh- 1)
RAINBAND REGION 35- Ill km 1.8 mmh- 1 (0.7 mmh- 1 )
Fig. 3.8 Mean rain rate (x) and standard deviation (5) in Hurricane
Allen for the area within 111-km radius of the storm center and for
the eyewall rainband regions. The mean rain rate and the standard
deviation (in brackets) are also given for the total area and for the
eyewall and rainband regions in each quadrant. Dashed and dotted
arrows indicate azimuth of maximum precipitation in the eyewall
and rainband regions, respectively. (From Marks, 1985.)
(bold solid and dashed arrows in Fig. 3.6). They hypoth-
esized that particles formed in the upward branch of the
secondary circulation followed two basic paths: 1) large
hydrometeors, with fallspeeds equal to or greater than the
updraft velocity, fell out of the updraft and formed the
eyewall reflectivity maximum (trajectory 1'-2'); 2) smaller
hydrometeors, with fallspeed less than the updraft velocity,
were swept up to the outflow layer at the top of the eyewall
and carried outward, where they seeded the region con-
taining the mesoscale updraft (trajectory 1-2-3-4). The
particles falling in the eyewall reached the sea surface
within 10 min and traveled 18-20 km downwind, consis-
tent with the upwind slope with increasing altitude of the
reflectivity cores in the eyewall (Marks, 1985).
The hydrometeors that seeded the mesoscale updraft
region fell so slowly before they reached the melting level
that they took 1-2 h to reach the surface, suggesting that
the precipitation falling in the stratiform region contained
particles arriving from a variety of locations in the eyewall
after circulating as many as 11/2 times around the storm.
A similar scenario to precipitation formation in hurricane
rainbands was first proposed by Atlas et al. ( 1963).
Marks and Houze ( 1987a) suggest that while the eyewall
outflow layer is a major source of hydrometeors to seed
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF TROPICAL WEATHER SYSTEMS 419

,-----,.-----,-----r------r--.------r----,96

!\
the region surrounding the eyewall, condensation pro- Maximum Winds (ms-1) 65 35 46 85 35

duced by mesoscale ascent within the stratiform region 12.0 60

itself could provide an environment conducive to vigorous

::
growth of hydrometeors. Their computations showed that
the mass of the water condensed by the mesoscale ascent
exceeded that transported into the stratiform region in the
eyewall outflow by a factor of 3.
This result contrasts with that from a tropical squall line
f
11.1
1/)
<
MCS, in which Gamache and Houze ( 1983) found that
.
11.1
...J
11.1
the outflow condensate from the active convection along a: !(55km)

the leading edge was equally important to that formed in !;(

11.1
\
\
\
situ in the stratiform anvil. Marks and Houze (1987a) :J: \
\
1-
pointed out that their result was sensitive to the area cov- z \ .
11.1
\ },Eyewa:ll Re,gion
ered by the mesoscale ascent, which in their calculations !;( \ . .
was 2-3 times the area used by Gamache and Houze.
...J
~
\
(35km) :
... • ........ (27km)
! (25km)
.....
However, it is tempting to conclude that in the case of the .... _'-_:--- ..............
(46km) : ; .............
hurricane, the mesoscale ascent has a stronger effect on 0

~/
: ...

(23km) 90
hydrometeor growth than in the squall line because it is
associated with the secondary circulation driven by the OL---~--L_ _ _...J_ __...J_ _~--~

AuGusr 4/ooz 5/ooz 6/ooz 7/ooz 8/ooz 9/ooz 10/ooz

vortex-scale dynamics. The squall line is not embedded in
any equivalent dynamic feature.
3.2.2 Temporal Variability of Precipitation
The Hurricane Allen radar observations also docu-
mented temporal changes in hurricane rain rates. Marks
( 1985) pointed out that the eyewall rain rates increased
as the storm intensified and the eyewall contracted. How-
ever, the contribution of the eyewall region to the total
rain amount within 111-km radius (depicted by the total
latent heat release by the precipitation in Fig. 3.9) was
nearly constant over the six-day period, despite the large
changes in eyewall radius. The increase in the mean eye-
wall rain rate was roughly balanced by a reduction in eye-
wall area as the radius of maximum reflectivity contracted.
If the total storm rainfall (or latent heat release due to
precipitation) is a measure of the total amount of moisture
convergence into the inner core of the storm, then the
moisture convergence was nearly constant during the pe-
riod of eyewall contraction.
3.2.3 Precipitation Distribution at Lanclfall
Landfall effects on the precipitation distribution in hur-
ricanes have been described recently by Parrish et al. ( 1982,
1984) and Black and Burpee ( 1987) using quantitative ra-
dar observations from operational land-based radars. Par-
rish et al. ( 1982) showed a precipitation enhancement at
the coastline, just to the left of the storm track. The rainfall
maximum was caused by rainbands that initially appeared
near the point where the vortex circulation intersected the
coast to the right of the storm track. The rainbands in-
creased in intensity and area as they moved cyclonically
around the storm, producing the greatest precipitation
downwind, to the left of the track.
Fig. 3.9 Latent heat release as a function of time for Hurricane
Allen (1980). Calculations are shown for the area within 111-km
radius of the storm center (solid line) and for the eyewall region
(dashed line). Numbers in parentheses are the eyewall radius in km.
The dotted line shows the storm's central pressure reported from
reconnaissance flights. (From Marks, 1985.)
3.3 Hurricane Motion
Radar has been a primary tool in tracking hurricanes
since the first radar observations of hurricanes in the late
1940s. Major radar networks were established in Japan
and the United States in the late 1950s primarily to track
tropical cyclones. A major problem in tracking hurricanes
with radar is the determination of the storm center. In a
reasonably symmetric storm with a small eye diameter,
the center of the radar eye is easily identified and is a good
approximation of the storm position. In a storm that is
asymmetric, or has a large eyewall, or has weak convection
in the eyewall, estimating the center of the eye is a difficult
task. Senn and Hiser ( 1959) devised a scheme that utilized
a logarithmic spiral fit to the rainband positions to estimate
the storm center. A major problem with this technique
was determining which rainband to use in the fit, as dif-
ferent rainbands give different estimates of the storm po-
sition.
A more basic problem is that the radar "center" is usually
different from the wind center, even in a seemingly sym-
metric storm. Figure 3.10 shows the eye of Hurricane
Frederic in 1979. The radar center (denoted by the asterisk)
was determined as the centroid of the oval-shaped reflec-
tivity maximum of the eyewall. The flight-level wind ob-
servations showed the wind center was 10-12 km west of
the radar center. The wind center is often observed closer
to the more intense portion of the eyewall reflectivity max-
420 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

00 : 04 : 59

Domain : 200 x 200 km

Radar : SLIDELL
FREDERIC
Sep . 13, 1979
Min Elev : 0.0
Max Elev : 0. 0

5 . 7 mmlhr l

1 . 7 mm/hr)

.5 nuo1/ hrl

.!, :
. 2 mrolhrl

a 25 50 75 100

Fig. 3.10 Reflectivity data during Hurricane Frederic from the WSR-57 radar in Slidell, Louisiana at 0005
UTC 13 September 1979. The wind data are from one of the WP-3D aircraft. The flight-level observations
were collected from 2355 to 0017 UTC as the aircraft headed northwest. The hurricane symbol represents
the wind center, and the asterisk shows the approximate location of the radar center. The wind-plotting
convention is as in Fig. 3.4. (From Burpee and Marks, 1984.)

imum which is usually in the quadrant of the storm along
the direction of motion (Marks, 1985). This relationship
holds for the case of Fig. 3.10, where the storm is moving
toward the northwest at 9 m s- 1•
In some storms the position of the wind center with
respect to the radar center rotates around inside the eye,
often in response to changes in the position of the intense
reflectivity in the eyewall, and causes a trochoidal oscil-
lation in the storm track. Lewis and Black ( 1977) examined
these oscillations in the radar-derived tracks of six hurri-
canes and found that crosstrack oscillations of 20 km and
periods of 7-14 h, relative to smooth tracks, were typical
for these storms. Muramatsu ( 1986) discussed a similar
trochoidal oscillation in the radar-observed track of Ty-
phoon Wynne in 1980 (Fig. 3.11) . He devised a scheme
that used echo tracking at different radii around the center
to deduce the period of the trochoidal oscillation. He de-
fined a geometric center of the storm system, around which
the echoes at radii of 100-130 km were centered, and the
radar eye, around which the eyewall echoes were centered.
He showed that while the track of the eye center (solid
line in Fig. 3.11) was characterized by a trochoidal oscil-
lation with a crosstrack deviation of 2.0-21.4 km and a
period of 5.25-8.25 h, respectively, the track of the geo-
metric center was smooth. He also showed that as the
storm recurved, the magnitude of the oscillation was re-
duced.
Recent airborne Doppler radar observations in Hurricane
Norbert of 1984 provided an opportunity to examine the
interaction of a hurricane with its environment and gain
insights into hurricane motion. Marks and Houze ( 1987b)
obtained a complete three-dimensional Doppler wind field
that covered an area of 75 X 75 km centered on the storm
and extended from 0.5 to 13 km. They decomposed the
total horizontal wind field into three parts: 1) the vertically
varying mean horizontal wind over the area of the Doppler
analysis; 2) the symmetric vortex, composed of the primary
circulation and the radial component of the secondary cir-
culation; and 3) the asymmetric perturbation wind.
The vertical profile of the mean horizontal wind, shown
in Fig. 3.12, consisted of increasing southeasterly shear
with height. The mean wind was west to northwesterly
below 3 km, changing to increasing southeasterly and
southerly flow aloft. The mean wind was closest to the
storm motion from 4-5 km altitude, suggesting that below
this level the storm was moving faster than its environ-
ment, drawing the environmental air in the front of the
storm, and above this level the storm was moving slower
than its environment, with the environmental air entering
the back of the storm. A vertical, mass-weighted average

TB0/9
rRACK of EYE
150
\\
0 during this time, and the arrow (V) indicates the mass-weighted
~\
I
~ environment. This pattern was strongest below 3.5 km
,~o,.• .,;
~~~g.,a'(
_/
roo
1110 km
Fig. 3.11 Trochoidal trajectory of the center of the eye of Typhoon
Wynne from 1030 UTC 11 October 1980 to 1900 UTC 12 October
1980. Heavy line represents the observed radar eye trajectory, with
radar fixes and times denoted by solid circles along the track. Open
circles denote the hourly observed position and shape of the radar
eye. The light solid lines indicate the range from the radar in 50-km
intervals. (From Muramatsu, 1986.)
of the mean horizontal wind throughout the depth of the
analysis (V) was nearly identical to the storm motion (V,)
in speed and slightly to the right of the storm track.
The total horizontal wind field and the asymmetric per-
turbation wind field at 3 km for Hurricane Norbert are
shown in Fig. 3.13. The perturbation wind field shows a
wavenumber 1, cyclonic/ anticyclonic eddy couplet cen-
tered on the radius of maximum wind ( -25 km), with
the cyclonic eddy in the right front quadrant of the storm
(track 323°/143°), and an anticyclonic eddy in the left
rear quadrant of the storm. This basic pattern with varying
magnitude was present at all analysis levels and was prob-
ably caused by the movement of the storm through the
RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF TROPICAL WEATHER SYSTEMS 421
Hodogroph
Nor bart
840824Il
Deep· I~,.. tlean l•hnd
u.. ·l.il
v.. .. i7
163./ .. 7
Storm Hohon.
113./ 56
Fig. 3.12 Hodograph of the area-averaged wind at each level in the
vertical derived from the Doppler wind analysis of Hurricane Norbert
from 0018-0220 UTC 25 September 1984. Numbers and small as-
terisks indicate mean wind at each 1 km in altitude starting at 1 km
and extending to 11 km. The arrow (V,) indicates the storm motion
deep-layer mean wind from the Doppler winds. (From Marks and
Houze, 1987b.)
/
where the storm was moving faster than the environment.
At altitudes above 4 km, where the storm was moving
slower than the environment, the eddies were weaker,
suggesting that the environmental wind profile plays an
important role in the structure of the asymmetries in the
vortex.
These Doppler observations suggest that new techniques
for storm track and storm motion determination may be
possible with Doppler radars. Doppler observations show
much promise for determination of storm motion, but the
discrepancies pointed out in the radar echo center and the
wind center suggest that a combination of noncoherent
and coherent radar observations may be necessary to de-
termine storm position. Hence, advances must be made in
the area of noncoherent data processing (e.g., echo track-
ing, pattern recognition) along with the development of
techniques that rely on Doppler observations. Modest ef-
forts are under way to develop techniques for use with
the NEXRAD radar network (Donaldson and Ruggiero,
1986; Ruggiero and Donaldson, 1987; Wood and Brown,
1987; Bluestein and Hazen, 1987). The major problem is
lack of adequate datasets. With the installation of NEXRAD
radars scheduled over the next five years, we should make
a concerted effort to develop these techniques now.
3.4 Vertical Re8ectivity Structure
of Hurricanes
Szoke et al. ( 1986) showed that the mean vertical re-
flectivity profiles from a number of hurricane echoes were
422 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

3.9 kill
84092411
Norbert
0031 - 0208
dBZ
'15-63
'12-'1'1
39-'11
36-38
33-35
30-32
28-29
28·27
2'1- 25
22-23
28·21
15-19
10·1'1
S· 9
110S

STORM POSITION :
lat .= 22 . 34 N
io n . ~ 112 . 14 W
Sea l e:
I I I II I I I I I I
0 -km- 17
8 . 2 km/tick

84092411
Norbert
0031 - 0200
dB2
'15·63
12·H
39·1 1
36-38
33·35
38-32
28-29
26·27
2'1-25
22-23
20-21
15-19
10-li
5- 9
H[)S

STORM POS I TION :

lat . = 22 . 34 N
i on . = 112 . 14 W
Sea le :
II I I I I II I I I
0 -km- 17

Fig. 3.13 Time composite of the tail radar reflectivity and the airborne Doppler-derived wind
analysis at 3-km altitude for 0018-0220 UTC 25 September 1984. The analysis domain (black
box) is 82.5 km on a side and the tick marks are at 8.25-km intervals. The reflectivity is shaded
at 5, 10, 20, 24, 28, and 33 dBZ. The white regions in each comer were outside the analysis
domain. Superposed over the reflectivity field in (a) are streamlines (solid) and isotachs (dashed,
m s -I) of the total horizontal wind, and in (b) are streamlines (solid) and isotachs (dashed, m s -I)
of the horizontal perturbation wind field. The storm center is indicated by the hurricane symbol.
(From Marks and Houze, 1987b.)
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF TROPICAL WEATHER SYSTEMS 423

very similar to those of GATE echoes (cf. Fig. 2.15), with
reasonably uniform reflectivity below the melting level,
and a sharp decrease in reflectivity above that level. The
peak reflectivity at low levels in hurricane echoes was less
intense than those from GATE, but the hurricane echoes
had similar intensities to those of the GATE echoes above
the melting leveL Szoke et al. pointed out that the dose
agreement in the vertical reflectivity profiles between
GATE and hurricane echoes is consistent with the similarity
in the vertical velocities observed in both GATE and hur-
ricanes (Jorgensen et al., 1985).
The similarity in the vertical reflectivity profiles above
the melting level suggests that the precipitation formation
mechanisms are similar for both tropical MCSs and hur-
ricanes. The existence of low liquid water content and large
numbers of ice particles above the 0°C level was observed
in monsoon MCSs by Churchill and Houze (1984a) and
Houze and Churchill (1987), and was also documented
by Black and Hallett ( 1986) in several intense hurricanes.
The documentation of the prevalence of ice and the min-
imal amount of liquid water above the ooc level in hur-
ricanes resulted in the demise of the STORMFURY pro-
gram that had been designed to reduce a hurricane's
intensity through active seeding of the region surrounding
the eyewall (Willoughby et al., 1985).
3.5 Characteristics of the Hurricane
Echo Population
Parrish et al. ( 1984) studied the characteristics of radar
echoes in Hurricane Frederic of 1979 and compared the
results with Lopez's ( 1978) radar analyses of GATE echoes
(Figs. 2.12 and 2.13). Parrish et al. tabulated the lifetime
and maximum area of echoes and showed that, as in
GATE, the echo duration and maximum area were log-
normally distributed. The hurricane echoes are most like
Lopez's cells from groups because they are embedded in
through the melting level was upwind of the radar echo,
an idea first put forward by Atlas et al. ( 1963).
3.6 Surface Wind Estimates in Hurricanes
Jones et al. ( 1981) showed that a stepped-frequency mi-
crowave radiometer ( SFMR) and a scanning microwave
scatterometer could be used to estimate remotely the sur-
face wind speed and direction in hurricanes. The radi-
ometer measures the radiometric emission, or brightness
temperature of the sea surface, which has been found to
increase monotonically with increasing wind speed as a
result of wind-driven surface roughness and increased
foaming of the sea surface. The received brightness is also
dependent upon atmospheric conditions along the obser-
vation path, particularly attenuation due to water vapor
and precipitation. In order to separate the water vapor and
precipitation components of the brightness dependence, a
stepped-frequency radiometer in the C-band ( 4.5-7.0
GHz) was designed. By using more than one frequency
band the attenuation effects could be removed. Jones et
al. demonstrated that a SFMR with two frequency bands
could be used to measure surface wind speeds up to 60
m s- 1 .
Figure 3.14 shows a time series of surface wind speed
in Hurricane Earl derived from a six-frequency C-band
SFMR and the flight-level winds from the two NOAA air-
craft flying in a stack formation at 500 m ( 1500') and 1500
m (5000') from Tanner et al. (1987). The SFMR was in-
RADIUS (n mi)
120 100 80 60 40 20 0
50
EARL
13 SEP 1986
., 1812 -1837 GMT

....
40
large echo areas. The hurricane cells have larger areas and ..... •
shorter durations. The reasons for these differences are
E
••
not obvious, but they may be related to characteristic dif- 0 •
••••
··-·
30
ferences in the wind speed regime the echoes are embed- LLI
LLI
Q.
•• •
ded in (the average echo speed for the hurricane echoes Vl
was 30 m s - 1 ), differences in static stability, and the large 0 20
background reflectivity in the hurricane (making the z
echoes hard to follow). 3: ••••• 1500 ft. FL Wind
The average lifetime of the hurricane echoes ( 6-10 min) 10
was very dose to the time it takes for a raindrop to fall
--- 5000 ft. FL Wind
•
from the altitude of the 0°C isotherm (Marks and Houze, • SFMR 10-M Wind

1987a). Combining this observation with the sharp drop 0

in reflectivity above the 0°C isotherm, and the observed 1810 1815 1820 1825 1830 1835 1840
downwind tilt to the radar echo maxima with decreasing EAST CENTER
altitude, suggests that the radar echoes tracked are rain- TIME (GMT)
shafts descending from the melting level altitude. This type Fig. 3.14 Surface wind speed derived from radiometer brightness
of echo structure suggests that the upward motion that temperature (dots), from flight-level winds at 500 m (continuous
generates the plume of precipitation particles that falls line) and 1500 m (dashed line). (From Tanner et al., 1987.)
424 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
stalled on the higher altitude aircraft. The SFMR winds
are highly correlated with the flight-level winds over a
significant range of wind speeds. The SFMR values are
lower, however, because of the frictional drag in the
boundary layer. Tanner et al. showed that the linear
regression of SFMR winds compared with the flight-level
winds has a slope of 0.75 with a standard deviation about
the linear fit of 1.4 m s- 1. The 0.75 value of the slope of
the regression line is consistent with the reduction factor
derived by Powell ( 1987b) in comparisons of aircraft flight-
level and buoy data in Hurricane Alicia.
These results show that a SFMR can dramatically im-
prove surface wind observations in hurricanes. Also, a
SFMR, by its ability to collect surface wind estimates from
higher and safer altitudes, during the day or night, provides
a vast improvement over the present reconnaissance ca-
pabilities.
4 SUMMARY
Over the past 15 years, radar observations have greatly
improved our understanding of tropical weather systems,
in particular MCSs and tropical cyclones. A common at-
tribute of these systems is the tendency for the precipitation
to be organized on the mesoscale. In tropical cyclones, this
organization is manifested in mesoscale rainbands, the
most prominent of which is the eyewall. In MCSs, me-
soscale organization is apparent in the tendency for the
convective elements to occur in groups, which in turn have
attendant mesoscale circulations, which are associated with
mid- to upper-level anvil cloud shields, stratiform precip-
itation, and melting layers. Tropical mesoscale systems
driven by deep convection include squall and nonsquall
line MCSs and hurricane rainbands.
Radar observations have provided the first quantitative
estimates of the precipitation distribution in MCSs and
tropical cyclones over the ocean, as well as enhanced our
ability to estimate the precipitation in these systems over
land. These observations have pointed out the relative im-
portance of the ~tratiform precipitation, contributing 30%-
50% to the total rainfall from an MCS or 40%-70% of the
total rainfall within the inner core of a tropical cyclone.
Noncoherent radar observations have been instrumental
in distinguishing between convective and stratiform pre-
cipitation regions of MCSs and tropical cyclones, while
coherent and noncoherent radar observations have been
used to identify and describe the deep convective and me-
soscale stratiform components of the air motions in these
systems. In these descriptions, intriguing similarities are
seen among the MCS ( cf. Fig. 2.3) and hurricane eyewall
( cf. Fig. 3.6a). Basic meteorological and microphysical ob-
servations, mapped into the context of the radar data, show
that much of the similarity in structure can be attributed
to similarities in the strength of updrafts and downdrafts
and the microphysical properties of the clouds.
The differences in the mesoscale air motions of MCSs
and tropical cyclones result from the level of large-scale
organization of the systems. The upward mesoscale mo-
tions within the inner core of the tropical cyclone are ap-
parently related to the forced secondary circulation, driven
by the lower tropospheric inflow into the inner region of
the storm and the condensational heating in the eyewall
updraft. The upward mesoscale motion in the anvil of a
tropical MCS is not as clearly understood. A number of
possible mechanisms may play a role; e.g., latent heat re-
lease in the anvil, or radiational destabilization near the
top of the anvil. In both the MCS and the tropical cyclone
the mesoscale downdrafts are likely caused by cooling by
melting hydrometeors near the altitude of the 0°C isotherm
and evaporation below this altitude.
The mesoscale stratiform component of MCSs signifi-
cantly affects the large-scale vertical motion and heating
profiles. Within the mid- to upper-tropospheric anvil, latent
heat release provides warming, while melting of hydro-
meteors near the base of the anvil and evaporation below
contribute cooling in the lower troposphere.
Coherent radar observations within tropical cyclones
have provided the first opportunity to study the inner core
circulation of the storm, and the mechanisms by which
this core circulation interacts with the large-scale environ-
mental flow. These interactions depend heavily on the
asymmetric component of the flow in the inner core.
Changes in the asymmetric flow may lead to changes in
the storm track and/ or intensity.
APPENDIX A:
THE ROLE Of IMPROVED RADAR
TECHNOLOGY
A review of radar meteorology's role in studies of tropical
weather systems would be incomplete without a discussion
of radar technology improvements. Donaldson and Atlas
( 1964) pointed out that the early advances in the study
of tropical cyclones using radar observations came about
through improvements (scientific and technological) in the
ability of the radar to observe different aspects of the
storms. The first radar photographs were two-dimensional
snapshots showing the band organization around the eye
(Maynard, 1945). The use of single photos was quickly
followed by the use of sequences of radar images to depict
the band motion (Wexler, 1947). Kessler and Atlas ( 1956)
used vertical cross sections of the radar features to inves-
tigate precipitation mechanisms in the storm. Early at-
tempts at quantitative reflectivity estimates pointed to the
usefulness of the radar in the measurement of precipitation
in tropical cyclones (Atlas et al., 1963). These early radar
studies provided the basis for understanding tropical cy-
clone structure and evolution. Further advances in radar
technology over the past 15 years provided the tools nec-
essary to expand our knowledge of tropical cyclones and
other tropical weather systems significantly.
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF TROPICAL WEATHER SYSTEMS 425

Four technological advances were instrumental to im- TABLE At

proving observations of tropical weather systems in the Important Advances in Radar Meteorolosical
last t5 years: t) the development of digital radar "systems" Observations of Tropical Weather Systems
(radars and digital computers that control the radar data
Date AdYaace
collection, display, and storage) that collect quantitative
digital reflectivity data; 2) development of digital Doppler 1974 First digital radar network in the tropics-four shipborne
C-band radars in GATE [Hudlow (1979) lists the
radar systems; 3) the development of the NOAA WP-3D characteristics of these radars)
airborne digital radar systems; and 4) the prototype air- 1974 First digital radar observations of tropical cyclone
borne Doppler radar system. Table At lists the key appli- (Tropical Stonn Gertrude) using a shipborne radar
cations of these advances to studies of tropical weather returning from GATE (Lewis and Jorgensen, 1978)
systems. 1977 First airborne digital radar measurements made by the
The first technological advances listed in Table At led NOAA WP-3D aircraft in Hurricane Anita Uorgensen
et al. (1978) lists the characteristics of these radars]
to the development of radar systems that could be used
1981 First Doppler radar observations in the tropics- dual -
to make quantitative estimates of precipitation and record Doppler radar network for COPT-81 [Sommeria and
the radar data digitally for research applications. These Testud (1984) list the characteristics of these radars)
radar systems were first used in the tropics in GATE in 1982 First airborne Doppler radar measurements in a tropical
t974. The GATE radar network provided a database that stonn (Debby) (Marks and Houze, 1984) Uorgensen et
for the first time could be used to determine the charac- al. (1983) list the characteristics of this radar]
teristics of precipitating weather systems in the tropics.
Thus, many of the radar studies in GATE led to funda-
mental advances in our understanding of these systems. Ray et al., t985). The airborne radar systems have allowed
Since GATE, digital radar systems have become an integral the first mapping of the three-dimensional kinematic and
part of every research experiment studying precipitating reflectivity structure of hurricanes away from the influence
weather systems. of land (e.g., Marks and Houze, 1984, 1987a).
The development of digital Doppler radar systems fol-
lowed closely in time that of noncoherent radar systems.
Networks of two or more Doppler radar systems were pri-
marily used in studies of severe midlatitude convective
APPENDIX 8:
systems (e.g., Ray et al., t978). Not until the French es- LIST Of ACRONYMS
tablished a digital Doppler radar network in equatorial AOML Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological
Africa for their Convection Profonde Tropicale t98t Laboratory
(COPT-8t) Experiment were Doppler radar measurements BOMEX Barbados Oceanographic and Meteorological
made in tropical weather systems. The COPT-8t Doppler Experiment
observations provide the first direct means of determining COPT-8t Convection Profonde Tropicale t981
the kinematic fields in a subset of tropical convective sys- EMEX Equatorial Mesoscale Experiment
tems that were originally deduced from composite analyses FACE Florida Area Cumulus Experiment
in GATE and MONEX (e.g., Chong et al., t987). GARP Global Atmospheric Research Program
The development of the airborne radar systems (1977 GATE GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment
and t982 in Table At) has revolutionized the field of me- ITCZ Intertropical Convergence Zone
soscale meteorological research by providing a mobile MCS Mesoscale Convective System
platform for observing the three-dimensional structure of MONEX Monsoon Experiment
the precipitation and kinematic fields in precipitating MPF Mesoscale Precipitation Feature
weather systems. The airborne radar systems on the NOAA NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar
WP-3D aircraft were designed primarily for studies of NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
tropical cyclones (Trotter, t978). However, in the past ten tration
years the airborne radars, both coherent and noncoherent, SBC Stationary Band Complex
have been used in more and more studies of mesoscale SFMR Stepped-Frequency Microwave Radiometer
precipitation systems in the tropics and midlatitudes (e.g., VAD Velocity Azimuth Display
Jorgensen et al., 1983; Jorgensen, 1984a,b; Marks and VIMHEX Venezuelan International Meteorological and
Houze, 1984; Hildebrand and Mueller, 1985; Marks, 1985; Hydrological Experiment
426
Chapter 25b
Tropical Meteorology: Panel Report
Edward Zipser*, National Center for Atmospheric Researcht
Alan Betts, Middlebury, Vermont
Frank Ruggiero, Air Fo~ce Geophy~ics ~aboratory . . . .
Barry Hinton, Space Sczence j Engzneerzng Center, Unzverszty of Wzsconszn
1 INTRODUCTION
The subject of tropical meteorology can be defined in
many ways. We prefer to follow Riehl (1954) in defi~ing
the tropics for meteorological purposes as those regtons
where weather sequences differ distinctly from those in
middle latitudes, or roughly between the subtropical high
pressure belts. Such flexibility is appropriate, permitting
inclusion of important early radar studies of tropical cy-
clones at 42° latitude, while omitting consideration of
equatorward intrusions of fronts and cyclones during the
winter season.
By any definition, however, the subject includes an
enormous range, which must be limited in discussions in
this volume. Frank Marks, in his appropriately titled re-
view, "Radar Observations of Tropical Weather Systems,"
(Chapter 25a) has chosen to concentrate on mesoscale
convective systems and on tropical cyclones. He also has
emphasized research since 1974, when digital radar sys-
tems were first applied to tropical meteorological problems
on a significant scale.
The panel consensus is that Marks made a reasonable
choice of subject matter, and we applaud his thorough,
balanced, and up-to-date review of this important material.
Our specific comments, presented to him in advance, are
already incorporated into the review. This panel report,
then, will comment on the connections between the sub-
jects covered in the review and tropical meteorology as a
whole, and on directions for the future.
One might have expected a review of tropical meteo-
• Zipser served as panel chairman. Ot~er pane.! me~ber~ besides the
authors listed above were Geoffrey Austin (McGill Umvers1ty), Ben Bal-
sley (NOAA/ERL), Gary Barnes (NCAR), Jean-Pierre Chalon (Centre
National de Ia Recherche Meteorologique, France), John Freeman (In-
stitute for Storm Research), Michael Garstang (University of Virginia),
Mort Glass (AFGL), Kenneth Hardy (AFGL), Robert Houze (University
of Washington), Michael Hudlow (NOAAjNWS), Colleen Leary (Texas
Tech University), and Margaret Pestaina-Jeffers (Caribbean Institute for
Meteorology/ Hydrology).
t The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the
National Science Foundation.
rology to include more emphasis on the convective scale
than on the mesoscale, and more coverage of the weather
systems of other geographic areas to balance the heavy
emphasis Marks gives the GATE region. After much dis-
cussion, the panel agreed that Marks' choices are appro-
priate for the following reasons. First, it is now well known
that deep convective clouds are often concentrated into
organized mesoscale systems, in the tropics and elsewhere.
Second, understanding the role of convection in the trop-
ical atmosphere requires understanding the nature of these
mesoscale systems, and the interactions between the con-
vective scale, mesoscale, and larger scales; the Global At-
mospheric Research Program, which included GATE and
MONEX, aimed directly at these issues. Third, the explicit
contributions of radar to tropical meteorology are especially
great when radar is combined with other technologies in
coordinated observing campaigns; in focusing on these,
Marks conveys many of the most significant results of re-
cent research with efficiency.
Nevertheless, before proceeding, we will pause to outline
some of the important subject matter not covered by Marks'
review.
In recent years, research on midlatitude convective sys-
tems has concentrated on their mesoscale properties as
well as on their better known propensity to produce severe
weather. Many similarities are being found between me-
soscale convective systems ( MCSs) in the tropics and in
midlatitudes (Leary and Rappaport, 1987; Smull and
Houze, 1987; Zipser, 1982). As discussed in the panel re-
port on convective dynamics (Chapter 24b), it is important
to seek common dynamical principles that can explain
convective systems. We may be closest to an answer for
squall lines, a form of MCS that seems to depend upon
strong low-tropospheric shear in Oklahoma as well as in
Africa. The panel hopes that the future will see a further
erosion of artificial barriers between the meteorology of
convection and mesoscale systems in the tropics and else-
where in the world.
Tropical convective clouds are responsible for most
tropical rain and are therefore important for subjects rang-
ing from tropical climates to the general circulation (e.g.,

Riehl, 1954). Indeed, since the classical paper by Riehl
and Malkus ( 1958), release of latent heat in deep tropical
convection has been accepted as an essential component
of the general circulation, the "firebox of the atmosphere."
The review and this report omit much important research
on cumulonimbus convection per se. Fortunately, the dy-
namical aspects of this subject are covered elsewhere in
this volume, and there are few fundamental differences
in cumulus dynamics as a function of latitude.
During the 1960s and 1970s, stimulated in large measure
by the possibilities of developing techniques for beneficial
cloud modification, much research on cumulus dynamics
and microphysics was accomplished in the tropics, notably
in Florida. Reviews of this work include Simpson ( 1976)
and Woodley et al. ( 1983). The properties of convective
clouds were observed and compared with those of model
simulations, beginning with simple one-dimensional
models which later grew in sophistication (Simpson and
Wiggert, 1971; Simpson and Van Helvoirt, 1980). Methods
of estimating rainfall by gage-adjusted radars were de-
veloped and put to the test (Woodley et al., 1975). The
role of boundary-layer convergence in initiating and or-
ganizing convective clouds was demonstrated by obser-
vations and models (Ulanski and Garstang, 1978; Pielke
and Mahrer, 1978).
Marks' review also omits discussion of much relevant
research for which radar is not the primary observational
tool. We wish to note, however, that even nonquantitative
radar observations are often the foundation of this re-
search. Radar-observed echoes, and patterns of echoes,
are used to define the type of system being studied and
its environment, and to form a basis for compositing other
types of data. Simpson et al.'s (1986) study of GATE wa-
terspouts is one of many examples. Numerous studies of
cloud microphysics, and of the interaction of airflow with
topography or differential heating in cloud initiation, are
also relevant.
Admittedly, by concentrating on GATE and hurricanes
observed by the research aircraft, Marks' review also omits
mention of much research pertaining to other geographical
areas. This is not viewed as a serious omission for research
in which fundamental physical processes are the object of
study. Obviously, applied research results are often specific
to particular regions, but such work is generally beyond
our scope here. This panel report explores the future role
of radar in tropical meteorology in the global context.
l MAJOR UNSOLVED PROBLEMS IN
TROPICAL METEOROLOGY
Marks' review devotes much attention to the organi-
zation of convection in the tropics. This is an important
component of the problem that many would consider the
key scientific issue in tropical meteorology and perhaps all
of meteorology: How do tropical clouds, and convective
TROPICAL METEOROLOGY 427
clouds everywhere, feed back to and influence larger scale
circulations in the atmosphere? This is often referred to as
the scale interaction problem. It is no coincidence that
Marks cites many results from the GATE (CARP Atlantic
Tropical Experiment), which was organized for the express
purpose of learning how scale interaction works in the
intertropical convergence zone of the eastern Atlantic.
2.1 Scale Interaction in the Tropics
It is firmly established that tropical convection is a vital
link in the global circulation (Riehl and Malkus, 1958; Riehl
and Simpson, 1979). As a result of GATE and other pro-
grams, we know that tropical convection is not random
but is highly concentrated in regions of forcing. Such forc-
ing is commonly associated with synoptic disturbances
such as waves in the easterlies or with active portions of
the intertropical convergence zone. It is also common on
the small mesoscale, as in land-sea breeze and orograph-
ically induced circulations. The GATE region featured very
regular easterly wave disturbances, and clear relationships
were evident between the waves and convective activity
(Thompson et al., 1979). As Marks' review clearly states,
deep convection, once formed, often becomes organized
into mesoscale convective systems (MCSs).
Despite 15 years of research, the coupling between the
large-scale tropical circulation and the convective (and ra-
diative) fluxes is not well understood, and it is not well
represented in global models. In essence, the problem of
parameterizing the convection, layer clouds, and radiation
fields in the tropics has not been solved. What we do know
is that the models are highly sensitive to these processes.
Betts and Miller ( 1986) report on preliminary testing of
the ECMWF global forecast model comparing ten-day
forecasts with a new convective adjustment scheme with
those using the existing (modified Kuo) scheme. There
were changes of order 20-30 percent in surface energy
fluxes, convective precipitation, and strength of the Hadley
circulation. There is every reason to expect similar sensi-
tivity to modification of convection schemes to account for
the stratiform components of mesoscale systems (Hart-
mann et al., 1984), which Marks' review has demonstrated
to be so common in the tropics. Ramanathan et al. ( 1983)
report on profound changes in the climatology of the
NCAR Community Climate Model simply by altering the
blackness of cirrus clouds.
Let us examine some aspects of the problem that illus-
trate its nature and importance and that also set the stage
for future contributions to its solution from the radar com-
munity.
We depend upon four-dimensional data assimilation to
obtain daily global analyses of kinematic and thermody-
namic fields; these are the input data for global forecasts,
climate studies, and a wide range of other basic and applied
research. Yet this assimilation and the resulting analyses
428 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
depend heavily upon the parameterization of convection,
cloud distribution, and radiation, especially in the tropics.
Tropical data are still sparse and largely inadequate to as-
sess the accuracy of model analyses.
The fields forecast by global models (including climate
models) in the tropics drift within a few days to model
climatologies, which are in tum a function of the pa-
rameterizations of the physical processes. Assessing the
performance of the models, therefore, is stymied by a fun-
damental deficiency: our lack of an adequate model-in-
dependent climatology of winds, thermodynamic param-
eters, and precipitation to assess the model biases
independently and to develop an objective basis for im-
provements.
To study the coupling of physical processes such as con-
vection and radiation to the larger-scale tropical flow, we
must develop an adequate database and the means to make
that database accessible to the community. This must in-
clude (i) a wind and thermodynamic climatology for the
tropics, adequate to determine the mean fields and to re-
solve the energetics of tropical wave motions over a wide
range of scales; (ii) a cloud and radiation budget clima-
tology for the tropics; and (iii) a precipitation climatology
for the tropics, to include the distribution of convective
heating over land and oceans and through the diurnal
cycle.
l.l Precipitation Climatology
for the Tropics
We have just emphasized the importance of improved
precipitation estimates for the verification of global nu-
merical models; these are of intrinsic importance. Precip-
itation climatology is poorly known over most of the tropics
and is essentially nonexistent for the oceans, since accurate
statistics are available only for limited areas for short-du-
ration field programs such as GATE. Over many land areas
such as jungles and mountains, observations are not merely
scarce, they tend to be biased away from places with ex-
treme rainfall. Coastline-dominated regimes such as the
"maritime continent" (Ramage, 1968) defy description in
terms of mean rainfall over an area, and exhibit diurnal
cycles over land and water where mean day and night
cloud areas can vary by a factor of 5 (Williams and Houze,
1987). We must develop the means to make accurate rain-
fall estimates from space, the only path to a unified global
climatology, and we must improve on the current meth-
odology of using proxy variables for rainfall such as out-
going longwave radiation. It is remarkable that a simple
infrared thresholding technique remains our most consis-
tently accurate method today, even though errors as large
as 50 percent are reported for some long-term averages
(Arkin and Meisner, 1987). Fortunately, we have an out-
standing opportunity to improve the estimation of tropical
precipitation from space; this is discussed at length in sec-
tion 3.2.
2.3 Short-Term forecasting Skill
in the Tropics
Marks' review has demonstrated some of our recent
successes in developing conceptual models of mesoscale
convective systems, and in recognizing the relationship of
those systems to larger scale disturbances. This new
knowledge does not yet translate into significant skill in
the forecasting of MCSs and their attendant weather, in
the tropics or midlatitudes. For example, it is well known
that extreme rainfall events and flash flooding can be as-
sociated with MCSs, but it is doubtful whether this knowl-
edge alone can be used to improve forecasts of such events.
The desired improvements in forecasts will require more
than operational experience with advanced weather radar
systems by line forecasters. In addition, archived radar
datasets are required to be accessible for basic and applied
research.
The case is somewhat different with respect to tropical
cyclones. Marks has made a strong case in his review for
the value of Doppler radar data in the study of hurricanes.
The basic knowledge base is considerable. Prior to the time
that NEXRAD systems are placed in the hands of fore-
casters, it is crucial to develop training programs in the
u~e. of coastal Doppler radars and to assist in the extremely
cntical nowcast and short-range forecast decisions that
must be made. The panel believes that immediate steps
are called for to develop techniques for application to this
problem, and to acquire basic datasets that will be the
basis for continued future improvements.
3 OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE FUTURE
The panel was excited about the prospects for radar to
contribute to the solutions of the outstanding problems of
the tropics, especially because the definitions of those
problems have broadened and because the range of tech-
nological opportunities is greater than ever before. The
scale interaction problem involves the physics and dy-
namics of convective and mesoscale weather systems as
well as global numerical modeling. Despite the acknowl-
edged broad scope and complexity of the issues, the panel
has outlined strategies that may lead to major progress.
This section will be organized by subject matter, and for
each subject both short- and long-term opportunities will
be identified.
3.1 The Scale Interaction Problem and
Wind Pro&ling
We have described the critical need for an improved
database in the tropics as a necessary, but not sufficient,
condition for the development of improved parameteriza-
tions of essential physical processes in global models.
Thirteen years after GATE, the only major experiment to

address scale interactions in the tropics, the sensitivity of
model simulations to physical parameterizations has been
well demonstrated, but little progress has been made in
incorporating the effects of MCSs into global models be-
cause of the complexity of the interactions, and, equally,
because we are lacking the database for verification of
proposed improvements.
The panel outlines a long-term strategy for applying ex-
isting and proposed technological advances to the solution
of these problems. Essential elements are the use of radar
wind profilers in the short term and satellite wind sound-
ings combined with Doppler lidar in the long term. We
can thus improve daily wind analyses in the tropics, pro-
vide a better wind climatology, and establish the basis for
occasional more intensive observing campaigns in specific
regions.
Current state-of-the-art wind profilers are already being
deployed in the tropics and have proved their capability
of providing data that quantitatively describe wind fields
associated with tropical disturbances from the mesoscale
to interannual scales. A profiler was installed on Christmas
Island (2°N, 157°W) in 1985, and since 1986 its wind data
have been transmitted operationally and assimilated into
global numerical analyses and prediction models. On
Pohnpei (7°N, 157°E) a vertically directed 50-MHz profiler
has operated continuously since 1984, and the resulting
data have been used to study the vertical velocity profiles
on several scales of temporal averaging (Balsley et al.,
1988). Boundary-layer systems are needed to supplement
the tropospheric profilers for coverage of the lowest few
kilometers, and prototypes of such systems have been de-
veloped and tested on Christmas Island (Eklund et al.,
1988).
The panel recommends an early expansion of wind pro-
filer use in the tropics. Even 10-20 systems would result
in a quantum jump in our ability to describe the deep trop-
ics and provide a basis for model verification. About eight
systems deployed around the equator could provide un-
precedented basic data for new knowledge of equatorial
Rossby-gravity waves, Kelvin waves, the still-mysterious
30-60 day wave, the quasi-biennial oscillation, and the
ENSO (El Nino-Southern Oscillation). Because the am-
plitude of many of these wind systems varies rapidly with
latitude, it would also be important to deploy profilers
along a few north-south lines across the equator, perhaps
starting with the central Pacific and the Antilles-South
American regions. On a longer time scale, wind data are
required over the global tropics. No one system is likely
to provide the total solution, but a satellite-based system
is probably the best long-term answer, supplemented by
increased deployment of profilers and other surface-based
systems.
Carefully designed long-term regional "experiments,"
with a network of some 4-6 wind profilers, supplemented
by thermodynamic and precipitation data, could provide
the database to develop improved physical parameteriza-
TROPICAL METEOROLOGY 429
tions for MCSs. We suggest this as an alternative and far
less expensive initial approach to the problem, rather than
a series of GATE-type scale interaction experiments. A few
such networks could be created, strategically placed in dif-
ferent regimes, to obtain accurate wind, temperature, and
moisture profiles, operationally, over an area of hundreds
of kilometers in linear dimension. The interior of this area
would require quantitative determination of precipitation
and its vertical distribution, and the cloud and radiation
distributions.
These regional networks would contribute to an im-
proved tropical database, which would enter the global
four-dimensional data assimilation system as well as pro-
vide data for research. Candidate areas for such regional
networks include monsoon regions, the continental interior
of Africa and South America, and the central Pacific and
Caribbean regions where profilers could be established on
islands.
These same regional networks, of course, would also be
the obvious candidate locations for specific experiments,
perhaps aimed at the scale interaction problem and im-
proved physical understanding of mesoscale convective
systems. The panel believes that while much is yet to be
learned about the structure and organization of MCSs,
there will be a marked shift toward questions of life cycle
evolution of MCSs and their interaction with their envi-
ronment; these are the issues that place the greatest de-
mands upon the observing networks.
3.2. Quantitative Determination of Rainfall
in the Tropics
We have already stressed the central importance of
tropical rainfall and the need to develop methods for its
accurate estimation from space. Radar meteorologists are
well aware of the difficult challenges in rainfall estimation,
and Chapter 29 of this volume (by Joss and Waldvogel)
examines this subject in detail. Here, we emphasize the
long-term opportunity represented by the Tropical Rain
Measuring Mission (TRMM), and some important short-
term opportunities during the preparation for TRMM.
To quote from Simpson et al. ( 1988), the priority science
questions for TRMM are:
1) What is the four-dimensional structure of latent
heating in the tropical atmosphere? How does it vary diur-
nally, intraseasonally, seasonally, and annually?
2) What is the role of latent heat released in the tropics
in both tropical and extratropical circulations?
3) What is the relationship between changes in the
boundary conditions at the earth's surface (e.g., sea surface
temperatures, soil properties, vegetation) and precipita-
tion?
4) What is the diurnal cycle of tropical rainfall and how
does it vary in space?
5) What is the relative contribution of convective and
430 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
stratiform precipitation and how does the ratio vary in
different parts of the tropics and in different seasons?
6) How can improved documentation of rainfall im-
prove understanding of the hydrologic cycle in the tropics?
For the first time ever, these questions can be addressed
in a meaningful way with the help of the rainfall estimates
from TRMM. These will take the form of a three-year time
series of monthly or semimonthly averages over areas of
order 10 5 km 2 • The TRMM satellite is to have the first
quantitative precipitation radar in space. TRMM is to have
a low altitude (300-350 km) orbit in order to have high
spatial resolution data from passive microwave sensors
(10-km footprint) and from the radar (4-km footprint),
together with high-resolution channels in the visible and
the infrared. It is to have a low inclination ( 30-35 degrees)
orbit which will maximize coverage of the tropics and, by
visiting each location at different local times, will permit
documentation of the diurnal cycle.
TRMM by itself is not the total answer to the sampling
problem at the time-space resolution of general circulation
models, but it has a crucial and unique role as a "flying
raingage." The radar and multichannel passive microwave
radiometric measurements will be able to be compared
continuously with the visible and infrared measurements
on TRMM. When combined with "ground truth" over se-
lected areas, the TRMM becomes a powerful calibration
device that can be used to test and improve techniques for
rainfall estimation from geosynchronous satellites. Thus,
visible, infrared, and passive microwave radiometric
methods can be calibrated and tuned for the inevitable
regional differences. The opportunity will then be realized
for rainfall estimates that can be used for validation of
dynamic models of circulation systems on scales ranging
from the mesoscale to the planetary scale. For further de-
tails of the TRMM scientific objectives and opportunities,
the instrument complement, the sampling strategy and ra-
tionale, and the rain estimation algorithms, see Hildebrand
and Moore (Chapter 22a), Simpson et al. ( 1988), or the
report of the science steering group for TRMM (Simpson,
1988).
Long before the TRMM launch in 1994, there is both a
need and an opportunity to develop additional datasets
for tropical precipitation, and especially to undertake an
extensive "ground truth" program involving combinations
of remote and in situ measurements from the surface sup-
plemented by special experiments from instrumented air-
craft. Quoting from Simpson ( 1988), ". . . ground truth
data gathering is already well under way to aid mission
sampling analysis studies and to develop key regional cli-
matologies. [Sites include] Florida, a monsoon site in
northern Australia, and an ocean site in the western Pacific;
i.e., Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands. At the Florida site,
centered near the Cape Canaveral area, both onshore and
offshore (ocean) rain measurement research has begun to
develop a standard rainfall measurement and data assim-
ilation technology that can be transferred to a number of
validation sites around the globe."
The combination of instruments at the primary ground
truth site is to include standard and multiparameter radar,
raingages, disdrometers, single and multifrequency atten-
uation measurements, and Doppler radar used in the Ex-
tended Velocity Azimuth Display mode (EVAD, Srivastava
etal., 1986).
These activities are significant for several reasons. The
GATE radar/ rainfall dataset is excellent, but it represents
a few weeks in a specific part of the tropics that may or
may not have radar statistics comparable to those for other
locations. The possible biases between oceanic and con-
tinental rainfall characteristics can be addressed at several
of the test sites. Perhaps most important is the development
and testing of methodologies for measuring rainfall av-
eraged over time and space, including the capability for
evaluating algorithms for estimates from remote sensing.
The World Climate Research Program in cooperation with
the World Meteorological Organization is sufficiently con-
cerned about our admittedly shaky current rain estimation
techniques that they have recommended reexamination of
the past ten years of satellite data in the Global Precipi-
tation Climatology Project.
3.3 Applications Research: Preparing
for the NEXRAD Era
3.3.1 Hydrologic Applications of NEXRAD
in the Tropics
It is commonplace in the atmospheric sciences to com-
plain about inadequate data. Quantitative radars have in-
deed been all too scarce in the tropics. This is about to
change, however. Within a few years, modem radar sys-
tems, mostly Doppler radars, will be active or planned at
many tropical sites. These include the prospects for
NEXRADs in Florida and at numerous sites along the coasts
of the Gulf of Mexico and south Atlantic, Hawaii, Puerto
Rico, and at military bases in Guam, Kwajalein, the Phil-
ippines, and other tropical locations. Other countries have
already begun putting commercially available modem ra-
dars in operation, or will soon do so; these include Taiwan,
Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, Panama, and Brazil.
The NEXRAD algorithms developed for estimating pre-
cipitation rate, precipitation accumulation, and flash flood
potential relied heavily on experience gained during the
GATE experiment. Consequently, performance of the al-
gorithms for tropical locations should be good. However,
to specify accurately site-adaptation parameters of the
NEXRAD hydrology algorithms for locations in the tropics
or elsewhere, an archived reflectivity database must be
developed and made available. This raises the larger ques-
tion of how the data from these radars will be archived
for basic and applied research, so that they are available

for study by researchers, forecasters, and hydrometeorol-
ogists, both locally and worldwide.
Radar technology is or soon will be ahead of our scientific
understanding of the meteorological phenomena produc-
ing tropical precipitation. This is particularly true on the
mesoscale where, for example, MCSs can develop in a few
hours and die just as rapidly. These systems often produce
extreme rainfall events over limited areas and we have
little skill in predicting their occurrence and evolution.
The wealth of information the radars will provide about
tropical MCSs can be tapped effectively for basic and ap-
plied research. As an example, current NEXRAD algo-
rithms include a "nowcasting" projection of quantitative
precipitation and flash flood potential, based almost ex-
clusively on statistical extrapolation. It is imperative that
arrangements be made to ar.chive selected datasets from
NEXRAD and other radars in the tropics to support basic
and applied research directed at improving physical un-
derstanding and capability to integrate information from
a variety of sources.
Last but not least, every quantitative radar in the tropics
becomes a potential new data source for expanding our
statistical knowledge of tropical rainfall, and a potential
new ground truth site for satellite observations. As men-
tioned in the previous section, these radar data can and
should be used in combination with visible, infrared, pas-
sive and active microwave satellite observations, at least
in selected areas.
3.3.2 Tropical Cyclone Observations ancl
Warnings in the NEXRAD Era
When NEXRAD deployment begins in about 1989 on
U.S. coastlines, islands, and military bases, there will be
extremely limited experience in the use of land-based
Doppler radar for deriving tropical storm diagnostic or
prognostic information. The panel believes that it is vitally
important to expedite development of algorithms for trop-
ical cyclones, and that in the meantime the temptation to
implement untested algorithms must be resisted, whether
at NEXRAD sites or the National Hurricane Center.
While severe storm algorithms were preceded by many
years of field studies using Doppler radars, there is rela-
tively little (land-based) Doppler radar data of tropical
cyclones. The NEXRAD radars are the best potential source
of such data if they are archived. Until such datasets are
available, three sources of data can be identified for the
development and testing of NEXRAD algorithms: 1)
available cases of tropical cyclones observed by land-based
Doppler radars; 2) conventional incoherent radar data; and
3) simulated tropical cyclone datasets. An important ad-
ditional resource for both basic research and operational
use is airborne Doppler radar.
Only three tropical cyclones have been observed by
land-based Doppler radars in the United States, none of
them typical of a full hurricane as seen by a coastal radar
TROPICAL METEOROLOGY 431
(Donaldson et al., 1978; Donaldson and Ruggiero, 1986;
Bluestein and Hazen, 1987). In each case the radar was
located some distance inland and each storm was losing
its classical structure. Despite these problems Ruggiero and
Donaldson ( 1987) were able to use observations of Gloria
( 1985) to develop a tropical cyclone strength index that
had some of the characteristics of a NEXRAD-type intensity
algorithm that could aid the forecaster.
A relatively large database of conventional reflectivity
data of tropical cyclones exists, largely through the efforts
of the Hurricane Research Division of NOAA, which has
made special efforts to place digital recorders at National
Weather Service radar sites in the path of storms. These
data can be used now to help develop algorithms to identify
storm center position. This is particularly urgent, because
cyclone track algorithms will require storm center position
as input. Improvements in current algorithms for accu-
mulated precipitation could also be improved using these
data. By adding storm track, one could also investigate the
feasibility of storm-relative rainfall analyses and of ex-
trapolation a few hours ahead near the coast for flood
forecasting applications.
There are a host of potential algorithms that would use
the Doppler velocity field, including circulation center po-
sition, wind field distribution, and mean vortex analysis.
To assist in NEXRAD algorithm development while await-
ing coastal Doppler datasets, Wood and Brown ( 1987) have
created a simulated dataset of a mature hurricane close to
the coastline. The dataset was developed based upon air-
borne Doppler radar observations of mature hurricanes in
the Atlantic and in the Gulf of Mexico. Until actual
NEXRAD hurricane data becomes available (which may
be some years after the NEXRADs are in place) and in-
dependent testing can be done, such simulated datasets
may be the best available testing ground for proposed
NEXRAD algorithms.
The potential of the airborne Doppler radars deserves
special mention. As Marks' review demonstrates clearly,
they have greatly improved our understanding of tropical
cyclones during the last five years. Regardless of the
NEXRAD deployment schedule the airborne Doppler radar
will remain one of our most valuable observing instruments
for tropical cyclones (and other weather systems) for many
years. Their mobility allows the cyclone to be observed
while far out at sea and in all stages of development. In
combination with coastal NEXRAD radars (or with each
other) the airborne Doppler radars constitute a dual-
Doppler pair that can yield estimates of all components of
the wind field.
The future use of airborne Doppler radars with
NEXRADs in dual-Doppler mode has potential to be one
of the most important sources of complete wind field data
for many atmospheric systems in the next decade. A long
and expensive field program is not required-just the
availability of a suitably equipped aircraft and the subject
weather system within range of a NEXRAD radar. For more
432 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
complete treatment of the airborne Doppler radar, includ-
ing technical matters and research applications, refer to
Hildebrand and Moore, Chapter 22a, and the accompa-
nying panel report by Jorgensen and Meneghini, Chap-
ter 22b.
Real-time use of airborne Doppler data in operations is
now technologically feasible. The first step has already been
taken with the implementation of the Airborne Satellite
Data link (ASDL) which transmits reflectivity data to the
National Hurricane Center. The opportunity exists now to
add velocity data in the form of user products much like
those expected from NEXRAD. The real-time data could
also be used to initialize operational tropical cyclone
models.
Equally possible and probably more timely is the con-
tinuing need for the airborne Doppler as a basic and ap-
plied research tool. Just as important results followed the
deployment of the Doppler radars on the NOAA aircraft,
we can expect further advances to follow improvements
in performance of the existing radars and the development
of improved radars. More can and will be learned about
the energetics of the hurricane's inner core and about the
role of rainbands in the overall circulation and intensity
of the storm. Future operational applications could include
assimilation of the airborne Doppler data into a nested
objective analysis describing the inner core wind structure
and in multilevel analyses of the mean vortex and wave-
number-one asymmetry.
Acknowledgments. We would like to thank Frank Marks
not just for his excellent review, but for his important con-
tributions to the panel during all stages of our activities.
We appreciate the contributions of all of our panel mem-
bers to this report, with particular thanks to Ben Balsley
for stimulating discussions and to Michael Garstang and
Michael Hudlow for their written comments. Finally, we
thank Hope Hamilton for her editing assistance.

Chapter 26a
Organization and Internal Structure of Synoptic and Mesoscale
Precipitation Systems in Midlatitudes
K. A. Browning, Meteorological Office, Bracknell, United Kingdom
1 INTRODUCTION
The aim of this chapter is to consider the nature of syn-
optic and mesoscale phenomena especially as it affects the
ability of radar to observe the associated precipitation. The
chapter is also concerned with contributions that radar has
made toward improving the understanding of synoptic and
mesoscale systems. Other chapters in this volume deal
specifically with convective dynamics, microphysics,
boundary-layer phenomena, and tropical systems. The
scope is restricted to midlatitude frontal systems, including
(non-squall line) rainbands and associated convection, and
the effects of topography on precipitation. The emphasis
is on the use of conventional and Doppler radar for the
understanding and general monitoring of precipitation
patterns associated with these phenomena rather than on
the quantitative measurement of precipitation amounts.
Also, nonsevere weather systems are emphasized here;
severe weather systems per se, as with precipitation mea-
surement, are discussed elsewhere.
Radar methods have had obvious success in some fields,
notably in the detection and understanding of severe
storms, but with more commonplace midlatitude systems
the impact of radar has been less striking. Several factors
account for this:
1) The complicated nature of the precipitation patterns
in midlatitude frontal systems. Mesoscale and synoptic-
scale features are usually accompanied and sometimes ob-
scured by clusters of convective cells triggered by the larger
scale organization and/or the underlying topography.
Until recently the overall complexity has severely limited
not only observational studies but also numerical and
theoretical investigations of mesoscale phenomena.
2) The many sources of error in radar rainfall measure-
ments associated with the variable structure of frontal pre-
cipitation (Fig. 1.1). Although these errors have the most
serious effect on the quantitative measurement of precip-
itation, they can also lead to misinterpretation of precipi-
tation patterns, and hence mechanisms, due for example
to the beam aloft failing to detect low-level growth (and
evaporation) of frontal precipitation. This tends to confuse
further the already complicated precipitation pattern.
3) The large horizontal extent of rainbands compared
with the coverage of a single radar. This difficulty is now
433
being overcome by using composite displays from net-
works of radars with overlapping coverage. Thus Fig. 1.2a,
a composite display from six radars, clearly shows two
major rainbands. However, in view of the difficulties in
factors 1 and 2 above, it is easy to imagine how the partial
coverage obtained by any one of these radars could give
a misleading glimpse of the larger scale organization.
4) The difficulty, especially in real-time operational
practice, of synthesizing radar data with other data such
as satellite imagery and model output, because of differ-
ences in display format and projection. Figure 1.2b, de-
picting satellite imagery in the same (Transverse Mercator)
projection as the radar data in Fig. 1.2a, shows that the
two major rainbands were embedded within cloud systems
of distinctly different depths, rather as in the cross section
in Fig. 1.1. We shall show later (section 2.2) that this kind
of structure corresponds to a common frontal archetype;
however, radar data on their own, in the absence of other
data and the appropriate conceptual models, are not easy
to interpret unambiguously in terms of the nature of the
synoptic or mesoscale phenomena.
2 SYNOPTIC-SCALE ASPECTS OF
FRONTAL SYSTEMS
The first requirement for analyzing the smaller scale
features observable by radar is a synoptic-scale framework
able to reconcile the observations in a natural (i.e., system-
centered) way. A concept that has been found useful is
based on the idea of the "conveyor belt," which identifies
a major cloud- and precipitation-producing flow in a sys-
tem-relative frame of reference (Harrold, 1973). Although
both warm and cold conveyor belts can be identified in
frontal systems, the former is more fundamental. Air in
the warm conveyor belt flows roughly parallel to cold
fronts, part of it often in the form of a low-level jet within
the boundary layer just ahead of the surface cold front.
Although the main component of motion within the warm
conveyor belt is parallel to the cold front, the relatively
small and mainly ageostrophic component perpendicular
to the front has an important bearing on the frontal struc-
ture. It is useful to distinguish two contrasting situations:
• a "rearward-sloping ascent" configuration, in which
the air in the warm conveyor belt has a component of
434 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

6
E
~
.c0>
·a;
I
3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RADAR
RADAR ~--------------200km--------------~

Fig. 1.1 Cross section through an area of frontal precipitation illustrating six sources of error in the radar measurement
of surface rainfall, namely 1) radar beam overshooting the shallow precipitation at long ranges; 2) low-level evaporation
beneath the beam; 3) orographic enhancement above hills that goes undetected beneath the radar beam; 4) anomalously
high radar signal from melting snow (the bright band); 5) underestimation of the intensity of drizzle because of the
absence of large droplets; and 6) radar beam bent in the presence of a strong hydro/apse causing it to intercept land
or sea (from Browning, 19S2).

motion rearward relative to the movement of the cold front
and in which the baroclinic slantwise ascent occurs in the
vicinity of and above the cold frontal zone,
• a "forward-sloping ascent" configuration, in which
the air in and above the warm conveyor belt has a com-
ponent of motion forward relative to the movement of the
cold front, with its main region of slantwise ascent occur-
ring ahead of the surface cold front in regions of warm
frontal baroclinicity.
These two configurations are distinct and cover all sit-
uations; however, as is shown later, they can coexist along
different portions of the same conveyor belt, and they can
evolve from one configuration to the other.

Fig. 1.2 (a) Composite display from an operational network of six weather radars and (b) infrared imagery from METEOSAT, showing
rainbands and associated cloud tops at 1700j1SOO UTC 4 January 19S6. Colors in (a) represent rainfall intensities: blue 0.1-1; green
> 1; yellow> 4; red> S mm h- 7• Colors in (b) represent cloud top temperatures: white< -40°C; red< -30°C; blue < -20°C; cyan
< -10°C; green < 0°C; yellow < S°C; black ;;;. soc.

Recent theoretical studies of conditional (i.e., moist)
symmetric instability and of frontogenetic forcing in the
presence of weak symmetric stability, referred to in sections
3 and 4, describe a form of instability that can concentrate
the scale of the moist ascent within the conveyor belts
regardless of their orientation, thereby leading to the oc-
currence of mesoscale handedness within these flows.
2..1 The Warm Conveyor Belt with
Rearward-Sloping Ascent
The rearward-sloping ascent configuration (Fig. 2.1 ), in
which some or all of the warm conveyor belt air rises with
a component rearward above an advancing wedge of cold
air, corresponds to the classical ana-cold frontal situation
(Sansom, 1951 ). In contrast to situations of forward-sloping
ascent, the surface cold front in cases of rearward-sloping
ascent tends to be sharp. The warm air in the boundary
layer ahead of the surface cold front is lifted abruptly at
up to several meters per second within a narrow strip ad-
jacent to the surface cold front. This is a region of intense
cyclonic shear (10- 2 s- 1) on the western boundary of the
pre-cold frontal low-level jet, and the ascent there is con-
sistent with the expected Ekman-layer convergence
(Browning and Harrold, 1970).
The air rises typically 2 to 3 km in a narrow strip of
abrupt ascent at the surface cold front. It undergoes further
ascent slantwise at a few tens of centimeters per second,
above the wedge of cold air. As shown in the example in
Fig. 2.2, these two regions of ascent produce two distinct
regions of precipitation which are readily distinguished by
radar: 1) a narrow band of heavy rain at the surface cold
front, and 2) a broad belt of light-to-moderate rain ex-
6km-
Descend ong ...._
dry a1r
Wilh
IOw8.
3 km-
conveyor
belt
Fig. 2.1 Schematic portrayal of the airflow in a classical ana-cold front showing the warm conveyor belt (stippled
arrow) undergoing rearward-sloping ascent above the cold frontal zone. (a) Plan view, (b) vertical section along AB
in (a). Flows are shown relative to the moving frontal system. (From Browning, 1985.)
MIDLATITUDE PRECIPITATION SYSTEMS 435
tending behind and sometimes to some extent ahead of
the surface cold front.
2..2. The Warm Conveyor Belt with
Forward-Sloping Ascent
The forward-sloping ascent configuration (Fig. 2.3) cor-
responds to a kata-cold front situation (Sansom, 1951) in
which the main ascent of the warm conveyor belt takes
place ahead of the surface cold front and dry, recently
descended air with low wet-bulb potential temperature
(Ow) overruns the warm conveyor belt in the middle tro-
posphere. This leads to generation of potential instability,
which is realized as convection once the general flow has
been lifted sufficiently. This sometimes occurs as deep
convection from the surface; more usually, especially in
northwestern Europe, it occurs as shallow middle-level
convection. Eventually the cloudy warm conveyor belt flow
overtakes, and ascends over the cold air ahead of the sur-
face warm front.
The leading edge of the overrunning dry low-Ow air ad-
vancing ahead of the surface cold front often appears as
a well-defined upper cold front (UU in Fig. 2.3a). "Upper"
in this context means levels between about 3 and 6 km.
Ahead of the upper cold front, the depth of the warm
moist air increases abruptly in association with an orga-
nized band of middle-level convection. This gives a wide
band of moderate-to-heavy rain, often at the trailing edge
of a region of rather lighter and more nearly uniform warm
frontal precipitation, much of which may evaporate before
reaching the ground. The passage of the upper cold front
is followed by a shallow moist zone with scattered out-
breaks of weakly convective rain and drizzle, perhaps with
5 m s ' up
Surface cold front
436 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

0300 GMT 3.9.86

Fig. 2.2 Analysis and radar network display at 0300 UTC on 3 September 1986 over the British Isles and northwest France, showing a cold
front with rearward-sloping ascent (from Browning et al., 1987). (a) Rainfall distribution from the UK weather radar network. Three rainfall
intensity ranges are shown. Red indicates > 4, green > 1, and blue 0.1-1 mm h- 1• (b) Surface analysis. The warm conveyor belt is shown by
the broad stippled arrow. The rear of the cold frontal cloud deck is scalloped.

some outbreaks of deeper convection close to the cyclone
center. Because of the separate existence of the upper cold
front ahead of the surface front, this is referred to as a
split front model (Browning and Monk, 1982). Both upper
and surface fronts are usually characterized by a marked
decrease in Ow, but often this is associated with only a
small drop in temperature. Browning and Monk suggest
that such fronts are better regarded as moisture fronts than
cold fronts. Nevertheless it is convenient to refer to them
as cold fronts provided it is recognized that "cold" refers
to wet-bulb rather than dry-bulb temperature.
Analyzing split cold fronts in terms of the simple Nor-
wegian frontal model causes much confusion. The tradi-
tional cold frontal symbolism should be reserved for the
surface cold front, and the upper cold front identified dif-
ferently, perhaps by a scalloped line. In the example in
Fig. 2.4 the upper cold front is analyzed at the rear edge
of the highest cloud. Low (Fig. 2.4c), but still quite bright
(Fig. 2.4d), cloud extends behind it as far as the surface
cold front. Figure 2.4a shows that radar detects a wide
band of precipitation, with embedded clusters of convec-
tive precipitation, just ahead of the upper cold front. Radar
did not detect much precipitation between the upper cold
front (UCF) and the surface cold front (SCF) despite the
occurrence of extensive moderate drizzle in this shallow
moist zone (SMZ) (Fig. 2.4e). Upper and lower cold fronts
separated by a SMZ are common in some regions, and
forecasters are often misled by radar into expecting too
early a clearance of precipitation during their passage. The
radar clearly detects the deep precipitation associated with
the upper cold front but not the region of shallow, small-
droplet precipitation behind it; moreover, because the SMZ
is potentially unstable, this region is also prone to new
outbreaks of convective precipitation.
The SMZ in the split front model as described above is
essentially an unoccluded warm sector. Typically the
highest values of Ow occur in the SMZ just ahead of the
SCF. A split cold frontal system can itself become occluded
in which case the upper cold front corresponds to one or
more "cold surges" as described by .Kreitzberg and Brown
(1970), Matejka et al. (1980), and Parsons and Hobbs
(1983a).
3 MESOSCALE FRONTAL RAINBANDS
The main cloud- and precipitation-producing airstream
within midlatitude cyclones has been described above in
terms of a system-relative flow called a conveyor belt. Pre-
cipitation is seldom uniform across a conveyor belt. Con-
vective and mesoscale circulations develop which modu-
late the distribution of precipitation. The convection leads
to precipitation intensification within cells each of the order
of kilometers across. The mesoscale circulations are of two
kinds. One leads to convective cells forming in clusters,
giving rise to so-called mesoscale precipitation areas
(MPAs) several tens of kilometers across (see Fig. 2.4a).
The other leads to banded precipitation features. Some-
times such rainbands are rather uniform along their length,
as in Fig. 2.2a; more often they consist of aligned mesoscale
precipitation areas as in Figs. 1.2a or 2.4a.
 MIDLATITUDE PRECIPITATION SYSTEMS 437

/
/
(b) Upper cold frontal precip. //Warm frontal preci~
~ /r-----~----~
km
--~~~=//-=~%87#~
6

Shallow moist zone

Fig. 2.3 Schematic portrayal of the airflow in a midlatitude cyclone in which the warm
conveyor belt (solid arrow with stippled shading) is undergoing forward-sloping ascent
ahead of the surface cold front before rising above the warm front (after Browning and
Monk, 1982). (a) Plan view, showing the separate upper cold front UU and the surface
cold front, i.e., a split front. Hatched shading denotes areas of moderate or heavy precip-
itation. Dry middle-tropospheric air with low 8w is overrunning part of the warm conveyor
belt. (b) Vertical section along AB in (a). Numbers represent precipitation type: 1) warm
frontal precipitation; 2) convective precipitation-generating cells associated with the upper
cold front; 3) precipitation from the upper cold frontal convection descending through an
area of warm advection; 4) shallow moist zone between the upper and surface cold fronts
characterized by warm advection and scattered outbreaks of mainly light rain and drizzle;
5) shallow precipitation at the surface cold front itself.

Rainbands, to a first approximation, tend to be aligned
parallel to the conveyor belt flow. Often a conveyor belt
is locally almost parallel to a surface front (Figs. 3.1a and
3.1c) and the belts of precipitation take on a similar ori-
entation. At other times a conveyor belt may be oriented
at a large angle across a surface front, for example where
an upper cold front overruns the warm front. In such a
case the rainband will be oriented parallel to the upper
cold front instead of the underlying warm front (Fig. 3.1 b).
Considerable attention has been paid to the nature of
mesoscale rainbands and many categories have been
identified on the basis of radar and aircraft studies. Broadly
speaking, however, there are two principal categories:
narrow rainbands and wide rainbands. As discussed here,
these two categories are dynamically distinct. Narrow
rainbands are boundary-layer phenomena associated with
density current type flows while wide rainbands are due
to upper-level circulations associated with weak or negative
symmetric stability. (Broad, squall-line type rainbands as-
sociated with deep convection are not discussed in this
chapter.)
3.1 Narrow Rainbands
The majority of narrow rainbands are boundary-layer
phenomena. Although feeble bands of light rain and driz-
zle, probably generated by helical vortex circulations,
sometimes occur within the shallow moist zone ahead of
the surface cold front, the most significant narrow bands
occur at the sharp surface cold-frontal discontinuity in the
situation of rearward-sloping ascent described in section
2.1 . They tend to occur when the air ahead of the surface
 ,... ~,
15 052 15 049 15 045 15 054 14 063 14 082 15 095
~02\ ~13\. 56,',~ 36 L 5o;~L 25•:·~'\
14
45:.~'\ 14 ••
15 13...,...
15 8/ 05
13 ~~~ 14 6/ 18 6/ 03 8/05 8M 8/ 16 8/11
1/05 5/14 6/03 5/ 07 3/06 4/ 06
4/ 04

TIM E 20 19 I 18 17 I 16 15 14
SCF~SMZ > UCF

Fig. 2.4 Radar and satellite imagery and analysis for 1800 UTC on 1 August 1986 showing a frontal system characterized by forward-sloping
ascent (from Browning et al., 1987). (a) Rainfall distribution from the UK weather radar network. Colors as in Fig. 2.2. (b) Surface analysis. The
scalloped line represents the upper cold front. (c) METEOSAT infrared image. White indicates cloud top temperature less than -30°C. Warmer
tops are shown by the progression red, green, and black (black representing temperatures above 15°C). (d) METEOSAT visible image. White
indicates the brightest and thickest cloud. Progressively thinner cloud is shown by red, blue, and yellow, with black corresponding to clear sky.
(e) Synoptic observations at St. Mawgan in southwest England (Min Fig. 2.4b) between 1400 and 2000 UTC on 1 August. Passages of the upper
cold front, shallow moist zone, and surface cold front are marked UCF, SMZ and SCF, respectively. The sequence of weather is: ahead of UCF-
moderate or heavy rain; in the SMZ-rain and drizzle, low cloud, maximum wet-bulb temperature; behind the SCF- cessation of rain and
drizzle, lifting and breaking of low cloud, decrease of wet-bulb temperature.
 MIDLATITUDE PRECIPITATION SYSTEMS 439

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 3.1 Idealized representation of three types of configuration of U-type wide rainbands (hatched shading) in
relation to the warm conveyor belt flow (broad arrows): (a) and (b) represent situations of forward-sloping ascent
with warm frontal and prefrontal cold surge rainbands, respectively; (c) represents rearward-sloping ascent with
cold frontal rainbands. Narrow rainband elements occur along the surface cold front coexisting with the wide
rainbands in (c). (From Browning, 1985.)

cold front is not unstable (convective instability leads to the lin,e elements there may be a more gradual transition
lines of broader, more distinctly three-dimensional, con- (Fig. 3.3c). When such a gap passes over a surface reporting
vective cells). Immediately ahead of the surface cold front station it can, unless interpreted with radar data, give the
the strong low-level flow in the boundary layer gives rise misleading impression that the surface front is more gen-
to a neutrally stratified boundary layer about 2 km deep erally diffuse. Occasionally the transition zone develops
and capped by a stable layer. The narrow rainband that centers of vorticity and even small tornadoes (Carbone,
occurs here is aligned along the length of the surface cold 1982). Short-lived minitornadoes often accompany line
front. Even though seldom more than 3 km in depth and convection in Britain.
width, such bands frequently produce a burst of very heavy The line of shallow cumulonimbus associated with line
rain and sometimes small hail. convection tends to occur toward the leading edge of deep
The band of almost vertical convection that gives rise
to a narrow cold-frontal rainband is referred to as line
convection (Browning and Harrold, 1970). Early radar pic-
tures are given in Kessler and Wexler (1960). It occurs just
in advance of the cold air, the leading edge of which ap-
pears to behave as a density current (see section 4.1). When
the boundary layer ahead of the front is neutrally rather
than unstably stratified (with respect to saturated ascent)
the density current has the effect of generating convection
that is forced rather than free-hence its narrow linear
characteristics. Line convection can, on occasion, extend
as an unbroken line for a hundred kilometers, but more
usually, it is broken into a series of line elements leading
to precipitation cores each of the order of ten kilometers
long (James and Browning, 1979; Hobbs and Biswas, 1979).
Moore (1985) suggests that these are associated with a
horizontal shearing instability at the strongly sheared edge
of the low-level jet ahead of the front. Thorpe and Emanuel
(1985) suggest that they are due to an internal baroclinic/
barotropic instability. The resulting radar rainfall pattern
is shown in Fig. 3.2. '
Narrow rainbands are associated with sharp cold fronts
but such fronts are not uniformly sharp (Fig. 3.3a). The Fig. 3.2 PPI radar display showing a narrow cold frontal rainband
sharpest transitions of pressure, wind, temperature, and over England. Pink and red, heavy rain mostly associated with the
humidity occur in association with the precipitation cores narrow rainband; blue, light and moderate rain. Resolution is 5
along the line elements (e.g., Fig. 3.3b). In the gaps between X5 km.
440 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Fig. 3.3a (a) Schematic depiction of the temperature transition at a sharp

surface cold front. Line convection elements, with intense low-level conver-
gence, strong updrafts, and heavy precipitation, occur in the regions with a
sharp transition. The regions where the temperature gradient is more gradual
correspond to gaps between the line convection elements. The broad arrows,
representing the flow at low levels on either side of the interface, are drawn
relative to the ground.

stratiform cloud associated with the rearward-sloping as-
cent. Sometimes it occurs right at the leading edge in which
case it may be easily detectable in satellite imagery. More
often it is embedded within the main mass of stratiform
cloud and then may not be evident at all in the infrared
imagery (Fig. 3.4a), although the associated narrow rain-
band is easily detectable by radar (Fig. 3.4b).
3.2. Wide Rainbands
The broad zone of generally light-to-moderate rain as-
sociated with the slantwise ascent of the warm conveyor
belt often contains one or more organized bands of mod-
erate rain several tens of kilometers wide (e.g. Fig. 3.4b).
These are associated with mesoscale circulations within
the conveyor belt about an axis parallel to the mean relative
flow. Theories to account for them include ducted internal
gravity waves (Lindzen and Tung, 1976) and slantwise
moist convection driven by conditional symmetric insta-
bility (CSI) (Bennetts and Hoskins, 1979; Emanuel, 1983).
Studies relating various mechanisms to radar observations
of rainbands tend to support CSI (e.g., Bennetts and Sharp,
1982).
In a dry atmosphere, symmetric instability is a two-di-
mensional instability that manifests itself as helical roll
perturbations with the axis of the rolls parallel to the baro-
clinic zone. Most frontal zones are in fact stable to sym-
metric instability. In saturated frontal regions, however,
the latent heat released within rising air assists the sym-
metric instability, leading to the so-called moist or con-
ditional symmetry instability (CSI). Bennetts and Hoskins
(1979) showed that in a saturated atmosphere the growth
rate of CSI is given approximately by o-2 = -qw/Nw2 where
Nw 2 is the Brunt-Vaisala frequency of moist air and qw is
the vorticity on a wet-bulb potential temperature surface.
They envisage the generation of rainbands by CSI as a
three-stage process. First, as air moves poleward and rises
through a baroclinic wave, its wet-bulb potential vorticity
becomes negative because of humidity gradients in the
direction of the thermal wind. Second, when the air has
been lifted sufficiently to become saturated, the CSI leads
to roll circulations and bands of cloud. Finally, the roll
circulations generate regions of conditional gravitational
instability in the middle troposphere and the resulting
convective cells lead to banded rainfall.
The types of wide rainbands observed in nature are listed
in Table 3.1. The most common type of wide rainband
within major frontal systems is the upper-level (U-type)
rainband. Although U-type bands may occupy any of the
positions within a frontal system indicated earlier in Fig.
 MIDLATITUDE PRECIPITATION SYSTEMS 441

Rhoose
1015
1
10 5Lh
(b) mm h_,
mb
05

1005 '------,2-!-:1--::00:---0:':3- -:!0'::-6- 00 01 02

Port Talbot 15
1015
10
mb

1005 '------,_2L1--'00--0.L..3--'06':"""

Aberporth
15
1015
(c) 10
mb mm h _,
20 knots 05
'l---+-+----T""""-.1, 10
2'-1---"-----'-22___,_,2300 1005 ..___1.,_8_..,.._21--,0L-0--::':03:---

Brawdy 15

10

05

Wind Pressure Ra infall

Fig. 3.3 (Continued) Also, autographic records of wind, pressure and rainfall on 19 January
1975 during the passage of (b) line convection elements and (c) gaps between line elements.
(From James and Browning, 1979.)

3.1 and are referred to by Houze et al. (1976) and Hobbs
(1978) as types 1, 4a, and 3b rainbands according to their
location, they nevertheless tend to have similar dynamical
characteristics and may conveniently be considered as one
dynamical type. The characteristics of U-type rainbands
may be summarized as follows
(i) They are associated with the ascending parts of the
warm conveyor belt where its top reaches into the middle
troposphere.
(ii) They contain clusters of middle- or upper-level con-
vective cells that are generated within a shallow layer of
potential instability where low-Ow air overruns the warm
conveyor belt. The underlying air is generally statically
stable, occasionally markedly so at some levels.
(iii) They are 50 km wide (± factor of 2) and typically
a few hundred kilometers long with an orientation parallel
to the baroclinicity in the upper levels. The baroclinicity
at lower levels is often not only stronger but also may be
oriented differently.
The structure and evolution of U-type rainbands have
been studied by Kreitzberg and Brown (1970) using radar
and radiosondes. They use the term "leafed hyperbaro-
clinic structures" to describe the wrinkling of the surfaces
of constant Ow in the warm conveyor belt above a frontal
zone caused by the mesoscale circulations. Each major
wrinkle, or warm tongue, in the conveyor belt gives rise
to a separate U-type rainband. The wrinkles locally en-
hance the potential instability and lead to the upper-level
convective generating cells.
3.3 Evolution in Rainband Type
During the process of rapid deepening of a cyclone there
can be a rather rapid evolution in rainband type as part
of a cold front evolves from the rearward-sloping config-
uration (described in section 2.1) to the forward-sloping
configuration (section 2.2). This process may be illustrated
by means of an example using radar and satellite data plus
numerical model products. Figure 3.5 shows a developing
442 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Fig. 3.4 (a) False-color infrared satellite image from METEOSAT showing a cold frontal cloud band oriented southwest-northeast
across England and Wales. Red and pink, high cloud; dark blue, medium cloud; pale blue, low cloud and cold land; green, sea and
warm land. (b) As in (a) but with data from a network of four radars embedded within it on the same scale and projection. White
corresponds to very heavy rain; red, heavy; pink, moderate; blue, light; black, no rain.

cyclone over a four-hour period while the low center was
deepening from 980 to 972 mb. Initially the northern part
of the cold front had a rearward-sloping configuration and
the southern part a forward-sloping configuration. As time
progressed the forward-sloping portion extended farther
north. Along parts of the surface cold front drawn boldly
in Fig. 3.5 line convection was producing a narrow rain-
band of the kind described in section 3.1. The line con-
vection occurred along only the northern part of the surface
cold front where it was characterized by rearward-sloping
ascent, and by the end of the period it was dying out al-
together.
The controlling factor in this evolution was an intrusion
of dry air, of upper tropospheric and lower stratospheric
origin, with a leading edge denoted in Fig. 3.5 by the dou-
ble line. Detectable as a dry zone in METEOSAT water

TABLE 3.1
Types of Wide Mesoscale Frontal Rainbands

DetaOed Cla11lintion
[After Hoaze et al. Auodated
(1976) and Robbe frontal location and
Broad CluslScatlon (1978}) Archetype Orientation Pabliehed Examples

Upper (or middle) Warm frontal rainband Forward-sloping Parallel to the warm front Browning and Harrold
tropospheric (HouzejHobbs type 1) ascent and either on or ahead (1969)
convective of it Herzegh and Hobbs (1978a)
rainbands (U-type) Heymsfield (1979)
Prefrontal cold surge Forward-sloping Parallel to and just ahead Kreitzberg (1964)
rainband (Houze/ ascent of an overrunning Kreitz berg and Brown (1970)
Hobbs type 4a) upper cold front Browning et a!. (1973)
Cold frontal rainband Rearward-sloping Parallel to and either Browning and Harrold
(HouzejHobbs type 3b) ascent behind or straddling an (1970)
active surface cold Hobbs et al. (1978)
front
Deep convective Warm-sector rainband Either? Ahead of and parallel to Nozumi and Arakawa
rain bands (HouzejHobbs type 2) the surface cold front (1968)
Herzegh and Hobbs (1978b)
Postfrontal rainband Either? Behind the main frontal Houze et at. (1976)
(Houze/Hobbs type 5) system and parallel to
the cold front
 MIDLATITUDE PRECIPITATION SYSTEMS 443

2000 2100 2200 2300

r Upper cloud boundary Cloud areas < - 35 •c ffinfm Baroclinic leaf

~::;;;:~
0 500km

Growing (( Leading edge / . .

..
convective tops )) of dry intrusion Lme convection + Max. hourly pressure fall x Low centre

Fig. 3.5 Sequence of sketches showing the overrunning process during rapid cyclogenesis over the United Kingdom
on 26 November 1983. Upper cloud boundaries derived from METEOSAT infrared imagery are scalloped. Cloud
tops colder than -35°C are stippled, with heavily stippled shading indicating convective cloud tops. The leading
edge of the dry intrusion is shown by a double line. Radar-detected line convection at the surface cold front is
indicated by a thickened line along the front. The surface low is marked by a cross; the central pressure is given
in millibars. The plus sign shows the location of the maximum pressure fall during the previous hour. (From
Young et al., 1987.)

vapor imagery and as dry air with high potential vorticity
in NWP model output, this dry intrusion progressively
overran the surface cold front in the southern part of the
system. In the northern part of the system, air in the warm
conveyor belt near the surface was ascending vigorously
at the surface cold front and then undergoing rearward-
sloping ascent within the stippled cloud sheet labelled
"baroclinic leaf." In the southern part of the system the
air in the warm conveyor belt was becoming trapped within
a shallow moist zone of steadily increasing west-east extent
as the tongue of dry air advanced above it. Ahead of the
dry intrusion deep convection broke out (as shown by the
regions of heavy stippling) so as to give a well-marked
upper cold frontal convective rainband by 2200 UTC.
Subsequently the large-scale ascent was such that deep
convection also broke out in the dry slot just south of the
low center, and the associated destabilization of the
boundary-layer air led to the disruption of line convection
at 2300 UTC.
3.4 Intersecting Rainbands
Multiple rainbands are often parallel to one another.
Exceptions occur when, for example, the leading edge of
overrunning cold air extends a variable distance ahead of
the surface cold front so that rainbands associated with
the upper and surface cold fronts may have different ori-
entations (as in Fig. 1.2). Parsons and Hobbs (1983a) have
also observed several occasions in which the wide frontal
rainbands associated with rearward-sloping ascent above
the cold front were oriented at a large angle to the narrow
rainband along the position of the surface cold front. In
all cases the wide rainband travelled faster than the narrow
rainband.
A particularly interesting situation of intersecting rain-
bands occurs in the common situation of a so-called pseudo
or instant occlusion. Figure 3.6 shows a multiple radar/
satellite composite image of two major rainbands, one ex-
tending from southwest to northeast across southern
England in association with a waving polar front, and the
other extending through Ireland to northern England in
association with a polar air trough that has begun to in-
teract with the polar front. A conceptual model of this
kind of system has been derived by Browning and Hill
(1985). According to them there are two quite distinct con-
veyor belts: one at middle and high levels associated with
the main warm conveyor belt and another associated with
a low-level jet that feeds low-level high-Owair northwest-
ward along the axis of the polar trough (Fig. 3.7). Each
conveyor belt has its own major rainband, but often, as
444 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

in Fig. 3.6, a distinct gap is between them because dry air
within the tropopause fold descends beneath the northern
boundary of the polar front warm conveyor belt and for
a while severely limits the vertical extent of convection
above the polar trough conveyor belt in this region
(Fig. 3.7b).
4 FRONTAL AIR MOTION AS
OBSERVED BY DOPPLER RADAR
Some of the best-defined Doppler observations of me-
soscale air motion within fronts have been obtained within
cold fronts with rearward-sloping ascent. The line con-
vection and the region of slantwise ascent have both been
observed and results are presented for each. An outstand-
ing feature of both regions is the sharpness of the transition
zones. This is something that Doppler radar is uniquely
fitted to reveal and that poses a challenge to theoreticians
who need to be able to derive models capable of producing
such features from more smoothly varying initial states.
4.1 Line Convection at the Surface
Cold front
Examples of well-defined line convection are given by
Browning and Harrold (1970), Carbone (1982), and Hobbs
and Persson (1982). The first and last of these studies used
data from single radars scanning either perpendicularly or
parallel to the line convection to infer the two-dimensional
flow pattern, while the second study benefited from fully
three-dimensional data from an array of three radars.
Figure 4.1 is a simple portrayal of the transverse wind
component in the vicinity of the line convection. It draws
attention to the extreme sharpness of the velocity gradients
in the lowest kilometer (10 2 s- 1 averaged horizontally over
500 m) associated with the low-level convergence at the

Fig. 3.6 Surface rainfall pattern at 1300 UTC 4 August 1985 associated with an instant occlusion, derived from a combination
of weather radar and METEOSAT data using the FRONTIERS interactive display system (Conway and Browning, 1988). Colors
represent rain over a range of intensities from light (pale blue) to heavy (pink and red) as inferred from radars. White represents
rain of unspecified intensity as inferred from METEOSAT bispectral (VlSjlR) imagery in areas of no radar cover.
 MID LATITUDE PRECIPITATION SYSTEMS 445

(a) (b)

Fig. 3.7 Conceptual model of an instant occlusion showing intersecting polar trough conveyor
belt and polar front conveyor belt. (a) Plan view, (b) Vertical section along axis of polar trough.
(From Browning and Hill, 1985.)

cold front nose. Assuming two-dimensional continuity this
would lead to an updraft velocity of several meters per
second at a height of 1 km above which the updraft weak-
ens rapidly in association with a concentrated region of
divergence. The top of the convection was at 3 km. An
important feature of line convection is that the local ratio
of width to depth is of the order of unity or even less.
Although there is evidence in Fig. 4.1 of a little of the
updraft air returning forward aloft (shaded regions rep-
resent flow forward relative to the front), most of it can
be seen flowing rearward above the advancing layer of
cold air.
Figure 4.2 shows the relative flow pattern for a case of
line convection in California. Although uncharacteristically

/ / /
/ / /
/ / /
/ / /
/ / /
/ / /

6 Feb 1969 "' "' tl

1124- 1125Z

:E
Ol
Q.)
I

<If-- - - -

0 -2 -4
Distance normal to front (km)

Fig. 4.1 Component of the wind normal to the front in a vertical section normal to the axis
of an element of moderately intense line convection, derived from Doppler radar scans along
the dashed lines. Isotachs are at 1 m s- 1 intervals, hatched shading indicating velocities
directed forward relative to the front. (From Browning and Harrold, 1970.)
446 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

(a)
- > 50dBZe

4
E
.Y.

N
2

-5
Distance normal to fron t (k m)
(b) y' = 16.2
6~------~---------.------~-------- ..----------------~
I -- ;5 I - 10 I "2_0.__ ,..._) I (::=:::..
( _ / I -..... ' ~o
- __ _., I _.-...._ ' "
'-.._____ / r::_:;:_ '-....._' \ o...,....

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4 r- /"
- - - - .-?
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<......- 15 '::::-, ... 1\. ~:::
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-
- 15 / / ...._ ...... .... ·. :::::::::::::

~il-ii_l_l_ iBI~II'I iJ~

E 1--- - - - -- / / ...--- ...._ ............. ..__...... " '\ " ·:::,::::;:;::.
.Y.

f- -- --.,.,._ ~ .: : ~: ~---
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2 .. . . :: . ...... '\ - - -
.. ·
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: ·
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.......
... . . . .;::.:·: . . . . . . \ 5 - 10// / /

o~~--------------~~-----------------~~----------1_5 ____~
10 5 0 -5
Distance normal to front (k m)

Fig. 4.2 (a) Relative flow and radar reflectivity, and (b) component of the wind normal to the
front, in a vertical section perpendicular to the axis of an element of very intense line convection.
Iso tachs in (b) are at 5 m s- 1 intervals, shown dashed where the flow relative to the front is from
right to left. (From Carbone, 1982.)

intense, this case is presented because it is based on mul-
tiple Doppler data, which provide a particularly accurate
picture of the airflow. In fact the depth of the inflow, the
intensity of the updraft, and the height to which it ascends
are all about twice the respective values for the UK front
in Fig. 4.1. This is partly because the propagation speed
of the Californian front was about twice that of the British
example. Carbone (1982) points out that the (stippled) re-
gion of forward relative flow in Fig. 4.2 has the charac-
teristic shape of a density current with an elevated nose
at its leading edge followed by frontal zone that trails hor-
izontally for some distance before gradually rising. Parsons
et al. (1987) show that the pressure field at the leading
edge is locally nonhydrostatic and nonsemigeostrophic.
Carbone (1982) and Hobbs and Persson (1982) demon-
strated that such cold fronts travelled at a velocity similar
to the expected propagation velocity of a density current.
If such fronts are indeed density currents then the mag-
nitude of the temperature deficit just behind the front is
likely to be an important factor contributing to the vigor
of line convection. This is because it influences the prop-
agation speed of the density current and hence the rate at
which the warm air is displaced. A large temperature excess
also helps maintain a statically stable upper boundary to
the density current, thereby lessening the turbulent mixing
and erosion of the frontal temperature contrast. Factors
that determine the temperature deficit are the latent heat
sinks within the cold air due to evaporation (Browning
and Pardoe, 1973) and possibly melting (Carbone, 1982)
of precipitation falling from the region of rearward-directed
flow overlying the cold air (d. Fig. 2.1). These micro-
physical effects are only part of the story, however, since
the density current can advance only to the extent that the
synoptic-scale forcing allows. If the precipitation-induced
cooling is so great as to cause the density current to travel
faster than it can be fed by the synoptic-scale circulation,
then it will cause the depth of the density current to di-
minish, thereby leading to a decrease in its propagation
velocity.
Another factor that probably contributes to the nature
and intensity of the line convection is the strength and
orientation of the vertical shear in the boundary layer
 MIDLATITUDE PRECIPITATION SYSTEMS 447

NW SE

0 5 10

8 4 0 -4 -8
Distance normal to front (km)
Fig. 4.3 Parallel-front component of the wind within a vertical section perpenaicular to the
axis of an element of line convection. Isotachs are mostly at 2.5 m s- 1 intervals. The frontal
wind shift is contained mainly within the heavy solid lines. (After Hobbs and Persson, 1982.)

ahead of the line (Rotunno et al., 1988; Parsons et al.,
1988). When there is large vertical shear without marked
potential instability the buoyancy gradients at the surface
cold front are liable to produce a deeper and more intense
updraft there.
Figure 4.3 shows the distribution of the parallel-front
wind component for an example of line convection in
Washington State. The region at the surface front where
the boundary layer peels off to form the line convection
is seen to be associated with a strong horizontal gradient
of this component, corresponding to a cyclonic shear of
10-2 s- 1 over 1 km, at the boundary of a low-level jet
which reaches 14m s- 1• In the United Kingdom the low-
level jet associated with line convection is usually stronger
than this, sometimes exceeding 30m s- 1• The two-dimen-
sional convergence of mass within the friction layer in a
region of cyclonic shear can be calculated from a relation-
ship given by Eliassen (1959). For two cases of line con-
vection, Browning and Harrold (1970) showed that the
frictional convergence calculated in this way was com-
parable with the convergence deduced directly from the
measured transverse-front velocities assuming two-di-
mensional continuity.
4.2 Rearward-Sloping Ascent
Figure 4.4a-f shows time-height sections (equivalent to
spatial cross sections) during the passage of a cold front
with rearward-sloping ascent. The various parts of this
figure show features of the kinematic structure (thin lines),
derived using the conical scanning (VAD) method
(Browning and Wexler, 1968), shown in relation to the
cold frontal zone (whose boundaries are represented by
thick lines) as derived from special radiosondes. The flow
very close to the position of the surface cold front was
derived by Doppler scans parallel and perpendicular to
the front.
One of the outstanding features of the frontal zone and
its vicinity that is revealed by Fig. 4.4 is the pronounced
lamination not only in the fields of the parallel-front and
transverse-front velocity components, but also in diver-
gence and deformation. Values of divergence and defor-
mation vary ±40 X 10-5 s- 1 over height intervals of as
little as 500 m, yet there is considerable consistency in a
direction parallel to the gently inclined cold frontal zone.
The kinematic structure is evidently tied closely to the
thermal structure, for there is a layer of maximum con-
vergence and deformation not only at the top of the main
frontal zone but also at the top of another minor stable
layer beneath it. As well as telling something about the
linkage between the flow pattern and the static stability,
the consistency in the data also gives confidence in the
validity of the mesoscale observations. This is important
considering the difficulty in obtaining accurate and (in view
of the possibility of local terrain-induced biases) represen-
tative measurements on the mesoscale.
Three interesting dynamical features displayed in Fig.
4.4a-f are highlighted in Fig. 4.4g which, although resem-
bling an artist's impression because of its simplicity, nev-
ertheless closely follows the detailed data in Fig. 4.4a-f.
The three features are the following.
4.2.1 The Boundary-Layer Extrusion
Air in the kilometer or so above the frontal zone origi-
nates mainly from the lowest kilometer within the bound-
ary layer ahead of the front. Some cold air probably mixes
into this flow in the turbulent zone at the top of the cold
air nose. Also, parcels of warm air peel off and enter the
 4,---,------------..-----------~--------

'E
::!:.
:E 2
Ol
'iii
I

24

.....
' \. /

8
0
13 12 CF 11 11
Time (GMT) <E-------- Time (GMT)
y
80 km 40 0

11 13 12 CF 11
<E------- Time (GMT) + - - - Time (GMT)

:E
Ol
'iii
I

13 12 CF 11
0 ~~~~~
13 12 SCF 11
<E------ Time (GMT) <E------ Time (GMT)

Fig. 4.4a-f Time-height sections showing kinematic properties (thin lines) in relation to a cold frontal zone and other stable layers (bold lines).
(a) Parallel-front velocity component, with isotachs at 2 m s- 1 intervals; (b) transverse-front velocity component, with isotachs at 2 m s- 1
intervals and hatched shading for relative flow from right to left; (c) divergence, with isopleths at 20 X w-s s- 1 intervals (hatched for
convergence); (d) deformation, with isopleths at 20 X w-s s- 1 intervals (hatched shading represents stretching parallel to front); (e) vertical
velocity, with isopleths at 10 em s- 1 intervals (hatched for upward motion); (f) streamlines of flow relative to the front, plus a cusped line
representing the base of the main stratiform cloud deck as inferred from the zero vertical velocity isopleth. Equivalent distance scale is given
at the foot of (a). (From Browning and Harrold, 1970.)
 MIDLATITUDE PRECIPITATION SYSTEMS 449

4.2.2 The Upper Tropospheric Extrusion

The main region of descent, reaching 20 em s-I, occurs

in the form of a rear inflow jet within the cold frontal zone.
The closeness of the relationship between this descending
flow and the frontal zone suggests that it may be a down-
ward extension of the phenomenon observed by Danielsen
(1968) and Shapiro et al. (1982) who found extrusions of
high potential vorticity, radioactivity, and ozone within
upper frontal zones that form independently on the west
side of the upper trough. Rear inflow maxima overridden
by front-to-rear maxima in the transverse-front compo-
nent, similar to those described here, are also a feature of
midlatitude squall line systems with rearward-sloping an-
vils (Smull and Houze, 1985; Srivastava et al., 1986).
Doppler radar studies of tropical mesoscale convective
systems reveal similar structures (e.g., Testud, 1982).

4.2.3 The Interface between the Two Extrusions

This interface lies along the maximum of deformation
(which is not quite coincident with the frontal zone). The
front-parallel component of the wind increases with height
across the main frontal zone, broadly in accord with ther-
mal wind considerations. The increase in the transverse-
front wind component occurs above the frontal zone in
Distance beh ind surface cold front (km) association with the ageostrophic transverse circulation.
The strongest wind shear occurs across this latter region
Fig. 4.4g Simplified representation of the kinematic structure in Fig. within the zone of maximum deformation corresponding
4.4a-f.
to the interface between the two extrusions. This is a region
of low Richardson number (Ri) subject to shearing (Kelvin-
descending branch of the circulation, consistent with the Helmholtz) instability. Doppler radar studies by Bryant
zero vertical velocity isopleth (scalloped line in Fig. 4.4f) and Browning (1975), Testud et al. (1980), and Wang et
sloping more steeply than the frontal zone and in line with al. (1983) show evidence of the resulting K-H billows.
the well-known tendency for the cloud base to slope more Doppler radar studies of frontal zones (Browning et al.,
steeply than the front. 1970) also suggest a balance between the larger scale wind

Equivalent space scale (km)

. ........ . __ .--- __ _
0 50 100 150 200

6 6
Level of generating cells and 8-bands
---- .....
_, '
"\
5
-
..___ - - -
'Ill['"" -........ /
/-;:,T
VH '
E 4 ........... ----..... 1/
.,...-
v
"" / -<!-

::s _, ', I
:c0> 3
'iii
I
2

~===c ____ L __ __ L_ _ _ _ 05~0-0--~----~--~----0~40-

0--~~---L----L-~L03LOO----L_---L____~~0=20g

T ime (CST)

Fig. 4.5 Schematic cross section through a warm front containing three warm frontal rainbands (A1, A2, A3). The top and bottom of
the warm frontal zone are represented by thick solid lines. The large-scale flow relative to the front is represented by thin solid streamlines.
The secondary circulations associated with the rainbands (axes of bands are normal to the plane of the diagram) are represented by
dashed streamlines. (After Heymsfield, 1979.)
450 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
field tending to diminish Ri and the shearing instability
causing mixing that prevents Ri from falling below a critical
value.
4.3 Transverse Circulation Associated with
Wide Precipitation Bands
Detailed observations of the circulations associated with
mesoscale rainbands are difficult to obtain. One of the first
detailed observational datasets of the circulations asso-
ciated with wide U-type rainbands was collected by
Heymsfield (1979). His observations apply to warm frontal
rainbands, and he summarized his results as shown in Fig.
4.5. This shows that each rainband was associated with a
transverse circulation 100 km wide and 3 km deep situated
in the warm conveyor belt region above the warm frontal
zone. Vertical velocities in each band reached 30 to 40 em
s- 1 • The bands appeared to propagate more slowly than
the winds in the layer occupied by the transverse circu-
lations. Below the frontal zone, another circulation was
apparently produced by pressure perturbations set up by
melting-induced cooling as suggested by the earlier Dopp-
ler radar observations of Atlas et al. (1969). A recent
Doppler radar study of a wide precipitation band by Sand-
ers and Bosart (1985) showed that the band was associated
with a shallow layer of strong transverse-band velocity
components, evidently due to large-scale frontogenetic
forcing, separating ascending air with small hydrostatic
and symmetric stability above from descending air with
large stability below.
Fig. 5.1 Tracks of five mesoscale precipitation areas (MPAs) observed with a network of radars on
5 December 1972. The inset shows the location of the five MPAs labeled A to E, and of all other
MPAs, observed at 1747 UTC. (From Hill and Browning, 1979.)
5 SYNOPTICALLY FORCED
CONVECTION
5.1 Shallow Convection in the Middle and
Upper Troposphere
As discussed in section 2.2 a feature of midlatitude fron-
tal systems, especially those in which the warm conveyor
belt undergoes forward-sloping ascent (Fig. 2.3), is the
generation of potential instability in the middle and upper
troposphere where dry air of low Ow overruns the warm
conveyor belt. The associated convection is seen from radar
to occur as clusters of generator cells leading to so-called
mesoscale precipitation areas (MPAs) several tens of ki-
lometers across. Although the convective cells in these
MPAs are typically less than 2 or 3 km deep, the total
depth of the precipitation, including the region of fallout
beneath the base of the convection, is nearer 6 km. Some-
times MPAs are aligned in bands parallel to the upper cold
front as in Fig. 2.4a; sometimes in warm sectors they are
randomly distributed; often, as in Fig. 5.1 (inset), there is
a mixture of banded and irregularly distributed MPAs.
Despite major orographic effects that may occur at low
levels (section 6.2), MPAs tend to be persistent and track-
able over periods of many hours. Because they travel at
the speed of the winds at the level of the convective gen-
erating cells, they are generally fast-moving (e.g., 110 to
150 km h- 1 in Fig. 5.1).
Figure 5.2 shows the vertical air velocities associated
with the passage of three MPAs as derived from Doppler
radar conical scans. The MPAs were associated with con-
0 50 km
5 DEC 1972
 MIDLATITUDE PRECIPITATION SYSTEMS 451

6 19 Jan 1969
Vertical air motion
i
Potentially
unstable

4 t
Weak
E frontal
~ zone
L:
01
·a;
I
2 Strong
frontal zone

22 21 20 19

- - Time (G MT)

Fig. 5.2 Time-height section showing the distribution of vertical air velocity during the passage of an area of warm
frontal precipitation derived from Doppler radar observations made on the Isles of Scilly (United Kingdom) to avoid
the effects of topography. Thin lines are isotachs at 5 em s-1 intervals, areas of ascent are stippled and descent hatched.
Thick lines represent the top and bottom of the main warm frontal zone as determined from roughly hourly radiosondes.

vective cells occurring at the top of a warm conveyor belt
ascending at the leading edge of a frontal system, above
the warm frontal zone. The MPAs, being fast-moving,
progress through the parent synoptic system and decay at
the leading edge as they deplete the convective instability.
Thus in Fig. 5.2 the regions of high radar reflectivity la-
belled MPA II and III still had active convective cells with
local vertical velocities of order 1 m s- 1 embedded within
mesoscale updrafts of 20 em s- 1, whereas the decaying
MPA I was characterized by weak downdrafts. In the case
of the active MPAs, although the strongest mesoscale as-
cent was in the potentially unstable layer, the region of
enhanced ascent also extended downward through a
weakly stable region above the main frontal zone. In the
main frontal zone, by contrast, the detailed measurements
revealed very strong horizontal stratification, with a local
vertical velocity within the strong frontal zone consistently
a few centimeters per second greater than that immediately
above it.
5.2 Shallow Convection in the Lower
Troposphere
In the common situation described in section 2.2 the
warm conveyor belt ahead of the surface cold front is
overrun by dry low-llw air above 700 mb to give a shallow
moist zone (SMZ) characterized by outbreaks of rain and
drizzle. The warm conveyor belt in this region tends to be
in the form of a low-level jet, and the strength of the flow
together with friction is such that the SMZ corresponds to
a deep and rather well-mixed boundary layer. Within this
layer organized circulations take the form of longitudinal
roll vortices oriented almost along the geostrophic flow
with a spacing several times the depth of the well-mixed
layer (Faller, 1965). They may give updrafts of about 1 m
s- 1 and narrow bands of rain and drizzle (Browning and
Bryant, 1975). However, the bands are weak and shallow,
and they are difficult to observe by radar for the reasons
discussed in section 1. They also appear to be disrupted
by even quite modest hills. The vigorous forced convection
at sharp surface cold fronts, already discussed in section
3.1, is more robust in this respect.
The same low-llw air that overruns the SMZ ahead of
the surface cold front sometimes also gives rise to potential
instability and low-level convection behind the surface cold
front. This is particularly so when in the case of a rapidly
deepening cyclone an intrusion of dry low-llw air overrun-
ning a relatively warm ocean enters a region of large-scale
ascent. The example in Fig. 5.3a depicts a region of showers
over western England and Wales as seen by the UK radar
network. The METEOSATwater vapor imagery (Fig. 5.3b)
shows that the showers occurred directly beneath the
tongue-like intrusion of dry upper tropospheric or lower
stratospheric air. This dry intrusion is well revealed in the
numerical model output (Fig. 5.3c). The model output also
shows that, although the air in the dry intrusion had de-
scended from upper levels, it was nevertheless in a region
of ascent by the time it reached western England and Wales
(Fig. 5.3d), thereby accounting for this outbreak of cold-
sector showers in the lower troposphere.
Shallow cold-sector showers sometimes occur during
strong wind conditions in which case the radar-tracked
showers have been shown to provide the forecaster with
a useful indication of the peak surface gusts likely to be
452 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Fig. 5.3 Radar and satellite imagery and NWP model products on 10 June 1986 when convective showers were forming in the lower troposphere
beneath a dry intrusion (after Browning et al., 1987). (a) Rainfall distribution at 1100 UTC from the UK weather radar network; (b) METEOSAT
water vapor image at 1200 UTC (dry air in the upper troposphere is shown black); (c) 400 mb relative humidity analysis for 1200 UTC from
the Meteorological Office fine mesh forecast model (areas less than 40% are stippled); (d) 800mb vertical velocity (mb h- 1), analysis for 1200
UTC from the fine mesh model (stippled areas denote ascending air).

encountered in exposed areas (Bond et al., 1981; Monk et
al., 1987). The use of SPA (small precipitation area) ve-
locities was first proposed by Ligda and Mayhew (1954).
This technique must be used cautiously since some small
precipitation areas travel at the speed of convective cells
in the upper troposphere (section 5.1), while those due to
deep convection may be associated with penetrative
downdrafts, which will produce surface gusts in excess of
the velocity of the precipitation areas. Only in the case of
shallow low-level convective showers, where there is ver-
tical exchange of momentum without major precipitation-
induced downdrafts, will the radar echo velocities give
any useful indication of peak surface gusts.
5.3 Deep Convection
Since the many facets of deep convection are discussed
in other chapters, we shall merely mention here some rel-
 MIDLATITUDE PRECIPITATION SYSTEMS 453

atively nonsevere kinds of mesoscale convective systems

detectable by radar whose organization is forced by syn-
optic-scale dynamics. One rather common situation in
northwestern Europe is the polar air trough, sometimes
developing into a small polar low, which produces a sub-
synoptic-scale comma cloud. Large-scale ascent along the
axis of the comma leads to small mesoscale convective
systems developing along the tail of the comma, travelling
along the axis and, after about 12 hours, decaying close
to the comma head. Radar is well suited for observing
these systems, although a network of radars is required to
keep track of a system during its whole lifetime.
Mesoscale convective systems of the kind common in
the United States are encountered less frequently in the
more maritime climate of northwestern Europe. Occasion-
ally, as in Fig. 5.4, clusters of deep convective cells knit
(a} together over a period of hours to form a large integral
anvil outflow. The event in Fig. 5.4 was associated with a
11 JULY 82 flow of high-Ow air from France circulating around the
1900 GMT
leading edge of a cutoff low. This air was being forced to
rise over a wedge of cold surface easterly winds over
England (Fig. 5.5). In this case the mesoscale convective
system generated a surface mesohigh due to downdrafts,
but the downdraft air failed to penetrate to the ground,
presumably because it spread out on top of the underlying
wedge of cold air. As in the bigger systems in the United
States, the area of deep convection (thickly cross hatched
in Fig. 5.4c) coexisted with a large area of more nearly
uniform (stratiform) rain associated with mesoscale ascent
within the anvil outflow downwind of the convection. As
described by Zipser (1982) the ratio of the areas of strat-
iform to convective rain increases steadily throughout the
typically 12-hour life cycle of a major mesoscale convective
(b) system.

6 TOPOGRAPHICALLY FORCED
PRECIPITATION SYSTEMS

6.1 Topographically Forced Convective

Bands
Radar frequently detects lines of convective showers
apparently tied to topographical features. They can extend
up to hundreds of kilometers in length and last many
hours. These convective bands are important from a local
forecasting point of view since they can produce persis-
tently adverse weather in some areas while neighboring
areas may enjoy persistently good weather. Some examples
of convective bands are mentioned here with special ref-
(c) erence to the United Kingdom (6.1.1, 6.1.2, 6.1.3 and 6.1.5)
and North America (6.1.4 and 6.1.5).

Fig. 5.4 Rainfall distribution associated with a mesoscale convective

system developing over southwest England at (a) 1600, (b) 1900, and hatching, cross-hatching, and solid shading, respectively. Dots show
(c) 2200 UTC 11 July 1982 as derived from radar. Rates exceeding the outline of cloud tops colder than -27°C as derived from ME-
0.1, 2, and 16 mm h- 1 averaged over 5 km squares are shown by TEOSAT. (From Browning and Hill, 1984.)
454 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

{b) ~

Fig. 5.5 (a) Model showing the rain area (cross-hatched) and the -27°C anvil (hatched) in
relation to the main flow (W1 W.z) of high-Ow air (stippled). (b) Vertical section along W1 W2
showing the ascent of the high-Ow air, and the surface wedge of cold air, with the pool of
precipitation-induced downdraft air above it. (After Browning and Hill, 1984.)

6.1.1 Shower Bands Downwind of Ocean
Channels between Adjacent Land Masses
These occur during strong cold airflows in winter when
the sea is warmer than the land. They are sometimes found
in the English Channel during easterly winds and even
more frequently during northwesterly winds downwind
of the stretch of sea between Ireland and Scotland known
as the North Channel (e.g. Fig. 6.1). Browning et al. (1985)
have studied many of these events. They show that some
of the showers in North Channel shower bands are preex-
isting showers over the Atlantic that get through the North
Channel gap; however, other showers actually form in the
gap when neighboring showers decay upon encountering

{a)

Light precip.
Moderate precip.

Fig. 6.1 (a) Band of showers extending downwind of the North Channel at 1830 UTC on 18 january 1983 as
detected by the UK weather radar network, and (b) the corresponding surface analysis (mb) for 1800 UTC. (From
Browning et al., 1985.)

land on either side of the gap. Not only are the bands as
a whole persistent, but individual radar echoes within them
are also trackable for periods of many hours.
6.1.2. Shower Bands Downwind of Peninsulas
These occur during unstable polar outbreaks during the
warmer seasons, especially when the general flow over
the United Kingdom is southwesterly. An example is
shown in Fig. 6.2a in which one band of showers extends
400 km downwind of Cornwall and Devon in southwest-
em England and another extends downwind from the
Dyfed peninsula in southwestern Wales. (The belt of rain
to the west of southwestern England was associated with
Fig. 6.2 (a) Radar network display for 1400 UTC on 13 May 1986,
showing bands of showers extending downwind of peninsulas in
southwest England and southwestern Wales. (b) Wind observations
and streamlines in the vicinity of one of the shower bands. (From
Satellite and Radar Studies Group, 1986.)
MIDLATITUDE PRECIPITATION SYSTEMS 455
an approaching trough, which later disrupted the peninsula
bands.) Weak sea breeze circulations are seen to have in-
teracted to produce zones of convergence along the axes
of the peninsulas (e.g., the dashed line in Fig. 6.2b). As in
the case of the North Channel bands, the showers within
each band tended to persist as they travelled downwind
beyond the topographical feature that initiated them.
6.1.3 Shower Bands Parallel to Coastlines
A band of showers sometimes occurs along the east coast
. of England in northwesterly flows during spring or summer
afternoons (e.g., Fig. 6.3a). Such lines arise when the gen-
Fig. 6.3 (a) Radar network display for 1300 UTC 14 April 1985
showing band of showers along the east coast of England. (b) Wind
observations and streamlines at 12p0 UTC in the vicinity of the
shower band. (From Browning et al., 1987.)
456 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
eral flow is parallel to the boundary between a cold sea
and warm land, in which case the combined effects of a
sea breeze circulation and differential friction between land
and sea lead to a stationary zone of low-level convergence
(see dashed line in Fig. 6.3b). Radar shows that showers
that form within the convergence zone travel along the
zone and persist for long periods.
6.1.4 "Lake-E&ect" Shower Bands
Precipitation bands are often observed over and to the
lee of large lakes when cold polar air travels across the
relatively warm water. Several types of precipitation bands
have been identified from radar studies over the Great
Lakes of North America (Braham, 1983). The best-known
type occurs in the form of shallow horizontal-roll convection
when the boundary-layer winds are strong (Kelly, 1982).
These bands are typically 2 km or less deep and oriented
along the direction of the flow. In situations of weak flow,
land breeze circulations may be set up from opposite shores
of the lake leading to a much deeper midlake precipitation
band (Passarelli and Braham, 1981). Sometimes a lake-in-
duced mesolow forms leading to a shoreline precipitation
band on the lee side of the lake (Braham, 1983). Occasion-
ally a land-breeze cold front forms that leads to a thin and
very shallow band of precipitation resembling the line
convection described in sections 3.1 and 4.1 (Schoenberger,
1984). Combinations of band types occurring over the
Great Lakes during the winter can persist for 24 hours or
more, at times producing snowfall rates of up to 10 to 20
em h- 1•
6.1.5 "Coastal Front" Convective Bands
The coastal front is a land breeze phenomenon that has
been documented in association with cyclones along the
East Coast of the United States (Bosart, 1981). The coastal
front is the sharp seaward boundary of a shallow layer of
cold air trapped between the mountains to the west and
the warm Atlantic to the east. According to Bosart radar
observations show that it is accompanied by a narrow band
of heavy precipitation embedded within the more wide-
spread area of precipitation associated with the cyclonic
system. A well-defined coastal front was identified by
Browning (1983) on the occasion of a major snowstorm in
Wales. It was detected as an intense stationary front 100
km offshore the south Wales coastline. A strong cold east-
erly flow was to the north of the front; above and to the
south of it was a warm west-southwesterly flow that as-
cended over the front. Radar observations showed that
precipitation was initiated within this current repeatedly
along a well-defined and stationary line close to the po-
sition of the coastal front.
6.1.6 Shower Bands in Mesoscale Models
Mesoscale numerical models are well suited for repro-
ducing the precipitation patterns forced by marked land-
water contrasts. It is helpful, however, for a forecaster to
interpret the model output in the context of satellite and
radar imagery. If the model output is consistent with the
observed cloud and precipitation patterns, the model
products can be used with greater confidence. A good ex-
ample was provided by the use of the semioperational
Meteorological Office mesoscale model (Golding, 1987) to
predict the snowfalls during an extremely cold spell in
January 1987. The surface wind pattern predicted by the
model (Fig. 6.4a) showed regions of strong convergence
over parts of eastern England and a band of strong con-
vergence along the English Channel, consistent with the
patterns of snow showers observed by the radar network
(Fig. 6.4b). These patterns were persistent and the resulting
accumulations predicted by the model (Fig. 6.4c) were
similar to those actually observed (Fig. 6.4d).
From a forecasting point of view, it can be beneficial to
identify (as we have done above) specific situations of pre-
cipitation bands forced by land-water contrasts; however,
to the extent that such bands are merely variations on the
same dynamical theme, these band categories should not
be elevated to the status of a formal classification scheme.
The examples given are well-defined bands that arise with
certain stabilities and special configurations of flow with
respect to the underlying topography; mesoscale NWP
models are also capable in principle of reproducing the
broad features of those less well defined, but presumably
more abundant, precipitation bands which occur when the
flow patterns, etc., do not exactly fit the archetypal situ-
ations described above.
6 . .2. Orographic Enhancement of
Frontal Rainfall
Large rainfalls over seaward-facing hills of modest di-
mensions are sometimes associated with sustained periods
of moderate-to-heavy rain when a strong and roughly
neutrally stratified pre-cold frontal moist flow approaches
the hills. Observational evidence based mainly on inves-
tigations in Wales (Browning, 1980) and theoretical cal-
culations (Bader and Roach, 1977; Richard et al., 1987)
support the validity of the conceptual model of Bergeron
(1965). According to this model, droplets that are too small
to fall out in their own right form in a low-level orographic
"feeder" cloud and are washed out by larger droplets fall-
ing from a preexisting "seeder" cloud at higher levels. Fig-
ure 6.5 shows the manner in which the low-level flow and
the rate of seeding affect the orographic enhancement.
Orographic enhancement of frontal rainfall is notewor-
thy in two respects. First, the rainfall enhancement can far
exceed the background rainfall rate associated with the
seeder cloud. Second, the enhancement tends to occur at
a very low altitude, which makes it difficult to measure
using radar, except at close ranges in specially designed
field projects. The first point is illustrated in Fig. 6.6. Figure
6.6a shows the successive hourly positions of a mesoscale
precipitation area as observed by radars in Ireland and
 MIDLATITUDE PRECIPITATION SYSTEMS 457

.2-~ ,: • 113 e a 1 e 91J:Z6J~J2J" \ l

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// I I { " " / ' -, _.• • • •

..._______________..........---···--···--······--··f· ..·H--:~:::::;;~~:.......+
30
>-'-...!...!.••~~]
l!i v~··! 1 ) .
--..!.L~~.::.-.

Fig. 6.4 (a) Six-hour prediction of surface winds from the UK mesoscale model and (b) observed distribution of snow showers obtained from
the radar network, both valid at 0000 UTC 13 January 1987. (c) Snow depth as predicted by the mesoscale model and (d) as observed, both at
0900 13 January 1987 (From Monk, 1987.)

Wales. Although producing significant precipitation over The low altitude at which the enhancement occurs has
the main land masses, the MPA was a mere skeleton over been demonstrated in a combined radar and raingage study
the sea. Surface rainfall measurements obtained from an by Hill et al. (1981) in which a volume-scanning radar was
extensive network of autographic gages (Fig. 6.6b) con- sited so as to be able to observe at close range individual
finned that while some hills received 4 mm of precipitation MPAs as they travelled from the sea and thence over a
in less than an hour, coastal regions away from the main coastal range of hills in south Wales. The elevation angles
hills received an order of magnitude less. used and the vertical coverage achieved are shown in Fig.
 458 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

...... . .......
-.. '' . ........ .... ' . ...... . . . ......... . . . ..... .. .... . . ..... . . . . . .. . .. ' .. ... .. . .. . .
- .. ..... -..... -..... -...... .. ' .. . . .... . .. .. . . . ' . ... .
.. ..... . ' ..' -.....
. .' -. . . . . .. . .-..
-.
.... ...
. . ...........
- . . ... .....
. .... -...
- . ...... .
' . . .. ... . . . ... . ...... ' ... . . . .. . . . ... ... -.-
. .·.·. ... ' ... . . . .. ·.· ·-·' .. . . . . .
. .........·.·......·.·
. ........
•
. . .... .· .......
• • •
. . ' ......
• 0 . 0 ••• • •• • 0 •••• • • •

.......' .....' ......................' ...........

. - ' .. ... . .
. . . . . . '..... .. . . ' . ... . .
----- -- -- ---
• • • • • • • ' . 0 •••• • •••

Characteristics of
low-level flow
Feeder cloud
r.-:'7·:":""· ."'":' .":'". ":"'. ":"'.·7 ·7:'·:":"·."":' . -. ":"'. ':] - - - - - z,
wind speed u ,::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::,
1::: Rate of :: Cloud :: Rate :::1
-·- con~ens · water · of :. :1
I"'. -alton :: content .· washout ·.·I depth d

:::::::: : ~::::::::~:::::::~:::::: : : : :::::A :::: ::::::

Component of
hill slope along a
wind direction
r:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::,
t:::.:.;.:::.:.:.:.:.:;·.::.:·.::.:·:.::.·:.::.·:.:.;.:::.:.:.::.:.:.. -:·:.::.·~
----- z.
relative humidity and Bw

P,- Po

Fig. 6.5 Schematic diagram illustrating the dependence of orographic enhancement on the characteristics of the
low-level flow and the rate of seeding from above (from Browning, 1980).

6.7, which depicts a vertical section along the direction of

(a) travel of the individual MPAs. A long succession of MPAs
was observed and the isopleths in the figure show the total
"rainfall" integrated over a ten-hour period as inferred
directly from the mean Z-R relationship applicable at the
surface. Figure 6.7a draws attention to one of the major
observational difficulties encountered, namely the layer of
high reflectivity due to the bright band. In Fig. 6.7b the
effect of the bright band has been corrected as far as pos-
sible using a vertical bright band profile inferred from high-
resolution data at ranges close to the radar. Figure 6.7b
shows that over the sea the ten-hour rainfall was every-
where between 5 and 10 mm below 3 km. Over the hills
(b) the rainfall doubled at 2 km altitude; however, far greater
enhancement occurred within the lowest one-half kilo-
meter above the ground. Recent theoretical calculations
with realistic representation of mountain wave dynamics
(Richard et al., 1987) support observational studies (Hill

i
et al., 1981) in showing that the orographic enhancement
O l mm
-
0 .5
1.0
......_
-
- - ........
'
depends critically on the low-level wind speed but less
strongly on the preexisting (seeder) rainfall rate and drop
sizes.
2.0
4.0

6.3 Orographic Rain in the Absence of

Widespread Preexisting Rain
Fig. 6.6 (a) Hourly sequence of radar echoes associated with a me-
soscale precipitation area (MPA). Numbers above each band indicate On the West Coast of the United States where the
the time (UTC). Areas at 1100, 1200, and 1300 UTC were taken from
mountain barriers are far higher than those discussed in
a radar at Shannon and the remainder from a radar at Pembroke in
southwestern Wales. Some losses due to range are likely at 1100 and section 6.2, the bulk of the orographic precipitation falls
1700 UTC. (b) Total rainfall associated with the MPA. The outer when convective rainbands are triggered by lifting of un-
limits of the MPA and its time of passage across each raingage station stable postfrontal flows (Parsons and Hobbs, 1983b).
were determined by radar but the amounts of rain were taken from Considerable orographic precipitation falls in the absence
autographic charts after adjustments for timing errors. (From Hill of widespread precipitation upwind. This is in contrast to
and Browning, 1979.) the effects produced by hills of modest proportions where

(a)
,.
~ nonsevere midlatitude weather systems are concerned, has
...J
CJ)
::!
~ in research and perhaps even more so in operational
~ weather forecasting .
.."'
.c
X Exploiting radar both for mesoscale research and for
(b)
,....,.. ----- __
.............
---
_smm
------------
10
20•m
BRISTOL CHANNEL
Fig. 6.7 Example of the time-integrated "rainfall" pattern within a
vertical section parallel to the mean direction of motion of individual
rainfall areas as they travelled from the sea (Bristol Channel) to the
hills of south Wales (Glamorgan Hills). (a) Contours (mm) based on
radar data collected at the indicated eight elevation angles (the radar
was not in the plane of this diagram). Note the bright band centered
at 1.7 km. (b) Similar section to (a) except showing the estimated
rainfall after correcting for the bright band. Measurements from six
raingages are also incorporated into the analysis. (From Hill et al.,
1981.)
precipitation enhancement due to orography coincides
more closely with regions of preexisting precipitation. This
is not to say that precipitation particles over large moun-
tains do not grow by a seeder-feeder mechanism, but
rather that the mountains generate their own seeder clouds,
whereas lower and less broad hills must rely on preexisting
seeder clouds to generate the hydrometeors that sweep
out the cloud droplets at low levels.
Even in England and Wales significant orographic rain
is sometimes observed when the background precipitation
is very weak, e.g., within the shallow moist zone (SMZ,
defined in section 2.2) where the warm conveyor belt is
capped by dry air at or below 700 mb. This can lead to
situations in which stationary areas of orographic rain tied
to hills constitute the only significant radar-detectable pre-
cipitation within the SMZ. An example was reported by
Browning (1987) when a rainband associated with the up-
per cold front was observed travelling rapidly in one part
of England, with stationary patches of rain tied to the hills
in another part. This is the kind of potentially confusing
situation that forecasters need to be alert to when using
radar data to derive extrapolation forecasts.
MIDLATITUDE PRECIPITATION SYSTEMS 459
7 FUTURE DIRECTIONS
The Introduction implied that the impact of radar, where
not been as great as we would have liked. This is true both
mesoscale forecasting is difficult because the complexity
of the phenomena means that conventional and Doppler
radar observations of precipitation systems need to be in-
terpreted in the light of observations from many other
sources, including where possible wind profiles outside of
the precipitation from UHF fVHF radars, cloud imagery
from satellites, and a variety of products from numerical
__ _
weather prediction models. To distill order out of the chaos
of these multiple sources of information it is helpful to
have conceptual models that represent preferred modes
of organization and particular mechanisms. Some concep-
tual models are suggested in this chapter, but more ob-
servational studies are needed to determine how widely
applicable they are, as well as to extend them to other
situations.
Further theoretical investigations linked to observational
studies are also required to understand the underlying
mechanisms. These theoretical studies often require 'rather
comprehensive sets of mesoscale data of a kind achievable
only from special projects such as GALE and ERICA in
the United States and the Mesoscale Frontal Dynamics
Project in northwestern Europe. An important feature of
such projects is that they set out to test specific dynamical
hypotheses. Until recently observations have driven the
theory; recent developments in theoretical understanding
mean that there is now beginning to be some useful feed-
back.
One of the remaining problems is the lack of thermo-
dynamic data on scales comparable with the Doppler radar
wind data. In this regard thermodynamic retrieval of pres-
sure, buoyancy, and temperature (Gal-Chen and Hane,
1981; Roux, 1985; Parsons et al., 1987) holds great promise
and will encourage interaction between modeling on these
scales and observational studies. Another problem is that
a single radar, and indeed linked dual-Doppler radars, tend
to provide only a tantalizing glimpse of part of a synoptic-
scale system. The use of networks of radars has overcome
this difficulty for mapping precipitation fields, but for
Doppler radar studies there is still the tendency for the
researcher to be constrained to study that part of the system
which passes nearby. Use of airborne Doppler radar Gor-
gensen et al., 1983) together with current developments
in technology will provide dynamicists with far more ex-
tensive mesoscale and convective scale fields.
In order to optimize the use of data from planned op-
erational networks of widely spaced Doppler radars, fur-
ther development of single Doppler analysis techniques is
required (Waldteufel and Corbin, 1979; Koscielny et al.,
1982). A potentially important approach has recently been
460 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
proposed by Wolfsberg (1987). She describes a technique
to determine three-dimensional wind and temperature
fields from time series of volume scans of the single wind
component, the radial velocity, measured by a Doppler
radar. The method, referred to as Single Doppler Velocity
Retrieval (SDVR), exploits the equations of fluid dynamics
by seeking an initial state for the unknown variables which
produces the best forecast of the observed velocity. The
problem is posed as a nonlinear least-squares minimization
and is solved iteratively using a conjugate gradient algo-
rithm. The gradient of the function to be minimized is
calculated by the so-called adjoint method. Wolfsberg in-
dicates that the SDVR technique works well in the absence
of observational and model error and that it is robust with
respect to poor spatial and temporal resolution of the ob-
servations and to incomplete data coverage. However,
more needs to be done to improve the method's efficiency
and to decrease its sensitivity to observational and model
errors.
For many local forecasting purposes radar is, along with
satellite imagery, potentially one of the most useful tools
available. They both directly portray the structure of the
mesoscale weather phenomena on the scales of greatest
practical importance. Unfortunately the practical exploi-
tation of radar data has been hindered by two factors: first,
the difficulty of conveniently integrating it with other
guidance products, and second, the inadequacy of current
training material and courses for bench forecasters. The
first difficulty is being addressed now by the development
of advanced workstations capable of displaying and su-
perimposing the various products on video displays. More
work is needed in this area to develop user-friendly systems
and procedures. A start has also been made to devise
methods of using radar data to initialize mesoscale nu-
merical models. Although much research will be required
to develop the approach, this is a potentially fruitful way
of bridging the performance gap between simple nowcasts
and data-starved mesoscale models.
Finally the all-important training problem calls for more
effort by the research community to crystalize the concepts
of weather systems and clarify the way radar displays
weather system characteristics in relation to model diag-
nostics. Such educational material must be in terms that
the forecaster will easily understand. As is so often the
case in the exploitation of technological advances, the hu-
man side of the problem looms as large as the technological
side.
8 SUMMARY
Radar, while still far from being adequately exploited,
has been significant in building understanding of the or-
ganization and mechanisms of midlatitude precipitation
systems on both the synoptic and mesoscales. Synthesis
of data from radar and other sources has led to the de-
velopment of conceptual models that account for the dis-
tribution of many mesoscale features within a synoptic-
scale framework. A useful unifying concept is the major
belt of warm moist air known as the warm conveyor belt.
Classifications based upon the behavior of the warm con-
veyor belt are useful in helping the analyst interpret radar-
detectable mesoscale features such as rainbands and areas
of convective instability. Topography also has a major in-
fluence on the distribution of precipitation and, although
the nature of the effect differs greatly according to the
circumstance, radar contributes toward unravelling these
complicated effects. Doppler radars, used singly and in
sets, have clarified important aspects of the mesoscale and
convective dynamics of frontal systems and there is scope
for further progress in this area, especially through the use
of thermodynamic retrieval methods and the more exten-
sive use of airborne Doppler radar. Integrated networks
of ground-based radars interpreted in the light of satellite
imagery provide a valuable view of the synoptic-scale or-
ganization. They are especially useful for very-short-range
forecasting, but improved training material will be required
if they are to be fully exploited.
Acknowledgments. The author is grateful for helpful
comments from several referees and in particular to David
B. Parsons.
 461

Chapter 26b

Mesoscale Organization and Processes: Panel Report

David B. Parsons, National Center for Atmospheric Research~
Bradley F. Smull, NOAA 1Environmental Research Laborator~e~ /
National Severe Storms Laboratory I Mesoscale Research Dtvtsz~n .
Douglas K. Lilly,t Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorologzcal Studzes,
University of Oklahoma

1 INTRODUCTION conditional symmetric instability and I or frontogenetic

forcing. Theoretical work on this subject has also been
The Panel on Mesoscale Organization and Processes
undertaken by Xu (1987).
consisted of 19 members (identified in the footnote) who
The panel realized the difficulties in covering a broad
either produced written responses to requests for review
area, such as meso- and synoptic-scale meteorology, in the
of Dr. Keith Browning's paper (see Chapter 26a) or at-
limited space allotted. However, the panel discussion sug-
tended the panel meeting in Boston, or both. The reviewers
gested that Browning's emphasis is on European, especially
of Browning's paper agreed that it is well written and au-
British, weather phenomena. Although most of those phe-
thoritative. We are deeply indebted to Dr. Browning for
nomena can be observed elsewhere, a larger variety of
his untiring efforts in compiling his review and also rec-
mixed convective, meso- and synoptic-scale phenomena
ognize the unique perspective afforded by his distinguished
occur at other locations, such as North America, and are
career. The panel would also like to thank him for his
often more important in the forecast problems unique to
gracious responses to requests for expansion and alteration
these areas. We shall attempt to broaden the scope of
of his review paper.
Browning's review by discussing several additional topics
The panel felt that Browning's paper represents a chal-
in section 2, including rapid cyclogenesis, initiation and
lenge to dynamicists and modelers to provide more com-
structure of mesoscale convective systems, orographically
plete explanations of some of the phenomena discussed
induced mesoscale vortices, and mesoscale flows induced
therein. Professor Kerry Emanuel agreed to meet that
by irregularities in surface energy budgets (e.g., sea and
challenge to some extent by describing the theoretical and
land breezes). These circulations were chosen because of
numerical work initiated in response to the radar obser-
their ubiquitous nature, the role that radar measurements
vations described in Browning's review. Emanuel's paper,
have historically contributed or could potentially play in
an Appendix to this chapter, should be considered as a
understanding the phenomena, and the observation that
supplement to Browning's review. Emanuel argues, for
these circulations are often associated with significant-
example, that the "conveyor belt" (a unifying concept in
and sometimes severe-weather.
Browning's work) might be identified with the ageos-
Apart from expanding the scope of the Browning review,
trophic circulations seen by Emanuel, his co-workers, and
the panel discussion was largely centered on potential de-
others (e.g., Byrd, 1987) from aircraft and Doppler radar
velopments in mesoscale meteorology and in radar obser-
cross sections, and that these circulations are driven by
vational capabilities and data utilization. In section 3, new
technology and its potential are discussed. The panel noted
that many remote sensing tools used to date primarily for
• The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the research or nowcasting, such as wind profilers and Doppler
National Science Foundation. radars, will soon be deployed in operational settings. The
tUlly served as panel chairman during the conference. Besides Parsons,
Smull, and Lilly, other panel members were Richard Anthes (NCAR),
discussion focused on both the availability of those data
David Blanchard (NOAA/ERLJNSSLJMRD), Lance Bosart (State for research purposes and the optimal use of the new in-
University of New York at Albany), Don Burgess (National Severe Storms strumentation in numerical prediction models. It was be-
Laboratory), Gregory Byrd (State University of New York at Brockport),
R. Cunningham (Lincoln, Massachusetts), Kelvin Droegemeier (Univer-
lieved that utilizing the data sources to their greatest po-
sity of Oklahoma), Dale Durran (University of Washington), Kerry tential would involve models designed to predict motions
Emanuel (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), James Moore (NCAR), as small as the measurement scales of a few kilometers.
T. Puhakha (University of Helsinki, Finland), P. Saarikivi (University of
Helsinki, Finland), Frederick Sanders (Marblehead, Massachusetts),
In section 4 some tactics for future field experiments are
Melvyn Shapiro (NOAAJERLJWPL), Ronald Smith (Yale University), discussed. The points detailed include the need for future
and Dawn Wolfsberg (Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico). field experiments and technological development to be
462 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
more hypothesis driven, the possibility for scale-interaction
field experiments, such as STORM, and finally the joint
use of observational analysis and numerical simulations.
2 TOPICS SELECTED FOR
ADDITIONAL EMPHASIS
2.1 Rapidly Deepening Cyclones
The western parts of the Northern Hemisphere midlat-
itude oceans are associated with major cyclogenesis events
(Sanders and Gyakum, 1980; Roebber, 1984). At times
the surface pressure can deepen quite rapidly, with pres-
sure falls in excess of 1 mb h -t for 24 hours in the deepest
cyclones. The strength of these rapidly deepening cyclones
has often been underestimated by operational forecast
models (e.g., Leary, 1971; Sanders and Gyakum, 1980;
Bosart, 1981; Silberberg and Bosart, 1982; Bosart and Lin,
1984; Gyakum, 1983a, b; Uccellini et al., 1985; Reed and
Albright, 1986), posing grave danger to marine navigation.
Subsequent investigations of these events using limited-
area models have generally provided both improved pre-
diction and insight into the physical processes important
in explaining rapid deepening (Anthes et al., 1983; Chen
et al., 1983; Liou and Elsberry, 1987; Uccellini et al., 1987;
Orlanski and Katzfey, 1987; Douglas and Warner, 1987;
Nuss and Anthes, 1987; Kuo and Reed, 1988). The findings
seem to point to a baroclinic event, often accompanied by
sharply defined short wave or jet streak at middle and
upper levels, that rapidly deepens due to latent heat re-
lease. An improved initial analysis and, in some cases, the
inclusion of surface fluxes of latent and sensible heat seem
to enhance the deepening rate. Kuo and Reed (1988) also
suggested that conditional symmetric instability may play
a role in cyclone deepening.
According to Sanders (1987), recent operational forecast
models have demonstrated greatly improved skill in pre-
dicting these events. The improvement seems to be due to
more accurate model initialization, better resolution, and
general improvements in the parameterization of cumulus
convection and surface fluxes. Sanders noted that the in-
troduction of a more appropriate formulation of the
roughness length over the sea surface seems to have been
especially beneficial. The research into this topic appears
to have reached a crucial stage where the operational
models are approaching the skill of the research models
in forecasting these events. Thus, it seems likely that efforts
should gradually tum to estimation of model skill and a
determination of factors which inhibit the approach toward
the limit of predictability for these systems. Since forecasts
using limited-area models are often quite sensitive to latent
heating profiles and since direct observations of the con-
vective structures within rapidly deepening cyclones are
relatively sparse, radar measurements of the precipitation
processes in these systems would be valuable. In particular,
the observations could make the useful distinction between
slantwise or upright convection, and between buoyant
convection and forced frontal ascent.
Unfortunately, past research into the mesoscale structure
of clouds and precipitation in extratropical cyclones that
could prove useful to the cyclogenesis problem has mainly
been carried out on the eastern edges of the major oceans
(see Browning's review), while the regions of rapid cy-
clogenesis seem to be concentrated on their western edges.
The Genesis of Atlantic Lows Experiment (GALE) at-
tempted to remedy this deficiency by directing a recent
field effort (January to March 1986) toward the study of
the initiation and intensification of extratropical cyclones.
The facilities, located near the North Carolina coast, in-
cluded ground-based and airborne Doppler radar and a
network of conventional radars. While research on the
GALE dataset is still under way, a number of tentative
conclusions can be drawn. First, surface fluxes over the
relatively warm Gulf Stream can result in a stratification
that is locally very unstable, at times producing intense
convection with significant lightning activity (Hobbs,
1987). Preliminary analysis of GALE data compiled in
Dirks et al. (1988) also suggests that the early stage of
cyclogenesis may be characterized by a "warm-core" dis-
turbance. The proposed Experiment on Rapidly Intensi-
fying Cyclones in the Atlantic (ERICA), scheduled to take
place in the northern Atlantic during the winter of 1988 /
89, hopes to examine further the explosive development
stage of rapidly intensifying cyclones in the western At-
lantic (Abbey et al., 1987).
Cyclones that form within or at the leading edge of polar
airstreams are frequently referred to as "polar lows" (e.g.,
Harley, 1960; Harrold and Browning, 1969; Reed, 1979).
Polar lows are often of a smaller scale than extratropical
cyclones (less than 500 km in diameter) but can sometimes
be quite intense and deepen rapidly. These lows display
considerable variability, with some systems appearing as
isolated comma clouds connected to secondary vorticity
centers aloft (e.g., Reed, 1979; Mullen, 1979), while others
tend toward "family outbreaks" in vortex chains (e.g.,
Rasmussen, 1981; Shapiro et al., 1987). At times, satellite
pictures of the convection associated with polar lows ap-
pear similar to hurricane eyewalls with a cloud-free center
of 20 to 100 km in diameter (Rasmussen, 1985; Shapiro
et al., 1987). These different types of polar lows have a
variety of proposed mechanisms for their initiation and
growth, with some studies stressing the importance of
small-scale baroclinic instability and others convective
processes. Recent analyses (e.g., Businger, 1985; Rasmus-
sen, 1985) conclude that polar lows are initiated by baro-
clinic processes and intensified through cumulus convec-
tion in a manner similar to the previously discussed rapid
deepening of extratropical cyclonic systems. Unfortunately,
once again detailed measurements of the convective struc-
ture are often lacking, and further study into the nature
of the convective processes is clearly desirable.

During the Arctic Cyclone Experiment, Shapiro et al.
(1987) used a combination of data taken during aircraft
penetrations through a polar low, including dropsondes
and airborne Doppler radar measurements, to describe its
internal convective structure and to examine the role of
convection in system development. Their study of a storm
off the Norwegian coast found that the total maximum
heat flux (sensible plus latent) was comparable to that
found within a mature tropical cyclone. The polar low also
contained a warm core and maximum surface winds of
approximately 35 m s - 1• Airborne Doppler radar mea-
surements indicated intense convection and large radar
reflectivities, although the convection was shallow, with
echo tops less than 4 km. In agreement with Shapiro's flux
measurements, Emanuel and Rotunno (1988) used nu-
merical investigations of polar lows and found that large
surface fluxes are crucial to the rapid deepening of polar
lows.
2..2. Initiation and Structure of Mesoscale
Convective Systems
The study of mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) is
relevant to a number of practical problems, including pre-
diction of severe weather (e.g., Maddox et al., 1982), dis-
tribution of growing-season precipitation (Fritsch et al.,
1986), and the relatively slow improvement in quantitative
forecasting of precipitation during the warm season (e.g.,
Panel Report on Precipitation Processes, 1980). In an op-
erational setting, the understanding of these systems is
important for a forecaster nowcasting severe (and non-
severe) weather as well as for the parameterization of con-
vection in numerical models. Significant errors have been
shown to be associated with inadequate representation or
parameterization of processes intrinsic to these storms in
large-scale predictive models (e.g., Maddox et al., 1981).
We divide the broad topic of the study of MCSs into sub-
sections concerning their initiation and internal convective
structure, beginning with a discussion of recent work con-
cerning the initiation of MCSs.
2.2.1 Initiation of Mesoscale Convective
Systems
In a study of mesoscale convective systems using a lim-
ited-area hydrostatic model with parameterized convec-
tion, Fritsch and Chappell (1980) concluded the evolution
of meso-~-scale systems may be highly sensitive to small
changes irrthe initial location of convective development.
Thus, it seems likely that successful forecasting of MCSs
will depend not only on an accurate parameterization of
the convection itself, but also on the correct prediction of
the timing and location of the initial convective events.
Owing to improvements in radar sensitivity, studies of
clear-air wind fields in the boundary layer and their re-
lationship to convective initiation have been increasingly
MESOSCALE ORGANIZATION AND PROCESSES 463
fruitful. Overwhelming evidence exists that convection is
generally not initiated in a random manner, but rather by
distinct preexisting (and relatively small-scale) conver-
gence features or local topography. (see the panel report
on convective dynamics, Chapter 24b, for specific refer-
ences.)
Much of the work to date pertains to the discrete initi-
ation of convection rather than processes leading to me-
soscale areas of convection. Once convection appears lo-
cally, the question arises as to whether it will develop into
a larger and longer-lasting mesoscale system. While in-
stances of single convective cells developing into a me-
soscale squall line through successive generation of new
cells at one end of the line are not uncommon (e.g., Brooks,
1946; Stout and Hiser, 1955; Newton and Katz, 1958;
Newton, 1963; Newton and Fankhauser, 1964), many
convective systems exhibit signs of mesoscale organization
from the outset, apparently in response to forcing over an
area much larger than a single thunderstorm. For example,
case studies presented by Purdom (1976), Scofield and
Purdom (1986), and the composite results of Bluestein
and Jain (1985) and Bluestein et al. (1987) (see especially
their broken line cases) show that squall lines can develop
due to forcing along a limited segment of a larger-scale
feature such as a front or dryline.
On the basis of such findings, one might argue that
knowledge of the small-scale forcing along larger-scale
boundaries is crucial to an understanding of mesoscale
convective initiation, especially in view of the winter fron-
tal cases presented in the review by Browning. The win-
tertime data show that very strong lifting (up to 20 m s - 1
in one case) on horizontal scales of a few kilometers or
less is quite common along cold fronts. Shapiro et al. (1985)
linked intense, small-scale frontal lifting to the initiation
of a squall line over the midwestern United States. The
degree to which problems arise in the convective param-
eterization schemes when the scale of convective initiation
is far smaller than that which can be resolved by opera-
tional models is relatively unaddressed. Although smaller-
scale forcing may provide the lifting that actually initiates
convection, it should be noted that larger-scale circulations
in the atmosphere can still play an important role through
destabilizing (or stabilizing) the stratification ahead of the
convection (Doswell, 1987) and by modulating the mag-
nitude of the vertical shear. Further knowledge of the na-
ture of frontal updrafts in warm-season systems may lead
to a better understanding of the initiation of intense con-
vective systems. In the nearly neutral stability of winter
environments, Rotunno et al. (1988) and Parsons et al.
(1988) found that a balance between vertical shear and
the buoyancy gradient at the leading edge of sharp cold
fronts can play a major role in forcing deep and intense
vertical motions. Similarly, the vertical shear ahead of
convergence lines and the thermal contrast across warm-
season convergence lines may explain the details of con-
vective triggering.
464 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
While the discussion thus far has concentrated on forcing
along boundaries such as fronts (drylines will be addressed
in section 2d) and their relation to squall lines, other ini-
tiation mechanisms and other types of organized convec-
tive systems occur. For example, mesoscale convective
complexes (identified by characteristics of their upper-level
cloud shields, which may harbor a variety of radar echo
patterns; see Blanchard and Watson, 1986) frequently form
in zones of enhanced warm-air advection near stationary
fronts (Maddox, 1980). As for other forcing mechanisms,
early work pointed out that pressure troughs ahead of ad-
vancing cold fronts are frequently associated with pre-
frontal squall lines in the midwestern United States (New-
ton, 1950). Although there is some numerical work on
gravity waves and other possible mechanisms for the pre-
frontal squall line (e.g., Ley and Peltier, 1978), the origin
of the prefrontal pressure trough, and the scale and other
details of the convective initiation remain largely unex-
plored in observational work. Also, the banded cloud
structure in some springtime extratropical cyclones needs
to be better documented and understood since extremely
damaging outbreaks of severe weather can develop in
conjunction with these bands (e.g., Raymond, 1978; Carr
and Millard, 1985). The role of upper-tropospheric wind
maxima in triggering severe thunderstorms in the context
of baroclinic waves has received afair amount of attention
(e.g., Uccellini and Johnson, 1979); higher resolution da-
tasets (such as those anticipated from networks of wind
profilers) should further improve the understanding of
such processes.
.2. •.2. •.2. Structure of Mesoscale Convective
Systems
Much of the recent work concerning MCSs traces its
origins to the early recognition of mesoscale organization
of deep convection and attendant regions of stratiform
clouds and precipitation in the tropics (Houze and Betts,
1981; Houze and Hobbs, 1982). The success of these pi-
oneering observational programs (conducted principally
over the tropical oceans) in the 1970s spurred efforts in
the 1980s toward improved observation and modeling of
MCSs occurring in continental and/ or midlatitude re-
gimes. Two examples of such efforts are COPT 81 (COn-
vective Profonde Tropicale, conducted May-June 1981 in
the Ivory Coast, West Africa; Sommeria and Testud, 1984),
and PRE-STORM (Preliminary Regional Experiment for
STORM-Central, conducted May-June 1985 in the central
United States; Cunning, 1986).
Networks of conventional and Doppler radars, used in
conjunction with other special observing platforms de-
ployed during these mesoscale field programs, have sub-
stantially illuminated the internal structure and mecha-
nisms of MCSs. Owing to their high degree of organization
and relative simplicity, squall-line systems have received
a lion's share of attention, yielding increasingly compre-
hensive descriptions and conceptual models of this type
of storm (Roux, 1985, 1988; Smull and Houze, 1985,
1987a, b; Srivastava et al., 1986; Chong et al., 1987; Kes-
singer et al., 1987; Leary and Rappaport, 1987; Chalon et
al., 1988). These studies point to a characteristic, intricate
relationship between lines of deep convective clouds and
adjacent (frequently trailing) mesoscale regions of strati-
form cloud and precipitation. When viewed in vertical cross
sections oriented normal to the squall line, the airflow in
these cases routinely appears as a multitiered pattern of
alternating rear-to-front and front-to-rear flows with a
slope closely related to mesoscale vertical motions occur-
ring in the stratiform region. As they cross the squall line,
these flows are accelerated by the ensemble of convective
cells, marking an important aspect of scale interaction. The
possibility that this interaction represents a "feedback"
mechanism profoundly affecting the strength, longevity,
and observed reflectivity structure of squall-line systems
is presently under investigation. Analysis of Doppler radar
data for such storms, in conjunction with diagnostic and
modeling studies (e.g., Rutledge and Houze, 1987; Ma-
tejka, 1987; Moncrief£ and LaFore, 1988) will further reveal
the microphysical and dynamical processes central to this
interaction.
Although substantial progress has been made, some
shortcomings are readily apparent in the research accom-
plished to date. Conceptual models need to be developed
not only for squall-line systems but also for MCSs exhib-
iting less conspicuous modes of convective organization.
Moreover, the bulk of observations discussed in the lit-
erature pertains to only a portion of a given system's life
cycle, with particular emphasis on the mature stage. Ob-
servational networks deployed in support of mesoscale
field programs have typically sacrificed areal coverage for
the sake of detailed measurements over smaller domains
(or vice versa), precluding comprehensive description of
the life cycles of MCSs and their interaction with the larger
scales. The ultimate success of efforts to understand and
adequately parameterize the effects of mesoscale convec-
tive systems almost certainly depends on the allocation of
resources adequate to execute and analyze results from a
true scale-interaction experiment.
2.3 Orographically Induced Mesoscale
Vortices
Browning's review covers past work into mesoscale ef-
fects of orography on the formation, modulation, or dis-
sipation of banded precipitation. Other orographically in-
duced mesoscale circulations can also affect local weather
characteristics. Mesocyclones that form in association with
local orography are a relatively common atmospheric cir-
culation that influences a broad range of weather events.
One practical area of concern is the influence of the cyclone
circulation on regional transports of pollutants. This effect
has been noted in association with the Catalina (e.g., Ro-

senthal, 1968; Bosart, 1983; Wakimoto, 1987) and Santa
Barbara (e.g., Smith et al., 1983; Dabberdt and Viezee,
1987) eddies in the southern California coastal regions,
and with the vortices over the Kanto plains of Japan (Ki-
mura, 1986) and near Melbourne, Australia (Spillane,
1978). The high resolution of the wind fields derived by
Doppler radar data could be especially useful in deter-
mining the effects of these vortices on pollution transport,
particularly since many eddies are centered offshore where
detailed wind measurements have proved difficult. The
clear-air capabilities of radar data together with the use of
chaff as a tracer have been used by Kropfli et al., (1988)
to document the formation and structure of the Santa Bar-
bara eddy.
In addition to the effects of the recirculation of a vortex
for pollution transport, other weather events have been
noted with orographically induced mesocyclones. For ex-
ample, there is an adverse effect on the local temperature
forecast through the unexpected appearance of cool mar-
itime air and stratus clouds (Eichelberger, 1971) associated
with the Catalina eddy. Various mesoscale vortices have
also been linked to the occurrence of severe weather, such
as the high winds associated with an orographically in-
duced vortex in western Washington that caused the de-
struction of the Hood Canal floating bridge (Reed, 1980).
One of the more common examples in the scientific liter-
ature of a mesoscale vortex linked to severe storm occur-
rence is the Denver cyclone. Szoke et al. (1984) traced the
vortex and associated convergence pattern to the devel-
opment of a tornado outbreak, and Blanchard and Howard
(1986) documented its occurrence prior to a hail storm
that resulted in over 350 million dollars in damage. In
these studies of the Denver cyclone, radar and surface me-
sonetworks provided information on the occurrence of the
vortex and convergence zone and their relationship to the
initiation of deep convection. The dataset recently obtained
in the vicinity of the Denver cyclone during the Convective
Initiation and Downburst Experiment ( CINDE) should
prove useful in regard to defining the structure of the vortex
and convergence features and suggest further avenues of
research in explaining its occurrence.
Another example of orographically induced mesoscale
vortices (e.g., Smith, 1982) occurs in Taiwan, where heavy
rainfall and flash flooding plague the rugged mountains.
In these vortices, increased onshore and upslope flow is
associated with mesolows that develop along a climato-
logically favored spring frontal zone termed the Mei-Yu
Front. The Taiwan Area Mesoscale Experiment (TAMEX)
took place during May and June 1987 to study the structure
of the Mei-Yu Front and associated precipitation systems,
and to document the formation of the various mesoscale
vortices that occur in the vicinity of the island. Although
the recent results of TAMEX must be treated as preliminary,
Jorgensen and Smull (personal communication) have used
the airborne Doppler data to investigate a convective sys-
tem associated with a mesolow along the southeast coast
MESOSCALE ORGANIZATION AND PROCESSES 465
of Taiwan. This convective system lasted over six hours,
while the residual cyclonic vortex persisted for days there-
after, moving slowly northward along the coastline. Small
low-pressure systems moving along the coast have also
been observed in association with the coastal front off the
East Coast of the United States (e.g., Bosart, 1975; Clark,
1983 ).
While all these systems are associated with significant
weather events that are difficult to observe and forecast
from standard synoptic data, one of the most unfortunate
weather occurrences associated with a mesoscale vortex
was the Sichuan, China flood catastrophe of 11-15 July
1981. In this storm, over 1200 people were killed and 1.5
million were left homeless (Kuo et al., 1986 ), with property
damage of nearly 1.2 billion dollars. According to meso-
scale analysis by Kuo et al., the event was clearly related
to a vortex that formed in the lee of the mountains in the
southwest comer of the Tibetan plateau. Many numerical
simulations were used to investigate this vortex and flood
(e.g., Anthes and Haagenson, 1984; Chen and Dell'Osso,
1984; Hovermale, 1984; Zhou and Hu, 1984). The recent
results of Kuo et al. (1988) investigated the factors that
influenced the vortex formation.
Generalizing the mechanisms that concentrate the vor-
ticity in the mesocyclone cases is somewhat difficult, per-
haps due to variations in the scale of orography. First,
consider the mechanism proposed by Kuo et al. (1988) for
the production of the vortex in the lee of the southwest
portion of the Tibetan plateau. The mountain range in this
vicinity was large enough so that the Rossby number of
the flow over the mountain was relatively small (order of
0.2) and parcels acquired a great deal of their initial vor-
ticity from the Coriolis effect. The vorticity was subse-
quently enhanced through vortex stretching. This finding
suggests an analogy between the lee cyclogenesis problem
and the vortex, except that the environment in the latter
case lacks the distinct baroclinicity often associated with
lee cyclogenesis.
In contrast, the earth's rotation is less likely to be crucial
for the vortex pair in the lee of the relatively smaller-scale
island of Hawaii (Smolarkiewicz et al., 1988). Smolar-
kiewicz and Rotunno (1988) suggest that the vorticity in
the Hawaiian vortex pair was generated baroclinically as
horizontal vorticity when the stratified flow was lifted over
the island and then tilted downward into vertical vorticity
in the lee. This process alone was sufficient to produce the
vortices in the absence of any horizontal or vertical vorticity
in the initial environment in their numerical model. Their
mechanism is dependent on an initially stratified flow and
could be shown to operate for a Froude number ( U / Nh,
where U is the flow speed, h the height scale of the moun-
tain, and N the Brunt-Vaisala frequency) between 0.1 and
0.5. In their simulations with Froude numbers larger than
0.5, lee vortices did not appear, and the flow was well
represented by linear theory (Smith, 1980). At Froude
numbers smaller than 0.1, the lifting is not sufficient to
466 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
produce the necessary vorticity. Further evidence for the
importance of stratification in the production of these vor-
tices is the tendency for many of these vortices to have a
distinct nocturnal preference, as in the vortices in the Kanto
plains (Kimura, 1986) and near Melbourne (Spillane,
1978).
While the study of Smolarkiewicz and Rotunno shows
lee vortices are produced by buoyancy gradients resulting
from vertical motions in the presence of stratification,
studies by Wilczak and Glendening (1988) and Dempsey
and Rotunno (1988) suggest that surface heating in sloping
terrain will also produce buoyancy gradients and vortices.
These studies were motivated by observations of the pre-
viously mentioned Denver cyclone. It should be noted that
the later studies used a mixed-layer modeling strategy. The
degree to which these assumptions are met in vortex cases
has not yet been firmly established. Alternatively, how
much stratification is necessary to prevent this mechanism
has not yet been determined.
In many regards, Doppler radar data have been under-
utilized in the study of these circulations. The work on the
Denver cyclone and during TAMEX illustrates the impor-
tant role that radar can play in understanding how these
circulations initiate and organize convection. The work by
Kropfli et al. (1988) further shows that clear air and chaff
measurements can provide valuable high resolution data
on mesocyclone structure. Thus, the data collected can aid
in diagnosing the physical mechanism for vortex genera-
tion. Due to the ubiquitous nature of the vortices and their
association with significant weather, the study of these
circulations with the aid of Doppler radar is a potentially
important topic for future work.
2.4 Mesoscale Circulations Induced by
Variations in Surface Energy Budgets
Many mesoscale circulations are induced by irregularities
in surface characteristics, including land/ sea breezes,
moisture fronts, and circulations initiated by sloping ter-
rain. A comprehensive review of the variety of these cir-
culations is given by Pielke and Segal (1986). Of these
flows, the sea breeze has long received a great deal of
attention. The basic dynamics of the sea breeze, with the
air over the land being heated and rising, and the colder,
denser air over the sea rushing in to replace it, has been
known for over a century (Buchan, 1860; Davis et al.,
1889). Since the heating differences only extend through
the depth of the boundary layer, the vertical extent of this
denser cold air mass is typically of the order of 1 km or
less. While sea breezes are most commonly associated with
an undisturbed flow in the subtropics (e.g., Edinger and
Helvey, 1961; Hsu, 1970), they have also been observed
as far north as the Arctic coast of Alaska (Moritz, 1977;
Kozo, 1982). The theoretical aspects of the dependence
of the horizontal scale of the sea breeze upon latitude is
discussed by Rotunno (1983) and Yan and Anthes (1987).
Although other practical problems, such as temperature
forecasts and air quality, are associated with sea breeze
circulations, the contribution of radar measurements to the
study of the sea breeze has often been concerned with the
influence of the sea breeze upon convection. The inter-
action of sea breeze circulation and convective activity has
been studied extensively over the Florida peninsula.
Through examination of radar and surface wind data, Byers
and Rodebush (1948) linked the convergence associated
with the sea breeze over Florida to the afternoon thun-
derstorm maximum over the peninsula. Subsequent com-
parison with nearby island stations stressed that the sea
breeze accounts for an estimated 35-40 percent of the
rainfall totals over the south Florida peninsula (Burpee
and Lahiff, 1984). The rainfall magnitude and spatial de-
rivatives associated with the sea breeze can show large
daily variations. The strength of the sea breeze itself is not
likely to explain this variation, since the peninsula-scale
convergence is actually greater on "dry" days than on those
with deep convection (Burpee, 1979). The low-level wind
speed and direction was first hypothesized to determine
the location of convection by Gentry and Moore (1954).
Frank et al. (1967) later showed that early morning coastal
showers were more prevalent on the upwind coast, while
deep afternoon convection took place more frequently on
the downwind coast.
More detailed studies of the dependence of the spatial
distribution of the convection on synoptic and regional
flow characteristics were carried out by Ulanski and Gar-
stang (1978), Blanchard and Lopez (1985), Lopez et al.
(1984), and Watson and Blanchard (1984) as part of the
Florida Area Cumulus Experiment (FACE). Their findings
clearly linked the changes in background wind and stability
to differences in the distribution of convection induced by
the sea breeze. Some examples of their findings include
indications of a merger of the east and west coast sea
breezes under relatively weak cross-peninsula winds and
weak synoptic forcing. Cooper et al. (1982) found that sea
breeze forcing would initiate the convection, but the lo-
cation of the subsequent convective outbreaks was caused
by convergence associated with convective outflows al-
lowing the convective activity to be maintained long after
the diurnal peninsular-scale forcing had decreased. The
Blanchard and Lopez study suggested that the inclusion
of local terrain influences, such as lake breezes, was nec-
essary to describe the daily precipitation pattern accurately.
Many of these findings, including the effects of the large-
scale wind direction and the importance of local effects,
were predicted in the early hydrostatic modeling studies
of Pielke (1974). An underlying result of these studies is
that the sea breeze plays a large part in the rainfall budget
despite variable wind directions since Florida is a peninsula
that allows the sea breeze to merge under weak wind con-

ditions and penetrate inland from either coast with a
stronger cross-peninsula wind. Abe and Yoshida (1982)
investigated the influence of peninsula width on the sea
breeze for midlatitude summer conditions.
The sea breeze forms due to heating of the land surface
during the day. A reverse situation, commonly called the
land breeze, occurs at night when the air over the water
remains warmer than that over the land. This situation
can be pronounced during the winter when cold air flows
over the water and is warmed by large fluxes of sensible
and latent heat. Passarelli and Braham (1981) concluded
that snowbands parallel to the shore line were due to win-
ter land breezes over Lake Michigan. The snowfalls as-
sociated with the land breeze convergence can be quite
intense, with large accumulations observed if the snow-
bands move onshore. Analogous to the sea breeze cases,
the land breezes tend to form with a weak cross-lake wind.
Different from the sea breeze result, lake-effect bands
sometimes display little diurnal variation, with the Pas-
sarelli and Braham (1981) finding that a convergent zone
lasted for 63 hours without major modification in one sys-
tem. Hence, it seems that the polar outbreaks are some-
times a primary source of cold air, with the thermal gra-
dients the result of larger surface fluxes over the water
rather than being differential diurnal cooling between the
land and sea. Other studies in the Great Lakes region show
similar lake convergence, including the analysis by Munn
and Richards (1964) and Ching (1974) that discusses the
circulations in terms of a land breeze. Neumann (1951)
also discussed winter land breezes in the context of thun-
derstorm generation over the Mediterranean coasts. Atlas
et al. (1983) also show the effects of the shape of the coast-
line in the formation of diurnally varying convergence lines
off the East Coast of the United States in cold air outbreaks.
Houze et al. (1981) and Johnson and Priegnitz (1981)
examined the diurnal convective pattern along the north-
em coasts of Borneo during the winter Monsoon Experi-
ment (MONEX). Their findings suggest that a land breeze
plays a role in determining the location of early morning
convection. Since the terrain of the island is complex, ther-
mally induced mountain circulations may be a factor in
strengthening the land breeze. In general, the inclusion of
significant orography close to the coastline can produce a
myriad of complications as the mountains interact with
the mean flow, producing blocking or gravity-wave re-
sponses. The previously discussed results of Smolarkiewicz
and Rotunno (1988) show that upwind blocking of the
flow by coastal mountains can account for some of the
coastal circulations previously thought to be induced by
thermal effects.
The nocturnal thunderstorm maximum over the mid-
western United States has long been an area of active re-
search. Blackadar (1957) proposed that the low-level jet
in this region may influence the formation of nocturnal
thunderstorms. The nocturnal signal is well defined, with
the Pitchford and London (1962) study finding that the
MESOSCALE ORGANIZATION AND PROCESSES 467
occurrence of thunderstorms between 0000 and 0600 local
time exceeded those systems present between 1200 to 1800
local time by approximately 2.5 to 1. This implies that the
thunderstorms in this region are either locally nocturnally
generated or are the continuation of afternoon or evening
systems that form outside the region in locations such as
the mountainous regions to the west and subsequently
advect into the area. Further studies of the low-level jet
(e.g., Pitchford and London, 1962; Wallace, 1975) con-
firmed the nocturnal nature of the low-level jet and thun-
derstorm maximum with subsequent studies investigating
the influence of sloped terrain upon the formation of the
jet (e.g., Holton, 1967; Bonner and Paegle, 1970; McNider
and Pielke, 1981). Maddox (1983) found that the com-
posite mesoscale convective complex in this region also
tended to be associated with the low-level jet.
Despite these suggested links among sloping terrain, the
low-level jet, and nocturnal convective events, a number
of questions remain. For example, are the nocturnal thun-
derstorm events typically organized on the mesoscale, as
one might infer from Maddox's studies, or are more isolated
nocturnal events also common? Also, does the low-level
jet produce an environment that favors the continued ex-
istence of systems initially generated outside the region as
afternoon and evening showers, or are the systems locally
initiated? Finally, if the convection is initiated locally what
mechanisms trigger and maintain it in a stable boundary
layer? The results of Banta (1984) and Toth and Johnson
(1985) suggest that downslope westerly flow originates
near the mountains due to convective mixing and bound-
ary-layer entrainment of westerly flow aloft. The down-
slope flow collides with a southerly flow over the plain
producing a convergent pattern that could initiate noctur-
nal convection.
Another example of a mesoscale circulation originating
from sloping terrain in the midwestern United States is
the sharp moisture gradient or dryline. An excellent review
of the structure of the dryline is presented in Schaefer
(1986). The dryline (e.g., NSSP, 1963) forms during the
spring and early summer as relatively moist air originating
over the Gulf of Mexico, and subsequently passing over
relatively moist terrain, meets with air having trajectories
stretching over warm, arid elevated areas inland (Carlson
and Ludlam, 1968). Radar studies (e.g., Rhea, 1966) in-
dicate that the boundary is also a favored location for the
formation of both isolated thunderstorms and mesoscale
convective systems, with the convection typically forming
quite close to the location of the dryline. According to the
discussion by Schaefer (1986), features similar to the dry-
line are observed worldwide and are often implicated in
the initiation of convection.
The possible mechanisms proposed to explain the for-
mation of convection along the dryline include gravity
waves (Koch and McCarthy, 1982); mixing across the in-
terface (Schaefer, 1975); vertical motions induced by den-
sity differences of various horizontal scales across the dry-
468 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
line (Ogura and Chen, 1977; Sun and Ogura, 1979;
Parsons et al., 1987); an ageostrophic response to an up-
per-level disturbance causing moist air to flow out from
beneath an inversion lid of dry, hot air originating over
the Mexican plateau (e.g., Carlson et al., 1983); and forced
ascent due to convergence along the dryline. Perhaps one
reason for the difficulty in understanding the convection
along the dryline is that it is not a front in that the thermal
and density differences across the dryline vary consider-
ably due to the different responses to the diurnal cycle on
the dry and moist sides of the dryline. While this discussion
has concentrated on the role of the dryline in triggering
convection, a forecast of the dryline location has other
practical significance, such as agricultural forecasts for crop
irrigation. Unfortunately, considerable along-line variation
in dryline location makes the location of convective initi-
ation along the dryline difficult to predict.
3 RESEARCH IMPACTS fROM
APPLICATIONS Of CURRENT AND
NEW TECHNOLOGY
In this section we discuss the impacts of recent, im-
proved, and new technology on the future of mesoscale
research. During the panel discussion of this topic an un-
derlying theme was that radar studies were approaching
a new horizon, with instrumentation previously used only
for research field experiments now being deployed oper-
ationally. One major implication is that data of field ex-
periment quality (for many but not all research topics) will
now be available at many locations throughout the year,
not just for the weeks or months of many past experiments.
An important and underlying assumption of this statement is
that there must be sufficient cooperation between the research
and operational communities so that the data are archived
and made available for research purposes. The panel felt
strongly that appropriate steps should be taken to accomplish
this task. Recommendations such as these have been made
by the Panel on Educational and Institutional Issues (Atlas
et al., 1989).
3.1 Wind Pro81ers
Soundings of winds can be accomplished within the
troposphere and lower stratosphere using VHF and UHF
Doppler radars called wind profilers (e.g., Hogg et al., 1983;
Strauch et al., 1984). During mid-1990, the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Wave
Propagation Laboratory will set up a demonstration net-
work of wind profilers over the midwestern United States.
When compared to the current operational rawinsonde
network, the profilers will provide unprecedented temporal
resolution offering numerous operational and research
opportunities (for a summary see Gage, Chapter 28a;
Hooke, Chapter 28b). While the improved time resolution
lends itself toward the study of many micro- and mesoscale
circulations, especially through the use of time series from
a single profiler, the greatest potential research advances
are likely to occur on the large meso- and synoptic scales.
An area of particular interest will be the incorporation of
the profiler data, with improved temporal resolution, into
the numerical weather prediction models. Another area
where advances could be expected is the study of the in-
teraction and feedbacks between MCSs and the large-scale
flow. This topic has often proved difficult to address with
current measuring systems and should benefit from the
increased temporal resolution of a profiling network. The
study of the internal structure of mesoscale convective
systems could also benefit if the boundary layer is ade-
quately sampled, since recent numerical research suggests
that the structure of many convective systems, such as
isolated supercells and squall lines, are highly influenced
by the low-level vertical shear. Other arguments to have
the boundary layer adequately sampled are given by
Kropfli (Chapter 27b).
3.2 Thermodynamic Pro81ing Systems
While geopotential, temperature and humidity fields can
be retrieved from suitable forms of the primitive equations
and the wind profile measurements discussed above (e.g.,
Kuo and Anthes, 1985), it seems unlikely that the need
for accurate thermodynamic measurements will be elim-
inated. Advances have been made in ground-based mi-
crowave radiometric profiling systems that measure tem-
perature and humidity with a temporal resolution similar
to that of the wind profilers. The accuracy of the ground-
based systems can be improved when combined with sat-
ellite-based measurements (e.g., Westwater et al., 1984,
1985). However, the current technology of these systems
tends to produce a profile of poorer vertical resolution and
less accuracy than the wind profiling systems, creating
problems for mesoscale analysis and model initialization
(e.g., Kuo and Anthes, 1985). Improvement in the remote
sensing of temperature and humidity will greatly expand
the number of research topics that profiling systems can
adequately address.
An exciting possibility for the accurate and detailed
measurement of temperature is the Radio Acoustic Sound-
ing System (RASS; a more detailed discussion of the RASS
system can be found in Chapter 27b). The analysis of
these measurements will likely provide insight into a
number of atmospheric circulations including fronts, dry-
lines, sea and land breezes, and convective-initiation
events, since an understanding of many mesoscale circu-
lations has been limited by a lack of high-resolution ther-
modynamic measurements (e.g., Thorpe and Emanuel,
1985). This type of remote sensing system also offers a
much more complete dataset for operational model initial-
ization and four-dimensional data assimilation. It is some-
what difficult to estimate the impacts that a complete and
nearly continuous set of temperature, wind and humidity

measurements would have on our ability to forecast
weather events without knowing the advances possible in
four-dimensional data assimilation and measurement and
computer system technology. Nevertheless, the develop-
ment and deployment of this technology should be given
a high priority. The potential impact of nearly continuous
datasets on nonmodel-generated (e.g., forecaster or al-
gorithm driven) nowcasting also should be remembered.
3.3 NEXRAD
The Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) is a
Doppler radar network that will replace the United States's
current operational system of conventional, reflectivity-
only radars (Ray and Colbert, 1982; Sarreals et al., 1986;
Golden et al., 1986). Similar conventional (or non-Dopp-
ler) radars have been deployed operationally in other
countries. A few Doppler radars have also been installed
but these are most often reserved for research. The panel
felt that the mesoscale research community could greatly
benefit by having "raw data" generated by these radars
recorded and archived so that researchers could request
the data after an event of interest was identified. Thus,
while acknowledging that the enormous amount of data
generated by a continuously operating array of Doppler
radars creates new problems for operational archiving, the
mesoscale panel joins the severe storms (Golden, Chapter
30b) and convective dynamics (Carbone, Chapter 24b)
panels in calling for the archiving of "raw data" taken by
NEXRAD systems. Many on the mesoscale panel expressed
a great deal of concern about other aspects of NEXRAD,
including the lack of flexibility in scanning modes, the lack
of dual-Doppler overlap (particularly around the busiest
aviation centers), the ability to incorporate NEXRAD ra-
dars into multiple Doppler field work, and data commu-
nication links between radar facilities (as opposed to links
that must go through a central site). From our discussions,
it is evident that better communication between the op-
erational and research communities potentially using
NEXRAD data is needed. Therefore, we also endorse the
proposal by the Panel on Convective Dynamics that a sec-
ond Doppler analysis workshop be held, but we would
like to suggest that this meeting include a strong emphasis
on the research applications of the NEXRAD network.
Our panel identified some of the mesoscale research uses
of the Doppler radars. The panel felt that many aspects
of mesoscale circulations are related to local terrain features
that can produce somewhat indigenous mesoscale weather
events. The prospect of large regions of the country covered
by Doppler radar suggests that details of many local cir-
culations may be revealed that will provide both research
opportunities and operational forecasting advances. An-
other opportunity presented by NEXRAD is to use the VAD
wind soundings from the radars in much the same way
as the output from the wind profilers, with either an em-
phasis on mesoscale features in single-station time series
or on larger-scale circulations using an entire network of
MESOSCALE ORGANIZATION AND PROCESSES 469
data. In comparison to current operational rawinsonde
measurements, the NEXRAD wind profiles will have ex-
tremely high temporal resolution. However, in order to
utilize the data fully, it also seems necessary to take ad-
vantage of the high spatial resolution afforded by Doppler
radar. It is appealing to imagine NEXRAD providing fine-
scale (order of kilometers) wind measurements over a large
portion of the country. This task will certainly be difficult
and may prove impractical, since the radar measures only
the radial and not the tangential or vertical component of
the wind. Therefore, additional assumptions are needed
in order to derive the full three-dimensional wind field.
While the vertical component of motion can be obtained
from the continuity equation, it is more difficult to derive
the tangential component. The limiting assumption could
take the form of assuming some steady-state aspects to
the flow between successive volume scans, such as the
velocity and reflectivity tracking techniques (Rinehart,
1979; Smythe, 1981), two-dimensionality in the vicinity
of fronts or bands (Hauser and Amayenc, 1986), or by
setting the vertical component of vorticity equal to zero
(Rabin et al., 1987). While these assumptions may offer
acceptable results under specific conditions, it is often in-
appropriate to generalize them in a variety of situations.
The panel was intrigued by some recent work in this
area by Wolfsberg (1987) using a technique called the sin-
gle-Doppler velocity retrieval (SDVR). Wolfsberg used this
technique to attempt retrieval of three-dimensional winds
and temperature fields from a time history of one com-
ponent of the velocity field. SDVR can be described as
using dynamic relationships, such as the system of Navier-
Stokes equations, to replace the nonmeasured wind com-
ponents. In the Wolfsberg study, the dynamic constraints
applied to the system are deviations from an adiabatic
steady-state Boussinesq fluid with an externally applied
temperature gradient. The study is of great practical benefit,
since it suggests that techniques may be available to derive
wind and temperature data over relatively large geo-
graphical areas with a resolution previously unobtainable
in time and space. However, a number of problems must
be addressed before an operational technique is available.
These include a sensitivity to common measurement errors,
the need to develop a more complex system of constraints
that includes vapor and liquid water, the development of
algorithms that rapidly converge, and the question of non-
uniqueness of the solutions.
3.4 Lidar
The Doppler lidar is a reliable source of high-resolution
velocity measurements in dear air. The technology and
research applications are discussed in Chapters 22a (Hil-
debrand and Moore), 22b (Jorgensen and Meneghini),
and 27b (Kropfli). Research applications potentially im-
portant for the mesoscale include the study of the clear-
air structure of boundaries such as fronts, drylines and
470 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
convective outflows, documenting the initiation of con-
vective systems, and taking advantage of the reduced (rel-
ative to most radars) ground clutter to study flows in com-
plex terrain.
3.5 Mobile Platforms
The potential impact of air and spacebome radar and
lidar is discussed in detail in Chapters 22a (Hildebrand
and Moore) and 22b (Jorgensen and Meneghini). Anum-
ber of research problems occurring on the mesoscale, such
as oceanic extratropical cyclones, polar lows and MCSs,
are difficult to address by any other means. Thus, the panel
is highly supportive of efforts to deploy and develop this
technology.
4 FUTURE STRATEGY
The panel spent a significant portion of its time dis-
cussing how field experiments should be carried out in the
future. These comments seem to fall into three general
categories: a) the need for field experiments (and new
technology) to be more hypothesis generated, b) "scale-
interaction" experiments, and c) the interplay between
models, theory, and observations.
4.1 Hypothesis Generated field
Experiments and Technological
Development
Many on the panel felt that past field experiments have
sometimes not focused on a specific testable hypothesis.
This feeling may represent our past lack of understanding
about the basic nature of many mesoscale circulations. The
panel felt that meteorology is maturing and we now have
an increased knowledge about the basic behavior of many
mesoscale flows. Often what is lacking now is the physical
understanding of how these circulations are initiated and
maintained and how they can be accurately forecast. This
suggests that more of our field work should be directed
toward the testing of a specific hypothesis, rather than
purely exploratory experiments. While this is an admirable
goal that develops naturally from the evolution of our field,
we must also realize the importance of observations in
"discovering new phenomena" in the atmosphere. The
discovery, documentation, and generation of hypotheses
for these "newly discovered" circulations are the first and
most fundamental step in the scientific method. Thus, this
type of creative research should also be encouraged. The
general view of the panel was not to discount this type of
research, but rather to recognize a general shift toward
field work that is more hypothesis specific. It is hoped that
this shift will result in a more efficient and cost effective
use of scientific facilities and funding. The panel also sug-
gested that criteria similar to those discussed above for
field experiments should apply to the development of new
technology in that they address an important operational
or scientific problem that cannot be accomplished by an-
other means. Funding for technological advances are dis-
cussed in detail by Atlas et al. (1989).
4.2 Scale-Interaction Experiments
and STORM
The recent popularization of the term "scale interaction"
in mesoscale meteorology deserves some clarification, since
evidence continues to grow that suggests that the meso-
scale on average is not quantized into discrete scales, but
is represented by events with a continuous spectrum of
scales. The results of Lilly (1983) even suggest that the
mesoscale is often characterized by disorganized waves
and eddies which act to transport energy between the
larger cyclone and smaller cumulus scales of motion (for
a review, see Emanuel, 1986; Lilly, 1986). The disorganized
mesoscale circulations are interrupted by local or inter-
mittent mesoscale circulations that are converting potential
to kinetic energy on the mesoscale. These mesoscale cir-
culations can be forced by topography such as occurs in
downslope windstorms and terrain-induced vortices, or
the circulations can result from mesoscale instabilities, such
as symmetric instability.
In the context of these findings, the questions of scale
interaction are: what role do smaller- or larger-scale events
play in the production of intermittent mesoscale events,
and what effects do these intermittent events have on the
other scales of motion? Convective systems are one inter-
esting scale-interaction problem. In the case of convection,
there are clearly organized mesoscale events, and the
practical importance of these events is firmly established.
However, at the present time, we lack a clear theoretical
understanding as to why convection becomes organized
on the mesoscale. One hypothesis for mesoscale convective
systems holds that the scale is chosen by the scale of the
initial forcing of convection, such as a front, dryline, upper-
level short wave, or a terrain-induced convergence feature.
Under this hypothesis, the effects of large-scale systems
are of crucial importance for understanding the initiation
and subsequent life cycle of convective activity. This would
seem to be the case even if the actual forcing is on fine
scales (as discussed in section 2), since the large scale may
play a role in the destabilization of the atmosphere and
the finescale lifting itself often evolves from large-scale
motion fields, such as in frontogenesis. In this scenario,
the aggregate effects of the convective activity must also
be addressed, since after convection is initiated strong
evolution is noted in the flow. Another possible organizing
factor is the ability for convective cells to produce cold
pools of a scale larger than a single convective cell, which
subsequently triggers convection over a larger area. Once
convective activity is initiated over larger areas, atmo-
spheric circulations, such as the rear inflow jet, form in

response to mesoscale areas of heating and cooling. With
this hypothesis, details of the convective activity, such as
updraft and downdraft strength, are of crucial importance.
In either case, the mesoscale convective system can pro-
duce strong evolution of larger-scale flow features.
Other mesoscale circulations in the atmosphere may be
highly influenced by the effects of both smaller-scale
events and larger-scale circulations. Such events may also
reach sufficient amplitude so that the larger-scale circu-
lations and subsequent forecasts can be affected. The pro-
posed thrust of the planned Stormscale Operational and
Research Meteorology (STORM) Program is to address
this scale-interaction process. While the panel is in support
of STORM, several issues pertaining to radar measure-
ments arise. The first is the importance of data recording
and scan flexibility of the operational and demonstration
radar systems, such as NEXRAD and the profilers. This
point has been discussed in section 3, but is of even greater
importance in view of STORM. A second problem is how
to use radar data to resolve the effects of convection and
core mesoscale areas. Clearly Doppler radar can determine
the convective fields, but in a mesoscale experiment there
is also pressure to use long baselines between the radars
and scan large sectors to cover a mesoscale area. The poorer
resolution and longer scan times necessary to cover the
mesoscale degrade the ability to resolve convective mo-
tions. Additionally, the desire to cover large areas in this
type of experiment often results in various pairs of radars
operating in dual modes, while experience in convective
experiments shows that multiple Doppler analysis is pref-
erable. The resolution of these conflicts requires a large
number of radars in the field, which is expensive, but flex-
ibility in the use of the operational network could aid in
this task. Finally, there is the need to monitor the large-
scale circulations frequently. The profiling network may
fill this void, particularly if thermodynamic variables and
low-level measurements are included. The ability of
STORM to address the role of the convective and large-
scale processes in mesoscale systems and the associated
feedbacks is what potentially could set it apart from many
previous experiments.
4.3 Joint Use of Observations and
Numerical Models
Recent thermodynamic retrieval of buoyancy and pres-
sure deviations from multi-Doppler radar-derived wind
fields has greatly expanded the possibility for comparisons
between observations and numerical simulations. The re-
trieval process derives thermodynamic quantities on tem-
poral and spatial scales previously unobtainable providing
observational insight into the dynamics, rather than simply
the kinematics, of mesoscale circulations. The joint use of
such observations together with numerical simulations
promises significant advances in our understanding of
many mesoscale flows. Perhaps the final stage in this pro-
MESOSCALE ORGANIZATION AND PROCESSES 471
cess would be the adaptation of the SDVR approach being
developed by Wolfsberg, in which the time history of radial
velocity is used together with a model constructed from
the appropriate governing equations to derive the three-
dimensional and temperature fields.
In general, a joint approach is encouraged, since both
observations and models have limitations and unknowns
in terms of replicating and understanding the observed
circulation (for examples see Carbone, Chapter 24b). The
joint use of model and observations should help to mini-
mize many of these problems. This joint approach can
have an impact on the design of field experiments involving
Doppler radar, in that the model initialization may require
different sounding strategy (e.g., soundings over a larger
domain) than would be used for observations alone. While
the resolution of the multiple-Doppler radar data suggests
a fine-resolution, nonhydrostatic model would be most
appropriate for comparisons, similar research could be un-
dertaken with profilers and limited-area hydrostatic sim-
ulations.
5 SUMMARY
In this panel report we reviewed a number of obser-
vations on the mesoscale and synoptic scale that were out-
side the scope of Browning's mesoscale review. The authors
of this report were somewhat overwhelmed by the broad
scope of past applications of radar measurements to meso-
and synoptic-scale meteorology. We also discussed current
and new technology and its impact on mesoscale research.
One of the findings of the panel was that closer cooperation
is needed between the research and operational branches
in the field in order to ensure maximum and cost effective
use of new operational systems. The routine archival of
data generated by new operational networks, such as
NEXRAD and the demonstration profiler network, is con-
sidered a high priority. We concluded with a discussion
of future strategy, which included consideration of the
STORM project, the need for hypothesis-driven research
in both technological development and field work, and
comments on the joint use of models and observations.
The latter topic should advance greatly through the use
of thermodynamic retrieval, particularly if boundary con-
ditions are refined so that the full three-dimensional fields,
rather than simply deviations from a horizontal mean, may
be derived. The new observational techniques, and the
adaptation of new technology in both research and op-
erational settings coupled with improving numerical mod-
els, should lead to great strides in the understanding of
mesoscale circulations over the coming decades.
Acknowledgments. We would like to express our sincere
appreciation to every member of the panel for their con-
472 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

tributions to this report. In particular, comments by Fred- ERICA Experiment on Rapidly Intensifying Cy-
erick Sanders, David Blanchard, Kerry Emanuel, Richard clones in the Atlantic
Anthes, James Moore, Ronald .Smith, Melvyn Shapiro, ERL Environmental Research Laboratories
Gregory Byrd and Robert Cunningham proved especially FACE Florida Area Cumulus Experiment
useful during the drafting of this report. Richard Rotunno GALE Genesis of Atlantic Lows Experiment
(NCAR/MMM) provided valuable reviews and discus- MONEX Monsoon Experiment
sion. We would also like to thank other colleagues for their MCS Mesoscale Convective Systems
comments on this project, including Warren Blier (NCAR/ NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research
ASP), John Cunning (NOAAjERLjWRP), David NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar Program
Dempsey (NCARjMMM), Ying-Hwa Kuo (NCAR/ NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
MMM), Thomas Matejka (NCARjMMM), Andrew ministration
Watson (NOAA/ERLjNSSLjWRP), Morris Weisman NSSL National Severe Storms Laboratory
(NCAR/MMM), and James Wilczak (NOAA/ERL/ NSSP National Severe Storms Project
WPL). Working with Keith Browning has been a pleasure, PRE-STORM Preliminary Regional Experiment for
and we thank him for his work on the mesoscale review STORM -Central
article. Finally, we thank Hope Hamilton for her help in RASS Radio Acoustic Sounding System
editing this report. SDVR Single-Doppler Velocity Retrieval
STORM Stormscale Operational and Research Me-
teorology
TAMEX Taiwan Area Mesoscale Experiment
APPENDIX:
UHF Ultra-High Frequency
LIST OF ACRONYMS VAD Velocity-Azimuth Display
CINDE Convective Initiation and Downburst Ex- VHF Very High Frequency
periment WPL Wave Propagation Laboratory
COPT Convective Profonde Tropicale WRP Weather Research Program

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER l6b:
NOTES ON THE PHYSICAL MECHANISMS OF MESOSCALE
PRECIPITATION BANDS
Kerry A. Emanuel, Center for Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1 INTRODUCTION
The advent of meteorological radar has led to the dis-
covery of numerous types of mesoscale precipitation
structures in the atmosphere. In Chapter 26a, Browning
provides an elegant review of the present state of knowl-
edge of the radar signatures and circulation structures as-
sociated with these precipitation systems. The purpose of
this note is to review very briefly the present understanding
of the physical mechanisms of some of these systems. What
meager understanding we do have is largely based on the
extensive work of radar meteorologists, as summarized by
Browning. As Browning points out, many of these meso-
scale systems are somewhat too large to be adequately
sampled from a single radar. [In fact, Ligda (1951) defined
mesoscale systems as those too large to be seen by a single
radar but too small to be resolved by rawinsonde obser-
vations.] Despite this, much has been learned from radar
observations, particularly in the case of banded precipi-
tation structures whose important cross-band structure is
often resolved by radar. Following the terminology used
by Browning, this note is divided according to the observed
form of the precipitation systems: wide and narrow frontal
rainbands, prefrontal bands, postfrontal bands, embedded
convective cells, and other miscellaneous forms.
l WIDE FRONTAL PRECIPITATION
BANDS
Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain
these features, but it is fair to say that at this time there
are two leading contenders: conditional symmetric insta-
bility ( CSI) and frontal circulations in the presence of small
stability to slantwise displacements. (These are not mu-
tually exclusive mechanisms.) CSI was first proposed by
Bennetts and Hoskins (1979) as an explanation for frontal
rainbands. It has more recently come to be known by the
somewhat more simple term "slantwise convection,"
which shall be used here.
Slantwise convection may be understood directly
through the parcel method of assessing stability (Emanuel,
1983a,b). In the most simple terms, a two-dimensional
parcel (or "tube") of air aligned with the thermal wind is
displaced in an arbitrary slantwise direction, conserving
its equivalent potential temperature (Oe) and absolute mo-
mentum (M), defined
M = v + fx, (A1)
MESOSCALE ORGANIZATION AND PROCESSES 473
where v is the velocity in the direction of the thermal wind,
f is the Coriolis parameter, and x is the direction of the
large-scale temperature gradient. The tube's buoyancy is
determined by comparing its virtual temperature with that
of its environment; this determines its vertical acceleration.
The tube's horizontal acceleration is similarly determined
by comparing its M with that of its environment, which is
assumed to be in geostrophic balance. If a slantwise dis-
placement can be found that leads to a net acceleration in
the direction of the original displacement, the fluid is un-
stable to slantwise convection. Because the gravitational
accelerations in the vertical direction are physically iso-
morphic to the centrifugal accelerations in the horizontal
direction, the tube does not distinguish between these two;
all it feels is their sum. Thus the term slantwise convection
is appropriate: it is the most general form of convection
in baroclinic flows. Even so, slantwise convection and up-
right convection are still treated as separate topics in much
of the literature, emphasizing the form more than the
physics of the convection. (The fact that precipitation falls
vertically and that turbulence may not be isotropic may
serve to make the physics of slantwise convection quite
different from that of upright convection, though this has
hardly been explored.)
Bennetts and Hoskins (1979) showed that the local sta-
bility to slantwise convection in a saturated air mass de-
pends on the sign of the equivalent potential vorticity ( qe),
defined
11' V lnfJe
qe =
p
where 11 is the absolute vector vorticity and p is density.
This is analogous to the statement that the vertical gradient
of ()e must be negative for upright convection to occur; it
is a necessary but not sufficient condition in an unsaturated
atmosphere. Emanuel (1983b) showed that the actual
available energy for finite amplitude displacements of a
parcel (called the Slantwise Convective Available Potential
Energy, or SCAPE) can be determined by constructing
soundings along surfaces of constant M; this is analogous
to looking at tephigrams constructed from vertical sound-
ings to determine a parcel's CAPE. All the definitions used
in assessing conditional instability carry over to slantwise
convection, including the level of free convection and the
neutral buoyancy level. SCAPE is equal to CAPE in the
limiting case of no vertical wind shear, otherwise SCAPE
is always larger than CAPE. This illustrates that upright
474 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
convection is, in some sense, a special case of slantwise
convection.
Most of the attempts to relate wide frontal rainbands to
slantwise convection have simply involved estimates of
the stability of the atmosphere containing bands to slant-
wise convection. If the atmosphere was unstable and the
bands had the predicted orientation along the thermal
wind, then slantwise convection was implicated. The first
study along these lines was by Bennetts and Sharp (1982)
who established that qe is often negative in the warm sector
of cyclonic storms in the United Kingdom. Indeed, since
the vertical lapse rate of Be is usually negative in the tropical
lower troposphere, it seems inevitable that maritime trop-
ical air flowing into middle latitude cyclones will at some
point experience a combination of upright and slantwise
convection. Other studies include those by Emanuel
(1983b), who showed that soundings along M surfaces in
the vicinity of postfrontal precipitation in Oklahoma were
nearly moist adiabatic, implying some type of slantwise
adjustment; and by Seltzer et al. (1985) who related a sub-
jective measure of the degree of handedness in radar-mea-
sured precipitation to a measure of instability to slantwise
convection.
To those of us involved in these studies, it seemed for
a time that slantwise convection is to mesoscale precipi-
tation bands what baroclinic instability is to cyclones. At
the peak of our enthusiasm, however, more sober-minded
individuals started to point out some discrepancies. Parsons
and Hobbs (1983) did a wide-ranging survey of observed
bands in west coast storms and were able to rule out slant-
wise convection as explanations for some types of bands,
even while supporting it in other cases. Sanders and Bosart
(1985b) showed that a single, persistent wide band asso-
ciated with an east coast snowstorm existed for some time
in an atmosphere that appeared to be neutral to slantwise
convection. The Doppler radar signature of this band (re-
produced in Fig. A1) was spectacular, showing sloping flow
of up to 30m s- 1 across the geostrophic wind. We began
to realize that slantwise convection alone could not explain
this feature; it was simply too strong. We were led to in-
vestigate instead the response of a slantwise neutral at-
mosphere to frontogenetical forcing.
Emanuel (1985) and Thorpe and Emanuel (1985)
showed that the semigeostrophic response to specified
frontogenetical forcing of an atmosphere that had been
previously neutralized to slantwise moist convection takes
the form of an intense, concentrated, sloping sheet of as-
cending air. Later, Emanuel et al. (1987) examined the
dynamics of baroclinic instability in such an adjusted at-
mosphere and found the same structure of frontal ascent.
Perhaps this is the physical mechanism of Browning's
"conveyor belt," an apt term for the structures developed
by the models. The flow shown in Fig. A1, which is known
to have occurred at near slantwise neutrality, appears to
be a dramatic radar confirmation of the conveyor belt con-
cept, and also suggests that single wide bands may be
a
-IOOkm-
b
10
Z{km)
12
5
B
,-;~ I
60 so 100
r (kml
Fig. A1 (a) Constant altitude display of radar reflectivity (dbZ) in
the layer from 2-4 km from the M.I. T. 10 em radar located at Cam-
bridge, Massachusetts, at 0729 UTC 12 February 1983. Hatched re-
gions show reflectivity greater than 30 dbZ. Precipitation was in the
form of snow. Heavy line shows cross-section line of b. Background
map is dashed. (b) Radial velocity (m s- 1) along cross section shown
in (a). Positive values indicate flow away from radar.
consequences of the conveyor belt itself rather than of
some superposed instability. As Sanders and Bosart
(1985a) point out, multiple wide bands would more nearly
suggest an instability mechanism such as slantwise con-
vection, perhaps imbedded in the frontogenetical conveyor
belt flow. Multiple bands have been observed on occasion
(Byrd, 1987) and Baldwin et al. (1984) show that slantwise
convection probably causes the multiple bands that occurr
in a numerical simulation by Hsie et al. (1984). It seems
likely that slantwise convection occurs most often in con-
junction with frontogenesis.
3 NARROW FRONTAL BANDS
These show up beautifully on radar (see Browning,
Chapter 26a for references). The flow structure (e.g., see
Carbone, 1982) strongly resembles that of a density cur-
rent, as pointed out by most of the investigators. Even so,
little is known about how they are initiated, perhaps be-
cause they have mostly been studied on the west coast,

where they arrive onshore fully developed. There is a gen-
eral consensus that the density currents are at least partially
maintained by evaporation and melting, though the rel-
ative importance of each is not known.
A certain amount of attention has been directed at the
zigzag structure of the narrow bands (see Fig. 3.3 in Chap-
ter 26a). Carbone (1982), Hobbs and Persson (1982) and
Emanuel (1980) suggested that the zigzags result from
barotropic instability associated with the highly concen-
trated vorticity in the bands. Moore (1985) did the first
theoretical work on this problem and demonstrated that
updrafts in strong shear are indeed susceptible to barotro-
pic instabilities. While some form of shear-driven instability
seems implicated, the link between theory and observa-
tions is still too tenuous to allow definite conclusions.
4 PREFRONTAL PRECIPITATION
BANDS
These fall into several categories. The relatively shallow
bands, usually parallel to the cold front, often occur in the
warm sectors of west coast storms. Parsons and Hobbs
(1983) suggested slantwise convection and Ekman-type
instabilities as possible explanations of these features, but
no hypothesis has been adequately tested in the field. There
also are the full-blown prefrontal squall lines, some of
which form at the cold front and propagate into the warm
sector, while others form in situ in the warm sector (New-
ton, 1950). The prefrontal squall line is often aligned at a
significant angle to the cold front.
Numerous theories have been advanced to explain both
the initiation and the maintenance of prefrontal squall
lines. Tepper (1950) proposed that such features are trig-
gered by gravity waves propagating away from the cold
front on temperature inversions. The theoretical problem
here is to explain how such waves manage not to radiate
all their energy upward in a short time. Beginning with
the work of Uccellini (1975), several observational studies
have shown that thunderstorms are sometimes initiated
by gravity waves, though cold fronts per se have not yet
been cited as the source of the observed waves. Miller and
Sanders (1980), working with the squall lines associated
with the infamous 3-4 April 1974 tornado outbreak, found
many wave trains propagating hither and yon; in some
instances they triggered convection and in others they were
triggered by the convection, but the convection and the
waves did not remain in phase. Raymond (1978) and later
Ogura et al. (1982) suggest that prefrontal squall lines are
initiated by dry symmetric instability of the low-level jet;
while this may be true in some cases, the great majority
appear to be aligned perpendicular to the low-level shear
(Bluestein and Jain, 1985). This would also support Nehr-
kom (1986) in ruling out symmetric wave-CISK (Emanuel,
1982) as an explanation.
Finally, Seitter and Kuo (1983) pointed out the possibility
that precipitating convection can extract energy from ver-
MESOSCALE ORGANIZATION AND PROCESSES 475
tical shear across the lines; this was elaborated on by
Emanuel (1986). Recently, Rotunno et al. (1988) looked
at the dynamics in terms of vorticity production. While
these ideas may explain the preferred alignment of squall
lines across the low-level shear, they do not explain why
such lines are often initiated with that orientation. It ap-
pears that the initiation of squall lines remains an important
unsolved problem in meteorology.
5 POSTFRONTAL
PRECIPITATION BANDS
There also appear to be several distinct types of post-
frontal bands. When cold fronts pass over relatively warm
water, the boundary layer becomes unstable and precip-
itation bands often form in the cold air. These are frequent
occurrences over the west coasts of North America and
Europe, and offshore from the east coasts of America and
Asia. Many were observed during the Air Mass Transfor-
mation Experiment (AMTEX) and more recently during
the Genesis of Atlantic Lows Experiment (GALE). The
cause of these bands is undoubtedly the heating of air
from below, and the organization of the convection along
the boundary layer shear is consistent with classical theory.
When the flow is not too strong, however, the bands break
up into open cellular convection with aspect ratios much
larger than can be explained by classical convection theory.
Another type of postfrontal convective band resides in
the warm air above cold frontal regions and often these
bands propagate toward the warm air faster than the front
itself (see Browning Chapter 26a for a description of these).
The two leading explanatory theories are slantwise con-
vection (Parsons and Hobbs, 1983) and gravity waves
generated during frontogenesis. Ley and Peltier (1978) ex-
amined the conditions under which gravity waves might
be generated at fronts, but until recently such events were
not apparent in either operational or research numerical
models of frontogenesis. Gall (personal communication)
has recently developed a very-high-resolution numerical
model of frontogenesis which shows prominent gravity
wave trains fixed with respect to the front. While it is
somewhat debatable whether these waves might be arti-
facts of the model, this appears to be a promising line of
investigation.
6 EMBEDDED CONVECTION
As pointed out previously, the mesoscale circulations
associated with baroclinic cyclones can serve both to trigger
and to organize convection drawing on preexisting CAPE.
There has also been much talk about baroclinic circulations
acting in and of themselves to generate CAPE. To the au-
thor's knowledge, the first attempt to quantify this notion
was by Bennetts and Hoskins (1979), who pointed out
that moist potential vorticity (q.) is not conserved in un-
saturated flow and may be made negative if o. contours
476 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
are rotated counterclockwise (in the Northern Hemisphere)
with respect to() contours. Thus the appropriate baroclinic
circulation can destabilize the atmosphere to slantwise and
upright convection, as pointed out qualitatively by Brown-
ing. Bennetts and Hoskins (1979) emphasize that this is a
rather slow process.
Wolfsberg et al. (1986) extended this work to account
for destabilization of the atmosphere with respect to finite
displacements of parcels; i.e., they developed an expression
for Lagrangian changes of SCAPE. Aside from actual sur-
face heating, the two prominent means of increasing
SCAPE are advective destabilization (similar to the mech-
anism described by Bennetts and Hoskins, 1979) which
requires the thermal wind vector to rotate counterclockwise
with height in the Northern Hemisphere, and frictionally
induced ageostrophic boundary-layer flow of high (), air
under cold air aloft. Wolfsberg et al. hypothesized that
bands observed in a New England winter storm were con-
tinuously maintained by advective destabilization. Aside
from this, very little work has been done on the generation
of SCAPE and CAPE in the atmosphere.
7 OTHER MESOSCALE PRECIPITATION
BANDS
Of course many other precipitation bands are not directly
associated with baroclinic cyclones. These include topo-
graphically excited precipitation features, which have al-
ready been discussed in some detail by Browning, and
bands due to land-sea temperature contrasts and other
gradients resulting from geographical features. Some of
these have only recently been studied in any detail. A case
in point is the dryline of the Plains States, along which
substantial convection often develops. One of the more
fascinating concepts that have emerged in connection with
this is that of the "inland sea breeze" (Sun and Ogura,
1979) which results from differential heating due to soil
moisture gradients. This has opened up a new branch of
research that combines mesoscale meteorology with hy-
drology.
Other mesoscale precipitation phenomena include me-
soscale organization of lake-effect storms (Kelly, 1984) and
bands tied to strong sea surface temperature gradients
(Hobbs, 1987). The latter might tum out to be an" offshore
sea breeze." Finally, no general description of mesoscale
bands would be complete without reference to the spiral
rainbands and contracting concentric eyewalls of hurri-
canes. Though many theoretical explanations have been
offered, none has been field tested to the extent that it can
be generally accepted. It is safe to say that there are enough
unexplained mesoscale phenomena to keep theorists busy
for a very long time.
APPENDIX:
LIST OF ACRONYMS
AMTEX Air Mass Transformation Experiment
CAPE Convective Available Potential Energy
CISK Conditional Instability of the Second Kind
CSI Conditional Symmetric Instability
GALE Genesis of Atlantic Lows Experiment
SCAPE Slantwise Convective Available Potential En-
ergy

Chapter l7a
Radar Research on the Atmospheric Boundary Layer
Earl E. Gossard, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences
(CIRES), University of Colorado
1 BACKGROUND AND
INTRODUCTION
The early literature in radar meteorology often refers to
returns from the (apparently) clear boundary layer and
lower troposphere as "ghosts" and "angels." One of the
"most authentic cases of this type" (Kerr, 1951) was re-
ported by Major J.O. Fletcher in 1943. Excellent summaries
of such reports were provided by Plank (1956) and Atlas
(1959). It now seems clear that many such reports were
due to backscatter from insects or birds and from the earth
or sea surface once-reflected by an atmospheric layer.
Modem high resolution radars demonstrate that echoes
from both biological and particulate targets as well as from
refractive index irregularities can contribute to clear-air
backscatter in a way that is inseparable by operational
radars (e.g., Richter and Jensen, 1973; Richter et al., 1974).
In fact, the powerful Doppler radars of the NEXRAD sys-
tem will be able to acquire valuable clear-air information
on the prestorm environment during the warm months by
using insects and sometimes refractive index irregularities
as air-motion tracers.
Although we will not review radar entomology, Figs.
1.1 and 1.2 summarize some important features of the
spatial distribution patterns of insects in the boundary
layer. These records were acquired with very high range
resolution (1.5 m) FM-CW radars. The top and middle
frames of Fig. 1.1 show both diffuse echoes from refractive
index irregularities in a capping inversion above a con-
vective boundary layer and point echoes (probably from
insects) variously distributed within and above the con-
vective boundary layer. The radar used was an FM-CW
radar described by Chadwick et al. (1976) located near
Kimball, Nebraska at the time of these observations. The
lower frame shows insect returns from the nocturnal
boundary layer by the same radar. The insect density in-
dicated by the radar record is one per 12 m cube in the
boundary layer. Figure 1.2 shows insect returns within
and above the marine boundary layer capped by the strong
subsidence inversion over the eastern North Pacific, re-
corded by the high resolution FM-CW radar system de-
signed by Richter (1969) located at San Diego. It is clear
that there is no universal spatial distribution of insects rel-
ative to the boundary layer and advective transport of par-
ticulates, as well as stratification, is important. However,
we will not discuss insect targets much more in this review.
477
In spite of the obvious importance of biological targets
as sources of clear-air returns, some of the early reported
atmospheric returns now seem to have been genuine
backscatter from clear-air refractive index inhomogeneities
rather than from particulates. These include those de-
scribed by Friend (1939, 1949) who as early as 1949 wrote
a paper entitled "The Theory and Practice of Tropospheric
Sounding by Radar," a title that could well appear in cur-
rent symposia on the subject. Friend's theoretical inter-
pretation was based on specular partial reflection from
large vertical gradients bf refractive index. This mechanism
appears to be relevant for the wavelengths used by Friend
and to some of the returns observed by the newer VHF
profiling systems (see Gage, Chapter 28a); however, it
now seems that the correct interpretation of the clear-air
return observed by most short wavelength radars is a form
of backscatter first clearly identified in the forward scatter
mode in a one-page note by Pekeris (1947) (for acoustic
propagation in the oceans) and by Booker and Gordon
(1950) (for radio propagation in the atmosphere). We
would prefer to call this type of scatter "Pekeris scatter"
instead of the more common "Bragg scatter" because the
phenomenon is a major generalization to random media
of the very special case considered by Bragg in his studies
of crystals; however, the term Bragg scatter has become
so widely adopted that we will continue to use it in this
review to avoid confusion. Doviak and Zrnic (1984) coined
the phrase "stochastic Bragg scatter" to patch up the mis-
nomer.
Although the Bragg mechanism was correctly identified
as a potential explanation for radio wave backscatter from
the clear troposphere (e.g., Tatarski, 1961; Lane and
Meadows, 1963; Saxton et al., 1964; Lane, 1967) and from
the tropopause (Atlas et al., 1966b), not until the review
by Atlas and Hardy (1966) at the XV General Assembly
of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) was
the role of Bragg scatter in tropospheric radar observations
fully recognized. A series of papers describing spectacular
recordings from the radar facility at Wallops Island, Vir-
ginia (mainly at 10.7 em) (e.g., Atlas et al., 1966a,b,c; Atlas,
1968, 1969; Glover et al., 1968, 1969; Hardy et al., 1966,
1969; Konrad, 1968, 1970; Hardy and Ottersten, 1969)
inspired intensive investigation of radar as a tool for
boundary layer clear-air studies (Hardy and Glover, 1966;
Hicks, 1968; Hicks and Angell, 1968; Hicks et al., 1967;
Hooke and Hardy, 1975). The general validity of the Bragg
478 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Ht
(km)

0.2-, I I
1445 1457 1509
MST

Ht
(km)

0.2-1 I I
1518 1530 1542
MST
0. 75 _19 July 1974
Ht

o-, ~~~~~~~~~~~~r.t.:liiiilii~~~liliiaa..--...I
(km)
0145 MST 0245
Fig. 1.1 Distribution of insects (point targets) in the boundary layer. Top frame: Insects being entrained into an updraft below an inversion
(diffuse return at -1500 m) capping the CBL. Middle frame: Insects in the CBL distributed both above and below the capping inversion. Bottom
frame: Insects in the nocturnal surface layer distributed within and below the radiation inversion; density is about 1 per 12 m cube. Thin
diffuse echoes from RIT are also evident. (Chadwick FM-CW radar, Kimball, Nebraska.)

mechanism was supported by early experiments such as
those described by Kropfli et al. (1968a,b), Katz (1969),
Konrad and Kropfli (1968), and Konrad and Robison (1972,
1973) that directly compared in situ measurements of re-
fractive index fluctuations with radar clear-air echoes. In
the early 1960s the Doppler capability of radars was ac-
tively pursued in meteorological observations, but its ap-
plication to boundary layer research was not generally ex-
ploited until the 1970s. In 1967, a frequency-modulated,
continuous wave (FM-CW) radar for clear-air studies was
developed and described by Richter (1969). Its range res-
olution was unparalleled (1.5 m) by any other system, and
it immediately made whole new classes of information
available to the boundary layer community (Atlas et al.,
1970; Gossard et al., 1970) . A Doppler capability was, for
the first time, incorporated into this kind of FM-CW radar
by Chadwick et al. (1976) and Strauch et al. (1976), and
high resolution (both temporal and spatial) wind profiling
of the boundary layer was now possible.
An early requirement in the preparation of this review
was an objective definition of the boundary layer. To many
investigators it means essentially the convective boundary
layer ( CBL); to others it means the surface layer of nearly
constant flux where powerful scaling and similarity ar-
guments can be made; for many practical problems of
large-scale energy and momentum exchange the "bound-
ary layer" is the whole troposphere. For purposes of this
review, we have arbitrarily chosen to include the phenom-
ena and observations occurring below 1 km.
Many kinds of radar "targets" have been used to study
the boundary layer, including hydrometeors, chaff, debris,
insects, and refractive index inhomogeneities in the air it-
self. Although we will say little of hydrometeor backscatter
(it is examined in detail in other chapters), some kinds of
disturbed boundary layer, notably disturbances by wet
weather fronts, are most conveniently studied using cloud
and precipitation particles as radar targets, and we discuss
a few of the more revealing examples. We will be primarily
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER 479

16 APR 1972

~ t ., I n.
• Jill~ tli, ~l.J

200

2320 2340 2400

9 f EB 1973

TIME I P5 T I

Fig. 1.2 Distribution of insects (point targets) about an inversion (diffuse laminated returns) capping the marine layer.
Top frame: Insect population is above inversion. (Richter FM-CW radar, San Diego, California.)

concerned with the "clear air," and the ambiguity of this
term must already be evident to the reader. Most radar
meteorological studies use the phrase "clear-air return" to
mean radar return (often of unknown origin) from the
"hydrometeor free atmosphere." To avoid confusion and
for brevity, we will adopt the acronym HYFA return (or
scatter), and refer to radars used for such studies as HYFA
radars. However, boundary layer radars, such as FM-CW
radars (Chadwick et al., 1976a,b) and wind profilers (Gage
and Balsley, 1978; Ecklund et al., 1988), are often called
"clear-air" radars when the intended meaning is "radars
that sense refractive index irregularities due to turbulence"
rather than particulate targets. For convenience we will
adopt the short acronym RIT for the subset of HYFA re-
ferring to this refractive index turbulence scatter and call
such radars "RITS radars."
The fundamental physical measurables of Doppler radar
are 1) received backscattered power, 2) polarization of the
received signal, and 3) the Doppler velocity spectrum. The
relative polarization of the received and transmitted waves
has recently found many applications in the study of hy-
drometeors (e.g., Bringi and Hendry, Chapter 19a); how-
ever, except for the analysis of insect and debris targets,
little application has been found in studies of the boundary
layer, and we will not consider the physics of depolariza-
tion or its use in this chapter. We will explicitly consider
the use of both received power and the Doppler velocity
spectrum (and its moments).
It is also evident that radars provide another valuable
class of information in addition to the three listed above,
i.e., they provide a morphological picture of atmospheric
structure almost continuous in space and time. Such mor-
phological patterns may be revealed in fields of the back-
scattered power, Doppler velocity, and depolarization; the
targets may be hydrometeors, turbulent fluctuations in re-
fractive index, or even insects (see Figs. 1.1 and 1.2). Ex-
amples of such patterns are buoyancy waves, hook echoes,
Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) waves, convection cells, and con-
vergence zones. We have chosen to organize this review
in terms of boundary layer information provided by 1)
radar-revealed morphology, 2) the radar reflectivity from
refractive index turbulence, and 3) the wind field and its
perturbations found from the Doppler frequency spectra.
Finally, we have included a section on the potential use
of radar-sensed wind fields for "retrieving" bulk temper-
ature and pressure perturbation information.
480 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

2 MORPHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS review of these observations has been given by James

Of THE BOUNDARY LAYER
USING RADAR
After recognition of the importance of HYFA radars,
their ability to give an almost instantaneous spatial display
of backscattered power, continuous in time, was imme-
diately used to provide a new kind of knowledge about
the structure of the clear boundary layer. A comprehensive
(1980), and a review of HYFA radar remote sensing with
applications has been given by Chadwick and Gossard
(1983, 1984).
2.1 The Convective Boundary Layer
A particularly impressive early example of morpholog-
ical information about the unstable, convective boundary

I I I
30 20 10
Range From Radar (km)

Fig. 2.1 Top frame: Sector PPI display of the convective boundary layer at 3° elevation angle taken at
1052 EST on 15 August 1967, with the 10.7-cm wavelength radar at Wallops Island, Virginia. The strobe
line indicates 300° Azimuth. Echoes, from clear-air convection cells in horizontal section at the appropriate
altitude and range, display the characteristic doughnut shape (Hardy and Ottersten, 1969). Bottom
frame: Corresponding RHI display of vertical section through the cells.
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER
layer is shown in Fig. 2.1 reported by Hardy and Ottersten
(1969). The enhanced backscatter at the boundaries of the
convective domes forms a doughnut morphological pat-
tern. High resolution FM-CW radars have revealed details
of such convective structures (Richter et al., 1973b, 1974;
Noonkester, 1976; Noonkester et al., 1976a). Figure 2.2,
from observations at the Boulder Atmospheric Observatory
( BAO) near Boulder, Colorado, shows the detailed mor-
phology within convective domes revealed by simulta-
neous observations with a vertically pointing FM-CW ra-
dar (described by Chadwick et al., 1976a,b) and an acoustic
sounder. It provides a detailed picture of the convective
hummocks found by Readings et al. (1973) with balloon-
borne probes, and there is some evidence of the breaking
billows they describe at the crest of the hummocks. Also,
a particularly detailed morphological picture of the down-
ward entrainment of dry air from above at the cell bound-
aries provides insight about the doughnut morphology
seen in Fig. 2.1. It combines returns from RIT (the diffuse,
continuous echoes at roughly constant altitude) with re-
turns from point targets (insects) being swept up in the
updrafts. The RIT reveals a detailed picture of the entrain-
ment taking place at the cell boundaries and at the capping
inversion. The entrainment is asymmetric with respect to
the leading and trailing edges of the cells, and the down-
drafts take the form of relatively thin convergence shafts.
Insects permit the radar to track the sloping downdraft at
the leading edge of the cell at 1330 MST all the way to
the surface where it is seen to diverge.
Radar PPI displays frequently show alignment of con-
vective structures in the boundary layer (Konrad, 1968).
An excellent early example of alignment of convective
features over land, reported by Hardy and Ottersten (1969)
using the Wallops Island 10.3-cm wavelength radar, is
shown in the top frame of Fig. 2.3. The middle frame shows
similar structure near Norman, Oklahoma observed by
Ht
(m)
1300 MST
Fig. 2.2 Sample of finestructure detail within convective domes at BAO (Boulder, Colorado) revealed
by vertically pointing 10-cm wavelength, FM-CW radar (top frame) and an acoustic sounder (bottom
frame). The radar reveals details of the hummocks on the inversion capping the CBL, and of the dry air
entrainment creating intense RIT at cell edges.
481
Doviak and Berger (1980) using the National Severe
Storms Laboratory (NSSL) 10-cm radar. The bottom frame
shows alignment of convective rolls in Colorado (Wilson
and Schreiber, 1986) from observations made with the
CP-2 radar operated by the National Center for Atmo-
spheric Research (NCAR). Cases of alignment in the con-
vective boundary layer are often revealed in multiple
Doppler radar observations of wind fields and have been
reported by Doviak and Jobson (1979), Kropfli and Kohn
(1976), Eymard and Weill (1982) and Eymard (1984). Roll
structure morphology is revealed in the wind fields as well
as the reflectivity fields, and some cases of dual Doppler
and multi-Doppler observations of roll vortices in the ve-
locity fields will be described later when Doppler radar-
derived velocity fields in the convective boundary layer
are discussed. Such roll vortices have also been studied
with tower and aircraft observations (e.g., LeMone, 1973)
and many models have been proposed for describing their
structure. The morphological data provided by radars are
a valuable basis for model verification and testing.
One of the earliest theoretical descriptions of convection
was carried out by Rayleigh (1916) in an attempt to explain
observations of Benard cells in fluids. Rayleigh dealt with
the simple case of rectangular cells with free boundaries
at both top and bottom in a statically unstable fluid con-
sidered to have a constant conductivity coefficient. Many
subsequent workers generalized the theory to include cells
with rigid and mixed boundaries, and with square, strip
(e.g., Pellew and Southwell, 1940) and hexagonal (Chris-
topherson, 1940) shapes. Various studies (e.g., Jeffries,
1926) considered both conducting and nonconducting
fluids. The influence of geometry, boundary conditions,
stability, and conductivity predicted by these early models
has been discussed by Stommel (1946) and we summarize
the results in Table 2.1.
In Table 2.1, Z; is the cell depth and L is the horizontal
13 March 1986
Ht
(m)
0
1200
482 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Fig. 2.3 Top frame: Sector PPI photo at 1.5° elevation angle taken
at 1045 EST 9 August 1967 with 10.7-cm wavelength Wallops Island
radar. Azimuth 335°-035°, range marks at 9.3 km intervals. Illus-
trates echoes from clear-air convection cells aligned in bands (Hardy
size normal to its longer axis. The right-hand column rep-
resents the critical condition for instability; that is, the
condition for which small perturbations will grow expo-
nentially with time, where w 8 2 is (g / 00 )(d00 / az) and K and
v are the thermal conductivity and kinematic viscosity coef-
ficients. In this paper we refer to w 8 as the "VaisaHi-Brunt"
frequency instead of the more common "Brunt-Vaisala"
frequency, recognizing that Vaisala's publication preceded
that of Brunt by two years.
For the simple models previously mentioned analytic
solutions were possible. However, we notice the wind field,
and particularly shear in the wind field, does not appear
explicitly in the parameterization of these models. Ob-
viously, the orientations of the roll vortices seen in Fig.
2.3 are related to the wind or the wind shear vector. With
the ready availability of computers, much more compli-
cated structures than those summarized in Table 2.1 can
be analyzed and models having various profiles of speed
and directional shear have been developed. Models with
and without buoyancy that describe the conditions for dy-
namic instability of secondary flow features of the bound-
ary layer have been developed by Faller and Kaylor (1966),
Lilly (1966 ), Brown(1970), and Mason and Sykes (1982);
models including both thermally driven (convective) and
inertial (dynamic) instability have been developed by Asai
(1970) and by Gossard and Moninger (1975). The latter
models produce instability maxima (for infinitesimal per-
turbations) in modes both parallel (convective modes) and
transverse (dynamic modes) to the shear in the mean flow.
These models used linear wind profiles, but Asai (1972)
also developed a model using a parabolic wind profile.
Models having layers with linear wind profiles and adi-
abatic lapse rates yield equilibrium solutions unique to that
case. These solutions are not of general practical interest
because a real fluid will never have a truly linear wind
profile; however, such models do represent properly the
stability conditions typical of more realistic models (e.g.,
Miles and Howard, 1964 versus Drazin, 1958) and have
the advantage of being more tractable mathematically. This
subject will be addressed later when wave instability of
layers is discussed.
In a multiple Doppler radar experiment near Landes in
southwestern France, Eymard and Weill (1982) found
typical scales of about L = 1.52; in the direction of the
mean wind and about 3Z; in the crosswind direction.
However, the winds were light in their experiment. Their
bispectral analysis did indeed show spectral peaks aligned
and Ottersten, 1968). Middle frame: PPI display of range-normalized
reflectivity recorded by 10-cm NSSL radar near Norman, Oklahoma.
Bright areas are aligned 10°- 20° clockwise from the mean wind and
the bands are spaced -4 km apart (Doviak and Berger, 1980). Bottom
frame: Aligned features in the CBL recorded by the NCAR CP-2 radar
(3-cm wavelength mode) near Denver, Colorado (Wilson and Schrei-
ber, 1986).
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER 483

TABLE 2.1 perturbation by such lee waves is revealed in RHI displays

Convection Cell Geometry and Stability such as that shown in Fig. 2.4 from Browning (1971) . Ver-
tically pointing, high resolution radars reveal the detailed
LIZ1
- w.~z,• vertical structure of such waves and layers. Figure 2.5
Boandarle1 Sqaare Stdp He.agon ICif shows a case recorded by the Chadwick radar that reveals
Two free 4.00 2.83 1.89 657.5 waves in the lee of the Rocky Mountains with an amplitude
One free, one rigid 3.28 2.34 1.56 1100.7 of at least one kilometer. They are accompanied by multiple
Two rigid 2.8 2.0 1.34 1707.8 layering of the radar backscatter, and the layers show clear
evidence of a breaking wave finestructure.
Radars reveal that buoyancy waves are ubiquitous in
the stably stratified atmosphere (e.g., Browning et al., 1972,
1973), and when they become dynamically unstable due
closely with the wind shear vector, but the predominant
to shear or when they grow with height and become very
peak in their spectra was closer to the transverse mode
nonlinear and "break" (possibly the situation developing
even though Asai's model indicated that the wind was not
above 2 km in Fig. 2.5) , they provide an important mech-
strong enough for such a mode to be dominant.
anism for the generation of local turbulence and perhaps
In a similar study of the tropical boundary layer on the
for maintaining the generally turbulent state of the stati-
Ivory Coast of Africa, Eymard (1984) found that the results
cally stable atmosphere. Figure 2.6 shows an FM-CW radar
of Asai's model were in general agreement with the radar
display with an original sketch by Kelvin (1880) (top
observations, showing both the longitudinal and the
frame) in a single page article entitled "On a Disturbing
transverse modes, and that the organizing effectiveness of
Infinity in Lord Rayleigh's Solution for a Plane Vortex
the shear depends on the static stability at the top of the
Stratum." This article is the main reason why wave insta-
convective layer as predicted by the Asai (1972), Brown
bility due to shear is often called Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH)
(1972 ), and Gossard and Moninger (1975) models.
instability even though Helmholtz was more prominent
A study of roll alignment observed by dual Doppler ra-
in developing the general theory of internal waves and
dars was carried out by Rabin et al. (1982). This case will
interfacial stability. Kelvin's "cat's-eye" pattern of
be described in a later section on the use of multi-Doppler
streamlines in a shear layer with linear velocity is com-
radar studies of the boundary layer, but at this point the
monly seen in radar and acoustic soundings of the bound-
reader is referred to the morphological features in the re-
ary layer and also of the upper troposphere (see Gage,
flectivity pattern shown in Fig. 4.7. The authors find the
Chapter 28a), so it is useful to consider briefly the "dis-
roll orientation to be roughly parallel to the geostrophic
turbing infinity" to which Kelvin referred. The differential
wind and oriented 10°-20° clockwise from the surface
equation resulting from linearization of the basic equations
wind direction. They point out that models (Brown, 1972;
of motion and continuity for an inviscid, incompressible
Wipperman et al., 1978) predict alignment about 20°-30°
to the right of the geostrophic wind direction instead of
parallel to it. The orientation was essentially transverse to 3 FEB 1970
1437 GMT,
the wind shear vector through most of the PBL as would a
be expected if dynamic instability were dominant, but the
pearls-on-a-string appearance of the reflectivity streets
down in Figs. 2.3 and 4.7 suggest the simultaneous pres- 6
ence of longitudinal modes.
E
~

l.l Buoyancy (Gravity) Waves and 1- 4

Dynamic Instability J:
l!)
w
Stable layers are commonly perturbed by buoyancy I
2
(gravity) waves generated by many natural sources in-
cluding convection cells, traveling disturbances such as
density currents and weather fronts, flow perturbations 0
due to topographic features, and the jet stream and its 10 20 30 40 so
fluctuations. Under certain conditions of static stability and RANGE Km
shear such waves may become dynamically unstable and
Fig. 2.4 Range-height display of backscattered power recorded by
"break," creating layers of intense turbulence. 10-cm radar at Defford, England, showing large amplitude pertur-
The HYFA radar records commonly reveal topographic bation of the boundary layer by a mountain lee wave. Two overlapping
flow perturbations in the lower atmosphere near moun- sets of range markers represent horizontal and slant range (Browning,
tains, and the spatial morphology of boundary layer depth 1971).
484 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

}<XX)-

Tower
Height
(m)
'----~300

~~--------------1~
50
10

Sic Pressure
P 5mb~== =- -"'>= ~ <('\. =

Spd 5 ms-•

I I
07 MST 06

Fig. 2.5 Top frame: Mountain lee waves of more than 1 km amplitude near Boulder observed by Chad-
wick's 10-cm FM- CW radar. Note detailed finestructure and rapid growth in amplitude with height, as
well as multiple layering and evidence of KH instability (mini billows) within the layers. Bottom frame:
Tower recordings of vertical velocity (W), horizontal speed (spd) and surface pressure-all showing
large perturbations (properly phased) due to the buoyancy waves evident on the radar record.

fluid with vertical shear is, making the Boussinesq ap-
proximation, [e.g., Gossard and Hooke, 1975, Eq. (31-16)]
d2
~ +{ Ws 2 - k2 - U"o }w = 0
(2.1)
dz 2 [U0 (z)- c] 2 c- Uo(z)
for a two-dimensional disturbance, where w is the per-
turbation of vertical velocity, z is the vertical direction co-
ordinate, U0 is the unperturbed horizontal wind velocity
with primes indicating derivative with height, c is the
propagation velocity of the perturbation and k = 21r/ L
where Lis the horizontal wavelength and w8 is the Vaisala-
Brunt (VB) frequency. The first and third terms in brackets
are infinite for any disturbance moving with the mean
wind U0 with one important exception-the case of a linear
wind profile (i.e., U~ = 0) in a homogeneOUS medium (wB
= 0) . Choosing a linear profile avoids the problem, but as
Kelvin states, "The interpretation of the infinity which oc-
curs in the more comprehensive formula suggests an ex-
amination of the streamlines, by which its interpretation
becomes obvious and which proves that even in the case
of constant vorticity (shear) the motion has a startlingly
peculiar character at the place where the translational ve-
locity is equal to the wave velocity" (the critical level).
The pattern so predicted is commonly observed by radars.
Realistic profiles for which U~ -:f. 0 give complex solutions
for the phase velocity c (or the frequency u) , so that in-
finitesimal disturbances, relevant to the linearized problem,
either die out or grow exponentially according to the sign
of the imaginary component. Many piecewise models with
constant shear layers have been analyzed; e.g., Goldstein
(1931), Miles and Howard (1964) , Asai (1970) , Gossard
(1974), and Gossard and Moninger (1975) , and the
streamlines and stability criteria of such models are found
to agree well with those of the smooth models (e.g., Miles
and Howard, 1964 versus Drazin, 1958) . However, those
models with constant shear ( U" = 0) and homogeneous
layers ( w 8 = 0) yield equilibrium, neutral solutions that do
not exist when either w8 or U~ is not zero, so the dispersion
equations resulting from such solutions are mainly of ac-
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER 485
23 JUNE 1970
HEIGHT
(m)
I
1050 1055
TIME(PST)-
Fig. 2.6 Lower frame: Time-height display from the Richter
10-cm FM-CW radar at San Diego showing the braided "cat's-
eye" pattern believed to result from Kelvin-Helmholtz insta-
bility. The large white echo area is from an aircraft passing
through an antenna sidelobe. Top: Kelvin's original sketch of
the theoretical cat's-eye pattern of streamlines that results
from disturbances moving with the local mean horizontal flow
in a sheared medium.
ademic interest. Taylor (1931) pointed out that another
solution for the streamline pattern across the critical level
in a homogeneous fluid is possible, which has become
known as.his "cockeyed eat's eye." If the vertical velocity
is assumed to be a symmetrical (unction of height about
the level z = 0 (say w oc coshkz), the streamlines assume
the cat's-eye pattern, but if w is joined across the critical
level by an antisymmetrical function (say w oc sh1hkz),
the streamline pattern is the cockeyed eat's eye seen in
frame e of Fig. 2. 8 (top).
Because of the instabilities inherent in Eq. (2.1), much
of the interest in its analysis has centered on the function
of scale (k- 1) versus stability (Ri) for which the imaginary
part of the frequency (or phase velocity, c) is exactly
zero (the neutral curve) so that the domain of instability
can be used to determine which scales become unstable
first and grow fastest as the Richardson number ( Ri
= wl I Uo2 ) is reduced toward critical.
The model with the generally most realistic profiles of
wind and temperature through a shear layer in an un-
bounded medium is that analyzed by Holmboe (1960).
While Kelvin's fundamental paper was only one page in
length, Holmboe's very important model was never even
published: Miles (1963) retrieved it from the author's lec-
timi notes. In Holmboe's model the wind and density pro-
files are given by
Uo(z) =AU tanh(zl d)
Po(z) = Ps exp[- (Ap IPs) tanh(z I d)]
where Psis the density at some reference level, in this case
at z = 0, and the other quantities in the equations are
defined in Fig. 2.7a. The neutral curve separating the zones
in which infinitesimal disturbances die out (stable) or grow
(unstable) exponentially is shown in Fig. 2.7b, where k is
the wavenumber, 211)L, and Ri = -(gl p. )(Apl Au 2 )d is
the (minimum) Richardson number at the layer center, Z
= 0. Holmboe finds that Ri = kd(1 - kd) (which is shown
plotted as the neutral curve in Fig. 2. 7b). The onset of
shear instability occurs when Ri is reduced toRi, = 1/4, and
the first scale to become unstable is L, = 271· Ah where Ah
= 2 d is the layer thickness. The streamline pattern is given
by
x = [cosh(zld)r1 [sinh(zld)p-kdeikx.
Howard and Maslowe (1973) note that the streamline pat-
tern depends on how the solution above the critical level
is joined to that below. They find the patterns shown in
Fig. 2.8 (top frames) for various values of kd , ranging from
the cat's-eye pattern in frame a for which kd = 1 and Ri
= 0 (Kelvin's original homogeneous model)·to kd = 0 (the
cockeyed eat's eye) in frame e. For a true cat's-eye pattern
(a)
t exp (t:. P/ P5 )
z
I
I
I
I
I
- exp (6 PI Psl
{b)
Ri = kd (1-kd)
0. 2
Ri
0.1
0.5 1.0
Fig. 2.7 Top: Schematic representation of (hyperbolic tangent)
height profiles of unperturbed wind and density for Holmboe
(1960) model. Bottom: Neutral curve for Holmboe model;
k = 21r jL is the wavenumber where L is wavelength of the
disturbance, Ri is the Richardson number at the center of the
layer, and d its half-width.
486 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

with Ri = 0 and kd = 1, a scale Lc = 1rAh = 3Ah is predicted
and is only rigorously applicable to a neutral layer. Gossard
et al. (1970) found Lj Ah = 3.2 for features resembling
the eat's eye on an elevated layer from data observed by
FM-CW radar and a radiosonde sounding. Hooke et al.
(1973) found the value of 3.5 from acoustic sounder data
and data from a 150 m tower. The features in these events
resembled the cat's-eye pattern shown in Fig. 2.6. On the
other hand, Fig. 2.8 shows an FM-CW radar record that
closely resembles the Howard and Maslowe pattern in
frame c for which a factor of about 6 is predicted by the
neutral curve when kd = 0.5.
Considerable attention has been given to the reason the
radar reflectivity patterns commonly resemble the cat's-
eye streamline patterns of the flow but often show the
reflectivity to be asymmetrically weighted about the crest I
trough positions, as seen in the bottom frame of Fig. 2.9
acquired with the Richter radar system in San Diego and
in the top frame of Fig. 2.10 from Metcalf (1975) acquired
with the same radar.
One explanation for resemblance to the eat's eye has
been proposed by Maslowe (1973). In a series of papers
by Kelly and Maslowe (1970), Maslowe and Kelly (1971),
and Maslowe (1972), the nonlinear solution for a stratified
shear layer was examined. The resulting streamline pattern
is essentially the eat's eye, but with important differences
from the linear theory. For example, a continuous spectrum
of equilibrium modes is now possible for Ri > % so that
arguments about the singular character of the critical level
are weakened. Furthermore, there is no longer a phase
change across the critical layer in large Reynolds number
flow. Instead, unstable discontinuities in velocity and tem-
perature appear at the edges of the eat's eye, which Mas-
lowe (1973) suggests are zones of greatly reduced Ri and
therefore likely to be zones of dynamic instability and tur-
bulence providing the radar reflectivity that delineates the
cat's-eye boundaries.
Explanations for the asymmetry often seen are suggested
by the top frames of Fig. 2.9, which show patterns of iso-
therms measured in a stably stratified gas undergoing shear

Cat's Eye
Cockeyed Gat's Eye
l

':~
0.5 1

O>f-
1 -+f-++-t-+----i-4.J--I.-!--¥

I .. ~
- 0.5

!ol (b) ( c)
-0.5~
(d)
' ~·)

28 Sept 1971

-600

-t
- 400 E
..... -
"'·'
..c
bD
Q,)
I
-200
I I I
1840 1850
Time(PST) .. 1900

Fig. 2.8 Top: Streamline patterns for various phasings of the (inviscid, linear) perturbations above and below the critical level. For kd = 1,
the cat's-eye pattern (frame a) results; for kd = 0 the cockeyed eat's eye (frame e) results (Howard and Maslowe, 1973). Bottom: Reflectivity
pattern recorded by the Richter FM- CW radar at San Diego resembling frame c.
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER 487

26 JUNE 1970
300-

HEIGHT 200 _
(m)

100-
1 1
0555 0600
TIME (PST)
Fig. 2.9 Top: Isotherm patterns in a stratified gas under shear measured by Delisi and Corcos (1973)
in a wind tunnel. Isotherms ar~ separated by 1°F and each succeeding frame is farther downstream.
Note the similarity of the isotherm density patterns to the reflectivity pattern measured by the Richter
FM-CW 10-cm radar record shown in the bottom frame, and the asymmetry of reflectivity about the
crest/ trough pattern.

in a wind tunnel by Delisi and Corcos (1973). The iso-
therms are drawn every 1°F, and the waves are stretched
horizontally by a factor of 1.3. Each succeeding frame
downward is farther downstrea~. The isotherm density
pattern (i.e., the vertical temperature gradient) displays a
pattern remarkably like the reflectivity patterns often seen
by radar and acoustic sounding systems. Such a close cor-
respondence of reflectivity to temperature (and refractive
index) gradient suggests the possibility of specular reflec-
tion. However, Snell's law shows that the apparent asym-
metry of the pattern would cause the reflected rays to re-
turn a substantial distance from the radar for the geometry
488 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

27 5 r---,--------r-------,--------.-------~--------,-------.--------,--------~----~

2~ .JUNE 1970

...
In

.,
~ 250
E
1-
:I:
~ 22 5f-~="""'
w
:I:
- 132 IO -1 28101 - 120 IO - 11 6 I:J
-128 IO -1 24 Cl -116 10 - 11 21IlJ

200 ~~0~7~
58~------~------07~5-9------~--------
08~0-0--~P-D-T~-------0~8L
O I------~--------
0~80-2----~

PL AN SECTION

Spec ulorly
re fleclon;
bonds

Fig. 2.10 Upper frame: Contours of backscattered power from KH structure observed with the Richter FM-CW 10-cm radar at San
Diego, reported by Metcalf (1975). Bottom frame: Schematic illustration of reflection geometry proposed by Metcalf and Atlas (1973).

of slopes in Fig. 2.9 (bottom) and Fig. 2.10 (top). Metcalf
and Atlas (1973) therefore propose a special finestructure
of reflecting facets whose geometry has the necessary re-
quirements. More will be said of this concept later when
layer finestructure is discussed.
Finally, Gossard and Sengupta (1988) demonstrate
[within the constraint of a few reasonable assumptions,
such as inertial-convective subrange ( ICS) turbulence] that
the radar reflectivity from Bragg scatter should be pro-
portional to the product of the square of the refractive
index height gradient and the turbulent kinetic energy
density of the vertical component of velocity at the Bragg
wavenumber of the spectrum (see next section). Although
it is also inversely proportional to the first power of the
temperature gradient (through the VB frequency), the re-
flectivity pattern should therefore resemble the pattern of
the height-gradient of refractive index. Similarly, for an
acoustic system, the reflectivity is proportional to the
height-gradient of temperature and to the kinetic energy
density at the Bragg wavenumber. Thus, given a constant
turbulent kinetic energy, the reflectivity for both radar and
acoustic systems would be distributed through the waves
in much the same manner as shown by the isotherm den-
sity patterns in the upper frames of Fig. 2.9, and there-
sulting patterns would thus be asymmetrical relative to
the eat's eye, as is often observed.
2..3 Multiple-layer finestructure in the
Boundary layer Sensed by Radar
Under strongly stratified conditions, radar RIT records
commonly reveal a multiple-layer finestructure (e.g.,
Richter and Gossard, 1970; Richter et al., 1973) as seen in
the RHI display in Fig. 2.11 from James (1980). They are
even more often seen in the time-height displays of ver-
tically pointing, high resolution radars and acoustic
sounding systems as, for example, in the mountain lee
wave case shown in Fig. 2.5. Layer finestructure on the
ocean thermocline has also been observed (Woods, 1968;
Woods and Wiley, 1972) and observations of oceanic lay-
ering have been reviewed by Munk (1966), Gregg (1982,
1987), and Thorpe (1973, 1987). Another example of
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER 489

art in which Stewart hypothesized that the step formation

proceeded in such a manner that the same critical value,
Ric = 1/4, was maintained in both the sheet and the layer
during step formation. However, such a model is incon-
sistent with a steady state flux through the layered system.]
The more general statement can be demonstrated as fol-
lows. Consider the initially linear profiles of mean tem-
perature 00 and horizontal wind speed U0 through the layer
shown in Fig. 2.14, and suppose some unspecified process
acts to promote a step in 00 and U0 with "kinks" at the
base (and top) of 2AZ 1 as shown by the dashed profiles.
We see from the figure that AZ1 + AZ2 = AZo, fl.Ot + fl.02
= fl.0 0 and fl.U1 + fl.U2 = fl.U0 , so

Fig. 2.11 Black and white photograph of the intensity mod- and
ulated RHI display of the 10-cm radar at RSRE Defford at 1520
UTC 17 july 1979. The display shows horizontal stable layers
at heights of 1.6, 1.9, and 2.2 km. Information for the display
is processed digitally and typically presented on a color tele-
vision monitor (James, 1980) .
Therefore,

d0 d0 dUo dU2
multilayers is shown in Fig. 2.12 obtained with the Chad- -0 - -2 ---
fl.Zt dZ dZ dZ dZ
wick FM-CW radar also near Boulder. Layers such as these r=-=
AZo dOt d02 dU1 dU2.
are often very regularly spaced vertically, and Gossard et ---
dZ dZ
-dZ
--
dZ
al. (1985) showed (e.g., see Fig. 2.13) that these thin zones
of strong radar and acoustic return are also commonly
zones of sharp gradients in temperature and/ or humidity. In the limit as the process continues, dOd dZ becomes
Figure 2.13 shows a record from an acoustic radar (top ~dOt/ dZ and d0 0 / dZ, and dUd dZ becomes ~dUtf d2

frame) obtained while an instrumented carriage (solid line and dU0 j dZ, so

I(
segments) traversed the 300 m BAO tower. Fast response
sensors of temperature, humidity and wind, digitized at a
rate of 10 s - 1, were on the carriage and revealed very
r_ ( dd~o) dd~t) = (~~)I (:~~) . (2.3 )

sharp changes in all quantities as the carriage passed

through the sounder echo. The ascent beginning at 1002 Defining
MST (lower frame) is of special interest because a gravity
wave lifted the layer interface faster than the carriage as- Ri = (..8._ dOt)l(dUt) 2
cended so that the interface overtook the carriage at a 1 00 dZ dZ
height of 220 m, producing a large, artificial, apparently
superadiabatic gradient. Therefore radar and acoustic ob-
servations containing multilayers suggest that profiles of
temperature and humidity often form a step structure, and
Gossard et al. (1985) demonstrated that as the step for-
mation proceeds, eventually reaching a critical Richardson
number (Ric) in the step, the limiting ratio (r) of step (sheet)
thickness to distance between sheets (layer) thickness is

(2.2)

where Rio= (gj00 )(d00 jdz)/So2, and dOofdz and So are Fig. 2.12 Example of the thin multiple layers in the boundary
the bulk gradients of mean temperature and wind speed layer commonly seen with vertically pointing high resolution
on which the steps form. [A similar limit was given by radars. This record was obtained with the Chadwick FM- CW
Turner (1973) for a special model proposed by R.W. Stew- radar at the BAO near Boulder.
490 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

29 Feb1984

29 February 1984 1002:00-1010:50 MST

200
I
I

-1.5 3.5
Humidity (g/kg) 3.0 -2.5 V I (m S"') 2.5

Fig. 2.13 In situ measurements through a layered boundary layer using a moving carriage on the 300
m tower of the BAD described by Kaimal and Gaynor (1983). The time-height trajectory is shown by
the straight line segments superimposed on the acoustic sounder record in the top frame. The bottom
frame shows records during the particularly interesting ascent beginning at 1002 MST. After passing
through the strong low inversion at about 30 m AGL, the temperature and humidity remained nearly
constant until the carriage passed through the sharp thin layer at a height of about 140m. At a height
of 250 m we seem to see a very strong superadiabatic layer (about -3 deg in 15 m). However, the
acoustic radar record shows that a large buoyancy wave perturbation has lifted the interface more rapidly
than the carriage ascends, so that the sensors descend (relatively) again into the cooler lower air as the
carriage continues to rise. The gradients through the layers are locally very sharp, amounting to at least
0.3 N units per meter. Temperature was sensed with a fine platinum wire, humidity with a Lyman a
humidiometer and the wind components parallel (II> and perpendicular (.l) to the carriage boom (whose
azimuth was 245°) were measured with a sonic anemometer.

and
Rio= (..8_ d8 0 )/(dU0 ) 2
80 dZ dZ
and noting that Ri1 becomes reduced relative to Rio because
the increase in shear is squared relative to the increase in
temperature gradient, we find that r- RitfRio. Therefore,
if some critical value of Ri 1 is reached creating dynamic
instability that stops the process, we have Eq. (2.2). For
example, one possible scenario is an inverse Woods (1968)
mechanism shown in Fig, 2 ~ 14 where it is proposed that
turbulence begins to die in 2.::ll 1 so that it forms a sheet
opaque to turbulent fluxes, causing a convergence of heat
and momentum at the top of the sheet and a divergence
at the bottom. We emphasize that Eq. ( 2.2) is a limit that
would be approached as A82/ .::lZ 2 and AU2/ .::lZ 2 become
small, so it applies only when Rio is substantially larger
than Ric,. If Rio only slightly exceeds Ric,, Ri 1 will clearly
become equal to Ric very soon after step formation begins.
In that case the conditions leading to ( 2.3) do not apply
and there is no selected limiting value of r when Ric is
reached. Figure 2.15 (from Gossard et al., 1970) shows a
convincing example of the process leading to ( 2.2) de-
scribed above. Although the step in temperature is not
obvious because of the slow response of the radiosonde
temperature element, the faster response of the humidity
element reveals a clear step in the refractive index profile,
N, at the height of the KH structures. For the very stably
stratified zones with large Rio in which the multiple layering
is most commonly seen, Gossard et al. (1985) find the
sheet-to-layer ratios agree well with (!f4)/Ri0 ; however,
when large shears (small Ri0 ) exist through deep layers,
the unstable "sheets" can be very thick, as in Fig. 2.16.
The assumption that a critical Ri is reached within the
sheet is difficult to verify experimentally because the sheets
are often so thin, and the vertical gradients of wind and
temperature so large, that any errors or random variability
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER 491

8o Uo

1 1 Momentum Flux
I

I
/
_J-j 1-~U r•l
~U2
I
,f
tI
-- ----::::-o-1"""----- l Becomes Non""1Turbulent
f

! ~Zo
(Fluxes-a)

Heat Flux ! !
Momentum Flux

Fig. 2.14 Schematic illustration of the formation of a thin, large-gradient sheet in a ho-
mogeneous stable medium with initial bulk profiles shown by 80 and U0 through which
fluxes of heat and momentum were initially constant with height. As turbulence dies in the
zone 2~ 11 it becomes nearly opaque to the fluxes. The definitions of the incremental changes
in 8 and U as the sheet and layer structure forms are shown. As the gradients in 2~ 1
continue to increase, Ri eventually reaches a critical value at which KH instabilities are
initiated.

in measurements (especially of wind gradients) by in situ
sensors cause large errors and variability in measured
Richardson numbers.
Very large vertical gradients of refractive index [>2N
m - 1 where N = (n - 1) X 10 6 ] are not uncommon in
soundings such as those shown in Fig. 2.13. The large
gradients often observed in association with the thin lay-
ering raise the old question (Friend, 1949; Atlas, 1965;
Metcalf and Atlas, 1973; Gossard, 1984; Gage and Green,
1978; Rottger, 1978) of whether there can be a substantial
contribution to the radar return by specular partial reflec-
tion by sharp refractive index (R.I.) gradients in addition
to the Bragg return usually assumed. For specular return
to be important the transition in refractive index must occur
over a range increment that is small compared with the
wavelength of the incident wave. Assuming a hyperbolic
tangent profile (Epstein, 1930) for the refractive index, the
trade-off between reflection and scatter is summarized in
Fig. 2.17 from Gossard et al. (1984b) in which fj.¢ is an
incremental change in potential refractive index (very
nearly equal to fj.n at any given pressure-height in the
atmosphere where n is refractive index) and C/ : : : : Cn2 is
the corresponding structure parameter to be discussed in
detail in a later section. From Fig. 2.17 we see, for example,

-N
250 290 310
I

Fig. 2.15 An observation with the Richter FM-CW radar that seems to illustrate the process described
in Fig. 2.14. The dashed RAWIN ascent curve is the balloons' temporal position relative to the (frozen)
pattern at 300 m calculated from the balloon-measured winds.
492 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

20 May 1981 Launch 0644

MST

Fig. 2.16 Time-height record of KH layers from the Chadwick FM-CW 10-cm radar near Boulder. Example of a relatively thick KH "sheet."
Richardson number within the sheet (from 400-600 m) is about 114; below the sheet (from 250-400 m) Ri is about unity.

1Q-• t
z
I
X 1Q-•

<t>(z)

2
IPI = (.6<l>l'
sinh' (r.' .!.)
>..
nT
'I
=C ' >.,'/ T (5
</) ' >: 6" ' /. 2 -•o/, )
l

t
TJT

0 .2 .4 .6 .8 1.0
T
A

Fig. 2.17 Comparison of Bragg backscatter with partial reflection by refractive layers. A hyperbolic tangent
height profile of potential refractive index is assumed and shown schematically in the inset to the figure.
The various relevant parameters are defined in inset (from Gossard, 1984). The potential refractive index,
l/J, shown here is the potential refractivity multiplied by 10- 6 (see section 3.2). Here (only) Ip 2 l is reflection
coefficient of the layer (see Gage, Chapter 28a) .
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER 493

that in order for reflection from a sheet of refractive index
change, !1¢ = 10-6 (i.e., !1N = 1), to compete with Bragg
scatter with C/"A 2 1 3 = 10- 14 over the same thickness, the
ratio of layer thickness, T, to wavelength would be about
=
0.6. For a 6.5 m wavelength radar (i.e., C/ 3 X 10- 15 ),
this implies a gradient of only about 0.25N m- 1 for the
specular return to equal the Bragg return over the thickness
T. However, for the same C./, a radar of 0.1 m wavelength
would require a gradient of about 13N m -t for the specular
contribution to be equal to the Bragg contribution. It has
been established that a substantial specular return is often
present in vertical incidence radar sounding from the
stratosphere using radars of 6-7 m wavelength (e.g., Gage,
Chapter 28a). Thus, layer thicknesses of less than about
4 mare implied for reasonable !1¢. Note, however, that
the relative number of layers of large !1¢ and C./ within
a resolution volume of the radar is also very important.
Close examination of the thin lamina frequently seen
by high resolution radars within stratified zones of the
atmosphere (e.g., Figs. 2.12, 2.5) reveals that they are often
composed of a substructure of breaking wave features re-
sembling braids (e.g., Gossard et al., 1970, 1971; Atlas et
al., 1970; Metcalf and Atlas, 1973). Figure 2.5 reveals at
least three discrete space and time scales of wave and KH
braided structures within the layers of radar return, cor-
responding to periods of 15-25 min, 3-5 min, and 0.5-2
min, and to crest-to-trough amplitudes (at 400 m AGL)
of 300-500 m, 100-250 m and <20-1 00 m. The amplitudes
of the smallest structures are essentially the layer thickness
visible on the radar display. Thus, cases such as that shown
in Fig. 2.5 suggest that dynamic instability (or breaking)
is important down to very small scales and is closely as-
sociated with finestructure lamination. A particularly con-
vincing case is shown in Fig. 2.18 in which a layer observed
with the Richter FM-CW radar in San Diego was recorded
with normal exposure (top frame) and with reduced sen-
sitivity (lower frame). The reduced sensitivity shows the
macrostructure of the layer to have a well-defined sub-
structure composed of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities.
Again, discrete temporal scales are present with periods
of about 30 s and 3 min with corresponding amplitudes
of about 10 m and 50 m. (The straight sloping lines are

25 JUNE 1970
HEIGHT
(m}
I

TIME (PST)

Fig. 2.18 Two time-height photographs of the same data at different exposures obtained with a vertically pointing
FM-CW radar. The upper frame clearly shows trains of buoyancy (gravity) waves with amplitudes of about 25-
50 m. The lower frame shows the same record at reduced exposure. It shows the reflecting layers to be composed
of billows of a few meters amplitude. The sloping lines are sidelobe returns from a nearby captive balloon.
494 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

the echo from a tethered balloon received through a side-
lobe of the antenna. Most of the horizontal lines are range
markers.)
Atlas and Metcalf (1970) have suggested three stages
(and scales) in the onset of instability. Initially, mini KH
waves form in a thin zone near the layer center where Ri
has been reduced to %. They propose that breaking across
the thin zone of large R.I. gradient produces intense RIT
at the centimeter scales sensed by the radars and produces
a mixed zone bounded by sharp gradients. As mesoscale
processes continue, the gradients in this zone intensify and
another set of KH waves is initiated on the wave-thickened

(o) STATION 7

u ---
Dry Temperature
__ ....
...._,
--------....___ _ _.---- -.......-........._......___,,
~
w
Q: , ........
:J
1-
<I
Q:
w
D..
~
I!S
w
1-
10

20
360
~
~300 I!S z0
E
w
24o (/l
0:: 180 "0
10 fTl
0 fTl
0 120 0
z .......{ .
i 60 5 3
0
'
~

0
2100 2200 2300 2400
TIME {GMT)

Fig. 2.19 Top frame: HYFA reflectivity display of an event recorded by the NCAR CP-
4 (5 em) radar near Denver. The HYFA event reflectivity is about 5-10 dBZ. Bottom
frame: Record of meteorological properties recorded at station 7 of the PAM network.
The event in the top frame is labeled "boundary 3" in the bottom frame. (Wilson and
Schreiber, 1986.)
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER 495

zone. Such waves create a packing of the streamlines anal- a strong height-gradient of vertical velocity. The jump in
ogous to that in the isotherm patterns shown in Fig. 2.9, speed and its fluctuations at such boundaries are often
and the resulting shear initiates still another scale of in- even greater than those in Fig. 2.19 and can be hazardous
stability structures on the "backs" of the waves. Atlas and to aircraft during a critical stage of take-off or landing. The
Metcalf (1970) have proposed a simple model for the "roll" relevance of HYFA radar observations to aircraft safety is
breaking of KH waves that indicates that the initial mini obvious and is the subject of a major section of this review
KH waves will thicken the wave-embedded layer until Ri volume (Fujita and McCarthy, Chapter 31a).
exceeds 1/2, at which time the roll-over of wave crests, fre- The frontal passage often approximates a step change
quently seen in the radar records, will occur. For the mini in boundary layer properties following its passage as in
KH waves this condition will be first reached in zones only Fig. 2.19. The large initial surge may be followed by a
a few meters thick. wake of smaller buoyancy (gravity) wave perturbations
The radar data suggest that stratified zones in the at- as revealed by vertically pointing, high resolution radar
mosphere are often composed of discrete lamina made up
of small-scale waves and vortices. High resolution radar
observations, such as those shown in Figs. 2.5 and 2.18
and aircraft observations (Metcalf and Atlas, 1973) have
established that such zones are anisotropic and the asso-
ciated KH waves may have horizontal scales as small as
about 80 m. Metcalf and Atlas (1973) propose that still
smaller scale KH structures exist in the wave ensemble,
having wavelengths of perhaps 3-4 m. They would be
undetected by radar and acoustic sounders because they
are smaller than the width of the sounder beams at rea-
sonable altitudes. They propose that specular returns from
different phases of perhaps four or five waves within the Ht
radar beam can add up to the observed strong radar return (km)
from thin layers and also account for the lack of symmetry
of the radar return relative to wave crests that is seen in
the top frame of Fig. 2.10. Their concept is shown sche-
matically in the lower frame of Fig. 2.10 from Metcalf and
Atlas (1973) .

2.4 Density Currents and Weather fronts

As early as the 1950s it was pointed out (Ligda and
Bigler, 1958) that radars can reveal much about the three-
dimensional morphological structure of weather fronts
even when they are not accompanied by clouds or precip-
itation.
Density currents, bores, weather fronts, and undefined
lines in the HYFA are often sensed by weather radars, and
such observations will become much more common after
deployment of NEXRAD radars in the United States. Such
events have been studied in detail at the NSSL of NOAA
and by NCAR. A case of an HYFA boundary reported by
Wilson and Schreiber (1986) is shown in Fig. 2.19. The
top frame shows a PPI of the HYFA equivalent radar re-
flectivity factor as recorded by the NCAR CP-4 radar. The
event was also recorded on the Portable Automated Me- Fig. 2.20 Vertical structure of an HYFA gust front recorded
teorological net (PAM) station 7 shown in the lower frame by the Chadwick FM-CW radar near Kimball, Nebraska. The
radar was operating in a Doppler mode, so the vertical axis is
of the figure. Note the abrupt increase in wind at passage
both range and vertical velocity. The echoes from 24 range
of the event (boundary 3) and the large fluctuations in "bins," 131 m in depth, are displaced upward or downward
speed after passage. The passage of the HYFA boundary by vertical velocity in the atmosphere. The lower frame shows
caused an abrupt increase in wind speed of almost 5 m the pressure and wind speed records at the ground as the front
s - t. The change in wind speed and direction indicates passed. The pressure sensor had a slow response that smoothed
strong horizontal convergence at the boundary implying out rapid changes.
496 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

observations and surface wind and pressure sensors as
shown in Figs. 2.20 and 2.21. Figure 2.20 was acquired
with Chadwick's Dopplerized FM-CW radar and shows
a cross section through the gust front of a thunderstorm
near Kimbalt Nebraska. The vertical scale is both height
and vertical velocity. Each height "bin" is about 130 m
deep, and the same interval corresponds to about a ±4 m
s -t excursion in vertical velocity. A velocity upward cor-
responds to an upward displacement of the echo in each
bin so that the structure of the vertical velocity field in the
first 3 km of the atmosphere is displayed continuously as
the front passes the radar. Records of surface wind speed
and a slow-response pressure sensor are shown at the bot-
tom. The prominent "lee" waves in the radar record are
at a height of about 1 km. As expected, Fig. 2.20 shows
some phase advance with height immediately above the
front, corresponding to upward wave energy flux, but
phase retardation is apparent at higher levels. Whether
such a forced perturbation generates a following wave train
depends on "resonance" conditions much like those ap-
plicable to mountain lee waves, because a density current
is somewhat analogous to a moving topographic obstacle
and creates a vertical velocity perturbation at the surface
with much the same form as the displacement perturbation
caused by a topographic ridge. (See the bell-shaped form
of the vertical velocity perturbation in the lower layers of
Fig. 2.20.) Thus, for a thin density current, the boundary
value problem can be solved using the same functions for
the vertical velocity perturbation at the boundary as are
commonly used for the displacement perturbations in
mountain lee wave studies. For a simple one-layer inviscid
medium without shear, simple conditions for lee wave
generation may be stated. These conditions were first ex-
plicitly given formally for terrain perturbations by Queney
(1948) for an unlayered windless stable atmosphere ex-
tending to infinity, and they are discussed in Gossard and
Hooke (1975, pp. 257-265). The analogous traveling dis-
turbances may 1) cause just a forced perturbation, dimin-
ishing with height above the obstacle, 2) generate a train
of lee waves behind the disturbance, or 3) generate an
unattenuated wave perturbation above the obstacle with
phase advancing with height, according to whether the
stability length T8 Vr is 1) greater than, 2) equal to, or 3)
less than the horizontal size scale of the disturbance. The
parameter T8 is the Vaisala-Brunt period 21rI w 8 , and Vr
is the velocity of the disturbance. In a study of pressure
records associated with squall lines and gust fronts from
thunderstorms, Williams (1948) finds many examples re-
sembling all three conditions. A density (gravity) current
should propagate with a velocity equal to [2gH(Pt- P2)/
(p 1 + p 2 )] 1 12 = (gHLl8j0) 11 2 (Benjamin, 1968) where p 1
is the density of the current, p 2 is the density of the ambient
medium, fl() is the potential temperature difference, the
overbar indicates average of the two media properties and
g is gravitational acceleration. Thus, the initial surge should
be expected to travel with approximately this velocity. In

FM-CW RADAR 28 Jan 1986

1500-
Ht
(m)

0- '
MST 2200
FM-CW RADAR 14 March 1986
1500

Ht
(m)

0
1800 MST 1700

500 -

Ht
(m)

0- '
01'oo 2400

Fig. 2.21 Examples of vertical cross sections of reflectivity through small-scale density current
frontal events recorded by a vertically pointing radar and acoustic sounder. The horizontal line
at about 400 in range on the radar records is the sidelobe echo of the 300 m BAO tower. This
figure shows details of lee waves, vortices and multiple layering and should be compared with
the numerical and laboratory model results in Fig. 2.22. (From Chadwick FM-CW radar.)
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER
tanks, such density currents are found to travel with about
60% of this velocity (Thorpe, 1973), presumably due to
entrainment from the environment.
Real media are of course far more complex than the
shearless, one-layer model discussed above, and the frontal
interface is not really a rigid obstacle. However, many nu-
merical models for boundary perturbations of the mean
flow have been developed in recent years (e.g., Klemp and
Lilly, 1978; Fua and Einaudi, 1984; Droegemeir, 1985;
Keller, 1986). These also provide references to many more
sources. Such models may be applied to almost arbitrary
disturbances and profiles of temperature and wind. Figure
2.21 shows three examples of radar and acoustic HYFA
echoes revealing the vertical structure of density current.
Although probably none of these are thunderstorm-gen-
erated, there is no reason to expect their structure to be
substantially different from cold outflows from thunder-
storms. The two top events were acquired with Chadwick's
FM-CW radar located at the BAO. The top frame shows
a case with a frontal "head" followed by a chaotic structure
of vortices and waves. Multiple layers with KH instabilities
are evident, and convective thermal plumes after 2300 are
seen as the cold air flows over the warmer surface. The
negative slope of the plumes on this time-height plot in-
dicates a zone of winds increasing with height and, sim-
ilarly, the pattern of converging echoes at a height of 900
m after 2300 MST indicates the height of a speed minimum
(Noonkester and Richter, 1980). The event in the middle
frame has been reported by Bedard and Caplin (1987)
who noted its significance to aircraft safety; it shows in
dramatic detail a case in which the nose of the frontal
interface is apparently a giant rotor 1000 m in diameter.
The initial return is from RIT, but clouds and precipitation
dominate after about 1730 MST. The bottom frame shows
a density current composed of multiple layers with KH
instabilities and a well-defined "wake" of waves following·
the frontal disturbance. Often sufficient RIT is only found
at the interface between the density current and the me-
dium for good radar echo, so that lee waves above the
disturbance are not seen. This case, however, has enough
RIT above the interface to reveal the very large waves in
the medium above. The waves aloft ahead of the distur-
bance are of special interest, because the downward pro-
gression in wave phase with height reveals the (positive)
vertical flux c;>f energy from such traveling frontal distur-
bances. This event also shows a very convincing case of
the Woods (1968) mechanism of layer splitting beginning
at 2300 MST at a height of 150 m.
Figure 2.22 shows results of laboratory (top) and nu-
merical modeling of density currents presented by Droe-
gemeir and Wilhelmson (1986). They should be compared
with the radar-observed density currents in Fig. 2.21. The
correspondence is often very striking, including the large
roll vortices behind the disturbance in the near-neutral
models and the wave trains following the disturbance (very
large aloft) in the bottom frame. In the model in the bottom
497
3-
2-
e
..
~
u
~
1-
0-
"'
iii
i5
Oi
..
u
~ 3-
>
2-
1-
Horizontal Distance (km)
Fig. 2.22 Model results presented by Droegemeir and Wil-
helmson (1986) showing (top) density current of salt water
(colored white) moving left to right in a tank of fresh water,
photographed by fohn E. Simpson (University of Cambridge);
(middle) two-dimensional numerical simulation of the potential
temperature perturbation field in a gravity outflow into a dry
adiabatic environment (thus similar to the laboratory model);
(bottom ) density current flowing into a neutral lower layer
with a stable environment above.
frame the density current underruns a stable layer and the
enhanced temperature perturbations in the stable layer re-
semble the echoes aloft in the bottom frame of Fig. 2.21 .
The relationship of enhanced perturbations to large gra-
dients will be examined in the next ,section. The lack of
multiple thin layers in the numerical model for the stable
case may indicate that the crucial physics for such layer
creation is absent from the model.
For the traveling disturbance "wake" mechanism de-
scribed above, the surface meteorological records of tem-
perature, humidity, wind speed, and direction should show
relatively permanent changes following passage of the
event as seen in Figs. 2.19-2.21. However, cases are re-
ported in which the boundary layer approximately returns
to its former state after passage of the event, suggesting
that the perturbation is due to a solitary buoyancy (gravity)
wave (e.g., Christie and Muirhead, 1983). A convincing
case of such an event shown in Fig. 2.23 has been reported
by Doviak and Ge (1984). Such events seem to travel sub-
stantially faster than the gravity clirrent velocity given
above. Figure 2.23 shows an HYFA event recorded by a
10-cm NSSL radar at Norman, Oklahoma. The event was
generated by the severe storm whose reflectivity contours
498 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

MAY II, 1980 NORMAN DOPPLER RADAR ECHO POWER FIELDS

ELEVATION ANGLE= 0.4°

X X
26 31
+ +

Fig. 2.23 Display of HYFA event near Norman, Oklahoma produced by a severe storm (from NSSL 10-
cm radar). Top frame: Reflectivity contours showing the HYFA event propagating outward as a solitary
wave from the storm at successive times indicated at the bottom. Location of the radar is shown by"+"
and the location of an instrumented tower is shown by " X " . Range arcs are 80 and 120 km. Reflectivity
factor Z of the gust contour is -0 dBZ with peak reflectivities of -10 dBZ. Maximum reflectivity of the
storm is -55 dBZ. The 0.81 o beamwidth of the radar is drawn to connect the Z data and radar position
for the storm at 2207. Lower frame; Black and white reproduction of the original color display of reflectivity
at 2245:26 CST for thin line event in top fram e. Other information as indicated on the legends of the
figure. (Doviak and Ge, 1984.)

are shown at nine successive times in the top frame. As
the thin line of HYFA gust echo propagates away from
the storm, it passes an instrumented tower indicated by
" X." The maximum reflectivity contour of the storm is 55
dBZ and that of the gust echo is 10 dBZ . The radar display
of the thin line echo is shown in the bottom frame.
New sensitive Doppler radars such as those to be de-
ployed in NEXRAD have recently dramatized the impor-
tance of these HYFA boundary layer convergence lines in
initiating convective storms. An excellent illustration is
provided by a case described by Donaldson and Burgess
(1982) in a report of the Joint Doppler Operational Project
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER
exanunmg the role and need for a Next Generation
(NEXRAD) Weather Radar system. Figure 2.24 shows PPI
displays of the event. It was recorded with the 10-cm NSSL
radar near Norman with a half-power beamwidth of about
0.9°. The original displays were in color, so the gray scale
intensities are not readily interpretable. The top frame
shows a line of echoes (oriented north-south) from the
"dryline" (separating the moist Gulf air from the high
plains air) commonly present in the U.S. Midwest during
spring and summer. No precipitation is present at the time
of the top frame (1254 CST); in fact the (gray) dryline
Fig. 2.24 Top frame: HYFA return from the dryline between
moist Gulf air and dry high plains air recorded by a 10-cm
NSSL radar. Lower: Cold front (echo oriented diagonally) in-
tersecting the HYFA line in the top frame (vertical echo passing
through the radar). Note the zone of tornado-spawning severe
weather propagating southward (downward on the figure) be-
hind the intersection of the two boundaries. Four tornadoes
touched down at Newkirk, Oklahoma. (Donaldson and Burgess,
1982.)
499
echoes are less than 10 dBZ. The thick range circle is the
"folding range" (115 km) and the lighter circles are 32 km
apart. The lower frame shows an HYFA echo from an
advancing cold front (oriented northeast-southwest) in-
tersecting the dryline. The point of intersection propagated
rapidly southward, owing to the faster speed of the cold
front, and this intersection preceded the formation of a
zone of storm echo reaching intensities as high as 55 dBZ
that propagated southward behind the intersection as
shown dramatically in the lower frame of the figure. At
1351 CST the storm expanded explosively, spawning a
series of four tornadoes near Newkirk, Oklahoma. If it is
assumed that the important factor in specifying the location
of this severe storm is the intersection of the cold front
with the dry line, it is evident that the clear-air radar return
from the boundary layer displayed important predictive
information residing in the clear air prior to the onset of
the storm event.
Another dramatic case of storm initiation by collision of
two HYFA boundaries was reported by Wilson and
Schreiber (1986) and is shown in Fig. 2.25. The thin line
of reflectivity labeled 1 in frames a and b is moving south-
ward from the northwest, and the one labeled 2 is ad-
vancing northwestward toward it from the line of thun-
derstorms. They collide at point A about the time of frame
c. By the time of frame f, 45 minutes later, a new line of
thunderstorms has completely enveloped the zone of col-
lision and the old storm system has almost disappeared.
Already radars and satellites are the most important tools
available to the meteorologist for nowcasting (Wilson and
Wilk, 1982); when the NEXRAD network of powerful
Doppler radars is deployed by the NWS, it is not unrea-
sonable to suppose that HYFA signatures of convergence
lines in the boundary layer and their intersection with
fronts will be as attentively sought by radar meteorologists
as the famous hook echoes are presently.
Radars also reveal the detailed morphology of the dis-
turbed boundary layer during passage of ordinary weather
fronts. Figure 2.26 shows a very well documented case
studied in detail by Carbone (1982) in which the radar
targets were mainly hydrometeors. The cold front seen in
the figure spawned damaging tornadoes 2 min after this
display as it passed through the Sacramento Valley in Cal-
ifornia. It was observed by radars of NCAR and of NOAA's
Wave Propagation Laboratory (WPL) in the Bureau of
Reclamation's Sierra Cooperative Pilot Project. Figure 2.26
illustrates the value of radars in revealing frontal mor-
phology, but this carefully processed and documented case
will also be discussed in a later section on multiple Doppler
radar observations in which the detailed wind fields are
successfully used by Parsons et al. (1987) to retrieve the
temperature and buoyancy structure of the event. Figure
2.26 shows a plan view of the horizontal morphological
structure of the front, and in particular provides an ex-
cellent example of the famous hook echo characteristic of
the kind of mesocyclone that often produces tornadoes
and funnels.
500 RADARINMETEOROLOGY

Fig. 2.25 HYFA events recorded by the NCAR CP-2 radar (3-cm mode) . The boundaries labeled 1 and
2 in frames a and b collide in frame c. In frame f, recorded about 45 minutes after collision, a new zone
of severe weather, labeled B, has developed in the area where the events collided and the original zone
of severe weather is almost gone. (Wilson and Schreiber, 1986.)

Radars can also reveal much detail about the vertical
structure of weather fronts. Figure 2.27 shows an example
of the vertical structure of a front revealed by Chadwick's
FM-CW radar when located at the Boulder Atmospheric
Observatory (BAO). This event (recorded during the
Boulder Upslope Cloud Observation Experiment, BUCOE)
shows a frontal passage revealed by RIT followed by a
northeasterly flow creating the "upslope" circulation pat-
tern in the Denver area that commonly leads to the for-
mation of clouds and precipitation. The morphological se-
quence of events is revealed by the FM-CW radar in fine
detail. Figure 2.27 shows a prominent frontal "head" with
a very steep leading edge, followed by prominent "lee"
waves perturbing multiple layers of echo. Although the
waves are seen to perturb the interface, their amplitude is
substantially larger at greater heights in the atmosphere
above the front. There is little evidence of insect or debris
targets in any of these frontal events except for a few point
targets, ahead of the event in the middle frame of Fig.
2.21. The general resemblance of the cold front event in
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER 501

Fig. 2.26 PPI reflectivity display from NCAR CP-3 (5 em) radar during
the SCPP experiment, showing a sector display of the morphological
structure of the boundary layer disturbed by a tornado-producing cold
front passing through the Sacramento Valley. Note the "textbook" ex-
ample of a hook echo indicative of a mesocyclone (from Carbone, 1982).

15 Jan 1982

Ht
(km)

,.F
T (OC) 0

p
-20 ------
-===.

(m~~5~~----··-~__/
__.,------------
---·

a2oF
I I I I
1700 1800 MST 1900 2000

Fig. 2.27 Time-height cross sections of nonprecipitating, HYFA cold front near Boulder showing the
morphological structure of the disturbed boundary layer in a vertical plane perpendicular to the front.
This event was recorded with a 10-cm wavelength FM-CW radar, pointing vertically, located at the
BAO. The horizontal line at 400 m range is a side/abe echo from the 300m BAO tower. The cold frontal
passage was followed by easterly upslope flow. Note large waves and multiple layering in RIT return
immediately following frontal passage. Cloud and precipitation echoes appear after about 1810 MST.
Abrupt discontinuity in wind field at frontal passage is shown. The temperature and pressure were
recorded with very slow time-response (> 1 min) sensors.
502 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Fig. 2.27 to the density currents in Fig. 2.21 and 2.22 is
striking.
3 BACKSCATTER FROM REFRACTIVE
INDEX TURBULENCE (KIT)
IN THE CLEAR AIR
3.1 Bragg Scatter in the Atmosphere
Villars and Weisskopf (1954), Batchelor (1955), Bolgiano
(1958) and others pointed out that the formulation of the
scattering problem in terms of the spectrum of R.I. within
the scattering volume was much simpler and more direct
than using the corresponding spatial autocorrelation func-
tion as had been done by earlier researchers.
The radar equation for atmospheric return is given in
many standard texts; e.g., Atlas (1964), Battan (1973),
Gossard and Strauch [1983, Eq. (15Aa)] and Doviak and
Zmic [1984, Eq. ( 4.25)]. For present purposes we neglect
attenuation in the intervening medium between scatterer
and radar and consider only backscatter. Then, designating
A, as the effective area of the receiving antenna and radar
reflectivity by 71,
(3.1)
where P, and P1 are power received and transmitted, ll.r is
the range resolution (equal to cr I 2, where r is pulse du-
ration) and r is the range to the target. The proportionality
factor in (3.1) is a constant that depends on assumptions
about the antenna beam (often chosen to be either "top
hat" or Gaussian). Depending on the definition of P,, it
may (e.g., Doviak and Zmic, 1984) incorporate properties
of the receiver, such as bandwidth.
For an arbitrary scattering angle a (the angle between
the incident and the scattering directions), the reflectivity
factor 71 is given by [e.g., Doviak and Zrnic, 1984, Eq.
(11.93); Gossard and Strauch, 1983, Eq. (2-41)]:
(3.2)
where k = 2-trjX and X is wavelength, K = 2k sin(a/2),
En ( K) is the power spectrum of the refractive index ( n)
fluctuations, and En(K) = -K[oS(K)joK] where S(K) is the
one-dimensional spectrum along a line through a medium
whose turbulence is isotropic and homogeneous. Thus, the
important scattering scale in the medium is 211" / K, often
called the Bragg scale. In the radar equation (3.1) we are,
of course, considering only backscatter. Then a= 1r so that
K = 2(211"/X), and the Bragg scale is X/2. It is therefore
clear that radars remotely sense the refractive index vari-
ance density of the spectral component corresponding to
half the radar wavelength, and it is useful to examine (e.g.,
Rabin, 1982) whether useful meteorological information
can be extracted from radar measurements of backscattered
power using (3.1) and (3.2). For example, it has often
been assumed that the R.I. spectrum in the neighborhood
of the Bragg scale has the inertial-convective subrange
(ICS) form so that the radar refractive index spectrum fol-
lows the same K-s; 3 law that governs potential temperature
and specific humidity, and a great deal of work has gone
into examining the rigor of this assumption (e.g., Hill,
1978a). Assuming the ICS form for the spectra,
(3.3)
which can be considered to define the structure parameters
( Ottersten, 1969) for the (say) x component of velocity
=
( Cu 2 ), temperature ( C/) and refractive index ( Cn 2 C/);
k is the wavenumber along a line through the turbulent
fluid. If the refractive index spectrum takes the ICS form,
the radar reflectivity for RIT backscatter is given by (Atlas
et al., 1966a; Ottersten, 1969a)
71 = 0.38C/X -t; 3 (3.4a)
compared with
(3.4b)
for the reflectivity from spherical Rayleigh particulates,
where I Kl 2 = 0.93 for liquid water and Z is the radar
reflectivity factor.
A more fundamental definition of the structure param-
eter is [n(r)- n(r + l)f = C/F/ 3 where r is the position
of measurement in the fluid and l is sensor separation. The
overbar indicates a spatial average. A measurement of the
variance at a given sensor separation l is a measure of Cn 2
[and therefore of 71 from (3.4a) in the ICS]. Several ex-
periments combining radar and in situ sensors have es-
tablished the validity of these relationships (e.g., Konrad
and Randall, 1966; Lane, 1968). Three are summarized in
Fig. 3.1. The top frame, from Kropfli et al. (1968); shows
observed radar reflectivity, 77, versus spectral power of re-
fractive index fluctuations at the radar half-wavelength of
5.35 em. Spectral power was obtained by extrapolating
computed spectra (based on airborne microwave refrac-
tometer measurements) down to wavenumber k, at the
Bragg scale. We see that for almost all cases the radar re-
flectivity corresponds within 3 dB to that expected from
direct refractometer measurements for Bragg scatter in
the ICS.
 1--------:.,;:>-.::::-1~=--,-;-<------:J :;, I 0-l:;
I-
V
w
/ / '
...w
...J //0 0 o,?''o
a: / / BD 0
a: ~!3dB-~'8 D0
<[ /;' 0~//
0

''
<[
a:
'' -15 - 14
10 10
2
<(6n) >Fn 0 1) (em)

4 01 r-------~~~~~~------,
HASWELL, COLORA DO
OCTOBER 2. 1970 0900·0907 '' 0

D C~ ..C~ X 1012

• c~ (Tower Measured)
o~-L~~~~-L~~~~-w
- 17 - 16 - 15 - 14 - 13 - 12 - II - 10
104 10· U
1808 U IO 1812 1114 1116 1111 log c~
Tim•. MST

Fig. 3.1 Top frame: Comparison of measured radar reflectivity (vertical axis) with the value calculated from refractometer-measured refractive
index variance (horizontal axis) at the Bragg wavenumber, k., of the 10.7-cm Wallops Island radar. The refractometer was suspended below a
helicopter tracked by the radar. If Eq. (3.4a) represents the correct physics of RIT scattering, the points should lie along the solid 45° line.
(Kropfli et al., 1968.) Middle frame: Tower-measured height profiles of refractive index, N, and refractive index spatial variance, MJ~0 , obtained
from a microwave refractometer with two cavities separated by 20 em. The profile of backscattered power measured by a 10-cm FM-CW radar
is shown cross-hatched at the right. (Bean et al., 1971.) Bottom frame: C.2 within an elevated refractive layer (see radar display) measured
with Lyman a and platinum wire humidity and temperature sensors at the 175 m height on a tower (bottom left) compared with the radar-
measured height profile of C/ (bottom right) using (3.4a) to convert power to C.Z. Layer passed the 175 m level at 1814 MST. (Gossard et al.,
1984.)
504 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
The middle frame shows a similar comparison reported
by Bean et al. (1971, 1972). In this experiment MJ~ 0
=[N(r)- N(r + 0.2}f was measured with a microwave
refractometer having two cavities separated by 0.2 m (20
em) as it traversed a 150m tower near Haswell, Colorado.
The radar backscattered power was measured with a ver-
tically pointing FM-CW radar of 10-cm wavelength, and
the power profile is shown by the cross-hatched area at
the right of the figure. The height profile of backscattered
power agrees well with the profile of refractivity variance
at the 0.2 m sensor separation.
The bottom frame shows a tower experiment reported
by Gossard et al. (1984). Its goal was to compare radar-
measured backscatter from very thin elevated layers, in
which assumptions of isotropy and homogeneity are sus-
pect, with in situ measurements of apparent Cn 2 obtained
with fast-response platinum wire temperature sensors and
a Lyman a humidity sensor. The Cn 2 was calculated from
point measurements of temperature and humidity using
the known horizontal wind. Backscattered power was
measured with a vertically pointing 10.2-cm wavelength
FM-CW radar and converted to Cn 2 assuming (3.4) applies.
As the thin layer shown on the radar record descended
past the 175m fixed level on the tower, the records of Cn 2
(and C/) versus time were obtained. The layer passed the
175m level at about 1814 MST, and the radar-measured
height profile of Cn 2 at that time is shown for comparison.
The correspondence is good, lending considerable confi-
dence that radar-measured values of" apparent" Cn 2 agree
well with "apparent" Cn 2 values measured by in situ sen-
sors even within the thin layers of large height gradient
described earlier under "finestructure" in this chapter.
3.2. Refractive Index of Microwave
frequencies
For microwave frequencies, electromagnetic propagation
through the atmosphere is essentially nondispersive. The
refractive index n is therefore independent of wavelength
and is related to constituents of the air (e.g., Bean and
Dutton, 1966) as
(n- 1) X 10
6 P
= 77.6 T + 3.73 X 10 s Te2 , (3.5a)
which is often designated N and called the "refractivity"
to distinguish it from n. The p is atmospheric pressure
( mb), T is temperature ( K), and e is vapor pressure ( mb).
Smith and Weintraub (1953) estimated Eq. (3.5a) to be
accurate to ±0.5 percent. We will usually express it in terms
of spectfic humidity ( q) rather than vapor pressure, where
q is ratio of mass of water vapor to mass of moist air and
is related to pressure and vapor pressure as
e=( p )q ~ _p q
0.622 +q ~ 0.622 .
Since q is 3 X 10-2 or less, the approximation indicated is
justified for nearly all applications. Thus, for practical pur-
poses
(3.5b)
where Q is specific humidity in grams of moisture per ki-
logram of air; i.e., Q = q X 10 3 .
For the interpretation of clear-air radar backscatter we
will be mainly concerned with turbulence processes in
which both heat and moisture are conserved. We will usu-
ally assume no change of state (condensation or evapo-
ration) and that parcel movements occur quickly enough
so that temperature changes are essentially adiabatic; i.e.,
the parcel does not lose or gain heat by some process such
as radiative transfer. For these problems it is very conve-
nient to use potential refractivity cJ> (analogous to potential
temperature), defined by
pn = 77.:p, ( 1 + 7.~3Q) (3.5c)
where~ is potential temperature (K) (for dry air) given by
0.286
~ = T(K)
(
;
)
I (3.6)
where p, is some reference level often chosen to be 1000
mb. The tilde is used for the total quantity to distinguish
from the unsubscripted perturbation component and the
zero subscripted mean used later in this section. [Equation
( 3.5c) is sometimes defined in terms of virtual potential
temperature, using T* = T(l + 0.61q) in ( 3.6) instead of
T, where q is the specific humidity. Since q is typically
10 - 2 or smaller this definition simply introduces a pro-
portionality factor slightly greater than unity into the 0, T
relationship and the conservation properties for the two
definitions are the same.] We see that cJ> is the JY value of
a parcel moved from its ambient levef to the (1000 mb)
reference level adiabatically without loss or gain of mois-
ture. We have defined cJ> slightly differently in Eq. ( 3.5c)
than in Fig. 2.17 by including a 10-6 factor in the figure.
The conserved property, potential refractivity (¢),is the
convenient atmospheric parameter for most atmospheric
~cience purposes, but of course the radar senses n. Since
Q / T is typically small (about 4/268 at a height of 700
mb pressure in a standard atmosphere), we can write
(3.7a)
where C is a factor defined by
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER
Equation (3.7a) shows that the difference between¢ and
a
l;f is primarily a pressure-height effect, and it offers con-
venient way to interconvert profiles of l;f and ¢.
The relationship between the variances of ¢~and n is
(3.7b)
where¢ and N are deviations from the average. The pri-
mary difference between variances of ¢ and l;f is a height
dependence entering because of the pressure factor. In the
boundary layer, where p = 1000 mb, C is about one. At
higher elevations Q IT generally becomes small and the
conversion factor is almost entirely the pressure-height
factor. Equation (3.7a) shows that height profiles of¢ and
N will differ substantially. However, to compare C/ and
CN2 at a particular altitude, we define the potential refrac-
tive index relative to the local pressure at that height (in-
stead of at the 1000mb level) and the pressure factors in
(3.6) and (3.7) become unity, and CN2 and C/ are seen to
be virtually identical at that altitude. For a more complete
discussion of potential refractive index, see Doviak and
Zrnic (1984).
3.3 Relationships of Variances and
Covariances to Gradient Quantities
Because RIT radar and acoustic sounders mainly sense
Bragg backscatter from turbulent fluctuations of fields, and
most atmospheric physicists are more interested in the
(height) gradients of mean quantities, it is important to be
able to relate the variances and covariances of fields to
their mean gradients (e.g. Ottersten, 1969c).
For steady state, horizontally homogeneous isotropic
turbulent perturbations of velocity and temperature in a
statically stable atmosphere with no horizontal gradients
of mean quantities, the velocity variance (i.e., kinetic en-
ergy) and temperature variance balance equations (e.g.,
Businger, 1982) yield the relation (Gossard and Sengupta,
1988)
C/ = 1!!._ (Ri ) 00 iJ0 0 (3.8a)
Cw 2 f3w Pr- Ri g iJz
if the ICS spectral forms (3.3) are adopted. In (3.8a) gra-
dients of triple covariance terms in temperature and ve-
locity has been neglected, as is pressure gradient-velocity
covariance. The Ri is the gradient Richardson number, Pr
= KM I K8 is the turbulent Prandtl number (where KM and
K8 are the eddy viscosity and eddy conductivity), zero
subscripts indicate mean quantities, unsubscripted quan-
tities are perturbations from the mean, and (J and w are
potential temperature and vertical velocity. The {38 and f3w
are universal constants equal to about 3.6 and 2.0 respec-
tively.
505
For an inviscid medium with the same assumptions as
above, the velocity-temperature covariance equations (e.g.,
Businger, 1982) give (Gossard and Sengupta, 1988)
(3.8b)
To relate (3.8a) and (3.8b), we must relate variances to
the corresponding spectral parameters such as C8 2 and Cw 2 •
In the theoretical development the averages for the vari-
ance calculations extend over all scales, while our main
interest lies in Bragg scales within the ICS. However, in
the perturbation theory the fields are arbitrarily (and ar-
tificially) divided into "average" and "perturbation" com-
ponents. In this way, in effect, the hypothetical fields have
been filtered in order to make use of certain approximations
for the range of frequencies I scales chosen, thus selecting
a cutoff frequency. The division is arbitrary and for real
spectra there is no universal definition of the length in
time I space of the average from which the perturbations
are taken. Gossard and Frisch (1987) chose to interpret
scales larger than the outer scale as the "average" flow so
that the perturbations analyzed lay in the ICS. Thus the
ICS spectral forms could be assumed, and the variances
entering the balance equations, such as ( 3.8b), represent
averages over the ICS spectra. The fundamental assump-
tion needed to relate the variances to the corresponding
spectral parameters (e.g., Cn 2 ) is that the variance balance
equations are essentially independent of the cutoff fre-
quency chosen by the original perturbation formulation
which, for a two parameter (0, w) balance equation such
as (3.8b), requires that the spectra of (J and w have the
same shape in the spectral range for which the equation
is valid. Therefore, if our interest lies in scales within the
ICS, 02 lw 2 = C8 2 1Cw2, where the variances apply to the
ICS scales. Then (3.8a) can be rewritten using the ratio of
variances, and we see that both (3.8a) and (3.8b) have
the form
0 Oo iJOo
=- C
2 _
(3.8c)
g az
~--,
w.2
which simply states that the intensity of fluctuations of
temperature (T variance) within a stable layer is propor-
tional to the product of the potential temperature gradient
and the intensity of the vertical mixing (w variance) in the
layer. If pressure-velocity covariance gradient terms are
neglected, (3.8b) gives C1 = 1. If Pr = 1 and Ri = 114,
as is often assumed, (3.8b) gives C1 = 1.2. Eliminating
pressure from the equations of motion and continuity, and
neglecting the resulting triple product terms in velocity
and velocity gradients, Gossard and Frisch (1987) found
cl = 1.5. If cl is constant, (3.8c) and (3.8a) show that a
constraint is imposed on the relation between Pr and Ri
for the scales and stability for which our assumptions are
applicable; e.g., if C1 = 1, Pr = Ri({38/ f3w + 1). Since the
506 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

turbulence is neither isotropic nor homogeneous within
strongly stable layers (e.g., Bolgiano, 1962), the optimum
value for C1 must be determined empirically.
Gossard and Frisch (1987) reported tower measurements
of 8 2 , w2 , and ()8 0 1az using fast-response sensors (plati-
num wire thermistors and sonic anemometers) on a car-
riage that was raised and lowered through strongly stable
inversion layers lying across a 300 m tower near Boulder;
the instrumentation has been described by Kaimal and
Gaynor (1983). The variances were calculated from 5 s-
long time series of data sampled digitally at a rate of 10
samples per second (50 data points) after the data were
linearly detrended. Thus a variance was calculated every
2.8 m of height as the carriage traversed the tower. A linear
regression analysis of log (o80 1az) versus log (82 1w 2 )
yielded a value of 0.44 for the constant Ct in.Eq. (3.8c).
This compares with a constant of 0.64 found by Hunt et
al. (1985) from 20 min time series of data at eight fixed
levels on the same tower. Their data were sampled at an
effective rate of 0.1 s- 1• (The sampling rate was 10 s-t,
but the data archived were averaged over 100 points.) Fig-
ure 3.2 shows profiles of the variances of temperature and
vertical velocity (the two profiles at the far right), and the
middle profile is o8ol az "retrieved" from their ratio using
(3.8c) with C1 = 1.0. The observed profile of temperature
is shown at the far left, and the corresponding observed
values of o80 1az are shown as the second profile from the
left; it should be compared with the retrieved profile (mid-
dle). Many additional cases showing comparable agree-
ment of (3.8c) with the experiment are in Gossard and
Sengupta (1988).
There is considerable experimental support for Eq. (3.8c)
for variances of scales lying within the ICS, and available
data suggest that C1 is somewhat less than 1.0. This sug-
gests the possibility of measuring d80 l dz remotely using
the relationship
(3.9)
if C/ and Cw 2 can be measured by some type of radar.
The same arguments that led to ( 3.8b) can be made
with regard to potential refractive index (Gossard and
Sengupta, 1988) so that
(3.10)
where Cr is the correlation between 8 and f/J. This corre-
lation is very high because the correlation between 8 and
Q is very high (Gossard et al., 1984; Priestley and Hill,
1985). [Pressure fluctuations are found to provide negli-
gible contributions to f/J 2 (Gossard, 1960).] In Eq. (3.10)
minimal assumptions have been made about the turbu-
lence causing the fluctuations or its spectral_M>Il!!:._ With
radar measurements of C/ 1Cw2 replacing f/J 2 lw 2 , Eq.
( 3.10) provides a method of remotely calculating the re-
fractive index gradient from radar measurements of Cn 2
and Cw 2 if w8 can be independently estimated. Methods
for calculating Cw 2 from the Doppler spectrum will be dis-
cussed in the next section. Using the method for calculating
Cw 2 based on measurement of the Doppler spectral width,
Gossard and Sengupta (1988) tested Eq. (3.10) for a dataset
reported by Sengupta et al. (1987). The agreement between
the radar results and raob-measured gradients was satis-
factory except for a portion of the record dominated by
clouds. The presence of clouds (even nonprecipitating

'
POT TEMP GRAD 29Feb19114
INVERSE 1055 MST
TEMPERATURE /
MEASURED RETRIEVED w-VARIANCE T VARIANCE
~~~~PR~O~F~ILFE-r--~~~~----~~-r~PRO~~FI~LE~--~PRO~F~IL~E~~~

100
Ht
(m)

50

.•~0~--~~~~~~~~
0 o~~~~-+--~~~~----~0~.1~.2~.3~

T (c) d8
dz
Fig. 3.2 Height profiles of temperature and temperature gradient in elevated layers (left-hand
profiles) and height profiles of temperature variance and inverse w variance (right-hand profiles)
measured on a carriage traversing the BAO tower with platinum wire and sonic anemometer
sensors. Middle profile (retrieved) is the gradient of temperature calculated from (3.8c); i.e.,
proportional to the product of the two right-hand profiles.
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER
clouds of relatively small dropsize) was found by Sengupta
et al. to be an important cause of "false alarms" in iden-
tifying elevated refractive layers with surface-based radars.
The quantitative trade-offs between Bragg scatter and
cloud scatter are discussed later. Layers of insects and/ or
birds could also produce false alarms in some continental
areas.
3.4 Relationship between Temperature
and Humidity Fluctuations
If horizontal gradients of mean temperature and hu-
midity are chosen to be zero, the conservation equations
for potential temperature and humidity are (e.g., Gossard
and Sengupta, 1988):
(3.11)
DQ +w aQo + aQu; - _i_ Qu; = Kw a2Q (3.12)
Dt az ax; ax; ax;ax;
where Q is moisture density, K is thermal conductivity and
Kw is molecular diffusivity of water vapor. In magnitude,
K = 0.23 X 10-4 m 2 s- 1 and Kw =
0.20 X 10-4 m 2 s-I, so
they are nearly equal, and we write K. = (K + Kw) /2. Then,
letting R = (aQofaz)j(aOofaz), multiplying (3.11) by R,
and subtracting (3.12), it is found that
Q = RO so that OQ = R8 2 and R 28 2 = Q2 • (3.13)
Therefore OQ/(8 2 Q 2 ) 1 12 = 1, and the correlation coef-
ficient for fluctuations in humidity and potential temper-
ature is theoretically unity except for the small difference
in molecular coefficients of conductivity and diffusivity.
Furthermore, over the scale range where the spectra of 8
and Q have the same form, Eq. (3.13) shows that their
cross spectrum must have that same form, and their co-
herence [s9Q (f ) f I [59( f) SQ (f ) ] is theoretically unity. In
fact, the correlation between temperature and humidity
fluctuations is observed to be very high under stable con-
ditions. Figure 3.3 shows that the observed correlations in
the elevated stable layer in Fig. 3.1 (bottom frame) and in
stable surface layers (Priestley and Hill, 1985) average
about -0.97, and the coherence between temperature and
humidity fluctuations remains above 0.8 out to scales about
equal to the humidity and temperature sensor separation.
We believe that this small degradation in coherence occurs
mainly because R is never exactly constant during any ex-
periment and because horizontal gradients of mean quan-
tities are never precisely zero. Under unstable conditions
the correlations are positive and substantially lower
(Priestley and Hill, 1985), averaging about 0.8.
From measured profiles of the variances of temperature
507
•••• I
10-1.---.--------r-----..,------,
x x xx Gossard et al (1984) [Correl.= -.97]
0 0 00
• • • • Priestley and Hill (1985) [median
values 6 runs, stable stratification
x..._x Average cor rei.= -0.97]
'
Fig. 3.3 Spectra of potential refractivity (c/J) within the stable
elevated layer shown in the bottom frame of (3.1). Refractivity
was calculated with (3.5c) from Lyman a measurements of
humidity and platinum wire measurements of temperature.
The spectra of c/1 calculated with and without the cospectral
contribution are shown. The contribution of the cospectrum is
large because of the very high correlation ( -0.97) between
temperature and humidity; in fact, the temperature-humidity
coherence is above 0.8 down to the smallest scales measurable
in the experiment. Similar high correlation and coherence of
temperature and humidity measured in the stable surface layer
by Priestley and Hill (1985) are shown by the superimposed
square points.
and humidity, profiles of the height-gradients of mean
temperature, humidity and refractive index can be calcu-
lated from Eqs. (3.8c), (3.10) and (3.13). A comparison
between tower-measured mean gradients and such cal-
culated gradients is shown in Fig. 3.4, assuming C1 = 1
and C, = 1. The agreement is encouraging. The basic ap-
proximations entering the theoretical relationships between
variances and gradients have been the neglect of viscosity
and pressure-velocity covariance terms, and the assump-
tions of temporal stationarity and horizontal homogeneity
of mean quantities. The extension of the arguments based
on variance to Cl and Cw 2 requires that homogeneous,
isotropic turbulence in an ICS be assumed also (e.g., An-
dreas, 198 7). The important latter assumptions must fail
to some degree within thin, very stable layers, and the best
choice of C1 will ultimately depend on experiment.
508 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

300
Height Profiles Measured Gradient Calculated Gradient
From (3.14), we see that the height gradient of potential
temperature is related to the corresponding gradients of
potential temperature and specific humidity as:
200
I
:;:
100
dZ 80 az

0
0 1 2
; -0.1
X [ 1 + 15.46
Qo (
0o 1 o lnQo I az ) ]
1-2 olnOo/oZ =M (3.15)

Q (g/kg) dQ

300
az which, when a pressure reference level is chosen, defines
the quantity M in relation to the gradients of temperature
~ and humidity. Equation ( 3.15) is essentially a relationship

J_j
r
200 given by Tatarski (1961) and has been used in models
I relating gradients of temperature and humidity from ra-
:;: diosonde observations to refractive index structure pa-
100 rameter, Cn 2; i.e., VanZandt et al. (1978, 1981), Gage et
al. (1980), Warnock et al. (1978, 1985). In practice, the
0__/ ability of radars to sense thin gradients is limited by the
-10 -5 0 1.0 resolution (e.g., pulse length) of the radar, and (as in ra-
T (C) de
dZ diosonde observations) the measured gradient will depend
300
\ on the filtering characteristics of the instrument. Conse-
quently, the above models have incorporated a pulse vol-

l"'-,1
200 ume "filling factor" to compensate partially for lack of
resolution.
I
:;: In accord with our earlier convention, we let d¢ = ¢,
100 dO= 8 and dQ = Q so that (3.14) can be written¢~= -a(J
\ +~ bQ. Gossa;d (1960) pointed out, and Gurvich (1968)
: discussed, that the variance (and spectrum) of¢ includes
\
0
240 260 +I 0 -1 -3 -5 -3 -5 a temperature-humidity covariance (and cospectrum
dN dN
N
dZ dz C08Q) term that can provide a large contribution (positive
or negative according to the signs of the height gradients
Fig. 3.4 Profiles of mean gradients of humidity (top), temperature of 80 and Q0 ) to the variance of refractive index. The effect
(middle) and refractive index (bottom) calculated (right frames) from has more recently been shown to be important even in
variances of humidity, temperature and vertical velocity using Eqs.
(3.8c), (3.10) and (3.13). Corresponding measured profiles are shown calculations of optical refractive index perturbation pa-
in middle frames. Data were obtained from Lyman a, platinum wire, rameters by Friehe et al. (1975), Wyngaard et al. (1978)
and sonic anemometer sensors on a carriage traversing the BAO tower. and Hill (1978b). Thus
(Gossard and Sengupta, 1988.)
(3.16a)
3. 5 Radar Sensing of the
Gradient Quantities and

Taking the derivative of¢ in (3.5c) we find the linear-

ized equation for small pertUrbations to be
To proceed much further it is necessary to relate the
spectrum Sq, to the spectral forms of 58 and SQ and in par-
(3.14) ticular to determine whether Sq, can be assumed to have
the form ( 3.3) within the ICS. Inserting (3.13) into ( 3.16a)
where we find

ap = -
a~
77.6p,
Oo Oo
(.! + 15.46 OoQ~) =-a, (3.17)

ag = 77.6p, (7.73)
d¢
Qo2 =b.
This simple linear relationship between the variances of 8
and Q means that if 8 and Q have the same spectral form,

the spectrum of cp will have that form also, and assuming
(3.3), we can write
From (3.13) it follows that the cospectrum is given by
(3.19)
which can be either positive or negative depending on the
sign of the gradients of 00 and Q0 •
Gossard and Sengupta (1988) noted that combination
of (3.10) and (3.15) yields expressions for temperature
gradient and refractive index gradient in terms of the radar-
measurable C./ I Cw 2 and the conservative property R,
where R = (aQol az) I (aOol az). That is, assuming c, = 1.0,
aoo g0o 3 1 C/
az = c 1 (77.6p,) 2 (1 + 15.46(Qol0o- RI2W Cw2
(3.20)
and for refractive index gradient
a¢o gOo [ 1 ] C./
az = C1 77.6p, 1 + 15.46(Q0 I0o- Rl2) Cw2 •
(3.21)
From (3.20) and (3.21) a radar should be able to monitor
the variability of aOol az and a¢ 0 1az effectively, but mag-
nitudes could only be found if another independent mea-
surement (e.g., raob) were available to establish an initial
value of R.
3.6 Climatology of C<t> 3 (C, 3 ) in the
Boundary Layer
The only long-term organized statistical study of the
microclimatology of Cn 2 in the boundary layer was carried
out in an AFGL sponsored study by Chadwick and Moran
(1980) using a 10-cm FM-CW radar located at the BAO.
The median values of the Cn 2 distribution (chosen as a
statistic that minimizes the influence of extreme values
due to insects or other extraneous targets) are shown in
Fig. 3.5, where the diurnal variation (for all data) is shown
in the top frame and the monthly distribution is shown in
the bottom frame. The data were carefully preedited to
remove cases that included aircraft and other artificial re-
turns before the statistics were compiled. Studies of this
kind, including in situ sensors, will be useful in interpreting
results from the NEXRAD system and should be done in
other climatological regimes.
RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER 509
C~ Climatology, Boulder, CO
MST
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
c~
50% CUMULATIVE FREQ. (All data)
805 m
AGL (m)
0 161
X 483
0 966
A 1449
A
I
c~ w-16
50% CUMULATIVE FREQ.
1\
\
\
MAMJJ ASONDJ F
10-17
L Month
Fig. 3.5 Climatology of C.2 (C./) measured with a 10-cm FM-
CW radar near Boulder using Eq. (3.4a). Top frame: Diurnal
variation at a height of 805 m. Bottom frame: Seasonal vari-
ation. (Chadwick and Moran, 1980.)
Few datasets exist showing the height variation of Cn 2
~ C./ in the lower atmosphere, although considerable data
on the middle and upper troposphere exist from the various
wind profiling radars (e.g., VanZandt et al., 1978; Rottger,
1980; Balsley and Petersen, 1981; Crane, 1980; Tsuda et
al., 1988). The available tropospheric data have been an-
alyzed and presented by Doviak et al. (1983) and are
shown in Fig. 3.6. The points indicated by "X" were cal-
culated from measurements of reflectivity collected on
hundreds of troposcatter communications links in the
1950s, published by Rice et al. (1966). The calculations
assumed uniform, homogeneous and isotropic RIT within
the common (forward) scattering volume of the transmit-
receive antennas, and the assumed scattering physics in-
herent in Eqs. (3.2) and (3.4) was assumed to apply. The
median "effective" c~. represented by the exponential
function shown is indicated by the solid line through the
Xs. Doviak et al. also include predictions of the Hufnagel
(1978) model, a data point measured by Chadwick and
Moran (1980}, and a point calculated by Gossard (1977)
from air mass temperature and humidity data.
510 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

14 Quiet
\ Median Air
\ Drop Fall
E 12 \
\
Diam.
(mm)
Vel.
(ms- 1)
6 I
Qj I
>
Cll
10 I Drizzle 0.66 3.4
...J I
I • Maritime Air
"'
Cll
(/)
8 I ··~,.,,.,/Ames et al (1955)
Cll I
> !-Balsley &
0
.0
<(
.....
6 I Peterson
'-.,,
',,
Maritime Air
Gossard (1977)
Cumulus
Congestus
0.15 0.7
.s::. (1981) '-.l)""
4 ', ....., Hawaiian

.., . , .
tiD
"Q)
Orographic 0.08 0.35
::c
I 2
N
,

0 -1a
10 10 -14
1(mm~•)
0.026 0.1
Fig. 3.6 Height variations of C/ found in several different 0.034 0.15
studies. The X points are calculated from data acquired from 0.032 0.12
troposcatter links published by Rice et al. (1966) using forms
of Eqs. (3.1), (3.2) and (3.4a). This figure is from Doviak et al.
(1983) except for the dashed "maritime air" curve added from
troposcatter data published by Ames et al. (1955).
0.012 0.05

The same procedure used by Doviak et al. to calculate
the x values was used by Gossard and Yeh (1980) to cal-
culate a profile in the marine environment of February
over the North Atlantic from aircraft data collected by
Ames et al. (1955). The aircraft flew 440 miles outward
from the coast of Massachusetts at a height of 500 ft ASL
receiving the 220 MHz signal from a coastal transmitter
sited 77 ft MSL. The forward scattered Bragg field domi-
nated the received signal beyond 80 miles from the coast.
Because of the relative rarity of data over the open ocean,
the profile calculated from the data of Ames et al. has been
superimposed on Fig. 3.6 as the dashed curve.
3.7 Comparison of RIT with Rayleigh
Particulate Return
Events such as those in Figs. 2.25 and 2.26 suggest the
potential importance of radar observations of the prestorm
boundary layer in forecasting the location of incipient me-
soscale weather events. Thus the trade-offs in the roles of
backscatter from particulates and from RIT may be of fu-
ture importance in weather radar design. Representing the
return from particulates as an "equivalent reflectivity fac-
tor," Z., and the return from RIT as Cn 2 (or C,/) we may
equate the reflectivities in (3.4a) and (3.4b) to determine
the radar wavelengths for which RIT and particulate return
are just equal. The result is shown in Fig. 3.7. Various
cloud types are shown along the Z axis for reference. Ob-
served radar returns of 1 to 10 dBZ from HYFA are com-
mon in the frontal events described in section 2. Very in-
tense RIT ( Cn 2 > 10 - 11 ) would be required to provide this
signal using a 10-cm wavelength radar, although for a 30-
.oi
A(m)-
Fig. 3.7 Trade-offs between RIT and particulate return.
Curves are for equal scatter from RIT and from Rayleigh liquid
spheres found by equating Eqs. (3.4a) and (3.4b). Various cloud
types are shown for reference. Figure parametric in C. 2•
em wavelength radar a RIT intensity of C/ in the range
of 10- 13-10- 12 could produce such returns. Because of the
evidence of intense RIT in the frontal zones shown in Fig.
2.21 (note the virtual absence of point target echoes in
these figures) values of Cn 2 > 10- 12 may not be unreason-
able to expect in such zones. However, Fig. 3.7 shows that
it is extremely unlikely that RIT could produce 10 dBZ
echoes of the kind shown in Fig. 2.19 using 3-cm wave-
length radars. Clearly, those echoes are from particulates-
probably insects.
A different type of display of the RIT /particulate trade-
off has been presented by Pratte and Keeler (1986). They
have plotted the "minimum detectable" effective dBZ ver-
sus range for a variety of targets and radars. Their plot is
shown in Fig. 3.8. The radars listed by Pratte and Keeler
(1986) refer to two weather radars of the NWS and to the
CP-2, 10.7-cm wavelength radar of NCAR. A hypothetical
long-pulse HYFA radar is also included. For this radar
Pratte and Keeler have assumed the general parameters
of the CP-2 but have chosen longer pulses. The radar
characteristics are listed in Table 3.1. The insect target
characteristics were taken from measurements by Riley
(1985) and Vaughn (1985). Mosquitos are characteristic
of "weak flyers" and bees are typical of "strong flyers."
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER 511

I 10
Range (km)
50 100 250
volume-from the first and second moments of the Dopp-
+30 f-..,---r--.--+-r--r---l,--+--,---'oclear ler spectrum. Such radars were actively exploited in storm
Air Cloud
Large Insects Ci Type and precipitation studies in the early 1960s by Lhermitte
10- 10 Drizzle (1960, 1962) and by Lhermitte and Atlas (1961), for ex-
Cumulus
10-11 / Congestus
ample. These investigators introduced the technique of the
Hawaiian Velocity-Azimuth Display (VAD) which has been em-
_ /
10 12 Orographic
ployed as a powerful tool for extracting height profiles of
10-
13 /Cumulus
(South Park)
the horizontal motion of targets by a single radar. The
_ 14 /Cumulus
concept is important in the design and use of the RIT wind
10 [Trade Wind) profilers (although most use multiple fixed beams instead
Dark Stratus
/
Continental-Fair of a single swept beam). A review of the use of radar
Weather-cumulus
backscatter from the clear air was given by Hardy (1972),
-50 L__J____,L_ _L__.J.____JL.__J___L_ _L__.J._--' and the use of backscatter from discrete targets for bound-
0 ~
20 Log 10 (R)
~
ary layer research has been reviewed by Kropfli (1984).
• NEXRAD
In VAD operation the radar antenna is scanned conically
Fig. 3.8 Minimum detectable effective reflectivity factor vs about the zenith direction. When the beam is swept
range for various radars and targets including insects and RIT through the direction from which the wind is coming, the
(C.2 = 10-14). Includes a special hypothetical long-pulse radar Doppler frequency is maximum, and when pointed away
designed for HYFA observation. Asterisk point is minimum from the wind it is minimum; thus the Doppler frequency
detectability at 50 km planned for NEXRAD system. Scales of shift forms a sinusoid when displayed as a time series.
clear-air C/ and cloud types have been added on the right This information can also be presented as a PSI (plan shear
margin; otherwise, as in Pratte and Keeler (1986). indicator) display (Armstrong and Donaldson, 1969),
which is essentially a PPI of the Doppler velocity field. In
this display, position and velocity are both indicated by
the radial displacement of the echo from the origin so that,
4 DOPPLER RADAR OBSERVATIONS for a simple constant horizontal wind, the range "bins"
Of THE BOUNDARY LAYER will just be nonconcentric (concentric if the wind is zero)
circles about the radar position on the display. This tech-
nique has been used in the clear boundary layer by Chad-
4.1 The Velocity-Azimuth Display (VAD}
wick et al. (1979) to display shear zones over airport run-
A review of techniques using Doppler radars to study way approaches using an FM-CW radar. Color displays
atmospheric motion was given by Wilson and Miller have largely replaced the PSI which is now mainly of his-
(1972). Such radars provide not only the quantitative torical interest.
backscattered power, but also quantitative information Rabin et al. (1987) pointed out that the advent of the
about the velocity field of the target atmosphere-its mean NEXRAD network in the United States will provide radars
radial velocity and the velocity spread within the resolution with sufficient sensitivity to yield continuous Doppler wind

Raclar Moclel WSR-57M WSR-7-tC CP-2. "Ciear·Ab:"

(Loag/Sbort Palae) LP LP SP LP
Antenna size (m) 3.7 2.4 8.5 8.5
Wavelength >. (em) 10.7 5.4 10.7 10.7
Beamwidth 8° 2_2 1.6 0.9 0.9
Antenna gain G, (dB) 36.5 38.0 43_0 43.0
Pulse width (~ts) 4.0 3.2 1.0 4.0
Peak power P, (kW) 410.0 250.0 1040.0 260.0
PRFHz 164.0 259.0 960.0 960.0
Scan rate (degjs) 18.0 18.0 15.0 3.8
Rcvr NF (dB) 8.0 9.0 4.2 4.2
Rcvr 3-dB BW (MHz) 0.8 0.8 1.2 0.3
512 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

data in the lower atmosphere, even in clear weather. The
spacing between radars will be approximately 300 km, so
that wind data from these sites will greatly augment the
knowledge of the wind field provided by the rawinsonde
network and the radiir wind profiler systems currently de-
ployed. The separation of radars in the NEXRAD system
is too great for the kind of multiple radar wind field analysis
to be described in a later section of this chapter. Therefore,
it is important to consider how much three-dimensional
information about the wind field might be obtained from
a single Doppler radar.
4.1.1 The Browning-Wexler Harmonic
Analysis Method
Browning and Wexler (1966) noted that if the VAD data
are treated as a time series, a harmonic analysis can provide
much information about the spatial structure (horizontal
inhomogeneity) of the wind across the circles scanned. If
the targets are precipitation particles, the vertical velocity
will include a net, quiet-air, terminal fall velocity in ad-
dition to the vertical velocity of the medium. The precip-
itation fall velocity creates some problems in interpretation

Equivalent Horizontal Scale Normal to Warm Front

- 50 0 50 100 150 200 250 km

I I I I I I I
3
u
2
(a)

0
3
y

2
(b)

E
~

~ 0
Ol
·m 3 ( au_+ av )
I
ay ax
2
(c)

0
3 ( av au )
ay ox
2
(d)

0
17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10Z
Time at Pershore

Fig. 4.1 Analysis of divergence and deformation in a frontal zone measured by radar near Pershore, England using the
method of Browning and Wexler (1966) . (Browning and Ha"old, 1969.)
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER
because it cannot be unambiguously separated from the
clear-air vertical velocity component. Browning and Wexler
formulate the problem in spherical coordinates. Let () be
the elevation angle and cf> the azimuthal angle. Let u, v, w
be the x, y, z components of velocity and let lrl = (x 2
+ y2 + z2 ) 1 12 be range and let v = ui + vj + wk = v 0
+ r · 'ilv · · · . They then find Vr( cf>), the (measurable) radial
velocity for a given 8, to be (e.g., Wilson and Miller, 1972;
Doviak and Zrnic, 1984)
Vr(cf>) = (uo + r : sin()) cos() sine/>
+ ( v0 + r : sin()) cos() coscf> + w0 sin()
+ (112)r( ~: + :) cos 2()
'--v---'
div
+ (1 12)r( ~ + ::) cos 28 sin2c/>
'--v---'
stretch deform
+ (112)r(:- ~:) cos 8 cos2c/>,
2 (4.1)
...___..,
shearing deform
where the gradients in x andy are the first-order terms in
a Taylor series expansion of the wind field. Carrying out
a harmonic analysis of Vr( cf>), the Fourier coefficients <,;an
be found from which the divergence and deformation
quantities in (4.1) were shown by Browning and Wexler
to be calculable.
Because only radial velocities are sensed, the method
does not provide information on the vorticity av 1ax - au 1
i1y. The technique has been used with considerable success
by Browning and Harrold (1969), Harrold and Browning
(1971), Rabin and Zrnic (1980), Koscielny et al. (1982),
Doviak et al. (1983), and Rabin and Zawadski (1984).
Rabin and Zrnic (1980) introduced an important improve-
ment by modifying the method to allow for unequally
spaced data, which is especially useful when working with
data for which selective editing of spurious signals is re-
quired. These references have demonstrated that estimates
of convergence from single Doppler radial velocities can
be accurate to the order of 10 -s s - t.
The technique was exploited by Browning and Harrold
(1969) (see Fig. 4.1) to analyze the structure of a weather
front and has been applied by Rabin et al. (198 7) to a case
study analyzing a midwestern frontal zone shown prior
to the development of thunderstorms. Using the vertical
air velocity deduced from convergence measurements at
several heights, Rabin et al. (1987) found that simple ver-
tical advection of the temperature and humidity profiles
513
accounted for most of the observed changes in temperature
and moisture at the base of the frontal temperature in-
version capping the boundary layer. However, the for-
mation and exact location of convective clouds were also
found to depend on convergence patterns much smaller
than the radius ( >40 km) of the VAD circles.
4.1.2 VAD Analyses for Limited Sectors
It is evident that a full 360° scan is not necessary to
obtain information about the spatial structure of the wind
field in the volume scanned by the radar. One approach
has been to assume simple forms for the wind distribution
within a small volume of space and calculate the radial
wind pattern that would be observed by a radar doing
VAD scans. This approach has been pursued by Easter-
brook (1975), Waldteufel and Corbin (1979}, and Kos-
cielny et al. (1982). An advantage of these approaches is
that the volume analyzed need not be centered on the
radar, but these approaches degrade when the wind field
becomes complicated (as do all VAD approaches). A dis-
advantage common to all approaches that depend only on
measurements of the radial wind is that no information
on vorticity is contained in the radar data. The reliability
of estimates obtained from angular sectors using these
techniques has been analyzed by Koscielny et al. (1982)
and is summarized in Table 4.1. In order to identify smaller
scale convergence zones, the authors have experimented
with the various techniques, fitting the radial wind ob-
served over small volumes to linear wind field models.
Convergences measured by a single radar have been com-
pared with subsequent cloud development and with con-
vergences measured by two Doppler radars separated by
TABLE 4.1
Divergence Estimation Errors for Velocity-Azimuth
Range Display (VARD) (from Koscielny et al., 1982)
Easterbrook (19 7 5) Method, Neglecting Shear"
Djverseoce Eatimatioo
Sector Sl.ze Error X 101 , - •
10° X 10 km 120
20° X 20 km 12
30° X 30 km 3.5
• For elevation angle = 0, radar measurement error u, = 1m s-1•
Waldteufel and Corbin (1979} Method,
Including Shear
Djverseoce E•timatioo
Sector Sue Error X 101 , - •
45° X 30 km 15
90° X 30 km 1.2
180° x 30 km 0.7
360° X 30 km 0.1
514 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
a baseline; good general agreement was found. These
methods have been described in detail by Doviak and Zrnic
(1984).
4.1.3 Turbulent Velocity Variance and
Covariance &om Radar
Velocity-azimuth displays of course do not produce just
perfect sinusoids plus low-order harmonics; the time series
are perturbed by random turbulent fluctuations at scales
larger than the pulse volume but much smaller than the
diameter of the VAD. Lhermitte (1968) pointed out that
those fluctuations can be used to extract information about
the turbulence. The concept was generalized and the pro-
cedure formalized by Wilson (1970) and Wilson and Miller
(1972) to extract quantitatively the variances and covari-
ances of the turbulent fluctuations in u, v and w. In Wil-
son's approach, the velocities are decomposed into average
and turbulent components, which are designated here with
overbars and primes, so that the VAD description of the
radial velocity for a turbulent wind field without the mean
gradients considered above is
iqQ>) + v~(<l>) = (ii + u') cosO sin</>
+ (v + v') cosO cosQ> + (w + w') sinO (4.2)
where 0 is elevation angle (from horizontal) and Q> is azi-
muthal angle. Thus the variance of the radial velocity is
related to the variances and covariances of the components
as
a/{</>)= au 2 cos 20 sin 2Q> + av 2 cos 20 cos 2c/>
+ aw 2 sin 20 + t?uv cos 20 sin2c/>
+ a~w sin20 sin</> + a~ sin20 cos</>. (4.3)
Wilson derived a formal technique for explicitly extract-
ing the variances and covariances of the wind components
from integrals of the measured variance a/ over the four
quadrants of the VAD scan. Thus, for a given angle 0, the
method can separate the variance and the covariance
terms, and individual covariances can be extracted. At low
elevation angles the term in aw 2 is negligible and au 2 + av 2
can be estimated. Conversely at 0 = 90°, aw 2 can be found.
Optimum values of the covariances are found at 0 = 45 °.
An expression for the variance of the error in v, due to
measurement uncertainty has been given by Dennenberg
(1971)as
(4.4)
where ad is width of the Doppler spectrum and Tis the
dwell time, or length of data sample processed for each
velocity sample. The uncertainty errors are reviewed by
Doviak and Zmic (1984) where the effect of SNR is in-
cluded .
.Kropfli (1984) has reviewed the technique and proposed
a method to extend the scale to which this kind of analysis
is applicable by including many VAD scans by variance
averaging over perhaps 20 min, so that the variances and
covariances will include several convective elements or
plumes in the sample. Even more important, the longer
averaging makes more reasonable the implicit assumption
that the variances and covariances are independent of azi-
muth. If there is some inherent dependence of plume in-
tensity on azimuth, as for example if they were fixed to
some terrain feature, the method would fail regardless of
the increased averaging time. The technique was used by
Kropfli (1984) to measure profiles of vertical momentum
flux (or stress) through the convective boundary layer and,
from the flux, to, calculate the eddy coefficients from the
relations uw, ViV = -Ku(au0 jaz), -Kv(av0 jaz). There-
sults are shown in Fig. 4.2 for the north-south wind com-
ponent. This figure represents 100 minutes of 20-min av-
eraged data. The relatively smooth variation of the flux
with height and the stability of the analysis compared with
the usual in situ data suggest that clear-air radars may
become an important standard tool for boundary layer re-
search . .Kropfli (1986) has applied the technique to addi-
tional data acquired in 1983 with results that agreed well
with sonic anemometer measurements made at the top
level on a 300 m tower 3.5 km to the east of the radar site.
In this case, however, the calculated eddy coefficients were
not as reasonable as in the example in Fig. 4.2 and were,
in fact, sometimes negative, suggesting a boundary layer
in which shear production is relatively small.
4.2 Extracting Small-Scale Turbulence
Information from Doppler
Spectral Width
The square root of the second moment (width) of the
Doppler spectrum also contains the potential to provide
important new information about turbulence in the clear
boundary layer. If all the parcels within the resolution vol-
ume were moving toward or away from the radar at the
same speed, all of the reflected power would theoretically
appear at a single frequency in the Doppler spectrum for
an ideal system, i.e., the spectral line would approach in-
finitesimal width. If turbulence parcels within the volume
are moving at different speeds relative to the radar the
returned power will be spread over a range of frequencies
and the spectral width will be increased according to the
strength of the turbulence.
Several factors can broaden the Doppler spectrum other
than turbulence (e.g., Gossard and Strauch, 1983; Doviak
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER 515

vw (mZfsZ) where ~R is the transverse gradient of the radial component

-.5-.4-.3-.2 -.1 0 .1 .2 .3 of the wind.
1500r---,-~.-.-.-.-.-r-r---------,
Two antenna effects broaden the Doppler spectrum. If
the antenna rotates, the broadening effect due to its move-
1250 ment is (Sloss and Atlas, 1968)
!
0
z 1000 (4.8)
::J
0
a:
C)
lJ.I
> 750 where n is the angular rate of rotation in radians - 1• The
0
co
~
other antenna effect results from finite beamwidth.
.... Even if no turbulence or shear is in the mean wind and
:I: 500
C)
ijj
the reflectivity is constant over the pulse volume, a wind
:I: component, Vr, transverse to the radar beam, produces a
250 Doppler spectrum with finite width when measured with
any real radar because of the finite width of the radar
beam; that is, if the beamwidth is not infinitesimal, the
-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 radial direction from the radar varies over the beam so
V COMPONENT (m/s) that a range of radial velocities is sensed even if the wind
Fig. 4.2 Single radar measurement of vertical profile of mo- is perfectly uniform. This contribution is given by
mentum flux through the boundary layer by the method of
Wilson (1970) described in section 4.1.3. Data are from a 100- (4.9)
min period beginning at 1203 MDT during the PHOENIX ex-
periment (Kropfli, 1984).
where, again,() is one-half the (Gaussian) beamwidth be-
tween half-power points in radians. This is a special case
and Zrnic, 1984). Since they are independent of each other, of ( 4.6), because the velocity component toward and away
the total broadening cr/ is given by their sum. For clear air from the radar at the leading and trailing boundaries of
the beam is analogous to an artificial wind gradient trans-
(4.5) verse to the beam. This effect is very small for narrow
beam antennas, but for a wind profiling radar with a mo-
where cr/ is the contribution due to wind shear, cr/ is a tionless, vertically pointing beam (for which the contri-
contribution due to antenna properties, and ui 1 is the vari- bution of vertical shear of the horizontal wind is zero),
ance of the velocity component in the radial direction due the finite beamwidth is usually the dominant effect, and
to turbulence. The shear term contains contributions due this broadening may well be greater than the turbulence
to gradients in the radial wind along the transverse ( ele- broadening to be discussed next; for most wind profilers
vation and azimuthal) directions and along the radial di- the measured spectral width must be corrected for this
rection. The only shear contribution that is very significant effect.
is the gradient (of the radial component of the wind) If the above spectral broadening terms can be eliminated
transverse to the beam; i.e., the effect can be very important or accounted for, the remaining contribution to spectral
for near-horizontal beam pointing angles if there is sub- broadening should be turbulent motion of parcels within
stantial vertical shear in the horizontal wind. The contri- the volume. Gorelik and Mel'nichuk (1963) were appar-
bution due to shear transverse to the beam has been given ently the first to use radar to attempt a measurement of
by Sloss and Atlas (1968) as the turbulent dissipation rate E. They did not consider the
high-pass filtering of the turbulence spectrum caused by
(4.6) the limited extent of the beam transverse to the wind, so
their results were only applicable to ranges for which the
where ~Tis the transverse gradient ( s - 1) of the radial com- pulse length was much larger than the transverse beam-
ponent of the wind, r is range ( m) and (here) () is half the width. Srivastava and Atlas (1972) related the spatial
one-way beamwidth between half-power points in radians spectrum of the wind averaged over the resolution volume
of a Gaussian beam. to the true velocity spectrum of the medium. Assuming
Shear of the radial component in the radial direction Gaussian functions for the beamwidth, b, and pulse length,
has been given by Sirmans and Doviak (1973) as a, Frisch and Clifford (1974) found the analytic solution
for turbulent dissipation rate, E, in terms of the variance
(4.7) of the radial velocity, u~ 1 • The Frisch-Clifford result, with
516 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
some modification by Labbitt (1981) for the case of pulse
length greater than beamwidth, is
3/2
(4.10)
1.35a( 1 - ~;)
where a::::::: 1.6
f3w::::::: 2.1
~::: _ (b/a)'} when b.; a
b= b } when a < b.
1' 2 = 4[1- (ajb) 2 ]
Using 3-cm wavelength radars with chaff as the targets,
the second moment of the spectrum has been used by
Frisch et al. (1976}, Moninger et al. (1978) and Kropfli
(1984) to measure the distribution of Ewithin the convec-
tive boundary layer. The outline of the chaff diffusion
cloud and the dissipation rates reported by Moninger et
al. are shown in Fig. 4.3 and profiles of Efound by Kropfli
from radar data are compared with in situ BAO tower
sensors in Fig. 4.4.
A height profile of Ethrough a stable elevated layer has
been found by Gossard et al. (1982) using a 10.2-cm
wavelength FM-CW radar and is shown in Fig. 4.5 com-
pared with an in situ profile of E measured with a vane
inclinometer and a mean wind sensor mounted on a teth-
ered balloon reported by Readings and Rayment (1969)
(middle frame), and with BAO tower-carriage measure-
ments (bottom frame). The top frame (left) shows a
height-time display of backscattered power from the dear
air with a strong echo at -1.8 km from an elevated in-
version. It also shows an A-scope display of the profile of
backscattered power and the proffie of the Doppler velocity
spectra whose width was used to calculate the profile of E
(right-hand frame) through the inversion layer. The tem-
perature and humidity profiles (right-hand frame) were
provided by the Denver raob, located about 50 km south
of the radar site at the BAO; the radar-calculated Cn 2
(m - 2 13 ) is superimposed. A Doppler spectrum was ob-
tained every 131m of altitude. In the middle frame, E1 and
E2 (cm 2 s-3 ) correspond to sampling rates of 1.29 and 0.216
Hz respectively. The bottom frame shows tower measure-
ments of (apparent) logE (m 2 s-3 ) from a sonic anemom-
eter mounted on a carriage ascending through two sharp
layers at a rate of 0.56 m s-t. The maximum in Enear the
inversion base followed by a sharp decrease through the
inversion is remarkably consistent for all measurement
methods. However, the turbulent structure within thin
stable layers is neither homogeneous nor isotropic so the
reasoning that leads to the concept of Eis inapplicable and
we only measure an apparent E.
Under stably stratified conditions, the values of E (and
Cw 2 ) in normal dear air are very small, and, although Fig.
4.5 shows very reasonable behavior of the radar-measured
E, it remains to be demonstrated with direct in situ com-
parisons that the second moment information can be pro-
cessed with sufficient accuracy to provide useful data in
the dear air with conventional radars. An experiment that
carefully compares the radar measurements with precise
in situ sensor measurements is urgently needed.
4.3 Multiple Doppler Radars in
Boundary-Layer Studies
The first formal description of the methodology for the
use of two Doppler radars, scanning a common volume,
to measure the three-dimensional wind field in that volume
seems to be that of Lhermitte and Miller (1970) followed
by actual measurements (Lhermitte, 1970) of flow patterns
in tilted planes common to both radars. This kind of mea-
surement, first made at the Wave Propagation Laboratory
in Boulder, has now become widespread, and organizations
in several countries routinely make simultaneous use of
multiple Doppler radars.
Multiple Doppler radar measurement has been primarily
used in studies of precipitating systems (see summary by
Miller and Strauch, 1974) by the University of Miami,
NCAR, the NSSL and WPL of NOAA, and the CRPE of
France. The method has recently been effectively used in
boundary layer research, especially in observations of
boundary layer manifestations of the onset of severe
weather. An outgrowth of the technique is used to process
data collected by a Doppler radar on an aircraft. The rapid
change in aircraft position provides the different look-an-
gles needed to resolve the three-dimensional wind field.
Such a system in operation aboard a NOAA aircraft was
first reported by Trotter et al. (1980). The airborne radar
technique has been actively pursued by NCAR at Boulder
and in France. It has been extended to lidar, using the
airborne Doppler lidar of NASA, by McCaul et al. (1986).
We will not discuss the airborne systems further; they are
described in more detail by Hildebrand et al., Chapter 22a.
The principle of operation of a dual Doppler radar sys-
tem is shown schematically in Fig. 4.6. The basic equations
for dual radar data reduction are also shown. The method
is of course now usually generalized for several radars in
arbitrary configurations, and fairly sophisticated software
for processing such data exists in several organizations;
for example, at the NSSL and the WPL of NOAA, at
NCAR, and at CRPE.
Dual Doppler radars were used by Frisch et al. (1974)
in an early study of boundary layer structure using snow-
flakes as the air-motion tracer. The first experiment using
dual Doppler radars specifically to observe the structure
of the dear boundary layer used chaff as the air-motion
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER 517

~T
-1
\u

v
......,- ____.__
.._....,.__...,

~. ~ --
.....-.....,

~
.,
~

~
1
~

~
g:
3
~
g
~
l

Ill
~
4

=
~
~
~

2
~
.;,
2
;n

2 0
---

-
0 Z(m) -

.., 8
., .., .... .... .... ....
0
<D
....
,::..
~
"'
en
~
"'
~
...~
!2
"'
co
~
,.;..,
0
!S
<D
0
~ S! S!

E (cm%3 )
Fig. 4.3 Single Doppler radar measurement of the height distribution of turbulent dissipation rate (f)
in the boundary layer using the Doppler spectral width method described in section 4.2. Data were from
the chaff plumes whose dispersal is shown on the left released in the morning (top) and late afternoon
(bottom) (Moninger et al., 1978).

tracer and was reported by Frisch et al. (1976). This report
also presented profiles of e through the boundary layer
using the Doppler spectral width technique described
above with chaff as the target. Chaff was also used in an
experiment described by Kropfli and Kohn (1976). It used
two 3-cm wavelength radars situated for optimum obser-
vation of the urban boundary layer over the city of St.
Louis, Missouri. The radars clearly identified features such
as the heat-island effect and strong alignment of convective
elements. The first use of dual Doppler radars for obser-
vation of the clear-air boundary layer without using chaff
was in NSSL programs such as SESAME reported by
Doviak and Jobson (1979). The NSSL radars operated with
a peak power of 500-750 kW at 10-cm wavelength using
9.3 m antennas. It was determined that the boundary layer
returns were not noise because they retained their identity
over many successive scans, and features 1-5 km in size
were recognizable for many minutes and advected ap-
proximately with the mean wind. As in the Kropfli and
Kohn work, strong alignment of convective rolls relative
to the wind was often observed (Doviak and Berger, 1980);
see Fig. 2.3. From data of this kind Rabin et al. (1982)
were able to establish that the vertical tilt of the convective
rolls was opposite the wind shear for a case studied in
518 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

2. 7 ,---,---r----,....-~---,,--r---r-~--r--, dual Doppler radars were carried out in the southwestern

part of France in 1979 and in the Ivory Coast of Africa in
2.5- 9/27/78 1426 MDT
- 1981. The description of their observational programs and
2.3- ® - the results of these experiments have been reported by
I Eymard and Weill (1982, 1988). Testud and Chong (1983),
® • -
I
2.1 r-
and Eymard (1984, 1985). The program in France used
1.91-
I
® • - two radars separated by 30 km to examine the structure
1.7-
I
®
I
• -
of the convective boundary layer. Chaff released at 500
m altitude was the air-motion tracer. The radar results were
e \I - supplemented by acoustic soundings and radiosonde ob-
i\
~ 1.5-
1- servations. The chaff tracers showed that the convective
:r
~ 1.3 1- ® • - elements were frequently oriented with respect to the wind
1.&.1
:r I
®
I
• - at the top of the boundary layer, and velocity variances
on the scale of the dual Doppler resolution ( -1 km) were
.9-

.7-
~~ 0!
®
•
Radar C
Radar 0
.51- \~ T BAO Tower
.31-
~~
.1- T ®
I easterly jet above it. The mean wind shear between the
so
EDDY DISSIPATION RATE (c.,Zts3)
Fig. 4.4 Single Doppler radar measurement of t from two
different radars, using the Doppler spectral width method of
section 4.2, compared with in situ measurements made on the
300m BAD tower. Targets are naturally occurring particulates
(insects and debris) in the boundary layer (Kropfli, 1984).
Oklahoma, demonstrating that kinetic energy was trans-
ferred from the cells to the mean flow.
A very well-documented case of alignment, including
an aircraft ilight through the boundary layer structure si-
multaneous with the radar observations, was reported by
Reinking et al. (1981) using the NSSL 10-cm radars, and
sample recordings are shown in Fig. 4.7 for the radar re-
flectivity (top), the dual Doppler wind field in a vertical
cross section containing the aircraft trajectory (horizontal
line) (middle), and the gust probe, temperature, and hu-
midity measurements (bottom frame). Observations of this
kind are unique in that they present nearly simultaneous
wind measurements over a large atmospheric volume,
eliminating the need to infer spatial structure from time
to space conversion. The spectral characteristics of the wind
variations in space were found to have a wavenumber
dependence in agreement with other observations. Fur-
thermore, the wavelength, orientation, and vertical/ hor-
izontal dimensions measured by radar were consistent with
aircraft observations and other studies of convective rolls.
In these papers the dual-Doppler wind data were applied
to estimate momentum fluxes in the boundary layer.
The principal French boundary layer experiments using
-
-
generally heterogeneously distributed with respect to the
wind with maximum variance in the component normal
to the wind direction.
_ The French experiment in West Africa was titled Con-
vection Profonde Tropicale (COPT81). It was carried out
- in the Ivory Coast in May and June 1981. During this sea-
son the lower atmosphere was characterized by interaction
-
between the southerly monsoon circulation and the African
100
two flows was found to organize convective elements along
preferred directions. Figure 4.8 (left frame) shows the
configuration of the experiment including the locations of
the two radars R1 and R2 and the surface observation net-
work (indicated by S). The right-hand frames show vertical
cross sections of circulation patterns on 6 June (top frame)
and on the afternoon of 26 May (bottom frame). Important
results included the findings that convection and entrain-
ment are more intense below clouds than under clear skies,
and both cells and clouds are organized in bands parallel
to the shear (at 1200 m) between the monsoon flow toward
the northeast and the easterly wind above the convective
layer. Cumulus clouds at 1700-1800 m height did not
move with the winds at that level.
Two-dimensional spectra of wind perturbations were
computed from the dual-Doppler radar data, and it was
found that the convection was not spatially homogeneous
in any of the cases. The top frame of Fig. 4.9 shows mean
variances of the horizontal wind versus height for four
experiments (a, b, c and d), where U is the component
perpendicular to the alignment and V is the component
parallel to the alignment. (Primes indicate perturbations.)
Both variances are normalized to the convective velocity
w. = (Q0 Z;g jT) 113 , where Q0 is surface heat flux and Z;
is height of the top of the CBL. The preferred directions
of alignment agreed well with Asai's model for minimum
stability. Observed preferred modes were identified that
could be interpreted as associated with convective or dy-
namic instability depending on the thermal stratification
( Eymard, 1985). Horizontal velocity variances were
smaller along the alignment than in the direction perpen-
dicular to it, and on 6 June the organized cells resembled
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER 519

TIM( ·Hf IGHT DISPLAY

500
''
''
',..... Dew Pc1nt Temperalutt
' 3
600 '''
''
' ,,I
i
Pressure 700 o.~ '
,.-~
. "I 2
(mb) ~~·· ~~---------
c.'
Ht
(km)

'.
I I rO '' 10 h 1
..
10 ' 1
I I

800
>'. >'I
0
RANG( ·
DDPPLE R 900
·SO -40
DISPLAY -30 -20 - 10 0 10
T ("C)
200
300m above
150m above
Ht Top of Inversion \
(m)
Base of Inversion
150m below
300m below

0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32
<: (cm 2 sec-3) 5 7 9 11 13
T (0 C}, V (ms- 1)

Ht
(m) 100

j
0 -------
-2 -5 -4 -3 - 2
T (OC) log " (m 2 s-3)

Fig. 4.5 Variation in apparent E through elevated inversions. Top left: Time-height display of backscattered power from
vertically pointing FM-CW radar at Boulder, along with A-scope display of a profile of backscattered power and a display
of the Doppler vertical velocity spectra vs height used to calculate E through the layer of strong return seen at about 1400
m height. Top right: Profiles of temperature and dewpoint from the Denver radiosonde with C.2 and E profiles from the
radar data superimposed. (From Gossard eta!., 1982.) Middle frame: Measurement of E through an elevated layer measured
by captive balloon. The different dissipation rates t 1 and E2 refer to different filtering of the raw data. The vertical velocity
fluctuation measurements were made with a tilting vane. These temporal fluctuations at a point were converted to spatial
lags using the horizontal wind and used to compute E. (From Readings and Rayment, 1969.) Bottom frame: Measurements
of E through two elevated inversion layers using sonic anemometer data from a carriage traversing the BAO tower. The E
was calculated from temporal measurements of w sampled from air flowing by a point sensor on the carriage; it was converted
to spatial separation using the measured mean horizontal wind. (From Gossard eta!., 1985.)

a "secondary flow" associated with negative shear stress
production in the mixed layer. On 24 May the model of
Stull (1976) was applied to interpret the observed weak
variance of vertical velocity compared with the variance
in horizontal velocity. In this case gravity wave generation
was proposed as a mechanism for transporting convective
energy upward (Eymard and Weill, 1988). The second
frame of Fig. 4.9 shows mean profiles of momentum flux
components calculated relative to the monsoon direction
( U) and the component (V) transverse to it. Fluxes are
normalized relative to the surface stress Ui. The third
frame shows the radar-measured shear stress production
(left) compared with a profile calculated by a method de-
scribed by Eymard (1984) following a procedure due to
LeMone and Pennell (1976). The bottom frame shows
corresponding profiles of the vertical velocity variance.
520 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Cartesian to
Coplane Transformation
r = (x 2 + z2) "•
s =y
Ct = tan - 1 (z/x)
v, • Vh cos(/3, -/30 ) cos 9, + v1 sin 9,
v, • Vh cos(/32-/30) cos 80 + v1 sin 92
v, • vh cos(/3,- /30) oos 8, + v1 sin 9,
w eslimoted from
Fig. 4.6 Top frame: Schematic picture of the coplanar scan commonly used by two radars to extract the
three-dimensional wind field by scanning a common volume. Bottom frame: Schematic picture for three
radars and the elementary formulation of the wind retrieval.
Because of the difficulty of establishing a dense network
of in situ sensors over ocean areas, remote sensing of the
marine boundary layer by multiple Doppler radars is es-
pecially valuable. Such an experiment has been reported
by Kropfli et al. (1986). The observations were carried out
over the Santa Barbara Channel as part of the Southern
California South Central Coast Cooperative Aerometric
Monitoring Program aimed at explaining occasional epi-
sodes of very high ozone concentration in the area and
possible links to hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions
in the channel. In this study the two 3-cm wavelength
Doppler radars of NOAA's WPL were located at Gaviota
and Santa Barbara on the California coast separated by 46
km. The radar geometrical configuration emphasized the
larger scale two-dimensional horizontal wind field within
the lowest few hundred meters above the sea, rather than
the smaller scale convective features important in other
boundary layer experiments. The procedure was to observe
l
~ v1 • vT +w
/
,N
/
/
/
N
}f
/
/
/
the echo produced by continuous chaff releases from two
aircraft flying a predetermined grid pattern at 300 m al-
titude just below the top of the marine boundary layer.
The chaff trails were typically 100 km long with a settling
time of about 20 min. The radar-derived wind field re-
corded on 20 September 1985 is shown in the top frame
of Fig. 4.10 for the hour beginning 0720 PDT. The mid-
channel eddy evident in the figure became fully developed
by about 0650 PDT. The radar results were compared with
a two-dimensional mixed layer model developed by Wil-
czak (lower frame) that employs prognostic equations for
boundary layer depth and vertically averaged winds and
temperature. Boundary layer forcing in the model derives
from surface heat flux and synoptic-scale pressure gra-
dients. Entrainment through a stably stratified atmosphere
with a fixed lapse rate allows the mixed layer to grow with
time. An envelope topography with a grid spacing of 2
km is imposed. An initial neutral boundary layer with a
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER
b A case reported by Kropfli (1986) as part of the PHOE-
c band radars. The case described by Kropfli was centrally
Fig. 4.7 Top frame: PPI sector display of range-corrected reflectivity,
showing aligned irregularities in the convective boundary layer mea-
sured with Doppler radars near Norman, Oklahoma. Bright features
are aligned 10°-20° clockwise from the mean wind and the bands
are -4 km apart (intervals between range arcs are 20 km). Middle
frame: Dual Doppler radar measurements of perturbation wind com-
ponents in the vertical plane of the aircraft pass shown by the hor-
izontal line in the figure. Bottom frame: Time series recordings of
humidity, temperature, and gust-probe wind perturbations measured
by the aircraft (Reinking et al., 1981).
depth of 300 m and zero heat flux was assumed. The lower
frame of Fig. 4.10 shows the model wind field after 18
hours when near steady state was reached. We superim-
posed a photograph (middle frame), taken by a U-2 aircraft
in 1962 as it flew across the Santa Barbara Channel at an
altitude of 20 km ASL under fair-weather conditions, for
comparison with the quantitative radar and model data.
Shortly after crossing the coast, the pilot (Capt. Lachlan
521
MacLeary) saw an unusual disturbance in the clouds over
the Santa Barbara Channel that he described as a "min-
iature hurricane," but local weather stations reported no
significant weather associated with it. It now seems evident
that the humidity conditions were just right for the pro-
duction of clouds by the dynamics associated with the cir-
culation revealed by the radar (top frame) and the model
(bottom frame) as characteristic of certain atmospheric
mean flow conditions relative to the coastal topography.
A similar eddy called the Catalina Eddy is commonly noted
by pilots over the more southern channel islands. Multi-
Doppler radar data of this kind are invaluable for testing
and verifying boundary layer models.
Multi-Doppler radar systems have also proven invalu-
able for acquiring data at much smaller scales when the
vertical velocity structure is of primary importance, as in
studies of the convective boundary layer or of downbursts.
Such experiments are relevant to the urgent requirements
of air safety, which are the subject of another chapter in
this volume and have been actively pursued by NCAR
and other organizations (e.g., the ADOP program).
NIX II convective boundary layer experiment provides a
unique three-dimensional picture of a downburst. The re-
sults are summarized in Fig. 4.11. In this case, in which
high resolution in space and time was needed, two 3-cm
radars were separated by a baseline of 13 km and the
common volume was scanned as rapidly as possible. The
experiment was a joint effort of NOAA j WPL, NCAR and
the University of Oklahoma. Two adjacent areas of dual-
radar coverage were established, one formed by two C-
hand NCAR radars and one formed by two NOAA X-
located within the scan area of the two NOAA radars. The
temporal development of the burst is illustrated by the top
two frames of Fig. 4.11 that show the incipient downburst
developing to maturity in about 100 s, producing in the
lower frame a substantial downdraft even in the lowest
range gate at about 150 m altitude. According to Kropfli
there were three confirmed reports of microbursts on this
day, and many rainshafts and virga were observed. There-
fore it is suspected that a large number of such events
were occurring about this time. In fact, confirmation of
one such event came from a jetliner departing from Sta-
pleton Airport about 30 km southeast of the PHOENIX II
radar site 20 min before the event shown. As a result of a
10 m s- 1 loss of airspeed during acceleration down the
runway, the aircraft failed to clear a 5 m high radio beacon
located 30m beyond the runway, causing major damage
to the fuselage of the aircraft. The event shown in Fig.
4.11 took place about 20 minutes later.
Microbursts have been classified into morphological
types by Hjelmfelt (1988). Based on data acquired by
NCAR Doppler radars in the Joint Airport Warning Studies
522 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

velocityt
scale Sms-1
z
(km)

Korhog o
m

s O.L-~--~~~~~--~~~~~~~

2.~-----------------------------
so

~~~::
so so so
1.5
so f - - - - - _ ..........
1'\
~ .!:::!::... ~·:...Zi
...... -Lrl''"''""' ....... , • • • ~ ..
, t:!:.. .!" .. . .
so
t • , ••
''t' ' "''"'""'._~,
, . , , , , ., • , • 1 ,
.......... , ..... ,~., .....
• , • • ,.. If " .. , , , • , •
so ~

.... . . . . . . l • · · · · · · · · · · · · • . t J , .. , ..... . . .
so so ' • • •••••• ••• ' • 0 ' • • • •• , ~ J, t • ' "' . .• •
6 ' • • & • • I <I 4 ~ 4 • ' • t • • • •
so
" • • o • • • • o • o •

. . .. .., . . . . . . . .. ... ... . .,.,,, ... .

4 ' • ' ..... . • •
.5
• • • • • • ,. • "' • • • • • • • t , • ~ • , ~

• "" • • • ,. ' • o • ' I • • • • t ' • 4 t f .. \ • ' • \ r ' • '

~

' . . . ..... ' .. ' •• • • • • ., •• • • 0 • " • , • ' , . .. .

tll.m)
10
· · · · " · · .. ' ' · · · · • '1 . . - · · .. .. · · , · , r , · ·
n~~~~~~~~~~~~~--~~
o. 3. 6. 9. (kml

Fig. 4.8 French dual Doppler radar program COPT 81 in western Africa. Left frame: Map of the experimental area. Radars
were located at points R1 and R2 • The surface meteorological network is indicated by symbols 5 and 51 • Right frame: Vertical
cross sections of the wind field in cases d (6 June) in the upper part, and b (26 May afternoon) at the bottom. The vertical
planes are parallel to the radar baseline, which was the same as the wind direction at a height of 2 km in case d, and was
30° from the (easterly) wind in case b. The inversion height (Z) is indicated in both cases. The vertical scales of distance
and speed are multiplied by a factor of 3 to improve the legibility (Eymard and Weill, 1988) .

(JAWS) program he finds microbursts to be a) isolated, b)
embedded (in strong, low-level environment flow), or c)
in lines. A dramatic example of an isolated downburst is
shown in Fig. 4.12 as recorded by NCAR's 5-cm radars
(CP3 and CP4) together with the 10-cm CP2 radar in the
JAWS study area just north of Stapleton Airport. Figure
4.12 shows (left frame) the horizontal convergence pat-
terns at three successive times about 5 minutes apart at an
altitude of 100 m. The right-hand frames show the cor-
responding development of the downdraft that attains ve-
locities as high as 12m s- 1 at about 1648 MST. Eilts and
Doviak (1987) studied downbursts at the NSSL in Okla-
homa from data recorded from 1979-84 and found sig-
nificant differences between the Oklahoma downbursts
and those observed in the high plains near Denver. The
high plains events are commonly dry with high cloud bases
and no rain at the surface. Of the 186 microbursts recorded
during the JAWS program near Denver only 31 were as-
sociated with rain. On the other hand the Oklahoma events
generally coincided with the maximum reflectivity core of
intense storms. They were also substantially larger ( 4-10
km) than the high plains bursts in contrast to the relatively
small events shown in Fig. 4.11 and 4.12 and tended to
be asymmetrical.
5 BUOYANCY AND PRESSURE fiELDS
IN THE BOUNDARY
LAYER RETRIEVED FROM
RADAR WIND DATA
The fact that multi-Doppler radar observations provide
the three-dimensional wind field makes the method one
of the most powerful techniques for studying the atmo-
sphere because of the dominant importance of the wind
field. In fact, if the wind field is given, the buoyancy and
pressure distributions can be retrieved with some fairly
weak assumptions. The method was described in detail by
Gal-Chen (1978) and generalized by Gal-Chen (1982) and
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER 523

Z(km)
U' 2 lw, 2
I 5

.•• a .. a
0 s -· b -· b
..... c .... c
-d - d
0 0 2 0 4 0 6 01111 1 1.2 14 0 0 .2 0 4 0. 6 0 II 1 12 14

zr--------------------r------------,
(km
1.5

t
NORTH
--<>
10 m/s

Fig. 4.10 Top: Dual Doppler-derived wind fields over the

Santa Barbara Channel for the hour beginning 0720 PDT 20
-.5 0. .5 -.5 0. September 1985. A scale is provided by the 46 km radar sep-
aration of Gaviota and Santa Barbara. Left middle: Cloud pat-

:r dzdU
z terns typical of this area (and also of the Catalina Eddy farther
lk (10- 4 m 2s· 3 ) d (4.4 km 2 ) south) photographed by a U-2 aircraft in 1962. The width of
the eye is about 4.4 km. Bottom: Steady state simulation of the
15 Santa Barbara eddy for 20 September using a numerical model
by J. Wilczak. (Kropfli et al., 1986.)
1.
Parsons et al. (1983). It has been applied to Doppler radar
---a measurements within convective clouds by Hane and Scott
.5
--b (1978) and Hane et al. (1981). The method has been stud-
······ c ied and used by Roux (1985), Roux and Testud (1983),
--d and Roux et al. (1984) in the study of West African squall
0
-.5 0. .5 0. .5 lines, and by Brandes (1984), Lin and Pasken (1984) and
Hane and Ray (1985) in the study of torriadic thunder-
storms.

duration of the experiment and normalized using the convective

0. 0 .1 0.2 0.3
Fig. 4.9 Four cases of experimental obseroations of the tropical
boundary layer from the French experiment COPT 81. Top
frame: Mean variances of the horizontal wind components rel-
ative to the direction of the preferred mode of organization. U
is the component normal to the bands and V is the alongband
component. For each case, values are averaged over the entire
velocity w. = (Q 0 Z;gjTJ 11 2 where Q0 is surface heat flux
and Z; is the depth of the convective boundary layer. The mean
••• a standard deviation for each profile (all levels) is plotted and
-- b
normalized tow •. Second frame: Mean profiles of momentum
.... c flux components, calculated with respect to the monsoon wind
d direction (U longitudinal component, V transverse) . Fluxes
are normalized using the surface stress U~ measured near the
0.4 0.5 06 0.7 0.8 R1 radar. The mean standard deviations are indicated and also
normalized using U~ . Third frame, left: Mean shear stress pro-
duction profiles, rdUjdz, and the mean standard deviation in
the four cases; right: mean shear stress production profile com-
puted within boxes of horizontal size 3.5-4 km in case d
(Eymard, 1984). Bottom frame: Mean vertical variance profiles
normalized tow. and mean standard deviations (from Eymard
and Weill, 1988) .
524 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

T = 0s Z =100m T = 100 s Z = 100m

~
z
c"
Cj

~
0

Distance. East (km) Distance East (km}

T = 100 s Y = 0 km

--<>
6.0 meters / sec.
2500

2
-..;;~_..---.._,__
-
-....--~\:...----........--'
!,
... '-\.'-.'---.......~\._.... ____, .
' '-; ..._ -"'\i \ ._...._____ ,' • I
~ 1500
:r ' I I I ·' I . ' ~ __
.......__ -' : '. ' •

-,,//~/,j ·"\ \-.....-· · · -,-

1000 ..._,._.._.,.....I ' I \\ "'-- - ... ' I - .--''
~
.•· 1.,\ ~ .,_........., 1. , __ , , , ..
_.........,_;,--/, I\ ( -=--"---~ ·. . . ...
5
i ···-·----•'' ·-
-3
-------
q • a ' 4E

-2
~_./.......,/' ~\,~" ·

-1
.. \\ _. .. -- -----------
0 2 3 4
Distance East (km)

Fig. 4.11 Temporal development of the spatial structure of a microburst observed by high resolution, dual
Doppler radars. Top frames: Development of divergence field at 100 m with time. Bottom frame: The resulting
vertical velocity field. (Kropfli, 1986.)

In this review of the uses of radar in boundary layer
studies, the report by Gal-Chen and Kropfli (1984) is of
particular interest. It describes an analysis of data collected
in the clear, convective boundary layer during the PHOE-
NIX program ( Kropfli and Hildebrand, 1980). The config-
uration of the radars was chosen to provide rapid scanning
( -100 s) of the common volume at high spatial resolution
( - 200 m in the vertical and 250 m in the horizontal di-
rections). In this experiment, the knowledge of the wind
field and its fluctuations provided by the radars was used
to retrieve profiles of temperature flux and of temperature
and pressure variance. A sample of the flux profiles ob-
tained is shown in Fig. 5.1 (left) along with the profile of
pressure standard deviation (right) . The height of the
convectively mixed layer increased rapidly from about 800
m to about 2.4 km during the period analyzed. The flux
profiles agree well with the tower estimates and suggest
two stable layers of negative or neutral heat flux at about
1 and 2 km. The data were taken at the time of erosion of
the normal capping inversion at about 800 m. Profiles of
pressure variance cannot easily be obtained by any other
method to verify the retrieved values in the right-hand
 100 M ALT

-135 : . : . "" .l 2.4

MST -17.0 :
1643 1.2
i ..

o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It -15.9 -13.8 -11 .8 -9.7 -7.6
Fig. 4.12 Multi-Doppler radar-ob- -15.5 -12.0 -8.5 y -17.0 -17.4 -17.8 -18.1 -18.5
served structure of a down burst of the 3.6 rT"T"T"T""T--r:-1'-T.""rT"T"T"T""T-rl...,..,rr-rrr-r.,...,.~
"isolated" type recorded by two NCAR
5-cm wavelength radars and the 10-
cm CP-2 during the JAWS program. 2.4
Left frames show horizontal conver-
gence patterns and the 40 dBZ reflec- 1.2
tivity contour at three successive times
at a height of 100m. Right frames show
cross section of the field of vertical ve-
It - 14 .2 -12.1 -10.0 -8.0
locity (w) (with contours of w super-
-1!5.6 -12.1 -8.6 ' -17. 0 -17.4 - 17.7 -18.1 - 18.5
imposed) along the solid line on left-
hand frames. (Hjelmfelt, 1988.) 3 .& r-T"T"T~I'""T:"T:T""T""I"T""r""T""T"T"T"1"T""I""T"T"T"-r-r-r-.--.

2.4

1.2

I - 10.7 -8.7

'
-17.4 -17.8 - 18 .1

HORIZONTAL DISTANCE (km)

z(m)
<w'll'>
2400
~ 1.2 I I I I I
ll
•
TOWER DATA
I 40 MIN 4VE. 0 + z, -2000m
•
I (14 10- 14~1
a
...
2200 10 w,.-2m/s
I A TOWER DATA

:a
I 40 MIN AVE . 0 0 1=1449
•
(1330 - 14101
200
0 DOPPLER OAT& z ..
- ..
1.0 1- •f: 1442 -
•
01-
I HORIZONT4L .e./£. :;o 0 + + f: 1440
I 1•1440
1800 o •• NO:
~
.,<D"'.....O
ociw
e
•
DOPPLER DATA
0:"'~
I HORIZONTAL AVE. 0 +
I 1•1442
1600 oe :>'"o
"'"0:0: 0.8 1- -
~·
I
0 DOPPLER D4T&
HORIZONTAL AVE
o .. o
za. ... 0
• +
,. 1449

•
I
1400 0 o•
I • DOPPLER DATA
I HORIZONTAL AVE. N
0 •+
1200 0 le
I
o•
SUBGRID
PARAMETERIZ ATION '
N
0.6 f- -
f • 1440
I o +e
1000 0 :. 0.
I elo
800 0
I
I
I
•• 0.4 - -
* 0

••
I
600 00
I
I +e 0
400
JOO
I
I
0 a• 0.2 -
I
{j. • +tO
{j. •
200 oe LD •
~ ~g •tlLA1
All
{j.
I I I
0
I
+•
I I
- 10 -5 0 5 10 15 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2
xl0"2 ms" 1deg
<P,2 >112l p w.,2 0

Fig. 5.1 Temperature flux and pressure variance retrieved from the dual Doppler radar-observed wind field in a convective
boundary layer using methods described in section 5 (Gal-Chen and Kropfli, 1984).
526 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

frame of the figure. The lack of any alternative measure-
ments of this quantity make the radar retrieved values of
special interest.
Retrieval of the buoyancy and pressure fields in a fron-
tally disturbed boundary layer has been carried out by
Parsons et al. (1987) fo~ the multi-Doppler case reported
by Carbone (1982, 1983) and described in section 2.4 of
this chapter. Supporting observations of this event were
particularly well documented, making tests of the retrieval
method of special interest. The event was observed by two
WPL Doppler radars and an NCAR Doppler radar, so that
three-dimensional wind fields were measured and avail-
able to supplement the morphological information pro-
vided by the reflectivity patterns shown in Fig. 2.25 . In
this case, the tracers of atmospheric motion were precip-
itation particles, and the boundary layer being observed
was dominated by a tornado-spawning cold front. The
T •12:22:30 20 m/s-7
availability of three Doppler radars provided redundancy
that allowed Carbone (1982) to develop complex editing
procedures and produce a high quality dataset. Tornado
damage occurred about a minute after the display shown
in Fig. 2.26. Maximum values of vertical vorticity and con-
vergence in the boundary layer reached 3-4 X 10- 2 s- 1
for the resolution scale of the multiradar system, which
was about 1.2 km. The pressure deviations retrieved from
the three-dimensional winds are shown in Fig. 5.2 (top
frame). The relative wind vectors superimposed are values
averaged along the front in contrast to winds in the top
frame. Parsons et al. note the very strong decrease in the
pressure perturbation with height, from about +0.75 mb
at the ground to about -0.75 mb at a height of 3.5 km. In
the alongfront direction the high pressure in the lower
levels, found from the radar retrieval, implies a north-
westerly geostrophic flow ahead of the front with a south-
easterly flow behind. This is opposite to the observed flow,
implying highly ageostrophic flow along the front. They
also note the strong upward pressure gradient at the lead-
ing edge of the front and suggest that it may force the

-
7
intense upward accelerations often observed at the frontal
6 nose (e.g., Shapiro, 1984) and suggested by Figs. 2.21
E
~ 5 and 2.27.
~ 4 Parsons et al. also retrieved the buoyancy field, shown
~ 3 (with the relative wind) in Fig. 5.2 (bottom frame). De-
~
% 2 fining the potential temperature deviation ( 0) from the
mean ( 00 ), they define a buoyancy parameter as (J / 00 plus
I
a term for gradient of water vapor (mixing ratio) and a
0 condensation term for liquid water. The authors note that
8
the resulting buoyancy distribution is essentially that of a
density current with most of the change in buoyancy oc-
curring within 2 km of the frontal boundary.
T = 12:220:30 20 m/s -7 These examples illustrate how powerful the combination
7 of high resolution, quasi-continuous radar data with com-
puter modeling algorithms can be. The characteristics of
-E 6
radars, and the planned spacing of radars in the networks
~ 5
of the NEXRAD and wind profiler systems, suggest two
~ 4
% important resolution scales in future radar meteorological
~ 3 observations:
w
% 2 1) A resolution scale of -1 km for multiple, research
I radars with overlapping coverage.
0 ~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~ 2) A scale of 300-500 km in the NWS radar networks
-12 -10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 within which individual NEXRAD radars and radar wind
DISTANCE FROM THE SURFACE FRONT (km) profilers continuously provide mean wind and divergence
height profiles (from VAD operation or some suitable
Fig. 5.2 Top: Pressure perturbation field retrieved from the modification of it), and mechanical turbulence intensity
triple Doppler wind field, as described in section 5, superim- (from measurement of the spectral width) .
posed on the relative wind field at 1222 PST for the case shown
in Fig. 2.26. Pressure perturbations are contoured in 0.25 mb
increments; values greater than 0.5 and less than -0.5 are 6 CONCLUSIONS
shaded and stippled. Bottom: Buoyancy perturbation field re-
trieved from the radar wind field for the same case as in the Compared with lidar and acoustic techniques, radar
top frame. Contour intervals are 0.15 X 10- 3, and values greater technology is mature in its application to atmospheric sci-
than 0.3 X 10-3 and less than -0.6 X 10-3 are shaded and ence. However, it continues to provide new insights into
stippled. The relative wind fields superimposed are along-front phenomena of the earth's boundary layer, especially re-
averages. (Parsons et al., 1987.) garding the disturbed boundary layer and the hydrome-
 RADAR RESEARCH ON THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER 527

teor-free atmosphere. As the boundary layer is examined accuracy and mode of presentation. Special thanks are also
at higher spatial and temporal resolution by advanced due Mrs. Mildred Birchfield in recognition of her skill as
state-of-the-art radars, more unsuspected finestructure is a technical, word-processing specialist.
revealed, and NEXRAD promises important new capabil-
ities in weather prediction that are presently unanticipated.
Practical applications of radar in air safety are being ur-
gently implemented as it is becoming widely acknowledged
that only radar offers near-term hope of substantial im- APPENDIX:
provements. LIST OF ACRONYMS
Little has been said in this paper of the importance of BAO Boulder Atmospheric Observatory (Boulder,
new platforms and of combining several sensors. Exciting Colorado)
possibilities for observing the air-sea boundary by satellite CBL Convective Boundary Layer
were revealed by Seasat, and the potential of lidars aboard COPT Convection Profonde Tropicale (1981)
satellites for measuring wind profiles globally in the lower FM-CW Frequency-Modulated, Continuous Wave
atmosphere is presently under investigation by NASA. HYFA Hydrometeor Free Atmosphere
Combination of surface-based wind-profiling RIT radars ICS Inertial-Convective Subrange (of turbulence)
with satellite-borne sea surface scatterometers suggests KH Kelvin-Helmholtz
improved global wind field observations in the relatively NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research
near future. Combination of radar with acoustic systems (Boulder, Colorado)
(RASS) has successfully provided temperature profiles NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar
through the boundary layer at several research facilities NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
around the globe and, when combined with microwave tration
radiometers, the three-sensor combination may provide NSSL National Severe Storms Laboratory (Norman,
remotely sensed temperature and humidity profiles to Oklahoma)
complement the present radar wind profiles. The 40-year- PBL Planetary Boundary Layer
old radar technology for atmospheric observation appears PSI Plan Shear Indicator
to be aging gracefully, and the present outlook is even RASS Radio Acoustic Sounding System
more exciting than it was in its beginnings. RHI Range-Height Indicator
RIT Refractive Index Turbulence
UHF Ultra High Frequency
VAD Velocity-Azimuth Display
Acknowledgments. The author wishes to express his ap- VB VaisaHi-Brunt (frequency); often written
preciation to an exceptionally expert panel chaired by Brunt-Vaisala (BV)
Robert A. Kropfli. Special recognition is due Dr. Richard VHF Very High Frequency
Doviak of NSSL for his many days of careful study of the WPL Wave Propagation Laboratory (NOAA,
manuscript and for countless suggestions to improve its Boulder, Colorado)
528
Chapter 27b
The Atmospheric Boundary Layer: Panel Report
Robert A. Kropfli, * Wave Propagation Laboratory, Environmental
Research Laboratories, NOAA
1 INTRODUCTION
Although the term planetary boundary layer (PBL) ap-
pears self-defining, the deliberations of the Panel on the
Atmospheric Boundary Layer showed that PBL can mean
different things to different people. For the purpose of this
panel's response, we will consider the PBL as the layer
whose thermodynamic, kinematic and turbulent properties
are directly influenced, on a time scale of an hour or less,
by fluxes of heat, momentum and moisture at the earth's
surface. Because of the emphasis on radar here, we exclude
the "constant stress" surface layer which is only a few tens
of meters deep and therefore beyond the measurement
capability of radar, at least for the foreseeable future. We
therefore are concerned with the convective boundary
layer ( CBL), driven by buoyancy during the daytime, and
the stable nocturnal boundary layer characterized by ra-
diation inversions near the surface.
It is clear that the kilometer-deep CBL is a much easier
measurement problem for radar meteorologists than is the
stable boundary layer since the energy containing scales
in the CBL are often larger than the typical radar resolution
volume. The stable boundary layer, on the other hand, is
much shallower and frequently has very fine vertical
structure that is completely unresolvable by conventional
pulsed-Doppler radar. Gossard's review of the PBL
(Chapter 27a) gives excellent examples of the progress
that has been made in observing both kinds of boundary
layers with conventional pulsed-Doppler radar in the CBL
and primarily with FM-CW radar in the stable nocturnal
boundary layer.
While some might object to the inclusion of laser radar
or lidar in this review of the PBL, the panel agreed that
lidar should be included since it does transmit pulsed elec-
tromagnetic waves and has many of the same sampling
characteristics as radar. Displays and analysis techniques
are also similar. Lidar, while not part of Gossard's review,
is therefore included in the panel's response.
Active remote sensors are gaining recognition as excel-
• Kropfli served as chairman of the panel. Other panel members were
W.F. Dabberdt (NCAR), R.J. Doviak (NSSLjERLfNOAA and University
of Oklahoma), A.S. Frisch(WPLfERLjNOAA), T. Gal-Chen(University
of Oklahoma), R.M. Hardesty (WPLjERLjNOAA), P.H. Hildebrand
(NCAR), R.M. Rabin (NSSLfERL/NOAA), J.M. Schneider (Univ~rsity
of Oklahoma), J.M. Wilczak (WPL/ERLfNOAA), and J.W. Wilson
(NCAR).
lent tools for PBL science since many kinds of observations
are impossible by any other means. No other measurement
technique can provide nearly instantaneous wind mea-
surements over large volumes of the CBL; areas of 100 to
300 km 2 , and 2 to 3 km deep, can be sampled in minutes
with 200 m resolution. Doppler radar techniques now exist
to provide continuous wind and stress profiles at one-min-
ute intervals up to heights of 2 or 3 km with 100 m res-
olution. No instrumented tower or aircraft can approach
this capability. As Gossard indicates, direct observation of
three-dimensional diffusion from a continuous point
source is possible with remote sensors, which to our
knowledge is the only way to do this in the atmosphere.
The ability of remote sensors to monitor convection ini-
tiation along boundaries between air masses in the CBL is
now receiving widespread attention. The capability to
monitor the state of readiness of the CBL to support deep
convection, both kinematically and thermodynamically, is
almost within reach. In addition, active remote sensors
have the (yet unfulfilled) potential for measuring turbulent
dissipation over large volumes of the PBL.
Gossard provides a multitude of excellent examples of
the complex structures that have been revealed by radar;
the insight gained in these radar observations would be
very difficult to duplicate by other means. The obvious
advantage of radar is its ability to sample large volumes
of the PBL with no perturbation of the flow as is common
with immersion instruments. The advantages of areal av-
eraging (radar and lidar) over point (tower) or line (air-
craft) averaging of turbulent quantities have been dis-
cussed in several reviews, not by radar meteorologists but
by PBL specialists (Wyngaard, 1983).
The response by the panel, summarized here, will not
venture into most areas already covered by Gossard's
comprehensive review. The emphasis here will be on two
main themes: technology that can and should be exploited
for future PBL research, and good research ideas that can
be pursued to continue our progress in understanding the
planetary boundary layer.
l IMPORTANT TECHNOLOGY FOR
FURTHER PROGRESS
Four technological developments have been identified
by the panel as having a potentially significant impact on

future PBL research: RASS, transportable UHF radar, lidar,
and FM-CW radar. The use of conventional pulsed-Dopp-
ler radar is already widely accepted by the research and
operational communities and will not be given special em-
phasis here.
2.1 Radio Acoustic Sounding System
To our knowledge, the Radio Acoustic Sounding System
(RASS) is the only remote sensing instrument that can
provide continuous profiles of temperature in the lowest
kilometer of the PBL with an accuracy of about 0.3°C (Pe-
ters et al., 1983). Although some of the basic ideas of
RASS have been known for nearly 40 years (Smith and
Fetter, 1961), it is now being reexamined with renewed
interest and optimism. Recent measurements with a 405
MHz pulsed Doppler radar and a CW acoustic source in-
dicated that continuous temperature profiles in all weather
conditions should be possible to at least 2 km AGL
(Strauch, 1988). The reason for the renewed optimism is
the realization that, with more sensitive UHF radars now
being developed, it is not necessary to have the radar lo-
cated directly under the focused spot whose position de-
pends on the wind. This effect becomes more important
with increasing wind speeds and at high altitudes.
In one form RASS uses a transmitted continuous acoustic
signal to produce refractive index perturbations that satisfy
the Bragg condition; i.e., X. = Ae / 2 where X. is the acoustic
wavelength and >-e is the electromagnetic (radar) wave-
length. The frequency of the acoustic signal is varied to
maximize the received power at the radar, and this is the
frequency at which the Bragg condition is satisfied. Con-
ventional Doppler processing can be used to determine
this frequency which turns out to be an exact measure of
the transmitted acoustic frequency if second order and,
presumably correctable, effects of humidity, horizontal and
vertical velocities are neglected. The acoustic velocity is
then computed from C. = X. X Fb where c. is the sound
velocity and Fb is the Bragg frequency. Temperature is de-
rived from its known relationship to c..
Such a system has great potential as a tool to provide
continuous measurements of PBL depth as well as the de-
tailed temperature structure of the boundary layer. In
combination with UHF profiling radars, discussed in sec-
tion 2.2, it would provide the verification for regional-scale
models that is badly needed for further advances in mod-
eling. Combining such a system with a Doppler sodar or
UHF velocity profiling radar also provides heat flux profiles
in the PBL (Peters et al., 1985). Boundary layer temper-
ature profiles obtained from RASS also have the potential
for improving tropospheric temperature profiles obtained
from multichannel radiometers and therefore have poten-
tial as a low cost add-on to the national profiler network.
It is becoming clear that RASS has great potential impor-
tance in future boundary layer research as well as in op-
erational applications. The panel strongly recommends that
THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER 529
support be found to accelerate its advance in the United
States.
2.2 Wind Pro&ling with a Transportable
Research Array of UHF Radars
Planetary boundary layer scientists believe that progress
in regional-scale modeling has been hindered by the lack
of accurate wind and thermodynamic observations in the
PBL at scales between 10 and 1000 km (Wyngaard, per-
sonal communication). This range of scales is not resolved
by the national rawinsonde network and is too large to be
measured adequately by most measurement systems typ-
ically used in PBL experiments; e.g., dual-Doppler radar
and automated mesonetworks of surface stations. Because
of the lack of good observations on these scales there is
good reason to believe that a research network of low-
cost, transportable lower tropospheric profilers at UHF
could help answer many questions regarding the validity
of regional-scale models.
The concept suggested here is an unattended research
array of active remote sensors that could monitor the PBL
for days at a time. This is similar in principle to the arrays
of in situ measuring stations; e.g., NCAR's Portable Au-
tomated Mesonet (PAM). Prototype transportable radars
are already in existence at 405 MHz (Moran et al., 1988)
and at 915 MHz (Ecklund et al., 1988). These systems are
capable of providing wind profiles from a few hundred
meters up to 5 or 6 km (MSL) in all weather conditions
and with a resolution of 150m.
In its simplest form without mechanical scanning ability,
it is expected that a 915 MHz profiling radar could be built
for less than $100,000. Some commercial interest has al-
ready been expressed in producing such profilers, and the
question is not whether such systems should be built on
a large scale, but how long it will take to happen. In com-
bination with the previously mentioned RASS that could
provide PBL temperature and therefore, as suggested
above, heat flux profiles, an array of simple and trans-
portable UHF wind profilers would have a multitude of
research uses. Finally, opportunities exist to observe vapor
flux convergence by combining these wind profiles with
vapor profiles determined from multichannel radiometers
(Uttal et al., 1986).
The improved observational capability provided by such
research arrays could yield better model input data as well
as better datasets for model evaluation. In addition, this
could result in improvements in our ability to understand
and predict a wide range of flow phenomena, such as the
height of dividing streamlines over mountain ridges,
drainage flow structure, sea breeze circulations in areas
with coastal terrain, ventilation of closed and partially
closed mountain valleys, vortex shedding from isolated
mountains, and eddies in the lee of finite topographic bar-
riers. The depth of the boundary layer could be observable
on the regional scale with such arrays.
530 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Other uses of a UHF radar, though not necessarily as
part of an array, are possible in the PBL if scanning ca-
pability is provided. As described in more detail below,
local temperature and moisture changes aloft may be di-
agnosed from a scanning Doppler radar and an initial ra-
diosonde observation (Rabin, 1987). This implies that the
readiness of the CBL to support thunderstorms might be
diagnosed with such methods. In addition to wind, there
is the possibility that heat and moisture fluxes could be
estimated if reflectivity in the clear boundary layer were
uncontaminated by echo from particulates that are fre-
quently present in the PBL. For this reason, a scannable
UHF radar would be ideal. Other uses for such systems
would include observation of flow fields in the clear air
outside of thunderstorms, wind profiles, divergence, mo-
mentum fluxes, and eddy dissipation rates throughout the
lower troposphere from VAD scanning.
2.3 Lidar
Fundamentally, lidar is similar to radar in that electro-
magnetic energy is injected into the atmosphere, where it
scatters from atmospheric constituents and is collected at
a receiver. Information on an abundance of atmospheric
properties can be obtained, including winds, turbulence,
aerosol properties, mixed layer structure, temperature,
pressure, density, and gas species concentration. Doppler
lidar operates analogously to Doppler radar in that winds
can be measured from the Doppler shift of radiation back-
scattered from atmospheric particles, small aerosols in the
lidar case. Data rates as well as processing and display
techniques are also similar to those of radars.
Lidar systems possess several unique capabilities that
often make lidar and radar observations complementary
for atmospheric probing. Since lidars are dear-air devices,
they can be used to probe the optically dear boundary
layer during conditions that provide insufficient scattering
for radars, such as under stable stratification. Among the
advantages of the lidar is its fine resolution, especially
transverse to the beam, which is typically a few meters
wide at ranges of 10-20 km. Thus, lidars are extremely
useful for boundary layer observations near the surface,
especially in complex terrain. Range resolution of a lidar
system can range from 5 to 300 m, depending on the
wavelength and the application.
Lidars, however, have several obvious limitations rela-
tive to radars. First and foremost, lidars are clear-air devices
with limited capability in fog, heavy cloud, and to a lesser
extent, heavy precipitation. Whereas meteorological radars
often have maximum ranges of 100-200 km, the most
powerful boundary layer lidar system has a maximum
range of about 30 km.
Lidars have been used extensively for examining
boundary layer structure. For example, Crum et al. (1987)
applied a scanning lidar to observe the structure of thermal
plumes in the convective boundary layer. During convec-
tive conditions, three-dimensional wind fields can be es-
timated from the rate and direction of advection of aerosol
inhomogeneities by taking successive "snapshots" of the
aerosol structure. In a different application, Eberhard et
al. (1987) applied a scanning aerosol backscatter lidar to
measure dispersion of plumes from power plant stacks
under different atmospheric conditions.
Lidars operating in the visible and ultraviolet regions of
the spectrum are able to measure significant backscatter
from atmospheric molecules. This enables information on
atmospheric density to be extracted. In addition to the mo-
lecular backscattered energy, atmospheric gases also scatter
incident radiation that is frequency-shifted by an amount
that varies as a function of the molecule doing the scat-
tering (Raman backscatter). The Raman backscatter signal,
although generally very weak, enables measurement of
the concentrations of atmospheric gases such as water va-
por and nitrogen and can also be used to estimate atmo-
spheric temperature.
Measurements of certain atmospheric gases such as S02 ,
NO, HCl, and ozone are possible with Differential Ab-
sorption Lidar (DIAL) techniques ( Browell et al., 1983).
Bosenberg (1987) recently reported DIAL techniques to
obtain water vapor profiles with a spatial resolution of 50
m and a temporal resolution of 30 s. DIAL techniques have
been used or have the capability to measure concentrations
of several hydrocarbons, including ethylene and ammonia,
and can be applied to measure temperature, pressure, and
density (Korb et al., 1982).
Pulsed Doppler lidars provide many of the same capa-
bilities for boundary layer studies as radars, with the ad-
vantage that they can measure wind characteristics within
a few meters from the surface. Doppler lidars developed
at NOAA and NASA have been used to study drainage
flows in complex terrain (Post and Neff, 1986), structure
of the dryline in the southwestern United States (Parsons
et al., 1986), downslope winds (Hardesty et al., 1987),
thunderstorm outflow characteristics with an airborne
system (McCaul et al., 1987), microbursts (Weber et al.,
1988), and momentum fluxes in the CBL (Eberhard et al.,
1987).
Lidar technology is presently undergoing a period of
rapid advancement, especially in the area of solid-state
laser sources. Since solid-state lasers are inherently small
and reliable, these sources offer the potential of small,
stand-alone systems for atmospheric monitoring. New co-
herent solid-state sources at near-infrared wavelengths
have the potential to measure winds with range resolution
of 15-30 m to ranges of 15-20 km; such a capability would
be ideal for monitoring small-scale processes in the PBL.
Since lidar techniques can contribute greatly to boundary
layer understanding either when used to complement radar
measurements or in other situations where radars are not
appropriate, the panel believes it is important that the uses
of airborne and ground-based lidars in the PBL have more
exposure among the meteorological radar community and

among the general community of PBL scientists. The case
for airborne lidar is elaborated by Hildebrand and Moore
(Chapter 22a).
2.4 fM-CW Radar
It is apparent from Gossard's review that high-resolution
reflectivity measurements with FM-CW radar have pro-
vided substantial information on the structure of the PBL.
Currently, there are no operating systems in the United
States and only a few throughout the world. The panel
recommends that more emphasis be given to the devel-
opment and maintenance of these valuable research tools
to continue studies of the finestructure observed in the
atmospheric boundary layer.
3 PRODUCTIVE RESEARCH TOPICS
3.1 PBL feature Tracking
Regions of enhanced boundary layer vorticity, defor-
mation, and convergence are likely areas for the devel-
opment of convection. All these quantities can be estimated
in the clear-air boundary layer with a single radar by
tracking parcels of enhanced reflectivity over a period of
time. This technique, called tracking of echoes by corre-
lation (TREC), was demonstrated in the late 1970s by
Rinehart and Garvey (1978) and was later improved to
include tracking of small-scale velocity perturbations by
Smythe and Zrnic (1983). Small-scale velocity perturba-
tions have been shown to move with the local mean wind
in the CBL (Doviak and Zrnic, 1984; Kropfli, 1986). A
further improvement would be the use of the Doppler ve-
locity rather than the radial component derived from the
correlation technique. In addition, totally new pattern rec-
ognition schemes should be investigated for application to
this problem. Future research may well suggest that such
techniques could be especially powerful as a NEXRAD al-
gorithm to provide complete first-order kinematic data near
the surface within 80 or 100 km of the radar. Ray (Chapter
24a) and Carbone et al. (Chapter 24b) give further dis-
cussion relevant to convection.
3.2 Testing Multiple Doppler Wind
Synthesis Techniques
Since many of the statistics of the convective boundary
layer are well known, the CBL provides an excellent lab-
oratory for the development and testing of techniques to
synthesize wind fields from multiple Doppler radar data.
Doppler radar studies in the PBL can also be used to im-
prove our ability to retrieve thermodynamic parameters as
suggested by Gal-Chen and Kropfli (1984). Known statis-
tical properties of the CBL include profiles of the vertical
velocity variance and heat flux, and these statistics must
THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER 531
be correctly reproduced in the radar-derived fields. Dif-
ferent wind field synthesis and buoyancy retrieval tech-
niques could be performed and evaluated by comparing
the derived results to the expected statistics.
3.3 Model Veri&cation
It is also important that the four-dimensional structure
obtained from dual-Doppler radar data be compared with
large eddy simulations ( LES) of the CBL. Such comparisons
will go a long way toward model improvement and eval-
uation as well as providing new insight into the kinematics
of boundary layer flows under conditions of varied shear
and baroclinity, heat flux, CBL depth, and terrain features.
Realistic closure for stress is still a problem in these sim-
ulations and in regional-scale models. Good PBL obser-
vations that correctly resolve the small-scale features will
be helpful for continued progress in this area, and it ap-
pears that radar and/ or lidar can be used very effectively
here.
The best overall description of the four-dimensional
structure of the kinematics and thermodynamics of the
PBL will probably come from a repeated assimilation of
sequences of Doppler radar observations into a numerical
model. In essence, the radar observations would act as a
constraint on the model output. The class of techniques
that addresses this problem is known as adjoint methods
or the optimal control of systems that can be described by
partial differential equations (Lions, 1971; Le Dimet and
Talagrand, 1986).
3.4 Studies of Wind and Diffusion over
Uniform and Complex Terrain
A major problem in boundary layer dynamics concerns
the response of the boundary layer to flow over hills and
ridges under a variety of stability conditions. This includes
topographic length scales ranging from small hills less than
5 km in diameter all the way to major mountain ranges.
Significant questions remain related to boundary layer
vortex formation (Wilczak and Glendening, 1988), form
drag, wave generation, and hydraulic jumps. Dual-Doppler
radar or lidar observations could be extremely useful in
investigating these topics.
The effect on the boundary layer of surface heating or
cooling over both uniform slopes and in narrow valleys is
an area of study well suited to Doppler lidar observations.
Post and Neff (1986) in particular have done interesting
work on drainage flow in a narrow valley using single
Doppler lidar. Relatively few examples of wind fields syn-
thesized from airborne dual-Doppler lidar have been pub-
lished (McCaul et al., 1987) and no dual-Doppler lidar
measurements have been performed with surface-based
instruments. These areas should be fertile ground for future
research.
532 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Sharp horizontal gradients of surface temperature or
surface heat flux can create significant circulation within
the boundary layer that would be readily observable by
radar or lidar. Examples include not only the seabreeze,
but similar flows due to irrigation or precipitation bound-
aries. Of special interest is the development of these flows
in regions of complex terrain.
Radar observations of other phenomena in the PBL
such as rolls, microbursts, and vortices generated along
storm outflows continue to be an interesting and productive
line of research that has been discussed in Gossard's
review and by Ray (Chapter 24a) and Carbone et al.
(Chapter 24b).
3.5 Analysis of Entrainment Processes
The processes through which the depth of the boundary
layer grows due to turbulent entrainment are still not well
understood, especially in situations of strong shear near
the boundary layer top. High-resolution Doppler data can
provide insight into the mechanisms of entrainment; an
example of one such study, using airborne Doppler lidar,
is that of Atlas et al. (1986).
The boundary entrainment velocity, defined as the dif-
ference between the time rate of change of the PBL height
and the mean vertical air motion at the top of the PBL, is
in principle measurable with a vertically pointing Doppler
radar or lidar. The time-averaged vertical velocity com-
puted with a high elevation VAD analysis is measurable
to better than 1 em s -t, but it is not dear that the very
irregular top of the PBL can be defined precisely enough
to determine its growth rate with a similar precision. Since
entrainment rates are typically only a few centimeters per
second in magnitude, this direct way of measuring is very
difficult. Nevertheless, the panel recommends that some
effort be put into the investigation of radar techniques for
measuring entrainment rate that, in one application, is be-
lieved to be a strong control over the fractional area of the
ocean covered by stratocumulus clouds.
The process by which the boundary layer detrains air
through cloud venting is of special importance to the long-
range transport problem. The use of dual-polarization ra-
dar and chaff is a new technique that is now beginning to
allow this process to be directly observed (Moninger and
Kropfli, 1987). The technique makes use of the strong de-
polarization of chaff relative to cloud hydrometeors. The
circular depolarization ratio of chaff provides a unique sig-
nature that allows chaff-filled air parcels vented out of the
CBL by douds to be distinguished from other nonventing
parts of the cloud and nearby air.
3.6 Turbulence Studies
While Gossard's review included plume diffusion and
wind/ stress measurements in the CBL, several other re-
search ideas relating to the spatial structure of turbulence
have not been attempted. The spatial structure of turbu-
lence in the PBL can be studied by means of Lagrangian
correlations in which two-point Lagrangian statistics can
be used to compute concentration fluctuations. Separate
but closely spaced puffs of chaff could be released and
followed in time to measure the two-point Lagrangian
correlation defined as
R(t, dt, Z, dX) = (ua(t)ub(t + dt))
where a and b refer to separate puffs, ( ) represents an
ensemble average, u(t) is a Lagrangian velocity component
measured at timet, Z is the initial height, and dX is the
initial spacing of the puffs. Observations of the trajectory
of a single chaff puff can be used to compute single-point
Lagrangian statistics, important in mean concentration es-
timates. The single-point Lagrangian correlation is defined
as
R(dt, Z) = (u(t)u(t + dt))
where u (t) is the Lagrangian velocity component of the
chaff puff released from a height Z at time t. This is an
alternative to computing trajectories from a series of three-
dimensional wind field syntheses. A variety of Lagrangian
turbulence statistics can be computed by a creative use of
chaff puff observations. These kinds of measurements
should be explored further.
Turbulence theorists also need to examine the spatial
structure of turbulence by means of the correlation of the
same velocity component at two different points fixed rel-
ative to the flow. By varying the separation distance, as
well as direction, a complete statistical description of the
spatial structure of a turbulence variable can be obtained.
Measurements with a single Doppler radar in the CBL can
provide at least some information to compute these Eu-
lerian correlations.
Although a method to calculate eddy dissipation rate
(EDR) from Doppler second moment estimates has been
known since the mid-1970s (Frisch and Clifford, 1974),
our ability to measure EDR leaves much to be desired.
Much work remains in order to be able to compute EDR
reliably or at least to be able to recognize conditions under
which the second moment estimates are unreliable.
3.'1 Stability Diagnosis
In principle, local temperature and moisture changes
aloft may be diagnosed from Doppler radar data and initial
observations of temperature and humidity profiles. A
summary of one approach was given by Rabin (1987). In
general, the rates of local temperature and moisture
changes include the effects of horizontal advection, vertical
air motion, and absorption of heat and moisture. The ad-
vection of virtual temperature can be estimated from the
thermal wind equation using observed horizontal wind

gradients and local wind acceleration. Horizontal advection
of moisture requires direct observations of horizontal
moisture gradients. The effect of vertical motion on tem-
perature and moisture can be estimated from vertical pro-
files of temperature, moisture, and vertical wind. The first
two are updated from the initial radiosonde observation;
vertical wind is estimated from mass continuity using the
horizontal velocity divergence. Parameterizations must be
used to estimate the absorption of heat and moisture in
the PBL, unless the absorption could be estimated from
remote measurements of turbulent fluxes by satellite or
radar. For example, Rabin (1983) proposed measurement
of latent and sensible heat flux from radar reflectivity mea-
surements, if the effect of insects can be separated from
refractive index fluctuations as suggested earlier in the dis-
cussion of UHF radar.
3.8 Interaction of Air Masses and
Storm Initiation
Wilson and Schreiber (1986) and Purdom (1982) have
shown that convergence lines in the boundary layer are
associated with the initiation of convective storms. Sen-
sitive Doppler radars are now able to observe and monitor
the movement of these convergence lines, even in the op-
tically clear air. Recent improvements in radar sensitivity
have been largely responsible for rapid advances in ob-
serving these lines. These observations are already being
used in operational test environments to forecast thun-
derstorms. However, important scientific questions need
to be answered regarding the origin, maintenance, and
movement of convergence lines and physical processes
involved in generating convective storms by convergence
lines. Questions concerning convergence line origins in-
clude the roles of topography (lakes, rivers, ridges), ground
moisture, irrigation, vegetation, and cloud shielding. The
long persistence of convergence lines even with little ther-
modynamic contrast has often puzzled observers. The
lifetimes of thunderstorm cold air outflows can vary con-
siderably. Even small storms can generate convergence
lines that move many tens of kilometers, and the pool of
cool air may last for many hours after demise of the parent
storm.
The dynamics of cloud and storm growth caused by the
convergence lines is not well understood. Complex patterns
of storm growth are often observed along the convergence
lines. The relative contribution to these patterns generated
by spatial and temporal variations in moisture, stability,
and vertical motion is unknown. Studies are needed of
the relative roles of moisture distribution and primary up-
drafts resulting either from forced lifting at the air mass
boundaries or from secondary updrafts caused by Kelvin-
Helmholtz instabilities and gravity waves propagating
across the top of the discontinuity interface. Ray (Chapter
24a) and Carbone et al. (Chapter 24b) discuss this subject
at greater length.
THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER 533
3.9 finescale Refractivity Structure
It is clear from Gossard's review that the ubiquitous
finescale refractivity structure of the PBL revealed by radar
is closely tied to the vertical gradients of temperature and
wind. Although these observations have been made for
several decades, the exact physical mechanism responsible
for these reflectivity layers is still uncertain. Recent results
by Gossard and Frisch (1987) link the magnitude of the
reflectivity to stability at the layer. Ground-based Doppler
radar with high resolution would allow the assessment of
the accuracy of wind profilers by providing information
on the likely vertical distribution of reflectivity within the
rather large resolution volume needed to probe high in
the troposphere. Knowledge of the spatial relationship of
the fine-layered reflectivity with respect to shear layers
might allow corrections to be made to the derived hori-
zontal winds in some circumstances. The ability to detect
stable layers in the troposphere with wind profilers would
add important additional information in the radiometric
retrieval of temperature. For these reasons, the panel be-
lieves that the portion of the PBL within reach of tall in-
strumented towers is an excellent laboratory for this kind
of research. Further treatment of this topic may be found
in the reviews by Gage (Chapter 28a) and Rottger and
Larsen (Chapter 21a) and the accompanying panel reports
by Hooke (Chapter 28b) and Balsley (Chapter 21b).
4 SUMMARY
Whether justified or not, the panel expressed some con-
cern about access to the wealth of PBL data that will be
coming from the NEXRAD systems in the early 1990s.
Efforts should be made to insure that such data can be
expeditiously and inexpensively obtained by PBL re-
searchers.
This report from the panel on the atmospheric boundary
layer emphasizes technology and research ideas that are
likely to help accelerate progress in understanding the PBL.
Although the technology section of this report has not
emphasized the use of conventional pulsed-Doppler radar
in the PBL, it was believed that the use of this technology
has sufficient momentum of its own, and its absence from
the report should not suggest that conventional Doppler
radar is not considered important for PBL research.
The panel also believes that stronger interactions by ra-
dar meteorologists with PBL specialists, turbulence
theorists, mesoscale meteorologists, micrometeorologists,
boundary layer modelers, and air pollution meteorologists
will generate a broad spectrum of ideas on how active
remote sensors can contribute to new knowledge about
the atmospheric boundary layer. A strong network of co-
operation and communication will also short circuit poorly
conceived experiments that waste resources without ad-
dressing the important issues. Such interactions should be
encouraged with renewed vigor.
534
Chapter 28a
Radar Observations of the Free Atmosphere:
Structure and Dynamics
Kenneth S. Gage, Environmental Research Laboratories, NOAA
1 INTRODUCTION
In the past decade rapid progress has been made in the
development of Doppler radar suited to probing the clear
atmosphere for research and operational applications. To
the meteorologist these developments are embodied in the
concept of the wind profiler, which is simply a Doppler
radar system designed to monitor the atmospheric wind
field. Along with NEXRAD the wind profiler has the po-
tential for making an enormous contribution to the way
in which we observe and forecast the daily weather, es-
pecially for regional nowcasting and short-range fore-
casting. In terms of atmospheric research the wind profiler
is widely recognized as an important research tool in any
mesoscale field program.
While the potential for the wind profiler has recently
become widely recognized within the meteorological com-
munity, knowledge of how the profiler works is generally
lacking. It is important at this juncture to review the ca-
pabilities of the profiler as an atmospheric measurement
system, taking into account its strengths and limitations.
Although wind measurement is the primary capability of
the wind profiler, several other ancillary measurement ca-
pabilities are available that must be recognized to appre-
ciate fully the potential of wind profilers for operational
as well as research purposes.
The term "wind profiler" has been in widespread use
for only a few years, but the technology of "clear-air"
radars to which the term refers has been under develop-
ment for several decades. Indeed, some of the earliest radar
studies of the atmosphere were made at HF and anticipated
some of the more recent developments. The history of ra-
dar probing of the clear atmosphere is presented in Hardy
and Gage (Chapter 17). They retrace the rather tortuous
path leading to the development of contemporary wind-
profiling technology from the earliest days of radar studies
of the clear atmosphere.
The recent development of wind-profiling Doppler radar
represents the synthesis of several diverse research efforts.
In the mid-1970s it became clear that with sophisticated
signal processing techniques sufficient backscatter was
possible at UHF ( 300-3000 MHz) and VHF ( 30-300 MHz)
to profile routinely the atmospheric wind field. At these
wavelengths large antenna arrays made possible sensitive
radar systems that could operate unattended at relatively
low power and still observe atmospheric winds to lower
stratospheric altitudes.
Wind-profiling Doppler radars are sensitive to turbulent
irregularities in the radio refractive index. The echo mag-
nitude and Doppler spectral width are generally related to
the intensity of turbulence. In addition, at lower VHF ver-
tically directed radar beams observe a considerable en-
hancement in backscattered power compared to radar
beams directed a few degrees off vertical. The magnitude
of these quasi-specular echoes is closely related to atmo-
spheric stability. This suggests an entirely different kind
of scattering as had already been recognized from radio
propagation experiments.
The UHF and VHF Doppler radars that receive their
echoes primarily from the clear atmosphere have often
been referred to as clear-air Doppler radars. This termi-
nology evolved to distinguish the longer wavelength radars
from the microwave radars that primarily observe hydro-
meteors. The distinction is artificial since microwave radars
are often capable of observing turbulence in the boundary-
layer and even VHF radars can observe precipitation
echoes on occasion. Moreover, UHF /VHF radars can ob-
serve the cloudy atmosphere without any difficulty at all.
Nevertheless, the term "clear-air radar" has been in wide-
spread use for several decades and is a more inclusive term
than "wind profiler," which focuses attention on only one
measurement capability. Other terms in common usage by
researchers include ST (stratosphere-troposphere) and
MST (mesosphere-stratosphere-troposphere) radar.
Clearly, no single term is sufficient to capture all aspects
of these radars. In this chapter "wind-profiling" Doppler
radar and "clear-air" Doppler radar will be used inter-
changeably.
With the development of the wind profiler, Doppler ra-
dar has gained a prominent place in the rapidly evolving
field of remote sensing of the atmosphere. An eventual
goal of remote sensing is to develop instruments capable
of monitoring important atmospheric parameters as well
as trace species either from ground-based or from satellite-
home instruments. Clearly, this goal will only be achieved
through a combination of instruments and hybrid systems.
The purpose of this review is to explore in some detail
our current knowledge of the free atmosphere as it relates
to the use of Doppler radar. Boundary-layer studies are
examined by Gossard (Chapter 2 7a) and technological as-

pects of clear-air radars are addressed by Rottger and Lar-
sen (Chapter 21a). The two aspects to our review concern,
first, the small-scale structure of the atmosphere that gives
rise to the backscattered echoes in the first place, and sec-
ond, what we have learned about atmospheric dynamical
processes, primarily on the mesoscale, from the nearly
continuous measurements available from Doppler radar.
Echoing mechanisms and measurement capabilities are
reviewed briefly and generally in sections 2 and 3, re-
spectively. The morphology of the echoing media is dis-
cussed in section 4. Theoretical models of the scattering
media are reviewed in section 5. Dynamical processes are
considered in sections 6-9. Atmospheric instabilities are
the subject of section 6 and atmospheric waves are re-
viewed in section 7. From a more general perspective me-
soscale wind variability is considered in section 8 and the
dynamical processes coupling the lower and middle at-
mosphere are discussed in section 9. Finally, section 10
contains a discussion of the future outlook for atmospheric
research utilizing wind-profiling Doppler radars. We con-
sider some unresolved issues and new areas of research
that broadly impact meteorology as a whole.
2 ECHOING MECHANISMS
The echoing mechanisms that give rise to backscattering
from the clear atmosphere have been rather extensively
investigated. In all cases echoes arise from irregularities in
the radio refractive index, which can be written
3.73 X 10- 1e 77.6 X 10-6 p
n- 1 = +----~ (2.1)
2 T T 1949; Gage and Green, 1978; Rottger and Liu, 1978). More
where p (millibar) is the atmospheric pressure, e (millibar)
is the partial pressure of water vapor, T (Kelvin) is the
absolute temperature, Ne (m-3 } is the number density of
electrons, and Nc (m- 3 } = 1.24 X 10-2 f (MHz) 2 is the
critical plasma density in MKS units for the radio frequency
f. The first two terms contain the contributions to radio
refractive index due to bound electrons inherent in density
fluctuations of water vapor and dry air, respectively. The
third term expresses the contribution due to the presence
of free electrons. The water vapor term tends to dominate
in the lower troposphere and the dry term dominates above
5 km or so in the troposphere and stratosphere. Above 50
km the radio refractive index is enhanced by the presence
of free electrons. The presence of free electrons in the sunlit
mesosphere and lower thermosphere makes observations
possible at these higher altitudes (Woodman and Guillen,
1974; Balsley and Gage, 1980).
The dominant mechanism responsible for echoes from
the clear atmosphere is turbulent scattering (d. Gossard,
Chapter 27a). The turbulent scattering mechanism has
been studied extensively within the context of tropospheric
radio propagation. Booker and Gordon ( 1950), Batchelor
RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 535
(1955), Megaw (1957) and Tatarskii (1961) were among
the first to recognize the important role of turbulence in
the propagation of radio waves beyond the horizon. Al-
though the early theories of turbulent scattering invoked
the simple model of isotropic scattering, more recent de-
velopments have included a more realistic anisotropic
scattering approach (Booker, 1956; Staras, 1952, 1955;
Bolgiano, 1962, 1963; Gage and Balsley, 1980; Doviak and
Zrnic, 1984; Waterman et al., 1985).
In addition to the echoes arising from turbulent scatter-
ing, there appears to be another class of highly aspect sen-
sitive echoes arising from stable horizontally layered
structure that is quasi-coherent transverse to the radar
beam. These latter echoes are evident primarily at wave-
lengths longer than about 1 meter 1 and, for backscattering,
are confined largely to radar beams at vertical incidence.
These quasi-specular echoes are very persistent and are
closely associated with stable regions of the free atmo-
sphere. They can usually be seen most clearly just above
the tropopause in the ~ower stratosphere. As is the case
for turbulent scattering, the influence of stable layers for
the propagation of radio waves in the lower atmosphere
has long been recognized (Friis et al., 1957; du Castel et
al., 1962 ). Using forward-scatter radar, Atlas et al. ( 1969)
and Gage et al. ( 1973) recognized the quasi-specular, par-
tial reflection occurring at lower stratospheric altitudes.
Aspect sensitive echoes at near-vertical incidence from the
troposphere and lower stratosphere using monostatic VHF
radar were reported by Gage and Green ( 1978) and Rottger
and Liu ( 1978). Early reflection models, invoked to explain
this echoing process, employed single coherent layers of
concentrated gradient of radio refractive index (Friend,
recently models employing multiple partial-reflecting lay-
ers have been employed to explain these quasi-specular
echoes (Gage and Balsley, 1980; Hocking and Rottger,
1983; Gage et al., 1985).
Viewed from the perspective outlined above, one can
visualize the atmospheric structure that might give rise to
the observed echoes. Figure 2.1 contains a sketch of the
pertinent atmospheric structure. In each panel a vertically
directed radar beam is shown. Each beam contains two
vertical profiles of radio refractive index illustrating the
structure illuminated by the radar beam. In panel A the
beam illuminates a volume of turbulence with random
structure evident in the radio refractive index. In the case
of active turbulence there is no pronounced transverse co-
1 The possibility of quasi-specular echoes at wavelengths even as short
as 1 em must be recognized. Atlas ( 1960) reported coherent echoes when
viewing the sea breeze inversion at vertical incidence with a 1.25-cm
radar. Atlas et al. (1969) also reported echo layers as thin as 1 mat
vertical incidence with the 10-cm FM-CW radar at San Diego. In both
instances the echoes might be attributed to a specular reflection process.
The possibilities for quasi-specular reflection at these wavelengths are
discussed by Gossard (Chapter 27a).
536 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
s J.. c radar is sensitive to 3-m scale irregularities, a 400-MHz
'
i
""
~
~':.
Fig. 2.1 Artist's conception of atmospheric refractivity structure
pertinent to echoes observed from the clear atmosphere by VHF I
UHF radars. Panel A illustrates isotropic turbulence, panel 8 illus-
trates random yet transversely coherent structure pertinent to Fresnel
scattering, and panel C illustrates a few isolated sharp coherent gra-
dients pertinent to Fresnel reflection.
herency; that is, the two (random) profiles of radio re-
fractive index are uncorrelated. In panel C a much different
structure is illustrated; isolated sharp gradients that are
transversely coherent are shown, and each layer would
cause a partial reflection of an incident radar pulse. In B
an intermediate, and likely more realistic, example of at-
mospheric structure is illustrated. In this case the profile
illustrates randomness in the vertical but maintains some
transverse coherence. This structure is thought to be per-
tinent to a multiple partial reflection process that will be
referred to as Fresnel scattering.
The schematic view of atmospheric structure contained
in Fig. 2.1 is obviously an idealized abstraction of the re-
fractivity structure of the real atmosphere. The complexities
of the real atmosphere lead to many effects that are a chal-
lenge to model theoretically. For example, partially reflect-
ing layers will evolve with time and possess varying de-
grees of spatial (transverse) coherence. They generally will
be tilted by internal wave motions causing the quasi-spec-
ular echoes to fade. Furthermore, the echoing medium ap-
pears different when probed by radio waves possessing
different wavelengths. As a result of these and many other
complications a statistical approach is usually needed to
account for the echoes observed by UHF I VHF radars.
Several approaches to modeling these processes are sur-
veyed in section 5. While much progress has been made
in this subject in recent years, issues that have not been
adequately addressed remain. A complete understanding
of the echoing processes necessarily awaits a more detailed
description of the finescale structure of the atmosphere.
Progress in this direction will undoubtedly require ad-
vances in our ability to observe atmospheric finescale
structure with high-resolution in situ and remote probes.
3 MEASUREMENT CAPABILITIES OF
DOPPLER KADAR
In order to observe the clear atmosphere the radar must
be able to detect weak irregularities in radio refractive index
associated with small-scale atmospheric turbulence. Spe-
cifically, the radar is sensitive to inhomogeneities in the
radio refractive index of a scale size equal to half the
wavelength of the radar. Thus, a typical 50-MHz VHF
UHF profiler is sensitive to 38-cm scale irregularities, and
a 3-GHz microwave Doppler radar is sensitive to S-cm
scale irregularities. An important consideration for probing
the free atmosphere is that the radar half-wavelength
needs to be somewhat greater than the inner scale of tur-
bulence (Tatarskii, 1971 ). Hill and Clifford (1978) have
related the inner scale of turbulence t 0 to eddy dissipation
rate E and the Kolmogorov microscale 17o = (v 3 I E) 1 14 where
vis kinematic viscosity. This relationship is given by
t 0 = 7.4770 (3.1)
and defines the transition scale between the inertial and
viscous subranges of atmospheric turbulence. Furthermore,
Gossard et al. ( 1984) have shown that in order to observe
atmospheric turbulence a clear-air radar must possess a
wavelength greater than a critical wavelength Xc = 101r11o
= 4.2t0 • These scales should be regarded as approximate.
In reality there is no sharp cutoff for turbulent scattering.
Considerations of the inner scale are of practical im-
portance in the design of operational systems (Strauch et
al., 1986; Rottger and Larsen, Chapter 21a) . Typical values
of the inner scale of atmospheric turbulence in the free
atmosphere are a few centimeters. Consequently, radars
operating at wavelengths greater than about 20-cm are
needed to observe the troposphere routinely. The 915-MHz
(33-cm) wind profiler at Stapleton International Airport
in Denver, for example, routinely observes to about 10 km
(Frisch et al., 1986). Locally intense layers of turbulence
have reduced inner scales and consequently can be seen
by shorter wavelength radars ( cf. Gossard et al., 1984).
Also, since kinematic viscosity increases systematically
with altitude, longer wavelength radars are required to
observe turbulence in the middle atmosphere (Balsley and
Gage, 1980).
A Doppler radar observes the radial component of mo-
tion in a weighted average of the scattering volume formed
by the radar range gate and the radar antenna beam. Sam-
ples of the radial velocity are processed to yield a Doppler
spectrum. As discussed in Rottger and Larsen (Chapter
21a), the lowest moment of the Doppler spectrum gives
the magnitude of the radar echo, the first moment gives
the mean radial velocity, and the second moment gives
Doppler spectral width. Essentially, all the atmospheric
measurements discussed in this section are derived in one
way or another from these parameters.
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 537

3.1 Horizontal Wind Measurement
Wind-profiling Doppler radars typically measure hori-
zontal wind by using two or more fixed beams in orthog-
onal planes. For convenience, wind measurements are
usually made in the east-west and north-south planes.
Transmitted radar beams are typically directed at a zenith
angle X of 15 °. Usually, vertical motions are small enough
that the wind can be assumed to lie entirely in a horizontal
plane above the radar. When this is true, the radial com-
ponent can be divided by sinx to yield the horizontal wind.
Numerous comparisons have been made between winds
measured in this way and winds measured by rawinsonde,
radar-tracked balloons, Doppler lidar, and aircraft. When
the time and spatial differences in wind measurement are
taken into account, most profiler wind measurements agree
well with other measurement techniques. A comparison
of profiler-derived winds with those determined simul-
taneously by microwave Doppler radar using snow as a
tracer is shown in Fig. 3.1. The two independent mea-
surements of velocity are seen to agree very well. The wind
profiler, with coarser vertical resolution, smooths through
the high-resolution wind profile derived from the micro-
wave Doppler radar. A recent study by Strauch et al. ( 1987)
of an entire month of data taken at Platteville, Colorado,
with a 405-MHz wind profiler yielded a precision of 1.7
m s -t when vertical motions were not taken into account.
A typical time-height cross section of horizontal winds
is shown in Fig. 3.2 (Shapiro et al., 1984). These obser-
vations were taken by the Cahone profiler, which was part
of the Colorado Profiler Network (Strauch et al., 1984)
and show the passage of a jet stream and upper-level front
over the profiler.
The measurement of horizontal velocity by wind pro-
filers can at times be adversely affected by atmospheric
conditions. The tacit assumption that the wind field is hor-
izontal and uniform should be regarded as only an ap-
proximation. Clearly, convection with enhanced vertical
motions will occasionally compromise the measurement
of representative horizontal winds. More often lee waves
and other internal waves, accompanied by tilted isentropic
surfaces and streamline patterns, may cause "errors" in
the estimation of horizontal winds from radial components,
as discussed in Gage ( 1986). For propagating waves, tem-
poral averaging effectively reduces these errors, but sta-
tionary waves induced by orography can cause systematic
errors. Multibeam systems (Clark et al., 1985) with re-
dundant measurements in two orthogonal planes canal-

3 March, 1981
10:34-10:52
• 3-cm Radar (snow)-2 P7ofiles
o 6-m Radar -6 Profiles

9.5

,+
,•
,+
7.5
....J
(/)
~
I

-
~ 5.5
J::.
Cl
'(j)
J:

3.5 . -.
'

., '
,+

800 ~~~~~--~~~-~~~Tu_R_FA~c~~~~--~~~----~~--~
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 11
Time (GMT)

CAHONE, COLORADO RADAR WIND PROFILER

1.5 +--.,..--,.......-,......--r--.--,r--.......,-~ 13 JUNE 1983
WIND SPEED (ms-1)
-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25
West Wind (m/s)
Fig. 3.2 Time-height section of horizontal velocity deduced from
Fig. 3.1 Comparison of the profiles of the zonal wind measured by the Cahone, Colorado, VHF wind profiler between 0100 and 2200
the VHF Platteville radar (solid line) and by a collocated microwave UTC 13 June 1983. A flag represents 25m s- 1, a full barb is 5 m s- 1
Doppler radar (dashed line). (After Hogg et al., 1983.) and a half-barb is 2.5 m s- 1• (After Shapiro et al., 1984.)
538 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
leviate these problems and at least provide some indication
when they are present.
Perhaps the greatest virtue of the wind profiler compared
to the conventional balloon measurement technique is the
ability of the profiler to monitor continuously the atmo-
spheric wind field and do so directly overhead. Rapid
sampling of atmospheric winds has enabled the study of
mesoscale wind variability as the spectrum of atmospheric
motions ranging from minutes to days can be resolved in
the free atmosphere for the first time. Spatial variations,
however, can only be inferred from wind profiler data by
employing space-time transformations or networks of
profilers. Other considerations of a more technical nature
are discussed in the accompanying review of Rottger and
Larsen (Chapter 21a). For example, wind profilers em-
ploying broad antenna beams can have systematic errors
due to finite range volume effects ( Fukao et al., 1988a) .
3.2 Vertical Wind Measurement
A wind profiler with a vertically directed beam measures
vertical velocity directly. Alternatively, wind profilers with
two symmetrical beams in any vertical plane can also
measure vertical velocity indirectly, assuming horizontal
uniformity of vertical motion over the scale of the sepa-
ration of the radar beams.
Except for convection, vertical velocities are usually
much less than horizontal velocities in the free atmosphere.
Large-scale vertical motions are usually less than a few
centimeters per second. Such small vertical motions are
traditionally inferred from synoptic analysis of the large-
scale wind field. The direct continuous measurement of
vertical velocities at many heights simultaneously above
a single station represents a new capability in meteorology.
A sample multiheight time series of vertical velocity is
presented in Fig. 3.3. This sample contains 15-min aver-
aged vertical velocities observed at Platteville, Colorado.
It illustrates a very typical pattern of alternating periods
of quiet and active vertical velocity variance. Typical rms
vertical velocities are 15 em s - 1 in the quiet periods and
can be much larger during active periods. The active pe-
riods seen here are associated with strong westerly winds
~ ·'""
~~: ·.1"1'1 - - ----
·-
-
· ~ -·---· . .~
,.,., __ - - - --
···- -- ~--·--···
-----
.....
1[!,..,., -----
66 1o ll' - - - -
':j 1~_, , ,., ~ -----
~ ;~: :: - it may still prove possible to use a single wind profiler to
~ 18 ...... - --
.t106
!C Om - ~ ·--·
ll •l"' o -- -~
tO om -----
S8"'"" - ------
11 •~
Fig. 3.3 Multiheight time series of 15-min averaged vertical veloc-
ities observed by the Platteville, Colorado, VHF wind profiler for the
period 10-29 March 1981 (after Ecklund et al., 1982).
flowing across the Rocky Mountains. Enhanced vertical
velocity variance is also associated with convection.
Because of the small magnitude of large-scale vertical
motions and the much larger background of small-scale
vertical velocities associated with internal gravity waves,
it is difficult to measure directly large-scale vertical motion
at a single profiler site. Several attempts (Nastrom et al.,
1985; Larsen et al., 1988) to measure directly large-scale
vertical motion from a single profiler have met with mar-
ginal success when compared to vertical velocities from
analyzed wind fields produced by the National Meteoro-
logical Center (NMC) and the European Centre for Me-
dium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Nastrom et al.
( 1985) concluded from their analysis of profiler data from
sites located in or near mountains that only at times when
a strong large-scale vertical velocity and low background
vertical velocity variance are present could the synoptic-
scale vertical velocity be deduced from the long-term mean
velocity at a single station. These conditions may be met
relatively frequently over the plains, and the Flatland radar
(Green et al., 1988) was built in central Illinois to see
whether it would be possible to measure large-scale vertical
motions on a regular basis at a site located away from
rough terrain.
In any attempt to measure long-term average vertical
motion over a given radar site, great care has to be taken
that the vertical antenna beam is directed as close to vertical
as possible. Even a 0.1° error in the antenna beam direction
will lead to a 5 em s - 1 radial component of a horizontal
wind of 30m s - 1 • Geometrical pointing errors can be di-
agnosed by cross correlation of horizontal and vertical ve-
locity at different range gates. Tilting of streamlines due
to rough terrain can cause unrepresentative vertical mo-
tions to be measured at a given location. To overcome this
problem sites must be selected away from significant terrain
features, or ensemble averaging must be used.
3.3 Divergence
As shown by Rabin and Zawadski ( 1984), a single
Doppler weather radar can be used to measure divergence
in the clear-air boundary-layer. Unlike Doppler weather
radars that can perform azimuth scans at low elevation
angles, most wind-profiling Doppler radars can only ob-
serve in a few directions relatively close to the zenith. As
a consequence most wind-profiling Doppler radars are not
capable of measuring horizontal divergence in the usual
way; that is, by measuring au I ax and av I ay. However,
deduce divergence from the vertical profile of vertical ve-
locity as suggested by Clark et al. ( 1986). This idea relies
upon the relationship between horizontal divergence and
the vertical gradient of vertical velocity for an incompres-
sible fluid:
.au av Ow
V ·u=-+ - = - - (3.2)
H ax ay oz"

Thus, to the extent that a representative profile of vertical
motion is obtainable at a single station, it would be possible
to infer the vertical divergence profile from the vertical
velocity profile.
Divergence and vorticity can be determined in the usual
manner from a network of wind profilers. Zamora et al.
( 198 7) have made several case studies of the evolution of
upper-level divergence and vorticity fields using wind data
from three VHF wind profilers in Colorado. Their analysis
shows good agreement with results from conventional ra-
winsonde observations and clearly illustrates the value of
continuous wind observations from the profilers.
3.4 Momentum Flux Measurement
An important quantity in atmospheric dynamics is the
vertical flux of horizontal momentum deduced from
u'w'. A method for measuring u'w' with VAD (Velocity-
Azimuth Display) analysis was first introduced to radar
meteorology by Lhermitte ( 1968) and Wilson ( 1970). A
similar technique was developed independently for middle
atmospheric studies by Vincent and Reid ( 1983). Rabin
et al. ( 1982) reported momentum flux measurements as-
sociated with horizontal roll vortices in the planetary
boundary-layer observed by dual-Doppler radars. Kropfli
( 1986) measured turbulent momentum flux in the bound-
ary-layer using a single Doppler radar and was able to
compare his results with independent measurements using
the BAO (Boulder Atmospheric Observatory) tower. In
the free atmosphere vertical velocity fluctuations are dom-
inated by buoyancy or internal gravity waves at high fre-
quencies and u'w' largely represents the gravity wave con-
tribution to vertical momentum flux. According to the
method of Vincent and Reid ( 1983) momentum flux is
measured by two radar beams symmetric with respect to
the vertical direction. If beam I measures the radial com-
ponent v1 (positive toward the radar),
Vt = Ut sinX - Wt COS X, (3.3)
and beam 2 measures the radial component v2 ,
(3.4)
then with a few assumptions concerning horizontal ho-
mogeneity of the velocity field:
v'2- v'2
u'w' = 2 t (3.5)
2 sin2X
Vincent and Reid reported early measurements of mo-
mentum flux at mesospheric altitudes using this method.
Using the MU (Middle and Upper Atmosphere) radar in
Japan, Fukao et al. ( 1988b) measured momentum flux in
the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. These au-
thors filtered their data and examined the contributions to
RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 539
momentum flux from short- and long-period fluctuations.
They found that u'w' was dominated by long-period
(greater than 6 hours) fluctuations. Despite the promising
work that has been done to date, much remains to be done
before it is possible to have confidence in the reliability
and precision of radar measurements of momentum flux.
3.5 Turbulence Measurement
The dominant dynamical process responsible for most
VHF /UHF echoes from the clear atmosphere is small-scale
turbulence. Following the pioneering work of Pekeris
(1947), the theory for scattering of radio waves by tur-
bulence was developed by Booker and Gordon ( 1950).
Most of the early developments were made within the
context of electromagnetic wave propagation through tur-
bulent media (Tatarskii, 1971) and were motivated by the
need to understand tropospheric radio propagation beyond
the horizon. The theory for radar backscattering is a special
case of the earlier radio propagation studies and was con-
sidered in some detail by Atlas et al. ( 1966) and Hardy et
al. ( 1966) during the early radar studies of the clear at-
mosphere conducted at Wallops Island.
The magnitude of the backscattered echo from the clear
atmosphere depends on the intensity of refractivity tur-
bulence which is parameterized by Cn 2 • Here Cn 2 is the
structure constant for refractivity turbulence and is defined
for locally homogeneous isotropic turbulence in the inertial
subrange by
where the left-hand side of Eq. ( 3.6) is the structure func-
tion of refractivity turbulence in terms of the distance in-
crement A~. The volume reflectivity from turbulent scat-
tering is given in terms of Cn 2 by
(3.7)
and the backscattered power received by a radar observing
refractivity turbulence in the clear atmosphere is given by
(Rottger and Larsen, Chapter 21a)
(3.8)
where a is an efficiency factor, P1 is transmitted power, Ae
is effective area of the antenna, r is range, and Ar the range
resolution ( = c r / 2 where r is transmitted pulse width).
VanZandt et al. ( 1978) used similar relationships to mea-
sure C/ in the free atmosphere using the 40-MHz Sunset
radar.
While Cn 2 is the most appropriate parameter to specify
the intensity of refractivity turbulence, turbulence in the
velocity field, which is of more interest to meteorologists,
is parameterized by the eddy dissipation rate e. It is possible
540 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

to estimate E from the magnitude of observed radar echoes. (3.10)

Several authors have considered the relationship between
Cn2 and E with the objective of measuring E in the atmo-
sphere (Crane, 1980; Gage et al., 1980; Weinstock, 1981;
for a review, see Hocking, 1985). A major difficulty in
relating the mean eddy dissipation rate "E to the mean Cn2
observed by the radar is properly accounting for the frac-
tion of the radar volume F that is actively turbulent, as
discussed in VanZandt et al. ( 1978).
The development of a relationship between "E and Cn2
assumes that turbulence is caused by shear flow instability
and that the turbulence is at least approximately locally
homogeneous and isotropic. As will be shown in the fol-
lowing section, at lower VHF turbulence is often aniso-
tropic and can be confused by quasi-specular returns. Ac-
cordingly, this technique is more properly used at UHF
than at VHF.
A more direct method for measuring eddy dissipation
rate in the free atmosphere is to use the width of the
Doppler spectrum. Unfortunately, nonturbulent processes
contribute to the spectral width and must be accounted
for before a reliable estimate of "E can be obtained. The
primary nonturbulent processes are beam broadening,
shear broadening, and quasi-specular echoes. Quasi-spec-
ular echoes dominate turbulent backscatter at lower VHF
and near vertical incidence. Beam broadening refers to
spectral broadening due to finite beamwidth. For example,
with a typical 1o beamwidth it would be impossible to
observe eddy dissipation rates less than 10-3 m 2 s - 3 with
a mean wind exceeding about 40 m s - 1 • Shear broadening
can dominate spectral width depending on zenith angle
and the magnitude of vertical wind shear.
To deduce eddy dissipation rates from Doppler spectral
width, Hocking ( 1985, 1986) suggests using vertically di-
rected beams to avoid shear-broadening problems. Then
any quasi-specular echoes must be removed before cal-
culating the Doppler spectral width. Next, knowing the
mean wind, the beam-broadened spectral width should
where L is a length scale associated with the radar pulse
volume and k, is another constant. The reason for the dif-
ference lies in the longer integration time typically used
on wind-profiling Doppler radars to define the Doppler
spectrum.
Eddy dissipation rates have been deduced from Doppler
spectral width measurements by Sato and Woodman
(1982), as shown in Fig. 3.4, using the 430-MHz Arecibo
radar in Puerto Rico. At UHF there is no problem with
specular echoes and the Arecibo radar has a fairly narrow
antenna beamwidth.
Diffusion coefficients for small-scale turbulence can be
related to the eddy dissipation rate by means of the rela-
tionship
E
K = C N2. (3.11)
According to Lilly et al. ( 1974) a value of C = 0.33 should
be used in Eq. ( 3.11 ) ; according to Weinstock ( 1978) a
value of 0.8 should be used (Hocking, 1985).
In using the spectral width method to deduce turbulence
parameters it should be remembered that if the spectral
width is formed for velocity time series longer than a few
minutes then internal gravity waves can contribute to the
observed variance. For this reason it is recommended that
Doppler spectra analyzed for spectral width be processed
for segments of data less than about one minute. Doppler
spectra observed by the new 400-MHz wind profilers
planned for network deployment in the next few years
should be ideally suited for climatological studies of eddy
dissipation rate. Plans should be made now to process,
analyze, and archive the 1-min spectra so that this valuable
data source is not lost.
- 1 22-23 JAN 1980

be calculated and compared to the observed spectral width. - - - ; 2hl2 DH_ l'n9
- ·- ·- : UH[flPOlRTEO 16 JAN 1980 IS: 8·16:56 ASl
If the observed spectral width exceeds the calculated con- 19 19 19

tribution due to beam broadening, the turbulence contri-

bution to mean square fluctuating velocity v can be de-
18 18

duced by subtracting the contribution due to beam

broadening. The eddy dissipation rate can then be deter- "
mined from (Hocking, 1983)
IS

E = cv 2 N (3.9) •• "

where c is a numerical constant of about 0.4. In Eq.

(3.9) N is the Brunt- VaisaHi frequency defined by N 2
I I . • . ,..,/ ...... .J •••

10 · < 10 ' ' IO''

= (g 1o) ao 1az, where ois potential temperature and g is OISS I PAT I 0 ARTE IM>s · >o

gravitational acceleration. Hocking ( 1986) stresses that Eq. Fig. 3.4 Profile of Doppler spectral width and eddy dissipation rate
(3.9) is more appropriate for use with wind profiler data obtained with the Arecibo radar. Also shown are profiles of the Brunt-
than the conventional Doppler radar relationship that is Viiisiilii frequency and the diffusion coefficient. (After Sa to and Wood-
usually given in the form (e.g., Frisch and Clifford, 1974) man, 1982.)
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 541

3.6 Atmospheric Stability Measurement The power received from partial reflection from a stable
region of the atmosphere is given by (Friend, 1949)
A second major cause of radio wave propagation beyond
the horizon is partial reflection from stable layer structure
in the free atmosphere (Feinstein, 1951; Friis et al., 1957; (3.12)
du Castel et al., 1962). Early radar studies of the clear
atmosphere also focused attention on this mechanism to
explain some of the echoes observed. Friend ( 1949) de- where a is an efficiency factor and I p 12 is a power reflection
veloped the idea that sharp coherent gradients of radio coefficient that can be related to the temperature structure
refractive index could produce radar echoes observed at of the atmosphere as discussed in section 5. A striking
HF. Some of the relevant theory was developed by Atlas example of the qualitative relationship of backscattered
( 1959, 1964, 1965) in an attempt to explain clear-air echoes power at lower VHF to atmospheric stability is presented
observed by radars with centimeter-scale wavelength. in Fig. 3.6 (Larsen and Rottger, 1982). This figure illustrates
While at centimeter scale such echoes are now usually at- the capability of a vertically looking VHF radar to observe
tributed to insects and other natural targets, unambiguous the structure of frontal zones (Rottger, 1979; Larsen and
quasi-specular echoes are routinely observed by VHF ra- Rottger, 1985). It should be emphasized that the quasi-
dars at scales of several meters (Gage and Green, 1978; specular backscatter referred to here has been observed
Rottger and Liu, 1978; Tsuda et al., 1986; Hocking et al., primarily by radars operating at frequencies less than about
1986 ). 100-200 MHz, although the precise wavelength depen-
Gage and Green ( 1978) were the first to show that there dence of the scattering process has yet to be defined by
is a clear correspondence in echo magnitude looking ver- experiment.
tically at lower VHF with the background atmospheric sta-
bility. Figure 3.5 illustrates the close relationship that exists
between the observed echo magnitude looking vertically 617 MARCH 1981
and the potential temperature gradient deduced from a
balloon sounding taken about 50 km away. Apparently, 173
a very anisotropic, stable-layered structure embedded in
hydrostatically stable regions in the free atmosphere is very
effective in partially reflecting or scattering meter-scale ra-
dio waves. As will be discussed in the next section, it ap-
pears that echoes arise not from isolated sharp gradients 14 .3
as might be expected at the tropopause, but rather from a
multilayered structure filling the atmospheric volume with
an intensity dependent upon the gross hydrostatic stability
that forms the envelope of the stable layered structure.
Thus, there are indications, as yet untested in detail, that ~ 11 3
the VHF radars can be used to measure atmospheric sta- N

bility at least in the lower stratosphere.

83

16

14
~'
i. 11 53
i

10 20 lO 40 ·6\;-0----;_lll!.--+.---;~'"-/. 23
68 / 62 (-t/ kml-
12 18 00 06 UTC
Fig. 3.5 Vertical profiles of the normalized received signal observed
by the Sunset radar near 0000 UTC 26 March 1977. Also shown are Fig. 3.6 Time-height section of atmospheric stability illustrated by
the vertical profile of the potential temperature gradient and the means of reflectivity contours observed by the SOUSY-VHF radar.
vertical temperature profile from the 0000 UTC 26 March 1977, Den- Difference between contour lines is 2 dB. Intensity of shading cor-
ver NWS sounding. (After Gage and Green, 1978.) responds to intensity of echoes. (After Larsen and Riittger, 1982.)
542 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
An immediate consequence of the capability to observe
stable atmospheric layers at lower VHF is that the tropo-
pause can be easily detected. Tropopause detection is pos-
sible owing to the fact that the static stability changes
markedly at the tropopause. Based on the relationship of
backscattered power to hydrostatic atmospheric stability
(discussed in section 5), Gage and Green ( 1982) developed
an objective method for determining the tropopause
height. This method has been incorporated into automated
routines (Gage et al., 1986a; Sweezy and Westwater,
1986). As discussed in Gage et al. ( 1986a) tropopause
heights can be determined to an accuracy of ± several
hundred meters even when the vertical radar resolution
is as coarse as 2.2 km.
3. 7 Precipitation Measurement
While the major emphasis of this review concerns the
use of VHF I UHF radar for probing the clear atmosphere,
it is important to recognize that even the long wavelength
VHF radars are capable of detecting precipitation echoes.
In early thunderstorm studies Green et al. ( 1978) reported
bimodal echoes seen by the Sunset radar that contained
precipitation echoes as well as clear-air echoes. More re-
cently, considerable research has been done on this topic
(Fukao et al., 1985; Wakasugi et al., 1985).1t appears that
drop-size distributions as well as precipitation rates are
measurable using wind profiler data (Wakasugi et al., 1986,
1987a,b). A recent example of simultaneous clear-air and
precipitation echoes seen at 400 MHz is shown in Fig. 3.7
obtained during the MIST (Microburst and Severe Thun-
derstorm) experiment by Forbes and colleagues at Penn
State (Forbes, personal communication). The data were
taken during a steady light rain.
-,--1-=-=3'-'JrU=LY___.19~8,..6,----'2,_..15.-.,2,_,G..,_,M"-'T'------"G"';A-'-'TE.._,.12.___,1"-".2"'km"-'--"AG.,.,L~•ow:~ ••
12m1s 8 0
- FRED. SHIFT UP
Fig. 3.7 Doppler spectrum showing clear-air and precipitation
echoes during light rain. The data were observed by the Penn State
400-MHz profiler during the MIST program (G. Forbes, personal
communication).
4 MORPHOLOGY Of THE
SCATTERING MEDIUM
The free atmosphere is by and large stably stratified al-
though notable exceptions occur in convection and during
wave-breaking events. Given the fact that turbulence is
suppressed by stable stratification it is fair to ask how it is
possible to maintain small-scale structure in the atmo-
spheric radio refractive index field of sufficient magnitude
to produce radar echoes over scales ranging from centi-
meters to meters. A related question, considering that tur-
bulence is dissipative, is: Why do the refractive irregular-
ities persist as they are observed to do?
A proper understanding of the small-scale structure of
the free atmosphere lies at the very heart of radar probing
of the clear atmosphere. The radar echoes tell much about
the structure of the atmosphere, but in order to interpret
and understand fully the radar echoes we need additional
knowledge about the dynamics of stratified turbulence. In
the absence of detailed knowledge we resort to models
that "explain" (or are at least consistent with) observations.
Much has been learned about the dynamics of turbu-
lence in stratified fluids but much remains to be done. The
subject is being pursued actively by fluid dynamicists
through laboratory experiments and through numerical
modeling. A recent review of current developments has
been given by Hopfinger (1987). A subject of much con-
temporary interest is the collapse of three-dimensional
turbulence into internal waves and quasi-two-dimensional
stratified turbulence. This subject has been explored by
Lilly ( 1983) and Riley et al. ( 1981). The latter authors
show that in stratified fluids at low Froude numbers (F
= U I LN, where U is a characteristic velocity and L is a
characteristic length scale) the motion field can be regarded
as comprised of coexisting fields of internal waves and
quasi-horizontal motions. Consistent with their analysis,
internal waves radiate energy away and the quasi-hori-
zontal motions are left behind. Since internal waves possess
little or no vorticity, this quasi-horizontal field of motion
8bove no1se
level has been referred to as the "vortical mode" by Miiller
( 1984) and Miiller et al. ( 1986). Miiller ( 1984), based on
his research on the oceanic internal wave field during IWEX
(Internal Wave Experiment; Miiller et al., 1978), suggested
that the current finestructure "contamination" of oceanic
internal wave spectra may be a manifestation of the vortical
mode. Observations clearly show that vertical structure is
a very important part of this motion field.
The vortical mode is the same dynamical process referred
to as stratified turbulence by Lilly ( 1983) and as quasi-
two-dimensional turbulence by Gage and Nastrom ( 1985,
12m/s 1986) and Hopfinger ( 1987). In the remainder of this paper
+ FREQ. SHIFT DOWN this process will be referred to as quasi-two-dimensional
stratified turbulence. Its dynamics may differ from that of
classical two-dimensional turbulence ( Kraichnan, 196 7)
that does not possess vertical structure. Recent numerical
simulations by Herring and Metais ( 1988) confirm the im-

portance of the vertical structure in quasi-two-dimensional
stratified turbwence. While it is not yet clear how important
a role quasi-two-dimensional stratified turbulence plays
in ocean and atmospheric dynamics, it may well be as-
sociated with much of the finescale structure seen in the
ocean and atmosphere.
Following the work of Thorpe ( 1973a,b) and many oth-
ers, the generation of three-dimensional turbulence in
stratified shear flow is now understood largely in terms of
Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. Numerous radar studies
have confirmed the importance of the Kelvin-Helmholtz
mechanism for generating atmospheric turbulence (Atlas
400
0 0·3
W-L..J
mK cm-1
z bulence in well-defined layers provides a conceptual model
m of atmospheric refractivity structure that fits most obser-
soo
600L---------~--------------i-----~
Fig. 4.1 Examples of Pacific Ocean microstructure obtained by
C.S. Cox from two separate instruments dropped 50 m apart (after
Woods and Wiley, 1972) .
RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 543
et al., 1970; Browning et al., 1973; Hardy et al., 1973) as
will be reviewed in section 6. The experiments of Woods
( 1968) in the ocean show the evolution of the Kelvin-
Helmholtz mechanism in that medium.
Long before the recent explosion of interest in stratified
turbulence, radio propagation experiments led many re-
searchers to conclude that the atmosphere was comprised
of a mixture of small-scale turbulence and quasi-coherent
layered structure (e.g., du Castel, 1966). The layered
structure is most pronounced in the lower stratosphere
where the atmosphere is hydrostatically very stable. A clear
example of the kind of stable layer structure thought to
exist in the stable free atmosphere is shown in Fig. 4. 1.
This figure shows ocean microstructure in two vertical
profiles from instruments dropped 50 m apart. Note the
multilayered random structure in the vertical and trans-
verse coherency evidenced by the similarity in vertical
structure in the two profiles. Woods and Wiley ( 1972) de-
scribe the ocean thermocline region as comprised of sheets
and layers. In their terminology sheets are extremely thin
stable regions of concentrated temperature gradient sep-
arated by thicker layers of weak turbulence. The origin of
the microstructure of the sheets is still unclear but Woods
and Wiley suggest that the occurrence of Kelvin-Helmholtz
instability on the sheets causes the formation of multiple
sheets as illustrated in Fig. 4.2. An excellent review of the
dynamics of ocean microstructure is found in Gregg
(1987).
The application of these concepts to explain atmospheric
structure has been considered by many authors including
Woods ( 1969) and Rottger ( 1980). The occurrence of tur-
vations. An example of multiple layers of turbulence seen
by radar appears in Fig. 3 of Ottersten ( 1969a). Other
examples of multiple-layered structure on a finer scale are
presented in Gossard et al. ( 1970, 1971, 1985) and Gossard
(Chapter 27a). At least some of the layered structure ob-
served by microwave radars may be the result of the inner
scale of turbulence being large (see section 3) .
Care must be exercised in extrapolating results from the
ocean to infer the nature of atmospheric turbulence. The
free atmosphere is considerably more turbulent than the
deep ocean. To see this, consider the eddy dissipation rate
" 0
Fig. 4.2 Illustration of the fonnation of multiple sheets by successive
mixing events (after Woods and Wiley, 1972).
544 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
in the two media. The eddy dissipation rate and eddy dif-
fusivity are related as [cf. Eq. ( 3.11)]
( 4.1)
A relative measure of turbulence intensity is given by the
ratio EjvN 2 • Near the ocean thermocline Gregg (1984)
gives values of 30 or so for this ratio. In the free atmosphere
typical mean values of E are thought to be of order 1 em 2
s- 3 and vN 2 is of order w-s cm 2 s- 3 • Thus EjvN 2 in the
free atmosphere is of order 105 and values are occasionally
two to three orders of magnitude larger.
The reason why the free atmosphere is much more tur-
bulent than the deep ocean probably relates to the fact
that the atmosphere is more compressible and is filled with
internal waves that grow exponentially with height and
"break" into turbulence at some altitude where their con-
tributions to local shears and lapse rates produce local in-
stability (Fritts, 1984). The concept that vertically prop-
agating internal waves are responsible for much free
atmospheric turbulence is an old idea strongly supported
by new observations.
We are a long way from a complete understanding of
the dynamics that determine the morphology of the small-
scale structure of the free atmosphere. In situ observations
are rare, yet an increasing wealth of data from VHF /UHF
Doppler radars contributes substantially to a descriptive
climatology of the refractivity turbulence morphology of
the free atmosphere. In the following subsections these
data shall be classified as "turbulent" and "quasi-specular"
and examined separately.
4.1 Morphology of Turbulent Echoes
Much has been learned about the morphology of at-
mospheric turbulence from Doppler radar studies of the
clear atmosphere. Early research focused on case studies
that illustrated various aspects of layered turbulence. These
early studies demonstrated that small-scale turbulence
preceded the occurrence of large-scale Kelvin-Helmholtz
instabilities. Indeed, the existence of turbulence on the
smallest scales to which a radar is sensitive is needed before
the larger-scale instability can be seen. A perspective on
the occurrence of turbulence at the smallest scales in the
atmosphere can be gained by considering the role of the
gradient Richardson number,
Ri =£ ao/(av)
8 az az
2
(4.2)
This parameter defines the local dynamic stability of a
stratified free shear layer. Theory requires that Ri < !
somewhere in the flow in order to have instability. In mea-
suring the Richardson number in the atmosphere, how-
ever, it is usually necessary to define Ri over a specified
altitude increment, az:
Ri
~
=£A8/(Av)
oaz az
2
(4.3)
As pointed out by Reiter and Lester ( 1969), this Richardson
number is scale dependent and typically there is enough
structure in the "mean" velocity and temperature fields
such that min(Ri~J < min(Ri~,) provided az 1 < az2 . In
other words, high-resolution measurements of velocity and
temperature are required to observe the small values of
Richardson number that accompany small-scale instabil-
ities and turbulence in the free atmosphere.
The occurrence of shearing instability at very small scales
was observed using microwave FM-CW radar by Gossard
et al. ( 1971) and Metcalf and Atlas ( 1973). These obser-
vations show evidence of finescale structure as discussed
in Metcalf (1975) and Gossard (Chapter 27a).
More recently, several studies have been made of the
morphology of turbulence using VHF /UHF Doppler radar.
High-resolution observations of stratospheric turbulence
structure have been presented by Woodman ( 1980a,b).
Woodman used pulse coding techniques to obtain 30-m
vertical resolution within the pulse length transmitted by
the radar. The technique is similar to that discussed by
Rottger and Schmidt (1979). Woodman's experiments at
Arecibo were made at 430 and 2380 MHz. He found a
stratified or layered structure ( cf. Fig. 2 from Sa to and
Woodman, 1982).
Sato and Woodman investigated the layered structure
of turbulence and showed a clear association of persistent
turbulence echoes with regions of pronounced shear and
enhanced spectral width. The echoes occurred in thin re-
gions and persisted in some cases for many hours. Major
persistent features were observed to be spaced 1-2 km
apart in the vertical and showed downward phase prop-
agation, suggesting that they were the manifestation of
local instabilities occurring in long-period, inertial gravity
waves as observed by Barat ( 1982). Another possibility is
that they were due to local instabilities of orographic lee
waves induced by the terrain at Arecibo (C.O. Hines, per-
sonal communication).
Patches or blobs of locally intense turbulence have been
observed in several experiments. Balsley and Peterson
( 1981) reported regions of enhanced backscatter observed
on certain azimuths of VAD scans using the 1290-MHz
Chatanika radar, which was then located near Fairbanks,
Alaska. These authors were able to show that the turbu-
lence patches moved with a velocity consistent with the
mean wind determined by the Doppler radar. Wand et al.
( 1983), working with the 440-MHz radar located at Mill-
stone Hill in Massachusetts, used fine Doppler resolution
to infer the thickness of turbulent layers. The Millstone
Hill radar observations were made at relatively low ele-
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 545

vation angles and long ranges to minimize ground clutter 20

problems. As a consequence the Doppler spectral width is
dominated by the vertical shear of the horizontal wind. 0659
This enabled the authors to infer the maximum layer 0706
thickness L.nax from the Doppler spectral width tl.f:

tl.f >..
L.nax = 81r Ts cosE, (4.4)

where T8 is the Brunt-Vaisala period and E is the elevation KM

angle. From the observed Doppler spectral width Wand
et al. concluded typical layer thicknesses are less than 20-
60 m in the troposphere.
Fukao et al. ( 1986) have reported high-resolution tur-
bulence observations using the 46-MHz MU radar located
near Shigaraki, Japan. Their observations take advantage
of the rapid beam-steering capability of the MU radar. The
resulting azimuth-time contours of echo magnitude show
additional evidence of the advection of turbulent patches
by the mean wind. Fukao et al. estimate the dimensions
of the turbulent patches to be about 25 km long and less
than 500 m thick.
While a limited number of case studies of turbulent 5
patches have been made with VHF /UHF Doppler radar, -20
the use of fixed-beam VHF /UHF wind-profiling Doppler
LOG
radar has led to the accumulation of large amounts of tur- Fig. 4.3 Vertical profiles of C" 2 taken alternately every minute at
bulence data. Much of this has been analyzed in terms of two elevation angles (15°, 25°) using the 440-MHz Millstone radar
Cn 2 • Early profiles of Cn 2 in the free atmosphere were de- (after Watkins and Wand, 1981).
termined by VanZandt et al. ( 1978) with the Sunset radar.
A sample Cn 2 profile is shown in Fig. 4.3. This profile was
taken using the 440-MHz Millstone Hill radar in Massa-
chusetts during July 1980. Unlike the Sunset results, these tilting should correlate well with the magnitude of wind
data were taken at low elevation angles (15° and 25°). speed. Tilting of layers could influence Cn 2 if the turbulence
Shown are one-minute profiles alternating between the is anisotropic or if the mesoscale tilting of stable layers
two beam positions. In this example there is little horizontal plays an important role in the generation of turbulence as
variation, but in other cases Watkins and Wand (1981) suggested by Scorer (1969). Nastrom et al. also showed
found significant variations over the 15-20 km separation that Cn 2 variations at most levels are best correlated with
between the beams. They also found evidence of turbulent the wind speed at the tropopause. Correlations of Cn 2 with
blobs moving with the wind. wind shear using low-resolution observations are usually
Taking advantage of the voluminous turbulence data less than the correlations of Cn 2 with wind speed. These
from Poker Flat, Alaska, and Platteville, Colorado, Nas- correlations have been discussed in some detail by Smith
trom et al. ( 1986) have prepared a climatology describing et al. ( 1983) and case studies using the Arecibo radar have
the statistical character of the observed refractivity tur- shown echo power and shear to be well correlated in high-
bulence as parameterized by Cn 2 • Frequency distributions resolution observations (Tsuda et al., 1985 ).
of logCn 2 are found to be lognormal, as found in the
boundary-layer by Chadwick and Moran (1980). Values
4.2 Aspect Sensitivity of Backscattered VHF
of logCn 2 at b'oth locations were found to vary considerably
with season. Vertical profiles of logCn 2 are reproduced in
Echo Power and the Morphology of ·
Fig. 4.4. Monthly mean values of Cn 2 are found to vary by
Quasi-Specular Echoes
as much as an order of magnitude through the course of Tropospheric radio propagation beyond the horizon led
the annual cycle. As shown in Fig. 4.5, variations in Cn 2 many researchers to propose quasi-specular reflection from
are well correlated with variations in the mean standard atmospheric layers as an important part of the phenom-
deviation aw of vertical velocity and the mean wind speed. enology of troposcatter. Early VHF radar experiments
The reason for the correlation in these parameters is un- (Rottger and Liu, 1978; Gage and Green, 1978) showed
known but it may be related to the tilting of layers due to even stronger evidence of quasi-specular reflection in con-
orographically generated waves. It is anticipated that layer junction with enhanced aspect sensitive backscattered
546 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

a POKER FLAT
KM
CODE: 1=JAN
w.s.
(m/s)
log c.•
12.5 KM
ow
(cm/s)
19.0- 2=FEB 22 -18.1
18
16.9-

14.7-
A=OCT
B=NOV
C=DEC
20

18
-18.2

-18.3
c.·
"
/cr/~, 16

16 -18.4
ow?";'"-
/ \ /'\ 14
12.5- 14 -18.5
"- 6 I ' j cf \
12 -18.6 o1-<,..__-« w.s. L -q_ I
I
/
)!--..\-,.
\
12
10.3-
10 -18.7 I I b
It (Cn' C7W)=0.83 I 10
8.2- 8 -18.8 It (Cn' W.S.)=0.51

0 N D J F M A M J J A
6.0- 1981 1982

Fig. 4.5 Time series of monthly values of loge. 2 at 12.5 km at Poker

3.8- Flat, Alaska. Monthly mean time series of wind speed and the mean
-19 -18 -17 standard deviation of vertical velocity are included for comparison.
Poker Flat LOG Crl (After Nastrom et al., 1986.)

b
KM
CODE: 1=JAN
14.6 2=FEB phase constructive interference that occurs within the first
Fresnel zone whenever the probing beam is orthogonal to
13.1 A=OCT
B=NOV the reflecting layer. The aspect sensitivity of the enhanced
11.7 specular echoes can be examined by means of an elevation
scan, by observing the backscattered power obtained si-
10.2
multaneously as a function of zenith angle X, or by simply
8.8 looking vertically and observing the time variation of
7.3 backscattered power as atmospheric layers tilt back and
forth about their mean horizontal positions.
5.9 To observe clearly the aspect sensitivity of quasi-specular
4.4 echoes requires a VHF radar that can be scanned very
rapidly between the vertical and several off-vertical beam
3.0
positions. This was done by Rottger et al. ( 1981) using a
portable VHF radar in conjunction with the Arecibo radar.
-18 -17 -16 More recently, Tsuda et al. ( 1986) used the MU radar to
PLATTEVILLE LOG Cfl examine the aspect sensitivity of VHF backscattered power.
Fig. 4.4 Monthly mean values of logC/ at (a) Poker Flat and (b) During these experiments the MU radar scanned succes-
Platteville. Lines connecting the values for some months have been sively through a series of beam positions designed to define
added to aid visualization. (After Nastrom et al., 1986.) the angular dependence of backscattered power Px (where
X is the zenith angle) with 2 o resolution. The one-way 3-
dB beamwidth of the MU radar is 3.6° and the antenna
power from vertically directed radar beams. The enhanced gain decreases by about 10 dB at 3° zenith angle. The
backscattered power was found to be greatest from stable aspect sensitivity of the backscattered power is illustrated
regions of the lower stratosphere (Gage and Green, 1978). in Fig. 4.6. Three curves are plotted: a very aspect sensitive
Rottger ( 1980) has shown that the correlation time asso- stratospheric curve, a nearly isotropic tropospheric curve,
ciated with the fading of these enhanced echoes is much and an intermediate tropospheric curve for an enhanced
longer than for typical turbulent echoes. scattering region. Figure 4.7 contains a scatter plot of P0
The observations of aspect-sensitive enhanced echoing versus Po/ Ps. Note the clear relationship between these
from hydrostatically stable regions of the atmosphere point two parameters in the stratosphere; i.e., the strongest
toward the coexistence of echoing processes originating echoes are the most aspect sensitive. The tropospheric
from active turbulence and from stable refractivity struc- echoes are quite different. Some of the strongest tropo-
ture. A VHF radar sees a quasi-specular echo if the radar spheric echoes are nearly isotropic whereas others exhibit
beam illuminates one or more stable layers of pronounced aspect sensitivity similar to the stratospheric echoes. An
radio refractive index gradients. The enhanced echo pre- examination of the Doppler spectra reveals two different
sumably occurs due to the transverse coherency and in- Doppler spectral shapes: a narrow sharply peaked spec-
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 547

Dec 20 - 21, 1984 VERTICAL VELOCITY, SIGNAL POWER, AND SPECTRAL WIDTH
AT HEIGHT OF 10.7 km vs TIME
MST RADAR, POKER FLAT, ALASKA

0
CD
\J

Ei -5
31::
0
a_
0
23 -10
LJ..J
LJ..J
>
~ -15 --e--10.7 - 14.6 km
_J
LJ..J
0:::
--e-- 6. 4 - 6. 8 km
____...___ 7. 0 - 7. 6 km
-20
0 2 4 6 8 10 ,,~
0
i- 10
ZENITH ANGLE (deg.l ......
.J
a: E
~

~- 05
Fig. 4.6 The zenith angle dependence of backscattered power ob-
0ollO AST
served on 20-21 December 1984 using the 46-MHz MU radar in 0400 04l0 0500
12 OCTOBER 1979
OSlO 0600

Japan (after Tsuda et al., 1986).

trum at x = 0° and a much broader, less sharply peaked
spectrum at X ;;;. 4 °. The Doppler spectra obtained for X
= 2° are asymmetric with some features of the two kinds
of spectra described above. These results seem consistent
with the view that two different kinds of scattering are
evident in these observations.
Time variations of backscattered power seen by a ver-
tically directed VHF radar can be caused by systematic tilts
of stable layers. Figure 4.8 contains a time series of obser-
vations of echo magnitude, spectral width and vertical ve-
locity observed on the vertical beam of the Poker Flat MST
radar (Gage et al., 1981a). These observations show that
the backscattered power fluctuates with a period half that
exhibited by the vertical velocity. A peak can be seen in
the backscattered power as the vertical velocity crosses
DEC 20-21, 1984
TROPOSPHERE STRATOSPHERE
6.07 - 8.02 km 11.02-15.07
Fig. 4.8 Time series of vertical velocity, signal power and spectral
width observed during the wave event of 12 October 1979 with the
50-MHz Poker Flat MST radar. Positive velocity values are downward
in this figure. (After Gage et al., 1981a.)
zero. The apparent vertical velocity is actually the sum of
the true vertical velocity plus a component of the horizontal
motion that changes with the systematic periodic tilting
of stable isentropic surfaces. There is, of course, no com-
ponent of horizontal velocity when the isentropic layers
are horizontal and the enhanced specular echoes are ob-
served. As for the Tsuda et al. ( 1986) observations de-
scribed above, the quasi-specular echoes at vertical inci-
dence are characterized by very narrow, sharply peaked
spectra while the presumably off-vertical echoes are not
so sharply peaked and are much broader. The beamwidth
of the Poker Flat antenna is very similar to the MU radar.
The horizontal wind velocity is close to 15 m s -I so the
observed vertical velocities would be consistent with tilts
of a maximum excursion of about 6° off vertical. The
km weakest echoes in Fig. 4.8 are about an order of magnitude
less than the strongest quasi-specular echoes, which is

;
30 consistent with a tilt of about 5°.
The existence of quasi-specular echoes observable at
20 \: lower VHF implies a stable layered structure of radio re-
fractive index with very sharp vertical gradients possessing
.... some transverse coherency. The existence of sharp laminae
.
,::a . .
.if ..
within low-level atmospheric inversions has been shown
by Gossard et al. ( 1984, 1985) from high vertical resolution
in situ data taken on the 300-m BAO tower. Tsuda et al.
-50 -40 -30 -20 -10 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10 ( 1986) found that the quasi-specular echoes are confined
P0 (dB l P0 (dB l
to relatively thin regions of about 250 m thickness. Al-
Fig. 4.7 Scatter plot of P0 j P8 vs Po in the (left) troposphere and though not yet confirmed by direct in situ measurements,
(right) stratosphere observed on 20-21 December 1984 using the 46- it seems likely that a multiple layer finestructure within
MHz MU radar in Japan (after Tsuda et al., 1986). the stable region is responsible for echoes.
548 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
The question of whether the specular echoes arise from
single or multiple layers has been investigated by Sheen
et al. ( 1985) and Green and Gage ( 1985). Sheen et al.
studied the signal statistics of backscattered power from
the SOUSY radar. If the partial reflection were occurring
from an isolated layer the intensity distribution of received
power should have a Rice distribution, which is a special
case of the Nakagami m distribution with m greater than
one. Most of the data examined by Sheen et al. possessed
an m coefficient close to one (a Rayleigh distribution) con-
sistent with volume scattering. Green and Gage showed
that backscattered power observed on VHF radars is ap-
proximately proportional to ar consistent with the partial
reflection from multiple layers simulated by Hocking and
Rottger ( 1983). Radar interferometers may permit a more
detailed examination of atmospheric layered structure
(Kudeki, 1988) to determine the nature of the scattering
mechanism with greater confidence.
While the above observations imply the presence of a
finestructure of stable laminae within hydrostatically stable
regions of the free atmosphere, they do not provide a ready
explanation for the nature of this layered structure. As
noted earlier, a similar finestructure of stable laminae is
known to exist in the ocean as well. Woods and Wiley
( 1972) suggest episodic mixing events as the cause of the
layered structure, and this could be the cause in the at-
mosphere as well (e.g., see Rottger, 1980). VanZandt and
Vincent ( 1983) have suggested that the layered structure
may be associated with low-frequency inertial gravity
waves. While such waves certainly exist and possess the
requisite transverse coherency, it is doubtful that any low-
frequency inertial waves possess the small vertical wave-
lengths necessary to produce the observed echoes. As
mentioned at the beginning of this section, Miiller ( 1984)
has suggested that ocean current finestructure is associated
with a field of motion that he refers to as the vortical mode
(here called quasi-two-dimensional stratified turbulence).
Since numerical simulations of quasi-two-dimensional
stratified turbulence (Herring and Metais, 1988) show a
simultaneous transfer of energy to smaller vertical and
larger horizontal scales, the possibility that stratified tur-
bulence may be responsible for the finescale layered struc-
ture of atmospheric refractivity fields needs to be examined.
Additional mechanisms that could be responsible for the
generation of finescale refractivity structure in the stable
free atmosphere include critical layer absorption, viscosity
waves (Hooke and Jones, 1986), and refraction of prop-
agating waves associated with a change in hydrostatic sta-
bility (Gossard et al., 1971).
5 THEORETICAL MODELS FOR
SIMULATING BACKSCATTERED
POWER
In the previous section the observed features of back-
scattered power seen by VHF /UHF radars have been
summarized and a conceptual model of free atmospheric
structure has been introduced to interpret these observa-
tions in terms of a variety of scattering and reflection
mechanisms. The scattering/reflection mechanisms that
have been considered to explain various aspects of the
observed echoes include scattering from isotropic turbu-
lence, scattering from anisotropic turbulence, Fresnel re-
flection from isolated layers, and Fresnel scattering from
multiple stable layers. In addition Rottger ( 1980) discusses
diffuse reflection from rough surfaces. Most of the above
mechanisms have been postulated and developed to some
extent within the context of tropospheric radio propagation
beyond the horizon ( du Castel, 1966), but they have been
explored in greater detail in the context of radar studies
of the clear atmosphere (Gage and Balsley, 1980).
The models surveyed in this section have been devel-
oped in order to account quantitatively for various features
of the backscattered power observed by VHF /UHF radars.
They should be regarded as complementary since no single
model accounts for all of the features observed by these
radars. This is especially true of the highly anisotropic
quasi-specular echoes observed at lower VHF that may
require more than one scattering/ reflection mechanism to
account for their angular dependence. Generally, these
models are in an evolutionary state of development. Some
of the models are still tentative and much work remains
to be done to verify them. Nevertheless, they provide sta-
tistical estimates of the magnitude of backscattered power
that can be useful in designing new radar systems. Fur-
thermore, they provide a rationale for relating backscat-
tered power to atmospheric parameters such as eddy dis-
sipation rate and atmospheric stability.
Models for scattered power based on turbulent scattering
can be traced back to Booker and Gordon ( 1950), Megaw
(1957), Silverman ( 1956) and many others. The theory is
brought together in a general framework by Tatarskii
( 1971). Specific application to backscattering from the clear
atmosphere has been considered by Atlas et al. ( 1966) and
Ottersten ( 1969a,b). Experimental confirmation of the
theory was forthcoming in a series of experiments con-
ducted at Wallops Island (Kropfli et al., 1968). The char-
acteristics of the backscattered power observed by a VHF I
UHF radar at zenith angles exceeding 10° or so appear to
be consistent with a model having approximately locally
isotropic turbulence at the Bragg scale of the radar. The
observed backscattered power is related to Cn 2 as in Eqs.
(3.7) and (3.8). According to the theory (Tatarskii, 1971)
Cn 2 depends upon the outer scale of turbulence L0 and the
mean gradient of refractive index M:
(5.1)
where
M = -77 X 10-6 E.
T
d lnO 15 500q d 1n8 _ 7800 dq)
( (5.2)
X dz+ T dz dz"
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 549

In Eq. (5.1) a 2 is a universal constant close to 2.8 and cl is where

a ratio of eddy diffusivities usually taken equal to unity.
In Eq. (5.2) pis atmospheric pressure, Tis absolute tem- kz = k COSX
perature, (J is potential temperature, and q is the specific
humidity. In the upper troposphere and stratosphere q is
kx = k sinX coscjJ
small enough that the dependence of M upon q is negli- ky = k sinX sine/>
gible. Since M can be determined from rawinsonde data,
Eqs. ( 5.1) and ( 5.2) provide a starting point for calculating and where X is the zenith angle and dis the azimuth angle.
Cn 2 profiles from archival radiosonde data. The ability to For the special case in which lz < lx = ly, Eq. (5.4) can
simulate a Cn 2 climatology from past rawinsonde data be expressed as
would enable intelligent design of future radar systems
with due concern to altitude coverage, etc., over a broad
range of conditions.
In a series of papers VanZandt et al. (1978, 1981) de-
veloped a theoretical model for the calculation of Cn 2 from = A ( ra, X)· 1lisotropic (5.5)
archival rawinsonde data based on Eq. ( 5.1). The major
difficulty that must be overcome is to relate or parameterize where A ( ra, X) is an anisotropy factor defined by
small-scale fluctuations in terms of large-scale variables
that can be measured. In VanZandt et al. (1978) Lo was ra
A(ra,X)= . 2 2 2 2 (5.6)
treated unrealistically as a constant within turbulent layers. (sm X+ ra cos X)
Within each slab defined by the vertical resolution of ra-
winsonde data, the value of ( Cn 2 )turb was calculated from and r a = fz/ lx. The zenith angle dependence of the an-
Eq. ( 5.1) using L0 of 10m. An important part of the model isotropy factor is very sensitive to the value of ra as can
is to specify the probability of occurrence of turbulence or be seen in Fig. 5. 1. The anisotropic scattering model pre-
the fraction F of the slab that is expected to be turbulent. dicts a fairly uniform change in backscattered power within
Here F is determined from a statistical calculation that takes about 30° of the zenith angle. Waterman et al. (1985)
into account the stability and mean shear of each slab. The have shown that there are occasions when tropospheric
result is echoes exhibit aspect sensitivity that is quite consistent
with this anisotropic scattering model. However, obser-
C/ = F·(C/)turb (5.3)

in each slab. For each range gate the volume average Cn 2

is obtained by weighting each slab by its thickness.
The model has evolved considerably since 1978 and now
contains a more realistic probabilistic treatment of L0 as
well as F (Warnock and VanZandt, 1985). Profiles of Cn 2
calculated from the model compare favorably with ob-
served profiles of Cn 2 obtained with several VHF/ UHF
radars. The model, however, is only pertinent to back-
scatter from hydrostatically stable regions of the free at-
mosphere where turbulence arises from shear instability.
Many of the features observed by radars operating at <(

lower VHF cannot be adequately simulated by an isotropic

scattering model. Aspect sensitive echoes have been ob-
served in the troposphere as well as in the stratosphere.
One way to account for the aspect sensitivity is by means
of an anisotropic scattering model in which correlation
distances lx, ly, tz differ. Staras (1955) developed a treat-
ment of forward-scatter radio propagation in anisotropic
turbulence. Gage and Balsley ( 1980) adapted Staras' s result
for backscatter and found the volume reflectivity
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
X (degrees)
_ 87r 4~fxfyfz
(5.4) Fig. 5.1 Zenith angle dependence for anisotropic turbulence with
1lanisotropic- A4[(fxkx)2 + (fyky)2 + (fzkz)2]2 various ratios of r. = lz/ lx < 1 (after Gage and Balsley, 1980).
550 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

vations of the zenith angle dependence of backscattered tion that many layers are involved necessitates a statistical
power by Tsuda et al. (1986; see Fig. 4.6 of this chapter) approach to the estimation of backscattered power. In the
show a sharp drop in backscattered power concentrated case of Fresnel scatter, Gage et al. ( 1985) found that
within about 6° of zenith with a much smaller decrease
at larger zenith angles. (5.9)
There is a long history of attributing at least some of the
tropospheric over-the-horizon radio propagation to re- where ~n(k) is the vertical wavenumber spectrum of gen-
flection processes (Friis et al., 195 7; du Castel et al., 1962). eralized potential refractive index that can be related to
Reflection processes have also been considered as a cause the spectrum of vertical displacements Ei.(k) by (VanZandt
of radar echoes from the clear atmosphere (Friend, 1949; and Vincent, 1983)
Atlas, 1965; Saxton et al., 1964; Gage and Green, 1978;
Rottger and Liu, 1978). The results of decades of experi- ~n(k) = E1(k)lvF (5.10)
ments suggest that the reflection process is a very important
contributor to radar echoes in certain geometries, but pri- so that
marily at wavelengths longer than about 1 meter. With
long wavelengths there is a greater likelihood of quasi-
coherent layers of radio refractive index with sharp vertical p = a2PTA/~r [MF(2k zW (5.11)
r 16z2X2 I

gradients on a scale less than a wavelength ( cf. Gossard,

1987).
where
In the case of an isolated horizontal layer of concentrated
refractive index gradient with transverse coherency ex-
F(2k, z) 2 = 4k 2E1(2k, z). (5.12)
tending across a Fresnel zone, the backscattered power is
related to the power reflection coefficient by Eq. (3.12).
An example of model backscattered power calculations
The power reflection coefficient Ip 12 is given by
obtained for Fresnel scatter is shown in Fig. 5. 2. The shape
of the vertical profile of backscattered power is dominated
2
dn ( -47riZ) by the vertical profile of M 2 which is determined by at-
IPI 2 = -11J+'I -exp - dz 12 (5.7)
4 -t;2 dz X mospheric density and stability. In addition, there appears
to be an exponential height dependence that reflects the
For a step of magnitude on, height dependence of E1(k, z). Since not too much is
known about the height dependence of the atmospheric
vertical displacement spectrum, this aspect of the model
(5.8) remains uncertain.

Accordingly, a coherent step of oT = 0.1 K located at 200 10,-----,-----,------,------

mb with T = 220 K implies I p 12 = 2.6 X 10- 16, which is POKER FLAT, AK

13 SEPTEMBER 1979
large enough to cause a rather substantial echo at VHF 18
1100 UT
.75 km RESOLUTION
( cf. Gage and Green, 1978). The result obtained here is
0 Model
appropriate to the case where the layer is infinitesimal in X Radar

thickness compared to the probing wavelength. In reality,

layers must possess a finite thickness and the profile shape
of dn ( z) / dz will determine I p 12 • Since in most cases no I 14
knowledge is available about the detailed structure of the
refractive index field on the scale required to calculate I p 1 2
~ 11
deterministically, and since it is likely that more than one
layer will contribute to the partial reflection process, a sta-
tistical approach is generally required for simulating the 10 x-----
contribution of partial reflection to backscattered power.
' 'x\
The concept of Fresnel reflection has been generalized 'f
X
by Gage et al. ( 1981 b, 1985) to include the case where
many layers randomly distributed in the vertical contribute I
61LO-----~l,-o2-----~J.,ol-----,':.o4-·---~~os
to the backscattered power. For this volume reflection pro-
cess Gage and Balsley ( 1980) used the terminology Fresnel
scatter for two reasons. First, the enhanced backscattered Fig. 5.2 Comparison of calculated and observed profiles of normal-
power was presumed to be related to the transverse co- ized backscattered power due to Fresnel scatter. Observations are
herency of the scattering medium. Second, the presump- from the Poker Flat, Alaska, MST radar (after Gage et al., 1985).

The pulse width dependence of the Fresnel scatter model
has been explored theoretically by Hocking and Rottger
( 1983) and experimentally by Green and Gage ( 1985).
The pulse width dependence in both studies was found
to be approximately linear in tl.r although Hocking and
Rottger showed that a more general dependence results if
M varies greatly with altitude. In principle, other than linear
dependence on pulse width can be expected whenever a
few thin (=100m) very stable layers dominate the back-
scattered power.
An alternative to the Fresnel scatter process described
above is quasi-specular reflection from the horizontally
oriented facets of waves on a multiplicity of layers within
the pulse volume such that the reflections from all the
facets add incoherently. Equation (5.7) would then be
summed for all contributing facets.
A more general approach to scattering/reflection
mechanisms in the free atmosphere is found in Doviak
and Zmic ( 1984). Earlier analyses of Tatarskii ( 1971) treat
the case where the correlation distance f 1 transverse to the
radar beam is much less than the Fresnel zone radius rF:
(5.13)
The development of Doviak and Zmic ( 1984) contains a
second-order expansion, first considered by Liu and Yeh
( 1980), which extends the validity of the analysis to in-
elude larger values of f 1 • According to their analysis the
Fresnel term is important if
ft > D(ln2) 112 f0.9tr = 0.29D (5.14)
where Dis the antenna diameter. For a typical VHF system
Dis about 100 m so that the Fresnel effect becomes im-
portant if f 1 exceeds 29m. For f 1 of order 10m the Fresnel
term is relatively small but the backscattered power is still
aspect sensitive. For the case of horizontal isotropy with
.ex = .ey = .eh and .ez ~ .eh, Doviak and Zmic derived an
expression for the zenith angle dependence of backscat-
tered power that is parametric in X. Doviak and Zmic used
this result to examine the angular dependence for aniso-
tropic backscattered power observed by the Arecibo radar
when it was used in conjunction with the mobile SOUSY-
VHF transmitter ( Rottger et al., 1981). They found that
the angular dependence at small zenith angles reported
by Rottger et al. could be simulated with .eh = 20 m and
that the dependence out to larger zenith angles could be
simulated by a combination of anisotropic and isotropic
scatter.
The angular dependence observed by Tsuda et al. ( 1986)
using the MU radar is somewhat sharper than the angular
dependence observed at Arecibo by Rottger et al. ( 1981 ) .
In order to model this sharper angular dependence it is
necessary to invoke values of .eh larger than 50 m, as shown
in Fig. 5.3. The observations plotted in Fig. 5.3 are taken
from Fig. 12b of Tsuda et al. ( 1986) and are for 30 minutes
RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 551
Aspect Sensitivity
of
Observed and Modeled
VHF Backscattered Power
ill o Mu radar 12.4 km
:s Tsuda et al (1986)
Q)
'C - Doviak-Zrnic Model
:e
a. Doviak and Zrnic (1984)
E
-10
<1l
Q)
-~
iii
Qi
a:
-20
Zenith angle (degrees)
Fig. 5.3 Comparison of zenith angle dependence observed by Tsuda
et al. (1986) with the theoretical model of Doviak and Zrnic (1984).
Model profiles are shown for four values of the parameter th.
of data taken at 12.4 km using the MU radar. For the MU
radar X = 6.45 m and D - 100m, implying that Fresnel
effects are needed to explain the sharp angular dependence
observed by Tsuda et al. ( 1986).
As is evident in Fig. 5.3 for large .eh pertinent to Fresnel
scatter, the Doviak and Zmic model fits the Tsuda et al.
data very well for small X. To fit the observations for X
> 4 ° it is necessary to postulate that different scattering
mechanisms are dominant for different ranges of x as sug-
gested in the work of Doviak and Zmic. This possibility is
illustrated in Fig. 5.4 where model curves appropriate to
Fresnel scatter, anisotropic turbulence, and isotropic tur-
bulence have been plotted. Together these model curves
approximate the angular dependence observed by Tsuda
et al. (1986).
The analysis of Doviak and Zmic ( 1984) represents a
major step forward for considering scattering/reflection
mechanisms within a general framework. In this connec-
tion they show that the reflection equation can be derived
from their scattering equations in the appropriate limits.
Doviak and Zmic propose that an echoing mechanism
should be considered scattering whenever there are several
or more scattering irregularities for which only a statistical
description of their properties is practical.
In this section theoretical models have been considered
that permit the calculation of backscattered power and its
angular distribution. Some of the models are still rather
primitive and there is plenty of room for the development
of more realistic models in the future. For example, the
Fresnel scattering model could be generalized and made
more realistic by taking into account the effect of small-
552 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

consequence of an instability mechanism. Hydrodynamic

Composite Model for Aspect stability theory is the discipline concerned with the study
Sensitivity of VHF Echoes of various instability mechanisms from a perspective of
theoretical fluid dynamics (Chandrasekhar, 1961; Lin,
1967; Drazin and Reid, 1981). The major mechanisms that
--Observed have been identified by fluid dynamicists as causing in-
as~ --- Fresnel scatter stabilities are 1) thermal (or convective) instability, 2)
centrifugal (or inertial) instability, and 3) shear flow in-
•••••• Anisotropic turbulence
Q)
-o - · - Isotropic turbulence stability. In the atmosphere these mechanisms can act on
... ...
:J
:!::: a variety of scales and in combination with one another
c. to produce rather complex states of atmospheric motion .
E
Ill
Q)
-10 ••
.···~,.
I
Instabilities are by their very nature transitory. Unlike
.:::: I waves that are typically stable oscillations, instabilities
I
ti1 I often lead to transformed states of fluid motion. The end
Q) I
a: I product of atmospheric instabilities is the generation of
I
I atmospheric waves or atmospheric turbulence although
I
I
other modes of atmospheric motion are certainly possible.
\
\
The basic instability mechanisms referred to above may
-20
\ occur "globally" or locally. "Global" or large-scale insta-
I
~--·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·- bilities occur when a basic state is unstable to perturbations.
A common example is thermal instability when a fluid is
0 heated uniformly from below. As a result of daytime in-
Zenith angle (degrees) solation the atmospheric boundary-layer is often thermally
unstable, but in the free atmosphere thermal instability
Fig. 5.4 Composite model for the angular dependence of backscat- usually occurs only locally, for example, when waves break
tered power observed by Tsuda et al. (1986). The composite model (see, for example, Fritts and Rastogi, 1985).
invokes contributions from Fresnel scatter, anisotropic turbulence, While 10.7-cm radars have been useful in exploring
and isotropic turbulence depending on the zenith angle. thermal instabilities in the planetary boundary-layer
(Hardy and Ottersten, 1969; Konrad, 1970; Gossard,
Chapter 27a), the major class of instabilities observed by
scale irregularities that would tend to limit the transverse radars in the free atmosphere has been stably stratified
coherence of stable layers. Such small-scale structure un- shear flow instability generally referred to as Kelvin-
doubtedly leads to specular glints that cannot be treated Helmholtz (KH) instability or KHI. The stability theory
within the context of the present model. Presumably, the for stratified shear flows has been studied rather exten-
effect of such irregularities would depend greatly on the sively for time-independent, spatially homogeneous, plane
wavelength of the probing wave. Indeed, the existence of parallel flow (e.g., see Miles, 1961; Howard, 1961; Mas-
such an effect may contribute to setting a short wavelength lowe, 1972; Drazin and Reid, 1981; Gossard and Hooke,
limit on the effectiveness of Fresnel scatter. More high- 1975). While the stability of a stratified shear layer or jet
resolution atmospheric observations would be extremely depends in detail upon the shape of the basic velocity and
useful to help understand these effects. A promising ap- temperature or density profiles, certain general results have
proach to understanding the scattering mechanisms in become widely recognized. For a stratified fluid it can be
greater detail is to examine the fading statistics of back- shown on the basis of linear theory that the local gradient
scattered power (see, for example, Sheen et al., 1985) as Richardson number must be less than 0.25 somewhere in
mentioned in section 4.2. the flow. Instabilities tend to arise in the vicinity of points
of inflection in the velocity profile where the shear is max-
imized and the local gradient Richardson number is min-
6 ATMOSPHERIC INSTABILITIES imized. The horizontal wavelength of the most rapidly
One of the major successes of Doppler radar studies of growing unstable disturbance is about 7.5 times the shear
the clear atmosphere has been the elucidation of the dy- layer thickness. Furthermore, it can be shown that the
namics and life cycle of clear-air turbulence (CAT) in the phase velocity of this kind of unstable disturbance is close
free atmosphere. Before the use of sensitive Doppler radars to the velocity at the location of instability. Many of the
to study the phenomenon, the origin of turbulence in the theoretical results cited above have been confirmed in lab-
clear atmosphere of sufficient intensity to interfere with oratory experiments (e.g., see Thorpe, 1973a,b; Scotti and
the comfort and safety of commercial aircraft operations Corcos, 1972).
was a mystery (Dutton and Panofsky, 1970). Early UHF radar observations at Wallops Island (Hicks
Generally speaking, turbulent fluid flow is the natural et al., 1967; Glover et al., 1969; Ottersten, 1969a) revealed

wavelike structures in the free atmosphere associated with
episodes of clear-air turbulence. These early studies were
also broadly consistent with the idea that the echoes were
manifestations of KHI in the free atmosphere. Reed and
Hardy ( 1972) presented a case study of a persistent intense
region of CAT associated with an upper-level frontal zone.
The radar observations taken at Wallops Island on 18
March 1969 showed several groups of waves, some in
clear-air at altitudes between 7 and 9 km and others in
cirrus clouds at altitudes between 9 and 11 km. The cirrus
waves had wavelengths close to 17 km and a crest-to-
trough amplitude of about 600 m. The clear-air waves were
judged to have horizontal wavelengths close to 30 km and
crest-to-trough amplitude of about 1.8 km. In addition, on
at least two occasions, secondary billow structure was ob-
served on the tilted portion of the long waves. These sec-
ondary billows possessed wavelengths of -1.6 km and a
crest-to-trough amplitude of-200m. Analysis of the wind
and temperature soundings at Wallops Island showed two
distinct shear layers with gradient Richardson number less
than 0.25 centered around 8.5 and 11.5 km. Aircraft reports
revealed CAT throughout the 7.5-11 km range. Further
analysis of the 18 March 1969 event was presented by
Hooke and Hardy (1975) who examined microbarograph
records in the Washington, D.C. area. These records
showed well-defined monochromatic waves in surface
pressure near Washington at the same time wavelike sig-
natures were being observed at Wallops Island. The wave
parameters evident in the surface pressure data were con-
sistent with those observed by the radar. This agreement
suggests that the events observed at Wallops Island were
part of a much larger scale system. Whether these waves
are actually a manifestation of KHI cannot be determined
without the additional information on the vertical structure
of the perturbed velocity field that can now be obtained
by Doppler radar.
Another case of CAT and KH billows observed using
the 10.7-cm wavelength radar at Wallops Island was pre-
sented by Hardy et al. ( 1973). These observations were
taken on 19 February 1970 combining radar, aircraft, and
a mesoscale network of eight radiosonde stations. These
coordinated observations documented KH billows that
could be seen in radar and aircraft data as depicted sche-
Fig. 6.1 A qualitative sketch of Kelvin-Helmholtz billows showing
the streamlines relative to the mean flow as deduced from aircraft
and radar data. The heavy line represents the radar echoes. The
horizontal line is the altitude of the aircraft relative to the echoes.
(After Hardy et al., 1973.)
RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 553
matically in Fig. 6.1. The billows occurred in a 300-400
m thick zone of very strong shear that had advanced be-
yond an associated surface cold front. Within the layer of
enhanced shear the Richardson number was about 0.15,
the wave velocity was found to be close to the mean wind
at the level of strongly sheared flow, and the wavelength
of the observed wave was close to 7.5 times the thickness
of the sheared region.
Similar studies of waves and wave-breaking processes
were made within the elevated marine inversion using FM-
CW radar (Atlas et al., 1970; Gossard et al., 1970; Metcalf
and Atlas, 1973). These studies show KHI may occur over
very small vertical scales of order a few meters or less,
especially in very stable regions of the atmosphere.
Doppler radar studies of KHI have been made utilizing
the 10.7-cm Defford radar in England (Browning, 1971).
Altogether Browning ( 1971 ) investigated 17 separate oc-
currences of large-amplitude KH billows and used hourly
radiosonde balloons tracked by precision radar to deter-
mine wind, temperature, and Richardson number profiles.
Large-amplitude billows were observed about 5% of the
time. This is probably an overestimate of billow occurrence
probability since observations were biased toward times
of strong wind shear. The detailed structure of billows of
amplitude less than 200 m cannot be resolved by the Def-
ford radar. In every case that a large-amplitude billow was
observed, the large billows were preceded by featureless
layer echoes that indicated the presence of small-amplitude
billows. Thus, it would appear that small-amplitude bil-
lows are much more common than large-amplitude bil-
lows. This also is consistent with the idea that the atmo-
sphere "saturates" first at the smallest vertical scales before
large vertical scales become unstable (see sections 7
and 9).
The 17 billow events studied by Browning ( 1971) pro-
vide a good summary of billow characteristics. Billows were
observed over altitudes ranging from 5.8 to 11.0 km. Crest-
to-trough amplitudes ranging from 200 to 450 m were
observed, and wavelengths ranged from a little less than
a kilometer to 4 km. Time-height sections of shear and .
Richardson number revealed well-defined regions of max-
imum shear and minimum Richardson number associated
with billow events. Typical minimum Richardson numbers
were usually less than 0.25, as can be seen in Fig. 6.2. 2
Figure 6.2 contains shear and temperature gradient infor-
mation over 200-m-thick layers for each billow event ob-
served.
Air motion within KH billows was studied by Browning
et al. ( 1973) using aircraft and Doppler radar in a linked
2 If one accepts the prevailing view that KHI is triggered by even the
slightest perturbation when Ri reaches 0.25, the reality of values less than
0.25 should be questioned. When KH activity is in progress, Ri is in
transition so that one must not place great confidence in the instantaneous
value. Moreover, values less than 0.25, and even negative Ri, may result
from the passage of the sounding balloon through the portion of a wave
where the stability is locally reduced or the shear enhanced.
554 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

e
~
I
0'++8
.,o·,.
~'
lol

101

E
0
0 6 I< I
N
L.
t>l
Q.

~
E
4 ...,

>iN
~

<I <I
~ lol

~
I"
0
0 2 3 4
~
(~)
.
°C per 200m
~

Fig. 6.2 The maximum value of ~v 1az over layers 200 m deep
I <I

.
within the height interval occupied by KH billows plotted against
the corresponding value of~() 1az for 17 KH events. Solid lines are
"
Q ~ 10
isopleths of Ri over the corresponding layers. (After Browning, 1971.) t<:IIUZOfl.t.L CISTAHC[ ~ AAOAA hllll

Fig. 6.3 Vertical cross sections obtained from simultaneous obser-

mode. Using the simultaneous data, Browning et al. con-
structed a model of the billows shown in Fig. 6.3, along
with the radar and aircraft data. Doppler radar data re-
vealed a pattern of wind shear closely related to observed
echo magnitude and very similar to patterns observed in
laboratory experiments by Thorpe ( 1973a). The aircraft
observations in Fig. 6.3b show potential temperature and
vertical velocity along the aircraft ilight path.
Several studies of KHI have been conducted using VHF
Doppler radar. Grant ( 1979) used a linear stability analysis
of realistic mean profiles of wind and temperature to com-
vation of KH billows using (a) the high-power De/ford radar and (b)
a research aircraft. In (a) the top section shows radar reflectivity, the
bottom section shows the magnitude of the vertical wind shear vector,
and the middle section shows a model of the billows consistent with
the radar observations. In (b) potential temperature and vertical ve-
locity measured by the aircraft are plotted in the top and bottom
sections, respectively. In the middle section the aircraft flight path
(dashed line) is shown through the model billow structure shown in
(a) . (After Browning et al., 1973.)
.-----r- , -, - -;

c
pute unstable modes of a jet stream observed by the 40-
-,~---- -

I I
MHz Sunset radar located near Boulder, Colorado. Grant's +
analysis simulated the height profile of amplitude and

l
phase of the observed perturbation velocities very well 7l
-tI l. I
(VanZandt et al., 1979) .
-
E I \). I :
..¥ 6r
Klostermeyer and Riister ( 1980) have studied KHI seen N
,-#
p· T~·
~ '
.
!
in observed velocities measured by the 53-MHz SOUSY Sr I I
( '' 'I Ji
I
radar located in the Harz Mountains of West Germany.

~ _ _L__~l_L _ J
I
These authors analyzed in some detail KHI in a polar front
jet stream observed on 11 April 1978 and compared ob-
served velocity fluctuations to velocity perturbations pre-
:L_L_
220 230 240
'
~
250
' __fi_
10 20 30 0.2S
c_ _ _ _

1.0 10
-1
T0/K ux0/m s Ri 0
dicted by a realistic stability model described by Kloster-
meyer ( 1980). Observed and model profiles used in the Fig. 6.4 Vertical profiles of mean temperature, wind, and gradient
analysis are shown in Fig. 6.4. Note that a critical Rich- Richardson number. Solid curves denote profiles used in model com-
ardson number less than 0.25 is found somewhat above putations. Dashed curves denote profiles from radiosonde and radar
the 5-km level. Vertical profiles of perturbation velocity measurements. (After Klostermeyer and Raster, 1980.)
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 555

either dynamical or convective. Although they have not

Observed received as much attention here, local instabilities are un-

l
8 doubtedly more common than the primary instabilities of
the basic flow. Turbulence resulting from local instabilities
of this kind is often referred to as wave-induced turbulence.
7
An excellent review of this subject has recently been given
I

t
by Fritts and Rastogi ( 1985).
6

7 BUOYANCY WAVES

sf
4
tt From the material presented in the previous section it
can be concluded that a relationship exists between large-
amplitude atmospheric buoyancy (internal gravity) waves
~
E }-+---+--+---+-- I
I I
and Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. Evidently, at least some
of the internal gravity wave activity observed in the at-
Computed

l
N J
mosphere must be regarded as shear-generated. In this
section buoyancy wave observations by Doppler radar will

:r I
be reviewed. We will begin with an examination of nearly
monochromatic waves. The existence of a spectrum of in-
coherent atmospheric internal gravity waves analogous to
~ the Garrett-Munk spectrum of oceanic internal waves will
6
then be discussed.
The intrinsic frequencies of internal gravity waves oc-
5 + cupy a range of frequencies greater than the local inertial

l~~L~~LL ,. . ~'-~
i
L.
0.0 OJ 0.6 09 1.2 1.5 -120 -60 0 60 120 180
lur 1 1/m s-1 IP /deg
Fig. 6.5 Vertical profiles of amplitude and phase of radial pertur-
bation velocity (after Klostermeyer and Raster, 1980).
amplitude and phase are in good agreement between ob-
servations and model computations (Fig. 6.5).
In a subsequent study Klostermeyer and Riister ( 1981)
further analyzed the 1978 SOUSY radar observations of
KHI and were able to document growth and decay stages
of the KHI. In addition, they found evidence of periodic
bursts in backscattered power. Model computations
showed that these bursts appeared as billows became hy-
drostatically unstable. Systematic modulation of back-
scattered power in KHI had been observed previously in
VHF Doppler radar data by VanZandt et al. (1979).
Much of this section has been concerned with UHF and
VHF radar studies of KH instability of the basic flow. These
studies taken together with the results of Hooke and Hardy
( 1975) show a close relationship between KHI and internal
gravity waves in the atmosphere as seen in microbarograph
records.
By and large, the KHI examined in this section can be
regarded as arising directly from an instability of the mean
flow. Some evidence has been cited that instabilities also
occur locally (e.g., in certain phases of otherwise stable
internal waves). Local instabilities of this nature can be
frequency and less than the Brunt-VaisaHi (BV) frequency.
The BV frequency N is a natural frequency for stable os-
cillations in the atmosphere. Air parcels displaced upward
in a hydrostatically stable environment will oscillate about
their equilibrium level at the BV frequency that is deter-
mined by the magnitude of (g 1o) ao 1az. While parcels
experiencing internal waves at the BV frequency oscillate
vertically, parcels experiencing lower-frequency internal
waves oscillate in an inclined plane. Inertial oscillations
have periodic nearly horizontal motions depending on the
local inertial frequency.
The simple physical description of air motion within
internal waves given above pertains to a frame of reference
moving with the background wind. The intrinsic frequency
w is related to the observed frequency w0 seen by a ground-
based observer by
w = w0 - U· k. ( 7.1)
Thus the frequency of an internal wave seen by a ground-
based radar or pressure sensor differs from the intrinsic
frequency by an amount U · k which is due to Doppler
shifting. Doppler shifting can occur when waves propagate
in a uniform mean wind. A more complex form of Doppler
shifting occurs when waves propagate in a height-depen-
dent mean wind. This more realistic situation has been
described by Bretherton ( 1969) within the context of the
WKB (Wentzel, Kramers and Brillouin) approximation in
which it is assumed that properties of the medium vary
only slightly over the dominant length and time scales of
the fluctuations. Under these circumstances waves prop-
agating vertically conserve their phase speed c and their
horizontal wavelength relative to the ground. Thus, the
556 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
observed frequency w0 = k · c does not vary as the wave
propagates but the intrinsic frequency will change in ac-
cordance with Eq. ( 7.1). The intrinsic frequency I is related
to other wave parameters through the gravity wave dis-
persion relation
(7.2)
where f is the inertial frequency ( =20 sinQ>, where 0 is
the earth's rotation rate and 4> is latitude), kH is horizontal
wavenumber, and kz is vertical wavenumber which may
be real or imaginary or complex, depending on stability
and shear conditions, i.e., depending on whether the waves
propagate vertically, are trapped, or "leak" in the vertical
direction. According to Eq. (7.2), changes in w must be
accompanied by changes in kz. For example, if the intrinsic
frequency of a wave increases as it propagates through a
wind shear it will become trapped if w = Nand the vertical
wavelength becomes infinite. If the wave encounters a
critical level where c = U then w - 0 and Az becomes very
small (critical layer absorption). As a consequence, internal
waves do not propagate through critical layers or regions
in the atmosphere where their intrinsic frequency would
be less than N.
Quasi-monochromatic waves are sometimes seen in
vertical velocity data from VHF /UHF Doppler radars. The
first routine vertical velocity observations from Poker Flat,
Alaska (Ecklund et al., 1981) showed considerable gravity
wave activity. The outstanding feature of these multiheight
time series of vertical velocity is the clear alternation be-
tween periods of "quiet" and "active" wave activity every
few days. Ecklund et al. were able to relate the active pe-
riods to the occurrence of strong wind and wind shear
associated with baroclinic zones.
At Poker Flat quasi-monochromatic waves are occa-
sionally seen but they are exceptional. In the tropics, how-
ever, quasi-monochromatic oscillations at the BV period
are very common. Figure 7.1 is an illustrative sample of
multiheight time series of vertical velocity from Pohnpei
(previously Ponape) showing the BV period oscillations.
These oscillations appear to be excited by convection and
are most pronounced at midtropospheric heights. They
may be related to the convection waves reported by Kuett-
ner et al. ( 1987).
Quasi-monochromatic waves are occasionally seen in
vertical velocity data with frequencies considerably lower
than the BV frequency. An example of such a quasi-mono-
chromatic wave event is reproduced in Fig. 4.8 (Gage et
al., 1981a). This event persisted for several hours and was
evident in several adjacent range gates spanning about 4
km in altitude. The oscillation in vertical velocity had an
amplitude of about 1.5 m s- 1 and a period of 18 min. This
could be a manifestation of a trapped mode. The wave
could be trapped if the phase velocity of the wave opposes
VERTICAL WINO VELOCITY PONAPE ST RADAR
21.2 ..Jtoo~ ... , .... ., ............ ,,.,.,~\"''til."' "'· I •''•'·•'•'·· ~~~, •. ~
19.0 .... "" ..... ,, '"'
16.7
e
14.5
::!.
E 12.2
"'
·a;
:J:
7.7
5.5
18 20 22 4 6 10
1984 May 7 1984 May 8
Fig. 7.1 Multiheight time series of vertical velocities observed by a
vertically directed wind profiler at Pohnpei.
the mean flow so that the intrinsic frequency is increased
to the BV frequency.
Typically, it is not possible with single station data alone
to determine conclusively whether a wave event such as
in Fig. 4.8 is due to trapping. More than one station is
usually needed to determine the wave phase velocity. An
experiment was conducted in southern France.during AL-
PEX (ALPine EXperiment) using three closely spaced VHF
Doppler radars to look for internal waves (Ecklund et al.,
1985). These radars observed vertical velocities at locations
spaced about 5 km apart. While it was not possible to
isolate very many cases of monochromatic waves observed
at the three stations, a few cases have been examined ex-
tensively. Carter et al. ( 1989) report the results of cross-
correlation and cross-spectral analysis. Most of the cases
examined were associated with waves propagating op-
posite to the prevailing wind. Furthermore, it could be
shown in most cases that the frequencies of the observed
waves were consistent with an intrinsic period close to the
BV period when the background winds were taken into
account. The isolated monochromatic waves had periods
in the range 20-90 min, horizontal wavelengths of 8-40
km and horizontal phase velocities of 3-11m s- 1. These
waves must have been generated remotely and evidently
became trapped because of the prevailing winds.
Einaudi et al. ( 198 7) reported larger scale, nearly mono-
chromatic waves associated with convection observed in
Colorado in July 1983. These authors compared waves
evident in an array of surface microbarographs with waves
observed in the tropospheric radial velocities measured by
the UHF Stapleton wind profiler located in Denver. Four
wave events were studied in detail. Wave periods were
close to 2 h, wavelengths were roughly 90-140 km, and

wave phase velocities were 14-19 m s- 1• Tropospheric
velocities observed by Doppler radar showed basically the
same wave disturbances evident in the microbarograph
pressure records. The authors concluded that the wave
disturbances occupy major portions of the troposphere and
play an important role in the evolution of mesoscale con-
vective storm systems associated with jet streams.
Inertial period oscillations have been observed by
Doppler radar in Puerto Rico and Japan. Cornish ( 1987)
observed inertial period waves using the Arecibo radar.
Fritts et al. ( 1988) found evidence of near-inertial period
waves using the MU radar. The inertial waves observed
in Japan were present primarily above a strong jet stream
with maximum wind of nearly 60 m s- 1. They possessed
a vertical wavelength of 2-3 km and the velocity vector
rotated clockwise with increasing altitude. Clearly, these
examples serve to illustrate at least the occasional presence
of essentially monochromatic waves in the free atmo-
sphere. These waves play an important role in atmospheric
dynamics (Einaudi et al., 1979).
Examination of the fluctuations of velocity measured by
Doppler radar shows evidence of a broad spectrum of in-
coherent motions. Dewan ( 1979) and VanZandt ( 1982)
suggested that the spectrum of mesoscale atmospheric
motions might be interpreted as a spectrum of internal
waves analogous to the Garrett-Munk spectrum (Garrett
and Munk, 1972, 1975; Olbers, 1983) of internal waves
in the ocean.
The spectrum of oceanic internal waves is generally
thought to dominate the spectrum of ocean variability over
periods ranging from the Brunt-Vais~ila period to the in-
ertial period. The Garrett-Munk spectrum is essentially an
empirical model of internal wave spectra that provides a
framework for the synthesis of diverse ocean spectra. These
spectra include dropped spectra ( kz spectra), towed spectra
( kx spectra), and moored spectra ( w spectra) .
The essence of the Garrett-Munk spectrum is a rela-
tionship for the energy spectrum E( k, w). According to
Garrett and Munk, E(k, w) can be separated as follows:
E(k, w) = EB(w)A(k, w) (7.3)
where E represents total energy (kinetic plus potential)
per unit mass. The function A ( k ,w) can be expressed as
A(k,w) = A[k/k.(w)]jk.(w) (7.4)
where k* is a characteristic wavenumber that serves as a
parameter of the model and
A(k/k.) = A(A) = (t- 1)(1 + A)-1 (7.5)
which is normalized so that
JA(A)dA = 1. (7.6)
RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 557
The function B( w) is expressed as
The spectra are assumed to be comprised of linear internal
waves, and Doppler-shifting effects are neglected. Internal
wave spectra must satisfy the dispersion relation [Eq. ( 7.2)]
and the polarization relation, which can be expressed in
the form
(7.8)
where EH( w) is the frequency spectrum of horizontal mo-
tions and Ev ( w) is the frequency spectrum of vertical mo-
tions. In the deep ocean the internal wave spectrum is
remarkably universal and appears to be described reason-
ably well by the Garrett-Munk model (Wunsch, 1976). It
has not been possible, however, to account for the sources
and sinks for the internal wave spectrum in the ocean
( Olbers, 1983).
VanZandt (1982) examined atmospheric spectra of
EH(w ), EH(kx) and EH(kz) and concluded that it was possible
to define a model wave spectrum in the atmosphere anal-
ogous to the Garrett-Munk spectrum. In order to fit the
model spectrum to the atmosphere, VanZandt chose
w- 5 1 3 for the frequency dependence of the horizontal ve-
locity spectrum whereas the ocean's spectrum is generally
regarded as following w - 2 •
The VanZandt model spectrum represents an initial at-
tempt to fit atmospheric spectra to an internal wave spectral
model. The frequency spectrum of vertical motions Ev ( w)
was not considered and Doppler-shifting effects were not
taken into account. The relationship of the Ev( w) spectrum
is implicit in the VanZandt model spectrum [see Eq. (7.8)
and the discussion in Gage and Nastrom, 1985]. The Ev( w)
spectrum thus provides an important test for the VanZandt
model spectrum. The first vertical velocity spectra deter-
mined from the free atmosphere using dear-air Doppler
radar were reported by Rottger ( 1980, 1981 ) .
During the ALPEX experiment (Ecklund et al., 1985)
Ev( w) was determined in the troposphere and stratosphere.
The result for light wind conditions, when Doppler-shifting
effects and contamination due to lee waves should be
minimal, is shown in Fig. 7.2. Both tropospheric and
stratospheric spectra are characteristically flat with a spec-
tral peak near the BV period. The reduction in spectral
amplitude in the stratosphere compared to the troposphere
is anticipated in the Garrett-Munk approach where spec-
tral amplitude depends on N (Ecklund et al., 1986). Eck-
lund et al. ( 1986) presented spectra of Ev ( w) from several
Doppler radars located around the world and showed that
the Ev ( w) spectra shown in Fig. 7. 2 are reasonably consis-
tent with spectra observed elsewhere under the same light
wind conditions. While these spectra of Ev(w) have every
appearance of internal wave spectra they do not fit the
558 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

T
J: ALPEX VERTICAL WIND SPEED POWER SPECTRA
101.--r----,-----.----.----,------,-----,---,-----,-----,----, \ Observed
'}!(/)
\ Horizontal
N
s ---------- ----
\
\ Velocity Spectrum
\ Vinnichenko
\ /(1970)
\
N
I \
(\J'
\
u \
ffi \
Period- Minutes (Hours) ......... \
(\J
Model \
E

-
Fig. 7.2 Frequency spectra of vertical velocities observed during Horizontal ____-'\
ALPEX (after Ecklund et al., 1985). >. Buoyancy \
Wave Spectrum \
(/) \
c \
VanZandt model very well as is discussed in Gage and Q)
\
0
Nastrom ( 1985). lo...
\
If the observed Ev ( w) spectrum is accepted at face value Q) \
3 \
as the atmospheric analog of the Garrett-Munk spectrum
in the ocean, the horizontal velocity spectrum of internal
& '\ \
waves EH(w) can be determined from Eq. (7.8). For this
purpose it is convenient to approximate the observed Ev( w)
spectra by the boxcar function plotted in Fig. 7.3. This
-0
lo...

uQ)
c..
(/)
Model Atmospheric ''
\
model vertical velocity spectrum simulates the low-wind Vertical Velocity \
vertical velocity spectra observed by clear-air Doppler ra- Spectrum \
dars at many locations (Ecklund et al., 1986) with an un-
certainty in spectral amplitude of about a factor of ±2 or \
I
3. The EH( w) buoyancy wave spectrum consistent with I
this model Ev( w) spectrum is shown as the dashed curve
in Fig. 7.3. Figure 7.3 also contains observed atmospheric
spectra EH ( w) published by Balsley and Carter ( 1982) and (8) (4) (2) (I) 30 20 10 5
Vinnechenko ( 1970). Comparison of the modeled EH ( w) Period - minutes (hours)
buoyancy wave spectrum with the observed EH( w) spectra
shows that the wave spectrum lies below the observed Fig. 7.3 Comparison of observed frequency spectra of horizontal
spectra at all frequencies. motions with the frequency spectrum of horizontal buoyancy wave
The discrepancy evident in the comparison between the motions consistent with a model tropospheric vertical velocity spec-
trum based on observations around the world.
observed and modeled spectra in Fig. 7.3 has been ad-
dressed in two ways. From the perspective of wave theory
it is possible to show that some of the discrepancy can be
accounted for by Doppler shifting of the internal wave fied turbulence. As discussed in section 4, the concept of
spectrum by the mean wind. This process can be quantified coexisting fields of waves and turbulence is supported by
following Scheffler and Liu ( 1986) and Fritts and VanZandt contemporary theory. The relative contributions of wave
( 1987). Using the results of Fritts and VanZandt it is pos- and turbulent processes to mesoscale wind variability are
sible to show that there is an increase in spectral amplitude considered in the next section.
of about a factor of 4 at the high end of EH( w) associated The idea that the spectrum of mesoscale atmospheric
with a mean wind of 10m s- 1 pertinent to the Balsley- variability is largely due to internal waves has received
Carter spectrum ( cf. Lilly and Petersen, 1983). At lower considerable theoretical attention. In addition to the early
frequencies the increase becomes progressively less until work of VanZandt (1982), Scheffler and Liu (1985) and
the Doppler-shifted spectrum crosses the non-Doppler VanZandt ( 1985) developed spectral models that were
shifted spectrum at a period near 6 h. Even adding an more consistent with the observed Ev(w) by generalizing
additional factor of 2 or 3 to account for regional variations the spectral models to include power laws other than ~­
in spectral amplitude is insufficient to explain completely More recently, as mentioned above, Scheffler and Liu
the observed spectra. An alternative hypothesis to explain (1986) and Fritts and VanZandt (1987) have considered
the observed horizontal velocity spectra is to admit another the consequences of Doppler shifting on the internal wave
dynamical process such as quasi-two-dimensional strati- spectrum due to a mean wind. Scheffler and Liu ( 198 7)
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 559

have also considered the effect of anisotropy of the wave
spectrum. Further research is needed to explore the con-
sequences of relaxing assumptions of separability and lin-
earity in contemporary wave models ( Miiller et al., 1986).
Another area of important research pertinent to atmo-
spheric wave studies involves recent findings pointing to-
ward a saturated wave spectrum. Dewan and Good ( 1986)
and Smith et al. (1987) have provided evidence that a
limiting spectrum of EH(kz) is found in the atmosphere.
These authors show that observed EH(kz) spectra have the
limiting shape
(7.9)
A saturated spectrum is suggested on the grounds that
local instabilities limit the amount of energy that can occur
over short vertical scales. According to these arguments
local instabilities can develop either due to thermal insta-
bility or due to shear instability. Because of the compress-
ible atmosphere and the growth of waves with altitude,
saturation occurs at larger vertical scales at higher altitudes
as shown in Fig. 7.4. While Smith et al. interpret the ob-
WAVeleNGTH (km)
10 ar-~2r0--~1~o---Ts____~2~--r---·~s----~--~·r,--~_os
~ with a very precise wind-measuring device. If mesoscale
.!
u
~
THERMOSPHeRe
>-
'
u
served EH(kz) in terms of wave saturation, they acknowl-
edge that other processes such as quasi-two-dimensional
stratified turbulence (see section 4) would also saturate in
a similar way.
8 MESOSCALE WIND VARIABILITY
The contribution of internal waves to the spectrum of
mesoscale atmospheric motions has been considered in
the previous section. In this section mesoscale wind vari-
ability will be viewed in a more general perspective.
Doppler radar observations that contribute to our knowl-
edge of mesoscale wind variability will be highlighted and
dynamical processes other than internal waves that .can
contribute to mesoscale wind variability will be discussed.
8.1 Mesoscale Variability of
Horizontal Wind
Mesoscale wind variability is of some practical concern.
Knowledge of the spectrum of mesoscale atmospheric mo-
tions is crucial for understanding mesoscale transport and
diffusion, atmospheric predictability, and the parameter-
ization of subgrid scale processes in numerical models of
all sorts.
From the perspective of atmospheric wind measure-
ments, mesoscale wind variations are the natural back-
ground "noise" from which synoptic-scale signals must
be extracted. Consider, for example, a rapid sequence of
vertical proffies of horizontal wind made at a given location
wind variations were not present, the vertical profiles
would be in agreement. To the extent that mesoscale wind

........ '\
'\
variations are present, individual wind proffies will diverge
-;
e MeSOSPHERE '\. and no single profile will be representative of the mean
>
profile. The challenge for atmospheric measurement tech-
.... nology is somehow to extract a representative synoptic
;;;
z wind profile in the presence of mesoscale atmospheric
w
0
..J TROPOSPHERe "noise." To do this intelligently it is imperative that the
nature and statistical features of mesoscale variability be
«C
a:
....
(.J
w understood. Furthermore, the rational deployment of net-
works of observing instruments demands some knowledge
Q.
1/J
a:
w of the space-time variability of the atmospheric wind field.
:c
0 Wind-profiling Doppler radars are well-suited instru-
Q.
10 1 ments for the exploration of mesoscale wind variations.
An early two-day sample of hourly wind proffies (Ecklund
et al., 1979) is reproduced in Fig. 5.2 of Hardy and Gage
(Chapter 17). The cluster of profiles on the left side of the
figure illustrates the variability inherent in the hourly av-
eraged profiles. Actually, averaging profiler winds for an
1 0-J
hour eliminates much of the small-scale variability.
WAVeNUMBeR (cycle/m) Mesoscale wind variability was explored extensively
Fig. 7.4 Obseroed vertical wavenumber spectra from the tropo- with balloon-borne instruments by Gage and Jasperson
sphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere compared to a ( 1979) and Jasperson ( 1982). These authors examined the
theoretical saturated spectrum (after Smith et al., 1987). lag variability of the wind defined by
560 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

mesoscale spectrum EH(kx)- These authors were able to

and found that much of the time lT had a power law de-
7 kx - 5 ; 3 power law at distance scales less than a few hundred
pendence on r with exponent ! . Using the Sunset VHF
Doppler radar a comparable result was obtained by Gage
and Clark (1978) for jet stream winds. Gage (1979)
showed that the observed power law dependence of lT
was generally consistent with a k- 5 13 spectrum of meso-
scale turbulence assuming a Taylor transformation could
be employed to relate space and time variability. Using
the Poker Flat MST radar, Balsley and Carter ( 1982) and
Larsen et al. ( 1982) determined the frequency spectrum
of atmospheric motions which they found follows an
f -5 13 spectral distribution quite well as shown in Fig. 8.1.
Whether the mesoscale spectrum of horizontal velocities
is due primarily to waves or turbulence is still actively
debated.
In order to shed additional light on the nature of the
observed mesoscale spectrum of atmospheric motions Lilly
and Petersen ( 1983), Nastrom et al. ( 1984), and Nastrom
and Gage ( 1985) analyzed aircraft winds to determine the
Period
Poker Flat MST Radar
Wind Speed Power Spectra
8 km
- Oblique-Zonal
June 5 ·Aug 27, 1979
show that the mesoscale kx spectrum did indeed follow a
kilometers. Gage and Nastrom ( 1985) compared these air-
craft spectral results with the Doppler-radar-observed fre-
quency spectra and showed that they were reasonably
7 consistent with a turbulence-like process that has been
referred to in section 4 of this chapter as quasi-two-di-
mensional stratified turbulence. The results of the spectral
analysis of aircraft winds compare favorably with Taylor-
transformed radar-observed frequency spectra as shown
in Fig. 8.2.
8.2 Vertical Wind Variability
One of the unique capabilities of the wind-profiling
Doppler radar is to sample rapidly the vertical velocity
field in addition to the horizontal velocity field. Conse-
quently, the wind-profiling Doppler radar is an ideal tool
for exploring the variability of vertical velocity and its re-
lation to the horizontal wind fields.
Unlike the horizontal wind field most of the energy of
vertical velocity fluctuations is due to short-period internal
waves. These constitute a background "noise" against
which any mean atmospheric vertical velocity profile must
be measured (Nastrom et al., 1985).
A sample of vertical velocity variability observed by the
wind profiler installed by the Aeronomy Laboratory near
Liberal, Kansas, during the PRE-STORM experiment (Au-
gustine and Zipser, 1987) is shown in Fig. 8.3. This figure

N
Vertical
June 21- July 7, 1980 ..,
N Wavelength (km)
E N
Inferred Zonal E 10 2
109

-
:>.
:>.
-u; -u;
c:
Q) c: (Adapted from Lilly & Petersen, 1983)
0
0
Q)
"(, 108
~ ~ "E
'
u u

-
-; 10 7
Q)
Q_ Q)
Q_
U1
U1 "'0
~
::I
Q)
3: '6. 10 6 Comparative
0
Q. E Energy

-
<(
-'=' 0c: Spectra
"0
0 0 -ro... 10 5 -GASP Data
0:: N
u
Q) - - Lilly & Petersen
bf 104 ----- Vinnichenko
>- · · · · · · · Balsley & Carter
Oil
~
r:: 10 3 Chen & Wiin-Nielsen
UJ • Kao & Wendell
Boer & Shepherd
10·2

Frequency (Hz) Wavenumber (radians/m)

Fig. 8.1 The spectrum of radial zonal wind velocity observed at 8 Fig. 8.2 Composite spectra of horizontal wind comparing Taylor-
km using the Poker Flat, Alaska, MST radar (after Balsley and Carter, transformed frequency spectrum with wavenumber spectra from many
1982). sources. (Adapted from Lilly and Petersen, 1982.)

'E
--
~
.c
C) 8.1
"(j)
::I:
Downwards
Vertical Velocity (em s- 1)
Fig. 8.3 Vertical velocity variability observed for a 30-min period
at Liberal, Kansas during PRE-STORM.
illustrates the variability of vertical wind as a function of
altitude over a 30-min period on 24 May 1985. The hor-
izontal bars in Fig. 8.3 show the extreme variation in the
individual profiles that comprise the data plotted in the
figure. Taken together they indicate the envelope of vertical
velocity observed over the 30-min interval. The typical
rms vertical velocity is about 10 em s- 1 but tends to grow
with altitude, and the profile shows a quasi-sinusoidal
structure in the vertical.
The vertical wind variability illustrated in Fig. 8.3 should
be regarded as pertinent to the quiet periods discussed in
Ecklund et al. ( 1981). Much greater variability in vertical
winds is evident in observations in active periods at Poker
Flat (Ecklund et al., 1981; Nastrom and Gage, 1984), at
Platteville, Colorado (Ecklund et al., 1982 ), and in southern
France during ALP EX (Ecklund et al., 1985).
The active periods of enhanced vertical velocity variance
appear to be related to orographic waves that develop as
wind flows over rough terrain. To illustrate this, Ecklund
et al. ( 1982) compared the vertical velocity variance ob-
served at Platteville with 500-mb zonal wind reported at
Denver. Their comparison revealed a close correspondence
between wind speed and vertical velocity variance. Pre-
sumably, tilting isentropic surfaces associated with lee
waves are responsible for the increased variance.
Further insight into the nature of mesoscale variability
can be gained by examining the vertical velocity spectra
under active and quiet conditions. Ecklund et al. ( 1985)
found that the vertical velocity spectra under active con-
ditions were distinctly different from the flat spectra ob-
served under quiet conditions, as shown in Fig. 8.4. The
vertical velocity spectrum under active conditions contains
RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 561
much more low-frequency energy and is close to the slope
of previously observed horizontal velocity spectra. Based
on this observation, Ecklund et al. ( 1986) suggest that the
active vertical velocity spectrum is produced when the is-
entropic surfaces within which normal quasi-horizontal
motions occur become tilted with respect to the horizontal
plane. If this interpretation is correct, a component of the
"horizontal" velocity spectrum would be seen in the ver-
tical direction due to tilting much as would be seen if the
quasi-horizontal motions remained in the horizontal plane
and the radar antenna beam were directed off vertical. If
the horizontal velocity spectrum were known, the mag-
nitude of tilt oin degrees could easily be determined from
(8.2)
provided ois large enough that Ev(w) is determined from
EH( w) by the tilting process. In the limit of vanishingly
small values of o, Ev( w) would be determined by the wave
spectrum discussed in the previous section (see Fig. 7.2).
If the interpretation given above is correct, the enhanced
vertical velocity spectrum should be greatly diminished in
the absence of orographic wave activity. Preliminary results
from the Flatland radar in illinois indicate that this is indeed
the case. Finally, reference to Scheffler and Liu ( 1986) and
Fritts and VanZandt ( 198 7) shows that Doppler-shifting
effects cannot possibly explain the disturbed spectra of
Fig. 8.4.
An overall view of the variability of atmospheric hori-
zontal and vertical velocity fields is contained in Balsley
and Garello ( 1985). These authors prepared a climatology
of variance of vertical and horizontal velocity within spec-
ified spectral bands using data from the Poker Flat MST
radar. Vertical and horizontal velocity variances for these
Site I !39-61 kml
Quiet Days
Period (minutes)
Fig. 8.4 Frequency spectra of vertical velocity observed during AL-
PEX quiet and active conditions (after Ecklund et al., 1985).
562 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
spectral bands are summarized in Fig. 3 of Balsley and
Garello ( 1985). The short-period vertical velocity variance
profiles for the winter months show little change withal-
titude below about 15 km. Above 15 km it increases
steadily. During the summer months vertical velocity vari-
ance below about 12 km is enhanced above the winter
values, and above 12 km the summer values are lower.
Thus in the summer there is a pronounced decrease in
short-period variance over the 9-15 km height range that
is absent in winter. The low-level increase could be due
to convection during the summer months. The decrease
at higher altitudes could be due to a wave-breaking process.
If so, turbulence intensity should be greater at these alti-
tudes during the summer months. It is noteworthy that
the results of Nastrom et al. ( 1986) show that this is indeed
the case. Also interesting is that in the summer months
over the same range of altitudes where there is a decrease
in vertical velocity variance, there is an increase of short-
period horizontal velocity variance. This kind of behavior
is consistent with the idea that some of the energy of
breaking waves can provide an energy source to the quasi-
horizontal motion field described earlier in this section.
9 COUPLING Of THE MIDDLE AND
LOWER ATMOSPHERE
Many of the topics discussed earlier in this chapter have
also been studied at mesospheric altitudes using high-
power MST (mesosphere-stratosphere-troposphere) ra-
dars. Because of the increase of the turbulence inner scale
with altitude, MST radars capable of observing above 50
km necessarily operate at lower VHF, HF, and even MF.
The HF and MF radars that operate at frequencies of a
few MHz have a long history of contributing to middle
atmosphere research (Fraser, 1965, 1984; Gregory et al.,
1979; Gage and VanZandt, 1981). These radars primarily
look vertically and employ spaced antenna techniques to
measure atmospheric winds.
During the course of this review mesospheric observa-
tions have generally not been included with the lower at-
mospheric results. A brief account of some of these results
will be given here before reviewing the dynamical pro-
cesses that are thought to couple the middle atmosphere
to the lower atmosphere.
Echoes from the middle atmosphere are enhanced by
the presence of free electrons as discussed by Woodman
and Guillen ( 1974), Balsley and Gage ( 1980), Harper and
Gordon ( 1980 ), and Hocking (1985). A detailed knowledge
of background electron density gradients is necessary in
order to relate backscattered power to the intensity of at-
mospheric turbulence. Hocking ( 1986) has given careful
consideration to the determination of eddy dissipation rates
in the middle atmosphere from Doppler spectral width.
Recently, Reid et al. (1987) reported observations very
suggestive of KH instability. These observations were made
from the Harz Mountains of Germany and on the island
of Andoya, Norway. Echoes observed at the altitude of
the high-latitude summer mesopause (83 km) appear to
show KH billows similar to the tropospheric observations
reviewed in section 6.
Monochromatic internal waves have been observed in
the mesosphere by MST radars. A particularly clear ex-
ample of a monochromatic wave disturbance (Balsley et
al., 1983) observed using the Poker Flat, Alaska, MST radar
is shown in Fig. 9 .1. This wave disturbance had a period
of -10 h, a vertical wavelength of -13 km, and possessed
a gradual ( -20 em s- 1 ) downward phase velocity. Ob-
servations such as these clearly show that large-amplitude
wave disturbances are fairly common in the mesosphere.
The spectrum of atmospheric waves in the mesosphere
has been considered by Vincent ( 1984). Long-term velocity
spectra have some of the same character seen in atmo-
spheric spectra in the lower atmosphere. For example, Bal-
sley and Carter ( 1982) show a frequency spectrum of hor-
izontal velocities near 86 km that has an f -s; 3 spectral
slope and amplitude much larger than tropospheric spectra.
Some turbulence must be present in order to produce
the echoes observed by MST radars. The source of tur-
bulence is thought to be breaking internal waves (Fritts
and Rastogi, 1985). The basic idea is that waves originating
in the lower atmosphere grow exponentially with altitude
until they become convectively or dynamically unstable
as shown schematically in Fig. 9. 2. Observational evidence
that waves are saturating is found in vertical profiles of
wind variability that show little growth with altitude. Such
profiles have been published for Poker Flat, Alaska (Balsley
et al., 1983) and for Urbana, Illinois ( R0yrvik et al., 1982).
Comparisons of horizontal and vertical velocity spectral
amplitudes (Gage et al., 1986b) show discrepancies from
theoretical gravity wave spectral models suggesting that
other dynamical processes may be contributing to the ob-
served wind variability. However, Smith et al. ( 1985)
sampled kz spectra of vertical and oblique velocities in the
mesosphere at Poker Flat, Alaska, and found little direc-
tional dependence of the kz spectra. They concluded that
their results could be explained solely in terms of internal
waves. Nevertheless, they did not take into account tilting
processes (as discussed in the previous section) that could
Poker Flat, Alaska 11 October 1981
Horizonta I Wind Profiles (one-hour average values)
~----~No_rth~wo~rd ____________________________~
80
!•:,~~~"'
t:~~~~
Fig. 9.1 Propagating monochromatic wave observed in the meso-
sphere using the Poker Flat, Alaska, MST radar (after Balsley et al.,
1983).
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 563

l..(Po iTW') > 0 Zonal Wind Profiles at 65°N

z az
Winter Solstice Summer Solstice
Deceleration I
ot Mean Flow I
I
100 I
I

/ ]summer
Echoes

lI
or
(Shear
Rl < 1/4 !notability) Winter BO
-Po ii'W'
Echoes
Fig. 9.2 Schematic illustration of gravity wave breaking and re-
sulting vertical flux of zonal momentum (after Geller, 1983) . 60
--- Kantor a Cole (1964)
- Schobert a Strobel (1978)
also explain the lack of directional dependence of the kz 7 - - MST Radar Data

spectra. In this connection Dong and Yeh ( 1988) show 40 1 --- Fairbanks Rowinsonde
Data (Sixty-Day Average
that an additional saturation process could involve the I Around Solstices)

transfer of energy nonresonantly from a gravity wave to jl

I

vortical modes (Miiller et al., 1986 ).If this process is indeed lj

,fProhibited
occurring it could explain the relatively large horizontal 11rhose Speeds
rh~!¢!:::=======~
wind variability observed in the middle atmosphere.
Whatever the mechanism of saturation, it seems clear that
waves propagating vertically lose their energy. -50m/s 50m/s -50m/s 0 50 m/s
Westward Eastward Westward Eastward
As discussed by Holton and Wehrbein (1980), Lindzen
(1981), and Geller (1983), momentum deposition by Fig. 9.3 Zonal wind profiles for both summer and winter solstitial
breaking waves plays a crucial role in determining the cir- periods at 65°N from various sources. Height ranges of both the
culation of the middle atmosphere. Figure 9.3 illustrates summer and winter echoes are shown along with a schematic rep-
the role of the mean wind profile in filtering the waves resentation of the range of allowable phase velocities for tropospher-
that can propagate upward into the middle atmosphere. ically generated gravity waves that can propagate into the stratosphere
and above. (After Balsley et al., 1983.)
At middle and high latitudes waves can propagate through
the prevailing westerlies and begin to break in the lower
mesosphere. In the summer months, however, the com- flow interaction of waves propagating from the lower at-
bination of tropospheric westerlies and stratospheric east- mosphere appears to be just what is required to provide
erlies sharply limits the amount of waves that can prop- the Rayleigh friction. As discussed in section 3.4, Vincent
agate into the middle atmosphere. Since the amplitude of and Reid ( 1983) have made measurements of gravity wave
the waves that do propagate into the middle atmosphere momentum fluxes that provide a deceleration of the mean
is presumably greatly reduced, they tend to break at a
much higher altitude. Seasonal variation in the altitude of Poker Flat, Alaska
breaking using these arguments is in accord with the sea- Comparison Between Mesospheric Echo Height Vs.
Season and Interven ing Zonal Wind Field
sonal variation of echo magnitude observed at Poker Flat
(Balsley et al., 1983) shown in Fig. 9.4.
Very strong echoes have been observed at high latitudes
near the summer mesopause as can be seen in Fig. 9.4. As
-;;;
discussed recently by Rottger ( 198 7) and Kelley et al. .....
E
(1987), the strong echoes observed in the altitude range
of 83-93 km are not necessarily attributable to enhanced ~
..
..,
0.
~ rJ)
neutral turbulence. On the contrary, experimental evidence r -g
increasingly points toward the role of heavy water cluster j
0
ions in the summer mesopause region. Kelley et al. ( 1987) c:
0
plausibly argue that these ions retain turbulent fluctuations N
z'
to scales that are considerably smaller than the inner scale •.n
<D
for neutral turbulence at this altitude. Consequently, while
neutral turbulence is viscously damped at spatial scales of
a few meters, turbulent irregularities of this scale would
Fig. 9.4 Superposition of locations of echoing regions observed at
still lie within the inertial subrange of the plasma. Poker Flat, Alaska, and the mean zonal wind (65°N) at the km in-
Numerous modeling studies have shown the need to tervals between 20 and 60 km. Note the correspondence between the
incorporate Rayleigh friction to limit the zonal winds in mean zonal wind direction and the height of the echoes. (After Balsley
mesospheric general circulation models. The wave mean et al., 1983.)
564 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
winds of magnitude required. More recent results are pre-
sented in Fritts and Vincent (1987) and Reid and Vincent
(1987).
The successful modeling of middle atmosphere dynam-
ics provides a clear illustration of scale interactions. Small-
scale and mesoscale waves and turbulence are now rec-
ognized as essential contributors to middle atmosphere
dynamics (Fritts et al., 1984). Results to date have been
largely qualitative and descriptive. There is an urgent need
to complete our understanding of the dynamical processes
that are responsible for coupling of the middle atmosphere
to the lower atmosphere. Clearly, gravity waves play an
essential role in middle atmosphere dynamics and this role
needs to be quantified. A climatology of internal waves in
the low~r and middle atmosphere is a necessary first step.
Also, attempts should be made to observe in the "gap"
region (30-60 km) to gain a complete picture of dynamical
interactions. Toward this end the results of Adams et al.
( 1986) show some promise for observing this region.
10 RELATIONSHIP TO
METEOROLOGY AS A WHOLE:
FUTURE OUTLOOK
This review has stressed the contributions of Doppler
radars to understanding the structure and dynamics of at-
mospheric instabilities, turbulence, and atmospheric
waves. These are, of course, the kind of phenomena that
are best observed by high-resolution remote probes. Much
of the results presented here were developed using single
wind-profiling Doppler radars.
While it is clear that the major focus of Doppler radar
studies of the clear atmosphere promises to shift to larger
spatial scales as data become available from networks of
wind profilers, much useful research remains to be done
with single-station Doppler radars.
For a variety of reasons, network profilers of the future
will most likely operate at a frequency near 400 MHz. At
these frequencies quasi-specular echoes have not been ob-
served so that it will not be possible to visualize the struc-
ture of the tropopause and upper-level frontal zones as
can be done at lower VHF. Also, it is very unlikely that
the normal routine of operational profilers will be inter-
rupted for specific experiments. For all these reasons there
is a continuing need for high-quality versatile multibeam
profiler systems dedicated to research and operating at a
range of frequencies.
While much has been learned about the mechanisms
responsible for the clear-air echoes observed by wind pro-
filers, additional research is needed to clarify such issues
as frequency dependence of backscattered power from
quasi-specular echoes as well as the azimuth dependence
of backscattered power on oblique beams. Theoretical
models need to be tested more thoroughly at several fre-
quencies to ascertain if Fresnel scattering provides a proper
description of backscattered power from stable regions of
the atmosphere. If the Fresnel scattering model can be val-
idated it has the potential of obtaining useful thermody-
namic information on the temperature structure in the
lower stratosphere and possibly in the troposphere as well.
While the potential utility of this technique has been rec-
ognized (Westwater et al., 1983), the technique has not
been adequately tested except for tropopause determina-
tion.
Most of the research using wind-profiling Doppler radar
reported here has been made using radars located in or
near regions of significant orography. Indeed, at one time
it was considered highly desirable to locate these radars
in valleys to use surrounding terrain for natural sidelobe
suppression. As has now been amply demonstrated, pro-
filers can work very well in flat terrain. The Flatland radar
was constructed in Illinois to examine the spectrum of me-
soscale variability over flat terrain so that it could be con-
trasted with earlier results obtained over rough terrain.
Preliminary results from the Flatland radar indicate that
terrain does dominate many of the features of mesoscale
variability at least in the vertical velocity. Clearly, many
of the earlier studies reported here must be repeated in an
environment free of the influence of mountains. By con-
trasting the character of wind fields and their variability
over flat and rough terrain we can learn much about the
influence of mountains on large-scale atmospheric circu-
lations. The key to accomplishing this task is to determine
the climatological properties of wave disturbances and to
document their role in vertical momentum transport. Ex-
periments over flat terrain should also help in further dif-
ferentiating between internal waves and other modes of
mesoscale motions as discussed earlier.
The use of wind profilers for wave-momentum flux
studies is still in its infancy. While this technique offers
much promise, it will be necessary to assess carefully its
validity. Redundant experiments should be carried out at
different frequencies, various zenith angles, etc., to test
the robustness of the calculated momentum flux. Coor-
dinated aircraft measurements may provide the only in-
dependent means for verification in the free atmosphere.
An area of important ongoing research is the use of wind
profilers in the tropics. The Aeronomy Laboratory has es-
tablished wind profilers on Pohnpei (7°N, 158°E) and
Christmas Island (2°N, 157°W). The Pohnpei profiler has
been operated looking vertically since May 1984. Long-
term mean vertical motions from the Pohnpei profiler are
reported in Balsley et al. ( 1988). During relatively clear
periods long-term vertical motions are downward and of
the same magnitude (-em s- 1 ) required to balance ra-
diative cooling to space. Composite vertical motions during
stratiform and convective conditions resemble average
profiles of vertical motion deduced from divergence mea-
surements by other researchers. The use of wind profilers
in the tropical Pacific offers the potential for studying the
important scale interactions that take place between con-
vection and larger scale circulations.
The Christmas Island profiler was established in March
1986 to provide upper-air wind data to the Tropical Ocean

Global Atmosphere (TOGA) program. Hourly wind ob-
servations are transmitted over the GOES satellite system
four times per day. These data appear in the form of PIBAL
messages which are disseminated globally over GTS. Both
NMC and ECMWF have evaluated the quality of the data
provided by the Christmas Island profiler and have in-
corporated the data into their analysis and forecast models.
Research using the MU radar in Japan has already been
cited repeatedly in this review. Major progress is being
made in many dynamical studies using this versatile sys-
tem. An equatorial MST radar is also being planned by
Japanese scientists for construction in Indonesia. It is an-
ticipated that this new facility and other tropical wind pro-
filers will contribute enormously in the future to our un-
derstanding of tropical dynamics and the coupling of the
tropical lower atmosphere to the middle atmosphere.
It is clear from recent events that wind profilers will
soon be deployed in networks for operational wind pro-
filing. When networks of wind profilers become opera-
tional, new datasets will become available that will need
to be processed and analyzed in an optimal fashion. Most
likely new modes of analysis using a work station approach
will need to be employed. Data coming from many stations
will need to be merged and processed to yield objectively
analyzed maps of wind fields, and derived quantities such
as divergence and vorticity. From network data it should
be possible to determine the space-time variability of me-
teorological fields on much smaller scales than heretofore
possible except perhaps in limited campaigns. Clearly,
there will be an opportunity to use this data simultaneously
for the operational purposes it was intended and for me-
soscale research.
A crucial need for wind profiler networks will be the
determination of the temperature and humidity fields.
While some progress is being made in the remote sensing
of temperature and humidity from ground-based and sat-
ellite-borne sensors, it appears that the wind information
that will be provided by wind profilers will be of higher
resolution than temperature and humidity measurements
from these other sensors.
Some progress is being made in the development of
techniques to determine thermodynamic fields consistent
with observed profiler wind fields (e.g., see Gal-Chen,
1988). This work is an extension of techniques developed
by Gal-Chen (1978) and used by a number of authors
(Gal-Chen and Kropfli, 1984; Lin et al., 1985) to derive
thermodynamic fields given dual-Doppler radar measure-
ments of the mesoscale wind field.
Kuo et al. (1987a) have shown that the use of low-
resolution thermodynamic observations with high-reso-
lution wind observations available from wind profilers in-
variably leads to a degradation of the wind field in me-
soscale forecast models as the wind field adjusts to the
temperature field through the geostrophic adjustment
process. Bleck et al. ( 1984) used a variational analysis
RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 565
technique employing the balance equation in isentropic
coordinates to recover the thermal structure lost in the
frontal zone that is not resolved by the thermal profiler.
Kuo and Anthes ( 1985) found that useful temperature and
geopotential fields can be derived from wind profiler ob-
servations using the full divergence equation. Numerical
experiments of this kind use model generated datasets and
the results often depend on the particular model and
boundary conditions used. Kuo et al. (1987b) tested the
retrieval of temperature and geopotential fields from a
simulated network of wind profiler observations. From an
examination of different synoptic cases they conclude that
it is possible to retrieve temperature fields with good ac-
curacy, at least above the boundary-layer. The retrievals
are considerably more successful under weak baroclinic
rather than strong baroclinic conditions. The authors at-
tribute the difficulties of temperature retrieval under the
latter conditions to terms related to divergence and vertical
motions especially in the boundary-layer. Thus, more at-
tention may need to be focused on the boundary-layer in
future research. Profilers need to be developed that can
be deployed for operational measurement of boundary-
layer winds. These boundary-layer profilers may take the
form of an additional high-frequency profiler to operate
with a lower frequency profiler as a hybrid system. A need
also exists to develop stand-alone systems since a relatively
dense network of boundary-layer profilers is likely to be
required. Prototype portable wind profilers have already
been developed for this purpose (Ecklund et al., 1988).
Techniques that will provide boundary-layer profiles of
humidity and temperature will also be needed, although
of the three variables wind is probably the most essential.
After about a decade of intensive research Doppler ra-
dars have been developed that can be used for operational
and research purposes. Already much has been learned
about mesoscale and microscale structure and related dy-
namics in the free atmosphere from the use of individual
radars. The advent of networks of wind profilers and
boundary-layer profilers promises major advances in new
directions for mesoscale research in the foreseeable future.
At the same time much remains to be done with individual
wind profilers dedicated to research in field programs at
diverse locations around the globe.
Acknowledgments. I would like to thank Bill Hooke and
the members of the dynamics panel for their encourage-
ment. Their careful reading of the original version of the
manuscript and many helpful comments for improving
the paper are greatly appreciated. I have also benefited
from comments of Earl Gpssard, Ben Balsley, Dave Atlas,
and Richard Doviak.
 566

Chapter lSb

Radar Observations of the Free Atmosphere: Panel Report

W. H. Hooke,* Office of the Chief Scientist, NOAA

1 INTRODUCTION properties of the observed backscatter power. In the second

part of the work, Gage reviews the applications of the
Few radar developments promise to have greater impact
radars in atmospheric studies: atmospheric instabilities,
on the atmospheric sciences than VHF /UHF radar. Able
buoyancy waves, mesoscale wind variability, coupling of
to monitor motions in the clear air, these instruments pro-
the middle and lower atmosphere, and the relationship of
vide an unprecedented look at the small-scale structures
VHF /UHF radar studies to meteorology as a whole.
(in both space and time) of atmospheric winds and the
This panel report must begin with praise for Gage's
temperature j humidity fluctuations that scatter the elec-
work. To provide a balanced, insightful review of such a
tromagnetic radiation. These structures reveal important
broad topic, to capture the excitement of the subject while
processes, including instability; atmospheric wave gener-
frankly considering and explaining shortcomings and lim-
ation, propagation, interaction, and decay; severe weather
itations of the technology, to acknowledge fully the work
development and associated mesoscale wind features such
done to date while at the same time meeting stringent
as outflow boundaries and midlevel inflows; coupling of
constraints on space and time-all of these assignments
the lower and middle atmosphere; and atmospheric tur-
place extraordinary demands on the author. In each respect
bulence. In addition to their intrinsic kinematic interest,
Ken Gage met the challenge and met it well.
these processes often dominate atmospheric transports and
For the most part, therefore, rather than critique Gage's
budgets of dynamic and thermodynamic variables such as
review in detail, we have chosen to use it as a point of
momentum and energy, water vapor and other trace gases,
departure for expanded discussion of topics that in our
liquid water, ice, and other aerosols. In the atmosphere,
view merit further exploration. These include a quick
such processes are often event-driven, placing a premium
summary of recent progress in the understanding of stably
on our ability to observe them with fine spatial and tem-
stratified fluids (the basis for conceptual pictures used to
poral resolution. Already, exploratory use of VHF /UHF
explain the radar observations); commentary on studies
radars has provided important new insights to our under-
to test and verify scattering mechanisms and their impli-
standing of atmospheric structure and dynamics. Har-
cations for radar operation; discussion of the use of VHF/
nessing such observing systems in the future will sig-
UHF radars in networks and in concert with other ob-
nificantly improve weather services and expand the pos-
serving instruments; and, finally, our assessment of pos-
sibilities for atmospheric research.
sible future research and operational applications of VHF/
The review paper by Gage (Chapter 28a) can be divided UHF radars for studies of the free atmosphere.
conceptually into two parts. In the first, Gage provides an
overview of the radar question: a brief summary of the
radar scatter mechanisms, an extensive description of the 2 RECENT PROGRESS IN
measurement capabilities of the radars, a status report on UNDERSTANDING STABLY
our current understanding of the morphology of the scat- STRATIFIED TURBULENT fLOWS
tering medium, and theoretical models for simulating
The dominant process leading to the scattering of radar
beams in the free atmosphere is turbulence (Gage, Chapter
*Hooke served as panel chairman. Other panel members were D. Atlas 28a). Although a great deal has been learned from radar
(consultant, NASA Goddard Space Flight Cent~r), ~- Einaudi (NASA measurements in the free atmosphere (including infor-
Goddard Space Flight Center), T. Gal-Chen (Umvers1ty of Oklahoma),
E.E. Gossard (Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental mation regarding turbulent processes), an in -depth un-
Sciences, University of Colorado), C.O. Hines (Arecibo Observatory, derstanding of the scattering mechanism itself does not
Cornell University), J. Koermer (Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, exist. This is due mainly to the lack of understanding of
DC), M. Larsen (Clemson University), C.H. Liu (University of Illinois),
W. McGovern (National Weather Service, NOAA), G.D. Nastrom (St. the detailed turbulence processes and finescale atmospheric
Cloud State University), J. Riley (University of Washington), M.A. structure responsible for the echoes. In this section we will
Shapiro (Wave Propagation Laboratory, NOAA), S. Smith (NASA Mar- briefly discuss turbulence above the planetary boundary-
shall Space Flight Center), J.E. VanZandt (Aeronomy Laboratory,
NOAA), S. Williams (Pennsylvania State University), and E. Zipser layer and, in particular, some recent developments in un-
(National Center for Atmospheric Research). derstanding stably stratified turbulence as well as the mor-

phology of a somewhat idealized turbulence event. The
discussion will be limited to smaller-scale turbulence, the
type most probably involved in the production of radar
echoes.
Turbulence is a result of flow instabilities, and, as ex-
plained by Gage, several types of flow instabilities exist in
the atmospheric flow above the planetary boundary-layer
( PBL), including shear instabilities, convective instabilities,
and centrifugal (or rotationally driven) instabilities. The
smaller-scale turbulence responsible for radar echoes is
probably mainly a result of the first two of these mecha-
nisms. Shear flow instabilities occur often in the free at-
mosphere and are associated with such diverse phenomena
as the jet stream, large-amplitude internal waves, critical
layer effects, shear layers along inversions, and the flow
above convective elements and storm systems. Buoyancy-
driven instabilities in the free atmosphere are associated
with the overturning of both large-amplitude internal
waves and those that result from shear instabilities as well
as moist convection. The various properties of the turbu-
lence (e.g., its intensity, length scales, dissipation rate, and
effective diffusivity) depend on the method of generation
and also on the local meteorological conditions. Of par-
ticular importance is the fact that the free atmosphere is
usually stably stratified by dry convective processes, a
condition that has a strong influence on the behavior of
the turbulence.
Although a large variety of turbulence measurements
have been made above the PBL, not much is known in
general about the morphology of these turbulent events.
This is due mainly to the difficulties in identifying and
following a particular event over a sufficiently long period
of time. The same is true of turbulence in the oceans, where
ambient conditions of stable stratification and current shear
provide a similar environment for the turbulence. For con-
ditions where turbulence develops on an interface with
sharp, well-defined gradients of velocity and (stable) den-
sity, however, a great deal is known. The understanding
of this density-stratified shear layer has been obtained from
a combination of laboratory experiments, theory, and nu-
merical simulations, and also from the observation of such
events in the atmosphere and oceans.
A number of laboratory experiments have been per-
formed that address turbulence in a nonstratified shear
layer (see, e.g., Ho and Huerre, 1984, for an excellent re-
view of this problem). A common approach is to study
the mixing layer downstream from a splitter plate at which
two streams of differing velocities are superimposed. Such
flows are found to be highly unstable (except at very low
Reynolds numbers), and three-dimensional turbulence
develops for large enough initial Reynolds numbers (Brei-
denthal, 1981). The turbulence is characterized by large-
scale, quasi-two-dimensional vortices aligned in the span-
wise direction. These vortices are closely related to the
unstable modes of the layer predicted by linear stability
RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 567
theory. The layer grows in the vertical direction at least
partially by, first, the rollup (or overturning) of these
modes, and then by the pairing of adjacent vortices, cre-
ating a larger vortex, which in turn again pairs, etc. These
quasi-two-dimensional vortices are unstable to three-di-
mensional disturbances, resulting in the appearance of
counterrotating vortices oriented in the streamwise direc-
tion. These smaller-scale vortices ultimately break down
into three-dimensional turbulence.
When a stable density change exists across the mixing
layer, as is the case in more idealized conditions in the
free atmosphere, the flow can be dramatically altered. If
the minimum gradient Richardson number is above about
0.25 (see, e.g., Drazin and Reid, 1981 ), the flow will remain
stable. If this number is below about 0.2, instabilities will
develop in the flow. The resulting flow field depends
mainly on the initial Richardson and Reynolds numbers.
We define a bulk Richardson number by
. gt:..ph
Rt = Po(t:..U)2
where t:..U and t:..p are the overall velocity and density dif-
ferences across the layer and h is the scale of the vorticity
thickness. If the initial Ri is approximately in the range 0.1
< Ri < 0.2, quasi-two-dimensional vortex rollup occurs,
similar to the nonstratified case. Streamwise vortices are
also observed, and, if the Reynolds number of the flow is
large enough, these break down into three-dimensional
turbulence. As rollup takes place, the overturning fluid
becomes gravitationally unstable and collapses, generating
considerable two-dimensional, and ultimately three-di-
mensional, turbulence. At about this point in the process,
Ri has risen to approximately 0.3, and a significant amount
of kinetic energy in the instability has been converted into
potential energy. There is not enough kinetic energy in
the instability to overcome the buoyancy forces required
for pairing, however, and the growth of the layer is
abruptly halted. The turbulence in the layer then decays
like freely evolving isotropic turbulence. The turbulent re-
gion becomes somewhat well mixed in density, leaving
rather sharp density jumps above and below this layer. In
the later stages of decay the remnants of the turbulence
motion include internal waves, which propagate along this
now more complex stratified shear layer, and possibly
quasi-horizontal vortical motions.
If the initial Richardson number Ri is approximately in
the range 0 < Ri < 0.1, then the layer initially grows at
the same rate as for the nonstratified case, with vortex
pairing now occurring. This process continues until it is
abruptly halted, again when Ri has increased to about 0.3.
The number of pairings that occur before the layer ceases
to grow, increases as the initial Ri decreases. After the
vertical growth of the layer has been interrupted, the dy-
namics are similar to those for the higher Richardson
 568 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
number case, with the turbulence freely decaying and the
later stages of decay characterized by propagating internal
waves and possibly quasi-horizontal vortical modes.
Similar scenarios have also been observed during visual
studies in the ocean (Woods, 1968), in radar experiments
in the atmosphere (e.g., Metcalf and Atlas, 1973), and can
be inferred from some oceanic turbulence data (Gregg,
1987). In general it is more likely that shear flow insta-
bilities and turbulence occurring in the free atmosphere
will be more complex processes. The ambient conditions
are more complicated, and additional dynamic mechanisms
may come into play.
In addition to the study of density-stratified shear layers,
several other stably stratified turbulent flows have been
examined in the laboratory, theoretically, and numerically.
These include homogeneous turbulence decay, turbulent
jets, turbulent wakes, and turbulence resulting from the
oscillation of grids that are oriented either horizontally or
vertically. Interestingly, the general behavior of each flow
is similar. The turbulence is initially very intense (as in a
nonstratified flow), followed by an abrupt halt in the ver-
tical growth (and possible collapse), and then by freely
decaying turbulence. The collapse occurs when the effects
of the buoyancy forces become comparable to the inertial
forces, as in the shear layer case. The later stages of decay
are again characterized by internal waves and quasi-hor-
izontal motions. The density profiles that develop generally
have regions of somewhat uniform density adjacent to thin
regions over which the density changes sharply. The fact
that these different flows possess similar general behavior
suggests that the morphology of a turbulent event in the
free atmosphere may often contain these same stages.
Several excellent reviews have been written on related
topics, including oceanic turbulence (Gregg, 1987) and
stratified, turbulent flow (Hopfinger, 1987).
3 VERIFICATION OF SCATTERING/
REFLECTION MECHANISMS FOR
CLEAR-AIR RADAR ECHOES
The nature of the scattering and reflection mechanisms
that give rise to the radar echoes from clear air has been
a subject of investigation for many years, since the begin-
ning of the experimental observations of tropospheric over-
the-horizon propagation of radio waves (e.g., see Gjessing
et al., 1969). The understanding of these mechanisms is
essential to the correct interpretation of the data that carry
information about winds, waves, turbulence, and stability
in the atmosphere. There are two main aspects of the
problem. The first is to understand the signatures of the
radar signals returned from the different clear-air targets,
be it volume scattering from isotropic or anisotropic tur-
bulence; partial reflections from horizontally stratified,
sharp refractive index gradients; or the combination of
these structures. The second aspect is to deduce infor-
mation from these echo signatures about the nature of the
targets and their generation mechanisms. The theoretical
understanding of volume scattering is relatively clear. Ex-
isting models based on this understanding seem to be able
to explain most of the echo power levels observed under
different situations (see Gage, Chapter 28a), indicating
the dominant role of volume scattering. However, if one
goes beyond the power level and looks into other features
of the returned signal, many questions remain unanswered.
It is believed that additional crucial information about the
atmospheric structures that serve as the targets for the radar
can be obtained when these questions are answered.
The first unresolved problem concerns dependence of
echo power level on power spectral width. According to
observed turbulence models of volume scattering theory,
the power level of the received echo should be proportional
to the width of the Doppler spectrum of the signal. Indeed,
this fact has been used to measure the turbulent energy
dissipation rates in the middle atmosphere (Hocking,
1985). In many observations, however, especially when
the radar beam is pointing near the zenith, the opposite
relation has been detected, i.e., the echo power is inversely
proportional to the Doppler spectral width (Gage and
Green, 1978: Rottger and Liu, 1978; Kudeki, 1987). Vol-
ume $Cattering, including Fresnel scattering models, cannot
explain this dependence. It has been proposed that partial
reflection by a single, dominating refractive index gradient
may be the cause of these echoes. From our current un-
derstanding of the scattering/reflection phenomenon,
however, we cannot conclude from this power-spectral
width dependence alone the existence of such a single
lamina. More direct measurements are needed.
Signal distribution of the returned echoes is another
problem. According to scattering theory, if the echo is due
to volume scattering, the signal should have a Rayleigh
distribution that can be considered as a special case of a
Nakagami distribution with them coefficient approaching
1. On the other hand, if there is a specular reflection com-
ponent in the echo, the signal should have a Rice distri-
bution with Nakagami m coefficient greater than 1. There-
fore, it may be expected that most radar echoes should
show statistics that fall between these two cases. In many
instances, it was found the radar echoes show a distribution
with them coefficient substantially smaller than 1 (Sheen
et al., 1985; F.S. Kuo et al., 1987), especially when the
observation is carried out with vertical beams. What the
scattering/reflection targets are that can cause these signal
statistics is not clear. A better understanding of the phe-
nomenon certainly will shed more light on the underlying
mechanisms.
A third issue involves physical parameters of the tur-
bulence and/ or the reflecting laminae. If the scattering is
due to turbulence, what is the wavenumber spectrum of
the turbulence? Is it generated from wavebreaking, or con-
vection, or different types of instabilities? There are indi-
cations that the turbulent regions could be confined to lay-

ers of thickness of the order of 20 m or so (Woodman,
1987, personal communication). How thin can these layers
become? Do they coexist with sharp refractive index gra-
dient laminae? If refractive index laminae play a role, how
thick are the laminae? What are the characteristics of the
rough undulations on the layer that cause the distribution
of the return signal to possess a particular feature? Sur-
prisingly little is known about these questions. Most of
what is known comes from high-resolution FM-CW radar
observations of the PBL, finescale profiling of refractive
index, or temperature and humidity on towers (see Gos-
sard, Chapter 27a), and a sampling of airborne and bal-
loon-borne refractometer measurements (Lane, 1968;
Metcalf and Atlas, 1973; Readings et al., 1973). These ob-
servations show that the echo layers in the PBL are often
exceedingly thin, sometimes no more than a meter (Richter,
1969), and the refractivity gradients reach tens of N units
[N = 10 6 (n- 1)] over 10 em (Lane, 1968). Such obser-
vations raise serious questions as to isotropy and the ex-
istence of a turbulent inertial subrange within the scattering
layer. Also, in shear-generated turbulence, the initial
breakdown is two-dimensional so that isotropy is ques-
tionable on this ground as well. Do the structures seen in
the PBL represent those that occur in the free atmosphere?
Typical eddy dissipation rates of 20 to 50 em 2 s - 3 (Gossard
et al., 1982; Metcalf and Atlas, 1973) and shears of about
=
1-2m s- 1 (KE 2 X 10 4 to 4 X 10 4 cm 2 s- 2 ) imply decay
times of order ( 10 4 130) - 300 s, while the echo layers
seen by FM-CW radar in the PBL last for many hours. The
mechanism by which these finescale turbulent layers are
sustained is a perplexing mystery demanding explanation.
Highest priority for future research must be a definitive
theoretical description of the scattering mechanism. It is
extraordinary that the atmosphere has proved so stub-
bornly resistant in this respect. Such a theory must account
for:
• the fine scale of the scattering structure;
• the aspect sensitivity of the scattering;
• the reflectivity and its wavelength dependence; and
• the long-lived nature of the scattering structure.
The Gage picture has much to recommend it but falls short
of meeting these criteria.
In principle, radar observing experiments can be per-
formed to answer some of the questions raised in this sec-
tion. For the radar, the fundamental limitation is the res-
olution, both spatial and temporal. With increasing
capabilities of the radars and improving signal processing
power, resolution can be improved so that some of the
points mentioned here can be studied.
Interferometric studies provide one such opportunity.
Conventional interferometer techniques provide infor-
mation about the line-of-sight Doppler velocity and the
angle of arrival of the echo signal. Recently, Kudeki and
Stitt (1987) extended this idea and developed the fre-
quency domain interferometer (FDI), from which a more
RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 569
accurate position of the scatterer can be determined. Using
simultaneous observations from both interferometer tech-
niques, it is possible to study in some detail certain aspects
of the scattering I reflection processes. For example, from
the distribution of the interferometer phase angle (Farley
et al., 1981) it is possible to see if the echo is due to volume
scattering or possibly due to partial reflection ( Kudeki,
1987). If interferometer data are consistent with the model
of a partial reflecting lamina, then the data from FDI con-
tain information about the structure of the undulations on
the lamina. With good height resolution from FDI, it is
also possible to see if the model of the turbulent layers
with sharp gradients on the upper and lower boundaries
is applicable in the atmosphere. Other models can be con-
structed for different characterizations of the lamina and
simulations can be carried out. Comparisons of simulated
results with observed data will then yield information
about the lamina (see Appendix A).
Signal statistics. Detailed study of signal statistics due to
different scattering I reflection mechanisms provides a
second opportunity. Simulation can again play an impor-
tant role. With modem computing power and new algo-
rithms for simulations, we are in the position to generate
realistic synthetic radar data and compare them with ob-
served data. This study can provide essential information
about the mechanisms. In this endeavor, it is important
that simulations be designed according to real observa-
tional conditions.
Determination of the spectrum of turbulence. Using mul-
tifrequency radars collocated at one site, or bistatic systems,
we can in principle measure the turbulence power spec-
trum. Bistatic measurements at microwave frequencies
have been carried out using the troposcatter systems (Jeske
et al., 1970). The contamination due to partial reflection
or "diffuse scattering" must be taken into account. A hi-
static system using lower frequencies could be used (Wa-
terman, 1984). Multifrequency radars, in principle, are best
for this study. Careful power calibrations of the radars
have to be carried out for this effort (see Balsley, Chap-
ter 21b).
Multitechnique observations. Simultaneous observations
including radar, radiosonde, lidar, airborne and balloon-
borne instruments, etc., can provide the ultimate experi-
mental verification of the scatteringlreflection mecha-
nisms. With the radar providing information about the
Doppler spectrum (which gives the wind and spectral
width), the signal statistics, the scatterer positions, and
the angle of arrival, etc., plus additional thermodynamic
and dynamic information obtained from the other instru-
ments, the various scatteringlreflection models can be
tested. Because partial specular reflection depends upon
the existence of gradients in refractivity that are sharp
relative to the wavelength, and the wavelengths of interest
are as short as 10 em, it is a particularly challenging task
to make such measurements from either a balloon or air-
570 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
craft. Lane ( 1968) used an array of four refractometers
spaced 10 and 100 em apart in the vertical and 100 em
apart horizontally. Even closer spacings are required, which
will probably result in an array of tiny humidity and tem-
perature sensors spaced only millimeters apart. At the same
time, one must determine whether such gradients exist
even over a significant fraction of a Fresnel zone. This
requires the use of at least two vertical arrays spaced meters
apart in the horizontal and carried horizontally by a balloon
or aircraft.
The measurement of the turbulent refractivity spectrum
in the free atmosphere is even more difficult. This spectrum
has been measured with an aircraft refractometer down
to scales of a few meters and extrapolated from there to
the wavenumbers of interest by Kropfli et al. ( 1968). This
is not entirely satisfactory and emphasizes the need for
imaginative new instruments to measure the finescale re-
fractivity structure of the atmosphere.
In short, research required to elucidate further the scat-
tering mechanism must include direct, detailed, three-di-
mensional observation of the scattering structure and its
evolution in time; detailed comparison of the observed
structure with the radar scatter expected from that struc-
ture; and credible theoretical explanation of atmospheric
evolution leading to generation, maintenance, movement,
and decay of the scatterers. The observations, in particular,
must be redundant and available for extended periods un-
der a broad range of atmospheric conditions. They must
include lidar and microwave radar observations in addition
to multiple-wavelength VHF /UHF radar data and in situ
data from towers, balloons, and/ or instrumented aircraft.
A first step toward this goal is the multi-instrument ex-
periment conducted during summer 1988 near Cham-
paign, Illinois. The data include both VHF and UHF radar
observations at the Flatland radar site, stellar scintillometer
data, thermosonde profiles, radiosondes, and research air-
craft data. This project will address some of the concerns
mentioned above and provide valuable experience for the
design of future experiments.
4 USE OF VHF /UHF RADARS
IN NETWORKS
In the preceding sections the applications of single VHF/
UHF wind data to the studies of tropospheric dynamics
have been elaborated. Many cases, however, require ad-
ditional information that cannot be deduced from a single
station. Examples include the following:
1 ) Cases in which thermodynamic profiles of moisture
and temperature are important. The wind dependence in
height and the geostrophic wind relation can often give a
clue to the large-scale thermal structure, but for many cases
involving mesoscale flows, this alone may not be adequate.
2) Cases in which horizontal spatial structure is im-
portant. A single station's data provide information about
the temporal structure only. For some applications (dis-
cussed elsewhere in this book) a Taylor hypothesis (w
= -Uk) can be used to convert a time series into a one-
dimensional spatial series. However, for most purposes
this space-time conversion procedure is incomplete. A
more satisfactory procedure requires use of a network of
radars permitting direct calculation of the spatial correla-
tions.
3) Finally, Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) mod-
els require a sufficiently accurate estimate of the initial
state of the atmosphere (horizontal wind, temperature,
and moisture) for short-range (6 to 36 h) and medium-
range (up to 10 days) weather forecasting ( Haltiner and
Williams, 1980). For true comparison with observations,
rather than idealized simulation, single station data are
not useful; a network with a spatial resolution at least as
good as the present rawinsonde network is required. Fur-
thermore, for prediction purposes, both wind and ther-
modynamic information are essential (see item 1 above).
Several research networks of VHF/ UHF radars already
exist, notably in Colorado and Pennsylvania. A 30-station
wind profiler demonstration network will be deployed in
the central United States beginning in 1989. This will be
an improvement over traditional wind sounding by ra-
winsonde since the temporal resolution of the UHF 1VHF
network will be one hour (with limited availability of 6-
min data) compared with 12 hours from the operational
rawinsonde network. Nevertheless, a crucial need for wind
profiler networks will be the determination of temperature
and humidity fields. Several additional sources of infor-
mation and physical relations can be used to retrieve re-
motely a temperature profile: 1) measured radiances at
various IR and microwave frequencies from ground-based
and satelliteborne sensors; 2) the radiative transfer equa-
tion at various IR and microwave frequencies; 3) the mea-
sured horizontal wind; 4) the horizontal equations of mo-
tion; and 5) hybrid Radio Acoustic Sounding Systems
(RASS). It appears that all these sources of information
may be needed to obtain a temperature profile that has a
vertical resolution and an overall accuracy comparable with
that of the present radiosonde network. If one uses only
measured radiances and the radiative transfer equation
(augmented perhaps by some a priori statistical informa-
tion) then the retrieved profiles have low vertical resolution
(Westwater et al., 1985; Rodgers, 1976). On the other
hand, if one uses wind information and the horizontal
equations of motion (items 3 and 4 above) to retrieve the
temperature field the overall accuracy is at least 25% worse
than that of the radiosonde (Y.-H. Kuo et al., 1987b). Fur-
thermore, straightforward combination of low-resolution
thermodynamic retrievals from radiometric measurements
(items 1 and 2 above) with high-resolution wind obser-
vations available from wind profilers may in some cases
lead to a degradation of the wind forecasting compared to
wind-only information (Y.-H. Kuo et al., 1987a). RASS
systems may be limited in practice to lower tropospheric
altitudes. As discussed by Gal-Chen et al. ( 1986) and Gal-

Chen ( 1988), all sources of information must be used op-
timally. The low-resolution thermodynamic sounders
should be used to constrain the fine vertical structure. Fur-
thermore, as discussed by Lorenc ( 1986) and Ghil et al.
( 1981), for modeling purposes the wind, temperature, and
moisture must be consistent with the physical relations
assumed by the model.
Some progress has been made in demonstrating that
thermodynamic fields can be deduced from observed
winds with relatively high temporal resolution (every 3
hours). Such data can be obtained from special field pro-
grams such as AVE 1VAS 1981 or from model simulation
( Kuo and Anthes, 1985). This work is an extension to the
mesoscale of techniques developed by Gal-Chen ( 1978)
and Hane and Scott ( 1978) to deduce thermodynamic
fields given dual-Doppler radar measurements (Gal-Chen
and Kropfli, 1984; Lin et al., 1986; Hane and Ray, 1985;
Roux et al., 1984). Sienkiewicz and Gal-Chen (1988) have
used the wind data from AVE/VAS 1981 and the hori-
zontal momentum equation to deduce the geopotential and
the virtual temperature and compare it with the one de-
duced from the radiosonde. Overall satisfactory agreement
is obtained between the two fields. Ray (Chapter 24a) also
discusses such retrievals.
The temperature field can be obtained by using the hy-
drostatic relation. The rms value of the temperature error
versus height or, more correctly, the difference between
two measurement techniques-radiosondes versus re-
trievals-can be assessed. The thermodynamic retrievals
result in rms error of ±2.5°F. This error is comparable with
that using radiometric techniques. Nevertheless, the error
structure is quite different. In the radiometric techniques,
the errors are due to low vertical resolution. In the dynamic
retrieval the error appears to be more uniformly distributed.
Improved results are expected when both wind and ra-
diance information are used.
A major challenge facing the meteorological radar com-
munity is a definition of the materials needed for opera-
tional NWP in the United States and for use in a rather
broad range of research applications. Results of Observing
System Simulation Experiments ( OSSEs) are beginning to
identify limitations of the 30-station wind profiler dem-
onstration network. The small number of profilers in this
network, set by economic constraints, has compromised
both the spatial resolution (no better than 100 km any-
where in the network, and on average some 200 km),
which appears to be too coarse by an order of magnitude
relative to the fine temporal resolution of the system (one-
hour), and the limited domain (some 10 6 km 2 ), thus re-
stricting the range of meteorological systems amenable to
study and reducing the likelihood that any event of interest
will develop, mature, and decay within the array. Nev-
ertheless, data from this network will provide the basis for
agency decisions relative to deployment and operation of
a United States national network. It is imperative that the
meteorological radar community work to demonstrate both
the potential and the limitations and the optimal use of
RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 571
VHF/ UHF radars for atmospheric research and services,
including a clean delineation of the trade-offs represented
by vertical and horizontal spatial resolutions and domain,
as well as techniques for optimal combinations of the var-
ious datasets (e.g., dense networks of lower-tropospheric
radars versus sparse networks of sounders able to probe
to the tropopause and lower stratosphere; hybrid networks,
etc.). We are going to live with these decisions for a long
time.
VHF/ UHF radar networks offer tremendous potential
for single station operational detection and diagnosis of
weather phenomena through profiler observations. Ex-
perience of forecasters and air traffic controllers in the
Denver area has already shown that the observations are
highly useful in a number of short-range local forecasting
applications.
Forecasters at the Denver Weather Service Field Office
have made extensive use of the profiler winds in deter-
mining the depth of the cold air mass during upslope
snowstorms, diagnosing the movement of frontal zones to
forecast the location of precipitation bands, and monitoring
the development of mesoscale cyclonic circulations over
the neighboring High Plains, which frequently lead to
outbreaks of severe thunderstorms. Air traffic controllers
came to rely upon the wind observations for estimating
flight arrival times over the local airspace.
From what has been learned with the Colorado network,
it is almost certain that the complete demonstration net-
work will be capable of resolving such important features
as fast-moving, smaller mesoalpha waves in the middle
troposphere, the southerly jet that often develops prior to
severe storm outbreaks, and the height of frontal surfaces,
which is important in determining the distribution of the
various precipitation types in winter storms.
Wind profilers may become more important in providing
local information for weather analysis, diagnosis, and
short-range forecasting than in direct numerical weather
prediction applications.
VHF/ UHF radars may also be used to monitor tropo-
pause height and breaks or folds on the tropopause that
provide clues with regard to stratosphere-troposphere ex-
change. Direct measurements of vertical velocity, when
properly averaged, may give new perspectives for now-
casting or for NWP model initiation.
A second challenge for the community is the integration
of data from VHF/ UHF radar networks with data from
other sources. Foremost among these are RASS, thermo-
dynamic profilers (multichannel, ground-based microwave
radiometers looking upward), and satellite systems (IR
and microwave sounding systems, plus NEXRAD micro-
wave radars in the short run and the NASA-LAWS lidar
wind sounding system around the tum of the century).
The need to integrate diverse datasets in initial analyses
for NWP models has highlighted the importance of the
data assimilation task. As a result, in recent years the at-
mospheric science community has made major advances
in developing the formation of four-dimensional data as-
572 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
similation. The formally correct procedures are computa-
tion-intensive, driving a search for less-demanding ap-
proximate methods.
s INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
The greatest challenge facing radar meteorology today
is the need to broaden the research applications-ex-
panding from mesoscale dynamics per se to its role in bio-
geochemical cycles and budgets generally. The main em-
phasis of atmospheric sciences for the foreseeable future
will be in the delineation of the atmospheric components
of the hydrologic cycle, cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phos-
phorous and other elements basic to the food chain, and
a wide variety of trace species. Many of the processes that
contribute significantly to the annual averages of interest
(as well as the variability in these averages) are highly
localized events of short duration. To capture their effects
will require high-resolution kinematic and dynamic ob-
servations made in concert with corresponding biological
chemical measurements, as well as application of the for-
malism of four-dimensional data assimilation to these data
also. Exploratory studies of this type need to be car-
ried out.
One specific set of applications requiring more attention
is the marine atmosphere. Air-sea interactions of a variety
of types are essential components of global change, yet
remain an area of ignorance. This and related subjects are
discussed by Jorgensen and Meneghini (Chapter 22b) and
I<ropfli (Chapter 27b).
Finally, we conclude with brief summaries of five specific
areas of research for networks of clear-air radars:
1) Mesoscale studies. A number of studies of mesoscale
atmospheric dynamics that have taken place over the past
few years have demonstrated the need for data to be gath-
ered essentially continuously at many points on a two-
dimensional grid whose total dimensions are on the scale
of hundreds ·of kilometers. Prior to the advent of clear-air
radar technology, this would have been a prohibitively
expensive undertaking, even for just winds aloft infor-
mation. Now, however, it appears that such studies are
feasible. Indeed, the pending construction of NOAA's 30
wind-profiler network in the central United States will
provide this kind of data for an extended period. The re-
sults of this effort, in conjunction with earlier studies in-
corporating continuous clear-air radar data, will provide
needed information to modify networking concepts for
optimizing mesoscale data gathering.
2) Studies of orographic effects. Results already in hand
show that the morphology of atmospheric wave activity
in the troposphere and lower stratosphere correlates well
with the presence I absence of major mountain ranges. The
relative importance of orography, convection, and jet
streams as gravity wave sources is currently under study.
A network of clear-air radars in the vicinity of major
mountain ranges or other orographic features would pro-
vide a wealth of new information on the details of this
important research topic. Examples of possible studies in-
clude the generation of mountain waves, the propagation
of these waves into the upper atmosphere under varying
mean wind conditions, the effects of mean flow retarda-
tion I acceleration by wave breakdown, and the detrimental
effects of atmospheric gravity waves on the accuracy of
wind measurement.
3) Aircraft routing studies. A number of studies over the
past few years point to the possibility of achieving appre-
ciable savings in aircraft fuel consumption by routing flight
paths to take into account the magnitude and direction of
jet stream wind patterns (e.g., Winer and Wesler, 1981).
In the present context, Carlson and Sundararaman ( 1982)
have suggested that networks of wind profilers could pro-
vide high temporal and spatial resolution information on
winds aloft (including the jet stream) toward this end.
Potential savings appear to amount to a few percent of
the total fuel consumption. NOAA's new profiler network
is expected to provide useful data for fuel efficient flight
planning.
4) Dynamics of the tropical atmosphere and the climate
connection. The control of midlatitude weather and climate
variability by ocean-atmosphere circulation anomalies in
the tropics is reasonably well documented. This control
was recently highlighted by the occurrence of a major El
Niiio event in the tropical Pacific and the concomitant
damage to both life and property that occurred over major
portions of the globe.
Important features of tropical dynamics and climate, in-
cluding convection, vertical circulation patterns (Hadley
and Walker), troposphere-stratosphere interchange, and
tropical mesoscale convective system circulation patterns
would be clarified by establishing a network of clear-air
radars, initially in the tropical Pacific. The first elements
of such a network already have been established on two
Pacific islands, and a complete network is currently being
proposed.
5) Climatological aspects of the Amazon Basin. The need
to understand more fully the effects on climate of atmo-
spheric dynamics in the Amazon Basin is particularly crit-
ical in view of the heavy deforestation currently under
way in that region. We need to understand the dynamics
of convection and circulation and their relationship to the
extensive forest canopy. We then need to apply this un-
derstanding to predict the changes that almost certainly
will result from deforestation. Application of the clear-air
radar technology, particularly in terms of extended net-
works, will be an invaluable aid in such climatological
studies. It is important to point out that the costs involved
with such a network are not prohibitive: depending on a
number of factors, each site installation could typically
cost on the order of a few hundred thousand dollars, while
the yearly maintenance per site would be a small fraction
of this amount (since many sites could easily be maintained
by one technician).
 RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF THE FREE ATMOSPHERE 573

APPENDIX A:
DETERMINING LAMINA INFORMATION FROM INTERFEROMETRY

Consider the case of a single layer reflector, sloped and Therefore, during the integration period, signals will come
with one sinusoidal undulation: from those directions B.p(t) given by (A7) with Doppler
velocities given by ( A8). The exact positions of the scat-

----~-)·
terers are solved from (A7). For given 85 p, (A7) yields

1 ( 8 ) -a
x- ut =- cos- 1 ~=A (A9)
K KD

The surface (layer) is given by and ( A6) yields

z = z0 = a(x- x0 ) + D sin[K(x- x0 )]. (A1)

z(t) = wt + aA + D sinKA. (A10)
The slope of the layer is
For an estimate of D,
dz
dx = a+ KD cosK(x- Xo). (A2)
1
vertical displacement D - • Vz.
w
Specular reflection occurs at a radar beam angle Bsp such
that
For Vz = 0.1 m s-I, w = 21r fT = 21r f3h, and D ,.._, 170m.
dz Therefore, DK - 0.08S - 4.8°, the maximum tilt caused
tanBsp = dx by the undulation.
For the partial reflection process to work, such that the
or Fresnel reflection coefficient can be applied, the horizontal
dimension of the reflecting surface should be greater than
dz the beamwidth, as well as the Fresnel zone dimension. For
Bsp = dx =a+ KD cos[K(x- x0 )]. (A3)
50 MHz, 1.2° beamwidth at 6S km, dw- 1.4 km, and dF
- 1 km. Therefore, the horizontal dimension of the un-
If the range gate at which the specular reflection occurs is dulation should be of the order of 10 km and larger, and
R.P, then the position of the scatterer is, at t = 0, K = 5 X 10-4 m- 1 . This, however, will not affect the dis-
cussion when we use the geometric optics approximation
to calculate the phase.
For interferometry, the phase angle of the cross spectrum
(A4) is given by
The Doppler velocity for this scatterer is
cf>int = kd 1o.p (All)
V0 = W cosO.+ u sinBsp
where k is the wavenumber and dis the distance between
=w + uB.P (for Bsp ~ 1). (AS) the receivers.
For FDI, the phase angle of the cross correlation is
If the layer is carried by the wind, we can consider that
the coordinate system moves with the wind and x0 = ut, cf>Fm = 2tlw • rk = 2(tlk) · r (A12)
zo = wt such that
where r is the range at which reflection occurs.
z(t) = Wt + a(x- ut) + D sinK(x- ut) (A6)
The ranger changes according to Eqs. (A9) and (AlO)
Bsp(t) =a+ KD cosK(x- ut), (A7) during the period of integration. Approximately, a periodic
change of the range as a function of Bsp would be expected.
and the Doppler velocity If Bsp is linearly related to V0 [Eq. (AS)], then r (hence
cf>Fm) should change periodically with V 0 (or Doppler fre-
V0 (t) = w + u[a + KD cosK(x- ut)]. (A8) quency).
574 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

If there is a spectrum of waves on the layer such that

APPENDIX 8:
z ~ z0 + a(x- x0 ) + L D; sin[K;(x- x0 ) + <!>;], LIST Of ACRONYMS
i
AVE/VAS Atmospheric Variability Experiment/ VISSR
then the slope is Atmospheric Sounder
FDI Frequency Domain Interferometry
FM-CW Frequency-Modulated/ Continuous-Wave
IR Infrared
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Chapter 29a
Precipitation Measurement and Hydrology
]urg Joss, Swiss Meteorological Institute
Albert Waldvogel, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
1 INTRODUCTION
The most important advantage of using radar for pre-
cipitation measurements is the coverage of a large area
with high spatial and temporal resolution from a single
point and in real time. Furthermore, the three-dimensional
picture of the weather situation can be extended over a
very large area by compositing data from several radars.
However, we have not been able until recently to make
measurements over a large area with an accuracy accept-
able for hydrological applications.
The basic principles of radar meteorology are well de-
scribed in textbooks such as Atlas ( 1964), Kostarev et al.
( 1971), Battan ( 1973) and Stepanenko ( 1973), or in WMO
Reports such as Technical Note No. 78 (1966) on the "Use
of Ground Based Radar," Technical Note No. 110 ( 1970)
on the "Use of Weather Radar for Aviation," and Technical
Note No. 181 by Clift (1984) on the "Use of Radar in
Meteorology." Only a very brief summary will be given
here.
The power received by the radar from a precipitation
field is proportional to the radar reflectivity factor Z (pro-
vided that the particles are spherical and small compared
with the wavelength), the factor IKI 2 (a function of the
dielectric constant of the particles), and the radar constant
C, and is inversely proportional to the square of the dis-
tance r and to the attenuation A produced by rain and
atmospheric gases:
( 1.1)
The radar constant C depends on the transmitted power,
the wavelength, the pulse duration, the beamwidth, and
the gain of the antenna. All particles of the precipitation
field within the sampled volume of the radar contribute
to the radar return. Each particle contributes proportionally
to its backscattering cross section. The cross section is a
function of the wavelength of the radar, and the size,
shape, orientation (if not spherical) and dielectric prop-
erties of the particle. The dielectric constant is very different
for ice and water and varies with temperature. As long as
particles are smaller than one-third of the wavelength
(Rayleigh region; Battan, 1973), the backscattering per unit
volume of atmosphere is roughly proportional to the radar
reflectivity factor Z. Since the quantity Z is by definition
equal to the sum of the sixth power of the particle diameter
577
and the rainfall rateR is roughly proportional to the fourth
power of the particle diameter, there is no unique rela-
tionship between the radar reflectivity and the precipitation
rate. The relationship depends on the particle-size distri-
bution. Thus, natural variability in drop-size distributions
is an important source of uncertainty in radar measure-
ments of precipitation.
Since the precipitation at the ground must be deduced
from a measurement sampled aloft, a second kind of un-
certainty is encountered, which is often not given proper
consideration. If there are variations in the vertical reflec-
tivity profile, considerable error-usually underestima-
tion-may result in the rainfall as measured by radar. This
problem is especially severe in a mountainous country,
but also applies to a flat country and may lead to unex-
pectedly large errors.
Uncertainties of a third type are related to instrumental
considerations. Austin ( 198 7) discusses and illustrates the
relative importance of various kinds of uncertainty using
case studies. Although for the past 40 years radar has
been proposed and investigated as a tool to measure rain-
fall quantitatively over a large area, only little operational
use has been made so far of reflectivity data for precipi-
tation measurements. Even worse, the comments made in
1979 by Wilson and Brandes are still true: "Both confusion
and misunderstanding exist in the inherent ability of radar
to measure rainfall, about factors that contribute to errors,
and about the importance of careful calibration and signal
processing." One of the reasons for this situation probably
lies in the large variability of meteorological phenomena
and the different types of applicati_ons. Well-defined field
experiments have shown good agreement between radar
and gage measurements, but this does not necessarily mean
that similar results can be obtained in operational appli-
cations over large areas. In such limited experiments some
errors may be hidden in the radar-raingage assessment
factor (i.e., the ratio of the rain amount obtained with
gages to the corresponding radar amount). When the ideal
conditions of such experiments are not fulfilled, the errors
may emerge. They might produce unexpected deviations
in operational applications and could thereby be respon-
sible for the lack of faith in radar as an operational tool to
measure rainfall. Within the last few years the situation
has improved significantly. Availability of modem digital
techniques for data recording and processing has mitigated
many of the problems associated with radar measurements
578 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
of rainfall, and currently a number of important operational
projects are already established or being developed.
In this chapter the various problems in making quan-
titative measurements of precipitation with a radar are ex-
amined, and techniques for dealing with these problems
are described. Problems arising from storm characteristics
are discussed in section 2. Section 3 considers technological
problems associated with the radar. The extent to which
these problems have been solved and several measurement
techniques (both ones that have been well tested and ones
that are still experimental or merely proposed) are dis-
cussed in sections 4 and 5. Finally, in sections 6 and 7 and
in the appendices, operational projects now developing in
a number of countries are described.
l PRECIPITATION CHARACTERISTICS
THAT AffECT RADAR
MEASUREMENTS
l.l Particle-Size Distributions and Z-R
Relations
Particle-size distributions of raindrops, snowflakes, and
hailstones have probably been observed since the begin-
ning of mankind. They are of special interest in radar me-
teorology because they provide a means of deducing in a
direct way the relationship between the radar reflectivity
factor, Z, and the associated rainfall rate, R. One of the
first known sets of measurements of raindrop-size distri-
butions was by Wiesner ( 1895 ), who used filter papers to
catch the drops. This technique has been used for many
years and is still in use in some places. The obvious ad-
vantage of the method is its simplicity, which has to be
paid for by the tedious effort required in the analyses. The
situation changed in 1970, when an electromechanical
disdrometer became available (Joss and Waldvogel, 1967).
This device reduced to a reasonable level the work needed
to obtain a representative sample size.
The most widely used description of the size distribu-
tions of raindrops is that of Marshall and Palmer ( 1948),
who found that the exponential shape fits measured rain-
drop spectra reasonably well. In fact, the more averaging
done in time or space, the better the agreement with the
exponential distributions (Joss and Gori, 1978). Individual
drop-size distribution may differ considerably because of
physical differences in processes such as drop sorting, ag-
gregation, coalescence, and breakup during their devel-
opment. Consideration has been given to mathematical
approximations other than the simple exponential (Joss
and Gori, 1978; Ulbrich, 1985) or by analyzing the very
detailed shape of individual size distributions (Steiner and
Waldvogel, 1987). Hosking and Stow ( 1987) measured
the arrival rate of raindrops at the ground and found that
raindrops arrive in clusters of similar size (drop sorting).
The forms of parameterization for size distributions may
be important for theoretical studies and cloud physics, but
the differences do not appear to be significant for radar
measurements.
For more details about size distributions of raindrops,
readers are referred to summaries such as Battan ( 1973)
or Pruppacher and Klett (1978), to Srivastava (1967) for
the coalescence process of raindrops, and to Comford
(1967), Joss and Waldvogel (1969) and Gertzman and
Atlas ( 1977) for statistical considerations related to rain-
drop samples.
The size distributions of snowflakes and hailstones are
also generally of the exponential type ( Gunn and Marshall,
1958; Sekhon and Srivastava, 1970; Beckwith, 1960).
Snowflakes, because of their complex shape, are usually
characterized by their melted waterdrop diameter. Hail-
stones also can have a complicated shape but here the
maximum diameter is frequently taken, unless a scheme
with some kind of parameterization is used to describe the
shape of the hailstones (Wang et al., 1987). Many inves-
tigators have studied the backscattering behavior of hail-
stones, a matter that will be discussed in section 5.7. For
measuring rain the most important aspect is to avoid in-
terpreting intense echoes from hail in terms of excessively
heavy rain.
Empirical values of Z-R relations and the variations from
storm to storm and within individual storms have been
the subject of many studies over the past 40 years. Strictly
speaking, a Z-R relation is obtained by calculating Z and
R from measured drop-size distributions. By far the ma-
jority of the studies are based on this method. An alter-
native is to compare Z measured aloft by the radar (it is
then called the "equivalent radar reflectivity factor" and
labeled Ze) with R measured at the ground. Such a relation
attempts to reflect any differences between the precipita-
tion aloft and that which reaches the ground, and may
also include errors in the radar calibration, so it is not
strictly a Z-R relation. This technique has been used in the
climatological approaches proposed by Miller ( 1972) and
Calheiros and Zawadski ( 1981). Their relationships are
deduced by comparing the overall probability that Ze ex-
ceeds given levels with the intensity distribution curve for
R as measured by gages in many storms. In the relations
a range effect must be included to account for average
variations in the vertical profile of reflectivity; this is further
considered in section 2.2. A summary of many empirical
Z-R relations, derived from measured drop-size distribu-
tions, is found in Battan ( 1973, p. 90). The differences
between such relations and the uncertainties involved in
applying them to particular situations have generally been
ascribed to the natural variability of drop-size distributions,
and a rough estimate of their accuracy has been "a factor
of 2" in rain rate. Sampling errors in the drop-size distri-
bution may also contribute to the uncertainty. The small
sample sizes (of 1 m 3 or even 0.1 m 3 for certain applica-
tions) impose strong statistical fluctuations on the variables
and laws between these variables. These fluctuations may

remain undetected if the variables are deduced from a sin-
gle instrume11-t (for instance, raindrop sampling devices) .
One reason for lack of realizing the limits of our mea-
surements comes from the high, artificial correlation be-
tween the variables which is independent of sample size
(Chandrasekar and Bringi, 1987). This means that the
same large drop of a small sample distribution contributes
in a major way to the reflectivity as well as to the rainfall.
The statistical fluctuation shows up in its full, true amount
in comparison of results from different instruments, such
as radar and raindrop sampling devices. Attempts to in-
crease the sample size tend to introduce other problems,
such as sacrificing resolution.
Estimates of the size of errors caused by sampling as
compared to the natural variation of a given parameter
may be found in Joss and Gori ( 1978). They found that
differences in the shape of the distribution (shape factor),
measured by four independent instruments set up side by
side, is less than 3.5%. This is three times smaller than the
"real" changes (i.e., changes not caused by limited sample
size) from one minute to the next, five times less than the
differences obtained when comparing distributions taken
at different moments within the storm (but at the same
rain rate), and ten times less than the differences between
samples taken at random within the same storm. In other
words, with a sample size of 50 em 2 and 1-min exposure
time (corresponding to a volume sample of 3 m 3 for big
drops, which matter most for the sampling error) the dis-
tributions are well defined.
From calculations based on observed distributions Atlas
et al. ( 1984) made a detailed analysis of the improvement
that might be achieved in remote measurement of rainfall
if reflectivity measurements were combined with mea-
surements of other parameters such as optical extinction
or attenuation. They concluded that for rainfall rates de-
duced from reflectivity measurements alone the average
deviation resulting from drop-size variability would be
33%, and that it could be reduced to less than 10% by
multiparameter measurements, as shown in Table 2.1.
However, since no satisfactory methods for making such
measurements in an extended area are apparent, these
gains are largely hypothetical in operational hydrology.
Similarly, the improvements that theoretically might be
TABLE l.t
Error of Estimate of Rain Rate Calculated from
Various Parameters, Deduced from Drop-Size
Data Only (Atlas et al., 1984)
Variable Averase Deviatioa
Z (reflectivity) 33%
Sigma (optical extinction) 37%
A (attenuation) 24%
Z, Sigma (reflectivity, optical extinction)
8%
Z, A (reflectivity, attenuation)
5%
PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT AND HYDROLOGY 579
achieved by polarization diversity measurements have not
proved useful in practice (see Metcalf, Chapter 19b). Bat-
tan ( 1976), Ulbrich ( 1986) and Austin ( 1987) have pointed
out that the presence of up- or downdrafts can cause the
Z-R relation to be significantly different from that in still
air. Austin calculates that in a downdraft of 8 m s - l the Z
value for a given rain rate would be about 3 dB less than
in still air, which would result in an underestimate of the
rainfall rate by 40%.
The possibility of reducing the variability of Z-R relations
by stratifying storms according to rain type (such as con-
vective, noncellular, orographic) has received a good deal
of attention (e.g., Battan, 1973, p. 89; Joss and Waldvogel,
1970; Austin, 1987). Questions remain as to the practicality
of applying this technique on an operational basis. In the
opinion of the authors, the relative importance of variation
in the drop-size distribution, while certainly important, is
frequently overemphasized. After some averaging over
time and/ or space, these errors will rarely exceed a factor
of 2 in rain rate and are dominant only in well-defined
experiments and close to the radar. At longer ranges, errors
caused by not seeing precipitation close to the ground are
usually dominant, and we wonder why these errors, in
spite of their importance, have been largely ignored and
attention focused on Z- R instead. Most probably because
of all the fascinating ways of determining and discussing
distributions of drop-size and Z-R relationships, which are
well-defined problems and easy to grasp, these subjects
have received (too?) much attention in the past. We thor-
oughly agree with Zawadzki ( 1984) when he states that
"the variability of drop-size spectra introduces one of many
errors and not the most severe at that."
l.l Vertical Reftectivity Proftle, a Basic
Problem in Radar Hydrology
Because of growth or evaporation of precipitation, air
motion and change of phase (ice and water in the bright
band), highly variable vertical reflectivity profiles are ob-
served, both within a given storm and from storm to storm.
With increasing distance from the radar the vertical dis-
tance between the sample volume of the radar and the
ground usually increases too. Therefore the differences
between estimates of rainfall by radar and the rain reaching
the surface must also increase.
A frequently observed feature in the vertical reflectivity
profile is the bright band, a layer of enhanced reflectivity
where snow is melting into rain. It may lead to a strong
overestimate of precipitation by radar. Overestimates of
up to a factor of 5 may be observed, provided that the
radar has the necessary spatial resolution to resolve the
bright-band layer, which has a typical thickness of the
order of 300 m. As most weather radars have sufficient
spatial resolution only at close ranges, overestimation pro-
duced by bright-band enhancement occurs mainly near
the radar. At medium ranges the bright band will com-
580 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
pensate for the reduced reflectivity aloft and at longer
ranges underestimation will dominate. Collier ( 1986a)
provides a more detailed consideration of the influence of
the bright band on radar-measured precipitation amounts.
C. J. Smith ( 1986) describes a reliable algorithm, tested
on 270 h of data, to reduce errors caused by bright bands
on quantitative rainfall measurements. She concludes that
applying correction reduces the error to half of its original
value.
Above the bright band (upper level at 0°C wet-bulb
temperature), vertical reflectivity profiles tend to show a
sharp decrease with height, amounting to reflectivity gra-
dients of up to 10 dB km -t, which corresponds to a change
of up to a factor of 4 in measured rain rate per kilometer.
Average profiles for a variety of situations have been pre-
sented by Joss and Waldvogel (1970), Joss et al. (1974),
Rogers and Yau (1981), Schmid and Waldvogel (1986),
and Koistinen ( 1986). The reflectivity profiles in these ref-
erences represent averages. Instantaneous values may de-
viate strongly in both directions. Although the sharp de-
crease generally starts at the level of the bright band, in
some situations the decrease may start near the surface.
Low-level growth in a moist atmosphere or evaporation
in a relatively dry one can bring about significant changes
in reflectivity with height. Austin ( 198 7) has made some
calculations of the probable magnitude of these effects.
Wilson and Pollock ( 1974) describe measurements of
the decrease of reflectivity with height. They find good
agreement for rainfall measurements with three overlap-
ping radars when the beam measures below 6000 ft and
ten times less rain than in the gage, when the radar samples
at 14 000 ft. The difference is assumed to be mainly caused
by growth below the beam and incomplete beam filling.
In summary, differences between radar indications and
rain reaching the surface consist mainly of underestimation
by radar. At long ranges, for low-level storms, and es-
pecially when low antenna elevations are blocked by ob-
stacles such as mountains, the underestimate may be se-
vere. This type of error often tends to dominate all others,
a fact easily overlooked when observing storms at close
ranges only, or when analyzing storms that are all located
at roughly the same range.
Methods have been devised for estimating the vertical
profile of reflectivity in any given situation and for com-
pensating for resulting errors. Techniques used operation-
ally in projects in the United Kingdom and in Switzerland
are described in Appendices A and B, and assessment of
their effectiveness is made.
.2..3 Precipitation fields, Representativeness
of Data
The structure of precipitation fields has long been stud-
ied, and their great variability in time and space has been
recognized. In fact, radar meteorology is the discipline for
investigating mesoscale features (i.e., the scale between
the synoptic phenomena and that which we, as individuals,
see and feel). The mesoscale has attracted much interest
in recent years-an interest that continues to increase.
Since the number of studies of precipitation fields is so
large, only a few recent books and survey articles will be
mentioned here to serve as an entrance to this broad field:
Harrold ( 1973), Harrold and Austin ( 1974), Ludlam
( 1980) and Kessler ( 1986).
This small-scale variability is relevant to measuring
rainfall with radar in two ways. First, it points up the need
to maintain as high a degree of resolution as possible so
that the precipitation pattern will not be smeared but will
be realistically depicted. Second, it raises the question of
the spatial representativeness of point measurements made
by gages. This is particularly important because efforts are
often made either to combine radar and gage data or to
use gage measurements as "ground truth" for assessing
the radar indications.
The representativeness of point measurements can be
determined with a very dense network of ground stations,
but the use of radar data and models is frequently consid-
ered more elegant and complementary for studying this
subject. Examples of model calculations are found in the
papers by Silverman et al. ( 1981) and Gabriel ( 1981).
They used models of elliptical rain cells with regularly and
randomly located raingages respectively. Their results
show the dependence of the accuracy of the amounts of
precipitation measured by the raingages on the density of
the network and the gradients within the rain cells. Wald-
vogel and Schmid ( 1982) study the representativeness of
hailpad networks of different grid size with the help of
radar data from 200 hail cells. Delrieu et al. ( 1988) com-
pared several methods for analyzing precipitation fields
and estimating rainfall, including Thiessen's method,
krieging and cokrieging. These and other studies have
shown that for best results it is desirable to combine all
the information available from both radar and gages, since
both have shortcomings.
3 PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH
RADAR CHARACTERISTICS
3.1 Ground Clutter and Shielding
When the radar beam or its sidelobes encounter ground
targets, strong persistent echoes occur and add up in time
to appear as large rain amounts if no precautions are taken
in the data analysis. A rather crude method for eliminating
them is to use a clutter map in the computer memory, as
has been done successfully in Switzerland since 1979. This
clutter map contains a bit of information for each pixel of
the whole volume scan indicating whether the pixel is
contaminated by clutter. The contaminated pixels are
blocked out, but this procedure may leave blind zones in
badly cluttered areas and thereby lead to a loss of data.

Because clutter, and especially that caused by anomalous
propagation, is variable in time the clutter map has to be
made up from many situations without rain, including ones
with anomalous propagation. As a consequence of this,
the loss in any given single weather situation is often larger
than it need be. Doppler techniques hold promise for re-
ducing these difficulties (Passarelli et al., 1981) but some
problems are likely to remain in cases of stationary rainfall
patterns. Golden et al. ( 1986) expect that radars in the
new network being developed in the United States will
have clutter suppression capabilities of at least 30 dB in
the reflectivity channel. Aoyagi ( 1983) claims successful
rejection of clutter echoes on an operational basis using
an MTI weather radar system. Apart from that, little ex-
perience with the necessary algorithms for operational ap-
plications is available at present. In fact, in our panel
meeting it was questioned to what extent Doppler radar
does solve the clutter problem. Gorgucci et al. ( 1986) in-
vestigated the possibility of using the "bias" between the
logarithmically and linearly averaged signal to cancel
ground echoes. Theoretical considerations suggest that us-
ing the bias is cheaper but less efficient than using Doppler
techniques, but again little operational experience is yet
available.
Anomalous propagation occurs in locations where under
normal conditions no clutter is encountered. The strongest
echoes of this type will be found when the radar beam
travels horizontally along an inversion, which produces
large deviations from its normal propagation path. A de-
flection of the beam toward the ground is obtained when
the air aloft is warm and dry compared to that below. For
instance a vertical temperature gradient of 13 K1 100 m
or a vertical water-vapor pressure gradient of -3 hPal
100 m will deflect the straight beam into a circular path
around the center of the earth. This type of clutter is not
easily eliminated. Fiore et al. ( 1986) propose an automated
system to help detect and eliminate echoes from anomalous
propagation by using satellite data to identify cloud-free
zones. Fortin et al. ( 198 7) propose three criteria for rec-
ognizing anomalous propagation on the bases of a reflec-
tivity that exceeds normal values for precipitation, intensity
gradients that exceed normal values, and isolation from
recognizable precipitation echoes.
Topography and the curvature of the earth may hinder
the detection of important parts of the precipitation. This
difficulty usually increases with increasing distance of the
illuminated volume from the radar and is more severe in
winter than in the warm season when the melting level is
high. For example, at 200 km with an elevation angle of
0.5 deg, the average height of the radar beam is at an
altitude of 4.25 km. In Table 3.1 the average height of the
radar sampling volume, the 3-dB and 10-dB beamwidths,
and the reduction factor (radar I gage) for various distances
between radar and gage are listed. An effective radius of
the earth of 8000 km and a 1-deg beam at an elevation of
0.5 deg are assumed.
PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT AND HYDROLOGY 581
TABLE 3.1
Heisht of the Beam Axis Above Ground (in a Flat
Environment) at Di&erent Ranses from
the Radar Site•
3-dB to-dB
Dbtuce Beamwtdth Beamwtdtb Helsht
{lull) {lull) {lull) {lull) Radar/Gaae'
1 0.02 0.03 0.01 99%
50 0.87 1.74 0.59 52%
100 1.75 3.49 1.50 19.3%
150 2.62 5.23 2.72 5.1%
200 3.49 6.98 4.25 0.9%
• For 1-deg beam and 0.5-deg elevation angle.
t Radar/gage is the percentage of surface precipitation indicated by the
radar if the vertical reflectivity gradient were -7.5 dB km- 1 .
In Table 3.1 a vertical reflectivity gradient of -7.5 dB
km - I is assumed, and it is applied all the way up starting
from the surface. This assumption represents the average
profile for Switzerland for all storms during the whole
year. It would not be representative of summer convective
storms, even in mountainous regions. In a flat environment
such a profile would occur only in snow or when there is
significant low-level growth of raindrops.
Figure 3.1 illustrates what the radar sees at various
ranges in convective rain, widespread rain with a bright
band, and in low-level rain or snow in the absence of hills
and obstructions. Even in this ideal situation the profile is
considerably distorted except for convective rain close to
the radar. Of course putting the radar on a high tower or
on a mountain would change the situation; the change
would be not only in the desired direction of reducing
shielding but also would increase clutter, thus reducing
visibility as well. Figure 3.2 illustrates the complex situation
in mountainous regions. For both of two radars located in
the Swiss Alps less than 40% of the region is fully visible
when observing at a height of 3 km, and only partial vis-
ibility is available for another 5% to 10% of the region. At
the higher location (La Dole at 1685 m) the area lost be-
cause of shielding by mountains is less than half of that
for Albis (920 m), but the cluttered area is more than
twice as large. We believe that the higher radar site is pref-
erable because sometimes echoes can be retrieved from
cluttered areas, but no remedy is possible to see precipi-
tation behind the mountains or below the horizon, except
the expensive solution of installing more radars. If the
shadowed zones are small, a special algorithm for inter-
polation between precipitation echoes may be used to fill
the gaps (Galli, 1984), but how well such an interpolation
represents the actual precipitation in the shadowed areas
cannot be known.
Summing up, we find that at the ranges where opera-
tional weather radars are usually used today, the losses
caused by clutter and shielding may be large and strongly
variable, even in a flat country.
582 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Convgctivg Rain
6 La Dole (1685 m) 6

E
><:
~3

E
Cl
·;;
~

I,
0

6 Alb is (920 m)

E
><: 3

.ECl
11
I o O'Yo 50% 100%

1'
/
T Snow Low Laval Rain
/
5 --+-~--+.r--1--+---+--~~
E aries of Switzerland. The different regions are defined as follows (per-
:.:
0 tains: 3.4% (8.8%).
0 50 100 150 200 250 Km
Fig. 3.1 Vertical profiles seen by the radar at various ranges in
convective and widespread rain and in low-level rain or snow. The
number in each figure gives the percentage (referred to the true,
melted water value measured at ground level) in rain rate deduced
from the maximum reflectivity of the profile. A radar with a 1-deg
beam is assumed, in a flat country, so that obstacles and radar horizon
are of the same height as the radar itself (of the order of 100 m).
Putting the radar on a high tower or on a mountain would change
the situation.
3.2 Errors Caused by Attenuation
Two kinds of attenuation may be identified, attenuation
by atmospheric gases in the clear atmosphere and atten-
uation by the precipitation itself. Attenuation caused by
atmospheric gases is accurately known (1.5 dB per 100
km at 5-cm wavelength). Except for the small attenuation
caused by water vapor, it is roughly constant and may
usually be corrected for by including it in the range nor-
malization. Attenuation caused by rain is discussed by
Ulaby et al. ( 1981) and may vary strongly according to
the rain rates along the path, but in many applications it
plays a minor role compared to other errors provided a
Fig. 3.2 Percentage of free volume for the two Swiss radars, La Dole
and Albis, as a function of height. The total volume at each height
(100%) is a layer 1 km in depth; the horizontal cross section for each
radar is the area within a range of 140 km and also within the bound-
-centages refer to the layer between 2.5 and 3.5 km in altitude):
1) Visible: all pixels with dimensions of 2 X 2 X 1 km 3 are com-
pletely visible: 37.3% (36.0%).
2) Partially visible: a fraction of each pixel is shielded by moun-
3) Shielded by mountains: pixels are behind mountains, invisible:
17.4% (39%).
4) Mountains: pixels are inside mountains, completely in the
ground: 0.8% (0.1%).
5) Direct ground clutter: pixels contain clutter from the main lobe:
1.7% (0.8%).
6) Indirect ground clutter: pixels contain clutter from the sidelobes,
i.e., the antenna is pointing to free space but still receives clutter
echoes from the ground: 39.4% (15.3%).
wavelength of 5 em or longer is used. In European coun-
tries, with a 5-cm wavelength and a range of 200 km, a
reduction of rain rate by as much as a factor of 2 will occur
in rare cases only. In tropical areas with intense rain, at-
tenuation may be more important and 10-cm wavelength
may be a better choice. If the radar beam is traveling for
some distance along the bright band, severe attenuation
amounting to several times the value found in the rain
below will be encountered (Joss et al., 1974).
Attempts have been made to correct for attenuation
during the data analysis by a feedback technique using
the reflectivity measured along the path ( Geotis, 1975b).
However, as Hitschfeld and Bordan ( 1954) pointed out,
the correction can very easily become unstable because of
errors in the radar calibration, variability in the relationship

between reflectivity and attenuation, and/ or by the echo
fluctuation problem. The correction should therefore be
limited to a maximum on the order of 5 dB.
Errors caused by a wet radome may be significant and
will depend upon the rain rate, the wavelength, and the
surface conditions of the radome. In the opinion of Hudlow
et al. ( 1979), 5 dB of attenuation (roughly of a factor of
2 for rain rate) will be an upper limit at 5-cm wavelength
and will occur only rarely. However, Austin ( 1987) pointed
out that in widespread heavy rain only 2 dB of attenuation
by a wet radome can be increased progressively with range
and become as great as 4-5 dB at 100 km, even when a
correction for rain attenuation is applied. This occurs be-
cause the radome attenuation causes both the rainfall rate
along the path and the consequent rain attenuation to be
consistently and progressively underestimated.
Aydin et al. ( 1984) simulated with drop-size data the
differential attenuation of horizontally and vertically po-
larized waves for a wavelength of 5.4 em. They conclude
that errors caused by the differential attenuation may be
corrected and that this wavelength is therefore adequate
for multipolarization experiments.
3.3 Choice of the Wavelength
Using long wavelength (10 em or more) avoids errors
caused from attenuation by precipitation in most cases. At
10 em, however, the relationship between precipitation
and ground clutter is worse than at shorter wavelengths.
For example, at 10-cm precipitation echoes are 12 dB
weaker than at 5 em, while clutter echoes, mainly origi-
nating from the sidelobes, are essentially independent of
the wavelength ( Ulaby et al., 1981, p. 906). Furthermore,
for the same antenna size the beamwidth is twice as large,
leading to more clutter and large errors caused by the re-
duced spatial resolution at long ranges. In other words, a
narrower beam, obtainable with either a larger antenna or
a shorter wavelength, produces better spatial resolution
and will reduce ground clutter. In this respect a wavelength
of 3 em would be even better, but 3-cm radiation is severely
attenuated in heavy rain. Obviously a solution between
these contradicting requirements is bound to be a com-
promise of some sort. Heavy rain or hail requires a longer
wavelength and a larger antenna size (for instance 10-cm
wavelength and 8-m antenna), whereas for measuring
weak rain or snow 3-cm wavelength with a correspond-
ingly smaller antenna would be acceptable. However, in
most situations a single radar is expected to cover a wide
range of intensities. In Switzerland, where clutter is an
especially serious problem, 5-cm radiation is used. In the
United States, where the emphasis is on severe storms,
10-cm radars are used wherever feasible. For certain ap-
plications the financial impact of the wavelength and the
resulting antenna size may be important (P. L. Smith,
1986), as cost increases roughly proportional to the weight
of the antenna; that is, with the third power of the wave-
length.
PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT AND HYDROLOGY 583
3.4 Considerations When Choosing a Radar
Site for Hydrological Applications
Errors caused by the vertical reflectivity profile can be
minimized by optimizing the choice of radar site. This in-
volves a compromise between extending the horizon by
placing the antenna in an elevated position and reducing
ground clutter by placing it at a low position. Smith ( 1972)
discussed siting considerations in a flat country and,
whether the radar for quantitative work should be put on
a tower or not. His conclusion was that it depends on the
application. Among the questions considered by Clift
( 1984), arguments are discussed as to whether a radar
should be put on a high mountain with good view or
whether a low-altitude radar site is preferable. The answer
is left somewhat open. The experience with Swiss radars
clearly gives preference to the location on the mountain-
top because modem data processing can reduce many
problems caused by clutter contamination resulting from
a high radar site, but nothing can be done to detect pre-
cipitation that is blocked because of using a low radar site.
3.5 Hardware Calibration of Radar Systems
The hardware calibration for a weather radar includes
the measurement of transmitted power, antenna gain,
beamwidth, antenna pointing error, pulse duration, re-
ceiver sensitivity, and log receiver transfer function. Usu-
ally the manufacturers are in the best position to indicate
an easy-to-use and accurate procedure for the calibration
of their hardware. This type of calibration is certainly im-
portant and provides the basis of quantitative radar work.
However, not knowing as precisely as one desires the ab-
solute value of a certain quantity (for instance antenna
gain) may not be as harmful as one might expect, provided
that the system as a whole is stable. With modem radars
the stability usually presents no problem. Deviations from
the normal relative calibration are probably smaller, and
definitely easier to measure, than errors connected with
absolute calibration of electrical hardware. If the system
is stable, a meteorological calibration may be obtained di-
rectly against the desired meteorological quantity; e.g., rain
amount measured by gages on the ground. In this way the
meteorological sources of error are also included in the
adjustment, and often for modem weather radar these are
dominant compared to instrumental errors. Using up-to-
date solid-state electronics, it is possible to keep the total
cumulative error of transmitted power, antenna parame-
ters, noise figure, amplification in the receiver chain, and
A/D conversion well within 2 dB or 36% error of rain
rate (Geotis, 1975a). David et al. (1986) discuss the cali-
bration of the radar Rodin close to Paris.
A good way to reduce errors and maintain stability con-
sists of using few and stable components, and avoiding
special devices such as ultra-low-noise and narrowband
receivers or devices for obtaining polarization diversity. In
fact over the last few years, using these guidelines, the
standard error of the operational monthly overall calibra-
584 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
tion for the Swiss radars has been kept below 0.5 dB. In
this calibration everything is included from the output of
the antenna (the directional coupler) to the display equip-
ment of the user. Obviously this positive result reflects the
stability, not the absolute accuracy, of the equipment.
In conclusion, careful calibration and development of
new instrumentation for automated checking of the radar
performance (as proposed for instance by King, 1981 ) is
certainly desirable and important to reduce the time needed
for maintenance. In our opinion the major effort should
concentrate on reducing errors caused by meteorological
factors, which we believe to be the main limitation on the
accuracy of modem operational weather radars.
3.6 Sampling and Averaging
Rain rate can easily vary by a factor of 10 within a tO-
min period or witl\in 2-km distance, both being about the
best resolution obtainable with an operational weather ra-
dar over an extended area. This variability in the precip-
itation field is an important source of the scatter of unav-
eraged measurements, and justifies a rather coarse scale
in the initial quantization with a typical resolution of 7.5
dB in reflectivity. The influence of this coarse quantization
is largely eliminated by the averaging process in the anal-
yses. The final results and all the calculations and the data
analysis (such as the transition from one step of reflectivity
to the next) have to be far more accurate than the width
of the initial quantization step.
The instantaneous distribution of precipitation may be
distorted by smearing across the dimension of the mea-
surement volume (beamwidth and pulse length). At 200
km a 1-deg beam is 4 km wide and the variation of re-
flectivity across the beam may be as great as 40 dB, re-
sulting in considerable error (Zawadzki, 1984). Zawadzki
( 1982) also calculated the error caused by a nonhomo-
geneous reflectivity field and found that a reflectivity gra-
dient of 10 dB across the 3-dB beamwidth increases the
effective beamwidth by over 30%.
This variability of precipitation and differences in sam-
pling modes are especially relevant in attempts to compare
or combine measurements from radar and raingages. The
radar samples once every 10 min or so a volume high up,
which increases in size with distance, while the raingage
measures continuously at a single point on the ground.
The result is a radar picture which, at increasing distance
from the radar, is smeared out more and more in the ver-
tical and horizontal directions, while the "raingage picture"
has only a small number of point measurements in the
region of interest. Thus there may be sampling errors in
the distribution of rainfall as depicted by a network of
gages because they are unable to observe the details of the
precipitation in the spaces between the gages. Austin
( 1987) found that "the spatial variability of rainfall is so
pronounced that a single gage often does not sample rep-
resentatively over any area, even as small as 4 km 2 ." A
comparison of instantaneous values for a given location
of the two datasets must therefore contain considerable
scatter between the two results.
Aniol et al. ( 1980) investigated the small-scale variability
of precipitation and found that at least one hour of data
derived from three instruments was needed to obtain a
significant sample to compare radar with raingage or dis-
drometer data (see also Cain and Smith, 1976). Wilson
and Brandes ( 1979) show the effect of the sampling in-
terval on gage I radar comparisons in practice. While the
relative dispersion increases from 20% to 60% when the
sampling interval changes from continuous to a sample
every 30 min, the bias of the factor gage I radar changes
from 1.2 to 1.5. Wilson and Brandes do not give any reason
for this increase of underestimation by the radar with in-
creasing sampling interval. Huebner et al. ( 1986) made a
statistical study of the influence of the sampling interval
on the total indicated rain for storms with durations up to
190 minutes. They used the radar for 5-min intervals as a
standard of comparison, and found that the mean absolute
errors increased with sampling intervals up to 30% for 40-
min intervals. McAdie and Holitza ( 1986) discuss the in-
fluence of spatial resolution ( 150 to 1950 m in range and
1 or 2 deg in azimuth) on algorithms for identifying and
tracking thunderstorms. Errors caused by sampling are also
discussed in David et al. ( 1986).
To estimate precipitation, the rain rate must be integrated
in time, and it often varies over orders of magnitude. If
integration is done with a scale other than the linear scale
of rain rate, important corrections may be necessary. An
example of such a correction is the one needed when av-
eraging the logarithm of the signal to eliminate the au-
diofrequency fluctuations. This correction is 2.5 dB. It is
large but constant in all weather situations. Other correc-
tions may be even more important and may depend on
the distribution of the intensities of a given precipitation
situation. Joss et al. ( 1974) estimate the bias k and find the
following equation, where sigma is the standard deviation
of a lognormal distribution and AVE(Z) is the average
reflectivity:
k = log[AVE(Z)]- AVE[Iog(Z)]
= 0.058•(sigma) 2 [dB] ( 3.1)
For a standard deviation of 10 dB we obtain a bias of
5.8 dB!
3. 7 Meteorological Adjustment
of Radar Data
Rather than trying to assess all the individual radar pa-
rameters on an absolute basis (using microwave test
equipment, spheres suspended from a balloon, or comer
reflectors), perhaps an easier way is to make sure that the
radar hardware works within the specifications and is sta-
ble (as checked with microwave test equipment; see section

3.5) and to use the desired quantity itself (e.g., precipitation
at the ground) for making the final adjustment of the radar.
For this purpose raingages can be used, but before con-
sidering any adjustment with raingages, the correction for
the vertical reflectivity gradient should be applied by es-
timating the shielding caused by the known orography
and by using the information about the vertical reflectivity
profile estimated from the radar measurements themselves.
A similar procedure has been proposed by Schmid and
Waldvogel ( 1986) to estimate the kinetic energy of hail at
the ground (section 5. 7) .
To compensate to a first approximation for the fact that
underestimates of rainfall generally become worse at longer
ranges, an additional range-dependent correction was in-
troduced in 1981 in the radar equation used in Switzerland
(Galli and Joss, 1983). The correction is based on 1884 h
of rainfall observed by two radars and 53 raingages. Instead
of using a square law correction for range dependence, a
stronger dependence proportional to the 2.8th power is
used. This very crude correction is currently still in oper-
ation and produces a noticeable improvement, but the
method described in section 4.1, now being tested on an
experimental basis, is far more promising.
Only after corrections for vertical reflectivity gradient
and range have been applied, should the Z-R relationship
be considered and raingages used to make the final ad-
justment. Here special caution and rules have to be ob-
served; otherwise we risk making things worse. Cain and
Smith (1976) and Smith and Cain (1983, p. 13) demon-
strate this problem clearly and show that to make things
better, the standard error of the gage (representativeness)
has to be smaller than the radar bias to be corrected.
Koistinen and Puhakka ( 1984) also find that a real-time,
"instant" adjustment of the radar using telemetered rain-
gages is not as easy to accomplish as might be expected.
The sampling problem of the raingages in time and space
has to be acknowledged by integrating the results over an
hour or more, by using several raingages for a given region
of interest, or by using cumulative frequency distribution
functions of precipitation amounts derived from radar and
gage values. Several techniques for adjusting the radar
data or combining them with gage measurements have
been proposed and are being tested. They are discussed
in section 4.3.
4 REFLECTIVITY MEASUREMENTS
4.1 Basic Procedure
Deducing rainfall rates from measured radar reflectivities
is the generally accepted technique for hydrological ap-
plications. The steps required for such measurements are:
1) Making sure that the hardware is stable by calibration
and maintenance (section 3.5).
PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT AND HYDROLOGY 585
2) Correcting for errors of the vertical reflectivity profile
(section 4.2).
3) Taking into account all the information about the
Ze-R relationship and deducing the rainfall (section 2.1).
4) Adjustment with raingages (section 4.3).
The first three steps are based on known physical laws
and only the last one uses a statistical approach. This will
allow the statistical methods to work most efficiently. In
the past, a major limitation in carrying out these steps was
caused by analog circuitry and photographic techniques
for recording and analysis. It was therefore extremely dif-
ficult to determine and make the necessary adjustments,
and certainly not in real time. Today the data may be ob-
tained in three dimensions in a manageable form and the
computing power is available for accomplishing these
tasks. Much of the current research is directed toward de-
veloping techniques for doing so on an operational basis.
4.2 Vertical Re8ectivity Pro&le
For hydrological applications, Zawadzki et al. ( 1986, p.
124) propose inclusion in the Ze-R relationship of an ad-
justment based on considerations of the height of the radar
measurement, the range of the radar measurement, and
the time and space resolution. Even better, but also more
demanding, is to do the job in two separate steps: first
extrapolating the echo measured aloft to the ground, then
calculating rainfall by applying a Ze-R relationship which
does not depend on variables such as range and height.
To extrapolate the echo to the ground, we must find a
representative vertical reflectivity profile and determine
for each pixel the height of the ground and the height of
the lowest visible volume (i.e., free of clutter and shield-
ing). Then we add the difference in dB as read from the
profile. Today, with existing equipment and software, it
may not yet be easy to obtain automatically a represen-
tative vertical reflectivity profile, but even a crude estimate
will help ( Koistinen, 1986). In any case, in planning sys-
tems for hydrological applications, the scanning mode
should make it possible to obtain the vertical reflectivity
profile. We believe that the best way requires a full volume
scan and some averaging in space. In Switzerland a pilot
study is being made by determining every 10 min the pro-
file of rain rate averaged over an area of 10 000 km 2 around
the radar using 19 revolutions of the antenna with ele-
vations between 0.5 and 39 deg (see Appendix B). This
average profile may, when applied to the total area covered
by the radar (around 40 000 km 2 ), still lead to an error at
any given point (location), but this error will on the av-
erage be considerably smaller than the one without a pro-
file correction, and no error will occur only where the radar
can measure directly over the gage.
If a full volume scan is considered too time consuming,
even a crude estimate of the profile calculated from only
a few antenna elevations may bring an improvement.
586 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Koistinen ( 1986) proposes averaging the profile over a
whole day in an area where the radar sees well. This may
be fine as a first approximation, but more resolution (at
least in time) may be desirable as the weather situation
evolves during the day. Another way of obtaining an es-
timate of the profile may consist, as suggested from the
panel (by Corine Danvel, France), of taking the output of
numerical models coupled with climatological data (for
example, the French model PERIDOT is forecasting a
complete state of the atmosphere every 12 h on a 35 km 2
grid at 15 levels). Research is continuing, and the future
will show how to best determine the profile for operational
applications.
In any case, the correction has to be done conservatively,
for instance by not correcting the full amount calculated
from the difference of height and the vertical gradient of
reflectivity. In cases of poor visibility (strong clutter or
shielding) we max even make no correction at all and use
the calculated correction factor as a measure of uncertainty;
i.e., a warning or limit of error when using the uncorrected
results. Preventing illusions in cases for which the errors
are large may in itself be an advantage.
4.3 Radar-Gage Adjustment
Some years ago, Brandes ( 1975) proposed a method for
adjusting radar measurements on the basis of information
telemetered from a few gages. He applied a spatially vari-
able adjustment that forced exact agreement at each rain-
gage site. Although he obtained some improvement over
unadjusted radar measurement, a method of this type is
unsatisfactory because it fails to take into account differ-
ences that arise from unrepresentative sampling.
For correcting in real time on an operational basis, Cain
and Smith ( 1977) proposed a sequential analysis strategy
and applied it to rainfall computations (Smith and Cain,
1978, 1983). The sequential test discriminates against ran-
dom variations (i.e., waits with a correction), but identifies
systematic differences between gage and rainfall estimates.
The chance for the test to be significant will probably be
much better if any known and variable bias has been elim-
inated before the test is applied. The variability of the bias
may be caused by variable shielding as the storm moves
and/ or develops.
Collier ( 1986b) maintains that "a simple substitution
technique involving the best predictor gage, which is gen-
erally the nearest gage to the point for which the estimate
is required, is likely to be as satisfactory as more complex
methods." This was also proposed by Attmannspacher et
al. ( 1970) and results are presented by Riedl et al. ( 1984).
Collier et al. ( 1983) describe the improvement obtainable
off-line with their "domain adjustment technique," in
which wind-dependent orographic effects and the devel-
opment of the assessment factor with time are considered.
At the present time several scientists are experimenting
with sophisticated statistical techniques that allow for
random errors in the two-dimensional fields depicted by
the gages and the radar. Krajewski and Ahnert ( 1986) give
a brief, excellent introduction in multivariate analysis of
raingage and radar data and explain how cokrieging works.
Ahnert et al. ( 1986) propose the application of a Kalman
filter to the raingage data for estimating the radar rainfall
field bias. From simulations they conclude that this pro-
cedure is significantly better than just comparing averaged
values. Creutin et al. ( 1988) in their "geostatistical ap-
proach" use the so-called "simplified cokrieging method,"
and on the basis of 11 daily rainfall events conclude that
"in spite of severe limitations (ground clutter), the method
appears to slightly improve the performance of the raw
radar data and exceeds that of the classical uniform cali-
bration method, by just using the average of a number of
rain gages." Little experience is available so far on an op-
erational basis, and much work still has to be done. The
question remains as to whether or not the bias is a contin-
uous function in space. This might be answered by study-
ing the fractal behavior of radar echoes of different scales
(Rys and Waldvogel, 1986).
Finally, the authors wish to emphasize again the im-
portance of correcting as far as possible for variations in
the vertical reflectivity profile before attempting to make
adjustments by comparing with raingage data. Then the
adjustments are correcting mainly for errors associated with
radar calibration and attenuation, as discussed in sections
3.5 and 3.2 and with the Z-R relationship (section 2.1).
4.4 State of the Art
In describing the state of the art of estimating precipi-
tation by reflectivity measurements, we need to distinguish
between a well-defined catchment area (perhaps a river
basin) close to the radar and the general case at longer
ranges:
• Well-defined catchment area (at ranges of about 50 km
or less): Errors may be small when measurements are ob-
tained at close ranges where the radar is able to see rain
alone, provided that well-placed raingages are used for
adjustment. In a hilly terrain, Harrold et al. ( 1974) found
an error of 37% for hourly rainfall amounts at a point.
Increasing the integration time to 6 h or integrating over
an area of 500 km 2 led to an error of only 13%, and they
hoped for an even further reduction in flat country.
Boucher and Wieler ( 1985) found excellent agreement be-
tween radar-measured snowfall rate and accumulated
snow depth for six Massachusetts snowstorms. The area
within which a high accuracy is possible is limited by the
orography, the resolution of the radar beam, and, in rain,
the height of the melting layer. Of course high standards
for equipment, calibration, and data processing are also
required. In this type application at short ranges (up to 50
km), more sophisticated methods for obtaining informa-
tion about Z-R relationships (e.g., using multiparameter
radar) might produce improvement.

• General case (ranges over 50 km): If measurements are
to be made at longer ranges, where the vertical distance
between the sample volume of the radar and the ground
is considerable, or if part of the beam intersects the melting
layer or snow, the spatial and temporal variability of the
correction necessary to make the radar agree with the sur-
face precipitation will increase. Furthermore, a systematic
underestimate of the uncorrected radar-measured rain
amount is generally found. As explained in section 2.2,
above the melting layer in stratiform rain there is, on the
average, a reduction in the amount of rain indicated by
the radar of about a factor of 3 per kilometer of height.
The relevant height is the difference between the melting
layer or the cloud base (whichever is lower) and the radar
sample. For instance, if a radar samples at 5000 m (beam
axis) and the 0-deg level is situated at 3000 m, the radar
will measure an amount roughly ten times smaller than
the gage at the ground. This fact also applies to measure-
ments in snow and in this case is especially harmful, as
the height of the radar sample above ground is the relevant
height for calculating the correction factor. One may ask
why such a strong limitation of weather radar was not
realized a long time ago. The main reason undoubtedly
lies in the fact that radar in a quantitative way was mainly
used in research applications within well-defined catch-
ment areas as described above, and frequently limited to
summer rains (see Harrold et al., 1974, for an example of
an exception) .
5 ADDITIONAL TYPES
Of MEASUREMENT
We look ahead to the development of new types of
measurements that will surely come about in the future;
some proposed techniques are briefly mentioned in the
following subsections. For operational applications in hy-
drology, our efforts at this time should be concentrated on
developing better means for clutter suppression and on
measurements needed for optimal profile corrections.
5.1 Area-Time Integration
Byers ( 1948) was one of the first to publish results about
the relationship between the amount of rain falling from
a shower and its size and duration. The idea to use just a
reflectivity threshold and parameters such as area and time
instead of detailed reflectivities not only simplifies many
problems, but it also supports the possibility of using sat-
ellite data to supplement incomplete radar measurements;
i.e., in regions not covered by radar. Marks and Hudlow
( 1976) found high correlation between liquid water flux
and echo area for tropical oceanic rain. Doneaud et al.
( 1984) have correlated the area-time integral with rainfall
amounts. Their results suggest that the technique of using
area-time integrals appears to be comparable in accuracy
PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT AND HYDROLOGY 587
to the classical way of using Z-R relations. The technique
was further developed to interpret satellite data by com-
puting area-time integrals and was tried with some success
by Doneaud et al. ( 1986, 1987). Area and time parameters
of radar echoes have also been used for the detection and
measurement of hail. Geotis ( 1963) found a critical time
duration of a given reflectivity threshold, which clearly
indicated hail on the ground. Also, area-time integrals have
been shown to be useful in deriving the kinetic energy of
hailfalls (Waldvogel and Schmid, 1982).
5.2 Attenuation
Measurements of attenuation are of interest primarily
in relation to the effects on communication links. Two ways
of using attenuation for measuring rainfall have been pro-
posed. An extensive discussion is found in Atlas ( 1984)
and Atlas et al. ( 1984). One way is to use attenuation
measurements to obtain information about the Z-R relation
in a particular storm. The other method is to deduce the
rain rate directly using an A-R relation. In either case,
measuring the attenuation presents a difficult problem. If
it is done with a range-profiling algorithm the problem is
that it can be used only for a selected linear path whereas
in hydrology we are interested in an extended area. If it
is done using dual-wavelength methods, complicated and
expensive equipment is required, and even then the mea-
surements would be of doubtful value because attenuation
can generally be measured only over relatively long paths,
thus smearing the measurements over varying rainfall
rates. A wavelength that would suffer measurable atten-
uation over short distances would fail to penetrate most
storms.
Vertically pointing or slant range measurements from
aircraft or satellites may well be useful in regions not cov-
ered by land-based radars (Kozu et al., 1986; Meneghini
etal., 1986).
5.3 Doppler Kadar
For precipitation measurement with radar the main ad-
vantage of Doppler techniques probably lies in solving
some of the problems caused by clutter and anomalous
propagation (e.g., Passarelli et al., 1981). Little experience
with the necessary algorithms is as yet available from op-
erational applications, but soon more will be known about
this subject, as new network radars in Sweden (Persson
and Lundgren, 1986) and in the United States (Golden et
al., 1986) with such capabilities come in operation.
Hauser and Amayenc ( 1984) and others have attempted
measurements of drop-size distributions with vertical-
pointing Doppler radar by separating out the effects of
vertical air motion. Again, future work will show whether
this research can be applied operationally.
588 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
5.4 Polarization Diversity
Various techniques for using polarization diversity radar
to improve rainfall measurements have been proposed. In
particular, it has been suggested that the difference be-
tween reflectivities at horizontal and vertical polarization
(ZvR) can provide useful information about the drop-size
distribution (Seliga and Bringi, 1976). Hallet al. (1984b)
and Atlas ( 1984) describe the state of the art at that time
and imply that polarization diversity radars will give valu-
able information about precipitation-particle distributions
and other parameters pertinent to cloud physics. Consid-
erable controversy still exists, however, as to whether or
not this technique has promise for operational use in the
measurement of precipitation. We believe that any im-
provement for hydrological applications will be very lim-
ited since we agree with Zawadzki ( 1984) that in most
applications the influence of Z-R relationships on the ac-
curacy is not the dominant one.
We searched the literature for operational applications
in hydrology and concluded that in spite of Lipschutz et
al. ( 1986) who describe an "operational Z0 R-based precip-
itation type/ intensity product," polarization diversity
techniques are still in the research stage. For the reader
interested in more details, we suggest Bringi et al. ( 1984),
Metcalf ( 1984), Sachidananda and Zmic ( 1986), and Sta-
por and Pratt ( 1984). The effect of the electric field on the
shape of raindrops is discussed by Zmic et al. ( 1984); the
equilibrium shape of raindrops by Beard and Chuang
( 1986); the shape of hailstones by Wang et al. ( 198 7); the
oscillations of raindrops by Beard ( 1984); and its influence
on ZvR by Seliga et al. ( 1984). Hall et al. ( 1984a) give six
rules for identifying various hydrometeor types, ground
targets, and chaff. They conclude that the use of ZvR in
interpreting development of precipitation cells holds great
promise. However, after reading Hendry and An tar ( 1984)
about propagation effects, Herzegh and Conway ( 1986)
and Liu and Herzegh ( 1986) about sidelobe effects, God-
dard et al. ( 1982) and being aware of the variability of
the shape of drop-size distributions ( Gori and Joss, 1980),
we are skeptical as to how much improvement may be
obtained by this method on an operational basis.
This all means that at close ranges (with high spatial
resolution) polarization diversity radars may give valuable
information about precipitation particle distributions and
other parameters pertinent to cloud physics, and maybe
even for applications in operational hydrology, but at
longer ranges there is still a long way to go. This conclusion
is also reflected in the review by Atlas et al. ( 1984), who
say that "these measurements are subject to potentially
large errors when rainfall does not behave to a priori as-
sumptions embodied in the technique," which we think
may be the case quite often. In another paper, however,
Atlas ( 1984) maintained that differential reflectivity ZvR
technique has shown excellent results. He believes (per-
sonal communication, 1987) that "the picture for ZvR and
related polarization methods has suddenly improved with
Jameson's recent work, which accounts for the effects of
propagation." He also states that "we have got to be more
optimistic about it, although even this will work out to
only limited ranges and cannot account for the factors not
related to drop-size distributions." This is exactly the crucial
point. Of course knowing more about Z-R will help, but
even if multiparameter techniques worked perfectly we
could reduce the error caused by Z-R only from 33% to
14% (Ulbrich and Atlas, 1984). For the ranges required
for hydrological applications we need to correct for other
biases which are usually much greater, perhaps by an order
of magnitude or more. Thus better estimates of the Z-R
relation will not, in general, be able to bring significant
improvement.
5.5 Multiparameter Techniques
Atlas et al. ( 1984) made a detailed analysis of the im-
provement that might be achieved in remote measurement
of rainfall if reflectivity measurements were combined with
measurements of other parameters such as optical extinc-
tion or attenuation. Some of their results are shown in
Table 2.1. As pointed out in section 2.1, the calculated
gains are largely hypothetical since no satisfactory methods
of making the measurements in a larger area on an op-
erational basis are apparent. Lidar can be used to measure
optical extinction, but it would be restricted to short path
lengths only and would be affected by fog or dust.
Fujita et al. ( 1986) compare measurements of rain rate
with conventional Z-R estimates and with those obtained
with multiwavelength techniques (estimates of attenuation
and least-squares fit) and give advantages and disadvan-
tages. Rinehart and Tuttle ( 1984) discuss errors resulting
from antenna mismatch and beam alignment with partic-
ular regard to detection of hail.
Rogers ( 1984) concludes that "in spite of the large num-
ber of theoretical papers and proposed techniques, differ-
ential reflectivity measurements employing more than one
frequency have not provided evidence of consistent and
reliable hail discrimination or drop-size determination."
The authors of this chapter believe that this statement is
still valid today.
5.6 Vertically Integrated Liquid
Water Content
Greene and Clark ( 1971) used the vertical integration
of liquid water (VIL) to investigate explosive development
in severe storms. They found it useful for s~orm detection
and prediction. Geotis ( 1971) calculated instantaneous
liquid water contents of several storms. Total rainfall rate,
accumulated liquid water, and dimensions and duration
of the storms are also given. Rogers and Sakellariou ( 1986)
carried out a similar study on Alberta thunderstorms and

compared their results with those from several other
studies.
5.7 Hail Detection and Measurement
The detection and measurement of hail by radar has
been of interest since the beginnings of radar meteorology.
Forecasters of severe weather and scientists working in
hail prevention operations especially had a fundamental
need for such a technique. Soviet scientists working in hail
prevention developed criteria for detecting hail cells early
in their lifetimes (see, for example, Waldvogel et al., 1979).
Waldvogel and his colleagues made tests using the follow-
ing simple criterion:
H45 > HO + 1.4 km. (5.1)
The height of the 45-dBZ contour must exceed the height
of the zero degree level by more than 1.4 km. All mea-
surements were made with a 3-cm wavelength and were
compared with observations from a very dense hailpad
network (Waldvogel et al., 1979).1t detected all hail cells
(no misses) early in their lives; however, about 30% of
the cells identified as dangerous never actually produced
hail at the ground. Similar criteria have been used in South
Africa (Mather et al., 1976) and in northeast Colorado
(Foote and Knight, 1979). The same results found at dif-
ferent places and with somewhat different methods give
further confidence in the general validity of such hail de-
tection criteria.
For questions requiring more complicated answers than
a simple yes I no-such as where, when, how large, and
what type of hail is encountered (hail measurement)-
more sophisticated techniques have been proposed, such
as multiwavelength measurements (Atlas and Ludlam,
1961) or polarization ratios (Barge, 1972; Seliga and Bringi,
1976; Srivastava and Jameson, 1977; Bringi et al., 1986a,b).
Some of these systems have yielded results that have given
insights into the formation and internal structure of hail
cells. There are very few comparisons between radar data
and ground truth. Lack of confirmation is especially bad
for radar measurements several kilometers above the
ground (Aydin et al., 1986).
With the measurement of hail by radar one would like
to obtain as accurate a measurement as possible of the
damage or the amount of hail on the ground. Geotis ( 1963)
found a relation between maximum hailstone size andre-
flectivity. Waldvogel et al. ( 1978a,b) presented a solution
for the quantitative measurement of hailfall with a 10-cm
radar by establishing a Z-E relationship between the flux
of the kinetic energy of the hailstones (E) and the radar
reflectivity (Z ) . The empirical relationship between E and
Z was obtained by measuring hailstone-size distributions.
Hailstone spectra measured at the ground in the center of
severe hailstorms with vehicles equipped with hailstone
PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT AND HYDROLOGY 589
and raindrop spectrometers (Waldvogel et al., 1978a) led
to the following relation:
(5.2)
where E is in W m - 2 or Joules m - 2 s -t and Z in mm 6 m- 3 •
This is based on the assumption that the hailstones are
spheres of water and Rayleigh scatterers. This is a very
crude simplification since it ignores the complex shape,
problems with water film on the surface, the ice I water
structure, and so on. These subjects have been studied in
detail (Srivastava and Jameson, 1977), but have not been
included in measurement techniques. Waldvogel et al.
( 1978b) suggested the "cutting method" for distinguishing
between hail and rain echoes, a technique based on their
experience with hail observations in Switzerland. Radar
reflectivities equal or less than 60 dBZ are assumed to be
caused by "rain only," while reflectivities greater than 60
dBZ are assumed to be caused by "hail only." It is hoped
that effects caused by this simplification are averaged out
when the time or area integrals of hailfalls are considered.
An example of the agreement between hailpad and radar
data when using the above procedure is given in Fig. 5.1.
The resolution of the radar measuring points is 1/3 km com-
pared to about 2 km for the hailpads. Therefore the fine-
structure of the hailfall appears in much greater detail in
the radar plot and may show marked differences from the
hailpad data. In this example, the time- and area-integrated
kinetic energy values agree well, the value from the hail-
pads being 11.2 X 10 9 Joules and from the radar 9.0 X 10 9
Joules. Similar results have been found for other large
hailstorms (Waldvogel et al., 1978b) and also for medium
and small hailstorms (Waldvogel and Schmid, 1983). Be-
fore we become too optimistic about these possibilities,
however, the discussion about the generalization of well-
defined experiments given in the Introduction should be
remembered.
Numerous possibilities for using more sophisticated
techniques than single wavelength exist for the detection
of hail as well as for its measurement. A dual-wavelength
method proposed by Atlas and Ludlam ( 1961) appeared
to be promising. This technique was tried in the large hail
suppression experiment NHRE (National Hail Research
Experiment; Foote and Knight, 1979). However, these
measurements were not used for the final evaluation of
this experiment. Only one paper compares dual-wave-
length echoes with ground truth measurements of hailpads
for several hailstorms (Eccles, 1979). This technically am-
bitious method can at the present time not be regarded as
a routine technique. The same is true for other sophisticated
polarization methods as discussed by Srivastava and
Jameson (1977), Aydin et al. (1984, 1986), Methot and
Torlaschi ( 1986), Al-Jumily et al. ( 1986), and Balaji et al.
( 1986). One reason for this situation might be that the
large amount of effort needed to develop the hardware
and software for such systems does not allow the further
590 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Fig. 5.1. The hailfall of 1 June 1978. (a) Hailpad data, showing the hailpad sites, energy values (/
m - 2 ), and areas represented by the hail pads. (b) Radar-derived isolines of E(Z), also in J m - 2 •
investment of effort needed for the installation and
maintenance of a dense and reliable ground-based network
for ground truth.
6 TYPES OF APPLICATIONS
6.1 Short-Term Forecasting
Probably the most attractive feature of weather radar
in an operational context is that it provides an overview
of the actual weather situation (nowcasting) and the pos-
sibility of short-term forecasts. Austin et al. ( 1986) describe
an interactive processing system (Rapid II) which can be
attached to a conventional radar to produce, among other
products, short-term forecasts of accumulations both at
selected points and over the field of view. Austin et al.
conclude that this low-cost addition can significantly en-
hance the cost effectiveness of conventional radar. Most
of the systems currently in operation (described in section
7) have the description of current weather as their primary
output. The information is disseminated as a rainfall or
reflectivity map. Most systems are working on develop-
ment of computerized short-term forecasts but many are
still in a research stage.
6.2 Hydrological Forecasts and Stream8ow
Comparing radar data with river flow brings in a new
variable. Our radar verification task is liberated from the
problem of point measurement and representativeness of
single gages, but a new problem is added to the complexity
of the quantitative radar measurement, that of fluxes, stor-
age, and delays in a river basin.
•
0 2 3 L. km
Collier ( 1985) reviews requirements for hydrological
forecasting; he considers ground-based radar techniques,
the future potential of remote sensing, and the need for a
total system approach in the way proposed by Browning
( 1979) and which is being discussed and developed with
different degrees of complexity in various countries. Gorrie
and Kouwen ( 1977) used an existing low-density network
of raingages in Canada to adjust radar data. They discuss
the achievements obtainable with simple corrections for
clutter and screening, and conclude that despite large per-
centage differences in radar-gage validation comparisons,
hydrological predictions were improved slightly in wide-
spread rain and significantly in thunderstorm situations.
Collier ( 1986a,b) and Collier and Knowles ( 1986) inves-
tigated the accuracy of radar and the representativeness
of raingages in the range of radar coverage. In the first
paper, he concludes that using five telemetering raingages
to adjust the radar data significantly improves the accuracy
of measurement of surface rain within 75 km of the radar
site on most occasions (Collier, 1986a). All the data for a
complete year are analyzed for bias and random error, and
are divided into different groups such as frontal, shower,
with or without bright band, and convective. In Collier
( 1986b) he compares adjusted radar data with a network
of independent raingages and assesses the best method to
obtain real-time rainfall data for use in flood forecasting
systems. He concludes that the most appropriate method
depends on the rainfall type, and that in order to obtain
more accurate estimates of rainfall with raingages than
with radar (within 75 km of the radar site) the gage spacing
would have to be at most 20 km. In the third paper, Collier
and Knowles ( 1986) apply the results of the previous pa-
pers to short-term flood forecasting and conclude that both
gages and radar may be seriously in error and that we

have to find a way to cope with these errors; if this should
prove difficult, only man-computer interactive techniques
such as proposed by Browning ( 1979) in FRONTIERS may
help.
Collier and Cluckie ( 1985) and Cluckie and Owens
( 1987) looked into the effect of the sampling interval and
found that little information is lost when hourly rainfall
accumulations are used rather than 15-min amounts. They
concluded that "greater degrees of spatial and temporal
variation can be tolerated in practical forecasting appli-
cations, than would first seem reasonable," and that "ex-
pertise gained in application will further improve the cal-
ibration procedures and these improvements will gradually
be realised at decision making levels, where models are
put to practical use."
6.3 Urban Hydrology
When applying radar to predict the flow of water in the
sewers of a town, variables and equations are similar to
those for the flow of a river in a large basin, but the analysis
has to be done on a much finer time scale. Roberts ( 1987)
presented results for the Manchester area. In spite of var-
ious difficulties he concluded tentatively that "the potential
of radar in urban drainage models is such as to warrant
additional research." Andrieu and Jacquet ( 1987) discussed
various adjustment techniques on the basis of data of a
two-month experiment conducted during summer 1982.
They concluded that the results were encouraging and they
favor the use of radar as an aid for the management of a
sewer system.
6.4 flood and Avalanche forecasting
One of the most important operational hydrological ap-
plications is flash flood warnings. Cluckie et al. ( 198 7)
investigated flood-producing storms and concluded that
the use of real-time hydrological forecasting models "has
now been clearly established" and that "future efforts are
now being directed towards the further improvement of
the operational use of such data."
Kappenberger and Joss ( 1986), in an exploratory anal-
ysis of four storms that led to a catastrophic avalanche
situation, found that after correcting by hand for the ver-
tical reflectivity profile, there was reasonable agreement
between radar-estimated melted snow and raingage-mea-
sured melted snow. They conclude that radar together with
automatic weather stations and manual observations can
give valuable information about potential avalanche ac-
tivity.
6.5 Combination of Radar Data with Data
from Space
It is generally recognized that on a global scale the areas
that can be adequately covered by networks of gages or
PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT AND HYDROLOGY 591
radars are limited. Therefore for hydrological measure-
ments on a near-global scale, it is necessary to resort to
satellite observations.
Collier (1986a) concluded that satellite and radar tech-
niques for measuring rainfall for hydrological applications
are complementary and that radars are more appropriate
for small basins (of the order of 10 4 km 2 or less, a number
that may be increased if correction for the reduced visibility
at longer ranges proves possible). Satellites are useful for
larger basins only and in regions where no radar infor-
mation is available. Bellon and Austin ( 1986) dervied em-
pirical relations between visible and/ or IR data and rainfall
rate by comparing gage-calibrated radar data with collo-
cated satellite information and concluded that their objec-
tive technique is better than estimates from gage inter-
polations in locations where the nearest gage is farther
than 40 km. Osano et al. ( 1986) considered the combi-
nation of radar (as ground truth) and GMS satellite data,
and found much better correlation for VIS than for IR
data. They plan to investigate what can be done at night,
when no VIS data are available, and to test this new tech-
nique all year round. Wilheit ( 1986) discusses passive mi-
crowave measurement from space and concludes that "a
system exploiting the complementary strengths of visible,
infrared, radar, and passive-microwave techniques would
greatly improve our ability to measure rainfall globally."
See Chapter 22a for an up-to-date description of space-
borne radar-rainfall measurement techniques.
It appears that the reasonable approach will consist of
adjusting radar with gages as described in section 4.3, and
using radar in tum to adjust satellite data. Whether this is
best done with human interaction as used successfully in
FRONTIERS (Conway, 1987) or by automatic methods of
data analysis as in Rainsat (King and Yip, 1987) remains
to be seen. The choice for a given application will probably
depend strongly on the availability of qualified personnel.
7 SOME OPERATIONAL PROJECTS
In this section some operational projects in various
countries will be briefly reviewed. We find that much use
is already made of radar data, and networks are growing.
These are signs of what has already been accomplished
and show that radar is useful for measurement of precip-
itation in hydrology. The ranges used are frequently well
over 100 km and therefore adjustments for the vertical
profile are needed to extend the useful range. The various
projects also show that the future radar will be a compro-
mise depending on the application; there is no unique so-
lution.
7.1 GATE 1974
During the summer of 1974 four shipbome radars (two
from NOAA, one from McGill University, and one from
MIT) formed a network in the eastern tropical Atlantic
592 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Ocean to record the rainfall for the international experi-
ment GATE. Data were recorded digitally and processed
by computer to provide hourly rainfall maps over an area
of 15 X 10 4 km 2 with resolution of 4 km (Hudlow and
Patterson, 1979). Although the measurements were not
processed in real time and are certainly not a hydrological
application, they did serve as a prototype for the hydro-
logical networks that are now developing. GATE was
probably the first occasion when a network of radars re-
cording digitally was set up for the specific purpose of
measuring the distribution of rainfall.
7.2 FR.ONTIER.S in the United Kingdom
The concept of FRONTIERS (Forecasting Rain Opti-
mized using New Techniques of Interactively Enhanced
Radar and Satellite Data) was initially described by
Browning ( 1979). Since then the experimental network of
radars in the United Kingdom has grown steadily, and
data have been supplied to an increasing number of Me-
teorological Office and Water Authority users. In the pres-
ent system, data from seven radars and from the geosta-
tionary European satellite METEOSAT are combined to
produce half-hourly quality-controlled rainfall maps. Col-
lier and James (1986) and Conway (1987) outline the de-
velopments leading to the current U.K. operational weather
system and describe enhancements anticipated for the fu-
ture. The status of the radar operations, techniques to op-
timize the results, and estimated accuracies are presented
in Appendix A.
Collier ( 1986a,b) and Collier and Knowles ( 1986) in-
vestigated the accuracy of radar. The question arises as to
how much Collier's results would be improved and
whether the proposed procedures would be more efficient
if they were applied only after having corrected errors
caused by limited visibility and variable vertical reflectivity
profile. This may also significantly help the user of FRON-
TIERS to improve his or her interpretation or, even better,
replace what are now "human" responsibilities in many
situations as proposed by Conway (1987). Today the
FRONTIERS concept is already allowing for such adjust-
ments, but in an indirect manner by considering range
correction profiles and making site-specific corrections for
wind.
7.3 The Swiss Composite
Since 1979, the information of the two weather radars
of the Swiss Meteorological Institute (SMI) has been dis-
tributed in digital form over leased telephone lines. The
most important of a total of some 15 users are the fore-
casting centers of Zurich, Geneva airport, Kloten airport,
and Lacarno-Monti of the SMI. The information of the
two radars is combined into a single composite picture
covering an area of 562 X 434 X 12 cubic kilometers (see
Fig. B1 of Appendix B). This picture is transmitted every
10 min, 24 h each day via phone line to all users (Cavalli,
1984). Both radars are unmanned and identical in design
and operation. There is no dialogue between the radar
sites and the users, and only one type of picture is available.
This picture has to give a survey of all the relevant features
of the current precipitation.
After accumulating the information of a full volume scan
(19 antenna elevations between -0.5 and 39 deg), we
calculate products such as a three-dimensional display us-
ing projections of maximum rainfall. Besides comple-
menting knowledge of the meteorological situation, this
display eases the detection and tracking of significant
weather for general aviation and gale warning and to a
certain extent allows reconstruction of the shape and po-
sition of the severe weather echoes in three dimensions.
Furthermore, even when lower parts of the storm are
shadowed by mountain barriers, this method always dis-
plays at least the elevated echo tops. In a mountainous
region this type of display is especially useful as compared
to more conventional displays. The advantage of a picture
with the three projections of the maximum intensities is
that it retains location, height, extent, and reflectivities of
the heaviest weather as nonaveraged values. With con-
ventional displays the observer is tempted to follow a spe-
cific cell, not realizing that in another location above or
next to it a much stronger cell has started to develop. To
prevent this situation, data processing with conventional
displays would have to be continuously adapted to the
changing weather, or crucial events would be overlooked.
For routine use in an extended mountainous area of an
orographically difficult country such as Switzerland, the
use of maximum projections is the only practical way of
displaying radar data. Applications may be found in Roesli
( 1984) and a description of the compositing algorithm is
in Galli ( 1984). With minor restrictions imposed by the
projections of maximum reflectivity, the vertical reflectivity
profile needed for improving estimates of rain rate at longer
ranges may be automatically extracted from the picture.
7.4 The french AR.AMIS Kadar Network 1
A national radar network has been developed by the
French Weather Service with the main objective of giving
access to radar data for all weather stations in order to
improve the global understanding of meteorological events
and to provide capabilities for very short term forecasting.
A description of this network can be found in Gilet ( 1984).
It presently includes ten radars and will soon expand to
14. The data from the British and Swiss networks are also
included in the French radar composite pictures.
Although a large amount of research was done and is
still being pursued in France in the fields of Doppler radar
1 The authors acknowledge Dr. Marc Gilet for his contributions to this
section.

(Gilet et al., 1984; Testud and Chong, 1983; Hauser and
Amayenc, 1984) and polarization diversity radar (Cor-
desses et al., 1983), the ARAMIS project uses only reflec-
tivity data at present. The radars produce one PPI every
15 min, and transmit the data to a central facility in Paris.
Some radars used for specific hydrological purposes have
a shorter scanning interval.
The radar data are collected and analyzed on a dedicated
computer in Paris, which makes a radar composite and
sends it to the general data dissemination system of the
weather service. This composite image is then transmitted
to the METEOTEL terminals, which can display it together
with other data such as METEOSAT visible and infrared
data, fine mesh numerical forecasting model fields, weather
observations, and lightning location information. All these
data are at the same scale and can be superimposed and
analyzed in a large variety of ways. The METEOTEL hard-
ware and operation are described in Gaillard et al. ( 1986)
and Pircher ( 1987), and the system is still evolving rapidly.
A total of 197 METEOTEL terminals are now in operation,
many of them being used by road traffic agencies, busi-
nesses, and hydrologists. The radar network and the data
dissemination system have reached a good reliability,
mainly because of the existence of a strong and centralized
maintenance organization.
Hydrological applications have been developed in con-
junction with urban hydrology agencies, principally in the
areas of Paris and Bordeaux. David et al. ( 1986) demon-
strated the usefulness of radar to measure rain, and dis-
cussed sampling problems, calibration, and simulation of
a raingage network for the radar of Trappes, near Paris.
The data from this radar are transmitted every 72 s to the
central facility of the urban district of Seine Saint Denis,
where they are used on an operational basis for monitoring
the sewage systems, following the work of Andrieu et al.
(1985 ).
The designers of the radar network expect further pro-
gress in operational hydrological applications from the use
of other sources of data, such as a surface measurement
network, satellites, and numerical models. Improvements
are also being made on the ground clutter rejection hard-
ware and on the overall reliability of the radar systems,
which is most valuable for the users.
7.5 COST-73 in Europe
The COST program (CO-operation in Science and
Technology) is for western European states that see ad-
vantage in pursuing joint research or development work.
Collier et al. ( 1988) discuss the activity in Western Europe
aimed at establishing national radar networks in the con-
text of the project COST -73 which has just started and
will last five years. This project follows the recently com-
pleted COST-72 which was concerned with the accuracy
of radar to measure rain (Clift, 1981; Newsome, 1985).
In COST -72 a "Pilot Product" containing satellite data
PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT AND HYDROLOGY 593
from METEOSAT and radar data from England, France,
Holland, Ireland, and Switzerland was experimentally
distributed every 3 h over the Global Telecommunication
System and over leased telephone lines within Europe in-
cluding the Nordic countries. The aim of COST-73 is to
develop further the exchange of radar data. Roesli et al.
( 1987) describe possible applications to very short range
forecasting (such as for maritime weather, floods, and
avalanches), input to mesoscale models, and wet depo-
sition of pollution or radioactivity.
7.6 The Nordic Network
Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden have together
started a project to specify and realize a network for
weather radars in the Scandinavian countries. The project
is financed by the Nordic Council. At first (until February
1988) the communication network, based as much as pos-
sible on the public telephone serivces, will be specified.
The second phase will give a detailed plan for how to
implement the network and also some realization. This
part will be finished during 1989. Two radars are in the
planning phase today, one on the island of Gotland and
one in Gothenburg, Sweden.
7.7 Brazil
A weather radar (5-cm wavelength) at the University
of Bauru has been in operation for about eight years. It is
used for both research and operational applications. Radar
reflectivities are converted to equivalent rainfall rates
through the R-Ze relation derived by Calheiros and Za-
wadzki ( 1987) and used as input to a hydrological model.
Calheiros and Zawadzki concluded that the corrected radar
data served well for the tasks for which the model was
designed: i) a good estimation of volumes in the low rain-
fall events; ii) a good estimate of peak flow; iii) the timing
of peaks; and iv) the volumes in heavy rainfall. The rainfall
information is disseminated to the hydrological office in
Sao Paulo where it is used for control of dams and power
plants, and to big agricultural outfits that grow sugar cane.
Detailed information about rain is especially important
during harvest.
A second weather radar (10-cm wavelength) has just
been installed about 50 km east of Sao Paulo City, under
sponsorship of WMO. The radar is primarily for urban
hydrology and is expected to begin operation before the
start of the rainy season in 1987. It will be run by the
group at the University of Bauru.
7.8 Canada
The Atmospheric Environment Service (AES), Canada's
national weather service, owns and operates 13 C-hand
weather radars in Canada. Under contract, weather radar
services for the Montreal area are also provided by McGill
594 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
University. In general, the radars are located along the
more populated southern boundary of Canada and near
the high-density population centers.
Two radar models with basically the same meteorolog-
ically significant characteristics are used; i.e., EEC and
Raytheon C-band radars. The characteristics are full three-
dimensional scanning capability, C-band, 1-deg beam-
width, radome, DVIP, PPI, and RHI displays, and remote
transmission facility. The Montreal radar is S-band. A
combined research/ operational radar at King City (To-
ronto) has a larger antenna (0.66-deg beam), dual-fre-
quency (5 and 3 em), and Doppler capability at C-band.
This radar has extensive processing capabilities and pro-
vides a number of output products routinely or on demand:
selected PPI, selected CAPPis, MAX R or S, MDS echo
top, severe storm map with lightning annotation, Doppler
radial velocity PPis at three elevations, spectral width PPI,
SNR PPI, and a mesocyclone locator PPI.
Four network stations provide selected CAPPI and echo
top displays with remote transmissions and record volume
scans of raw data. The other stations have standard PPI
presentations with no archive. The radar plan calls for
upgrading of radar processing and display facilities at all
stations and some additional data archiving.
A project is under way to upgrade a prairie farming area
radar (Elbow) to produce daily radar rainfall accumulation
maps as input to an irrigation scheduling program for
greater crop production and a flash flood warning system.
The radar at King City is near state of the art for radar
observation, data processing, display production, and data
distribution to end users. Most users make direct use of
the routine displays; others send the data to their com-
puters and process them further for specific needs. Con-
servation authorities and hydroelectric power utilities are
particularly interested in radar precipitation measurements
for ground water management and streamflow prediction.
The data are used as input to specific basin streamflow
models. Rainfall precipitation measurements over the large
Great Lakes, where no raingages are available, are also
useful.
7.9 Finland
In Finland four noncoherent radars ( MRL-5 and MRL-
1, made in the Soviet Union) are used operationally for
routine weather service. Two of these are equipped with
digital signal processors and a host computer. All are X-
band except one which is a combined X- and S-band radar.
In addition a C-band Doppler radar (WSR81C-D from En-
terprise Electronics) is operated by the University of Hel-
sinki for research purposes.
7.10 Germany
The Weather Radar Network of the German Weather
Service is designed to provide qualitative information up
to a range of 230 km and quantitative data up 100-km
range. The radars have Doppler capabilities or can be up-
graded for Doppler operation. A microcomputer controls
the collection and evaluation of data, and the generation
and dissemination of products.
Every 15 minutes a volume scan is performed, which is
interrupted every 5 minutes by a scan sequence at low
elevation for quantitative data. A picture ( 400 X 400 km)
of the ground view (containing the lowest uncluttered
height level) with front and side projections up to 12 km,
similar to the Swiss display, is generated as well as hourly
precipitation amounts and meteorological warnings on se-
vere weather. On request additional products are trans-
mitted from the radar computer over the existing German
telecommunication system to the users; e.g., precipitation
data to hydrological authorities. Every hour the local echo
distribution will be forwarded to the central computer in
Offenbach where a composite picture will be generated
and redistributed. Twelve radars are planned to cover the
country. The first is already operational in Munich; the
second is installed at Frankfurt airport. The whole network
is planned to be completed by 1992.
7.11 Hong Kong
For several years the Royal Observatory in Hong Kong
has operated a radar whose primary application is for
warning of floods caused by typhoons. Special emphasis
is on identification of local areas where dangerous mud-
slides might occur. Warnings are issued directly to the
population over the radio.
7.12. Japan
Since 1976, Japan has been building a radar network
that will consist in final form of 21 C-band sets and one
S-band set. The data are digitized and transmitted in a
grid with an average resolution of 5 km. Ground clutter
is eliminated with an MTI technique ( Aoyagi, 1983). Dig-
itized radar data are collected in the central station in
Tokyo, where they are combined with raingage data of
AMeDAS, an Automated Meteorological Data Acquisition
System, having a spatial resolution of 17 km, and with
data from GMS, the Geostationary Meteorological Satellite.
Data from seven "dam control" radars, operated by the
Ministry of Construction, are also transmitted to the central
station in Tokyo. See Kodaira and Aoyagi, Chapter 9, for
further details.
7.13 Spain
The Spanish National Meteorological Institute (INM)
has started the implementation of a national weather radar
network including 15 Doppler radars (nine S-band and
six C-band) made by Ericsson. Twelve of these are planned
to be delivered in 1988. The radar sites will be unmanned

and each radar system will be controlled from the nearest
regional center. The radars will operate in a continuous
volume scan mode in 10-15 min time cycles. The raw data
collected in each volume scan will be sent to the regional
centers on microwave links.
Each regional center will have a data processing system,
based on a MICROVAX II, fully integrated with the radar.
Complete processing of the raw data will generate and
display a large variety of radar pictures. At least two pic-
tures will be sent in each time cycle to the network com-
puter (VAX 785) in Madrid, to compose national radar
maps and combine radar satellite imagery. These national
pictures, on 512•512, 4-km grid, or sectors of them, will
be sent back to the regional centers together with now-
casting products.
The main part of the software for the Regional Data
Processing System is being developed by Ericsson. Some
specific modules (e.g., forecast, rainfall accumulation, and
VPI modules) developed at McGill University (Montreal)
will be included. McGill University is also developing and
adapting the corresponding software for the national center
in order to generate a global radar picture and to combine
radar and satellite imagery with the Rainsat algorithm.
7.14 Sweden
The first Doppler weather radar in Sweden has been in
operation in Norrkoping since 1984. During 1986 the sec-
ond one became operational, located at the Arlanda Airport
near Stockholm. It is the first Doppler radar in Europe
where wind and turbulence data will just be used for brief-
ing of pilots. The radar is unmanned and remotely con-
trolled via a microwave link. The radar has several scan
programs to be selected by the operator. The lowest CAPPI
level with reflectivity data will be updated every fifth min-
ute and the complete volume with data of reflectivity, wind
speed, and turbulence will be updated every tenth minute.
Both radars use DECNET for communication, which makes
it easy to transmit data from one radar to the other.
For long-term planning, the project PRO MIS 90 aims to
build a network of 16 radars, three regional centers, and
one national center (in Norrkoping). The radar data should
be used together with data from satellite and automatic
stations.
7.15 United States
The National Weather Service in the United States
maintains a network of 56 10-cm radars installed during
the 1960s. This network has since been augmented with
a number of S-cm "gap-filler" radars. Coded, digitally in-
tegrated data are routinely sent to the Central Office of
the National Weather Service where a computer synthe-
sizes them into a crude summary map. The primary ap-
plication of the radar data has been as an aid in identifying
severe storms and in the issuance of warnings. The data
PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT AND HYDROLOGY 595
are also used routinely as qualitative forecast aids. It is
planned that this entire system will be replaced in the 1990s
with NEXRAD (Next Generation Weather Radar), now
being developed and tested. Sarreals et al. ( 1986) give a
short description of and the scientific basis for NEXRAD.
The plan calls for 160 10-cm radars with high power, high
resolution, and Doppler capability, equipped with com-
puters for on-site processing. NEXRAD is expected to pro-
vide a wide variety of outputs for different applications;
e.g., severe storm detection and identification of aviation
hazards. For hydrology, the plans are to produce short-
term forecasts of precipitation accumulations, and frequent
and accurate regional and national maps of rainfall.
As Golden et al. ( 1986) state in their introduction,
NEXRAD systems will avoid labor-intensive procedures
and increase staff efficiency for the modernized and re-
structured National Weather Service of the 1990s. Details
of the plans may be found in Hudlow et al. ( 1983), Walton
and Johnson ( 1986), and Pratte and Keeler ( 1986). Hud-
low et al. ( 1984) estimate a price per set on the order of
three million dollars; over 100 of these sets will be installed
in the United States in the early 1990s. Hudlow et al. pro-
ject a lifetime of 20 years for these radars, during which
they say hydrometeorological benefits will far exceed the
cost of system implementation and maintenance.
8 CONCLUSIONS
8.1 Summary
Over the years much research has been directed toward
exploring the potential of radar as an instrument for mea-
suring rain. In this chapter we have reviewed the results
of many studies concerned with such questions as the ac-
curacy that can be attained, the best techniques for making
measurements and improving the accuracy, and deter-
mination of the types of data and the accuracy needed for
useful hydrological applications. We find that, in general,
radar measurements of rain, deduced from measured re-
flectivity by an empirical Z-R relation, agree well with gage
measurements for the area close to the radar but strong
variability and underestimation by the radar occur at longer
ranges. For example, the Swiss radar on the average sees
at a range of 100 km only 25% of the rain, in spite of
measuring 100% at close ranges. Similar but not quite so
dramatic results are found in flat country. The reasons are
earth curvature and shielding by topography. The main
problem in using radar for precipitation measurements and
hydrology in operational applications thus comes from the
inability to measure precipitation close enough to the
ground over the desired range of coverage. Because this
problem often does not arise in well-defined experiments,
it has not received the attention it deserves as a dominant
problem in operational applications. Thanks to the avail-
ability of inexpensive, high-speed data processing equip-
596 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
ment, it is now possible to determine the echo distribution
in the whole radar coverage area in three dimensions. This
knowledge, together with knowledge about the position
of the radar and the orography around it, allows us to
correct in real time for a large fraction of-or at least to
estimate the magnitude of-the problem. This correction
allows us to extend the region in which an accuracy ac-
ceptable for many hydrological applications is obtained.
To make the best possible use of radar, we offer the fol-
lowing rules:
1) Unless measurements of reflectivity are made im-
mediately over the ground, they should be corrected for
errors originating from the vertical profile of reflectivity
(section 2.2). As this profile changes in time it should be
monitored continuously by the radar. The correction
should be calculated for each pixel, as it depends on the
height of the lowest visible volume above the ground (sec-
tion 4.2).
2) It is important that the correction for the vertical re-
flectivity profile, the dominant one at longer ranges, be
done before any other adjustments, such as adjusting to
agree with raingages (section 4.3).
3) A radar site should be chosen such that precipitation
is seen by the radar as close as possible to the ground
(section 3.4). "Seen" means here that there is no shielding
or clutter or that the influence of clutter can be eliminated,
for instance by Doppler analysis. This condition may fre-
quently restrict the useful range of radar for quantitative
work to the nearest 50-100 km.
4) Systems should be rigorously controlled (sufficient
stability and calibration of equipment; section 3.5).
5) Wavelength and antenna size are chosen such that
attenuation caused by precipitation is negligible (section
3.2) and good spatial resolution is achieved (section 3.3).
6) The sample size must be adequate for the application.
For hydrological applications, and especially when ad-
justing radar with gages, it is desirable to integrate the data
over a number of hours and I or square kilometers. The
integration has to be done over the desired quantity [i.e.,
the linear rain rate, not the log(Z)] in order to avoid any
bias caused by this integration (section 3.6).
Even a crude estimate of the actual vertical reflectivity
profile can produce an important improvement, greater
than that obtainable by other means such as polarization
and multiwavelength techniques. It is questionable
whether the additional cost and complexity of such tech-
niques can be justified for operational applications in hy-
drology. Research has to continue and we must carefully
evaluate new techniques, but we wait for the moment
when, for a given application, the techniques do more good
than harm. Speculation about the expected improvement
offered by different techniques to reduce the variance
of radar estimates of rain at the ground is given in sec-
tion 8.2.
The main advantages of radar are its high spatial res-
olution, wide area coverage, and its immediacy (real-time
data); the capability to follow a "floating target or a con-
vective complex" in a real-time sequence, for instance to
make a short-term forecast. Although radar is only to a
lesser degree suited to give absolute accuracy in measuring
rain amounts, good quantitative information is already
obtained from radar networks. It is unlikely, though, that
radar will ever replace the raingage, since gages provide
additional information and are essential for adjusting and 1
or checking the radar indications. On the other hand, as
pointed out by many workers, an extremely dense and
costly network of gages would be necessary to obtain a
resolution easily attainable with radar.
S.l Estimated Improvement
In this section we speculate about the improvements
that might be expected for hydrological applications from
various methods and additions. Obviously the software
and quality control (not discussed here) are also critical,
and the exact improvement will strongly depend on these
procedures and on the specific conditions in which the
radar is going to be used, for example average range, type
of storm, radar site, and parameters of the radar. To illus-
trate the expected order of magnitude, we distinguish in
Table 8.1 the well-defined experiment at short ranges from
the operational application at longer ranges. For the an-
tenna a 1-deg beam is assumed, and for the weather it is
assumed that the precipitation is rain in summer with 0-
deg isotherm at 3.5 km and snow in winter.
The variance of a cumulation of measures (see line 8 in
Table 8.1) does not give the sum of the individual contri-
butions, but something smaller, because two measures
may have in part the same effect (for instance, Doppler
radar and satellite to eliminate effects caused by anomalous
propagation). The cost is expressed in percent of total
equipment cost (hardware, software installation, mainte-
nance, transmission, and display) and is cumulative.
Line 8 in the table indicates that by combining the im-
provement obtainable with raingage adjustments, vertical
profile corrections, the Doppler option, and the inclusion
of satellite information, an improvement of 70% results at
longer ranges. This means that only 30% of the total vari-
ance remains and that for this reduction we have to pay
an additional43% of the total investment. The above in-
dicated variances are average expected values in good op-
erational conditions in the specified region. We could make
things worse, for example, if the sample of the drop-size
distribution used in the correction does not represent the
region of interest or if the added complexity of equipment
leads to significantly more failures or maintenance prob-
lems. Because of these considerations we should carefully
evaluate the operational feasibility of new techniques be-
fore introducing them.
 PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT AND HYDROLOGY 597

TABLE 8.1
Estimates of the Redaction of Variance and Probable Cost•

Percentage of Redaction
Percentage Reference
MeanI Cion ( <30 km) far ( <2.00 km) of Co1t Section

1. Raingage adjustment 30 20 5 4.3

2. Vertical profile 20 50 5 4.2
3. Doppler radar 10 20 30 5.3
4. Measurement from space 5 20 3 6.5
5. Drop-size distribution 25 10 3 2.1
6. Polarization diversity 15 5 30 5.4
7. Multiwavelength radar 10 2 50 5.5
8. Combination (lines 1, 2, 3, 4 above) 50 70 43

• This table shows speculations about the efficacy of various measures to improve accuracy of radar for hydrological applications and the directly related
cost, i.e., excluding the cost for the satellite. The improvement is estimated as a reduction of the variance of daily amounts of Log (radarfgage), assuming
that today's noncoherent radar (without adjustments) has a variance of 100%. Average improvement over the whole year and the whole area of interest
is considered and flat country is assumed.

l PRESENT AND FUTURE NETWORK

Acknowledgments. We deeply appreciate the contribution
to this work by Pauline Austin and Spiros Geotis. We
would like to thank the members of the Panel on Precip-
itation Measurement and Hydrology, and the following
persons for discussion and comments on the manuscript:
D. Atlas, R. Cavalli, C. Collier, G. Galli, M. Gilet, Th. Gu-
termann, J. Vogel, M. Hudlow, I. Zawadzki, and P. Smith.
APPENDIX A:
RADAR DATA PROCESSING AND
SHORT-PERIOD FORECASTING IN THE
UNITED KINGDOM
C. G. Collier, Meteorological Office, Bracknell, United
Kingdom
1 BACKGROUND
Over the last few years the experimental network of
radars in the United Kingdom has grown steadily, and
data have been supplied to an increasing number of Me-
teorological Office and Water Authority users. Building
upon the software development carried out by a team from
the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment, working with
the Met Radar Research Laboratory at Malvern in the early
1970s, the radar site and network software has been and
continues to be developed by the Meteorological Office
for fully operational use. This work has provided a sound
basis upon which further improvements in the radar site
processing and in product availability will be carried out.
This appendix outlines some of the specific developments
now being planned and implemented, and identifies other
options currently under consideration.
Currently six radars in the United Kingdom cover much
of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland (Fig. A1). All
the radars were manufactured by Plessey. Two of the sys-
tems areS-band (10-cm wavelength, 2-deg beamwidth) .
These radars are maintained by on-site Meteorological Of-
fice technicians, as they are 15-year-old systems and not
designed for unattended operation. The other four systems
are C-band (5.6-cm wavelength, 1-deg beamwidth) and
are unmanned. The reliability of these radars is now very
high, as reported by Hill and Robertson (1987) , for ex-
ample. Each radar has, on site, a computer system that
carries out in real time a variety of tasks as described by
Collier and James ( 1986) and in section 3.3.1 that follows.
Plans for new unmanned C-band radars to be sited at
Preddanack in Cornwall and in Dorset are now being im-
plemented by the Directorate of Naval Oceanography and
Meteorology to replace old weather radars at Portland and
Culdrose. Further radars, financed by a consortium com-
prising the Meteorological Office, Wessex Water Authority,
South West Water Authority, Welsh Water Authority, and
Devon County Council, are to be installed in the Exmoor
area and South West Wales during 1988-89. In addition
the Meteorological Office, Anglian Water Authority, Sev-
ern- Trent Water Authority and Yorkshire Water Authority
will install a radar in the Lincoln area during 1987.
In Scotland progress to install weather radars has been
slower than in the rest of the United Kingdom. A major
justification for weather radar in England and Wales, and
to a lesser extent in Northern Ireland, arises from benefits
to flood forecasting ( NWC, 1983); analogous benefits are
much smaller in Scotland. One study recently completed
by an ad hoc group led by the Meteorological Office and
the Scottish Development Department, but including a
wide cross section of the industries concerned, has iden-
tified considerable potential benefits arising from improved
598 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

LIICATIIIIIF EIIST1115 ,' sensitive to rapid change of weather, the Meteorological

All PIIIIPGSEI WEATIEI I Office uses the data provided by the radar network, com-
RADARS I bined with cloud images from the European satellite ME-
flf TEOSAT, to produce analyses and very short-period. ex-
trapolation forecasts of precipitation for a limited area over
and around the United Kingdom.
Figure A2 summarizes the current system for processing
and distributing radar data-based products. A dual DEC
PDP 11 I 44 system comprises the network computer that
provides data to the FRONTIERS system, which comprises
dual VAX 11 I 750 systems (normally one system is op-
erational and the other system is used for research and
development). Presently over 40 Meteorological and Water
Authority offices around the United Kingdom continuously
receive products generated by FRONTIERS and distributed
via the network computer.

3.1 FRONTIERS Development

FRONTIERS was designed and built by Logica Ltd. to
a Meteorological Office functional specification and deliv-
ered in initial form in 1983 (Carpenter and Browning,
1984). Experiments at the Meteorological Office's Radar
Research Laboratory had already shown the kinds of task
that the forecaster would need to perform when analyzing
the images and constructing the forecast, and work at other
laboratories (Suomi et al., 1983) had demonstrated the
use of interactive display systems for meteorological anal-
ysis, so it was possible to specify with confidence the fa-
cilities needed (Browning, 1979).
Fig. A1 Locations of existing and proposed weather radars. The In 1986, after a period of experimentation and further
inset shows the locations of the radars currently used (December software development, FRONTIERS was moved to the
1987) by FRONTIERS, comprising six U.K. radars plus one at Shannon Meteorological Office's headquarters at Bracknell to begin
in the Republic of Ireland. The circular areas show the maximum operational trials in the Central Forecasting Office ( CFO) .
range of detection of rain (about 210 km). The range of quantitative At the same time the system was duplicated in order to
measurements is around 75 km; the inner circles on the large map
give the radar sites for the network by the mid-1990s. Planned sites
are shaded. Preddanack and Dorset will replace existing old radars
at Camborne and Upavon (shown on the inset) during 1987-88. An
Calibratior. gauges f·::. IH
,jj r,
existing radar in Jersey, Channel Islands (not shown) is also to be
digitized and included in the network. \ \
l ocal Processor
local distri~ution of single-site
• digitisation 1200 low resolution (Type I) and
short-period weather forecasting, particularly for agricul- • objectiro UC + calibration baud high resolution (T11111 2) data
• single-site product generation
ture, road transport, and the building and construction
industries. A network of three radars, possibly located on Type 3 data
2400 b3ud
Control data

the Outer Hebrides, in Buchan, and between Glasgow and

Edinburgh, has been proposed and now seems likely to
be installed. The complete network, which should be in
place by the mid-1990s, is also shown in Fig. AI. All the
radars now being installed and those planned will be un-
COSMOS etc.
manned and will operate at C-hand.
t - --;;.---j • Subjective ndu data OC '"' f---+----i • Numerical model
product modilicdion predictions
• Quantitative precip. Ioree 1sts • Conventional Met. data
3 PREPARATION Of RADAR
PRODUCTS FOR USE IN SHORT-
PERIOD FORECASTING
In order to satisfy the requirements for flood forecasting Fig. A2 Current system for processing and distributing radar data-
and water management, and also the needs of industries based products.

provide back-up against failures of the operational hard-
ware and to provide facilities for further development of
the software (Conway, t987).
FRONTIERS has been in continuous use in CFO since
September t986 and has been disseminating quality-con-
trolled radar rainfall analyses to the network of users
around the United Kingdom since December of that year.
More recently a limited trial distribution of forecasts up to
6 h ahead has begun.
3.2 Operational Cycle
FRONTIERS operates on a half-hourly cycle synchro-
nized with METEOSAT's transmissions. The cycle is di-
vided into three major stages, as shown in Fig. A3 and
outlined below.
In the radar analysis stage the operator aims to produce
the best possible estimate of the intensity and areal extent
of the rainfall within the area covered by the radars (Fig.
At). This is done by using data from other sources (con-
ventional observations, METEOSAT cloud images, etc.)
with the operator's understanding of the meteorological
situation to help recognize and correct errors in the radar
data.
In the second stage the operator extends the area of
coverage beyond the radar area by attempting to deduce
the extent (but not the intensity) of rainfall over the full
FRONTIERS area from METEOSAT cloud images. The
satellite-derived rainfall is merged with the quantitative
radar rainfall map from the radar analysis stage to provide
as complete a picture as possible of current rainfall in the
FRONTIERS area (Fig. A4) (Brown, t987).
The final stage is the production, by the linear extrap-
olation of recent movement, of a sequence of rainfall fore-
casts covering the next 6 h. The operator divides the rainfall
field from the second stage into a number of clusters that
are then assigned independent velocities. FRONTIERS
computes the forecast by moving the clusters with their
assigned velocities.
Radar data
RADAR
ANALYSIS
Meteosat images
from previous
cycle I Radar
l composite
Curren I SATELLITE
Meteosat images ANALYSIS
I Radar/satellite
! composite
FORECAST
I Forecasts
Fig. A3 The main stages in the FRONTIERS 30-min cycle.
PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT AND HYDROLOGY 599
3.3 Radar Data Analysis
The data processing carried out at the radar sites and
within FRONTIERS is structured to be complementary at
each location. Some users require data as quickly as pos-
sible, particularly in severe weather. Indeed, provided de-
lays are only a few minutes, these users are prepared to
accept some reduction in the accuracy of the estimates of
surface precipitation to achieve rapid access direct from
the radar sites where the processing is totally automatic.
Nevertheless, the need for more carefully analyzed data,
albeit with a delay of around 20 min, is recognized as
important if misinterpretation is to be avoided. Such data
are obtained from FRONTIERS.
3.3.1 Radar Site Processing
Amplitude data from the radar are digitized in polar
coordinates using an array processor and a special purpose
built interface unit, and then passed to the radar site com-
puter system. The radar antenna rotates with a period of
just under t min, enabling data from four different beam
elevations (usually 0.5, 1.5, 2.5 and 4 deg) to be collected
every 5 minutes. Ground clutter is removed by comparison
with maps of ground echo locations collected at a previous
time in dry conditions, and is stored in the computer mem-
ory. Corrections are also applied for partial (up to 60% of
the beam lost) blockages caused by hills at any range and
azimuth, and for partial beam filling by shallow precipi-
tation. The latter corrections are applied in addition to the
normal range squared power law which is applied in both
hardware (to about tOO-km range) and software (at further
ranges) and is derived as an average correction throughout
the year.
Conversion of the amplitude data to rainfall rate is ac-
complished using the radar equation and the relationship
Z = 200R1. 6 (At)
where Z is the reflectivity and R is the rainfall rate. Cor-
rections for attenuation through atmospheric gases are ap-
plied as necessary, and correction for attenuation through
rainfall is attempted with acceptable success as most of
the radars in the UK network operate at C-hand. There-
lationship between attenuation and rainfall rate is:
two way attenuation= 0.0044R 0 ·17 [dBZ km- 1 ]. (A2)
After conversion to Cartesian coordinates, the nominal
surface precipitation field is constructed using data from
higher elevations: a pseudo CAPPI. At this stage the data
are adjusted every t5 min using data from a few (about
six) telemetering raingages obtained from dedicated land
lines or microwave links at the radar sites. In practice the
adjustment procedure involves the modification of Eq. (At)
in different ways for a number of areas depending upon
topography and precipitation type (Collier et al., t983).
 Fig. A4 FRONTIERS combined radar- and
satellite-derived rainfall field for 1200 UTC
18 October 1987. A belt of rain associated
with a cold front is seen moving very slowly
across the United Kingdom. Line convection
develops to the north of Wales. Rainfall in-
tensities are shown in color within the radar
area (lowest is red, <1 mm h-I , and highest
is green, 4-8 mm h-I). Satellite-derived
rainfall is shown grey and indicates only
areal extent, not intensity.

Fig. AS Data from weather radars in a number of

European countries, including Britain, are brought
together in the COST-73 project. In this picture for
1500 UTC 25 August 1987, the raw U.K. radar mea-
surements in the COST-73 composite have been re-
placed by the quality-controlled product from
FRONTIERS. Blue, red and bright yellow areas show
different rainfall rates. Maximum radar ranges and
areas where spurious (ground-return) echoes are
likely are shown in green. Areas of possible rain-
bearing cloud, deduced from METEOSAT infrared
cloud images, appear in grey. Wide area rainfall data
such as these are needed to help estimate washout
and deposition when toxic or radioactive substances
escape into the atmosphere, as in the Chernobyl in-
cident.

Data from the higher elevations are also used to derive
the height and intensity of the bright band if it is present
in the data (C. J. Smith, 1986), but no attempt has yet
been made to remove the effects of the bright band au-
tomatically.
3.3.2. FRONTIERS Radar Data
Products are derived at the radar sites for direct distri-
bution to a number of users, and data are transmitted to
the network center and on to FRONTIERS. While the au-
tomatic corrections and adjustments made at the radar sites
provide useful products for those users who need to view
the data very rapidly, the data are not optimal. Not all
ground clutter or spurious echoes generated by any inter-
ference can be removed by the on-site procedures. Indeed,
in anomalous propagation conditions rain and ground
echoes may be confused. Similarly, rain areas that do not
move, and within which horizontal motions are very small,
pose problems since they look like ground echoes.
Automatic procedures aimed at improving the quanti-
tativeness of the data, such as raingage adjustment, pro-
duce useful improvements overall (Collier, 1986a,b), but
on individual occasions may meet with only limited suc-
cess-or indeed may be counterproductive. In addition,
the raingages used for adjustment in real time may not
register precipitation although it may be occurring nearby,
or may not be representative of orographic precipitation
enhancement occurring between the radar beam and the
ground. FRONTIERS provides facilities to improve further
the quantitativeness of the data in real time.
On entering FRONTIERS the changes produced by the
range corrections and the raingage adjustment applied at
the radar site are removed. The operator may then remove
spurious echoes and select new corrections for incomplete
beam filling based upon detailed knowledge of the current
weather. Depending upon low-level wind velocity and
humidity, detailed orographic enhancement fields are se-
lected for each radar site (Hill, 1983). Finally, raingage
adjustment is reapplied for areas within the network cov-
erage, selected by the operator, that relate to the distri-
bution of orography and location within the current at-
mospheric system structure. This procedure allows
improvements to be made to the representation of oro-
graphic effects derived from the raingage adjustment alone,
and provides facilities for the real-time quality control of
the raingage data. Work is under way to assess the degree
of improvement achieved by FRONTIERS.
The operator is a vital component of this system, but
the aim is to optimize his contribution by restricting his
influence to key decision making. Removal of bright-band
effects remains problematic, as fully automated procedures
are not yet reliable enough for·operational implementation.
Nevertheless, the data are already of sufficient quality for
short-period forecasting by Meteorological Office and Wa-
PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT AND HYDROLOGY 601
ter Authority users, provided users accept the need for
further local quality control.
4 FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
The use of FRONTIERS in CFO has dearly demonstrated
the need to improve the speed and, in places, the ergo-
nomics of the system. Some facilities have already been
reprogrammed to make them easier to use, and the precise
causes of the system's slowness in responding to certain
commands are being investigated. Eventually the system
performance will be limited by the speed at which the
human operator can think. It is envisaged that further im-
provements can then only be achieved by the application
of knowledge-based systems.
The Meteorological Office is developing a mesoscale nu-
merical weather predictions model for operational use
that will eventually cover a substantial portion of north-
western Europe (Tapp and White, 1976; Golding, 1987a).
Work is under way to combine the FRONTIERS rainfall
analyses with other European radar data, satellite data,
and, eventually, conventional observations to help ini-
tialize this model (Golding, 1987b). An example of these
data is shown in Fig. AS. Conversely, some of the model
products are potentially useful for FRONTIERS; one ex-
ample is the use of model wind fields to advect the rainfall
patterns.
APPENDIX 8:
THE INFLUENCE OF SHIELDING
DEMONSTRATED WITH OPERATIONAL
RADAR DATA IN SWITZERLAND
1 INTRODUCTION
The problems arising from the vertical reflectivity profile,
ground clutter, and shielding are illustrated by investigat-
ing the ratio radar/ raingage in Switzerland, a country in
which the very difficult topography demonstrates shielding
problems so drastically that they cannot be overlooked.
The investigation is helped by the fact that we have both
good visibility in the flatter part of the country and dose
to the radar and also severe obstructions in the Alps. To
apply the results to other types of weather and orography,
the conclusions would have to be modified accordingly.
The experiments discussed here are based on measure-
ments from two 5-cm radars based at La Dole (near Ge-
neva) and Albis (near Zurich) and from a network of 58
raingages. Figure B1 illustrates the three-dimensional dis-
play composited from information from both radars. It
covers a region 558 X 428 X 12 km 3 • To generate the
composite, the DISAT computer chooses the "better" in-
formation from the two radars; i.e., the one without ground
clutter or, if both are free of clutter, the one with the stron-
602 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

DDLE+ALBIS

.::·:.:::·:.:::·:. ·...
~~ ~.:·~-=: :~ . . ./ (. , ..:· ·...

f·. .·: ···,:.,';. .

~::t;.:'·,. ~. ( I~ :'

". ;·•.:::.t:~·:.:·.~·:
. .
' .... .•• .. ........ ···... .=
·~~~: ~·:.:·· :.
..··· ····.·:·. ·.. .··
:····=....=.: .....=
·················
• ~ ~ s : .• .=:··:: .:: ::
-
-·~. :.::~........ .... ·.:',' ':.. ::·

:~~-.- .:·~: · · · · · ........

........
..
~ ....... ...... ·.·.~
~--·
1
F~
111 100

Fig. Bl Composite picture from radars Albis (near Zurich) and La Dole (near Geneva) showing projections
of maximum reflectivity (converted to rainfall rate) for a region 558 X 428 X 12 km 3 • The pixel size in
the ground view is 2 X 2 km 2 ; the vertical resolution is 1 km. For clarity, the vertical scale is expanded
by a factor of 6. The range of the rain rate is divided in seven equal steps on a logarithmic scale, the
lowest step indicating intensities < 0.3 mm h - 1 and the highest with intensities > 100 mm h - 1 • The
case presented is for 0720 UTC 4 March 1982.

ger intensity, usually the radar that can see closer to the
ground. Rivers, political borders, and some cities are also
shown as an overlay. The three views present projections
of the maximum reflectivity in each vertical column or
horizontal strip (converted to rainfall rate through the re-
lation Z = 300 R 1·5 ). Based on previous analyses (Joss,
1981) an r2 ·8 law was introduced in 1981 for range nor-
malization (instead of a square law) and is still in use
today. At that time the radar constants were adjusted to
bring agreement between radar and close raingages. Since
that time very careful maintenance has been done on the
radars but no further adjustment of the constant has been
made with raingages. This reflects the experience that, at
least in Switzerland, it is difficult and costly to obtain sig-
nificant improvement in the whole area of coverage of the
radar by using short-term raingage adjustments.
l RESULTS
Figure B2 shows the position of the gages and an over-
view of the results of a study in which the information of
the two radars and the raingage network was analyzed to
find the accuracy of radar measurement on an operational
basis. The data were recorded on 362 out of 389 days
between 16 June 1984 and 10 July 1985. This included
100 000 volume scans (from the two radars), each of
which was extracted from 10 9 bits of raw radar informa-
tion. From these data, daily amounts of rain were calculated
over 58 raingage locations and compared with the amount
measured by the raingages below the corresponding radar
volume. In Fig. B2 the small graphs give the cumulative
frequency of the ratio (radar-rain)/ (gage-rain) for all cases
with more than 1 mm of rain collected by the gage. Agree-
ment between radar and gage is good where the dark areas
in the graphs are small. In other words, the area is a mea-
sure of the error; i.e., the deviation between the curve and
the vertical line corresponding to the value of 1.0. In the
case of Zermatt ( ZER in the figure, enlarged example in
the lower right-hand comer), the curve shows that the
radar indicates in 80% of the cases too little precipitation
and in 20% too much. Note the logarithmic scale of the
quotient on the abscissa. Again, in the case of Zermatt, in
10% of the cases the radar-measured amounts of precip-
itation are less than a fifth of the corresponding gage value.
 ~
(")

~
z
11. JUNE 1984 - 10. JULY 1885
W.EATHER
STATION I,O 362 ol 389 Day• !i>
CUMULATIVE
FAIEQUENCY
. Of DAII,.Y
AMOUNTS

0
10
RADAR
RAINGAUGE(ANETZ)
~
~
Fig. B2 Overview of the operational measurement of precipitation with radar in Switzerland. The figure shows the position of the raingages and of the two radars. The small graphs
show the cumulative frequency for each gage of the ratio of rain amounts radar1gage for all days with more than 1 mm rain collected by the gage. The data are daily rainfall amounts ~
for the period 16 June 1984 to 10 July 1985. To indicate a measure of the visibility, the upper left-hand corner shows the minimum height precipitation must reach in order to be
seen from at least one of the radars (see text for further explanation). The analyses were performed in the context of a research program at the Osseruatorio Ticinese in Locarno of
the Swiss Meteorological Institute in Zurich. The map is reproduced with the permission of the Federal Office of Topography. ~
e
604 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

TABLE Bl
Median Values (o/o) of Percentage of Precipitation Amount Seen by the Radars As Compared
to the Raingages for Daily Rainfall Amounts

Radar All Da)'ll Slllllmer Da)'ll Winter Da)'ll Da)'IIWltll Day•WUII

Site R.m >lam Rain> 1 am Rain> lam 1 mm < Ram < 10 mm R.m> lOam
La Dole 16 16 7 16 10
Albis 25 35 10 22 20
Composite 40 50 29 45 25

The figure shows good agreement in the neighborhoods
of the radar stations. In general the agreement becomes
worse when the precipitation over the gage is less visible
to the radar. To indicate a measure of the visibility, the
map in the upper left-hand comer shows the minimum
height precipitation must reach to be seen from at least
one of the radars. As this height becomes larger, as in the
southeast comer of Switzerland, the underestimation of
the radar also increases.
By further analyzing the same data we obtain the results
shown in Tables B1 and B2. The results are given for all
days with more than 1 mm of rain, days from the summer
or from the winter only, and days with weak rain or with
heavy rain. The following procedure was used:
1) Each gage was treated separately. All days of a given
population (i.e., satisfying the criteria given in the headings
of the columns in the tables) were sorted according to
increasing percentages of the ratio radar/ gage. The num-
ber in a given population depends on the criteria and on
the station. For example, depending on the station,
between 71 and 139 days out of the 362 days analyzed
were found that satisfied the criterion "all days with
rain > 1 mm."
2) For each station the median value was determined,
then the median values of all 58 stations (58 values) were
sorted according to increasing percentages. The median
value obtained for these 58 values is reported in Table Bl.
The table indicates the percentage that the radar sees for
half of the days and over half of the stations. We preferred
to use this median percentage as compared to an average
percentage because the tails of the distribution of per-
centages, which frequently are caused by errors, do not
matter as much.
3) Instead of the median values for each station, the
16% and 84% values were read out of the sorted popu-
lations, and (after performing step 2) Table B2 was created,
giving more information about the distribution of per-
centages.
Results are presented for the single radars La Dole and
Albis and for the composite. The results dearly show that
the composite information, which is transmitted to the
users, contains better information than either of the two
radars. La Dole measures considerably less precipitation
than Albis because of the larger average distance ( 134 km
compared to 101 km) between the radar and the gages.
As mentioned in the Introduction, no correction was made
for the vertical profile, except that the range normalization
was set to r2.8 instead of r2 and all the data were extracted
from the three-dimensional displays transmitted on the
phone lines (Fig. B1 ) .
The Swiss radars were adjusted with raingages dose to
the radar to see 100% (as may be verified in Fig. B2), but
in spite of that, the tables show that the radar sees much
less over the average gage. The reason for this result is
because the echo intensity decreases with increasing
height. On average, i.e., during all the storms for the whole
year, a factor of 3 reduction per kilometer of height is
found. As the decrease is less pronounced in convective
situations in summer, the amount of rain in these cases
can be measured with better accuracy than amounts of
snow in winter. At first glance it is surprising that the radar
sees a smaller percentage for higher amounts (cases of
"days with rain > 10 mm" in the tables) , a result also
found by Walton and Johnson ( 1986) when analyzing CP-
2 data for the precipitation projection procedure of
NEXRAD. The reason for this is mainly because larger

TABLEB2
Values(%} of Percentage of Precipitation Amount Seen by the Radars As Compared
to the Raingages for Daily Rainfall Amounts•

R.dar All Da)'ll Summer Day1 Winter Day• Day• Wltll Day• Wltll
SUe R.m > l - Raln > l - RaiD > lmm 1 mm < R.m < 10 - Rain > 10 mm

La Dole 3- 40 4- 63 2- 23 3- 48 2- 25
Alb is 4- 74 10-81 0- 32 4- 100 6-40
Composite 11-91 20- 100 8- 68 14-112 11- 51

• As for Table Bl except instead of the median value, the 16th and 84th percentiles are indicated.
 PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT AND HYDROLOGY 605

storm amounts .are usually produced by widespread rain
of long duration rather than by heavy rain, which rarely
lasts long. Moreover, the widespread rains are often oro-
graphic and do not reach a high altitude; thus they are
especially likely to be underestimated.
3 DETERMINING THE VERTICAL
PROFILE
The vertical profile, representative for corrections, may
be estimated in several ways using different sources of
information (section 4.2); for example, from the type of
weather (actual or forecast), from climatological infor-
mation, from radiosonde data (height of 0-deg level and
lability index), and from radar data. By choosing the radar
itself for estimating the profile we use the same source of
information that we intend to correct for estimating the
correction. This may lead to problems. Since this source is
continuously and ~asily available at the radar site, we will
analyze the problems encountered when determining the
vertical profile with the radar. Five factors may falsify the
profile and lead to underestimation of the vertical gradient
of reflectivity (i.e., the reduction of reflectivity with height).
The error of estimating this gradient may be especially
severe in the presence of shielding close to the ground.
The contribution of each factor will depend on the me-
teorological situation, the method of data analysis, and the
size of area involved:
1) At low elevations, part of the precipitation is not
seen because of earth curvature and mountains or because
it is eliminated by clutter suppression circuitry.
2) At longer ranges the sampling volume is not uni-
formly filled with precipitation; the lower part usually
contains the stronger echoes.
3) By choosing the radar echo itself as a criterion (in-
stead of the precipitation at the ground) we may introduce
a bias. For example there may be echoes aloft and no pre-
cipitation at the ground.
4) We should average rain rates, not radar reflectivity.
The latter leads to a bias, which depends upon the width
of the distribution of averaged values (section 3.6).
5) When estimating the profile from the three projec-
tions of maximum reflectivity (as in the case of the Swiss
display system), a further bias is introduced, a bias caused
by having to use the maximum in each projection.
As single profiles in any given location vary strongly
with time and therefore cannot be representative for a
larger area, many profiles have to be averaged over a rea-
sonable area. If the area is small, the profile is not well
defined for a larger area; if the area is large, errors due to
shielding become important. This is demonstrated with a
pilot study in Switzerland where we choose the total area
covered by each radar of 400 X 430 km 2 to reconstruct
the average profile from the three-dimensional display of
the volume scan (using 19 revolutions with antenna ele-
vations between -0.5 and 39 deg). This area is too large
to determine a representative profile and clearly demon-
strates the influence of the five factors listed above, the
first one being dominant. To show the difference, the same
data was analyzed twice:
1) The analysis uses radar data only. Profiles of rain
rate consisting of 12 points, each one giving the rain rate
averaged over the whole area, one kilometer of altitude,
and over the whole period of interest. The result shows
what the radars see on average in this situation.
2) The analysis was done for the same period but using
radar and raingage data (Joss and Kappenberger, 1984) .
The result shows the same situation for the profile relevant
to hydrology.
Analyzing the data in the first way, we find the maxi-
mum reflectivity at 3 km, with a strong reduction of re-
flectivity starting only at 5 km. This is in contradiction to
the profile determined from the second analysis method
(radar and gage data, Table B3) which shows good agree-

TABLE 83
Fraction of Precipitation Seen by the Radar (i.e., Radar/Raingage for Storm Totals) Classi8ed According to the
Height of the Lowest Radar Sample over the Gage (From Joss and Kappenberger, 1984)

frac:tJoa Seea by Radar Dutaac:e of Gage• from

(%) Namber of Radu (km.) Height of Gage• (m)
Height of Lowett Namber of Storau
Beam (m) Mia Meaa Max Gage• > lOmm• Mia Meaa Max Mia Meaa Max
400- 1000 33 (87) 208 10 20 15 (62) 158 437 (474) 570
1000- 2000 58 (81) 129 7 16 11 (78) 155 316 (778) 1599
2000- 3000 33 (54) 167 8 15 40 (75) 140 381 (947) 2490
3000- 4000 3.3 (11) 22 5 14 69 (Ill) 208 482 (1421) 2282
4000-5000 1.0 (4.7) 18 7 14 86 (108) 135 640 (1626) 2690
5000- 6000 0.5 (1.2) 2.7 2 3 98 (102) 105 1611 (1625) 1639
6000- 7000 0 (0.1) 0.7 7 10 106 (133) 163 197 (1033) 3315

• The number of storms with a gage amount larger than 10 mm per storm.
606 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

ment (in "fraction seen by radar") only close to the ground, AMS American Meteorological Society
i.e., below 2 km. Immediately above this level (the height ATI Area-Time Integration
of the 0-deg layer) is a decrease of the reflectivity or the CAPPI Constant Altitude PPI
apparent sensitivity of the radar. This occurs at first slowly CFO Central Forecasting Office (of Meteoroiog-
(2 dBR km- 1 between 1500 and 2500 m) and then more ical Office, United Kingdom)
rapidly (6 dBR km- 1 between 4500 and 5500 m). Here COST CO-operation in Science and Technology
dBR is defined for rain rate as dBZ is for the reflectivity DECNET tradename for communication network of
factor, 2 dBR corresponding to a quotient of 1.6, and 6 Digital Equipment
dBR to a quotient of 4. The results clearly show that the DVIP Digital Video Integrator and Processor
reduction of apparent sensitivity is caused by blockage (in EEC Electronic Enterprise Corporation
this case mainly shielding by mountains) and is not a ESA European Space Agency
function of distance between radars and gages or height FRONTIERS Forecasting Rain Optimized using New
of the gages. Orographically induced growth of low-level Techniques of Interactively Enhanced
precipitation, as investigated by Collier et al. ( 1983), may Radar and Satellite Data
also contribute. GATE CARP (Global Atmospheric Research Pro-
Concluding, we may say that there are several methods gram) Atlantic Tropical Experiment
to determine the vertical profiles needed for correction, GMS Geostationary Meteorological Satellite
and using the radar is only one of them. Here the size of IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics En-
the area used for determining the average profile is im- gineers
portant (today an area of 10 000 km 2 around the radar is IR Infrared Channel
used on an experimental basis). Using radar alone is a MDS Minimum Detectable Signal
convenient method, but there are problems that are illus- MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology
trated by the discrepancy found when comparing the pro- NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar
file obtained this way (for a very large area) with another NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
method including raingage data. This second method can- ministration
not be used in real time, but is useful for checking, and it NWP Numerical Weather Prediction
clearly demonstrates that judging errors caused by the de- NWS National Weather Service
crease of reflectivity with height from the radar only may PPI Plan Position Indicator
give too optimistic a picture. RHI Range-Height Indicator
SMHI Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological
Institute
APPENDIX C: SMI Swiss Meteorological Institute
LIST OF ACRONYMS VIS Visible Channel
AES Atmospheric Environment Service (Can- VISSR Visible/ Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer
ada) WMO World Meteorological Organization

Chapte~ 29b
Precipitation Measurement and Hydrology: Panel Report
Paul L. Smith,* Institute of Atmospheric Sciences, South Dakota School
of Mines and Technology
1 INTRODUCTION
Measurement of precipitation by radar has been a subject
of interest since the earliest days of radar meteorology (e.g.,
Marshall et al., 1947). The literature on this topic is ex-
tensive, and reviews have appeared from time to time (e.g.,
Wilk and Kessler, 1970; Wilson and Brandes, 1979). The
review by Joss and Waldvogel (Chapter 29a; hereafter re-
ferred to as JW) updates the earlier surveys in important
respects, and introduces some further ideas that have
evolved from the growing experience with radar rainfall
measurements in operational environments.
The extensive list of operational programs discussed in
section 7 of Chapter 29a and elsewhere (e.g., Collier et
al., 1988) attests that the technology of radar precipitation
measurement has advanced to the point where useful
products are being produced routinely. All of the programs
listed include precipitation measurement as an important,
if not the primary, objective. The summary by Collier in
Appendix A of the review paper, regarding the work in
the United Kingdom, shows the extent to which these de-
velopments have advanced and also indicates the high
interest of water authorities in the kinds of information
that can be supplied by radar measurements. This con-
nection to hydrology and the water user side of the com-
munity promises to increase rapidly. Indeed, the lifetime
benefits of the NEXRAD system to hydrology alone have
been projected to exceed the cost of system installation,
• Smith served as panel chairman. Other panel members were Herve
Andrieu (Institut Mecanique Grenoble, France), Geoffrey L. Austin
(McGill University), Pauline Austin (Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
nology), S.M. Cherry (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, England), C. G.
Collier (Meteorological Office, England), Corinne Danvel (SCEM / CLIM /
HYDRO, France), Guy Delrieu (Institut Mecanique Grenoble), Arnett
Dennis (Bureau of Reclamation), Marc Gilet (Meteorologie Nationale,
France), Ron Grosh (CSIR/ Atmospheric Science), Louis Hembree (Naval
Environmental Prediction Research Facility), T.J. Henderson (Atmo-
spherics, Inc.), M.D. Hudlow (National Weather Service, Office of Hy-
drology), D.M.A. Jones (Illinois State Water Survey), Jiirg Joss (Swiss
Meteorological Institute), Matthew Kelsch (NOAA/PROFS), Jarmo
Koistinen (University of Helsinki, Finland), Yauso Koiwai (Japan Radio
Co., Ltd.), Randy Rieman (Lower Colorado River Authority, Texas), John
L. Vogel (Illinois State Water Survey), Lub Wojtiw (Alberta Research
Council), W.L. Woodley (Woodley Weather Consultants, Boulder), Tak-
ehiro Yoshida (Japan Radio Co., Ltd.), and Isztar Zawadzki (Universite
du Quebec a Montreal).
607
operation, and maintenance. The interactive adjustment
process described in section 3.3.2 of Collier's Appendix A
represents a step toward the optimization of radar rainfall
estimates using the sorts of information now available in
modem weather data centers.
The Panel on Precipitation Measurement and Hydrology
is in general agreement with the substance of JW. Indeed,
several panel members had opportunities to interact with
the reviewers during the preparation of their paper. This
panel response generally amplifies the review comments
in selected areas, and provides a somewhat different per-
spective in a few cases.
l IMPORTANCE OF THE SITUATION
The method of approach and the adequacy of results
obtained from radar precipitation measurements depend
very much upon the situation. This can include the objec-
tive, the geographic region to be covered, the details of
the application, and other factors. This dependence can
be illustrated by several examples.
2.1 Objective
Flash flood forecasting or warning requires indications,
perhaps only semiquantitative, that a lot of rain is falling
in a watershed in a short time. Speed of response is es-
sential and accuracy of measurement at low rainfall rates
or amounts is generally not important. In contrast, area
rainfall measurements for applications such as general hy-
drology or evaluation of weather modification activities
require greater accuracy, especially for low rainfall amounts
(because the frequency distributions of rainfall events are
sharply skewed toward low values). Moreover, for these
situations longer times are generally available to compare
the radar estimates with other data, make adjustments on
the basis of data from gages, and the like.
l.l Details of the Application
For any application, the accuracy of the measurements
is an important consideration. Unfortunately, precise as-
608 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
sessment of the accuracy of radar measurements of pre-
cipitation is not possible-partly because no satisfactory
basis of comparison is available. A common approach is
to use some network of gages as a reference against which
to compare the radar estimates. This approach has intuitive
appeal, but suffers from a fundamental limitation: no ref-
erence standard exists against which to establish the ac-
curacy of the gage network. Nature does not provide ho-
mogeneous standard rainfall events for testing the network
and there is no higher standard against which to compare
the network data. Therefore neither the true rainfall for
the area nor the accuracy of the gage network is known.
Indeed, there are hints that the gage accuracy may, for
some purposes, be far inferior to what is commonly as-
sumed (e.g., Sevruk, 1982). The common technique of
network decimation to estimate gage network accuracy
begs the question by assuming that the full network is in
essence error-free. (A more useful approach might be to
start the decimation process with two equivalent, inter-
leaved subnetworks so that the differences between the
two could be used to obtain some indication of the network
accuracy.)
Differences between radar and gage indications can
provide an estimate of the overall uncertainties, but which
type of measurement deserves greater credibility depends
upon the situation. For example, there seem to be com-
plicated interrelations (with respect to the accuracy of
rainfall estimates) among the size of the rainfall event
(measured both in area covered and amount of rainfall),
the number of gage reports available, and perhaps the size
of the watershed of interest as well. Extensive work re-
viewed by Huff (1971) and more recent analyses by Hil-
debrand et al. ( 19 79), Wilson and Brandes ( 19 79), and
others provide background on this subject. Analyses by
Heimbach and Super ( 1980), Silverman et al. ( 1981 ) , and
Smith and Cain ( 1979) bring the size of the storm more
clearly into the picture. The general indication is that for
storms that are small in relation to the gage network spac-
ing, radar estimates tend to provide a better picture of the
precipitation pattern and amount. At the other end of the
scale, for storms large enough to rain on a significant num-
ber of gages, the radar estimates probably cannot approach
the accuracy of the gage estimates of total rain volumes.
However, the radar can provide a better picture of the
rainfall distribution and also holds some advantage when
the gage data are not accessible in a timely manner.
Absolute differences between the rainfall amounts es-
timated by gages and radar tend to increase with the
amount of rain (e.g., Barnston and Thomas, 1983). The
percentage differences tend to decrease with increasing
rain amount. The same behavior appears when one at-
tempts to evaluate the accuracy of sparse gage networks
through the network decimation approach (Huff, 1971).
One must therefore decide whether absolute or relative
accuracies are more important, and the results may well
differ depending upon which measurement is selected.
Simple determination of the storm area can provide a
fair estimate of rainfall from convective storms or storm
clusters (e.g., Dennis et al., 1975; Smith et al., 1982), al-
though it cannot be apportioned among watersheds from
this information alone. Recent work on the area-time in-
tegral (ATI) suggests that a combination of area and du-
ration information does even better ( Doneaud et al., 1984).
To cover the whole range of situations it seems evident
that a composite system taking advantage of the capabil-
ities of both kinds of observing instruments (and indeed
bringing in satellite, streamflow or other data where ap-
propriate) would be attractive.
The value of the measurements depends not only upon
the accuracy but also upon how they are employed. For
example, hydrologic work makes extensive use of models
that take precipitation and other input data and produce
estimates of streamflow or other quantities. In practice such
models are fine tuned to make the best use of the available
gage input data. Suppose such a model is now presented
with radar estimates of precipitation as the input; if it fails
to perform as well, is the shortcoming due to inadequacy
of the radar input data, or because the model has not been
optimized to make best use of this form of input?
2.3 Special Situations
The foregoing general considerations point out the fact
that optimal procedures for different situations are likely
to differ. As JW note, many of the variable factors that
cause difficulties in the more general operational situation
are eliminated or held constant in special situations. For
example, the required range of radar operation may be
short enough to eliminate many of the concerns about the
effect of the vertical reflectivity profile.
2.3.1 Small Watersheds
When the watersheds of concern are small and numer-
ous, the response times required are often short and it can
become uneconomical to install enough gages to provide
the needed data in a timely fashion. The advantage of
radar in providing rapid coverage over a substantial num-
ber of small watersheds can become significant in such
cases.
2.3.2 Urban Hydrology.
The need for real-time monitoring and forecasting of
quantitative rainfall amounts for hydrologic operations
within urban areas and over small drainage basins sus-
ceptible to flash or local flooding is becoming increasingly
important. Management of urban sewer and storm drain-
age systems has become more complex due to environ-
mental demands and urbanization. The urban hydrologist
needs to know the present and future patterns and intensity
of precipitation, so that rational decisions about the de-

ployment and storage of storm waters and the issuance of
warnings can be made (e.g., Grigg et al., 1974).
The spatial and temporal data requirements for urban
hydrology are generally more severe than those for rural
regions. Characteristically, the urban basins are smaller,
and the response times of the basins are less than for sim-
ilarly sized rural regions due to urbanization and the larger
impermeable surfaces of urban regions. Many large cities
have sophisticated systems for controlling the storage and
flow of water. These systems can be optimized using radar-
derived estimates of precipitation over the urban area, with
forecasts of the precipitation expected to affect the region.
Several attempts at real-time monitoring and forecasting
of precipitation for urban and small areas using radar have
been made (Huff et al., 1981; Bellon and Austin, 1984;
Austin et al., 1986; Cluckie et al., 1987). In addition to
heavy rains, snow is also an important consideration for
urban areas in mid or high latitudes. The snow problem
is being tackled in some areas, although the measurements
often do not go beyond knowing the intensity (the reflec-
tivity factor) and the rough movement of the leading edge
of the snow region.
Past work has not been able to use the sophisticated
statistical techniques (Krajewski and Georgakakos, 1985;
Krajewski, 1987; Smith and Krajewski, 1987) available for
adjusting the radar-indicated precipitation using real-time
precipitation gages. Future research should concentrate on
1) integrating these sophisticated statistical techniques and
the greatly improved signal processing capabilities now
available; 2) developing software for presenting the data
and information to the end user; 3) developing innovative
techniques for processing the real-time information that is
available; and 4) devising new techniques to use the spatial
and temporal resolution available to radars. In more
northerly latitudes better techniques to quantify the inten-
sity and the movement of snowfall are also required.
2.3.3 Floating Targets
When the entities of concern are moving storms or cloud
complexes rather than fixed areas on the ground, the
problems of making adequate gage measurements increase.
Such situations most often arise in connection with weather
modification studies (e.g., Dennis et al., 1975; Heimbach
and Super, 1980; Woodley et al., 1982) but may also occur
in studies of storm water budgets or precipitation efficien-
cies. Again the scope of the difficulty is inversely related
to the size of the storm. Radar has a clear advantage for
such situations, although the tendency of the storms to
move to ranges where reduced accuracy is expected, or
even out of range of a single radar, often complicates mat-
ters.
2.3.4 Baseline Measurements
Requirements sometimes arise for heavily and accurately
instrumented areas of intensive study to provide baseline
PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT AND HYDROLOGY 609
measurements against which to compare hydrologic model
results, satellite observations and estimates of rainfall, etc.
Such measurements are also needed to assess the sampling
problems involved in making precipitation measurements
from space, as in the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mis-
sion (TRMM; Simpson et al., 1988). The basic requirement
is to obtain highly accurate estimates of rainfall using a
combination of approaches that may include gages, radar,
and other sensor systems. This can afford an opportunity
to intercompare some of the various known or proposed
approaches to rainfall estimation. Work in this area is ex-
pected to increase with forthcoming experiments such as
TRMM and related projects.
3 VERTICAL PROFILE OF
REFLECTIVITIES
Joss and Waldvogel place strong emphasis on the im-
portance of the vertical reflectivity profile and its impact
on radar rainfall estimates. The panel acknowledges the
significance of this problem, which is especially difficult
with wintertime precipitation or when measurements are
required at longer ranges. The problem is especially acute
in mountainous regions, but even in the relatively flat
country of Finland, the vertical reflectivity gradient can be
considered the main cause of systematic biases in radar
rainfall measurements at ranges greater than 50 km. At
high latitudes the total vertical extent of winter snowfall
echoes is often less than 2 km above the ground.
Chapter 29a takes perhaps too little notice of the im-
portant differences between convective and stratiform
precipitation. In convective rainfall the advantages of radar
are most pronounced and experience shows less difficulty
with the vertical profile problem. The strong updrafts and
downdrafts accompanying intense convective rain may
introduce other complications, but they are generally not
as serious as those associated with sampling convective
rainfall with gages. The vertical profile problem is es-
pecially troublesome in stratiform situations, although
stratiform precipitation is typically widespread and often
tends to cover enough gages to permit satisfactory precip-
itation estimates from the gage data.
The problems of measuring the vertical reflectivity profile
and compensating for its effects in real time are not yet
solved and are receiving considerable attention. Experi-
ments are in progress at many of the developing opera-
tional radar networks. As discussed by JW, three degrees
of compensation methods can be identified.
3.1 Range-Dependent Correction
The effect of the vertical profile can be ascribed, at least
to first order, to a combination of increasing height of the
beam axis above the ground and spreading of the beam
with range (along with the consequent decrease in the
likelihood of uniform beam filling). Both of these tenden-
610 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
cies are basically functions of range only, although some
variations may, occur with changing atmospheric refraction
conditions. Storm reflectivity profiles are extremely vari-
able, but climatological average conditions can be estab-
lished (Wilson, 1970; WMO, 1966; Calheiros and Za-
wadzki, 1987). This can lead to a mean range-dependent
correction, which could be expressed by applying an r"'
range normalization factor instead of a simple r 2; JW (Ap-
pendix B) suggest the value x = 2.8 for their installation
in Switzerland.
Although an adjustment based on the climatological av-
erage may provide some improvement, it is clearly inad-
equate to cope with the major differences between con-
vective and stratiform precipitation or with special
situations such as where echoes aloft do not reach the
ground. Variations of the vertical profiles generally occur
on time scales associated with the passage of particular
weather types, and can therefore be allowed for by varying
the range corrections. In one test in Finland, the use of
daily mean reflectivity profiles removed on the average
almost half of the bias (expressed in logarithmic terms) in
radar rainfall estimates at ranges between 100 and 150
km. However, there are difficulties in doing this in real
time (particularly if bright-band effects are present), and
manual interaction may be necessary.
3.2. Spatially Varying Adjustment
This approach expands upon the range-dependent cor-
rection to allow greater variability as well as azimuthally
dependent variations. For example, the correction factor
could be varied to compensate for known beam occulation
in certain directions due to topography or obstructions in
the vicinity of the radar site (Harrold et al., 1974; Harju
and Puhakka, 1980). It could also be varied in accordance
with differences in precipitation intensity or type in dif-
ferent parts of the surveillance area (Conway and Brown-
ing, 1988).
In hilly country the situation is more complex. Oro-
graphic effects vary both spatially and temporally, and
strong vertical gradients of precipitation occur even within
the lowest 500 m above the ground (see, for example,
Collier et al., 1983). The normal range corrections cannot
cope with these types of variations. Three procedures may
usefully be considered in estimating the effects of the ver-
tical reflectivity profile under such conditions:
a) Use of adjustments based on raingages (as discussed
in section 5 below). Such "ground truth" measurements
allow the variations of precipitation between the radar
beam and the ground to be estimated, albeit crudely unless
an impractically large number of raingages are available
in real time (Collier, 1986).
b) Use of the reflectivity data themselves. This is more
problematic for the reasons given by JW (section 2.4 of
Chapter 29a). Nevertheless, one might envisage tech-
niques such as that described by Smith ( 1986) that are
being developed with volume scan data.
c) Use of look-up tables, either manually or via expert
systems. In some countries considerable work has been
done to define fields of orographic precipitation enhance-
ment factors (for example, Hill, 1983) as a function of
wind speed and direction, humidity, and synoptic weather
type. The FRONTIERS system in the United Kingdom
(Browning, 1979; Conway, 1987) includes such infor-
mation in look-up tables, which, when combined with
raingage adjustments, should go a long way toward im-
proving precipitation estimates in real time.
3.3 full Vertical Pro&les
Joss and Waldvogel suggest implementing a full pixel-
by-pixel compensation arrangement using a representative
vertical profile for each point of concern as the basis for
the correction. This may be needed because the lowest
level visible to the radar usually varies due to the irregular
radar horizon typically present, so that extrapolation of
observations aloft is often needed to estimate the reflec-
tivity at the surface. Representative profiles could be de-
termined in a variety of ways, including use of the radar
data themselves. The capability of modem data processing
systems coupled with radar data from volume scans would
permit all this to be done, and with suitable approaches
(e.g., as suggested by Marshall and Ballantyne, 1975) quite
efficiently. The degree to which this extra effort would pay
off in improved rainfall estimates remains to be established.
4 IMPORTANCE Of THE Z-R
RELATIONSHIPS
A great deal of attention in radar meteorology has cen-
tered on investigations of the Z-R relationship. This ranges
all the way from Battan's ( 1973) simple tabulation of a
plethora of published relationships, without attempting a
critical evaluation, to efforts to explore possible space and
time variations of the Z-R relationships within a storm
(e.g., Carbone and Nelson, 1978). Discussion of this topic
dominates the historical survey by Atlas and Ulbrich
(Chapter 12).
That the Z-R relationships are variable is quite clear,
and parts of the variation may even be systematic (e.g.,
Cataneo and Stout, 1968). We know something about this
variability in time over drop sampling areas of the order
of 1 m 2 or less, but information about the variations on
spatial scales comparable to the radar measurement cell
( -1 km 2 in the horizontal) is scanty. The panel agrees
with JW that variations in the Z-R relationship, while a
significant concern, are not the major issue in radar rainfall
measurements.
Joss and Waldvogel point out that when a climatological·
average Z-R relationship for the region in question is used,

the errors caused by variations in raindrop-size distribu-
tions are generally less than 30%. Some time ago Wilson
( 1975) found that the correlation between gage and radar
estimates of rainfall amounts is essentially independent of
the value of the exponent in the power-law Z-R relation-
ship. Attempts to "optimize" the Z-R relationship in a
way that would reduce the root-mean-square difference
between gage and radar estimates have not yielded any
substantial improvement (Smith et al., 1975). There is no
substantive reason to believe that efforts to determine
space- or time-dependent Z-R relationships will lead to
improvements commensurate with the effort required. In
fact, reasonably accurate estimates of rainfall volumes can
be obtained by using the radar to estimate the rain area
only, and then multiplying by a climatological rainfall rate
(Lovejoy and Austin, 1979) or computing area-time in-
tegrals (Doneaud et al., 1984), without using any Z-R re-
lationship at all. 1
An exception occurs for situations in which it is necessary
to deal with the presence of hail. Hail and rain occur in
varying mixtures, ranging from essentially all rain, to mix-
tures where the hail dominates the reflectivity while the
rain dominates the precipitation rate, to situations where
the precipitation is essentially all hail. A variety of methods
for detecting hail, including polarization diversity radar,
have been under intensive study and are discussed by other
panels. For the purpose of precipitation measurement,
mere detection is not sufficient; one must also decide how
to establish the precipitation estimates after the hail has
been detected.
Two approaches have been tried to deal with this prob-
lem. Smith et al. (1975) derived an optimized Z-R rela-
tionship using reflectivity and gage data from situations
that frequently contained hail. The resulting relationship,
Z = 155 R 1·88 , is consistent with the expected effect of hail
in increasing the reflectivities faster than would occur for
rain alone. However, it provides no way of distinguishing
between storms containing or not containing hail on an
individual basis. Consequently this approach can lead to
greater uncertainties than might be desired. The results
might be improved if a hail detection scheme were used
to partition the events into hail and no hail categories,
with separate optimized Z-R relationships for each group.
A second approach, discussed by Austin (1987), is to
place an upper limit on the allowable value of the rainfall
rate. This procedure will be used in the NEXRAD pro-
cessing system ( Ahnert et al., 1983). The limit can be se-
lected on the basis of climatological values of maximum
short-period rain rates. This measure prevents the devel-
opment of excessively high precipitation estimates for lo-
cations with high reflectivities due to the presence of hail,
and can also help with problems caused by ground clutter
echoes. Since hail shafts (though highly reflective) are both
1 See Editor's note in section 6.2 of this chapter.
PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT AND HYDROLOGY 611
small in dimension and brief in duration, their effect on
total estimated rainfall may often not be all that deleterious
(as suggested by the work of Doneaud et al., 1984).
Besides the amounts of water resulting from melting
hail, heavy accumulations of hail can accentuate local
flooding problems by damming up runoff channels. A
suitable measure of hailfall intensity would be useful to
indicate the potential for such problems as well as for es-
timating damage to crops or property. For such purposes
a measure of the amount of hail that has fallen, or some
related property such as its kinetic energy, is required.
Techniques for this kind of measurement are even less
well developed, but section 5.7 of the JW review discusses
the available knowledge on this topic.
The problem of snowfall measurement gets only brief
mention in Chapter 29a, as indeed in the literature gen-
erally, and is worthy of more intensive study. Snowfall
measurements can be important to hydrologists for pre-
dicting floods arising from snowmelt. As mentioned by
JW, the Z-R relationships are more uncertain than for rain,
and the vertical reflectivity profile problem presents even
more serious difficulties.
5 GAGE-BASED ADJUSTMENT
PROCEDURES
Since radar rainfall estimates are variable and of uncer-
tain accuracy, the idea of adjusting these estimates on the
basis of comparisons with raingage observations has ob-
vious appeal. This approach was suggested at least as early
as the work of Hitschfeld and Bordan ( 1954) and has been
used in numerous cases (e.g., Woodley et al., 1975, 1982;
Wilson and Brandes, 1979). Joss and Waldvogel emphasize
that before any such adjustments are made compensation
should be applied for all known systematic errors in the
radar measurements, including the vertical reflectivity
profile, partial beam occulation, the effects of ground clut-
ter, and microwave attenuation. The gage adjustments can
then be applied to compensate for differences not other-
wise explained.
There is general agreement that comparisons with gages
should be made routinely, as a check on the radar perfor-
mance, and that appropriate adjustments should be made
if a radar bias is clearly indicated. In situations where the
radar estimates are far from the mark due to radar cali-
bration problems or because the previously mentioned
systematic errors have not been adequately compensated
for, such adjustments can indeed bring about significant
improvements. It has become clear, however, that the ad-
justments do not automatically assure improvements in
the radar estimates, and sometimes the adjusted estimates
are poorer than the original ones (Fig. 5.1). Consequently
the adjustments must be made carefully (e.g., Cain and
Smith, 1977; Zawadzki, 1984; Koistinen and Puhakka,
1986). This is especially true for convective rainfall where
the vertical extent of echo mitigates the difficulties asso-
612 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

3.0
21%
not always show good agreement with conditions in the
area where the radar estimates are to be adjusted (Fig.
2.5 - [J Before 22%
- 5.2). The distributions of gage-to-radar ratios tend to be
0 Alter
17% highly skewed (Fig. 5.3) and in fact appear to be approx-
~
2.0 - t8%
;:;
40% - imately lognormal (e.g., Smith et al., 1975). That makes
E
E
it convenient to discuss the observations in terms of the
31%
5I 1.5 - - logarithm of the ratio of the gage to radar rainfall estimates,
25% 25%
6!!. frequently shortened to "log ratio." One effect of the
1.0 - - skewness is that a mean G I R ratio of unity may not rep-
33%
resent optimum agreement between gage and radar esti-
72%21%
mates. (However, a mean log ratio of zero may be near
0.5 - -
optimum.)
The value of developing a spatially varying adjustment
0
Very Dry Dnest Second
Days
Th1rd Wettest Very Wet
Quartile Quartile Quartile Quartile Days
All
Days
on the basis of gage-radar comparisons remains contro-
N = 8 N =
15 N = 16 .N =
15 N =15 N = 9 N = 61 versial. The work of Wilson and Brandes ( 1979) exempli-
0-1 mm 0-1.5 mm 1.5-4 mm 4-7 mm >7 mm >10 mm 0-22.5 mm
fies this approach, in which a spatial field of adjustment
Fig. 5.1 Comparison of the daily scatter u in the differences between factors is developed on the basis of point comparisons and
gage and radar estimates of area-average rainfall in FACE-2, before then applied to the entire field of radar rainfall estimates.
and after adjustment of the radar estimates on the basis of gage data. Eddy ( 1979) provides a theoretical treatment of the
Data are subdivided by rainfall amount as shown on the abscissa; method. The applicability of the approach depends upon
percentages indicate relation of the scatter to the mean amounts for the decorrelation distance of the log ratios. If it exceeds
the respective subdivisions. (From Barnston and Thomas, 1983.) about half the distance between gage locations, then the
spatial adjustment field may be expected to produce rep-
dated with the vertical reflectivity profiles, and the gage resentative adjustments that tend to improve the overall
data are suspect because of unrepresentative sampling. quality of the radar rainfall estimates.
A general guideline noted by JW is that the normal ad- The controversy centers on the question of this decor-
justments will produce consistent improvements only relation distance. It obviously depends upon the time in-
when the systematic differences (i.e., bias) between the
gage and radar rainfall estimates are larger than the stan-
dard deviation of the random scatter of the gage versus
radar comparisons (Smith and Cain, 1983). That guideline Self-Adjustable Days
helps to judge whether gage data should be used to make (N = 35)

adjustments, and leads to the idea that the available data

should be tested before any adjustment is actually applied.
Cain.and Smith (1977) and Smith and Cain (1978, 1983)
explored the statistical procedure known as sequential
analysis as a means of testing the data to determine
whether adjustments are indicated. The procedure exhib-
ited some desirable properties but seems to be too slow to
respond to changes in rain type or radar calibration, at
least for the amounts of adjusting gage data that can rea-
sonably be expected to be available.
Ahnert et al. ( 1986) have explored Kalman filtering as
an alternative that provides more continuous updating of
the adjustments. Kalman filtering is a technique for up-
r = 0.721
dating estimates of system parameters as new observations
become available. The technique is being implemented as Target G/R =
0.623 (Cluster G/R) + 0.696
part of the NEXRAD hydrological software, and we should
learn more about how it performs in the near future. Also, 3.2
merging the gage and radar data in appropriate ways (e.g.,
Krajewski, 1987) may be a better approach than simply Fig. 5.2 Comparison of the G f R ratio in a cluster of gages used to
using the gage data to adjust the radar estimates. develop adjustment factors with the average ratio in the larger target
The data available for making the adjustments usually area (to which the adjustments were to be applied), for FACE-2 "self-
come from a relatively small number of gages (otherwise adjustable" days. Line labeled Slope = 1 indicates the 1:1 ratio along
there would be little need for the radar data). Moreover, which the points would ideally lie; the other line shows the regression
the gage-to-radar, or G1R, ratios at the gage locations do for the actual data. (From Barnston and Thomas, 1983.)

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Fig. 5.3 An example of the frequency distribution of daily (24 h)
G / R ratios for 442 point comparisons on six days in Finland. (From
Koistinen and Puhakka, 1986.)
terval considered, the orography, the rain type, and per-
haps on the overall amount of rain as well, and varies
from case to case. For example, over 16 daily rainfall pe-
riods in Finland the decorrelation distance of the log ratio
varied from less than 10 km on six of the days to more
than 40 km on one day. The days with short decorrelation
distances were characterized by small amounts of rain or
convection, and those with long distances by widespread
long-lasting frontal precipitation. It can be concluded that
on some days spatially varying adjustment represents only
patterns of random variations while on other days it will
lead to a considerable improvement of radar rainfall es-
timates. Hence an optimal technique might involve a con-
tinuous combination of range-dependent and spatial ad-
justments, where the weighting of these two methods is
continuous and determined using the actual autocorrela-
tion function of log ratios in combination with the local
observation density ( Koistinen and Puhakka, 1981).
Some scientists have even argued that rainfall patterns
are fractal (e.g., Lovejoy and Mandelbrot, 1985), so that
no characteristic correlation distance can exist. That idea
has been questioned (Zawadzki, 1987) and at this juncture
all that can be said is that this issue needs to be resolved.
In working out methods for combining gage and radar
data, problems with the raingage data themselves must
also be taken into consideration. The timing of rainfall
events is unreliable unless automated means of collecting
the gage data are employed. The commonly used tipping
bucket gages are subject to underestimation errors during
intense rainfall. More importantly, disruptions in com-
munications during intense storms sometimes lead to the
loss of real-time raingage data. A tipping bucket gage con-
tinues to operate during periods when the link between
the gage site and the data collection base is down, and the
lost data cannot be retrieved under the current designs.
To correct this situation, gage systems need to be able to
store precipitation information during short-term com-
munication disruptions. Weighing-type gages may be an
PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT AND HYDROLOGY 613
alternative solution; such gages would not empty out dur-
ing periods when communications are interrupted, so the
precipitation information is not lost. In addition, weighing
gages are more accurate than the tipping bucket types for
measuring intense rainfall or the liquid equivalent of frozen
precipitation.
The description of radar estimates as equivalent to gage
networks of certain densities (e.g., Hildebrand et al., 1979)
is often used but seems not to be categorically valid. Too
many other variables (e.g., topography, rain type, storm
size) can play a role in determining the accuracy of both
the radar and the gage estimates. Such a description can
sometimes be useful qualitatively in helping to judge the
kinds of situations where radar observations might afford
advantages not conveniently available through gage net-
works.
6 ALTERNATIVE TECHNIQUES
Techniques extending beyond simple reflectivity mea-
surements have frequently been advocated as ways to im-
prove upon radar rainfall estimates. Joss and Waldvogel
discuss many of these ideas, and certain of them deserve
further discussion here.
6.1 Doppler Measurements
The information about target radial velocities provided
by Doppler weather radars has a host of meteorological
uses (see Gossard and Strauch, 1983; Doviak and Zrnic,
1984) but offers little direct assistance in the problem of
rainfall measurements. However, Doppler or MTI signal
processing has considerable potential for removing ground
clutter echoes (Passarelli et al., 1981; Aoyagi, 1983). The
technique described by Passarelli et al. even offers a means
to separate out the contribution of "zero Doppler" precip-
itation echoes. Little experience with the utility of these
clutter suppression methods in rainfall measurements is
currently available (but see section 8 below).
As the development of short-term forecasting techniques
(see section 7) advances, Doppler measurements of winds
within the stormy areas should also prove extremely valu-
able. The increasing use of Doppler systems should provide
better information on these topics in the near future.
6.2 The Area-Time Integral (ATI)
Recent studies have shown strong correlation between
a measure of rainfall area coverage and duration called
the area-time integral (ATI) and the rain volume (Doneaud
et al., 1981, 1984). The ATI concept seems to be applicable
both to fixed areas on the ground (Doneaud et al., 1981)
and "floating targets" such as convective complexes (Do-
neaud et al., 1984). The bounds on the range of surface
areas for which the ATI concept is applicable are not dearly
established (it seems unlikely to be applicable to areas as
614 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
small as, say, 100 km 2 ) and it has yet to be tested on
wintertime precipitation. However, the ATI provides an-
other simple method of estimating, or at least quality-con-
trol checking estimates of, rainfall amounts. For example,
it might help to discriminate against erroneously high
rainfall estimates caused by areas of ground clutter. The
ATI concept is also being tested with satellite data, as a
way of deriving improved rainfall estimates less subject
than the other methods available to the effects of cirrus
debris (Doneaud et al., 1987). [Editor's note. The ATI
technique appears to be more powerful than noted here.
Atlas et al. (1989) and Rosenfeld et al. (1989) have gen-
eralized the method to measure either the lifetime accu-
mulation of an individual storm, as did Doneaud et al.
( 1984), or the instantaneous areawide rain rate from a
multiplicity of convective storms over areas larger than
-10 000 km2 simply by measuring the rainy area in excess
of a specified threshold rate. Since Laughlin ( 1981) showed
that the correlation time for GATE rainfall over such areas
is -6 h, the instantaneous measure is representative of
that for several hours. Similar results have been found by
Lopez et al. ( 1983) for the Florida Area Cumulus Exper-
iment (FACE-2). Contrary to the statement in section 4,
however, if radar is used to measure the storm area in
excess of any specified threshold rain rate, Rosenfeld et
al. show that rainfall errors are sensitive to errors in the
radar calibration or the Z-R relation.]
6.3 Other Characteristic Properties
of Echoes
Since at least the time of Byers ( 1948), rainfall produc-
tion (by convective cells at least) has been known to be
closely related to a variety of geometric and other properties
of the cell echoes-including echo area, height, and du-
ration. Reports of such correlations with rainfall have ap-
peared from time to time (e.g., Dennis et al., 1975; Smith
et al., 1984; Gagin et al., 1985). The correlation coefficients
are lower than for the area-time integral (typically 0.8
versus 0.98 for the ATI). Nevertheless, such measurements
can provide useful estimates of rainfall, and some appro-
priate combination might well do an effective job of de-
termining the rainfall from aggregates of cells. Measure-
ments of vertically integrated liquid water (VIL; Greene
and Clark, 1971) may also be applicable in this context.
How well such procedures may compare with estimates
derived directly from reflectivity measurements remains
to be established.
6.4 Merging Radar and Satellite Data
The idea of merging gage and radar data to obtain im-
proved rainfall estimates finds a parallel in work that at-
tempts to merge radar and satellite data for similar pur-
poses (e.g., Browning, 1979; Bellon et al., 1980; Bellon and
Austin, 1986; Conway, 1987). The general objective is
similar, and the satellite data provide the ability to extend
the estimates over much larger areas (including the oceans
and other places where no radar data are available). Sat-
ellite data could tum out to be more suitable for large
basins because the range/ vertical-profile dependent effects
are absent. They may also be useful in dealing with radar
echo areas arising from anomalous propagation effects.
The radar data, as noted in section 6.2, have the ability to
circumvent the difficulties encountered with cirrus debris
in the satellite observations. In the daytime, quantitative
(sun-angle-corrected) visible satellite data can be used to
avoid this problem, as cirrus clouds have low albedo in
the visible. At night the radar data are essential.
6.5 Polarimetric Observations
The use of polarimetric measurements has been advo-
cated as a way to obtain continuous information about
raindrop-size distributions and hence develop improved
radar rainfall estimates (Seliga and Bringi, 1976 ). Evidence
of success in this endeavor has so far been limited although
experiments have shown that when the radar estimates of
rainfall rate are limited primarily by uncertainties in the
drop-size distributions, improvements can be achieved.
The potential value of "differential reflectivity" observa-
tions for precipitation measurements in operational situ-
ations is controversial, and much more needs to be learned
before any decision can be made about operational use.
There are also concerns that the complications of making
the observations will outweigh any potential advantages.
Unfortunately, radar systems required to cover long
ranges (say up to 200 km) frequently operate with the
radar beam unfilled and with mixtures of hydrometeor
types and size distributions. Under these conditions the
radar cannot directly sense the hydrometeors comprising
the precipitation reaching the ground. Then differential
reflectivity observations are of dubious value and the basic
approach is to use statistically derived relationships be-
tween the radar reflectivity aloft and the rainfall rate at
the ground, as described by JW.
The statistical approach depends upon inputs such as
rain type, freezing level height, and the nature of the terrain
as well as determination of representative reflectivity pro-
files (as described by JW). Thus even in this appproach
dual-polarization radar data could be useful as they can
more reliably characterize rain at the nearer ranges for the
models required to estimate rain from echoes at longer
ranges, where possibly only the ice particles above the
rain of interest can be directly observed. For example, even
when reflectivity bright bands are not detectable, the
melting height is usually still available from the differential
reflectivity signature.
Some situations require greater spatial and time reso-
lution and therefore do not permit long-range operation

with rainfall estimates that are only reliable when averaged
over long periods and/ or large areas. Some examples were
mentioned in section 2.3, and flash flood warning and
measurement of precipitation for its effect on microwave
communications might be added. At ranges where the
beam has an unobstructed view near the ground and is
filled with a near-uniform distribution of rain, the accuracy
to which the rainfall rates can be measured may be limited
mainly by uncertainties in the drop-size distributions. Un-
der these conditions the differential reflectivity techniques
are most useful.
The ratio of the radar reflectivity measured with hori-
zontal polarization to that measured with vertical polar-
ization, called ZoR, gives an estimate of the reflectivity-
weighted, mean drop size in a sampling volume. This es-
timate is independent of the drop concentration, and so
along with the absolute reflectivity allows specification of
a two-parameter drop-size distribution. More accurate
rainfall rates can then be calculated from the two-param-
eter distribution than from Z alone, through an average
Z-R relationship. Experiments illustrating the possible im-
provements are reported by ·Goddard and Cherry
( 1984a,b) and Direskeneli et al. ( 1986).
A correction for the attenuation of the microwaves by
rain intervening between the radar and the rain to be mea-
sured is frequently necessary when measuring Z with
shorter wavelength radars. The application of Z-A rela-
tionships to the nearer rain to estimate the path attenuation
suffers from a problem similar to that of the rainfall rate
estimation itself. The Z-A relationship depends upon the
particle-size distribution (although much less so at wave-
lengths near 1 em) and on the correct identification of the
phase of the hydrometeors; ice attenuates much less than
rain of the same reflectivity. Here the dual-polarization
techniques can assist by giving more information on both
the drop-size distributions and the phases of the hydro-
meteors. That should permit more accurate assessment of
the path attenuation (Goddard and Cherry, 1984a).
Joss and Waldvogel note that other problems including
the vertical reflectivity profile are usually more important
than the variations in the drop-size distributions and Z-R
relationships. The panel tends to agree with this assessment
but also recognizes other situations where the differential
reflectivity data could be particularly useful.
6.5.1 Hail Detection
Differential reflectivity methods have shown some suc-
cess in detecting hail (Bringi et al., 1984, 1986; Illingworth
et al., 1986), at least when the hail is large enough to be
likely to cause substantial errors if rain Z-R relationships
are used to estimate rainfall. This capability to detect the
presence of hail could be useful in guarding against er-
roneously high rainfall estimates, although simpler meth-
ods of hail detection may be adequate for this purpose
PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT AND HYDROLOGY 615
and the question of how to modify the estimates (discussed
in section 4) still needs to be answered. The radar must
be able to observe reasonably close to ground level to make
the distinction and to establish whether the hail reaches
the ground. This requirement again limits the technique
to relatively short ranges.
6.5.2. Discriminating against Ground Clatter
and Anomalous Propagation Echoes
The polarization properties of ground echoes differ sig-
nificantly from those of precipitation (Hallet al., 1984).
This difference can be used to help identify the presence
of ground clutter, especially when due to anomalous
propagation effects. Other nonprecipitation targets, such
as debris from large forest fires or the burning of cereal
grain stubble, can often be recognized by their polarization
signatures. Such a capability can reduce the incidence of
radar rainfall reports where no precipitation echoes actually
exist.
6.5.3 Second Trip Echoes
If the radar polarization is switched from horizontal to
vertical on successive pulses, then the receiver will dis-
criminate against second trip echoes because they return
with the wrong polarization. This feature can be advan-
tageous in systems where the pulse repetition frequency
is made relatively high because of Doppler ambiguity con-
siderations. That again can facilitate the development of
more accurate and reliable radar rainfall estimates.
6.6 Simple Quality Control Checks
The utility of relatively simple data quality control checks
in helping to maintain consistency and reliability in the
radar rainfall estimates should not be overlooked. These
checks include the basic electronic calibration of the radar
and data system, which the panel considers more impor-
tant than JW admit, and routine system performance
monitoring. In addition, weather echo patterns have a de-
gree of spatial and temporal continuity that is fairly well
understood and can be used to check data quality. One
example of this is the relatively easy distinction between
the mottled pattern of ground clutter echoes on color re-
flectivity displays and the smoother gradients in true pre-
cipitation echoes. As another example, occasional dropouts
of data (see Fig. 6.1) can indicate radar or data system
problems, and means can be found to interpolate across
or otherwise fill in for the missing data. Integration of echo
over the whole radar coverage area can reveal changes
caused by intense rainfall or ice accumulation on the ra-
dome. The vertical profile checks suggested by JW are yet
another form of such quality control, as is the use of the
616 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
Fig. 6.1 Time history of the number of echo points (pixels) in radar
observations from Finland.
area-time integral suggested in section 6.2. Others can be
devised with a little thought and imagination.
7 SHORT-TERM FORECASTING
Measurements of precipitation by radar and other means
are needed for a variety of hydrological and other purposes,
many of which require real-time data. Short-term forecasts
are equally important, especially for applications where
response times of minutes or just a few hours are required.
The ability to develop such short-term forecasts is increas-
ing as the technology of collecting and analyzing weather
information and disseminating the forecasts improves.
Weather radar has an important role in these applications,
which require more than just the precipitation measure-
ments. Certainly the measurements are an important part
of the activity, but means for extrapolating or otherwise
extending from the current observations into the near fu-
ture are also essential.
Two available approaches using radar data are in need
of further investigation; they can be identified by the terms
nowcasting and mesoscale modeling. Nowcasts are based
upon the extrapolation of current weather, and one essen-
tial element is timely representation of precipitation cov-
erage derived from ground-based radar observations. Work
of this kind is exemplified by the development of the
SHARP and successor systems (Bellon and Austin, 1978;
Austin et al., 1986) and by similar developments in the
United Kingdom (Browning et al., 1982) and NEXRAD
(Walton et al., 1985). The most successful current tech-
niques are based upon some relatively simple extrapolation
of the radar observations a few hours into the future. This
extrapolation can be conducted in a variety of ways:
movement of echo centroids, cross correlation of echo pat-
terns over time, or advection based on cloud-level wind
velocity.
Precipitation systems also evolve with time, and crude
approximations can be made simply by adding linear ex-
trapolation of observed growth or decay trends, perhaps
including extrapolation of echo deformation and/ or ro-
tation, to the simple translational movements. When Tsonis
and Austin (1981) attempted to include extrapolation of
echo area and intensity into SHARP, however, they ob-
tained no significant improvement in the rainfall estimates.
Evidently predicting the variations in the flux of rain, even
on short time scales, would require more elaborate models.
No use is made of the basic equations that govern atmo-
spheric processes in developing these nowcasts.
Further improvements could probably be made by using
physically based models to deal with that evolution. This
will likely involve coupling of the radar and other obser-
vations into appropriate mesoscale numerical models (e.g.,
Tapp and White, 1976; Pielke, 1981). These models have
much smaller grid spacings than the current operational
numerical weather prediction models, and provide much
more detailed parameterizations of subgrid-scale processes.
Because the model grid lengths are small and the physical
parameterizations complex, the initial data entered into
the models must be specified accurately in real time. Oth-
erwise, the models will deviate rapidly from the observed
evolution of the atmosphere.
The primary response of the atmosphere appears to take
place through condensation of water vapor and the con-
sequent release of latent heat (Danard, 1985; Diallo and
Frank, 1986; Golding, 1987). Thus a detailed specification
of the three-dimensional distribution of moisture is re-
quired; this should be possible using an appropriate com-
bination of radar and satellite data. This application of the
radar data is newly developing. When the models become
advanced to the stage where they permit assimilation of
radar and other observations into a real-time operational
system, one of the more exciting avenues for future de-
velopment in the application of radar observations should
open up. It will likely require compositing both radar rain-
fall estimates and the three-dimensional distribution of
precipitation as observed by radar along with the other
sources of information.
Merging radar data with satellite observations or data
from lightning location networks is likely to be useful in
the nowcasting approach, and may be helpful in the me-
soscale modeling approach as well. Global satellite obser-
vations are already available, and the coverage of the
lightning networks is rapidly expanding. The development
of composite systems is therefore likely to receive increased
attention.
The requirements for short-term forecasting involve not
only meteorological but also hydrological problems. Ap-
plications of radar to the latter have been relatively less
explored but are of increasing interest (e.g., Huff et al.,
1981; Collier and Knowles, 1986; Collinge and Kirby,
1987). Section 6.2 of Chapter 29a also comments on this
aspect of the forecasting requirements.
 PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT AND HYDROLOGY 617

8 WORK IN JAPAN 3) Determination of parameters for the power-law Z-

Section 7 and the Appendices of Chapter 29a describe
operational radar systems for precipitation measurements
(and other purposes) coming on-line in various places,
with emphasis on work in Europe. The panel took note of
the interesting developments occurring in Japan, with ad-
ditional information supplied by panel members Yauso
Koiwai and Takehiro Yoshida. Work has been in progress
on this subject for over 20 years, with the first operational
"radar raingage" installed more than ten years ago. A net-
work of about 15 of these C-band radars with beamwidths
of 1.2° is now in operation and being expanded.
The system currently makes provision for:
1) Observations in regions of ground clutter by means
of a simple clutter echo subtraction method, with more
recent adaptation of the MTI clutter suppression technique
described by Tatehira and Shimizu (1978, 1980) and by
Aoyagi ( 1983). Some data on the time variation of ground
clutter echoes (see Fig. 8.1) appear to be of particular in-
terest. These variations are accentuated at longer ranges
by the effects of varying atmospheric refraction conditions.
2) Attempts to correct for the attenuation of the micro-
waves by precipitation, although there seems to be some
uncertainty about the efficacy of those corrections.
o--1) Dry Period Following Wet Period
- Long Dry Period
1982.7.15
1982. 7. 2 0: 00 -
B • 560
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E
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Cl
c vations into improved short-term forecasting techniques.
Q)
~ A /
'd
~
R relationships by direct comparison of reflectivity obser-
vations and raingage measurements.
4) Short-term rainfall forecasting, using the radar data
and appropriate extrapolation techniques.
Details of this work are not yet published in journals
widely available in the English language. The breadth and
depth of the program suggest that results of considerable
interest will be emerging and the program merits close
attention.
9 FUTURE ACTIVITIES AND GOALS
The spread of operational weather radar data systems
that have digitizing and archiving facilities means that data
concerning the precipitation measurement capabilities of
radar will become increasingly available. The accumulating
operational experience with systems capable of routinely
providing the space and time resolution and the integration
necessary to develop the rainfall estimates will help in
assessing some of the approaches and ideas discussed by
JW and by this panel. Vertical profile corrections or ground
clutter filters can be tested more extensively, which no
doubt will lead to new or improved ideas for dealing with
such problems. The operational systems and the data
they yield will also provide a good basis of comparison
12:00-~·~ for other new approaches to the precipitation measure-
R , ~ ment problem.
D. ,' \ : ~ The increasing sophistication and use of numerical
' d \ 0 I
f1
:
!?''
• : ;
models are likely to expand the usefulness of the radar
observations. This can be expected to occur with both hy-
I ·~ :
~
1 ;
I
drological models, for integrating radar rainfall estimates
into systems developing hydrologic data for multiple pur-
I I
I I
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poses, and mesoscale models, for integrating radar obser-
In both cases work will be required to determine how to

+' \'tjl
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Q)

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+'
the models to make best use of this form of input data .
;:; Radar data are also useful for identifying areas prone to
"0
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::>
wet deposition, with trajectory models developed to warn
0
~ of pollutant dispersion (e.g., ApSimon et al., 1988; Fin-
"' 50
land). This concern, heightened by the Chernobyl incident,
calls for detailed analysis of precipitation over wide areas
Location No. 8 in near-real time.
Finally, Doppler weather radar systems are also becom-
Location No. 2
ing more widely available. That should lead to improved
information about how successful the Doppler ground
0 12 18 24 clutter suppression techniques will be in an operational
Length of Observation (h) environment. The clutter problem is ubiquitous in radar
Fig. 8.1 Example of the time history of ground clutter echoes (ex- precipitation measurements, and successful ways of deal-
pressed as e.quivalent rainfall rates) for three different points in a ing with it would do much to advance the usefulness of
radar survezllance area in Japan. Differences due to soil moisture the radar observations. Continuing research on polariza-
conditions are evident. tion-versatile radars should indicate the degree of im-
618 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

provement available in radar rainfall estimates if reliable

detection of hail and the general characterization of the APPENDIX:
precipitation types can be accomplished. LIST OF ACRONYMS
ATI Area-Time Integral
FACE Florida Area Cumulus Experiment
GATE GARP (Global Atmospheric Research Pro-
Acknowledgments. The author greatly appreciates the gram) Atlantic Tropical Experiment
help of panel members Pauline Austin, S.M. Cherry, C. G. JW Joss and Waldvogel review (Chapter 29a)
Collier, Michael Hudlow, Matthew Kelsch, Jarmo Koisti- MTI Moving Target Indicator
nen, Yauso Koiwai, John L. Vogel, William L. Woodley, NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar
Takehiro Yoshida, and Isztar Zawadzki in writing this re- NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
port. Compilation of this panel response manuscript was tration
supported by the North Dakota Atmospheric Resource SHARP Short-Term Automated Radar Prediction
Board under Contract No. ARB-IAS-87-1, with funds pro- TRMM Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission
vided through the NOAA Federal/ State Cooperative VIL Vertically Integrated Liquid (water)
Program in Weather Modification Research. WMO World Meteorological Organization

Chapter 30a
Severe Thunderstorm Detection by Radar
Donald W. Burgess, National Severe Storms Laboratory
Leslie R. Lemon, UNISYS Corporation
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Overview
Radar is a very important tool in identification of severe
thunderstorm hazards. Recent surveys suggest that as
many as 80% of the National Weather Service severe
thunderstorm warnings are based on radar (Lowden,
1985). Whether or not one agrees with that figure (it is
quite possible that some warnings attributed to radar are
really triggered by spotter reports), there is general accord
that many of the warnings are radar justified.
This chapter will focus on the operational application
of weather radar. Important radar research topics such as
multiple-Doppler networking, polarization diversity, and
dual-wavelength radars will be mentioned only as they
relate to current operational practice. The authors admit
at the start that this review is biased toward the National
Weather Service (NWS) radar operation since it is much
better known to them than that for other organizations.
Radar signatures apply broadly but there is underreporting
of practice and recognition criteria within other govern-
ment organizations (e.g., Air Force Air Weather Service)
and the private sector. Because of differences in mission
and radar equipment, Air Weather Service use of radar
may be different from that reported on for the National
Weather Service. Very little information on private sector
radar use is presented because very few references are
available; a few in the private sector, when questioned
about their radar practice, responded that it was proprietary
information.
Conventional and single-Doppler radar detection of
strong and damaging, near-ground, convective winds,
large and damaging hail, and tornadoes are examined in
the following sections. Only these hazards are now offi-
cially recognized by the NWS as "severe" thunderstorm
phenomena. Aircraft hazards of turbulence and wind shear
and thunderstorm-produced heavy rains and flash flooding
are certainly severe phenomena, but they are considered
by other reviews in this volume and are only briefly dis-
cussed here. The thunderstorm lightning hazard will not
be discussed. Further narrowing of the subject matter is
accomplished by restricting the following discussion to the
storms themselves, with less emphasis on their environ-
ment.
619
Present operational use of radar is emphasized rather
than early developments, so only those techniques still
practiced by large segments of the radar community will
be mentioned. Further, only those criteria considered by
the authors to be reliable and rooted in known storm dy-
namics are explored in detail. The early history of radar
techniques for severe thunderstorm identification is pre-
sented by Donaldson (Chapter 15).
Single-Doppler radars are not utilized operationally at
the current time except in a few isolated locales. However,
the approaching implementation of the Next Generation
Weather Radar (NEXRAD) network will soon place new
technology, including velocity processing, into the warning
forecaster environment. Therefore, it is necessary to explain
single-Doppler signatures and discuss their future opera-
tional employment. After this Introduction, section 2 will
describe storm types, structures, and related conventional
radar signatures and application. Section 3 provides a
companion treatment for Doppler features. Section 4 will
look ahead to operational warning in the NEXRAD era
insofar as can be foreseen without NEXRAD radars yet in
place, and section 5 will summarize and provide a link to
other related chapters.
1.2 Radar Limitations
Because of the use of imperfect radar systems and their
related limitations, all the severe weather signatures or
criteria considered in the following sections suffer from
sampling ambiguities or problems. One of the most serious
involves the aspect ratio, that is, the ratio of the actual
physical size of the particular precipitation or flow field
entity (e.g., hook echo or Doppler-detected vortex) and
the size of the radar-illuminated volume. If the phenom-
enon is small, such as a thin precipitation streamer or a
tornado vortex, and the radar pulse volume is large due
to either beamwidth or distance from the radar or both,
then that phenomenon is essentially not seen by the radar.
If, on the other hand, the pulse volume itself is much
smaller than the entity, such as the storm itself, then that
entity may be well sampled and relatively faithfully de-
picted.
Of course, other problems depend on radar character-
istics themselves as well as the distribution of reflectors
within the pulse volume. First, the backscattered power
 620 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
can be significantly attenuated by intervening precipitation
and/ or a wet r.adome. Attenuation has minimal effects on
S-hand radars but much more serious effects on C-hand
(or smaller) wavelength radars used in severe storm de-
tection (Allen et al., 1981). This attenuation reduces mea-
sured core reflectivities as well as distorting storm echo
shape and extent. A second problem, also reducing core
intensity, involves nonuniform beam filling due to rela-
tively large beamwidth and pulse lengths and power dis-
tribution across the beam. Relatively finescale, dense con-
centrations of hail or rain are inadequately measured since
only a small portion of the total pulse volume may be
affected. The resulting returned power is that averaged
over the volume, and thus lessened. The problem is se-
verely exacerbated with some commercially available (and
inexpensive) "operational" radars with beam widths of 5°
or more and pulse lengths of 2 km or more. Antenna side-
lobe (Doviak and Zrnic, 1984) returned power can indicate
the existence of precipitation where none is actually pres-
ent. Sidelobes with some operational radars (e.g., the WSR-
. 57) may be only 22-24 dB down from the main lobe and,
for nearby ( ~185 km) storms, may contribute to exagger-
ated storm tops and horizontal dimensions. Finally, since
the precipitation particle diameter tends to dominate re-
flectivities (Z- L ND 6 ), a relatively few large precipitation
particles may cause enhanced reflectivities implying
heavier or more significant precipitation than is actually
present. Thus, high reflectivities (-55 dBZ or greater) may
be caused by a heavy thunderstorm with few large rain-
drops and no hail while another highly reflective storm
may be associated with large wet hailstones and relatively
light rain. In the case of supercell storms, large hail may
fall with little or no accompanying rain such that a few
relatively dry, giant hailstones produce only weak ( 10-30
dBZ ) reflectivities.
Finally regional, climatic, and seasonal variations exist
in most signatures. The differences may simply be in the
frequency of occurrence or in magnitude or spatial scales.
These and the aforementioned limitations must all be con-
sidered in the practical routine application.
2 REFLECTIVITY-BASED SEVERE
STORM DETECTION
2.1 Major Storm Types, Structure, and
Air8ow
Since the mid and late 1970s, the approach to estab-
lishing detection techniques and criteria has changed. It is
now widely recognized that updraft strength and inter-
action with the environment determine convective storm
severity. Thus, for severe convective storm detection and
even for short-term forecasting, it is logical to look for
radar echo indicators of draft strength and continuity.
Those indicators relate to thunderstorm type and associated
thunderstorm structure. Therefore, before we examine the
current detection techniques and criteria relating to storm
type and structure, we will examine the current under-
standing of that structure.
Our treatment of storm types and structure must nec-
essarily be brief. Much more exhaustive and detailed de-
scriptions of the whole or parts of the convective spectrum
and structures are provided by, for example, Marwitz
(1972a,b,c), Browning (1982), Weisman and Klemp
( 1984), Foote ( 1985) and Ray ( 1986, and Chapter 24a of
this volume).
Nonsevere thunderstorm structure and evolution was
studied extensively in the Thunderstorm Project. In that
study, the fundamental kinematic and thermodynamic
building blocks of thunderstorms were described as cells
(Byers and Braham, 1949). Most thunderstorms consist of
several cells in different stages of development and decay.
For simplicity, only the evolution of a single cell will be
illustrated (Fig. 2.1). The development stage begins on
radar with the first echo, generally between 3 and 6 km
in height. The mature stage is noted by the tallest tops and
highest reflectivities. Finally, the dissipating stage begins
as updraft weakens and the downdraft, formed during the
mature stage, spreads throughout the precipitation area.
The end of the storm's life is the fallout of the precipitation
previously generated or carried aloft by the updraft. The
whole lifetime is on the order of 30 minutes.
The downdraft transports cold air to the surface where
it forms a diverging pool. The leading edge of this pool of
air is marked by a microscale cold front called a "gust"
front. New cell formation frequently occurs somewhere
on the flanks of the old cell in response to low-level con-
vergence created by the gust front. Because of this regen-
eration, the total radar lifetime of the storm complex of
several cells-a nonsevere multicell storm-may be several
hours. Nonsevere multicell storms account for the largest
percentage of thunderstorms.
After the Thunderstorm Project, and particularly since
the 1960s, research has focused on the severe thunder-
storm. Through research efforts in several countries, the
two basic keys to understanding the severe thunderstorm's
radar structure and its relation to the distribution of severe
weather have been identified. Those keys, as stated earlier,
appear to be draft strength and interaction with the en-
vironment.
The simplest type of severe thunderstorm (Fig. 2.2) is
the single cell storm described by Chisholm and Renick
( 1972) and called the pulse storm by Wilk et al. ( 1979).
It closely resembles the ordinary thunderstorm with a few
notable exceptions. In many cases, the thunderstorm cell
that becomes severe is a member of an ordinary cell com-
plex although it can exist in isolation. The intense updraft
is relatively short-lived, taking the form of a single bubble
or pulse. Thus, the first-echo height ( 6-9 km) is higher
than for the ordinary cell. The area of more intense re-
flectivities (50+ dBZ) is also much higher, persistent, and

Fig. 2.1 (Top) Ordinary thunderstorm evolution seen in vertical section. Contours are
log Z, greater than 50 dBZ dark hatching. (After Chisholm and Renick, 1972.)
Fig. 2.2 (Bottom) Pulse severe thunderstorm evolution seen in vertical section. Contours
and hatching are as in Fig. 2.1.
maintains continuity with descent to the ground. As the
core descends to the ground, high winds (often classic
downbursts) and brief large hail may occur. The duration
of severe weather and the total storm lifetime are short.
Succeeding storm cells in the pulse storm are ordinary.
The most notable flow features associated with the storm
are brief divergent pulses at storm summit and base. The
pulse storm environment is frequently characterized by
low shear, relatively deep moisture, and high instability.
The multicell severe storm appears to be the most fre-
quent in North America. Excellent studies of this storm
type can be found in a series of papers studying a storm
that occurred during the National Hail Research Experi-
ment (Chalon et al., 1976; Fankhauser, 1976; Strauch and
Merrem, 1976; Musil et al., 1976; Browning et al., 1976).
The multicell severe storm consists of an organized se-
quence of severe cells, in which new cells develop peri-
odically, preferentially on some storm flank (most often
the right flank), with two to four cells in different stages
of development easily identified at any one time (see Figs.
3.7 and 4.2, Chapter 24a). The new cell does not move
into the storm but becomes the mature storm as the older
cells decay on the opposite storm flank. Associated with
new cell development, there is consistently (or intermit-
tently, depending on frequency of cell development) are-
gion of echo in midlevels on the inflow flank (the echo
overhang) beneath which the echo is very weak or absent.
Thus, below the overhang is the weak echo region ( WER).
The storm as a whole moves to the right and more slowly
than individual cells or the mean environmental winds.
The multicell severe storm can last several hours and pro-
SEVERE TIIUNDERSTORM DETECTION BY RADAR 621
duce severe weather that is usually intermittent and not
widespread with any one individual cell. While hail ap-
pears to be the dominant associated phenomenon, strong
winds and weak-to-moderate tornadoes do occur (Zipser
and Golden, 1979).
Each cell develops within a region or line of impulsive
or continuous updraft referred to as a flanking line or
"shelf" cloud. A sustained low-level convergence zone
occurs in the flanking line and gust front vicinity, with a
sustained but nonsteady divergence signature aloft. Tran-
sient wind shears are sometimes observed in storm mid-
levels, especially as part of a "flow-around-an-obstacle"
signature (Brown and Crawford, 1972). In some multicell
storms brief mesocyclones may develop, but the short life-
times of individual updrafts prevent well organized, long-
lasting rotation. Typical environments feature significant
instability and moderate mean wind shear ( -2
X 10-3 s- 1 ).
The supercell thunderstorm, although the least frequent,
is the most severe and is responsible for a disproportionate
amount of damage. Its structure was first identified in
England (Browning and Ludlum, 1962) . More detailed
examinations of the supercell are given in Browning
( 1965), Chisholm and Renick ( 1972), Lemon and Doswell
( 1979), and Ray (Chapter 24a). Giant hail, strong surface
winds, and strong and sometimes long-lived tornadoes are
not uncommon with these storms. In contrast to the severe
storms previously discussed, this storm develops an intense
updraft ( -25-50 m s- 1 ) and downdrafts that coexist for
relatively long periods of time. Because of this stable con-
figuration, storm lifetimes commonly range from one to
622 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

occasionally more than six hours. Such storms often seem
quasi-steady state as they move considerably to the right
and more slowly than the mean environmental wind.
Also related to the stable, organized character of the
storm drafts are strikingly similar characteristics found
from storm to storm. In plan view, the mature supercell
(Fig. 2.3) exhibits a single cellular structure of roughly
elliptical form. The weak echo region (usually on the right
flank) is persistent for long periods of time and high-res..:
olution scanning usually reveals a bounded weak echo
region (BWER) near the updraft center. The BWER appears
in plan view at storm midlevels as a hole or quasi-circular
region of low reflectivity enclosed by higher intensity echo.
In vertical section (Fig. 2.3), the BWER often extends over
halfway to storm top and is capped by a strong reflectivity
gradient and echo core aloft. A second prominent feature
seen in plan view at low levels is the pendant or hook
echo. This feature, indicative of mesocyclone presence, is
generally found on the right rear storm flank, extending
at right angles to storm motion.
The thunderstorm that eventually reaches supercell
proportions typically begins as a multicell storm. For sim-
plicity, the evolution of a single cell storm is discussed
(Fig. 2.4). Initially the low-level echo, midlevel echo and

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10km

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Fig. 2.3 (a) Supercell plan view and (b) vertical section. Re-
flectivities are in dBZ. (From Chisholm and Renick, 1972.)

lkm

A
0 10 20 30 40km
 SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DETECTION BY RADAR 623

20
60
18

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A B A K ILOMET£RS B A B

STORM MOTION STORM MOTION STORM MOTION

B
B

1
N 26,000 ft
(8. 0 km)

A
A

Fig. 2.4 Supercell development showing three different stages. Plan view at bottom with vertical sections (along line AB) above.

echo top are all vertically stacked. A midlevel echo over-
hang develops on the storm right flank as the updraft in-
tensifies and the storm top shifts over the WER or BWER
in a position rather far out on the right flank of the low-
level echo. The subsequent increase in water and ice con-
tent around the updraft core and perhaps some continued
updraft intensification result in BWER detection. At this
time, the mesocyclone forms in storm midlevels. (See sec-
tion 3 for a description of Doppler radar detection of the
mesocyclone flow structure.) Initially the circulation is col-
located with the developing BWER and updraft. Trans-
formation into a supercell is completed as the hook or
pendant echo develops. The echo top often reaches its
greatest vertical extent at this time.
Likelihood of a severe thunderstorm (wind and hail) is
great when midlevel reflectivities are high, the overhang/
WER is large, and the storm echo top is over the WER.
The final stage in the supercelllife cycle is called the col-
lapse phase. The BWER ceiling lowers, reflectivity within
the BWER increases, and it becomes smaller. During the
BWER collapse, the midlevel echo overhang frequently
will decrease in area while the low-level echo increases.
Echo top also lowers significantly.
Doppler data also reveal a separation of the mesocyclone
core circulation from the BWER (and principal updraft) ,
prior to or during BWER collapse. This separation results
in an upwind displacement of the mesocyclone relative to
the BWER, such that the circulation center lies within the
heavier precipitation-filled volume. Further, after separa-
tion the mesocyclone is positioned across the zone of strong
vertical velocity gradient between the updraft and the rear
flank downdraft. Near the time of separation, the meso-
cyclone becomes strong near the surface.
The fall of largest hail takes place during the BWER
existence and early in its collapse stage. It is also during
BWER collapse that the low-level pendant begins to "wrap
up" (typically swings southward and eastward relative to
the parent echo body), and tornado production and very
strong damaging straight winds have their highest prob-
abilities. Tornadoes are located near the mesocyclone cen-
ter and within the zone of strong vertical velocity gradient.
Supercell environments are characterized by large in-
stabilities, strong vertical wind shears (~2.5 X 10 - 3 s- 1 ),
and moist low levels where winds exceed 10m s - 1•
The distinction between multicell and supercell storms
has been presented as sharp. However, recent research
suggests that a spectrum of storm types exists. More de-
tailed examinations of radar data depict some multicellular
structure even for the classic single, large, convective cell
which appears to propagate continuously for long periods
624 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

of time. In fact, Foote and Frank ( 1983) suggest that many
storms (most, in our opinion) belong in a new intermediate
class called Westplains (weak evolution) storm, a storm
that fits between multicell (strong evolution) and the classic
supercell (quasi-steady) (Fig. 2.5 ). In this categorization,
the weak evolution storm is produced by a single large
updraft that undergoes gradual changes as transient surges
pass through it and are associated with flanking congestus
mergers. As such, separate reflectivity cores do not develop
at low levels but may be observed at middle and high
levels.
A squall line is defined to be any line or narrow band
of active thunderstorms. It may be composed of nonsevere
or severe multicells, supercells, or any combination of
these. However, when a broken to continuous band of
storms develops, the result is a significantly different
structure from that previously described. Updrafts form
an essentially continuous curtain along the advancing edge
of the echo, rather than along the trailing edge, as in the
isolated supercell or multicell storm. Downdrafts form in
the precipitation echo to the rear of the leading updrafts.
Most often, updrafts slope from front to rear of the line;
however, as updrafts intensify they stand more erect. That
portion of the line with the most intense gust front and
updrafts is identified by a strong low-level reflectivity gra-
dient, echo overhang, and shift of echo top from over the
storm core to along the leading edge of the line (Figs. 2.6
and 2.7).
It is not uncommon for convection to begin as isolated
storms, a few of which become severe multicell or supercell
storms, and then evolve into a squall line as more echoes
form and their outflows combine into a larger outflow with
a gust front of considerable horizontal extent. Variations
in squall line development are considered by Bluestein and
Jain ( 1985). An infrequent variation is the broken to solid
squall line that breaks down into discrete supercells (Bur-
gess and Curran, 1985). More detailed reviews of squall

MULTICELL WE STPL A INS SUPERCELL

MODEL STORM MODEL
(Strong Evolution) (Weak Evolution) (Quasi-Steady)

__ -OA
---
:J
(/)
:::E s --
E 20 km
~ L-J
1-
:X:
(!)
ijj
:X: 15

10
50
5
2 40
15

10
=
j: 30
(!)
UJ
5 :X: 20

0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20 0 5 10 15 20 10
HORIZONTAL DISTANCE

Fig. 2.5 Schematic diagram of updraft evolution for three different

storm models. Contours are isotachs of vertical velocity. Time between
successive frames, moving down the figure, is 3-5 min. (From Foote Fig. 2.6 Squall line structure in (top) plan view and (bottom) vertical
and Frank, 1983.) section. Reflectivities are in 10-dB steps beginning with 20 dBZ.

~ U ohl ram SCHEMATIC VEW aF A SQUALL
c::::J Wod.,a?e toln
LINE, LOOKING DOWN
CD Meovy rOI n ond Scolt
ponil* •oM
tp
'"" 0
b~.Olzb~
20 lO 40 50 Ill"'
....
Fig. 2.7 (a) Schematic squall line structure in plan view and (b) vertical cross section. Vertical section is along line AB.
line morphology and structure can be found in Ray
(Chapter 24a) and in the references cited in that chapter.
Other perhaps more regionally confined and/ or rare
storm types have been observed. One of these is the low
precipitation (LP) storm or so-called dryline storm (Burgess
and Davies-Jones, 1979; Bluestein and Parks, 1983). These
storms as seen on radar are small, only weak to moderately
reflective, and do not possess well-defined severe storm
signatures. Many LP storms produce hail and some even
produce tornadoes, but others are not severe at all. Still
other types involving severe weather during early storm
development have been documented (Burgess and Don-
aldson, 1979; Brady and Szoke, 1988). Variations to the
classic supercell that have been suggested are the "severely
sheared" storm (Marwitz, 1972c) and the "modified" or
heavy-precipitation supercell (Doswell, 1985).
Often, combinations of storm types occur both in struc-
ture and steadiness in major drafts. In fact, one storm dur-
ing its life may exhibit characteristics of several"discrete"
storm types (e.g., multicell, supercell, and squall line) .
l.l Storm Structure-based Severe Storm
Signatures
The primary purpose for considering storm types in-
volves their importance to the detection or identification
of the severe storm. Just as certain symptoms are associated
with certain diseases, it has been proposed that certain
severe weather types or a sequence of surface severe
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DETECTION BY RADAR 625
weather phenomena are associated with certain storm
types or evolutionary storm stages of a given storm type
(Lemon, 1980). Thus, the importance of.storm type will
be related to severe storm detection and warning. This
approach involves scanning the three-dimensional storm
structure.
Until recently, with the exception of storm top mea-
surement, most emphasis for severe storm detection and
identification involved the low-level echo features. Specific
techniques now exist that exploit the current radar's ability
to make quantitative measurements throughout storm
depth. These techniques depend almost exclusively on the
PPI while the RHI is largely restricted to height measure-
ment alone. Essentially all the mid- and upper-level severe
storm structural elements are now detected with greater
certainty using the PPI.
Many reflectivity severe storm signatures and criteria in
use today (Grebe, 1982) will not be considered here. In-
stead our attention is confined to those signatures or tech-
niques judged to be most reliable: vertical reflectivity pro-
file, echo shape, three-dimensional reflectivity structure,
and digital processing techniques (e.g., VIL). In addition,
highly reflective storms or those with excessively high echo
tops should be evaluated first using the reliable criteria
mentioned previously. However, both characteristics of
high reflectivity and high echo tops when used indepen-
dently result in excessive false alarms and are not consid-
ered here as reliable.
626 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
2.2.1 Vertical Re8ectivity Pro81e
As indicated by Donaldson ( 1965) and Donaldson et al.
(1975a,b), many of the most successful severe storm de-
tection techniques involved observations of intense echoes
aloft. Most of these criteria were derived using X-band (3-
cm) radars, but owing to their great susceptibility to at-
tenuation, their operational use has now all but ceased.
Interestingly, the most successful technique in identifying
hail with 10-cm radar involved 50 dBZ detection at 3 km
( -9800 ft) by Dennis et al. (1971) in western Nebraska.
To the authors' knowledge, no attempt has been made to
extrapolate that technique to other parts of the country.
Reflectivities are now most often referred to by the six
Digital Video Integrator and Processor (DVIP, or simply
VIP) levels used by the NWS. Table 2.1 shows the actual
reflectivities for these levels.
A more widely used criterion for severe storm identifi-
cation involves the detection of VIP level 5 (~50.5 dBZ)
at 8 km AGL ( -26 000 ft) or higher. This was proposed
by Lemon ( 1980) as the only available criterion for detec-
tion of the pulse storm, but was also deemed a good severe
storm discriminator (especially for large hail) with most
other storm types. Within the NWS, attempts have been
made to compensate for regional and seasonal variability
of this criterion by lowering values in the northern part of
the country and raising them in the south. A better and
promising attempt at modification has been suggested by
Wagenmaker (1987) . He studied the VIP level 5 height
as a function of several rawinsonde data-derived param-
eters. Most promising for hail identification are VIP level
5 echoes extending to the 300-mb height level. The most
significant problem here is that while hail is very often
associated with these storms, correlation with hail ~ 3/4"
appears to be inconclusive.
2.2.2 Echo Shape
Perhaps the most widely used characteristic for severe
storm detection has been echo shape. The most important
aspect of shape employed in tornado detection since the
inception of weather radar is the hook echo (as reviewed
by Donaldson, 1965, and Chapter 15). Hook echoes are
associated with the tornado parent ( mesocyclone or tor-
TABLE 2.1
National Weather Service VIP levels
VIP Level Re8ectivlty (dBZ)
1 minimum detectable signal- 30
2 31- 40
3 41- 45
4 46- 50
5 51-57
6
>57
nado cyclone) circulation (see Fujita, 1958, and section 3).
While tornadoes are not always associated with hook-pro-
ducing storms, those same storms are predominantly as-
sociated with at least large hail (e.g., Browning, 1965) .
Emphasis, however, in hook echo use is tornado detection.
But what of the sole use of the hook echo as a tornado
detection criterion? For that purpose, Forbes ( 1981) ex-
amined the reliability of the hook, among other "distinc-
tive" echo characteristics, as tornado indicators during the
massive tornado outbreak of 3 and 4 April 1974. Nearly
all hook echo-associated storms (84%) were tornadic, but
only 38% of all the tornadic storms produced hook echoes.
In addition, the hook was present during only 25% of the
echo lifetime, and many times tornadoes were under way
without hooks. Forbes found that other structural features
previously emphasized (ellipticity, VIP level 4 or greater
reflectivities, less hooklike appendages, and line echo wave
patterns or LEWP) could be included with hooks and col-
lectively characterized as "distinctive" echoes. He further
emphasized echo diameters ~ 30 km. With these additions,
the probability of detection increased to 65%, but the false
alarm rate also increased from 16% to 35%. Use of the
distinctive echo, in place of the hook echo alone, is further
recommended here, because (with the exception of the
LEWP, considered in the next paragraph) these are attri-
butes of the supercell echo in low levels. Use of the dis-
tinctive echo will help those who use radars or procedures
restricting vertical displacement of the antenna in the PPI
mode. For those able to use the " PPI tilt sequence," the
three-dimensional echo structure is recommended.
Easily the most widely used detection signatures for se-
vere squall lines (for those without access to Doppler
weather radar) involve low-level line echo shape. Most of
these notable shapes are similar and involve line defor-
mations originating from acceleration of a limited line seg-
ment. Although the signatures themselves are not dis-
cussed, a well-documented and excellent example is found
in Charba ( 1972) and shown in Fig. 2.8. This example
contains the obvious LEWP attributes (Nolen, 1959; Cook,
1961) of an open wave as the southward extending portion
accelerates. This accelerated portion then takes on the dis-
tinct "bow echo" shape documented and labeled by Fujita
( 1978) and illustrated in Fig. 2. 9. At later times, just south
of the LEWP "wave crest" in Fig. 2.8, is the head of the
comma-shaped accelerated echo. Apparently the acceler-
ated line portion is caused by a descending jet impinging
on the back of the line, as documented by Smull and Houze
( 1986), creating surface downbursts of strongly diffluent,
damaging winds. At the leading edge of the resulting bow
echo, short-lived tornadoes may occur.
In some instances along the squall line leading edge,
hook echoes and mesocyclones may form when some in-
flow-focusing mechanisms develop. Also, considerable
cyclonic shear and vorticity are created north of the jet
and a pronounced bulge is in the vicinity of the comma
head, at times generating tornadoes there.
 SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DETECTION BY RADAR 627

IOOnm 80 60 60
... 80
ev e
2130
Q 2200
b 2300
c 2315 2330

/
d e 2342
f
Q

Fig. 2.8 Time sequence of radar echoes for 31 May 1969 squall line. Gray shades are in 10-dB steps beginning with 21 dBZ. Alphanumeric
characters indicate towns and damage points. The most significant wind damage occurred before 2300 CST. (From Charba, 1972.)

The leading edge of the squall line is marked by a gust
front that is accompanied by a drop in temperature and
strong shifting winds. The gust front can propagate in the
clear air several tens of kilometers away from the parent
line of echoes. These gust fronts often appear as thin lines
on radar displays although reflectivities are typically weak
( 20 dBZ or less) . Observation of thin lines may be used
to infer an increased chance of strong winds, but, unfor-
tunately, some prominent thin lines have only weak winds.
Gust fronts are also locations of enhanced convergence
and potential areas for new cell formation.
Certain problems may plague an observer using the
LEWP, bow echo, or comma-shaped echo. As in the case
documented by Charba (1972), most severe phenomena
can be produced during signature development, resulting
in negative waining lead times. Once the signature has
become obvious, severe weather may have lessened or
ended, resulting in overwaming and false alarms. The
magnitude of this problem has yet to be determined, owing
to the absence of signature reliability studies.
2. 2. 3 Three-Dimensional Structure
The three-dimensional radar echo structure of severe
thunderstorms has been documented since 1960 in various
locations around the world. These studies have shown that
the same structural features, at times including the hook
echo, were common in all midlatitude severe convective
storms (whether multicell or supercell) throughout the
world; accordingly, they have been proposed as radar se-
vere storm warning criteria. Lemon ( 1980), who examined
several tens of severe Oklahoma storms, noted a repeated
temporal pattern of surface severe weather and derived a
set of radar criteria to identify these conditions. These cri-
teria are useful for identification of both supercell and
multicell severe storms. Lemon also suggested it was not
echo top height but location relative to the low-level echo

Large BOW Echo Comma Echo

Sfrong Echo
T a II Cyclonic RototinQ Head Head

~
sqw ® ~, 9' ...

,,
08
~\ HOOK~ba\'~ ..... . . ···········~

.
.....f?.9.W.!'!.!l.!-!.~s.!))'f BOt,' ····-·· .. ········· .. .. f~OB COMMA
' \ rf!Y •• ;,;;~;;;p·· <~~0~~: 0 ·. ~
~ ~ o'~ C9' a/' o'~ ~
Anticyclonic ~., (/ ·

A 8 C D E

Fig. 2.9 Typical bow echo evolution and classification (from Fujita, 1978).
628 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
that was most important. These criteria depend on infer-
ence of updraft intensity and location from the three-di-
mensional morphology of the radar echo. In the evaluation
of any echo, the updraft or "inflow" storm flank is iden-
tified by a high horizontal reflectivity gradient at low levels
(typically ;?;8 dBZ km- 1 ), sometimes associated with a
notch or concavity (WER boundary).
The so-called Lemon criteria involve identification of
the weak echo region (WER) and associated midlevel echo
overhang, both produced by the updraft. If the echo aloft
is strong and a significant WER exists, and the echo top is
over the WER, a severe thunderstorm is suggested. Where
a low-level pendant (hooklike) echo or a BWER is added
to the above criteria, a tornado-producing thunderstorm
is suggested.
T~ese criteria are identified through the use of a "tilt
sequence" radar scanning technique. That involves grad-
ually increasing antenna elevation using 1° or 2° incre-
ments from 0° or 0.5° to above the storm top. Abbreviated
or shortened tilt sequence techniques were recommended
for rapidly moving echoes. The criteria and associated tilt
sequence technique are here referred to as the three-di-
mensional storm structure technique. Another abbreviated
or modified technique (using those same criteria) was de-
rived by the National Weather Service Training Center
and is known as the Weather Radar Identification of Severe
Thunderstorms (WRIST) technique.
The storm structure associated with these criteria and
techniques is basically invariant from storm to storm, lo-
cation to location, and does not depend on the radar that
scans the storm (see Browning, 1965). The detail of that
structure does depend on the variables controlling the radar
aspect ratio such as beamwidth and range to the storms.
(Broad beam, fan beam, or X-band radars should not be
used with any criteria emphasizing echo shape.) Not all
severe storms will meet the specific three-dimensional
storm structure criteria, particularly since recognition of
features is heavily dependent on range and radar beam-
width. Not every storm will have continuously occurring
pendant echoes or BWERs (especially during collapse
phases) even though it is producing tornadoes periodically.
With certain modifications, the three-dimensional storm
structure can also be used for severe squall line identifi-
cation. Although squall lines may be composed of typical
single or multicellular storms or even supercellular "tor-
nado" lines (Forbes, 1975 ), the squall line referred to here
is predominately two-dimensional (see plan view in Fig.
2.6). That is, the spacing between cells is less than the cell
dimensions themselves, and large areas of at least moderate
( 35 dBZ) echo encompass individual storms, forming long
contiguous linear bands. In these cases a linear curtain of
updraft forms above an essentially continuous gust front
along the line's leading edge (see schematics in Fig. 2.7).
Even so, the cellular nature can still be discerned in indi-
vidual high-reflectivity (often ;?;50 dBZ) cores and separate
echo tops along the line.
A substantial weak echo region and echo tops are found
along the leading line edge. As with the previously con-
sidered storm types, the strong reflectivity gradient is cre-
ated by the displacement of the low-level reflectivity core
toward the updraft flank, which in the case of the squall
line is the leading edge. These features are illustrated in
Figs. 2.6 and 2.7. Przybylinski and Gery (1983) and Przy-
bylinski and DeCaire ( 1985) have emphasized both the
low-level and three-dimensional structure, and labeled it
the "distinctive bow echo." Thus, the Lemon and WRIST
techniques can be employed for detection of severe squall
line segments.
Squall lines are often quite evolutionary in character,
beginning as a few scattered storms that increase in size,
strength, and number. One or more storms develop en-
hanced downdrafts and outflow, contributing to a gust
front that lengthens and accelerates outward from the
parent storm. Resulting enhanced surface convergence acts
as a catalyst, encouraging the rapid development of ad-
jacent and associated convection, fundamentally altering
storm and line structure. This alteration may lead to the
development of large areas of midlevel convection and
stratiform precipitation to the rear of the line resulting in
a mesoscale convective complex (MCC) (Maddox, 1983).
Accompanying severe weather develops and changes in
character with the evolution as well. Large hail will ac-
company the organized multicellular and newly devel-
oping supercells. Mesocyclonic tornadoes and enhanced
mesocyclonic surface flow may produce damage as hail
size decreases. Subsequent damaging downbursts may at-
tend transformation into, and associated development of,
the solid squall line. Finally, an extended period of heavy
rain and frequent lightning may accompany the mature
MCC. It follows that nearly all the reliable signatures pre-
viously discussed are each appropriate for varying intervals
and then are replaced or overlapped by new detection cri-
teria.
2.2.4 Digital Processing Techniques
As a result of the development of the Video Integrator
and Processor, associated digital data, and research efforts
of Wilson ( 1970), Saffle ( 1976), and Elvander ( 1977,
1980), the potential application of digital processing tech-
niques to severe storm detection became a reality. Wilson's
work led to the introduction of minicomputers to calculate
rainfall estimates from digitized radar data at several sites
as part of the Digitized Radar Experiment (D /RADEX)
(McGrew, 1972). At about the same time, Greene and
Clark ( 1972) developed the quantity known as vertically
integrated liquid, or VIL. The quantity symbolized by M*
was defined as
 SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DETECTION BY RADAR 619

where Z is the reflectivity (mm 6 m-3 ) and dH represents
the height increment with average reflectivity Z. In prac-
tice, the height difference in meters between radar beam
centers of successive scans in a tilt sequence is dH. Z is
the linearly averaged reflectivity between the two succes-
sive scans. Each storm is characterized by height limits htop
and hbase in meters resulting in the quantity M* (or VIL)
having units kg m - 2 • (While this quantity is labeled as
liquid, it is obviously integrated reflectivity, much of which
may be ice phase precipitation.) An example of VIL output
is shown in Fig. 2.10.
Elvander ( 1977, 1980) examined a large number of dig-
ital parameters from objectively defined echoes and at-
tempted to associate each parameter or combinations of
parameters with severe weather reports. A stepwise
screening regression program was used to establish the
relationship between severe weather events and the pre-
dictors. Data examined were from the National Severe
Storms Laboratory (NSSL) archives of digitized WSR-57
observations during the spring storm seasons 1969-74.
Virtually all parameters examined related either to zero
tilt reflectivity ( ZTR) or VIL. In general, the most highly
correlated predictors were those combining size and in-
tensity. VIL-based predictors were most prominent. These
results subsequently were used in the objective derivation
(using 1972 data only) of a severe weather probability
(SWP) algorithm (Saffle and Elvander, 1981). SWP, as
currently defined, involves the summation of gridded VIL
values weighted by the VIL magnitudes. It is viewed most
accurately as a hail probability, rather than the probability
of all severe weather.
The quantities of VIL, SWP, and echo tops were included
in D / RADEX site processors in the late 1970s. The pro-
gram became known as the Radar Data Processor (RADAP
II) program. (Another essential algorithm used in the sys-
tem is an echo tracking routine.) A modified version of the
IJt;.t.... V IL MAP 22 12Z. MAY 21,
COUE. VAI.UE •.... ,
VIL(KI;i/1'1~ • 2) . .. .
1
5
2
'0
qa ::se :£4 12 o 12 24
BON
W••• W• • • W• •• W• • • ...- • • • E • •• E , • • E •• • E • •• E • •• E • •
'~N
70N
• sN
6QN
SSN '
._.
SWP algorithm or, more correctly, a probability distribution
nomogram was derived, tested, and used at the Oklahoma
City NWS Forecast Office (Devore, 1983). The notable
effect of this nomogram is to attach a greater weight to
the storm-associated maximum VIL value. This nomogram
was further tested by Winston and Ruthi ( 1986). Unlike
the tests of Devore, Winston and Ruthi used time- and
location-specific warnings, and included tornadoes as well
as hail and damaging winds.
While the overwhelming conclusion of many researchers
is that digital processing techniques and output can be
used successfully as guidance in severe storm detection,
several obvious problems remain. Perhaps foremost is the
limited availability of the RADAP II equipment; only 11
sites now have the equipment available. Thus few per-
sonnel are exposed to these techniques, and some of those
who are have limited confidence in the output without
convincing verification data (which is itself sparse atop-
erational sites). In addition, only in Oklahoma have pre-
dictor-predictand relationships been derived with confi-
dence. The limited analysis done at nearby Amarillo, Texas
(Jendrowski, 1988) suggests that even adjacent radars may
have relationships that differ. However, the Texas ground
truth data quality is not equal to that in Oklahoma. Fur-
thermore, the multiple regression relationships were de-
rived almost exclusively during spring months and most
recent analyses imply that summer and fall results would
also differ.
2.3 Overview of Performance
At this point, we have considered virtually all of the
most widely accepted and reliable severe storm detection
signatures used with conventional reflectivity data. The
obvious question remains, especially in light of all the
problems enumerated: how well do these signatures in-
dicate or anticipate severe weather? Which ones are most
reliable? The answers to these questions are not straight-
1'987 forward.
3
15
4
20
:i
25
6
30
7
.:S5
8 9
45
A
50
1:'
~~
C
60
0
6 ::5
E
/0
F
75
G
8Q
In order to evaluate any method's detection reliability,
;s.e, 4a e.o 7'2 B 4 temporally and spatially accurate ground truth data must
• 1 be available. Storm Data, while probably the most accurate
and complete national record, is woefully inadequate
•
.,.
21

47• (JDOP Staff, 1979; Hales and Kelly, 1985). Therefore,

50N
evaluation exercises must be limited to locations where
I •

"'"
40N I
33 1 •

::S5N !!'97 'L • 881

additional supplementary datasets and surface and aerial
30N
2:5N ,.
<t
12 1 .. J 4eAACOA4 1
AM311
"'"I
2. \
20N
t~J
*
• I J.~94 1
I AA:S l
..-
• 1 ff~ 1 *
1e? t l t
survey data are available (such as with field programs),
ION
:,N
01o 11
1l
1 '2 1 1 1
or conducted after noteworthy events (e.g., 3-4 April1974;
o....
/5:52
5S 1 ~362 ""' 11 Forbes, 1981). The question remains as to the general ap-

.
l OS 1 2 I'L l
155
2QS
..
•
plicability of these studies to the more routine severe
Z!l9
w. , . w• •• W• • • W••• + ••• E • • • E • •• E • • • E • • • E ••• E • • weather occurrences.
48 30. '24 12 0 12 24 .36 JIH 60 72 64
The decision tool most often employed since 1975 is the
Fig. 2.10 VIL output for 2212 UTC on 21 May 1987. Data from the critical success index or CSI (Donaldson et al., 1975a,b).
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma WSR-57 radar. Scale at top. Range marks It is effective under conditions of comparable verification.
are at 25-nm intervals. Storms with VIL greater than 50 (kg m-2 ) It is not only limited by event occurrence data quality, but
are identified as potential severe hailstorms. also by the duration period of the forecasts, and the size
630 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
of the area for which the forecast is made. Forecast duration
in severe storm applications has varied from instantaneous
to one hour, while area is expressed in operational warn-
ings as a county or part of a county. The effects of verifi-
cation period are considered by Forbes (1981); effects of
both period and area are also considered by Winston and
Ruthi (1986).
Each of the severe storm detection criteria deemed as
reliable here, is presented in the literature with supporting
statistics (e.g., CSI). However, the associated CSI and
constituent parts of probability of detection and false alarm
ratio, as well as area warned and verification duration, are
computed differently. Some allow negative lead times,
while others consider the event with a negative lead time
scored as a miss. Finally, the methods used to obtain ver-
ification data, as well as the data itself, are questionable
or of variable quality in some cases. In view of all these
considerations, and the complete lack of a comprehensive
comparative operational verification, we are not using the
CSI scoring method to summarize performance. Instead,
we present a qualitative evaluation founded on the veri-
fication studies, established technique limitations, and
current understanding of convective storm structure and
morphology. In the final analysis, we present an educated
opinion.
2.3.1 Hail
Hail is perhaps the severe phenomenon most "easily"
detected or anticipated when employing reflectivity mea-
surements. High reflectivity aloft (such as VIP 5 above 8
km AGL) can be used to determine the existence of hail.
Perhaps a more general and widely applicable set of criteria
are the three-dimensional storm structure criteria. They
were designed to discriminate as to hail size as well as
existence. The storm structure features on which the criteria
are based have been generally documented in midlatitudes.
Positive lead times are likely. The three-dimensional storm
structure is comparable to the VIL or VIL I SWP nomogram,
as documented in Winston and Ruthi ( 1986). Owing to
the marked regional variation in hail probability, the an-
ticipated performance of VIL I SWP may await generation
of regional data for each radar site. Once the values have
been established for each site, VIL I SWP likely will out-
perform three-dimensional structure for hail detection.
Beyond these techniques other signature scores drop sig-
nificantly.
2.3.2 Damaging Wind
While the three-dimensional storm structure and VIL I
SWP criteria also have applicability to the detection of
damaging wind, their skill for that application is signifi-
cantly less than for hail detection.
In situations where line echo shapes are applicable,
Bonner and Kemper ( 1971) suggested their usefulness.
This utility is borne out in the results of Przybylinski and
Gery (1983), who found that 73% of distinctive bow
echoes were accompanied by damaging winds. These dis-
tinctive bow echoes are those attended by the weak echo
region and associated displacement of the echo top. Where
the bow (and we suggest even the LEWP and comma-
shaped "distinctive") echoes are involved, good success
and significant reliability are achieved. This is especially
true when relatively large forward speeds are involved.
Early recognition and detection are sometimes very diffi-
cult, due to a finite development period (many times ac-
companied by severe weather) and the subjectivity in-
volved in low-level shape recognition. Currently no other
established reflectivity radar techniques perform nearly as
well at high wind detection. Doppler radar ( NEXRAD) is
the clear choice where available.
2.3.3 Tornado
Since Donaldson's (1965) treatise, some progress has
been made in tornado detection through "distinctive echo"
recognition (Forbes, 1981). Specific distinctive echo attri-
butes generally are the hook echo, pendant echo, VIP level
4 or greater intensity, and the LEWP. Other attributes are
the echo ellipticity and 30 km or more echo diameter. These
characteristics (with the exception of the LEWP) all are
essentially characteristics of supercells. However, when
these signatures are applied independently (e.g., the hook
echo; Forbes, 1981 ) , they perform significantly below the
composite distinctive echo itself.
Donaldson (1975a), lacking data, estimated hook echo
reliability up to, at best, a 0.5 probability of detection.
Forbes ( 1981) measured performance during a major se-
vere storm outbreak. While still quite useful, he found the
probability of detection to be only 0.38. Resolution deg-
radation owing to range effects often renders the hook
unobservable as such, but instead makes it appear as an
appendage or "knob." Lemon ( 1980) emphasized this fact
but, in an effort to avoid high false alarms, also emphasized
the pendant echo association with the WER or BWER and
echo top.
Because of the substantially inferior tornado detection
ability of all remaining noncoherent radar signatures, ap-
plication of the distinctive and I or hook echo is recom-
mended here, but with certain qualifications. Since the su-
percell is overwhelmingly responsible for most F3 and
greater tornadoes (and probably a significant proportion
of tornadoes less than F3), the identification of that storm
type is the favored tornado "signature." The distinctive
and hook echo features are essentially the low-level char-
acteristics of the supercell and should be included with
the mid- and upper-level three-dimensional structural
features of the WER or BWER and echo top location on
the storm inflow flank.
Because of radar resolution, supercell identification with
confidence is confined to ranges less than 200 km ( 110
 SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DETECTION BY RADAR 631

nm). Furthermore, during periods of the most spectacular of velocity, there is need to rely on signatures recognizable
supercell characteristics, tornadoes, if they occur, com- within the radial component field. The flows within severe
monly are not strong (Lemon and Doswell, 1979). It is storms, particularly those associated with strong drafts and
most often during the period of storm collapse, sometimes areas of rotation, can be approximated by simple models
associated with complete WER loss, that strong or violent (e.g., Rankine vortex and source/sink) which have easily
tornado production occurs. Thus, it is almost impossible definable single-Doppler signatures (Fig. 3.1). A more
to identify specific times of tornado existence with a high complete derivation of these two signatures appears in
degree of confidence. For this reason, many tornado warn- Wood and Brown ( 1983). The signatures are independent
ings based on reflectivity alone should be at least an hour of viewing angle. Although the signatures are simple and
in duration. Because of the potential for repeated meso- easy to define, real storms contain complicated flows whose
cyclone genesis and the relatively benign appearance of radial component changes over short distances, thus mak-
the collapsed supercell, it is even more difficult to identify ing the patterns of radial velocity more complex and mak-
cessation of storm severity and tornado potential. ing detection difficult. Nonetheless, the signatures of di-
If the operational requirement is simply the delineation vergence and rotation along with the observed magnitude
of the "severe" storm (without discrimination of the actual of the radial component form the basis for single-Doppler
severe phenomena), the task is somewhat less arduous. detection of severe thunderstorms. These signatures have
The observer should employ those techniques already been verified by using multiple-Doppler networks tore-
identified as most reliable. Virtually all other signatures construct two- and three-dimensional wind fields within
must be used with caution.
In actual practice, the pressures of time do not permit
the forecasters to use all the rules mentioned above. Low-
den ( 1985) surveyed NWS radar sites and found that the
field practitioners frequently resort to a variety of signatures
in which they had individually gained some degree of
confidence. While some used variations of the three-di-
mensional structures, many relied most heavily on the tall
high-reflectivity cells. A number stated that they still used
echo "knuckles" or "fingers," v-notches, echo spikes, or
others of the old empirical echo signatures. This is due
largely to the substantial manual effort involved in using
the existing conventional radars. This problem has now
been recognized and has given rise to the development of
automated observing routines and algorithms for use in
the NEXRAD network.

3 DOPPLER-BASED SEVERE STORM

DETECTION

3.1 Introduction
In addition to measuring the reflectivity returned from
targets as a conventional weather radar does, Doppler radar
also measures the component of motion in the radar view- w
(..)

ing direction, the so-called "radial" component. The radar !

completely senses flow directly toward or away from the ~-1
Cl

radar (defined as negative or positive Doppler velocity,

respectively). In much Doppler research, the radial com-
ponent limitations have been overcome by combining the
returns from two or more radars to derive three indepen-
dent (orthogonal) components of motion.
Unfortunately, radar cost and the limited size of mul-
tiple-Doppler viewing areas currently make it impractical
to implement multiple-Doppler networks for operational
use, mandating single-Doppler operational networks. Be-
cause single Dopplers measure only the radial component
-1 0 I 2 1
DISTANCE lKMl
Fig. 3.1 Single-Doppler signatures of (a) a vortex and (b) a diver-
gence source. Heavy lines are true airflow; thin lines are radial velocity
contours with dashes for inbound radial component; short arrows
mark radial velocity maxima. (From Wood and Brown, 1983.)
632 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
severe thunderstorms (e.g., Brown et al., 1975; Burgess et
al., 1976; Ray et al., 1978).
Further complicating the operational use of single-
Doppler radar are ambiguities that arise from sampling
considerations. It is well known that a basic sampling con-
flict exists between the maximum unambiguous range of
the radar and the maximum unambiguous velocity mea-
sured by the radar. The sampling conflict (or so-called
"Doppler dilemma") is wavelength dependent; it is more
troublesome for shorter wavelengths than for long. A sim-
ple discussion of the velocity-range-wavelength relation-
ships is given by Burgess and Ray ( 1986). Generally, when
the radar pulse repetition frequency ( PRF) is high, return
from two or more trips (different ranges) may be overlaid,
a situation commonly referred to as range folding. When
the PRF is low, the range is relatively long and range fold-
ing is absent, but radial velocities frequently exceed the
bounds of the fundamental interval over which they
can be uniquely measured, a situation commonly referred
to as velocity aliasing (see Keeler and Passarelli, Chap-
ter 20a).
A variety of techniques based on signal design (multiple
PRFs) or polarization switching can mitigate range and
velocity folding in certain circumstances. A treatment of
these is given by Doviak and Zrnic ( 1984). The scope of
this chapter does not permit further treatment of these
ambiguities but their detection and elimination is crucial
to correct signature interpretation and the performance of
algorithms. Many of the published single-Doppler radar
studies present data fields where the ambiguities have been
removed after data collection, a luxury not afforded to
operational use. The few operational experiments with
Doppler have taken great effort to train participants in the
recognition of ambiguities (see, for example, JDOP Staff,
1979). The discussions of single-Doppler signatures and
algorithms to follow will ignore the ambiguities in many
cases but the reader should be aware of their existence.
In addition to range folding and velocity aliasing, other
radar characteristics influence signature recognition (as also
discussed in sections 1 and 2). The size of the illuminated
pulse volume depends on wavelength, antenna diameter,
and range gate spacing, and always increases with ex-
panding range. Because of inherent averaging throughout
the illuminated volume, only the signatures of features
significantly larger than a single pulse volume can be iden-
tified. Radar signal attenuation, partly determined by
wavelength, prevents signature detection when radar
beams do not fully penetrate echoes. Attenuation losses
can be severe for shorter wavelengths (e.g., 3 and 5 em).
The signatures shown in Fig. 3.1 assume a stationary
storm or a frame of reference that is traveling with the
storm (storm-relative). The ability to present data for cor-
rect interpretation depends on being able to subtract the
correct movement vector for the storm or particular velocity
feature. Of course, if no vector or an incorrect vector is
subtracted, the pattern and radial shear will be preserved
but the zero contour and other magnitudes will be mis-
handled. The problem that arises operationally is trying
to distinguish between the subtraction of an incorrect mo-
tion vector and asymmetric flow, since they might look
the same. Asymmetries in the signature indicate its devia-
tion from the simple model and the likelihood of misap-
plication and wrongful conclusion.
For strong winds near the ground, the correct reference
frame may be ground relative, that is, the radial velocity
pattern without any subtracted vector. The damaging wind
threat is then simply seen and diagnosed from the radial
component magnitude. Sampling a storm that contains
high winds and vortices or divergence may require viewing
the same data in two different reference frames.
3.2 Commonly Used Signatures
3.2.1 Mesocyclone Signature
Long before severe storm observations by Doppler ra-
dars, the tornado cyclone (later found to be closely asso-
ciated with the storm updraft) was identified by Brooks
( 1949). Fujita ( 1963) labeled this structure the mesocy-
clone and found that it was potentially the parent of the
tornado. The flow in the mesocyclone closely resembles a
Rankine combined vortex (Fig. 3.1a). It is a simple axi-
symmetric model characterized by two flow regimes: a
well-defined core region where the tangential velocity is
directly proportional to radius (i.e., solid body rotation)
and a less well-defined periphery where the tangential ve-
locity is inversely proportional to radius (i.e., potential
vortex). Single-Doppler radar easily detects the vortex core
as azimuthally separated radial velocity peaks of opposite
sign, but the potential vortex flow gradually blends with
and becomes indistinguishable from the ambient flow. Al-
though the outer potential vortex is infinite in theory, mul-
tiple-Doppler data suggest that the total mesocyclone size
is generally about twice the core diameter. Mesocyclone
diameters mentioned in this chapter will apply exclusively
to the core. An example of a mesocyclone signature that
closely conforms to the Rankine model is shown in
Fig. 3.2.
The recognition of atmospheric vortices depends on the
aspect ratio between the vortex size and the radar illu-
mination volume. The landmark paper of Donaldson
( 1970) gives insight into the aspect ratio problem as well
as the first proposed steps in vortex signature recognition.
To be easily diagnosed, the vortex should have azimuthal
extent between one-half a radian ( -29°) and 1.5 times
the antenna beamwidth ( -1.5° for modern radars). For
a nominal range of 150 km, this corresponds to mesocy-
clones ranging in diameter from 70 down to 3 km. The
Donaldson recognition criteria involve the detection of a
significant magnitude of tangential shear with sufficient
steadiness during the time required for one-half a revo-
 SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DETECTION BY RADAR 633

tao• 170" 160° 150" 19 APRIL 1972 complicated by discrete azimuthal sampling, which might
Sl 1720 CST
t• ELEVATION miss having an observation near the peak of the velocity
distribution. This implies that discrete one-degree azi-
muthal samples are not sufficient to detect most mesocy-
clones at ranges beyond 200 km. The maximum range of
observation at NSSL has been 330 km (Burgess, 1976),
...E but this was made with one-half degree discrete (overlap-
w ping) samples.
ClO
ZCXl
<(
a: The names mesocyclone and mesoscale convey the idea
of a small circulation, but the definition of just how small
remains in question. Since 1950, no less than 15 different
sets of horizontal dimensions have been proposed to divide
mesoscale from larger and smaller scales and to subdivide
mesoscale into various subdivisions. In one of the latest
scale divisions (Fujita, 1981 ), mesoscale is 4 to 400 km
and the next smaller scale, misoscale, has lengths from 40
Fig. 3.2 Single-Doppler signature of a strong mesocyclone. Dark dot m to 4 km. As such, most thunderstorm cyclonic circula-
is tornado location. tions are still appropriately classed as mesocyclones, es-
pecially if the total area of swirl (core plus potential vortex
region) is considered. Some of the smaller circulations,
lution of the vortex and with a vertical extent greater than particularly those developing in weak environmental shear,
the horizontal diameter. Another criterion, not commonly have horizontal dimensions less than 4 km and may be
used operationally, is invariance of the character of the called misocyclones. One case of a misocyclone developing
shear with respect to a change in viewing angles. Real- in strong shear has been documented (Carbone, 1983).
time warning needs do not permit waiting for enough Tornado circulations seen on Doppler are tornadic vortex
storm movement to allow the viewing angle to change signatures (discussed below) and are definitely misoscale
substantially. entities.
Mesocyclone recognition is not feasible when the res- Thunderstorm-related anticyclonic vortices are not being
olution volume size becomes significantly larger than the discussed in depth. Although they certainly exist and are
vortex radius. This is demonstrated for the Rankine vortex detected by Doppler radar, anticyclonic signatures have
model in Fig. 3.3. When the radar beamwidth exceeds the not been found to correlate directly with severe hazards.
core radius by a factor of 3, less than one half of the true Perhaps this is because mesoanticyclones are character-
maximum velocity is detected and the vortex will probably istically associated with downdrafts, divergence, and cold
not be recognized. The recognition problem is further stable air near the ground, which weakens the vortices

1.0
MEAN DOPPLER VELOCITY PROFILES
.8 THROUGH A RANKINE COMBINED VORTEX
>
~
FOR VARIOUS SEAMWIDTH /CORE RADIUS RATIOS
u
0 .6
..J
w
>
.4
a:
w
..J
II. .2
II.
0
0
0 0
w
N
10
:::i -.2
<(
:::E
a:
0 - .4
z
- .6

- .8

-1.0
4 3 2 I 0 I 2 3 4
NORMALIZED AZIMUTHAL DISTANCE (DISTANCE/CORE RADIUS)

Fig. 3.3 Continuous velocity profile across a Rankine combined vortex for a number of beamwidth to
core size ratios.
634 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
below cloud base. Most observed (updraft associated) an-
ticyclones have been strongest in midlevels with circulation
bases above cloud base (Burgess, 1981). A few anticyclonic
tornadoes do occur, in some cases along the fringes of
mesocyclones (Burgess and Donaldson, 1979).
Past mesocyclone research has centered on the strong
rotating updrafts associated with supercell-type storms (see
section 2 for a discussion of the structure and life cycle of
a supercell). These mesocyclones form in the presence of
strong vertical wind shear in their environment. A now
widely accepted hypothesis is that the shear-produced
horizontal vorticity (up to 100 times greater than preex-
isting vertical vorticity) is tilted into the vertical by the
strong supercell updrafts. Such a formation mechanism
has been simulated numerically (Klemp and Wilhelmson,
1978). See Davies-Jones (1985) and Ray (Chapter 24a)
for more detailed discussions and references. These me-
socyclones in strong shear have been observed many times
in the central United States (Burgess, 1976; JDOP Staff,
1979; Wilson et al., 1980; NWS Staff, 1985a; Przybylinski
and Wright, 1986), with a few observations in the eastern
part of the country (Kraus, 1973; NWS Staff, 1985b).
Therefore, their characteristics are fairly well known and
are summarized below.
Recent observations suggest that mesocyclones are also
observed in environments with weak vertical wind shear
(Bluestein, 1985; Wilson, 1986; Brady and Szoke, 1988).
In all known cases, these vortices have formed along either
synoptic cold fronts, thunderstorm outflow boundaries, or
wind shear lines without precipitation. These are regions
where converging winds concentrate preexisting vertical
vorticity. Conceptually, mesocyclones can form from a
mechanism where a quasi-vertical sheet of vorticity along
a wind discontinuity is stretched by strong convective up-
drafts. The character of circulations developing in weak
wind shear is less well established, but some characteristics
are discussed below.
3.2.1.1 Mesoc:ydones in Strong Vertical Wind
Shear
In recent operational Doppler radar tests aimed at de-
tecting mesocyclones in strong shear environments, specific
recognition criteria have been proposed that are expan-
sions and modifications of the Donaldson guidelines (Bur-
gess, 1976). Recognition rules used during the Joint
Doppler Operational Project (JDOP Staff, 1979) featured
single-Doppler azimuthal shear thresholds calculated from
core diameter and maxima in inbound j outbound radial
velocities (assumed tangential velocities) and accounted
for loss of velocity distribution peaks at long range. Because
shear is not displayed directly but must be calculated, the
recognition rules were further modified for the DOPUGHT
'87 exercise (Forsyth et al., 1989) to replace shear with
tangential (rotational) velocity. The guidelines require only
that the core diameter be less than 10 km. The size mea-
surement can be obtained directly from radial velocity dis-
plays.
The characteristics and evolution of mesocyclones in
strong shear have been studied at NSSL (Burgess et al.,
1982) and at other research facilities. Mesocyclone life is
composed of three stages:
1) Organizing stage-a period of growth, both upward
and downward, from midlevel beginnings ( -5-km
height). It is common for convergence to exist below the
mesocyclone base. The organizing stage ends when the
mesocyclone base extends to the surface.
2) Mature stage-the period of maximum strength when
velocity parameters have their highest values and tornado
formation potential is highest. The mesocyclone signature
extends through a deep layer, perhaps two-thirds of the
storm height.
3) Dissipating stage-begins with a rapid decrease in
mesocyclone height and is generally characterized by
weakening velocities. By the end of the dissipating stage,
the vortex exists only over a smalt shallow depth and is
associated with divergence.
Not all mesocyclones in strong shear produce tornadoes.
During JDOP when considerable attention was paid to
verification, it was found that roughly 50% of all meso-
cyclones produced verified tornadoes. Storms with me-
socyclones were likely to be severe, since over 90% pro-
duced some kind of surface severe weather (hait wind or
tornado). The job of trying to categorize mesocyclones by
their tornado potential is not easy. Data from 45 well-
observed signatures (Fig. 3.4) indicate few well-defined
boundaries between mesocyclones that produced no tor-
nadoes, weak or moderate ones, and violent tornadoes.
There seems to be a tendency for tornadic mesocyclones
to have higher rotational velocity and stronger shear. All
MESOCYCLONES
Core Diameter 20 Shear/Vorticity
• NO TORNADO
li TOANAOO
MAXI·TORNAOO U')
w
u
z
w
a::
a::
::;)
u
u
0
.._
0
a::
"'"'
Rotational Velocity
~
::;)
z
Fig. 3.4 Characteristic parameters of mature mesocyclones for non-
tornadic and tornadic storm. Tornado implies FO- F3 and maxi-tornado
F4-FS.
 SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DETECTION BY RADAR 635

storms with violent tornadoes formed in environments 16

with strong shear and possessed strong mesocyclones 12

that resulted from strong rotational velocity and small core
8
diameter. REFLECTIVITY ECHO EXTENT
Recent research (Desrochers et al., 1986) has identified 4

another mesocyclone parameter, rotational kinetic energy, 0

which may be useful in determining tornado potential. OS
8
This quantity, calculated from single-Doppler measure- MESOCYCLONE
OS ·ORGANIZING STAGE
MS ·MATURE STAGE
ments, is further refined into excess rotational kinetic en- EE 4
CORE # I
OS • DISSIPATING STAGE
~.=s
ergy (ERKE) by subtracting the kinetic energy of a thresh-
~~ 0
old mesocyclone. Finally, ERKE can be normalized by S':2
dividing the calculated value by that derived for the av- ~~ 8
MESOCYCLONE
erage mesocyclone (called the climatological mature me- 4
CORE #2

socyclone, CMM). The data for the average mesocyclone 0

are obtained from those used to produce the Fig. 3.4 sta-
tistics. Results for the few cases examined thus far are typ- 8
MESOCYCLONE
ified by Fig. 3.5. Normalized ERKE peaks are concurrent 4 CORE #3

with tornadoes, and the heights of the ERKE maxima de- 0

scend to low levels near the time of tornado formation. 0 40 eo 280
With single Doppler, the mesocyclone inner core (solid TIME (min)-
•uv•~;.\••n••,-

rotation) is easily measured (see diameters in Fig. 3.4) and

it is possible for more than one core to exist simultaneously
within the same total region of cyclonic swirl. Multiple
cores do not, however, occur at random. A series of cores
occurs in certain mesocyclones in a predictable way and
acts as the mesocyclone propagation mechanism. There-
lationship between reflectivity and multiple mesocyclone
cores is conceptualized in Fig. 3.6. The mesocyclone forms
after the storm echo is mature and near its peak height
(see section 2). The first mesocyclone core has a relatively
long organizing and mature stage. The second core organ-
izes as the first begins dissipating. Second and succeeding
cores have extremely short organizing stages as they
Fig. 3.6 Time and height evolution of (bottom) multiple mesocyclone
cores and (top) radar echo. Dark horizontal bars are tornado occur-
rence; tornado formation interval is indicated along bottom.
quickly form over a large depth and have relatively short
mature stages as evolution proceeds rapidly. Some storms
have possessed (at least) six successive cores and have
persisted for nearly five hours.
A conceptual model of the evolution of a mesocyclone
in horizontal section (Fig. 3.7) reveals the existence of a
meso-cold front (gust front) that wraps cyclonically about
the mesocyclone core. The core evolution closely resembles

DEL CITY-ARCADIA 20 MAY 1977

6
MESOVORTEX CORE
EVOLUTION
~ 4
(.)
"
Ill
¥:
a: 2
Ill

12

e8
~

ro;;r
1-
:1:
~ 4
Ill C~Rf
~7
:1:

1800 1900 2000

TIME <CST>

Fig. 3.5 Time change of excess rotational kinetic energy (ERKE) Fig. 3.7 Conceptual model of mesocyc/one core evolution. Thick
normalized by climatologically mature mesocyc/one (CMM) for the lines are low-level wind discontinuities, and tornado tracks (exag-
storm of 20 May 1977. M2 is second mesocyc/one core; dark bars gerated for size indication) are shaded. Insert shows tornado family
with F2 and F3 identify tornadoes. tracks and the small square is the region expanded in the figure.
636 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
synoptic cyclone development: during the first core mature
stage, the gust front accelerates around the right flank;
occlusion occurs and as the mesocyclone warm sector sep-
aratt'!s from the first core, its dissipation begins; strong
convergence localizes at the point of the occlusion and a
second vortex core organizes. The second vortex core or-
ganizes rapidly because of the vorticity-rich environment
within which it forms. The ultimate result of such contin-
ued evolution is a tornado family with a recurrence interval
of approximately 40 min.
3.2.1.2 Mesocyclones in Weak Vertical Wind
Shear
There have been too few observations of this type me-
socyclone to establish recognition criteria properly or to
compile statistics on characteristics. In general, mesocy-
clones in weak shear do not rotate as rapidly as their coun-
terparts embedded in strong shear. Also, mesocyclones in
weak shear are likely to be smaller, with some properly
classed as misocyclones for at least a part of their lifetime.
Brady and Szoke ( 1988) made the initial study of char-
acteristics and evolution as measured in western High
Plains (Colorado) storms. They list mesocyclone life as
composed of three stages:
1 ) Organizing stage-Small vortices develop below
cloud base along convergent wind-shift lines in weak rising
motion in a shallow layer near the ground. If the radar is
close enough, the initial single-Doppler signatures can
usually be identified before detection of radar return in-
dicative of precipitation development. During this stage,
horizontal diameters are small, measured at 500 to 1500
m for Colorado storms. The circulation slowly intensifies
as it becomes collocated with newly formed, deeper, con-
vective updrafts.
2) Mature stage-Strong convective updrafts stretch and
intensify the vortex; rotational velocity increases, circula-
tion develops at higher levels above cloud base, and hor-
izontal diameter increases somewhat. The vorticity maxi-
mum remains below cloud base and is collocated with the
developing tornado, if one forms.
3) Dissipating stage-The storm continues to grow as
the vortex weakens. Horizontal diameter increases to 4 km
or more during tornado dissipation with the vorticity max-
imum still at low levels. Vertical extent is reduced. It is
suggested that dissipation is caused by precipitation load-
ing that induces greater downdraft within the mesocyclone.
Heavy rain, hail, and gusty winds may be observed during
this time.
Tornadoes produced by mesocyclones in weak shear
have been referred to as "landspouts" by Bluestein ( 1985)
and Brady and Szoke because of the tornado's physical
resemblance to the waterspout over water. These tornadoes
have always been reported as weak or, perhaps, briefly of
moderate intensity. Brady and Szoke indicate that tornado
likelihood is increased when two wind-shear boundaries
collide.
Mesocyclones in weak shear are harder to detect than
their strong shear counterparts because they may form
initially in precipitation-free environs, because their size
is smaller, and because the vorticity maximum is always
at low levels. Their identification requires more detailed
searching to distinguish them from background noise. At
any distance from the radar, the vorticity maximum may
be located below the radar horizon and, therefore, not
observable. Brady and Szoke suggest that ranges beyond
70 km from the radar may be inadequately sampled when
searching for small vorticity maxima below cloud base.
3.2.2 Tornadic Vortex Signature (TVS)
An advantage of Doppler radar is the possibility of de-
tecting not only the tornado parent circulation, the me-
socyclone, but also the tornado itself. The tornado might
appear in Doppler data as a maximum in spectral width
(velocity spread across the velocity measurement interval)
if the tornado inbound and outbound velocity peaks both
exist within the same sample volume, or the tornado might
appear as a very strong shear between velocities in adjacent
azimuthal sample volumes at constant range. Recognition
by the former, although proposed some years ago (Atlas,
1963), has not proved practical because of the multiplicity
of causes for spectral broadening that result in similar val-
ues. Recognition by the latter is the signature discussed
here. Since the signature often is seen above cloud base
before violent rotation is visible below, the detected ro-
tation does not always fit the definition of tornado and,
therefore, is referred to by the more general name of tor-
nadic vortex signature, not tornado vortex signature.
The TVS was discovered in single-Doppler observations
of the Union City, Oklahoma tornado (Brown et al., 1978).
It was detected as an anomalous region of strong shear
within the mesocyclone, arbitrarily defined to be five times
greater than the mesocyclone shear. It can be thought of
as resulting from two velocity profiles overlaid on each
other with one small (tornado) and one large ( mesocy-
clone). Unfortunately, the aspect ratio problem for tor-
nadoes is much worse than for mesocyclones because of
the considerable reduction in vortex size with respect to
beam dimensions. The relationship may be perceived by
using the normalized Rankine profile (Fig. 3.3) to model
just the tornado. Assuming that most of the velocity peaks
must be preserved to achieve recognition, a ratio of beam-
width to core radius not much greater than 1 can be tol-
erated. This means that the TVS would stand out as a
higher shear region only for strong and wide tornadoes at
relatively short range. Discrete sampling also influences
detection because, without overlapping beams, even a
reasonably sized beam might be pointed incorrectly to
 SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DETECTION BY RADAR 637

measure the velocity peak. Overlapping of beams is 0

thought to add 30%-50% to maximum detection range.
(\J
I

Assuming a one-degree beam with samples every one de- 1909 CST
gree (adjacent but not overlapping), the maximum detec- 0.4° ELEV
tion range is estimated at no more than 100 km, even for E
-""
a 2-km-wide tornado.
Tornadic vortex signatures can be found within parent z
<:t
mesocyclones that form in weak as well as strong shear ~
0::
environments. However, the strongest tornadoes seem to 0
z
develop from strong shear mesocyclones. It is important ~
to emphasize that not all tornadoes, even at close range, 0
0::
will have TVSs. Narrow tornadoes (10-100 m diameter) lL

may escape detection at only 10-km range. Thus, whole

classes of tornadoes may be excluded from observation.
For example, it is rare for tornadoes along gust fronts ( usu-
ally narrow, weak, and short-lived) to have TVSs. Signif-
icant (high-speed) tornadoes at moderate to long ranges
cannot be detected by TVSs but their presence may be
inferred by the strength of the mesocyclones surrounding 22 MAY 1981
them. (\J
I L__ __ L_ _ _ _i __ _~----~----L----L----~--~
The strongest TVS yet observed at NSSL was for the -73 X-DISTANCE FROM NORMAN (km) -65
Binger, Oklahoma tornado of 22 May 1981 (Fig. 3.8). The
maximum radial-to-radial velocity difference ( 114 m s - 1 )
across the azimuth change increment ( 0.5 °) leads to a shear
value of 1.9 X 10-1 s- 1 • At observation time, the tornado 1909 CST
was 1 km wide and producing damage rated at F4 on the
Fujita scale. Doppler velocity data collected in a different
mode (high PRF; data not shown) indicated peak tornado
winds of over 90 m s - 1 (Zrnic et al., 1985). The tornado's
location within the mesocyclone may be estimated from
Fig. 3.8b although the mesocyclone signature is somewhat
obscured by the strong TVS. The implied mesocyclone di-
ameter is 4 km (see Wood and Brown, 1983, for a simu-
lation of the two-signature combination) . The hook echo
(shown as stippled) is related to the mesocyclone, not
the TVS.
Criteria for defining the TVS were first developed by
Brown et al. ( 1978), who examined ten cases. The steps
involve recognition of strong localized shear between ad-
jacent azimuthal sample volumes. The shear must exhibit
height and time continuity. The rules have been slightly
modified for use in the JDOP Experiment and the DOP-
X-DISTANCE FROM NORMAN (km) -65
LIGHT '87 exercise. One change is to limit the search area
to the mesocyclone region only. Strong but transient shears
Fig. 3.8 Plot of (a) single-Doppler velocities and (b) overlaid re-
not associated with confirmed mesocyclones are disre-
flectivities for Binger, Oklahoma tornado of 22 May 1981. Thick lines
garded.
are single-Doppler contours; thin lines in (a) are radial centers; re-
Although there has been a considerable number of TVS flectivity factor> 30 dBZ shaded in (b). Selected velocities along
observations at NSSL and at other places [AFGL (Kraus, vortex centerline are shown for every other gate location in (a). An
1973); NCAR (Wilson et al., 1980); the National Weather example of radar sample volume size (150 m by 0.8 deg) is shaded
Service in Alabama (Petit, personal communication, in (a). A and B in (b) indicate locations of mesocyclone velocity
1985) ], no complete set of climatological or evolution sta- peaks.
tistics has been compiled. Until that is accomplished, the
recognition criteria and other related TVS conclusions must Another problem in TVS detection (and mesocyclone
be termed tentative and subject to change. The develop- detection to a lesser degree) is the tendency for naturally
ment and interpretation of a large dataset will probably occuring signatures to be located at echo periphery where
await the deployment of the NEXRAD network. weak power return results in low signal-to-noise ratio. In
638 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

these areas, there is a larger variance in the estimation of

mean velocity and poorer determination of the needed
peak values. Also, sidelobe contamination may occur in
the weak signal return areas (Stiegler et al., 1979). One
weak signal return area likely to be affected is the weak
(or bounded weak) echo region where mesocyclones and
TVSs are sometimes found . It is possible for artificially
broadened velocity spectra to result in useless mean ve-
locity estimation. Great care must be exercised in TVS and
mesocyclone detection to ensure that the velocities are ac-
curate and can be utilized to calculate the important shear
quantities.

3.2.3 Low-Level Convective Wind

The storm downdraft, mesohigh, and outflow can be
modeled by an axisymmetric divergence signature (Fig.
3.1 b). Fujita ( 1985) has named these type outflows, when
strong, as downbursts: microbursts if their horizontal di-
mension is less than 4 km and macrobursts if the dimension
is 4 km or greater. [See Fujita and McCarthy (Chapter
31a) for discussion of down burst structure and evolution.]
Following these definitions, microbursts become macro-
bursts as they spread horizontally and combinations of
macrobursts amalgamate together to form even larger
storm or storm system outflows that produce a gust front
at their leading edge. The horizontal scale of the gust front
is large (from a few tens to a few hundred kilometers in
length). With this large outflow, it may not be possible
for a single Doppler to detect the divergence signature,
and the only detectable signature becomes the radial mag-
nitude of the quasi-straight wind.
Some downbursts occur in conjunction with supercell
storms and may result from downdrafts dynamically forced
by strong rotation at low levels (Wolfson, 1983) . Occa-
sionally a storm, not easily classified as to type, may si-
multaneously produce mesocyclones, rotating and non-
rotating and divergent wind patterns that are very difficult Fig. 3.9 (a) Reflectivity and (b) single-Doppler velocity for wind-
to diagnose and completely understand (see Forbes and storm of 28 June 1977. Reflectivity scale is dBZ; velocity scale
Wakimoto, 1983, for such an example). ism s- 1 •
A case where multiple downbursts have combined to
produce a larger outflow with a gust front at its leading
edge is seen in Fig. 3.9. The signature is simply the area outflows and only a few strong ones. This may be mis-
of strong inbound radial velocity. The reflectivity pattern leading because observations (see Chapter 31a) show that
indicates a line of storms least intense in the center portion the strongest winds may be confined to very low heights
(north of the radar). Based on reflectivity alone, it would (below 200 m), which are not sampled well by remote
be tempting to associate the strongest winds with the most radars. We suggest that a moderate divergence (i.e., +15
intense cells (the signatures of section 2) . However, the m s - 1 to -15 m s - 1 ) be used to infer that damaging winds
single-Doppler velocities reveal stronger outflow from the (25m s- 1 ) of a microburst may be occurring near ground
less-reflective cells. The detected high wind area was the level.
only place where wind damage was associated with the Summary statistics for radar viewing of large outflows
squall line. and gust fronts in Oklahoma (Table 3.1) reveal wind
Few sets of radar statistics exist for dowh.bursts and gust speeds as high as 35m s - 1 and large spectrum width. Gust
fronts. Values of microburst velocity difference measured fronts can be recognized on Doppler displays as a narrow
by single Doppler during the Joint Airport Weather Studies band of enhanced radial shear and large spectrum width.
(JAWS) Project indicate a large number of relatively weak The strongest winds extend over a broad front ( 20 to 80
 SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DETECTION BY RADAR 639

TABLE 3.1
Summary Data for Nine Gust fronts (from Kingle et al., 1987)

Average Average
Magnitude of Di1tance from Re8ectivity Diltance from
Gut front Galt front Radial Wind Max Wind to along Ga1t Average Ga1t front
Height Length In Galt front Galt front front Spectrum Width to Storm
Date (km) (km) (m ~-•) (km) (dBZ) (m ~-·) (km)
Max Min Max Min Max Min Ave Max Min Ave Max Min Max Min Ave Max Min Ave
30 Apr 1978 ( ) 3.7 2.5 33.7 6.6 20.7 2.0 9.3 5.0 0.0 1.4 35.2 2.5 9.1 1.4 5.0 17.0 1.0 5.4
30 Apr 1978 (S) 4.2 1.8 105.6 24.4 27.5 2.5 12.9 6.0 0.0 2.9 32.5 4.6 10.9 1.2 6.0 39.0 3.0 10.5
2 May 1978 1.1 0.3 197.2 27.3 10.5 0.3 6.1 6.0 0.0 2.2 42.4 17.2 6.6 1.3 3.8 15.0 7.0 9.8
19 Jun 1980 1.5 0.7 52.3 6.0 17.5 0.4 9.4 7.0 0.0 2.8 36.6 8.7 9.8 2.3 5.0 21.0 0.0 12.3
15 May 1982 2.7 0.9 56.6 19.9 18.3 0.5 6.8 6.0 0.0 1.7 40.0 - 0.9 11.2 3.0 6.8 27.0 0.0 9.3
30 May 1982 3.2 0.3 91.6 13.1 31.1 2.5 20.8 10.0 0.0 3.9 38.1 5.4 12.5 2.1 6.8 40.0 0.0 11.1
17 May 1983 2.3 0.4 27.0 6.6 38.3 6.5 28.6 4.0 1.0 2.2 40.0 26.1 10.1 1.0 5.4 5.0 2.0 3.8
10 jun 1983 1.3 0.4 32.1 14.8 15.1 1.4 8.7 7.0 0.0 0.4 29.1 8.7 8.3 3.4 6.0 24.0 4.0 13.1
26 Apr 1984 3.6 0.3 118.1 42.8 26.5 0.9 12.2 7.0 0.0 2.7 47.7 8.7 ll .8 4.1 7.1 28.0 18.0 21.4
Average 2.6 0.8 79.4 17.9 22.8 1.9 12.8 6.4 0.1 2.2 38.0 9.0 10.0 2.2 5.8 24.0 3.9 10.7

km), are an average of 10 km behind the gust front, and
occur over significantly greater vertical depths than mi-
crobursts ( 2.6 km versus a few hundred meters). The
strongest outflow wind measured by NSSL Doppler was
for the bow echo case of 27 May 1982 with radial com-
ponents of about 60 m s - 1 at a height of 900 m AGL.
There is a continuing need for better techniques with
which to diagnose and warn of damaging windstorms.
Single-Doppler radar offers considerable improvement
over conventional radar, but certain problems remain.
Chief among these are failures to detect winds when the
wind direction is perpendicular to the measured radial
component. When the wind direction approaches a 90°
angle to the beam, the sensed component decreases as a
cosine function. A large fraction of the flow magnitude is
detected for viewing angles up to 45 o. According to Bo-
newitz ( 1978), slightly less than half of the damaging
windstorms within 115 km of the NSSL radar during spring
1977 could be confirmed as severe (measured radial ve-
locity (~25m s- 1 ). New radar techniques in vector wind
detection are a topic of considerable research. One prom-
ising idea is to combine observed Doppler radial compo-
nents with components calculated by tracking small-scale
reflectivity features through correlation analysis. This is
the so-called transverse wind algorithm (Hamidi et al.,
1983 ).
Another problem inherent to radar measurement is the
increase of the beam in height with range, such that near-
ground maxima may be below the radar horizon even if
the strong winds are aligned with the radials. The problem
is worse for microbursts because their horizontal wind
maxima may be confined to very low heights. Microburst
size and vertical structure both suggest a useful maximum
detection range of only about 40 km. The situation is not
quite as bad for larger outflows but some wind maxima
can still be as low as 300m AGL (see Table 3.1) . A good
rule of thumb is to assume that the wind maximum occurs
below cloud base (usually estimated at 1 km without other
input). If so, the radar horizon problem is thought to be
significant (for narrowbeam radars) when the range ex-
ceeds 100 km. Relief from the horizon limitation may pos-
sibly be obtained by detection of convergence aloft at the
downdraft formation height. Roberts and Wilson ( 1986)
and Eilts ( 1987b) have proposed using convergence sig-
natures at 3 to 6 km height to reveal low-level divergence
locations. A final horizon problem occurs in situations
where wind maxima are detected above the horizon but
for some reason are not experienced at ground level (below
the horizon). Winds may be overestimated when the
maximum always remains aloft above a shallow cold (sta-
ble) layer such as with a front or the routinely occurring
nocturnal inversion [see Brown et al. ( 1985) for an example
of overwaming, and Eilts ( 1987a) for a comparison of ra-
dial velocity and surface measurements] .
3.2.4 High-Level Convective Wind
The divergence at the summit of the storm updraft can
be modeled with the Fig. 3.1b divergence signature. An
example of an extremely strong divergence signature is
presented in Fig. 3.10. The high-level divergence signature
is easier to detect than its low-level counterpart (discussed
above) because it is larger in size; it has a greater vertical
depth; there is not a radar horizon limitation; and because
more flow symmetry is normally present at high levels.
Divergence of the radial component calculated from the
single-Doppler signature can be used as a good measure
of the total divergence (Witt and Nelson, 1984). Lemon
and Burgess ( 1980) show an example of an intense storm
640 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

30 MAY 1976 and was an early indicator of reported large hail. The fluc-
tuations in the magnitude of the radial divergence closely
1616 CST 14 km AGL
match those of the echo top, another measure of updraft
180"
strength. Qualitative estimates of radial divergence near
storm summit were used to estimate storm severity during
-160 the JDOP project (Burgess and Devore, 1979). JDOP par-
ticipants concluded that an increase in divergence mag-
nitude was likely to be the first indication that a storm was
becoming severe.
JDOP verification data indicated that large divergence
values were a useful severe hail predictor. The early re-
search findings on storm top divergence and hail have
been expanded into a more formal relationship by Witt
and Nelson ( 1984). They found that divergence can be
estimated by the radial velocity change across the outflow
(e.g., the value for Fig. 3.10 is 154 m s -l). Their results
(Fig. 3.12) portray a close relationship between divergent
-130 km radial velocity difference and reported hail diameter. Fur-
180"
ther, the study found that hail swath width is related to
Fig. 3.10 Single-Doppler storm-top divergence. Shaded region is the size of the radial shear area.
reflectivity factor > 30 dBZ; range at right; 180 deg azimuth from Estimation of upper-level divergence is limited by the
radar is labeled. tilt of the radar beam. For the assumption of horizontal
divergence to hold, only a small amount of the vertical
velocity should be sampled. It is concluded that this implies
where the magnitude of the divergence is related to other elevation angles of 20° or less. If a reasonable severe storm
storm parameters (Fig. 3.11). An increase in radial diver- summit is 15 km, upper-level divergence observation must
gence preceded the development of a hook echo and BWER be at ranges greater than 40 km.
The updraft summit region is very turbulent with strong
shears and large velocity gradients. Also, reflectivities are
20 r-----------......., low in sample volumes containing the divergent velocities.
This combination results in increased chance of a poor
estimate of mean velocity and the likelihood of more data
artifacts (i.e., aliased velocities that are difficult to unfold

15 I X IQ-2

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:I: 5 x 1o- • w 7.5 00/

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(!) (!) c( /

w a:: 5 /
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:r: w w
z
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0 "' 5.0
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CORA. COEF. • .89

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
1600 1630 MAXIMUM f::.V (m s- 1 )
1700
TIME (CST)
Fig. 3.12 Empirically derived relationship between divergent flow
Fig. 3.11 Time-height plot of single-Doppler divergence magnitude magnitude and reported hailstone diameter. Dots are average values;
(x) and storm top ( ·). Dark shading with "B" is BWER; light shading bars mark extreme values; thin solid line is least-squares fit to mean
with "h" is hook echo; time of hail and tornado marked by star. values. (From Witt and Nelson, 1984.)

correctly). Thus, care must be taken to insure that bad
data do not influence the divergence estimation.
3.3 Overview of Performance
Currently, not much information is available on the skill
of single-Doppler radar in identifying severe thunder-
storms. The immature state of operational Doppler radar
and the small number of operational units in the field have
been alluded to in the Introduction. Some data have arisen
from pseudooperational field programs by research groups
at NSSL (JDOP Staff, 1979) and the Program for Regional
Observing and Forecasting Services (PROFS; McCoy,
1986). The National Weather Service operates three
Doppler radars: Marseilles, Illinois ( NWS Staff, 1985a);
Montgomery, Alabama (NWS Staff, 1985b); and Min-
neapolis, Minnesota (Mathews, 198 7). Performance mea-
sures developed from these sources pertain to use of both
reflectivity and velocity signatures and, in all but JDOP,
other inputs (spotter reports, etc.). A number of 5-cm
Doppler radars are being used by private meteorologists
and the media but, to our knowledge, skill measurements
for these systems are not available.
Results presented here are affected by all of the verifi-
cation data and computation constraints previously enu-
merated in the discussion of conventional radar perfor-
mance (section 2.3). It is important to add that Doppler
radar performance is critically affected by scan strategy.
Most of the Doppler signature recognition criteria require
full volumetric scanning to identify coexisting low-level
and high-level signatures and to satisfy vertical continuity.
Much of the initial Doppler data have come from low-
level scans or from only partial tilt sequences. Thus, all
current measures of skill suffer from insufficient data. Scan
time is also important; most of the radars have thus far
scanned slowly while it is known that hazardous storm
features evolve rapidly. There are considerable periods
between velocity scans for two of the NWS radars because
reflectivities also were obtained and simultaneous collec-
tion of both fields was prohibited. The other NWS Doppler
radar (Minnesota) measures only a parameter related to
spectrum width, not mean velocity. Its performance has
initially been indicated as poor (Mathews, 1987).
As mentioned in section 2, the concept of presenting
statistical results ( CSI analysis) to document technique
performance has been rejected. Instead, we offer a quali-
tative evaluation founded on perceptions gleaned from
the verification exercises, current knowledge of storm
structure, and our experiences. In the end, we present an
educated opinion.
Overall, mesocyclone and high-level divergence signa-
tures are rated as best since they possess skill in detecting
all hazards and since they are signatures that can be ob-
served over large increments of the quantitative range of
the radar. A summary of performance on a hazard-by-
hazard basis is presented in this section.
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DETECTION BY RADAR 641
3.3.1 Tornado Detection
All of the Doppler signatures except downburst con-
tribute directly to tornado detection. It is easy to justify
the contributions of mesocyclone and TVS signatures be-
cause they are measures of the rotation. Gust front sig-
natures contribute positively because of the knowledge
that wind shear lines are breeding grounds of tornadoes
through convergence and stretching of existing vertical
vorticity. High-level divergence is a measure of updraft
strength that plays a critical part in tornado formation
through either stretching or tilting of appropriate vertical
or horizontal vorticity. Even downburst signatures can
contribute indirectly to tornado formation when outflow
shear and convergence are involved in producing local
vorticity extremes. Since, most often, downbursts do not
result in tornado formation, the skill is not rated very high.
Through the use of mesocyclone and TVS signatures as
well as the other radar inputs, it appears that approximately
50% of the tornadoes east of the Rocky Mountain high
plains can be detected. Recent PROFS exercises indicate
only about a 25% detection rate for tornadoes in the high
plains. Apparently, this is because many more of the high
plains tornadoes occur in weak shear environments and
produce small circulations that are only well defined close
to the ground. Further east, presumably, there is a greater
proportion of strong shear environments and supercell-
type convection that produces strong, deep mesocyclones.
There is also similar variance in false alarm rates between
the geographic regions. A rate of 25% to 50% is estimated
east of the high plains, with higher rates tabulated by
PROFS for the high plains area.
Of course, it is disappointing that many tornadoes go
undetected, even with Doppler radar, but all misses should
not be treated the same. Most tornadoes missed by Doppler
radar are likely to be weak, small, and short-lived (FO-F1
on the Fujita scale). Strong tornadoes (F2-F3) and, par-
ticularly, violent tornadoes (F4-F5) seem to require a
strong, likely detectable mesocyclone for their existence.
Also, a potential effect of widespread Doppler use will be
a reduction in warning false alarm ratio. Some measures
of pre-Doppler skill (e.g., Kelly and Schaefer, 1982) in-
dicate false alarm values as high as 80%; Doppler values
are significantly lower. We should point out, however, that
another possible outcome of Doppler addition is a tem-
porary increase in false alarm ratio. Radar users who are
not yet fully trained, and have seen few Doppler signa-
tures, may react to weak, ephemeral signatures not meeting
established intensity criteria. Such situations may have
contributed to the high false alarm ratios of the PROFS
1983 and 1985 exercises.
Warning lead time is available only from the JDOP re-
sults, where an average 20-min lead time was found. In
general, these results were for strong mesocyclones with
supercells, embedded in strong vertical shear environ-
ments. The lead time will likely be significant for meso-
642 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
cyclones in strong shear, since tilting of horizontal vorticity
into the vertical will produce early rotation at storm mid-
levels, well before strong rotation near the ground. This
probably is not true for mesocyclones in weak vertical shear
and, consequently, lead times are expected to be shorter.
3.3.2 Convective Wind Detection
The probability of detecting a nontomadic wind event
is highest if it is associated with a mesocyclone or with a
storm that possesses a strong, deep outflow associated with
a large-scale gust front. The downburst signature (low-
level divergence) is very useful when seen, but, unfortu-
nately, the detection range is limited. The observation of
high-level divergence signatures can contribute to wind-
storm detection, since storms with strong updrafts are most
likely to produce the heavy concentration of precipitation
that leads to the occurrence of wet downbursts.
In general, nontomadic and nonmesocyclonic wind is
the hazard with the lowest skill scores. Because of viewing
angle and radar horizon limitations, it is estimated that
considerably less than 50% of the wind events are detected
within the quantitative range of modem Dopplers ( 230
km). The skill score would improve if the scoring range
was reduced to within 100 km. It is interesting to note that
a Doppler radar does best at detecting those windstorms
that will pass directly over it; there is no viewing angle
problem and the radar horizon lowers as the storm ap-
proaches.
3.3.3 Hail Detection
High-level divergence estimates updraft strength and
appears to be very useful in diagnosing the potential for
severe hail. Research results suggest that the probability
of detection is high and the false alarm ratio is low. In
addition, it appears possible that radial divergence esti-
mates and hailstone size increase together. If so, this would
not only allow diagnosis that a storm was producing severe
hail, but also would determine the degree of severity by
resolving the hailstone size. A great advantage of the high-
level divergence signature is that it can be observed over
most of a Doppler radar's quantitative range (the exception
is near the radar). The question of the symmetry of high-
level divergence has not been completely answered. Fur-
ther study is needed, perhaps including airborne Doppler
measurements. The radial divergence signature will be
most useful operationally if it is not dependent on viewing
angle.
Mesocyclone signatures contribute positively to severe
hail detection when the mesocyclone signatures help
identify supercell-type storms. A very strong association
exists between supercell storms and the fall of giant hail
(Browning, 1965).
Reflectivity mass measurements (i.e., VIL and SWP) are
also robust severe hail predictors (see section 2). Thus far,
no research algorithm nor known operational use of
Doppler radar has combined the advantages of upper-level
divergence and VIL-type measurements. It is expected that
some combination signature of the two could produce a
very high probability of detection. If so, large hail would
become an even better-detected hazard. Furthermore, the
combination signature should possess a reasonably large
lead time since increases in updraft strength (heralded by
rapid changes in divergence) and formation of large hail
(heralded by rapid changes in mass measurement) should
precede, by a number of minutes, the eventual fall of the
large hail to the ground. Lead time can be tested in the
future when more estimates of hail detection by polariza-
tion techniques become available.
4 THE NEXRAD ERA: A LOOK AHEAD
The operational use of weather radar during the WSR-
57 era (1960 through 1990) has remained more or less
unchanged, except for the addition of the digital processor
(DVIP). A few National Weather Service sites such as
Oklahoma City (now moved to Norman) have incorpo-
rated digital processing and added hardware (RADAP) to
take advantage of new signatures such as VIL and storm
structure, although recognizing that some automation
means change in mode of operation. However, most NWS
offices and that portion of the private sector that derives
radar data from them are using radar to detect severe
weather in the same mode of operation that was in use 25
years ago. Although the authors are less familiar with the
use of radar for severe weather detection in the Air Force
Air Weather Service, we believe the same general statement
applies to them. This long-used operational strategy fea-
tures hands-on data collection with reliance on low-level
PPI and occasional RHI scanning.
The implementation of NEXRAD will bring vast changes
to the use of operational radar. Those groups still doing
business the old way are in for "operational shock."
Hands-off data collection of full three-dimensional vol-
umes will replace former modes. There will be less reliance
on base elevation data and vertical cross sections and more
reliance on three-dimensional volume products generated
via algorithms. Velocity information will greatly increase
the total amount of data and bring powerful new signa-
tures.
New interpretive skills will be needed. Radar interpreters
should be prepared for complicated radial velocity patterns,
clear-air sampling, weak echo and cloud layer detection,
increased resolution with accompanying 10 to 15 dB re-
flectivity increases, and automatic radar calibration, among
other developments. Over 30 different kinds of products
will be available in a wide variety of resolutions, ranges,
and formats. Sarreals et al. ( 1986) discuss some of the
NEXRAD products important to severe storms.
We believe that the effective use of the radar will depend
on correct human interpretation and proper, but not total,
reliance on computer processing. Algorithms will be dis-

cussed below, but even at the current level of complexity,
which needs additions, the algorithms consume one quar-
ter of a million lines of code; the algorithms are elaborate.
Operational procedures for handling and evaluation of
automated alerts need to be established. The correct op-
erational use of algorithms and alerting thresholds is still
the subject of much discussion (e.g., Golden et al., 1986).
We believe one problem for the NEXRAD era will be
in achieving and maintaining the proper "man-ma-
chine mix."
Of the algorithms thought important to severe storm
forecasting, some have existed for a few years, some are
currently under development, and a few known concepts
have yet to be coded. Among those that have already been
written are echo tracking, echo tops, hail, mesocyclone
and TVS, storm structure, and VILjSWP. At this time,
research continues on divergence, gust front, microburst,
hail size, and transverse wind algorithms. Research work
has been started on an algorithm that uses polarization
diversity to identify precipitation type (Lipschutz et al.,
1986) but it is in an early stage of development. The im-
plementation of polarization diversity for NEXRAD radars
is not planned at the time of this writing, but the ability
to add it later is included in the design.
One concept not yet acted upon in algorithm develop-
ment is to present storm history or trend information. In
its simplest form, this would just display the trend of a
single parameter. We envision the possibility of a com-
prehensive diagnosis of storm history (with multiple pa-
rameters) that would lead to useful short-range prediction
of storm behavior. Another possible future concept would
involve using Doppler estimates of environmental winds
(i.e., the so-called VAD technique) to calculate the amount
of horizontal vorticity (vertical shear) that might be tilted
into vertical vorticity if ingested into strong storm updrafts.
This could contribute to an algorithm that gives mesocy-
clone formation potential. Wind hodographs could also be
calculated and used to estimate likely storm propagation
(storm splitting, right-moving, left-moving, etc.).
The advent of NEXRAD will aid warning forecasters
greatly, but certain problem areas must be overcome to
achieve the maximum potential. Most immediate is the
development of a radar operations concept that will take
advantage of the initial radar strong points (computers,
digital data, velocity information, etc.). Efficient operational
application of the NEXRAD system will require well-
trained forecasters and the existence of a well thought out
mix of humans and machines for the detection and inter-
pretation phases of the warning process.
Training is a major area of concern. The new radars will
be more complex, provide more parameters, greatly expand
the number of products and outputs, and demand addi-
tional interpreter knowledge of storm reflectivity and ve-
locity structure. Some warning forecasters are poorly pre-
pared in their knowledge of storm structure and basic radar
principles and need training before NEXRAD arrives. All
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DETECTION BY RADAR 643
forecasters will need substantial training in Doppler prin-
ciples and signatures so that the overwarning syndrome
(documented in section 3.3) will not occur. The importance
of warnings to public safety will require us to shorten the
normal learning curve associated with on-the-job training.
Undoubtedly many areas will require improved algo-
rithms. Overall algorithm immaturity, including the in-
ability to detect consistently the existence of all hazards,
will guide the near future direction of applied research
and development. Software improvements must be
matched to data throughput rates and inherent system
processing constraints. Continued reduction in data arti-
facts (i.e., velocity aliasing, range folding, clutter residue,
etc.) will improve radar performance.
There is an implied requirement for better coordination
between various segments of the research community and
closer liaison with operational forecasters and radar pro-
gram managers. The need for timely technology transfer
will be even greater in the future than it is now.
Finally, problems remain even for a NEXRAD that, as
envisioned, is working perfectly. There is the very real
possibility that diverse algorithms processing different pa-
rameters might logically reach different conclusions about
the existence of a hazard or at least the magnitude of the
threat. For instance, this would be possible with hail, as-
suming that both a reflectivity algorithm and a velocity
algorithm were in place. The forecaster does not need a
question answered by another question (i.e., which algo-
rithm to believe) . Instead, one definitive response is needed
for each hazard. The one answer should be a properly
blended response developed from the output of several
algorithms and other inputs. Enough diagnostic infor-
mation should be contained so that the forecaster can fol-
low the process of input blending. In fact, the pattern rec-
ognition inherent in data interpretation is precisely the
process most amenable to an artificial intelligence ap-
proach. The advent of artificial intelligence technology
suggests that it may be a promising tool for blending al-
gorithm combinations and other diverse inputs. Expert
systems and judgment analysis studies have already begun
to be applied to Doppler radar signatures (Moninger,
1986 ).
At present, more progress is needed in developing prod-
ucts that meet forecaster and user needs and are suitable
for interaction. For example, there is no plan for Civil De-
fense Directors to view the same radar displays that the
forecasters use. If they used the same displays, then they
could coordinate on the same geopolitical boundaries and
highways, see threat areas, vector spotters to needed ob-
servation points, and encode spotter responses. This would
make the forecaster's job easier and improve warning skill,
while directly interacting with groups that have greater
influence in the warning process. Similar problems relate
to interactions with the broadcast media. Plans are in pro-
gress to make NEXRAD data available to nongovernment
users.
644 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
One last concern that is perhaps beyond the scope of
NEXRAD alone is the integration of radar data with other
datasets useful in the warning process (e.g., surface net-
work measurements, lightning frequency and location,
high-resolution satellite images, etc.). The design and im-
plementation of AWIPS-90 (Schmidt, 1986) and other new
technology is relevant to this concern. However, no matter
by what means such data integration takes place, the goal
of system planners should be to bring all of the varied
data (including storm spotter reports as exemplified above)
and analysis tools to the warning forecaster in one user-
friendly workstation.
One must also look to the more distant future in which
the observations are used in combination with both nu-
merical storm and mesoscale models. How this will be
done remains unclear.
5 SUMMARY
5.1 Related Material
Several topics related to severe thunderstorm detection
by radar have not been treated thus far in this review.
These topics are subject material in other chapters but they
deserve some mention here. The first of these topics is
flash flooding, which is a part of the precipitation mea-
surement discussion by Joss and Waldvogel (Chapter 29a).
Using drop-size distributions appropriate for thunder-
storms, several researchers have developed relationships
between reflectivity factor (Z ) and rainfall rate ( R). These
Z I R relationships were summarized by Battan ( 1973) and
have been used operationally by the NWS at their few
radar sites with digital processing capability in order to
calculate accumulated rain that might lead to flash floods
(Saffle, 1976). It has been shown that accumulated rain
estimates can be improved if raingages are used to adjust
the radar-estimated rainfall (Brandes and Wilson, 1982).
The use of the radar I raingage combination is planned for
the NEXRAD network. In the future, even more improve-
ment in radar-derived rainfall may result from more precise
determination of drop-size distributions by dual-polariza-
tion techniques.
Among the many applications of weather radar to avia-
tion meteorology (as generally discussed by Fujita and
McCarthy, Chapter 31a) is the detection of hazardous tur-
bulence in and around severe thunderstorms. A relation-
ship exists between radar echo intensity and storm tur-
bulence (Burnham and Lee, 1969); echoes greater than 40
dBZ should not be penetrated and those storms that feature
50-dBZ returns should have their edges avoided by at least
5 nm horizontal distance. Ground-based as well as airborne
radars may be used for the reflectivity measurements, but
more limitations are imposed on airborne (normally X- or
C-band) radars.
With Doppler radar, there is more direct sensing of tur-
bulence in severe thunderstorms. Small, turbulent velocity
changes are detected as maxima in spectrum width and
prove to be a good indicator of storm turbulence that may
adversely affect aircraft (Zrnic et al., 1987). If the sizes of
the largest turbulent eddies are larger than the radar res-
olution volume and the turbulence is isotropic, then the
magnitude of the turbulence can · be quantified from
Doppler spectral width measurements. Further research is
needed to specify turbulence threshold levels completely.
Clear-air returns from sensitive radars have a number
of uses. These subjects are treated by Gossard (Chapter
27a), Gage (Chapter 28a), and Rottger and Larsen
(Chapter 21a). Low-level convergence lines sensed by en-
hanced reflectivity (thin lines) or Doppler velocities can
be used to predict the initiation of new convection or the
likely propagation direction of existing storms. It appears
that a large percentage of summertime convection may be
anticipated by observing clear-air echoes in the planetary
boundary-layer (Wilson and Schreiber, 1986).
Clear-air velocities from typical weather radars ( 10-cm
wavelength) can be combined with velocity information
from other radars operating at different wavelengths (pro-
filers) to produce vertical wind profiles throughout the
troposphere. The winds can be obtained with much higher
resolution in time and space than is available currently
from rawinsondes. The high-resolution winds will be use-
ful in determining the mesoscale environment in which
storms will form. One important quantity of that environ-
ment is the vertical shear of the horizontal wind. Strong
vertical shears influence storm type and mesocyclone for-
mation through dynamical interactions (see Ray, Chapter
24a, for explanation of the relationship between vertical
shear and updraft strength and evolution). Also, the ver-
tical wind profiles along with other observations can be
input into numerical models to predict storm occurrence
and the nature of the storms.
5.2 Current Severe Thunderstorm Detection
Mostly conventional (non-Doppler) radars are used to
detect severe thunderstorms. The simplest signatures are
maximum reflectivity determined from the PPI display and
echo top height measured from the RHI display. In ad-
dition, a whole spectrum of other signatures, some derived
empirically but never verified, is employed by various seg-
ments of the severe storm community. We recommend
maximum low-level reflectivity and echo top height as
useful values to remove weak echoes from consideration,
but not as reliable signatures since they produce too many
false alarms. The only conventional radar signatures with
high skill scores are vertical reflectivity profile, echo shapes,
three-dimensional storm structure, and certain digital pro-
cessing products.
Detection of strong echo (50 dBZ) at elevated heights
( 8 km) indicates a possible severe storm, especially a large
hail producer. Threshold values vary with latitude and
with season. Such a storm, with strong echo at high levels,

is also more likely to produce strong winds or a tornado,
but skill for that application is considerably less.
An important echo shape is the hook echo (seen only
at short range) or the more general distinctive echo (seen
at longer range intervals). Distinctive echoes are charac-
terized by large echoes with elliptical shape and with VIP
level 4 or greater reflectivities and echo appendages on
their right rear flanks. Because they identify supercell
storms, both hook and distinctive echoes are signatures
for identifying tornadoes although skill scores are only
moderate. Other echo shapes in squall lines (line echo
wave patterns and bow or comma-shaped echoes) are
useful detectors of damaging winds. Some tornadoes may
occur in conjunction with the gust fronts or rotating
comma-heads of these storms.
Three-dimensional echo structure is a good signature
for all types of severe weather. A storm that possesses a
strong core aloft, a weak echo region ( WER), and an echo
top over the WER will probably produce damaging wind
and hail. If the weak echo region becomes bounded
( BWER) or a hooklike echo appears in low levels, the storm
may produce a tornado, particularly as the WER or BWER
collapses.
Digital processing allows for derivation of signatures that
would not be possible otherwise. One of these signatures
is a vertical integration of the reflectivity, a quantity called
vertically integrated liquid (VIL) but misnamed because
much of the reflectivity may result from ice phase precip-
itation. VIL values have been summed over entire storm
areas and the sums correlated to severe weather reports.
This leads to a VIL-related severe weather probability
(SWP). VIL and SWP have been shown to be very good
signatures for severe (% inch and greater) hail with some
skill in detecting damaging winds. VIL and SWP thresholds
may change with latitude and season. Unfortunately, dig-
ital processing computers are currently available at only a
few NWS network radar sites so application of VIL 1SWP
signatures is limited.
5.3 Near-future Severe Thunderstorm
Detection
The approaching implementation of the Next Generation
Weather Radar (NEXRAD) network will soon place new
technology, including velocity processing, into routine op-
erational use. With Doppler capability, several new wind-
field signatures become available for severe storm detec-
tion. Mesocyclones can be detected and their potential for
producing tornadoes can be monitored. In addition, under
the appropriate conditions, signatures for the smaller tor-
nadic vortex (TVS) can be seen and tracked. Together these
two signatures ( mesocyclone and TVS) provide good skill
in identifying tornadoes, particularly the large and severe
kind. Weak, ephemeral tornadoes with small circulations
may escape detection by Doppler radars. Mesocyclones
are also useful in finding the rotating updrafts and strong
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DETECTION BY RADAR 645
winds of supercell storms and provide aid in monitoring
long track events.
When the direction of low-level damaging wind is
aligned with radar radials, the true wind magnitudes will
be sensed; otherwise, only the radial component of the
wind will be measured. Assuming that the angle between
the wind and the radial is small, the damaging wind will
be detected by its large magnitude. If the storm producing
the winds is too far away from the radar, the strongest
flows may be below the radar horizon and not detected.
The gust front associated with damaging winds may show
up as an enhanced band in one or more of the Doppler
displays (reflectivity, mean velocity, and spectrum width).
Thus, single-Doppler radars are useful in identifying
windstorms, but not all damaging winds within range of
the radars can be detected.
The upper-level divergence signature seen with single-
Doppler radar is a measure of total divergence ;:tnd is ~n
indicator of updraft strength. The question of high-level
divergence symmetry has not been completely answered.
If further research indicates that the signature is indepen-
dent of viewing angle, then it can be used quantitatively.
It has already been suggested that values of radial diver-
gence are closely related to reported hail diameter. If so,
this would not only allow for detection of severe hail, but
also for determination of hailstone size. A combination of
upper-level divergence and reflectivity mass measurement
(i.e., VIL) would probably produce an even better severe
hail predictor with a reasonably large lead time.
As NEXRAD is deployed, the operational use of weather
radar will change. Digital processing will become available
on a network-wide basis for the first time. There will be
less reliance on PPI data and RHI scans and more reliance
on three-dimensional volume products generated via al-
gorithms. Velocity information will greatly increase the
total amount of data and bring powerful new signatures.
Algorithms will detect many hazards, but some hazardous
weather will be missed, requiring the development of new
and improved algorithms. The networking of data from
individual radars will allow for nationwide mapping of
precipitation and boundary-layer winds.
Training will be necessary for radar operators so that
they can develop new interpretive skills. NEXRAD will be
more complex, provide more parameters, greatly expand
the number of products, and demand detailed knowledge
of storm reflectivity and velocity structure. Efficient ap-
plication of the new radar system will require a well
thought out mix of humans and machines.
5. 4 future Severe Thunderstorm Detection
Some of the needs for severe thunderstorm detection
by radar will be met by the NEXRAD systems. Others will
not, and these will require further research and develop-
ment of weather radar. One need is for the integration of
radar information with other data streams on versatile,
646 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
modem workstations. Such display output should be
shared among all segments of the warning system: federal
agencies, local civil defense agencies, the media, and
others.
Dual-polarization technology is currently being devel-
oped by the research community. Assuming that the first
results are verified by further experimentation, this tech-
nique holds great promise for future operational use. Dif-
ferential reflectivity or differential phase measurements will
probably provide for highly reliable hail detection. Because
severe hail is already identified with reasonable skill, im-
proved rainfall estimation and increased skill in flash flood
warnings may be of even greater future benefit to weather
forecasters.
Doppler ambiguities (range folding and velocity aliasing)
will continue to be a problem. Current (i.e., NEXRAD)
technological developments reduce the impacts of ambi-
guities but do not eliminate them entirely: it will still be
possible for squall line echoes that are aligned along a
radar radial to be overlaid and for regions of extreme wind
shears to be dealiased incorrectly. Further development is
needed to obtain the optimum combination of a long range
of coverage and a wide interval over which velocities can
be determined unambiguously.
A weakness in NEXRAD-era systems is the time required
to sample the three-dimensional volume surrounding the
radar ( -5 min). This is inadequate to detect rapidly de-
veloping and evolving hazards such as microbursts. This
weakness might be overcome through the construction of
multibeam antennas that would allow for collection of
many elevation angles in just a few revolutions of the an-
tenna. Faster computers would also be necessary to process
and display the data quickly.
There will be continuing need of better spatial resolution
for detection of small features such as tornadoes. Extremely
narrow beamwidths may be achieved by increasing the
size of parabolic dishes or abandoning them in favor of
large phased array antennas. A future phased array system
would need to be fully steerable and capable of rapid
scanning.
Of course, single Dopplers will continue to measure only
radial components of velocity and not complete wind
fields. Hazard detection would be easier if the horizontal
and vertical wind vectors were available. Also, hazard de-
tection suffers from the inability to make near-ground
measurements at relatively long ranges because of the lim-
its of the radar horizon. These problems are not easily
overcome. Automated tracking of reflectivity or radial ve-
locity features (as in the transverse wind algorithm cur-
rently being developed) may supply some of the additional
velocity components that are needed, but further research
is required. Classic dual-Doppler networks do not appear
to be feasible because of the long baselines between op-
erational radars and the great cost of adding many addi-
tional radars. Another possibility is to deploy airborne ra-
dars either in pairs or in combination with a ground-based
radar to obtain a dual-Doppler network. Although an at-
tractive idea, the routine application of airborne Dopplers
into operational use would be limited by the high cost of
aircraft maintenance and the considerable logistics in-
volved in getting the aircraft to the right place at the right
time.
Two other ways have been introduced whereby three-
dimensional wind fields might be obtained. First is the
derivation or retrieval of three-dimensional winds from
just the radial components (Wolfsberg and Lilly, 1986).
This technique requires a large computer to run an elab-
orate model with numerous constraints. A second idea is
to place weather radar onboard satellites. Such a satellite-
borne radar is already planned for the Tropical Rainfall
Measuring Mission (TRMM; Simpson et al., 1988). This
approach is discussed by Hildebrand and Moore (Chapter
22a) and Jorgensen and Meneghini (Chapter 22b).
The problems mentioned here and others remain as ob-
stacles to better severe thunderstorm detection by radar.
The challenges of solving these problems will, in part,
guide the course of radar-related research for many years.
One thing is certain: the future is bright for higher skill
input from radar that leads to more accurate and timely
forecasts and warnings of severe weather. There is every
reason to believe that radar will continue to contribute
greatly to the operational watch/ warning systems in the
coming decades, and thereby better serve the public.
Acknowledgments. We wish to thank Sandra McPherson
for her long and devoted efforts in preparing the multiple
drafts of this manuscript that were necessary to bring it
to its fruition. Joan Kimpel was an excellent aid in several
areas of graphics preparation.
During the course of manuscript preparation, we re-
ceived valuable input from Joe Golden, Panel Leader for
our topic, and members of his panel. We appreciate the
excellent discussion and manuscript review provided by
Rodger Brown, Chuck Doswell, Dusan Zmic, Ralph Don-
aldson, and Dave Atlas, our Editor.
APPENDIX:
LIST Of ACRONYMS
AFGL Air Force Geophysics Laboratory
AWIPS-90 Advanced Weather Interactive Process-
ing System-1990
BWER Bounded Weak Echo Region
CMM Climatological Mature Mesocyclone
CSI Critical Success Index
DOPLIGHT '87 NSSL Doppler-Lightning Experiment
1987
 SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DETECTION BY RADAR 647

D/RADEX Digitized Radar Experiment PROFS Program for Regional Observing and
DVIP Digital Video Integrator and Processor Forecasting Services
ERKE Excess Rotational Kinetic Energy RADAP Radar Data Processor
JAWS Joint Airport Weather Studies RHI Range-Height Indicator
JDOP Joint Doppler Operational Project SWP Severe Weather Probability
LEWP Line Echo Wave Pattern TVS Tomadic Vortex Signature
MCC Mesoscale Convective Complex VAD Velocity-Azimuth Display
NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Re- VIL Vertically Integrated Liquid
search VIP Video Integrator and Processor
NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar WER Weak Echo Region
NSSL National Severe Storms Laboratory WRIST Weather Radar Identification of Severe
NWS National Weather Service Thunderstorms
PPI Plan Position Indicator WSR-57 Weather Surveillance Radar-1957
PRF Pulse Repetition Frequency ZTR Zero Tilt Reflectivity
648
Chapter 30b
Severe Storm Detection: Panel Report
Joseph H. Golden,* Office of the Chief Scientist, NOAA
1 INTRODUCTION
The operational problem of severe storm detection is
driving the modernization plans not only of the National
Weather Service ( NWS), but those of many other countries
worldwide as well. With modem Doppler radar soon to
become operational in the United States, and with new
radar networks (both conventional and Doppler) being
installed or planned in much of the developed world, we
must exploit the technology as best we can. One may also
expect that the widespread use of research radar systems
around the globe will lead naturally to operational tech-
nology transfer. An excellent example is the shared use
by both research and operational groups of the dual-
wavelength Doppler radar facility at King City, Ontario,
Canada.
The review by Burgess and Lemon (Chapter 30a, here-
after referred to as BL) does an admirable job in covering
the essence of severe thunderstorm detection by radar, but
the authors could not possibly have covered the entire
field. Thus, the thrust of this panel report will be twofold:
1) to highlight some of the gaps in BL, and 2) to emphasize
some of the material that, in our view, remains contro-
versial. Severe storm detection and warnings of associated
hazards is surely the most crucial role that radar can play.
Now that we shall soon have a modem radar network, it
is important that we point the way toward using it most
effectively. We shall COI).dude our report by focusing at-
tention on future directions that appear fruitful.
Other chapters in this volume provide relevant back-
ground material and insights; in particular, we refer to the
complementary Chapters 29a and 29b on precipitation
* Golden served as panel chairman. Other panel members were Gerald
Cathey (NWSfNOAA), Robert Copela~d (WCVB-TV,. Bost~n), K.C.
Crawford (NWS /NOAA), Clifford CroZier (Atmosphenc Envrronment
Service, Canada), Paul Desrochers (ST Systems, Inc.), Peter Eccles
(MITRE Corp.), Robert Elvander ( NEXRAD / JSPO), Stephen Goodman
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), Douglas Green (NWS /NOAA),
Gordon Hammond (USAF/AWS/AFGL), Paul Hexter, Jr. (NWS/
NOAA), Edward Johnson (NWSfNOAA), Michael Kraus (AFGL),
Robert Saffle (NWSjNOAA), Bradley Smull (ERL/NOAA), Lt. Col.
Michael Snell (USAF fAir Weather Service), Fred Toepfer (NEXRAD /
JSPO), James Wieler (Raytheon Company), and Herbert Winston (Tycho
Tech, Inc.).
measurement and hydrology, Chapters 31a and 31b on
aviation meteorology, and especially, Chapters 24a and
24b on convective dynamics. These all provide important
adjunct research results and priorities to our operational
emphasis. Finally, illuminating historical perspectives that
have contributed to the widespread use of weather radar
as a primary severe storm detection tool are given by Don-
aldson in Chapter 15.
While not directly radar-detectable, flash floods and
lightning are two of the most lethal hazards of severe
storms. Twenty years of storm-related death statistics
compiled by the NWS show that flash floods, lightning,
and tornadoes are the three most deadly aspects of severe
storms (Fig. 1.1 ). Watson et al. ( 1987) and Buechler et al.
( 1988) discuss the operational problem of lightning oc-
currences with moderate reflectivities near the surface.
Chapter 18 of this volume, by Williams et al., gives further
insights on thunderstorm electrification. Of these three
phenomena, only the tornado is currently part of the of-
ficial NWS definition of a severe thunderstorm (Hales,
1987). While adding lightning and flash floods to the def-
inition might seem advisable, there are valid reasons not
to do so. If NWS forecasters were to use cloud-to-ground
lightning flash-rates as a new, prime criterion for severe
thunderstorm warnings, the public would very likely be
overwamed, and might cease to heed warnings in general.
Flash floods depend on many factors in addition to an
accurate radar estimate of accumulated rainfall (Saffle,
1988) and should remain as a separate warning phenom-
enon. Ultimately, the detection and warning system will
have to be integrated. This should be possible as our ca-
pabilities improve to allow the discrimination among the
various kinds of hazards.
2 GAPS AND CONTROVERSIES
2.1 Re8ectivity Measurements and
Signatures
Among the gaps in the BL review and differences in
perspectives, we wish to emphasize the importance of re-
gional and climatic variability of conventional radar-based

'I
HURRICANES
I The panel emphasizes that a number of technical limi-
'I
TORNADOES
J tional radars for warnings:
.I
LIGHTNING
J fine for supercells in the plains but are not infallible, and
'l
FLASH FLOODS
.J
0 20 40 60 80 100120140160180
Fig. 1.1 United States average annual weather fatality toll (20 year
means) from hazardous weather.
warning criteria, a point later stressed for the NEXRAD
algorithms. More work along these lines needs to be done
on the application of digital reflectivity characteristics to
operational severe storm detection. The panel suggests that
few radar reflectivity signatures apply universally; in fact,
growing evidence shows that, apart from some of the
"distinctive echoes" and large, well-defined "hooks," most
of the other signatures and techniques described by BL
are not applicable to all climatic regions. Results have not
always matched expectations when the "Lemon tech-
nique" (and the WRIST technique adapted from it) has
been applied by many NWS radar operators. This appears
to be particularly true over most of the tropical and sub-
tropical regions of the world, including the southeastern
United States. We strongly suspect that occasional reported
failures of the Lemon technique in some parts of the coun-
try reflect the different environmental conditions there, as
compared to the supercell-spawning environment in
Oklahoma. These differences appear to be minimized by
BL, especially in the case of the documented shortcomings
of the Lemon I WRIST criteria during the Carolinas tornado
outbreak of 28 March 1984 (NOAA, 1984).
The introduction of computer processing (RADAP-11;
see Saffle, 1976) and forecaster workstations (ICRAD-
Interactive Color Radar Analysis and Display) at selected
NWS S-band network sites has allowed NWS staff at these
locations to monitor multiple significant storms concur-
rently and efficiently. This capability derives mainly from
the use of pre-NEXRAD algorithms that automatically in-
vestigate the three-dimensional characteristics of storms
(VIL and storm structure) and apply statistical radar-severe
weather relationships (SWP-severe weather probability;
see Elvander, 1977) . The value of such computer-assisted
analysis of radar information has been demonstrated by
greatly improved severe thunderstorm warning verification
scores at WSFO Oklahoma City (Winston and Ruthi, 1986;
McGovern, 1987).
SEVERE STORM DETECTION 649
2.2 Operational Detection Criteria
tations and obstacles frequently confront NWS field per-
sonnel in their use of both C-band and S-band conven-
a) The tilt sequence techniques (Lemon, WRIST) are
certainly do not work everywhere under all conditions.
NWS radar operators and forecasters will appreciate all
the guidance they can get, but they will naturally tend to
use what they think works best for them.
b) At present, apart from the radar sites equipped with
digital processors and interactive workstations, little time
is available to dissect and analyze manually each potential
severe storm whenever a handful of these echoes appears
on the scope. This leads directly to the need for some
serniautomated warning aids.
c) There have been some well-documented difficulties
(e.g., Carolinas tornado outbreak, 1984) in using C-band
radars for operational tracking and warnings of severe
thunderstorms and tornadoes. Indeed, Johnson and
Brandes (1987) found that C-band attenuation led to
underestimates of an Oklahoma supercell's maximum re-
flectivities by at least 20-30 dBZ and affected radial velocity
patterns to a lesser degree.
We reiterate that the utility of any particular signature
is dependent upon regional and seasonal climatology. For
example, at one station in the Midwest, comma shape and
bow shape signatures sometimes evident in PPI scans are
very useful in March and April, while the tilt sequence
techniques are more useful in the summer months (Przy-
bylinski, 1982, 1988). The use of these approaches should
be tailored to climatology and fine tuned for individual
stations.
Encouraging signs of progress in achieving a systematic
improvement in severe thunderstorm and tornado warning
accuracy in all mainland NWS regions over the past few
years are shown in Fig. 2.1 (after Grenier et al., 1988) .
This success has been led by the remarkable improvement
in warning accuracy and lead times demonstrated at WSFO
Oklahoma City since 1982 by the exploitation of RADAP-
11 I ICRAD and the DOPLIGHT Doppler sharing experi-
ments with NSSL (Devore, 1983; Winston and Ruthi,
1986). The improvement in warnings at the other, non-
RADAP sites (not shown here) is generally attributed to
stronger local and regional management, greater emphasis
on the vertical structure of storms, and improved verifi-
cation. With regard to severe storm radar signatures cur-
rently used by NWS radar offices and the misapplication
of radar, the panel agrees that temporally and spatially
accurate ground-truth data are often insufficient for a
sound evaluation of radar detection criteria.
650 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

0.90 ( 1982) and Rotunno and Klemp ( 1982) have emphasized

FAR
0.80
0.70
0.60
0.50
0.40
POD
0.30
0.20
0.10
CSI
1984 1985 1986
YEAR
Fig. 2.1 . National severe local storm warning verification statistics
for 1981-87 (adapted from Grenier et al., 1988). Critical success
. dex (CSI ) -_ verified warnings . b b. .
m .. . , pro a 111ty
tota 1events + unverified warnmgs
. warned events
of detectwn (POD) = ; false alarm ratio (FAR)
tota 1events
unverified warnings
total warnings
2.3 Physical and Dynamical Background
The panel believes that more work is needed to provide
a lucid explanation of the linkage between echo mor-
phology, as seen by conventional radar, and the knowledge
about storm kinematics and dynamics, as portrayed by
Doppler radar. The current understanding of some of these
issues is covered in Chapter 24a by Ray, which also pro-
vides much of the research base for the BL review and this
panel report.
The panel concurs with the general idea that echo-top
height changes are useful for warnings of some severe
storm phenomena. Moreover, as shown by Forbes and
Wakimoto (1983) and Golden et al. (1986), storms with
echo tops that locally penetrate the equilibrium level are
most likely to become severe and, when accompanied by
a low-level hook or pendant-shaped echo, are also likely
to spawn tornadoes.
The panel also believes that successful detection of se-
vere storm phenomena a priori requires some knowledge
of the local storm environment. Presently that knowledge
is inferred from coarse surface and rawinsonde data, and
satellite soundings (including cloud motion analyses).
Clearly, improved wind measurements are required to uti-
lize the results of either theoretical or model studies. For
example, recent theoretical studies by Weisman and Klemp
the effects of the detailed profile of the shear vector in
determining storm splitting and subsequent deviate cell
motion.
Moreover, Davies-Jones ( 1984) and Davies-Jones et al.
( 1984) theorize that the tornadogenesis potential of su-
percells depends on the close-in wind hodograph, which
could be monitored in real time by NEXRAD VADs and
wind profilers ( Zrnic et al., 1986). Observational evidence
for a strong correlation between subsequent potential
buoyant energy and low-level shear on the nearby morning
sounding and development of tornadic thunderstorms is
given by Rasmussen and Wilhelmson ( 1983). The shear
vector proffie therefore provides important information for
severe storm watches, and recent and near-future capa-
bility for clear-air radar wind observing should be helpful
in refining watch areas and timing. Additional insights and
discussion on radar probing of the boundary-layer are
given by Gossard (Chapter 27a) and Kropfli et al. (Chap-
1987 ter 27b).
Recent observational and modeling studies by Holle and
Maier ( 1980), Simpson et al. ( 1986, 1988), Caracena and
Maier ( 198 7), Srivastava ( 198 7), and others suggest that
downdraft formation plays an equally fundamental role
(with updraft strength) in storm severity and maintenance,
especially in moist tropical airmass environments. In ad-
dition, Jensen et al. ( 1983) obtained the most complete
surface-based documentation yet on cyclical development
of a tornado family near Pampa, Texas. They, too, observed
what might have been a "rear flank" downdraft for that
case (no Doppler data were available). However, other
more recent radar-observed tornadic storms (McCaul,
1987) did not contain the rear-flank downdraft postulated
by Lemon and Doswell ( 1979) and by BL. These examples
illustrate that operational severe storm detection techniques
will be most useful and reliable when guided by basic
research as well as by empirically and statistically validated
studies. The relationships between storm behavior and
environmental structure are discussed comprehensively by
Ray (Chapter 24a).
The so-called "occlusion process" referred to by BL and
Lemon and Doswell ( 1979) in association with curling of
the hook echo needs more direct observational verification
with thermodynamic data. Indeed, Brandes ( 1981) was
one of the first to suggest this process from finescale anal-
yses of dual-Doppler data in a tornadic storm. He showed
the kinematic process as an acceleration of the apparent
gust front in the horizontal wind field at cloud base around
the south and southeast quadrants of the mesocyclone.
Supporting thermodynamic data at low levels were not
available in this and most of the other conventional or
Doppler radar studies of the mesocyclone and gust-front
evolution during tornadogenesis.
Operationally, echo morphology studies have not elu-
cidated much beyond the general association of tornadoes
with hook or distinctive echoes. Moreover, such studies
 SEVERE STORM DETECTION 651

have not produced reliable information relating echo sizes measured, upper-level storm divergence needs more
and shapes to other tornado forecasting questions, such quantification and operational testing. It is doubtful that
as: When will it touch down? How intense will it be? How such divergence is circularly symmetric; therefore, a single
long will it last? Are we in a vortex family situation? Doppler is unlikely to detect the maximum divergence.
The dominant theme of the discussion of conventional Other severe storm phenomena requiring coordinated re-
radar in the BL review is research on the Oklahoma su- search and field efforts for improved operational detection
percell and its asserted preeminent role .in strong t?rna- are highlighted below.
dogenesis. However, the role of the multicell s~orm. m se-
vere weather production may be greater than tmphed by 2.3.1 Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCS)
the reported research results to date. It has yet to be dem-
The panel acknowledges the growing body of Doppler
onstrated that, as Chapter 30a states, "the supercell thun-
studies on a very important severe weather producer, the
derstorm, although the least frequent, is the most severe
mesoscale convective complex (MCC; Maddox, 1980).
and is responsible for a disproportionate amount of dam-
Fritsch et al. ( 1986) showed that mesoscale convective
age." Indeed, Zipser and Golden (1979) found that a small
weather systems account for about 30%-70% of the warm
outbreak of damaging tornadoes in eastern Colorado was
season precipitation over much of the region between the
associated with a slow-moving, multicellular storm, with
Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River. Such convec-
no discernible hook echo at any time although the storm
tive weather systems, especially in sequence, are very likely
was well within range of the WSR-57 radar at Limon. Many
the most prolific precipitation producers in the United
of the close associations between tornadogenesis and su-
States, rivaling hurricanes. Doppler radar studies to date
percell storm characteristics do not appear to be applicable
have not elucidated criteria for early forecaster recognition
in Colorado.
of the variety of severe weather events often produced by
The panel consensus is that the BL review of Doppler
MCCs. However, Smull and Houze (1985, 1987a) per-
radar applications to severe storm detection focuses too
formed an elegant study of the life cycle of a midlatitude
narrowly on supercell signatures (e.g., mesocyclone, TVS,
squall line, which exhibited a classic MCC structure at ma-
etc.). Some of the significant omissions and points on
turity, namely, one marked by ascending inflow into the
which we differ with BL are as follows. 1 ) It is generally
system's front and continuing toward its rear, and another
thought that "the flow in the mesocyclone closely resem-
associated with subsiding inflow entering the extreme rear
bles a Rankine combined vortex" (this model assumes
of the system. The rear inflow was associated with a cy-
small crossbeam resolution relative to vortex core). Nev-
clonic midlevel vortex in the stratiform precipitation region.
ertheless, dual-Doppler observations have frequently re-
It produced a concavity, or "notch," in the back edge of
vealed asymmetries in the flow patterns (Brandes, 1984).
the precipitation echo. Shortly after the appearance of the
2) Anticyclonic tornadoes, which have been well docu-
notch, a downwind segment of the leading convective line
mented in recent years (Wakimoto, 1983; Burgess, 1976;
accelerated forward. This appears to give a kinematic ex-
Golden, 1974a,b), were barely mentioned. 3) It is not es-
planation to Przybylinski 's ( 1988) case studies of radar
tablished that "a series of cores occurs in certain meso-
line-echo morphology and severe weather.
cyclones in a predictable way." Very meager observational
A large-scale windstorm, termed the derecho, has been
data exist on the postulated wrapping up of a meso-cold
documented by Johns and Hirt (1987) and is frequently
front around the mesocyclone core. We recommend that
accompanied by widespread significant wind damage. The
future researchers study mesocyclone evolution using a
warm season derecho typically ensues from an MCS mov-
more comprehensive dataset, including thermodynamic
ing along a quasi-stationary, low-level thermal boundary
and moisture data where possible. 4) Forecasters should
in an environment with high potential instability and rel-
be advised that TVS signatures have a low probability of
atively strong midtropospheric winds. Particular radar and
detection (POD) owing to limitations of resolution but,
satellite imagery characteristics are associated with the de-
once detected, the false alarm rate (FAR) is extremely low.
recho-spawning MCS. Recent work by Przybylinski and
Tornadic vortex signatures will be most reliable tornado
DeCaire ( 1985) reveals several types of radar signatures
indicators at closer ranges, but will also be useful at longer
associated with derecho events, including LEWPs and bow
ranges when used with other storm severity measures. We
echoes in certain stages. It appears likely that composite
do agree that TVS climatological and evolution statistics
information from multiple NEXRAD sites will be required
are sorely lacking. 5) The dynamically driven downdraft,
to detect and track the widespread severe weather some-
in addition to the storm updraft, is important to tornado
times associated with the MCS.
development because it provides a mechanism for the
concentration of surface vorticity. 6) We need better un-
derstanding of the physical linkages between the Doppler 2.3.2 Gust fronts
signatures observed aloft and the hazardous meteorological Thunderstorm outflows are detected first and most re-
phenomena manifested at the surface. 7) The apparent liably in the Doppler velocity field; however, gust fronts
close association between hail occurrence and Doppler- can also be detected in the spectrum width as linear pat-
652 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
terns of enhanced values (Klingleet al., 1987). The impact
of gust fronts on subsequent thunderstorm formation was
studied by Weaver and Nelson ( 1982). An algorithm for
the automatic detection of gust fronts with single-Doppler
data has been formulated by Uyeda and Zrnic ( 1986). For
additional details on gust fronts and related downburst
and microburst phenomena, the reader is referred to Fujita
and McCarthy (Chapter 31a).
2..3.3 Floods and Flash Floods
Because of the limitations on the scope of the BL paper,
some subjects are necessarily treated too briefly. Improved
flash flood warnings have been shown to provide the larg-
est potential economic benefit from NEXRAD (Hudlow et
al., 1984). Areal quantitative precipitation estimates often
are the single most important input to hydrometeorological
forecast models used by NWS field offices. Chapters 29a
and 29b provide a more complete discussion of operational
issues in precipitation measurement and hydrology.
A comprehensive set of five algorithms has been de-
veloped by the NWS Hydrologic Research Laboratory for
precipitation processing in NEXRAD (for details, see Ah-
nert et al., 1983, 1984; Walton et al., 1987; Hudlow et al.,
1983). The procedures used are based on real-time rainfall
estimation from the D IRADEX-RADAP system (Saffle,
1988), the GATE Project, and others. Data inputs include
digital reflectivity data from four low tilts and up to 50
remotely accessed raingages under each NEXRAD um-
brella ( 230-km range). Austin ( 1987) cautioned that such
adjustment of the radar measurements by gage data is
warranted only when a number of radar-gage comparisons
indicate a consistent bias. Finally, an improved precipi-
tation projection procedure for the NEXRAD flash-flood
potential system has been described by Walton and John-
son ( 1986). It produces short-term forecasts of precipi-
tation accumulations for up to one hour into the future.
2.4 Integrated Re8ectivity and Doppler
Radar Observations
2.4.1 Generic Severe Storm Issues
Burgess and Lemon stress the importance of single-
Doppler signatures for the future operational detection of
severe storm phenomena. Again, the panel emphasizes
that consideration should be given to physical interpre-
tations of the three moment Doppler data and to regional
and seasonal variability. In addition, accurate early detec-
tion of severe storm phenomena will likely require close
(prediction) monitoring of the optically clear, convectively
disturbed PBL for mesoscale disturbances such as conver-
gence I shear lines, gust fronts, and frontal systems. Chap-
ter 27a by Gossard and Chapter 27b by Kropfli et al. give
good examples. Nowcast experiments of the movement,
possible intersection, and the role of such disturbances on
vorticity concentration have already demonstrated the
possibility of anticipating tornado development areas on
the mesoscale well before storm initiation (Szoke and
Brady, 1987; Brady et al., 1986).
The importance of the mesocyclone and tornadic vortex
signature to future nationwide tornado weather warnings
is not yet clearly established. Burgess ( 1976) did suggest
that the evidence favors a close association between the
existence of a mesocyclone and thunderstorm severity.
Chapter 30a indicates that only half of all mesocyclones
occurring during JDOP in Oklahoma produced verified
tornadoes. Quasi-operational experiments at the Oklahoma
City WSFO over the past 11 years have had a few cases
of confirmed mesocyclones late at night with no associated
tornadoes. Physical mechanisms that might hinder tornado
development in these cases are poorly understood.
The PROFS program, in cooperation with NCAR and
the Denver NWS Forecast Office, has built up eight sum-
mer seasons of mesoscale forecast exercises over eastern
Colorado (see, for example, Haugen, 1986). Both conven-
tional and Doppler radar (including differential reflectivity)
observations of storms that have produced hail and I or
tornadoes have been documented. Ground truth data, in-
cluding video photography, have been provided by several
well-equipped chase teams. Recent observations of the
PROFS program from its severe weather forecast exercises
since 1980 over eastern Colorado include:
• While supercells are observed, many are apparently
anchored to the foothills terrain and remain nearly sta-
tionary.
• As may be the case in Oklahoma, the majority of the
thunderstorms in Colorado are neither supercell nor mul-
ticell in nature, but rather a hybrid type of storm.
• Over the past ten years, high-elevation Colorado tor-
nadoes have been verified in the absence of well-defined
signatures (e.g., Zipser and Golden, 1979; Nuss, 1986;
Wilson and Schreiber, 1986). This is at odds with con-
ventional wisdom and requires special attention.
Additionally, there have been some recent studies of
moderate-strength tornadoes during the transition seasons
that were not associated with hook echoes. Przybylinski
(1988) concluded: "The 10 March 1986 tornado outbreak
is a unique case from which present radar identification
techniques and guidelines may fall short and be of limited
use to the field forecaster." Further work is therefore
needed to improve forecasts and warnings of weaker tor-
nadoes.
2..4.2. Early NEXRAD-Related Issues
Key severe storm detection issues here are 1) the in-
adequacy of applied research on single-Doppler data, 2)
regional and seasonal storm variability, 3) operator train-
ing, 4) scan strategy trade-offs, 5) range and velocity am-

biguities, and 6) residual clutter. Some of the more im-
portant issues are addressed in this section and others are
discussed in more detail later.
Coincidentally, the number and breadth of applied re-
search studies using single-Doppler radar began to decrease
dramatically during the development of the NEXRAD
program in the late 1970s. There are some technical lim-
itations and uncertainties with the successful application
of NEXRAD to the severe storm detection problem, and
these are related to the recent deemphasis of applications
research on single-Doppler data in the research commu-
nity.
A growing problem, which may lead to conflicting severe
storm warnings in the future, involves the use of marginal
pseudo-Doppler systems by the private community. The
panel notes with concern the compounded problems of
attenuation and resolution that occur with the modified
airborne X-band radars (5.5° beamwidth) currently mar-
keted nationwide for use on the ground. These incoherent
radars purport to be Doppler systems but, in fact, have
only a bright, colorized display of reflectivity with overlay
of a parameter related to spectrum width, which is alleged
to detect turbulence or tornadoes. Neither research nor
operational tests have confirmed any consistent, effective
detection of such severe storm phenomena by these
Doppler systems. These modified airborne radars have
been sold to several TV/ radio stations, county and local
governments, and private preparedness groups; dozens of
them are now in use nationwide. Training on interpretation
is left to the user. Bad experiences with missed warnings
have already led to public confusion about the effectiveness
of Doppler radar. Atlas et al. ( 1989) provide a more com-
plete discussion of closely related public and institutional
issues.
A major potential technical limitation on early opera-
tional success with Doppler radar involves the training of
its operators. The panel stresses the need for good case
studies and sound training in radar and all related aspects
of meteorology required for the optimum use of any op-
erational Doppler radar. One of our panel members, Robert
Copeland, is a professional weathercaster with WCVB-
TV, Boston, Massachusetts. He recently distributed an in-
formal radar usage questionnaire among his TV j radio
colleagues. The most disturbing issues are the lack of
training and nonroutine calibration/maintenance of these
radars, especially the pseudo-Doppler variety. (Again, for
more details, see the paper on Educational and Institutional
Issues by Atlas et al. (1989).]
Another obstacle to be overcome is the lack of appro-
priate S-band Doppler radars in different regions and cli-
matic regimes, although the situation worldwide is slowly
improving. Jendrowski ( 1988) has already shown signif-
icant differences in VIL and SWP thresholds for severe
weather between Amarillo, Texas, and Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma, using RADAP-11 archive data. A severe
weather sample size of many events for a given location
SEVERE STORM DETECTION 653
is desirable to derive a reliable radar-severe weather re-
lationship analysis. Therefore, because of the lack of S-
band Doppler radar data in the past, we shall have to
accumulate NEXRAD data for several years to adjust the
algorithms properly for the diverse regions and seasons of
the United States.
It is important to emphasize that the NEXRAD program
represents the first widespread use of both digital reflec-
tivity and Doppler information in an operational environ-
ment. It will be an integrated system with regular data
exchange among agencies and institutions across the
country; it will operate without the need for constant hu-
man intervention, and it will exploit automated analysis
techniques and algorithms wherever possible. While these
are desirable features of the system, we must recognize
the need, noted earlier, to continue an intensive program
of algorithm development and validation with the
NEXRAD radars themselves, and to fine tune the algo-
rithms to the local climatology and geomorphology. For
these reasons and others, the human forecaster will retain
the responsibility to issue forecasts and warnings for the
foreseeable future.
Three of the major known technical limitations on any
Doppler's system performance are related to 1) volumetric
scan strategies, which involve trade-offs between storm
volumes sampled (vertical resolution) versus data update
rates; 2) range and velocity ambiguities; and 3) residual
ground clutter, especially that due to anomalous propa-
gation, and other clutter from non weather moving targets.
(Some work is in progress in these areas-see Chapters
20a and 20b for important new developments and future
priorities.) Anomalous propagation might occur simulta-
neously with severe thunderstorm echoes and might con-
taminate operational Doppler products. Another limitation
is the existence of small gaps in the national NWS
NEXRAD network coverage due to terrain and siting re-
strictions; fortunately, the coverage will be far superior to
that provided by the current conventional radar network.
Some of the gaps in the NWS NEXRAD coverage will be
filled by special agreement with the Department of Defense
to access all their NEXRAD mainland U.S. sites on a sup-
plemental basis.
3 FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
We conclude this panel report by outlining our thoughts
for achieving future improvements in severe storm detec-
tion by radar. Since the NEXRAD system is nearing de-
ployment, some of our recommendations concern imme-
diate needs for research and development on single-
Doppler radar. Others are more speculative and pertain to
the longer term.
3.1 Research Needs and Opportunities
During the decade of the 1990s, the implementation of
NEXRAD on an international scale will afford previously
654 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
unattainable operational capabilities and research oppor-
tunities. We emphasize that early integration of other re-
lated datasets with radar outputs is also required to ensure
positive operational impacts. These and other needs are
discussed in this section.
a) Hurricane and extra tropical storm severity analysis. An
obvious need exists for improved methods to detect and
warn of hazards associated with hurricanes and intense
extratropical storms. For some promising approaches, see
Chapter 25a by Marks, Chapter 25b by Zipser et al., and
Chapter 26b by Parsons et al., and Donaldson and Rug-
giero (1986).
b) Tornado probability and intensity estimation. For im-
proved detection efficiency and warning lead times, we
need techniques to classify mesocyclones quantitatively
(see Donaldson and Desrochers, 1985; Davies-Jones et al.,
1984).
c) Turbulence warning for aircraft. The radar turbulence
algorithm needs to go beyond the tenuous association be-
tween Doppler spectrum width and in-storm turbulence.
The bin-to-bin variability of mean Doppler velocity war-
rants consideration for this purpose.
d) Radar polarimetry. Although there is widespread
agreement that radar polarimetry can be used effectively
to detect hail, and also to provide useful insights concern-
ing the nature of the hydrometeors, controversy continues
regarding its utility in enhancing the quantitative mea-
surement of rainfall and for flood warning. The subject
deserves early research attention so that a decision can be
made by the agencies concerning the incorporation of po-
larimetry in operational systems. (See Chapters 19a and
b, and 29a and b).
e) Icing and bright band I freezing level algorithms. These
algorithms will look at the change of reflectivity with height
to determine if a melting level is present. Current studies
with microwave radiometry are investigating the possible
detection of supercooled water, the key requirement for
icing.
f) Snowfall accumulation. Recent studies using narrower
reflectivity increments in the Pittsburgh RADAP-11 system
are promising. The problem of hydrometeor phase and its
effect on the reflectivity observed by radar have been well
documented (Imai et al., 1955; Sekhon and Srivastava,
1970; Wilson and Brandes, 1979; Smith, 1984). Using
ground truth to derive a Z-R relationship for snow, Boucher
and Wieler ( 1985) showed some success in determining
snowfall rate and accumulation. Such studies need to be
carried much further before we can expect a tractable so-
lution. See Smith (Chapter 29b) for additional discussion.
g) Radar winds in predictive models. Operational Doppler
and wind profi.ler data have important applications to early
detection of severe storms by the joint use of mesoscale
and regional-scale NWP models. This requires coordinated
efforts on four-dimensional data assimilation and objective
analysis techniques to utilize the wealth of information
inherent in the Doppler 1profiler winds and reflectivities.
McGinley and his colleagues at PROFS (personal com-
munication, 1988) have made a promising start at devel-
oping such a local area data assimilation and objective
analysis software program (LAPS). For certain radar soft-
ware currently specified (e.g., velocity dealiasing, calcu-
lation of storm type, mesocyclone formation potential,
etc.), the integration of thermodynamic andlor wind in-
formation into NEXRAD computer calculations is essential.
Moreover, input of thermodynamic data from radiosondes
or satellite soundings to appropriate NEXRAD products
could also be used to forecast the development of certain
storm types. The precipitation and wind data from oper-
ational Dopplers could also be used to adjust future NWP
models mid-run, when they diverge from the observations
(e.g., see Salmon and Warner, 1986). Such an approach
is also discussed by Parsons et al. (Chapter 26b).
h) Combining ground and airborne Doppler. The capabil-
ities of current and planned airborne Doppler systems are
covered by Hildebrand and Moore (Chapter 22a). The
method of combining high-resolution, ground-based
Doppler data from single or multiple S-band systems such
as NEXRAD with Doppler measurements from airborne
platforms has already been demonstrated by Jorgensen et
al. ( 1983), and the uncertainties of this approach have
been examined by Ray and Jorgensen ( 1988). Jorgensen
and Meneghini (Chapter 22b) elaborate upon this ap-
proach.
i) Clear-air applications. There are a host of potential
applications of sensitive radars to the detection of clear-
air phenomena that either signal the occurrence of im-
minent convection or are the result of storm activity. Par-
ticular attention should be paid to the signs of the early
development of convection and their relation to the sub-
sequent occurrence of severe storms. We must also pursue
the work on the role of gust fronts in triggering storms.
Moreover, the incorporation of clear-air radar data into
boundary-layer models should provide improved skill in
forecasts of the time, place, and intensity of convection
(Benjamin and Carlson, 1986; Achtemeier, 1982, 1985).
j) Hybrid uses of radar and microwave radiometry for flash
floods. Microwave radiometers can provide a measure of
the integrated water content along a path; when used in
conjunction with the radar, improved estimates of rain
rate are possible (Lu and Hai, 1980). This approach de-
serves serious attention.
k) Identification of fronts. The identification of fronts
through the use of VADs and related techniques for the
detection of wind shear should be readily accomplished.
Its value is self-evident.
I) Derivation of three-dimensional Doppler winds with one
radar. There is a great need for the deduction of the full
two-dimensional wind vector from single-Doppler data,
and the subsequent computation of the three-dimensional
wind field. The approach of Wolfsberg ( 1987) is promising
and deserves prompt development and evaluation.

m) Nowcasts of storm type and mesocyclone formation. As
noted earlier, each NEXRAD will produce VAD environ-
mental wind profiles and storm motion plots, past and
projected. These could be combined to provide estimates
of streamwise, storm-relative vorticity to identify those
storms most likely to produce mesocyclones (Davies-Jones,
1984). The VAD profiles will also permit the quick pro-
duction of wind hodographs, which can be used along
with wind profiler data for winds above the boundary-
layer to nowcast certain storm types and subsequent mo-
tion (Davies-Jones et al., 1984).
n) Data synthesis from various observing systems. Some
novel approaches to data synthesis using advanced soft-
ware routines for digital imaging systems have been re-
ported by Vonder Haar et al. (1988) and Birkenheuer
( 198 7). These software routines can be used to obtain
three- and four-dimensional computer-generated images
from meteorological satellite, radar, and conventional data.
It is possible that bright, ultra-high resolution displays
could combine NEXRAD with other datasets to produce
an easily interpretable and interactive three-dimensional
diagnostic view of the storm and its environment through-
out its life cycle.
o) Lightning observations. Early incorporation of cloud-
to-ground lightning strike occurrences with the NEXRAD
data could be accomplished soon after its deployment
(Goodman et al., 1988). This would greatly aid the dis-
crimination between shower and thunderstorm echoes
and could quantify the magnitude of the storm lightning
threat. This was highlighted earlier as a major operational
problem.
p) Expert systems. We are also aware of a growing num-
ber of promising software developments that utilize expert
systems to aid in the interpretation of meteorological phe-
nomena, including severe storms, from Doppler data (e.g.,
the "ARCHER" program; Moninger, 1988). Artificial in-
telligence techniques are, in some instances, directly ap-
plicable to radar algorithm design. A key challenge will
be to provide methods to the forecaster that aid in rapid
assimilation and interpretation of complex Doppler dis-
plays in order to issue timely severe weather warnings.
Artificial intelligence methods could be adapted to "done"
the human Doppler experts and their evaluation of a storm
as a hail- or tornado-producer, based on all available radar
and ancillary data. However, because so much of our ex-
isting skill depends upon personal experience and intuition,
which is difficult to automate, we expect that the human
forecaster will be a critical part of the system for the fore-
seeable future.
3 . .2. Ongoing NEXRAD-Related Concerns
Although many of the above future needs relate to
NEXRAD, the following represent particular NEXRAD
priorities.
SEVERE STORM DETECTION 655
a) NEXRAD data archival. While the capability for data
archival exists in the system at the antenna sites, the ex-
tremely high data rates will require frequent changes of
the recording medium at those remote sites. The NEXRAD
design includes an optical laser disc system for Archive-
11, the WORM (write once, read many) approach described
by Mass et al. (1987). Large discs used with this system
can archive up to 3.5 gigabytes of data; however, during
active storm outbreaks, the discs would have to be man-
ually changed every six hours unless an automatic changer
can be designed and implemented.
b) Dissemination of data. Much of the needed improve-
ment in algorithm performance and the input data to de-
velop new algorithms will come only from the archived
data, gathered early from diverse locations nationwide in
operational Doppler deployment. The archived base data
should be made available to both government and uni-
versity scientists. See Atlas et al. ( 1989) for further dis-
cussion.
c) Operator training. The imminent deployments of
NEXRAD, airport terminal Doppler weather radars, and
wind profilers by the various agencies in the United States
create an urgent requirement for an increasing number of
well-trained technicians and meteorologists who are ca-
pable of exploiting these advanced technologies and in-
tegrating them into operational protocols. This subject is
also elaborated upon by Atlas et al. ( 1989).
d) Adaptive scan strategies. Radar scan strategies need
to be reexamined in the light of conflicting needs, and
priorities then set for severe weather events. While stan-
dard scan strategies have certain obvious advantages, it is
important that flexibility be retained. In many cases pre-
scribed scan strategies will not be optimum, e.g., when a
storm occupies a narrow domain. NEXRAD can accept up
to eight different selectable and programmable scan strat-
egies. An end result should be improved operational
Doppler products and versatility for use in research.
As the NEXRAD systems are deployed in the early
1990s, we shall quickly learn a great deal about what needs
to be done to improve the system. An era of exciting new
discoveries awaits us. We confidently predict that just as
major advances in knowledge of severe storm behavior
ensued with the advent of the current radar network, even
more surprising insights will occur on a broad scale. Up
to now, radar coverage in the West has been very poor
and was possible only with a few NWS radars and FAA
ARTCC long-wavelength radars. NEXRAD will surely re-
sult in an entirely new severe storm climatology and as-
sociated concepts in the western United States. Hints al-
ready abound, with recent cases of large waterspouts over
the Great Salt Lake (Simpson et al., 1986, 1988) and maxi-
tornadoes in elevated mountainous terrain (Fujita, 1988).
Work in diverse locations over the past few years
strongly indicates that a whole spectrum of micro- and
mesoscale disturbances will also be routinely observed in
656 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

the optically clear boundary-layer. We therefore expect ICRAD Interactive Color Radar Analysis and Dis-
that NEXRAD will lead to a quantum jump in meteoro- play (used with RADAP-11)
logical knowledge and its operational application. JDOP Joint Doppler Operational Project
We must do everything possible to exploit this exciting LEWP Line Echo Wave Pattern
new technology. To accomplish this, the research com- MCC Mesoscale Convective Complex
munity must have access to the radars and the data. We MCS Mesoscale Convective System
shall thereby build a solid bridge between the research NASA National Aeronautics and Space Adminis-
and operational groups to assure continued advances in tration
the discipline in general, and in severe storm detection in NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research
particular. NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar
NOAA National Oceanic and. Atmospheric Ad-
ministration
NSSL National Severe Storms Laboratory
APPENDIX: NWP Numerical Weather Prediction
LIST OF ACRONYMS NWS National Weather Service
PBL Planetary Boundary-Layer
POD Probability of Detection
AFGL Air Force Geophysics Laboratory
ARTCC Air Route Traffic Control Center = warned events)
AWS Air Weather Service (
total events
BL Burgess and Lemon review (Chapter 30a)
CSI Critical Success Index PPI Plan Position Indicator
verified warnings ) PROFS Program for Regional Observing and Fore-
( casting Services
= total events and unverified warnings
RADAP Radar Data Processor
DfRADEX Digitized Radar Experiment SWP Severe Weather Probability
DO PLIGHT NSSL Doppler-Lightning Experiment TVS Tornadic Vortex Signature
ERL Environmental Research Laboratories USAF United States Air Force
FAA Federal Aviation Administration VAD Velocity-Azimuth Display
VIL Vertically Integrated Liquid
. ( unverified warnings )
FAR Fa1se Alarm Ratio = . WRIST Weather Radar Identification of Severe
tota1 warrungs
Thunderstorms
GATE CARP (Global Atmospheric Research Pro- WSFO Weather Service Forecast Office
gram) Atlantic Tropical Experiment WSR Weather Surveillance Radar

Chapter 31a
The Application of Weather Radar to Aviation Meteorology
T. Theodore Fujita, The University of Chicago . *
John McCarthy, National Center for Atmospherzc Research
1 INTRODUCTION
During the Second World War, two major technological
advances occurred that were to have a revolutionary im-
pact on aviation weather: the development of radar use
in weather detection and, simultaneously, the development
of a greatly expanded use of aircraft. The use of weather
radar in aviation was to prove revolutionary over the next
40 years by providing previously unavailable resolution
regarding the nature of storms, events that in the early
days of aviation took a high toll in lives.
Weather radar was to benefit aviation in enroute needs
and in the immediate airport terminal area during takeoff
and landing activities. To deal successfully with the airport
terminal weather hazard, aviation meteorology requires
addressing the 0.5-5.0 km space scale and 5-50 sec time
scale. The historical developments of conventional radar
and, in recent years, Doppler radar have aided aviation in
major ways to reduce the great hazard presented by severe
storms.
During the past 40 years or so, a great emphasis has
been placed on the thunderstorm as the most severe avia-
tion weather hazard. The use of radar as a hazard warning
device and as an exploratory tool to probe the thunder-
storm environment has been at the forefront of research,
development, and technology transfer. An excellent review
of aviation aspects of thunderstorms can be found in Lee
and Beckwith ( 1981), which was part of a major work on
thunderstorms edited by Kessler ( 1981).
We do not attempt to repeat the review of Lee and Beck-
with here; their review was a comprehensive examination
of the relationship between thunderstorms and aviation
in the years up to and including 1978. They discussed the
strong correlation between thunderstorm encounters by
aircraft and accidents from hazards that include hail,
lightning strikes, extreme turbulence, heavy precipitation,
tornadoes, and thunderstorm gust frontal outflows. While
their presentation was comprehensive in these hazards,
the advent of awareness regarding the convective micro-
burst phenomenon was not yet apparent to these review-
ers. Lee and Beckwith then surveyed the means of reducing
• The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the
National Science Foundation.
657
thunderstorm hazards with a strong emphasis on airborne
and ground-based (conventional) radars.
A series of workshops played an important role in the
long-term evolution of the aviation weather system. From
1978 to 1985, the University of Tennessee Space Institute
hosted the Workshop on Meteorological and Environmen-
tal Inputs to Aviation Systems, held annually in Tullahoma,
Tennessee; Dr. Walter Frost of UTSI was the originator
and host of this important series of meetings. During these
workshops, scientists, engineers, pilots, controllers, and
managers met to examine potential new solutions to avia-
tion hazards. Some of the new technologies reported in
this chapter had their origins in these meetings.
Besides the development of weather radar as both a re-
search and operational tool of aviation meteorology, many
innovative analysis techniques have been developed to
aid the researcher in obtaining knowledge about severe
local storms (see the review by Burgess and Lemon, Chap-
ter 30a).
In this chapter we will review several facets of relevant
radar developments as they influence aviation, along with
the parallel development of analysis techniques that apply
to the usage of radar and other similar mesometeorological
sensors. Finally, we will review the current state of aviation
meteorological science and associated technology transfer,
and examine the future directions of aviation meteorology.
We wish to cite the excellent review of convective dynamics
by Ray (Chapter 24a). ._
In 1982-83, the authors served on the National Academy
of Sciences Committee on Low-Altitude Wind Shear and
Its Hazard to Aviation. The late Professor Louis J. Battan
was the Chairman of the Panel on Low-Altitude Wind
Variability, on which we served. The authors deeply ap-
preciated their work with Professor Battan and wish to
dedicate this paper to his memory.
2 PRERADAR STUDIES Of STORM
HAZARDS CRITICAL TO AVIATION
Long before weather radars were available, meteorol-
ogists attempted to determine both wind and pressure
fields associated with localized thunderstorms. In the late
1930s, Suckstorff ( 1938) depicted cold-air outflows be-
neath thunderstorms by converting time variations at a
single station into space variations.
658 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
As air traffic increased, thunderstorm and squall-line re-
lated accidents and difficulties occurred in various parts of
the world, reqUiring a better understanding of thunder-
storm and squall-line circulations. The term "air pocket"
was widely used to explain the sudden loss of aircraft al-
titude, believed to be caused by a pocket of thin air inside
a severe thunderstorm.
In 1939, the Lindenberg Boennetz (Lindenberg Squall
Network), reported by Koschmieder (1955), was estab-
lished near Berlin, Germany, leading to an intense data
collection during the 1940 and 1941 seasons. A similar
data collection effort was initiated in 1939 in Japan. Un-
fortunately, the building to store meteorological instru-
ments for the special observation burned down by a light-
ning-caused fire. After this unexpected delay, the Maebashi
Raiu Kansokumo (Maebashi Thunderstorm Observation
Network) in Japan was operated in 1940 and reported by
Fujiwara ( 1943). The report was classified until the end
of the Second World War. Presented in Fig. 2.1 are thun-
derstorm outflow fields over a Japanese and German net-
work analyzed by Fujita ( 1978). No radars were used in
this network.
Except for their military application, weather radars first
came into prominence in an advanced field experiment
named the Thunderstorm Project, which was conducted
in Florida in 1946 and in Ohio in 1947. Although radars
were used, their maximum range was only 64 km until
July 1947. Thereafter, these short-range radars were re-
placed by a 300-km range radar with a time-lapse camera
attached. Professor Battan was a major participant in the
Thunderstorm Project; in addition to being a project an-
1600 LST Ju I y 27, 194
10 20 30 40km
0~~--~~~--~
5 10 15 20 ~25miles
Fig. 2.1 A field of thunderstorm outflow depicted by the Maebashi
Raiu Kansokumo (Maebashi Thunderstorm Observation Network),
90 km northwest of Tokyo, Japan. The observational project was di-
rected by Fujiwara (1943).
alyst, he published a study of the effect of vertical wind
shear on thunderstorm structure (Byers and Battan, 1949).
The major contribution of the Thunderstorm Project to
aviation meteorology was the discovery of downdraft
through direct measurements by instrumented aircraft and
by computing vertical motions from the divergence of out-
flow fields beneath mature and postmature thunderstorms.
Figure 2.2 presents isohyets of 5-min rainfall superimposed
upon radar-echo areas. The heaviest rainfall of 104 mm
h - 1 seen in the upper chart is located near the center of
the 5 X 10-3 s- 1 divergence. A model of thunderstorm
circulation characterized by updrafts and downdrafts by
Byers and Braham (1949) is reproduced in Fig. 2.3.
3 STATUS OF AVIATION WEATHER
PRIOR TO THE CRASH OF EASTERN
AIRLINES FLIGHT 66 IN 1975
In the previous section, we touched upon the evolution
of thinking about severe convective storms, particularly as
they pertain to downflows and outflows. In the early days,
the focus was on convective storms that had a great pro-
pensity to produce severe, damaging winds on the surface.
These storms were assumed to be serious aviation weather
hazards, as any person or building was susceptible to cat-
astrophic loss.
In the next several sections of this chapter, the historical
development of understanding of severe aviation weather
hazards, with a focus on weather radar, will be addressed.
Initially we will briefly focus on nonconvective weather
hazards, then direct most of our attention to convective
storms, recognizing their critical impact on aviation.
On 24 June 1975 an Eastern Airlines jetliner departed
New Orleans, Louisiana, bound for New York. The flight
was routine until it entered the immediate approach-to-
landing airspace near John F. Kennedy International Air-
port, where it encountered a thunderstorm on approach.
Unfortunately, the aircraft encountered what was later
called a convective microburst, a strong downdraft and
resulting strong outflow, which subjected the aircraft to a
severe downdraft and strong tailwind just before the in-
tended landing. This resulted in a rapid descent of the jet
into the approach lights of Runway 22 Left at JFK. The
resulting crash killed 113 persons; there were 11 survivors.
Before this accident, little was understood about convective
storm wind shear, defined here as a rapidly changing wind
along the flight path. Fujita published a report 15 months
after the accident (Fujita, 1976 ), detailing the existence of
the microburst phenomenon and attributing the accident
to an encounter with a microburst.
The authors see the Eastern Airlines crash as a milestone
when the attention of the aviation weather system turned
to very small convective weather events. This shift in at-
tention was not due so much to the nature of the microburst
phenomenon, but rather to the change in emphasis in the
aviation system to the use of jet aircraft, greatly increased
 THE APPLICATION OF WEATHER RADAR TO AVIATION METEOROLOGY 659

!:11"10'

0
2 j ;,
IRST GUST
LINE
Florida Surface Network
l
Rainfall in Inches Accumulai'J Thunderstorm Project
in 5 Minules Preced1ng 1330 0 2 3
Radar Echo at 1330 Scale of Miles

81°10'

[osl
Tohopekot,qo

;35
I '
f'!r5~
.,. .,.
I• -6\.)
\
2 0 2
Convergence- Divergence ·- Florida Surface Network
_Convergence Hr.- 1___ 0ivergence Hr.- 1 Thunderstorm Project
Me on Wind Vector for 5 Mmutes Preceding 1330 E.S.'T: ? ! ~ ~
Wmd Vector Scole 0 12 24 36 Miles per Hour Seal~ of Miles

Fig. 2.2 A radar echo and 5-min rainfall over the Thunderstorm, Florida Network
(upper chart) and diverging winds centered over the area of heavy rain. The maximum
divergence in the chart is 18 h-1 or 5 X w- 3 s- 1 (lower chart). (From Byers and
Braham, 1949.)

air traffic density, and the need to conduct a detailed me-
soscale analysis to fathom the events that were increasingly
impacting airport operations.
3.1 Nonconvective Weather Critical to
Aviation Safety
The earliest weather textbooks that emerged from Eu-
rope prior to World War II emphasized the obvious interest
in high-latitude storms that occurred there. The classical
cyclone model of frontal evolution of Bjerknes ( 1918) was
the standard for the understanding of wintertime storm
systems. Even to the present day, the cloud and weather
later Bergeron ( 1928) have provided aviation forecasters
with the model to predict low ceilings and visibilities, areas
of fog, icing, and in some cases turbulence associated with
cyclonic storm systems.
During World War II and the decade immediately fol-
lowing the war, a host of operational aviation forecasters,
usually working for the rapidly growing airline industry,
developed a considerable number of operational aviation
weather forecasting products. Probably the most widely
used aviation weather bulletin is "Aviation Weather"
(FAA, 1975), 1 a publication of the National Oceanic and
1 This publication began in 1943 as CAA Bulletin No. 25, "Meteorology

system descriptions of Bjerknes, his colleague Solberg, and for Pilots," and has had several revisions over the years.
660 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
FEET
• Rain
Hotizonlol Sco1e
0 112 1
mi . • Snow
l.__....1,___..
Draft Vrc•or Scole ~ fltsec -Ice Crystals
Fig. 2.3 A model of a thunderstorm in mature stage established by
the Thunderstorm Project by Byers and Braham (1949).
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) which details many aspects
of aviation weather for pilots. The document is widely
used as a pilot training manual and includes sections on
the fundamentals of atmospheric temperature and wind
structure, pressure and altimetry, clouds and precipitation,
stability, fronts, turbulence, icing, thunderstorms, use of
airborne radar, and a variety of special topics such as high
altitude and arctic weather. The principal limitation of this
publication is its relatively infrequent updating, and a great
deal of current and critical aviation weather information
is missing from the material.
Important nonconvective weather aviation hazards in-
clude the structure of midlatitude cyclonic storms and as-
sociated warm (including warm-frontal shallow waves),
cold and occluded fronts, tropical cyclones, widespread
wintertime precipitation areas, vertical wind shear and
turbulence, and low-ceiling and visibility conditions that
produce instrument flight conditions.
Perhaps the most important nonconvective weather
condition of interest is icing. The accumulation of airframe
icing continues to be a substantial cause of accidents, par-
ticularly affecting general and business aviation. The basic
ingredients for icing are, of course, the presence of super-
cooled in-cloud and in-precipitation water and an airframe
that has a sufficient cross section to cause impact of these
hydrometeors. Early icing forecasting efforts were generally
limited to use of the cyclonic wave model to distinguish
icing regions, where cloud or precipitation water contents
were considered to be high and the temperature was be-
low 0°C.
Finally, wind flows pertinent to producing wind shear
and turbulence are addressed in "Aviation Weather" and
in Browne (1961, 1966). Obstructions to wind flow and
mountain wave turbulence have been reasonably well un-
derstood for a number of years, and airline and National
Weather Service personnel have been able to provide some
degree of prediction of these conditions.
3.l The Thunderstorm as an
Aviation Hazard
As discussed in the Introduction, prior to Eastern Flight
66, the primary "target" in aviation was the thunderstorm.
Lee and Beckwith ( 1981) provide an in-depth survey of
thunderstorm hazards to aviation, which include:
• Tornado. The extreme nature of tornadoes has been
well known to pilots for many years, and pilots have long
given wide berths to these most severe storms. The crash
of an Electra airplane in Texas in 1968 may have resulted
from an inadvertent encounter with a tornado.
• Turbulence. In 1960-69, turbulence was the leading
cause of U.S. air carrier accidents, according to Lee and
Beckwith ( 1981; after Thomas, 1971). The most compre-
hensive study of airborne turbulence, as correlated to con-
ventional and Doppler radar, is reported by Burnham and
Lee ( 1969) and by Lee and Beckwith ( 1981). Project Rough
Rider experiments in Oklahoma, in association with the
National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL}, suggested that
pilots should avoid radar reflectivities in excess of 40 dBZ.
More recent work at NSSL suggests that seemingly benign
portions of thunderstorms may contain severe turbulence.
• Hail . The serious nature of hail encounters is welles-
tablished, as readily documented by the smashed leading
edges of the unfortunate aircraft that have had large hail
confrontations. At the current time, radar reflectivity cri-
teria are the only operational means available for avoiding
hail.
• Lightning. There has been considerable debate re-
garding the seriousness of lightning as an aviation hazard.
Lee and Beckwith ( 1981) describe this phenomenon as a
major cause of accidents; prior to the mid-1970s, lightning-
induced fuel explosions were evident. An excellent review
of lightning strike research has recently been produced by
Fisher and Plumber ( 1987), which indicates that lightning
strikes are likely anywhere in thunderstorm clouds when
the temperature is below 0°C. Moreover, any portion of
the aircraft skin is subject to strike. The authors state that
future aircraft with surfaces composed of composite rna-
 THE APPLICATION OF WEATHER RADAR TO AVIATION METEOROLOGY
terials (i.e., Fiberglas) will have an increased risk of serious
problems from lightning strikes.
• Heavy precipitation. While encounters with heavy rain
have long been considered unwise, little definitive evidence
exists that very heavy precipitation can cause accidents.
Research reported by Luers ( 1985) and by Dunham et al.
( 1985), while incomplete, suggests that such encounters
may deleteriously affect flight performance, due to deg-
radation of airflow over airfoils caused by the flow of very
heavy rain over the wing. An additional momentum loss
may be caused by the mere impact of vast quantities of
hydrometeors. Several accidents have been attributed to
the immediate effect of aircraft encounters with heavy rain
and hail. The most notable of these was the crash of
Southern Airways Flight 242 at New Hope, Georgia, where
both engines of a DC-9 flamed out (see Metcalf, 1980).
• Thunderstorm outflow. Until the crash of Eastern Flight
66, the principal thunderstorm outflow identified as an
aviation hazard was the gust front. Charba ( 1974) and
Goff ( 1975) provide detailed studies of gust frontal struc-
ture.
3.2.1 Early Uses of Radar to Clarify Convective
Storm Circulations
A number of important milestones in the evolution of
our understanding of thunderstorms in the aviation context
utilize weather radar as the cornerstone of the research.
While these references are too numerous to cite in detail,
several important areas of research and development are
worthy of mention here.
Battan and Braham (1956) studied convective precipi-
tation using radar-equipped research aircraft over the cen-
tral United States and in the Caribbean. They demonstrated
that the coalescence process can account for the formation
of precipitation in these two regions and in a previously
studied area in New Mexico. This study represented an
early use of research radar to elucidate convective cloud
precipitation physics. Donaldson (1958), in the first of a
series of studies on the analysis of convective storms as
observed by radar, provided a milestone in integrating ra-
dar observations with other mesoscale measurements to
better understand convective storms.
3.2.2 Early Applications of Ground-based Radar
to Aviation System Needs
In the early days of the NSSL in Norman, Oklahoma,
efforts were directed to the use of weather radar to assist
flight operations. In Wilk et al. ( 1965) the weather detec-
tion capabilities of airport surveillance radars of the time
are compared with the standard Weather Bureau radar. In
fact, the early concept of examining the average frequency
of radar signal fluctuations, a forerunner of Doppler con-
cepts, was proposed in this study. The review by Rogers
661
(Chapter 16) gives a more complete description of such
early work.
The need to provide weather radar information in a us-
able format suitable for aviation needs was explored by
Bigler et al. ( 1970). This effort, and others by Wilk at NSSL,
developed and tested remote display technology, which
resulted in radar display pictures in several Weather Bureau
Forecast Offices, in FAA Flight Service Stations, and in
some weather offices of airlines, television stations, and
private weather service forecasters.
Simultaneous to making weather radar available to
aviation, procedures were initiated to provide aircraft with
vectoring around thunderstorms. Lewis ( 1970) summarizes
some of these early procedures and focuses attention on
the early NSSL recommendation for thunderstorm avoid-
ance by aircraft: 20 miles horizontal separation for severe
thunderstorms. More recently, Lewis ( 1978) describes the
placement of two radar reflectivity "contours" on enroute
air traffic control computer-generated display scopes, an
important improvement in display capabilities for aviation.
During the early 1970s, efforts were underway at NSSL
and at the Air Force Geophysical Laboratories to utilize
Doppler weather radar for aviation purposes. These studies
were the precursors to the Next Generation Weather Radar
(NEXRAD), which is reported in detail in other chapters
of this volume. One early technique was the plan shear
indicator reported by Armstrong and Donaldson ( 1969),
which gave an indication of wind shear anomalies in con-
vective storm applications (also see Donaldson, Chapter
15). Later, during the Joint Doppler Project at NSSL in
1978, the remoting of Doppler radar displays was directed
to FAA facilities, including the Oklahoma City TRACON
and the Ft. Worth Air Route Traffic Control Center
(ARTCC).
A strategy for use of the WSR-57 radar in a national
automated weather system was studied in depth by Kessler
and Wilson ( 1971). Many of the system requirements and
products that were to be seen in the advent of NEXRAD,
including aviation system requirements, are outlined in
this important paper.
3.2.3 Development of Airborne Weather Radar
for Storm Avoidance
Early in the development of radar meteorology, the lim-
itations of ground-based radar to support aviation were
recognized. During World War II, it became obvious that
an airborne radar might be useful and, starting in 1947,
several airlines began examining the possibilities. An ex-
cellent example of this effort was conducted at American
Airlines. Between 1947 and 1949, Frank White, an engi-
neer, and Arthur Merewether, head of American Airlines
meteorology (then based in New York), 2 flew a radar-
2Private communication; Mr. Merewether was head of meteorology for
American Airlines from 1946 until his retirement in 1966.
662 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
equipped C-47 in several locations, piloted primarily by
Captain Sam. Saint. Thunderstqrm flying at Denver was
an important part of these missions, which utilized a Gen-
eral Electric AN/ APS-1 0 3-cm radar to detect thunder-
storms in flight. The purpose was to determine whether
such a system could provide appropriate avoidance guid-
ance to pilots. From these tests and from other tests con-
ducted by United Airlines (strongly endorsed by Henry
Harrison, head of United's meteorology department at
Denver), it was clear that airborne radar could revolu-
tionize the aviation system's ability to deal with hazardous
weather, particularly thunderstorms.
These very successful tests were motivated in part by
the invention of the isoecho contouring technique by Atlas
(1947, 1953). This invention allowed airborne radars to
provide both a measure of the precipitation intensity and
its gradient, which is correlated with turbulence. Subse-
quently, flight procedures in heavy weather were radically
changed. The first commercial aircraft airborne radars came
into use with the Douglas DC-6 circa 1950; several years
later the FAA required airborne weather radars for all air
carrier fleets, thus ushering in the era of the airborne
weather radar.
The different types of airborne weather radars, including
an in-depth study of wavelength characteristics, were
studied by Marshall et al. ( 1965). They recommended
caution regarding the widely used 3-cm (X-band) airborne
weather radar due to the substantial attenuation effects
present.
After the implementation of the WSR-57 radar, anum-
ber of comparisons were made between ground-based and
airborne radars. A study by Wilk et al. ( 1969) indicated
that both X-band and C-band radars could be used for
storm avoidance, and that there was general agreement
between ground and airborne radar data.
Much later, the crash of Southern Flight 242 at New
Hope, Georgia, indicated the folly of using an X-band radar
for thunderstorm penetration. In this accident, the flight
crew misinterpreted the attenuation shadow of a very se-
vere thunderstorm and penetrated the echo, which resulted
in loss of power on both engines. The plane crashed on a
country road with great loss of life. Subsequent to this
accident, flight crews that used X-band radar received
substantially improved training regarding attenuation ef-
fects. The Southern 242 accident also provided the per-
ception that hazardous weather information was not rou-
tinely available to flight crews operating in the ARTCC
airspace system, which led to the advent of the Center
Weather Service Units at all ARTCCs. In addition, Clark
( 1980) describes a modification for airborne X-band radars
that compensates for attenuation and colors areas of sus-
pected attenuation blue.
3.1.4 Early Studies Using Weather Radar to
Forecast Aviation Weather
During the 1960s, the Travelers Research Center con-
ducted a research program funded by the FAA for 0-1
hour forecasting of airport terminal weather. The WSR-
57 and a mesonet near Atlantic City were utilized for this
study; forecast variables were ceiling, visibility, and wind.
It was found that by using only lllesonet data, it was not
possible to improve the terminal forecast over persistence.
However, three situations could be correctly forecast by
using mesonet and radar data: 1 ) visual range restricted
by snow, 2) improvement in dense fog visibility by accre-
tion of rain, and 3) wind shift lines that impacted airport
flight operations. This study is reported by Entrekin et al.
( 1969).
Donaldson (Chapter 15) provides a broader perspective
of the application of radar to severe storm research in the
early years.
3.3 The Convective Microburst
The authors believe that a considerable number of air-
planes have experienced great difficulty with a phenom-
enon that we will call "low-altitude wind shear" or, for
the purposes of this paper, "wind shear." This section will
briefly outline the general awareness of wind shear in the
years leading up to the Eastern crash. In the next two sec-
tions, the events following that milestone are chronicled.
3.3.1 The Early Accident Record
Flights into convective storm conditions have long been
recognized as very dangerous, and the landscape is sprin-
kled with the remains of bent aircraft metal as a telltale
sign of these encounters. The fact that wind shear is a
significant factor in a number of these accidents was not
well appreciated by the aviation and meteorological com-
munity until recent years. It was not until the mid-1970s
that the community became aware of the importance of
downdrafts and resulting outflows as the primary cause
of some serious accidents. The early history of these studies
is covered in the previous section.
Microbursts are both a very old and a very new idea.
Only in the last few years has any real scientific under-
standing of their existence been garnered, although the
very early scientific literature suggests that small diverging
outflows beneath storm clouds had been observed. Figure
3.1 from a book written by Bohun ( 1671) is very suggestive
of this diverging flow near the ground, and goes on to call
attention to a horizontal vortex circulation we have seen
in many micro bursts. 3
Much of the early scientific work occurred as part of the
Thunderstorm Project, the first complete study of thun-
derstorms (Byers and Braham, 1949). It was well recog-
nized that thunderstorm outflow and downdrafts occurred
on a space scale that would be hazardous to aircraft.
3This valuable reference was provided by Dr. Ron Taylor, Atmospheric
Science Section of the National Science Foundation. Dr. Taylor is a noted
expert in the early history of meteorology.
 THE APPLICATION OF WEATHER RADAR TO AVIATION METEOROLOGY 663

Fig. 3.1 Oxford fellow R. Bohun wrote A Discourse Concerning the Origins and Properties of Wind (1671). He describes
a sudden puff of wind that descends violently perpendicularly toward the earth F from cloud D, where G represents a stream
or motion of air expelled away from the process. In the "dense" parts of the atmosphere, this flow "reverts" to whirlwinds and
tornadoes. While we take liberties in his description, his drawings are certainly suggestive of microburst features.

The earliest specific reference to aviation wind shear is Recently, the National Transportation Safety Board
the crash of a Douglas DC-3, American Airlines Flight 63, (NTSB) compiled statistics that identify the cause of 51
on 28 July 1943 near Bowling Green, Kentucky. The aircraft wind shear accidents or incidents (see Table 3.1). It is
encountered a descending air column that fanned out
horizontally in the direction of flight, resulting in the air-
craft encountering a downdraft and strong tailwind; thun- TABLE 3.1
derstorms were occurring at the time. This very early report Wind Shear Events by Weather System, 1959 to 1983
was sent to us by Mr. Bud Laynor of the National Trans- (from FAA, 1987a}
portation Safety Board; details are found in the Civil
Aeronautics Board (CAB) File No. 3525-43. N-berof
In the early 1950s, a Delta-Chicago & Southern Douglas Weat.er Sy.te• Wtacl s•ear Evean•
DC-3 crashed immediately after taking off from the Atlanta Convective storms (thunderstorms,
Airport on 15 June 1954. Captain William Melvin, a Delta rain/snow showers) 33
Airlines pilot and wind shear expert, brought this report Front 7
to McCarthy's attention (CAB File No. 1-0133) . The CAB Strong surface winds 2
cited the accident as being caused by an encounter with a Unstable (turbulent) air 2
small-scale convective downdraft and associated diverging Strong winds on top of temperature
inversion 1
outflow. Much later, Fujita was to identify this type of
Sea breeze front 0
feature-as a microburst (see Fujita, 1985). It is interesting Mountain wave 0
to note that small-scale downdrafts and resulting outflows Unknown 6
were understood earlier; Fujita is responsible for positively
Total 51
identifying the phenomenon and stimulating its wide-
spread examination. • Event = accident or incident.
664 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Low

2000 50 kt 50 kt 50 kt
g --~ ·-~ ·-~

w c,0
c Warm Air ~i..\?J.
~ Cold Air ~t:j
0~"\1

~ 15 kt
- -r?J. -
~(ci; Cold Air
15 kt
o~---------A--------~------------
Surface

+- = Surface Windflow Direction

(a) (b)
Fig. 3.2 (a) Cyclonic (counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere) airflow around a low pressure (storm)
center, showing cold and warm fronts intersecting at the low pressure center. Surface windflow is shown as thin
arrows while the windflow at 2000 ft AGL is shown as the thick curoed arrow. (b) Vertical illustration of a
windflow both at the surface and aloft at various locations with respect to fronts. Note horizontal wind shear
across the cold front at the surface and vertical wind shear across the warm front. (From FAA, 1987a.)

interesting to note that two out of every three wind shear Clearly, the main cause of many of the accidents is con-
events were associated with convective storms. Other types vective weather, as described by the earlier accidents. The
of wind shear are also significant; of particular importance early aviation meteorology research focused on thunder-
are the following. storms as a primary contributor to accidents. However,
close examination of convective storms and their damage
• Frontal shear. These wind shears often are identified
patterns led Fujita to realize that the convective microburst
with warm and cold fronts and associat~d strong low-al-
was the culprit in most aviation accidents.
titude winds, which may produce rapidly changing winds
near the ground. It is not uncommon to find the wind at
the surface to be nearly calm, and the wind speed at 0.5 3.3.2 Early Suggestions for Ground-based Wind
km above the surface to be 30 m s - 1• An excellent descrip- Shear Detection Equipment
tion of the low-level frontal wind shear hazard is found
Before the realization that the most serious low-altitude
in Sowa ( 1974, 1975 ). Figure 3.2 illustrates a generic form
wind shear hazard to aviation was the convective micro-
of frontal shear as it might affect flight. One of the best
burst, much of the detection focus was on wind shear that
demonstrations of the use of radar technology to identify
was distributed vertically. For example, warm frontal shear
frontal wind shifts is found in Wilson et al. ( 1980), where
was seen as a vertically distributed shear.
Doppler radar is used to define wind shift boundaries.
• Strong low-altitude winds near the surface. In several
types of cyclonic storm systems, including the warm frontal WINDSPEED (kt)

waves, and in the Central U.S. Plains nocturnal jet situ- 70

ations, winds in the 20-40 m s- 1 range frequently occur 60

,
g 1000
within 200-400 m of the earth's surface. These can have w
D
50
a significant impact on aircraft operations, particularly ~
1- 40
when the aircraft must descend through rapidly decreasing 5<: 500
30
winds to a landing in light or calm winds. Wilson et al. 20
( 1980) demonstrate this situation quite clearly, as seen by 10
Doppler radar. Figures 3.3 and 3.4 illustrate such a case.
~======~---------_____,
• Strong surface winds. A variety of weather conditions Surface
cause strong surface winds, including mountain downslope
Fig. 3.3 When strong winds immediately above the surface (1000
or other orographic-induced winds, local terrain and feet) decrease to a much weaker speed near the ground (or even
building obstructions, certain sea breeze fronts, and frontal reverse direction), a significant performance-decreasing shear results
passages. Maintaining aircraft stability in these situations as the aircraft descends. This scenario is common in warm fronts and
can sometimes be difficult. Figure 3.5 illustrates the effect in association with airflow around low-altitude jet situations. (From
of strong, orographically induced wind shear. FAA, 1987a.)
 THE APPLICATION OF WEATHER RADAR TO AVIATION METEOROLOGY
,
If terrain is rough, flow breaks into turbulent eddies
1000
. o. .oo·o··
§:
w
0
::::>
1-
5
<(
Rough Terrain
0 Acoustic Doppler radar was proposed by Beran ( 1971)
Fig. 3.4 Turbulent eddies in combination with strong wind gradients
near the surface make performance decrease more serious. These
combined conditions are generally not well known or understood by
pilots. (From FAA, 1987a.)
In the mid-1970s, the FAA began to address the low-
altitude wind shear problem in earnest by pursuing several
technologies that suggested possible solutions. (See the
in-depth wind shear review by Shrager, 1977.) The earliest
work was an offshoot from the need to detect aircraft wake
vortices. Birkemeier et al. ( 1973) examined the use of for-
ward scatter continuous wave radar to make wind mea-
surements in the lowest 1 km of the atmosphere.
The first use of pulsed microwave radar in a wind shear
context was given by Smith et al. ( 1974), who described
for the first time the idea of using two coplan-scanning
radars to measure the three-dimensional wind field in a
low-altitude volume. Donaldson et al. ( 1975) later sug-
gested that great possibilities could be derived from Dopp-
ler radar to obtain the full three-dimensional wind field in
severe thunderstorms. Beran ( 1971) cautioned that use of
Doppler radar would ultimately be quite expensive.
Fig. 3.5 This figure illustrates the effects on airflow caused by local blockage in the vicinity of an airport.
(From FAA, 1987a.)
665
There were early suggestions that optical radars that use
lasers could be used to detect wind shear. Viezee et al.
( 1972) and Beran ( 1971) proposed that lidar would pro-
vide wind shear measurement capabilities. More recently,
Rothermel et al. ( 1984) demonstrated the use of ground-
based dual-Doppler lidar as a useful microburst wind shear
detection capability.
and was tested at the FAA Technical Center (previously
called the National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center)
and at JFK Airport in New York. Generally, while acoustic
Doppler wind-measuring systems demonstrated capability,
these tests showed that the data were subject to signal loss
attributable to contamination by airplane and precipitation
noise at the sensing antenna; both sources of contamination
are prevalent at airports.
By the mid-1970s, before the crash of Eastern Flight 66,
some attempt had been made to address low-altitude wind
shear with surface wind and pressure measurements.
However, all the effort remained in the basic research do-
main, and little thought had been given to the operational
requirements of aviation.
3.3.3 Flight Operational Procedures and
Pilot Training
The main early procedures invoked to deal with wind
shear came from the major airlines that developed strong
meteorology departments. These groups provided their air
crews with flying procedures to deal successfully with wind
shear, as noted at the time. Additionally, there was a major
666 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
focus on frontal shear, while several airlines stressed the
importance of mountain wave clear-air turbulence.
Dan Sowa of Northwest was particularly concerned
about convective storms, and he provided Northwest with
excellent guidance regarding thunderstorm avoidance. This
was especially true in his concern for the thunderstorm
gust front. Northwest materials were quite emphatic about
the need to avoid gust fronts, even well outside of the
precipitation cores.
In the late 1950s, Northwest led the aviation industry
by providing effective means of communicating hazardous
weather information, in real time, to flight crews. North-
west developed a direct communication link to each flight
deck, and Sowa did not hesitate to call all pertinent weather
hazard information to his crews. Other airlines followed
suit, using the Aeronautical Radio, Inc. (ARINC) com-
munications link.
While knowledge of convective microbursts was un-
known, Northwest meteorology pilot training materials,
developed by Sowa, stressed the importance of avoiding
high-based, i.e., high plains and mountain, thunderstorm
conditions in which virga were prevalent. In our view,
Sowa had a good understanding of the general phenom-
enon of dry-type microbursts, without making the full
connection to aircraft performance implications, which
later identified these conditions as particularly dangerous
to aircraft.
4 IDENTIFICATION Of THE
MICROBURST AND ITS
RELATIONSHIP TO AIRCRAFT
ACCIDENTS
As we recalled earlier, the crash of Eastern Flight 66 at
JFK Airport represents a milestone for the aviation system
in many domains besides aviation weather. Not only did
the scientific community respond, but the aviation com-
munity also responded in kind. Shrager ( 1977) paraphrases
the FAA engineering and development program plan for
wind shear (FAA, 1976):
This is a development plan for solutions to aviation hazards
created by low-level [low-altitude )4 wind shear in the ter-
minal area. It describes the four-year development program
to satisfy National Airspace System user needs for current
and predicted information concerning wind shear at the
nation's airports. Included in the plan are ( 1) efforts to
better characterize low-level wind shear, (2) plans to define
the hazards of wind shear for the aviation community, (3)
tasks required to develop ground-based devices for haz-
ardous wind shear detection and movement, (4) investi-
4 For a number of years, wind shear as it affects aviation was called "low-
level wind shear." More recently it was determined that this term might
be confusing to a pilot, thinking that "low-level" implies low magnitude.
The current replacement term is "low-altitude wind shear," which in-
dicates that the shear is near the ground but does not imply anything
about its magnitude.
gations into the use of airborne equipment to detect haz-
ardous wind shear and then either warn the pilot of its
presence or assist him in coping with it, (5) an outline of
how the data collected on wind shear will be processed,
analyzed, and reported, and ( 6) provision for integrating
wind shear data into the National Airspace System by de-
veloping data formats and displays suitable to users (air
traffic control systems, pilots, and the National Weather
Service).
This plan, published in 1976, evokes much emotion in the
authors. The date of this writing is 1987, and although
much of this well-stated plan is slowly coming to fruition
today, the road has been long and arduous.
Wind shear phenomena discussed in section 3 relate to
many, but not all, airline accidents and incidents. However,
the downdraft discovered by the Thunderstorm Project
was not regarded as the wind shear that endangers aircraft
at low altitude, because a downdraft at low altitude was
considered too weak to induce damaging horizontal winds.
The CAB accident files reported in section 3 do indicate at
least some awareness of the small-scale nature of the
problem.
After studying the mesoscale airflow associated with the
Eastern Flight 66 accident, Fujita ( 1976) put forward a
new type of wind shear inducer which he called the
"downburst." As the term implies, the downburst circu-
lation is a combination of downflow and outburst winds.
Although the downburst had potential applications to
aviation meteorology, it was regarded as controversial for
several years.
The first reason for its reluctant acceptance was that
most researchers had focused their attention on the larger,
convective storm scale of motion, thus ignoring the down-
burst scale. The second reason that prevailed among
most meteorologists was that they were not aware of either
witnessed or measured strong, diverging winds associated
with a downburst. Fujita, however, took pictures from a
low-flying Cessna of a large number of trees lying flat on
the ground in a starburst or wheel-spoke configuration.
Such damage patterns, rarely seen from the ground, could
be created only by violent winds spreading out from a
single small source above the ground.
Fujita and Byers ( 1977) attempted to compare the
downdraft speeds measured by the Thunderstorm Project
with those encountered by Eastern Flight 66. Their study
led to this definition:
Downburst-a localized, intense downdraft with a
downflow speed of more than 3.6 m s- 1 at 91 m AGL (12
fps at 300ft).
A serious question concerning the Eastern accident was
why one aircraft crashed while most others landed without
difficulty. A time-sequence mesoanalysis in Fig. 4.1 shows
patterns of estimated low-altitude winds during the 25
min in which 14 aircraft landed. The approach area was
covered by a 32 by 13 km (20 by 8 mi) echo as seen by
the Atlantic City radar, which was located 159 km ( 86
 THE APPLICATION OF WEATHER RADAR TO AVIATION METEOROLOGY 667

t;f''

~·

ABANDONED
APPROACH

0 10 20 30,000ft
I I I I I I I I I I I I':' I I I I': I I I I I':' I I I I':
0 I 2 3 4 5 NM

Fig. 4.1 Path of the 14 aircraft that approached Runway 22-L of JFK Airport. Five aircraft took off from Runway
22-R located inside the sea breeze without being affected by downbursts. (From Fujita and Byers, 1977.)

nm) south-southwest of JFK. Most aircraft flew through outburst winds after penetrating the downburst over 1 km
rain during the final approach. This time sequence reveals away from the center.
that the three downburst cells were separated by relatively At this point, the horizontal dimensions of downburst
calm spaces that were penetrated without noticeable shear. winds became an issue that needed to be clarified. For this
The evidence presented in this mesoanalysis shows the specific purpose, a team of meteorologists at the University
need for a Doppler radar in detecting the low-altitude wind of Chicago undertook an extensive aerial photography ef-
shear that may suddenly be generated inside precipitation fort in search of the patterns of trees blown down by dif-
cells. ferent-sized diverging winds. By cataloging and organizing
Fujita and Byers's initial definition of the downburst new photos taken in Michigan and Wisconsin, Fujita and
was based on the downflow speed at the specified altitude. Wakimoto ( 1981) found small but intense downbursts,
However, a study of three accident cases-Eastern Flight identifying them as "microbursts."
66, Continental Flight 426 at Denver on 7 August 1975, Scales of airflow studied by Fujita and Wakimoto ( 1981)
and Allegheny Flight 121 at Philadelphia on 23 June which led to the term "microburst" were studied in depth
1976-by Fujita and Caracena ( 1977) pointed out the im- by analyzing aerial photos being accumulated at the Uni-
portance of the shear of horizontal winds along the flight versity of Chicago and Doppler radar data from the
path to the loss of airspeed which causes a dangerous drop Northern Illinois Meteorological Research on Downbursts
of an aircraft during takeoff and landing operations. (NIMROD) Project. A significant advance in understand-
Composite paths of aircraft relative to a normalized ing Doppler radar cross sections of gust front circulation
downburst show that both the Eastern Flight 66 and the was made by Wakimoto (1982) and by Mueller and Car-
Continental Flight 426 accidents occurred within 1 km of bone ( 1987), who identified the "precipitation roll" behind
the downburst center (see Fig. 4.2). Both the Flying Tiger the leading edge of gust fronts. Wakimoto's gust front
aircraft and Eastern Flight 902 were able to fly out of the model in Fig. 4.3 shows a similarity between the precipi-
668 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

while penetrating microbursts rather than macrobursts.

This is because wind shear in a microburst is generally
much greater than that in a macroburst, attributable to
wind variations within short distances. Furthermore, mi-
crobursts are very hard to detect for advance warnings,
due to their small dimensions and fast changes in time.
Thus, microbursts are important to air safety, while
weather forecasters are concerned about macrobursts,
which are potential inducers of widespread damage.
The existence of misoscale circulations encircling a mi-
croburst was pointed out by Fujita and Wakimoto ( 1983a)
based on their Joint Airport Weather Studies (JAWS) case
studies. (The JAWS experiment will be discussed in the
next section.) Also using JAWS data, Kessinger et al. ( 1984)
obtained the evolution of misoscale circulations, which
proved valuable in early microburst detection technology.

5 FIELD EXPERIMENTS ON
MICROBURSTS AND RELATED
PHENOMENA
A considerable number of basic and applied experiments
have been conducted regarding microbursts, inducer of
Fig. 4.2 Location of aircraft accidents in relation to the center of a
normalized downburst. (From Fujita and Caracena, 1977.)

FOUR STAGES of a GUST FRONT

tation roll and the vortex roll encircling a mature micro-
burst. Nonetheless, their main difference is the horizontal STAGE I
scale, which differs by one to two orders of magnitude FORMATIVE STAGE
between gust fronts and microbursts.
In reviewing tornado and microburst circulations, Fujita
( 1981) thought that it would be useful for aviation me-
teorology to produce a new scale that increases by one,
corresponding to two orders of magnitude increase in hor- STAGE II
izontal dimensions. For example, tornadoes are two orders
of magnitude smaller than mesocyclones; likewise, micro-
bursts are one to two orders of magnitude smaller than
05
gust fronts, etc.
By arranging vowels in alphabetic order, Fujita ( 1981)
introduced five scales with prefixes maso, meso, miso, moso STAGE II I
DI SSIPAT I NG THUNDERSTORM
and muso, with the maximum length of masoscale to be LATE MATURE STAGE
40 000 km, the circumference of the earth. In this new
scale, the dimension of mesoscale ranges between 4 and
400 km, and that of misoscale 40 m to 4 km. Most tor-
nadoes can be grouped into misoscale cyclone (misocy-
clone), but the dimension of downbursts extends on both
sides of 4 km, the dividing scale of meso- and misoscales. NO THUN DER STORM STAGE IV
DISSIPATING STAGE
By using this new scale idea, Fujita subclassified the
downburst as follows:
Downburst-a strong downdraft that induces an out- ------······----··· .... -''2))
burst of damaging winds on or near the ground. Damaging
Okm 10 20 30 40
winds, either straight or curved, are highly divergent.
Macroburst-mesoscale ( 4 to 40 km) downburst.
Microburst-misoscale ( 40 m to 4 km) downburst. Fig. 4.3 The four stages of thunderstorm gust front by Wakimoto
(1982), produced by using the CP-3 Doppler radar of the NIMROD
Investigation of the downburst-related aircraft accidents Project in 1978. He identified the "precipitation roll" formed by airflow
since 1975 showed that the majority of accidents occurred deflected upward by ground friction.
 THE APPLICATION OF WEATHER RADAR TO AVIATION METEOROLOGY 669

the most dangerous wind shear at low altitudes. A con-
siderable nuqtber of research scientists, including the au-
thors, have examined the physical and dynamical prop-
erties of microbursts. Many of their efforts have been
directed toward technology transfer, designed to provide
air traffic controllers and pilots with improved detection
and warning of severe wind shear conditions. All of these
experiments have emphasized Doppler radar as the pri-
mary research tool.
5.1 Basic field Experiments
Three basic field experiments on microbursts have been
conducted in various parts of the United States:
NIMROD (1978)-Northern Illinois Meteorological
Research on Downbursts.
JAWS (1982)-Joint Airport Weather Studies.
MIST (1986)-Microburst and Severe Thunderstorm
Experiment.
Three different climatological regions of the United States
were chosen for the sites of the experiments, because air-
craft accidents and incidents have been reported from var-
ious parts of the country. Table 5.1 presents a summary
of the network and PAM -detected (Portable Automated
Mesonet) microbursts.
The NIMROD network was designed by Ted Fujita and
Ramesh Srivastava of the University of Chicago, with help
from Jim Wilson (NCAR) , Greg Forbes (then University
of Chicago research associate), and Roger Wakimoto (then
University of Chicago graduate student) . A large ( 60-km
base legs) Doppler triangle was selected in the Chicago
area for collecting triple-Doppler data of parent storms
inside the triangle. In order to cover a large area, the av-
erage spacing of PAM stations was.,chosen to be approx-
imately 15 km.
In spite of the careful design and planning, a postop-
eration evaluation of the collected data revealed that any
specific microburst was not detected by more than one
Doppler radar because their ranges were too large to detect
near-ground velocities simultaneously. Likewise, no mi-
croburst influenced more than one PAM station. Under
the circumstance, single-Doppler and single PAM station
data were fully used in determining the structure of bow
echoes that induced damaging downbursts (after Fujita,
1979). Fujita ( 1985) reproduced the first Doppler radar
signature, in association with NIMROD.
The JAWS network was designed jointly by Ted Fujita,
John McCarthy (NCAR), and Jim Wilson, with help from
Roger Wakimoto (then University of Chicago research as-
sociate), fully using the knowledge gained by the first net-
work operation in 1978. The network area in Denver was
reduced significantly in order to detect a microburst by
multiple Doppler radars and multiple PAM stations.
Both PAM and Doppler data collected were excellent in
conducting dual- and triple-Doppler analyses. In addition,
a large number of aerial and ground photos of microbursts
in action were obtained. McCarthy et al. ( 1982) introduced
the experiment to the meteorological community, and sta-
tistics of JAWS microbursts were completed by Fujita and
Wakimoto (1983a). Near-ground wind fields of micro-
bursts, especially of dry microbursts, became known to
both the meteorological and aviation communities by the
efforts of Kessinger et al. ( 1983), Smith and Waranauskas
( 1983), Kropfli ( 1986), and others. Combined analyses of
ground Doppler data and airborne observations were made

TABLE 5.1
Summary of Three Basic Experiments on Microbnrsts•

Expedmeat
Cllar•derlJttc NIMROD JAWS MIST
Year 1978 1982 1986
Location Chicago, IL Denver, CO Huntsville, AL
Period 19 May to 1 Jul 15 May to 9 Aug I junto 31 jul
No. of days 45 86 61
Doppler radars CHILL; CP-3,4 CP-2,3,4 CP-2,3,4; FL-2; UND
Doppler triangle 56 X 57 X 60 km 15 X 18 X 28 km 13 X 15 X 25 and 15 km
Anemometers 27 PAM 27 PAM 41 PAM, 30 mesonet
LLWAS ORD 6DEN 6HSV
Micro bursts
total 50 186 not yet available
per day 0.9 2.2 not yet available
no. of dry 18 (36%) 155 (83%) not yet available
no. of wet 32 (64%) 31 (17%) not yet available
Highest wind 31.3 m s-• 32.6 m s- • not yet available

• Microburst frequencies are those detected by PAM stations only. Doppler radar-detected microbursts are not included
in this table.
670 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
by Mueller and Hildebrand (1983) and Fujita and Waki-
moto (1983b).
Wilson et al. ( 1984) pointed out the importance of
asymmetry of microburst winds in estimating runway-
component winds. It was also found that complicated out-
flows are often caused by multiple microbursts. Microburst
lines were studied by Fujita ( 1985), Hjelmfelt and Roberts
( 1985), Hjelmfelt et al. ( 1986), Hjelmfelt ( 1988), and Pe-
terson (1985). JAWS data were also used by Fujita (1985),
Waranauskas (1985), and Kessinger et al. (1988) to iden-
tify the rotor microbursts with horizontal axes of rotation.
Misocyclones with a vertical rotation axis were studied in
detail by Fujita and Wakimoto (1983a) and Kessinger et
al. (1984).
The MIST network was designed by Ted Fujita and
Roger Wakimoto (UCLA), with assistance from Jim Wilson
and Brian Smith (University of Chicago). It was collocated
with the FLOWS (FAA/Lincoln Laboratory Operational
Studies) network. The combined network consisted of a
total of 71 anemometers and five Doppler radars. These
instruments were distributed in the area to the west of
Huntsville and to the north of Decatur in northern Ala-
bama. One of the NOAA P-3 aircraft with a tail Doppler
radar was also used for airborne measurements and cloud
photography. MIT Lincoln Laboratory provided a 10-cm
Doppler radar (described by Evans and Johnson, 1984)
and a mesonet. In addition, the University of North Dakota
provided a 5-cm Doppler radar.
Analyses of the data from the three basic experiments,
along with the investigation of past aircraft accidents, now
provided the basic knowledge of microbursts, which had
not been known before the Eastern Flight 66 accident in
1975.
600 \
\
500 \
\
400 \
\
300 \
\ \
200 \
\ \
"
100 1
..-
lOOOm
Fig. 5.1 Vertical cross section of a microburst on 29 May 1978 inside the NIMROD
network, depicted by the CP-3 Doppler radar at Yorkville, Illinois. The maximum
horizontal wind speed of 32 m s- 1 was measured at 50 m AGL. (From Fujita,
1981.)
First, it became evident that the height of the maximum
microburst winds above the ground is very low. The max-
imum winds, within a couple of minutes after the ground
contact, actually burst out at 30 to 100m above the ground.
An approach-to-landing, 3-degree glide slope intersection
at these altitudes is 500 to 1000 m short of the glide slope
touchdown. The location of the "burst flow" shown in Fig.
5.1 is where a landing or lifting aircraft suffers most from
a significant loss of indicated airspeed and subsequent sink.
The multiple ring vortices postulated by Fujita ( 1985,
1986) (and confirmed by Wilson et al., 1984, and Kessinger
et al., 1988) in his analysis of the Delta Flight 191 accident
at Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport, are an important finestructure
of microbursts. The principal explanation of multiple vor-
tices seems to be related to the observation that the mi-
croburst downdraft pulsates over its lifetime, resulting in
a series of descending impulses that initiate separate vortex
ring structures. This type of vortex, shown in Fig. 5.2, is
too small to be resolved in its full intensity, particularly
when addressing aircraft performance issues. Figure 5.3
shows concentric rings having large Doppler spectrum
width, made recognizable by the color bar with a 0.3 m
s -I interval. Corresponding reflectivity and Doppler ve-
locity fields are presented in the same figure.
Analyses of aircraft accidents by Fujita and Caracena
( 1977) and Fujita ( 1985) suggest that most of the accidents
(Eastern 66 at JFK, Continental426 at Denver, Pan Amer-
ican 759 at New Orleans, and Delta 191 at Dallas-Ft.
Worth) occurred within 5 min after ground contact of the
respective microburst (see Table 5.2).
Research conducted during the past several years has
indicated that microbursts occur in a continuum of pre-
cipitation intensities. In the JAWS project, microbursts oc-
3km
 THE APPLICATION OF WEAmER RADAR TO AVIATION METEOROLOGY 671

VERTICAL CROSS SECTION

-2000

•1000

'2000

Fig. 5.2 Ring vortices located inside the DFW microburst when the Delta 191 accident occurred. These ring vortices were
inferred by computing the flight-level winds of the accident aircraft. (From Fujita, 1986.)

curred in radar reflectivities ranging from near 0 to over
70 dBZ, as illustrated in Fig. 5.4. Denver experiences a
broad spectrum of microburst reflectivity levels, including
many drier, low-reflectivity cases, whil~ Huntsville expe-
riences only high-reflectivity microbursts.
While the JAWS project addressed many aspects of dry-
area (Denver-type) microbursts, research conducted at
Memphis in 1985 and Huntsville in 1986 provided details
of wet-area microbursts. An example of a Memphis mi-
croburst analysis is the entire life history of the Monrovia,
Alabama microburst of 20 July 1986 during MIST, depicted
by three ground-based and one airborne Doppler radar.
The seedling cloud of this microburst was under surveil-
lance from 15 min before ground contact to long after the
peak wind.
The seedling cloud was first photographed from the
cockpit of the NOAA P-3 at 1406 EDT. About 10 min
later, the microburst cloud showed a constricted feature
at its middle level, giving an impression that the lower
half of the cloud began sinking fast (see top right photo
in Fig. 5.3). An RHI image obtained by the CP -4 radar
(middle right photo) is characterized by a flare-shaped
reflectivity in clear air behind the high-reflectivity core at
the middle level of the cloud. The flare echo can be ex-
plained by the ground-reflection mechanism proposed by
Zrnic (1987) and Wilson and Reum (1988).
Fujita's ( 1986) laboratory experiment shows the exis-
tence of "escape airflow" caused by the pinched airspace
between the descending head of the microburst and the
ground. The mass of air previously occupying the space
must escape before the ground contact of the descending
head. Dual-Doppler winds in Fig. 5.5a present the escape
airflow beneath the Monrovia storm shortly before the
ground contact. Its divergence was only 1.3 X 10 - J s - t. If
we are able to detect such escape winds, they could be
used as one of the precursors needed for early detection
of microbursts.
Figure 5.5b presents microburst winds 3 min 30 sec after
ground contact. In other words, the figure shows the air-
flow of a 3.5-min-old microburst with its horizontal di-
mensions of about 4 km. According to Table 5.2, most
aircraft accidents have occurred at this stage of the micro-
burst. The outburst winds at 1425:55 COT, 5 min 40 s
after ground contact, spread out somewhat, turning into
672 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Fig. 5.3 Left: (top) spectrum width, (middle) reflectivity, and (bottom) Doppler velocity of the Hickory Ridge microburst of 26 June
1985 near Memphis, Tennessee. Right: (top) cloud photo, (middle) reflectivity, and (bottom) Doppler velocity of the Monrovia
microburst of 20 July 1986 near Huntsville, Alabama.
 THE APPLICATION OF WEATHER RADAR TO AVIATION METEOROLOGY 673

TABLE 5.2 5.2.1 The Low-Level Wincl Shear Alert System

Microbarst Information for Four Aircraft Accidents•
In 1976 the FAA began to formulate a new idea to detect
low-altitude wind shear. The effort was stimulated by re-
fltskt
Characteristic Eastem 66 Cont'l '~6 PAA 759 Delta191 search on thunderstorm gust fronts by Goff ( 1975) and
2 Aug 1985
Charba (1974), conducted primarily at NSSL. Apparently,
Date 24 Jun 1975 7 Aug 19759 Jul 1982
Denver New DFW
suggestions by Edwin Kessler and G. Gordon Little (at
Airport JFK
Orleans that time, Directors of NSSL and the NOAAfERL Wave
l!.t 3 min 5 min 5 min or less 1-2 min Propagation Laboratory, respectively) prompted the FAA
t, 1605.2 EDT 1611.3 MDT 1609.0 COT 1805.9 COT to secure the services of R. Craig Goff (then a scientist at
t< 1602 EDT 1606 MDT 1604 COT 1804 COT NSSL) to institute a wind vane I anemometer surface-
D. 3 km 4krn 3km 4km based wind detection system to be situated at airports. In
Goff ( 1980), the complete details of the LLWAS are given.
• t, time of accident after the ground contact of microburst; t,, time of It consists of a centerfield wind sensor and five outlying
aircraft accident; t<, time of microburst ground contact estimated from
the wind shear events experienced by the previous aircraft and surface sensors normally about 2 mi from the center site, whose
wind analysis. D, denotes the dimension of microburst along the flight location is based upon meteorological factors, terrain con-
path at t,. References for information in this table are as follows: for siderations, logistical constraints, and to favor the instru-
Eastern 66 flight, Fujita (1976, pp. 25, 26); for Continental 426, Fujita ment landing system. Figure 5.6a shows the geometry of
and Caracena (1977, pp. 1173, 1175); for PAA 759, Fujita (1983, pp. 6,
28, 29, 34); and for Delta 191, Fujita (1986, pp. 39, 40, 53).

a macroburst (see Fig. 5.5c). At 1429:50 COT, 9 min 35 I I

• I

...-
sec after ground contact, the outflow expanded into a large
area and lost its symmetry almost entirely (see Fig. 5 .5d). >-
70 r- •• •• • -
Severe weather impacts to aviation, as studied in the
Oklahoma environment by NSSL, have been recently re-
~
(/)
z
• •
ported by Zrnic et al. (1987). Of particular note in this w-
~N
60 r- I -
study is the observation of the possibly highly asymmetric
~~....
• •• •
... •
nature of downburst flow structure. While Wilson et al.
zo
( 1984) suggest only a 2:1 asymmetry factor, Zrnic et al.
suggest up to a 5.5:1 factor. A number of other Oklahoma
Oti 50
i=lf
- •• •I I • -
aviation weather factors are also discussed by Zrnic et al.
~~ • I• •
in the context of the uses of Doppler weather radar.
Weber et al. (1988) have demonstrated the viability of --
a..~
40 - •• -

••• •••
Uo
WCP
using Doppler lidar to observe downbursts. One case so a::;;:
analyzed was a positively buoyant microburst. This a_CP
downburst impacted an inversion aloft and was seen to
0::
30 - • -

-
Oc
W·-
pulse vertically,not reaching the surface. This observation >I/)
of a midair microburst is significant, not only for the value -.~
o::c
•I •II• •
of the observing tool, but because it documents an event
that was pres~med to exist but had not been observed
L&J::::>
o- 20 r-
• -
previously.
0::
<(
0 •
5.2 Applied Research and Technology
<(
0::
10 f-
• • • -
Transfer in Microburst Detection
and Warning
0 10 20 30 40 50
As discussed previously, before the crash of Eastern
Flight 66, few definitive steps regarding adequate detection MICROBURST DIFFERENTIAL VELOCITY (kt)
and warning of low-altitude wind shear had occurred. Im- Fig. 5.4 Correlation between precipitation intensity of microbursts
mediately after wind shear was accepted as the cause of against the magnitude of the differential velocity (headwind to tail-
this crash, however, the FAA took steps to deal with the wind shear). All of these microbursts (as studied in Denver in 1982)
detection issue. One major program, the Low-Level Wind occurred in rainfall intensities ranging from very light to very heavy.
Shear Alert System ( LLWAS), 5 was fully implemented. Rainfall intensities greater than 30 dBZ represent thunderstorm con-
ditions. Many microbursts occurred in precipitation that was so light
that conventional airborne radars would "paint" no echoes at all.
5The tenn " low-level" unfortunately remains in the definition of this Pilots should be aware that severe wind shear can occur in any rainfall
system; LLWAS is pronounced "L-WASS." intensity. (From Wilson et al., 1984.)
674 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

142010CDT 142345 CDT

Dl V. in 10·• sec·•
\ \..__
'--- \__
'---
2 m/s 10 m/s 2 m/s 10 m/s
~
0
)
0
\ \ '-
!..... !.....
\ "- "- '-

l_ I._
\ '-...
\....- '--
II.._ !.....
\
'
~(__
'-

'
l<....
'-.... ../

"-

,_..

..,_

"-

0 3 4km

0 2miles 2 miles

Fig. 5.5a Escape winds depicted by dual-Doppler velocities several Fig. 5.5b Microburst winds at 1423:45 CDT, 3 min 30 sec after the
seconds before the ground contact of the Monrovia microburst of 20 ground contact time. The maximum divergence is 3.8 x w- 2 s- 1
July 1986. Estimated ground contact time is 1420:15 CDT. which will result in a 3.8 m s - 1 descending current at 100 m AGL.

142555 CDT 142950CDT

DIV in to·• sec-• \.._ L_ \..__ ~
2 m/s 10 m/s 2 m/s 10 m/s

BOUNDARY OF
-. ....., I
1...... -. ......
~ Fo~
)

~c~,>
{ ~
1......

f
" "-
'- ~ "'\ ' 5 0
\
'
\ \ ~ ~

~ '- '\ \.--"'"'

f \ ~ ,''
~
\
I

-s~
...~
~ ~ \
.. .. . . .. f ~
........ ....
01 V in 10- 3 sec·•
~
0
~ ~
0 2 3 4km 0 2 3 4km rt \
0 2 miles 0 2 miles ~

Fig. 5.5c Microburst winds at 1425:55 CDT, 5 min 40 sec after the Fig. 5.5d Distorted microburst winds at 1429:50 CDT, 9 min 35 sec
ground contact time. The maximum divergence is still very large, after the ground contact. By this time the microburst outflow had
but the horizontal dimensions of the outflow winds already have become disorganized.
exceeded 4 km, turning into a macroburst.
 THE APPLICATION OF WEATHER RADAR TO AVIATION METEOROLOGY 675

62 the LLWAS, and the FAA has incorporated them into an

operational demonstration of this new system at Denver.
Many of the details of an enhanced LLWAS can be found

l
16 ... 3
in Wilson and Flueck ( 1986). Figure 5.6b illustrates a net-
...1 0
work geometry that increases the microburst detection
probability from approximately 0.25 to 0.75; this geometry
...0 was tested at Denver in the summer of 1987.
aNE
To provide pilots and controllers with an improved
.,..e ...4 message format, a runway-oriented LLWAS message was
eCF 66
...
11 developed in cooperation with an ad hoc group of air traffic
eSE ... s controllers and pilots. Figure 5.9 illustrates a new idea in
•sw •a wind shear alerts. The message is microburst-specific and
...7

(a) (b) gives the pilot a runway-oriented wind speed gain or loss
along a specific runway. The runway-oriented wind shear
Fig. 5.6 Illustration of the LLWAS at Denver Stapleton International message concept and format are expected to be used in
Airport, showing a generalized array of wind sensors spaced around the more advanced Terminal Doppler Weather Radar sys-
airport. Spacing is wider than a typical microburst, resulting in many tem to be described later (see section 5.2.3). McCarthy
microbursts slipping through the "net." The system was originally and Clyne ( 1987) recently reviewed the LLWAS test at
designed to detect gust fronts rather than microbursts. (a) The spacing
Denver. At the time of this writing, the FAA will likely
prior to 1985; (b) the spacing as enhanced to better detect microbursts.
This improved spacing is available at both Denver Stapleton Inter- decide to enhance all 110 LLWAS systems in the United
national Airport and New Orleans International Airport. (From FAA, States, using ideas tested at Denver.
1987a.)
5.2.2 Roots of the Use of Doppler Radar to
Detect and Warn of Low-Altitude
the original configuration of the LLWAS wind sensors at
Wind Shear
Denver Stapleton International Airport.
The manner of the wind shear alert is shown in Fig. 5. 7,
During the late 1970s, the NEXRAD program began its
which illustrates the display previously located in the air
long evolution toward implementation of a national
traffic control tower at Denver. (Denver now has an en-
Doppler radar network, principally following the successful
hanced LLWAS system.) The actual winds at the various
Joint Doppler experiment at NSSL. Simultaneous with the
sensors are displayed, and pilots receive actual wind di-
initiation of NEXRAD, MIT Lincoln Laboratory began work
rection and speed for the various sensors that reach alert
for the FAA in the development of NEXRAD automatic
status. At the time of this writing, LLWAS is installed at
turbulence and storm cell identification and tracking al-
93 major airports in the United States and is expected to
be located at a total of 110 airports by 1988.
In the National Academy of Sciences /National Research (/) r DIRECTION 1 r SPEED 1 r GUST 1 (/)

~ 0 ~
Council report on wind shear (NRC, 1983), the following
problems with the LLWAS were noted: 1) the system can-
not measure wind shear above the surface-based sensors;
2) the spacing of the sensors is too large to detect many 0 ~ G
micro bursts successfully; 3) surface wind events outside
of the perimeter of the anemometer field will not be de- c:J ~ @]
tected; 4) the location of the wind sensors is critically in-
fluenced by local obstructions (Fig. 5.8 illustrates this neg-
[!] ~ ~
ative effect for a single wind-measuring station); and 5)
wind shear is not measured directly along aircraft flight
E] ~ QJ
paths, resulting in the reporting of events that may not
(/) 6
~ ~
LLWAS WIND DISPLAY (/)
reflect wind shear on an airplane's flight path. A complete
analysis of LLWAS performance during the JAWS project
is given in Bedard et al. ( 1984). It should be noted that Fig. 5.7 Diagram of the current six-station LLWAS system display.
Each row of lights gives the actual wind at each of the six sites in
the original design of the LLWAS favored detection of
direction (degrees) and speed (knots). If the system indicates a 15-
gust front wind shear. At the time of the design of the knot vector difference between the centerfield site and one of the five
system (approximately 1976), the target wind shear was outlying sites, the lights in that outlying numeric window will flash
believed by most scientists and engineers working in the on and off. The controller would then read "wind shear alert NW
aviation system to be gust fronts rather than microbursts. quadrant wind 210 degrees 15 knots." This display corresponds to
Recently, NCAR proposed substantial enhancements to panel (a) on Fig. 5.6. (From FAA, 1987a.)
676 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

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o-
oao 2 •0 240 210 300 330 360 030 0.0 090 •20 •SO

Fig. 5.8 Every 0.5 m s- 1 wind speed frequency at MIST PAM Station 34. Numbers and codes denote -(less than
1), 1, 2 . . . . 9, A(l0-14), 8(15-19) . . . . . . H(45-49) 1(50-99), %(100-149), •(150+) frequencies per month.
The frequency of high wind speed is very low in the direction of trees and forests due to obstructions.
 THE APPLICATION OF WEATHER RADAR TO AVIATION METEOROLOGY 677
j---
DEPARTURE
0.5 mi.lt
.------2-..,.- ~~
~ ~~~
~ - ---1...-----
1 -----._
14 2 Miles •I
TYPE
[Wind Shea~
L
MicroburstJ
Fig. 5.9 Microburst and generic wind shear alert runway-oriented format, resulting in
typical pilot messages: "Microburst Alert, 50 kt Loss, on the Runway" or ''Wind Shear
Alert, 15 kt Gain, 1 Mile Final."
gorithms. In conjunction with this development, lincoln
Laboratory proposed that Doppler radar could provide
wind shear detection in the airport terminal area, as re-
ported by Laird and Evans ( 1982).
During the same time period in the late 1970s, work
associated with NSSL in Oklahoma addressed use of
Doppler radar in the airport terminal area. Experiments
were conducted during Project SESAME in the spring of
1979 that attempted to measure the headwind/tailwind
component of wind shear along intended landing paths
using the Norman 10-cm Doppler radar; the experiment
met with some limited success. This research, as well as
early concepts for a Doppler-based airport warning system,
are reported in McCarthy and Blick ( 1979) and McCarthy
et al. ( 1980a,b).
Following a nonfatal accident of a United Airlines jet at
Denver in 1984 (see McCarthy and Clyne, 1987), NCAR
conducted an operational demonstration of Doppler radar
microburst detection capability, called the Classify, Locate,
and Avoid Wind Shear (CLAWS) experiment. A 45-day
microburst advisory service at Denver was provided, using
detection knowledge gained during JAWS. Details of
CLAWS are found in McCarthy and Wilson ( 1985),
McCarthy et al. ( 1986), and Stevenson ( 1985). The effort
used a 10-cm NCAR Doppler radar to protect a 5-mi radius
disk around the Denver airport and to provide microburst
warnings to air traffic controllers, who in tum provided
warnings to flight crews. All advisories were made by me-
teorologists in the radar, who interpreted the radar data
in real time and passed alert information to a similar me-
teorologist situated in the control tower. The tower me-
teorologist then passed alerts to air traffic controllers. A
detailed study of the operational impact of CLAWS is pro-
vided by Stevenson ( 1985).
An additional microburst feature was noted during the
experiment. The presence of an elongated microburst, or
microburst line, suggested that the original isolated nature
of microburst events may not always apply. Figure 5.10
illustrates the implication of a microburst line, with respect
to the Denver airport, taken from Stevenson ( 1985). Sub-
j
RUNWAY APPROACH
1 2 -- -
-.----1 r-----f
- 3------,-
3 Miles
WINDS PEED LOCATION
I# Kts. Los;] 1 mi
mi. j Approach
L Gam J 2
3mi.
1 m!. Departure
2 mi.
J Runway
sequently, Hjelmfelt and Roberts ( 1985) and Hjelmfelt
( 1988) addressed the detailed flow characteristics of mi-
croburst lines. Figure 5.11 illustrates a Doppler radar-de-
rived schematic diagram of a microburst line, taken from
Hjelmfelt ( 1988).
An additional Doppler radar product was developed
that provided air traffic controllers with wind shift pre-
diction information. Controllers asked NCAR scientists for
wind shift time of arrival, wind speed and direction, and
duration of the event, a product that allowed them to
maintain a better runway configuration management. It is
interesting to note that Entrekin et al. ( 1969) also addressed
wind shift line detection.
An important consequence of CLAWS was the deter-
mination that microbursts could not only be readily de-
tected near the surface by the classical divergence signature
on Doppler radar, but could sometimes be detected in the
formative stages aloft. Roberts and Wilson ( 1987) reported
on the identification of certain observations aloft that her-
ald the descent of a microburst. These features aloft include
1 ) areas of midlevel convergence in the 3-6 km AGL re-
gion, sometimes indicated by an extensive thin line of con-
vergence readily seen by Doppler radar; 2) indications of
rotating downdraft; and 3) evidence of the descent of pre-
cipitation water mass as the downqraft descends. Figure
5.12 illustrates the three-dimensional structure of a mi-
croburst, with particular emphasis on features aloft.
5.2.3 Terminal Doppler Weather Radar
(TDWR) Program
As an extension of Laird and Evans ( 1982), a sizable
data collection program was run in 1983 by MIT lincoln
Laboratory as part of the Boston Area NEXRAD Demon-
stration (BAND), where microburst wind shear was one
of the phenomena of interest. While this program illus-
trated that microbursts are rare in New England, it rep-
resents the first Doppler weather radar data collection pro-
gram that had the development of automated microburst
678 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

g
-' 10,000
UJ
>
UJ
-' 8,000
0
z
:::>
0 6,000 Intensifying
c:: Microburst
C)
~ 4,000 Scale Winds
g Boundary of
~ 2,000 -W~~ Maximum Horizontal
I Wind Veloc~ies
~ Surface+-..,...Ri=r:...,.....,;;.:.~~~'-r-.
I 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 t t
HORIZONTAL DISTANCE (km) VIEWPOINT IN PART (a)

(a) (b)

I
''
I

I
I
I
I
I
5 NM 5 NM 5 NM \ /
(c) 5:17PM (d) 5:44PM (e) 6:19PM '·'
Fig. 5.10 Operational impact of a microburst line at Stapleton International Airport,
where (a) is the vertical structure as viewed from the end of the line; (b) is a PPI
horizontal view of the structure of the outflow; and (c), (d) and (e) show the evolution
of the event with respect to the airport runways. During this 32-min period, there were
12 missed approaches, arrival operations were stopped for 14 min, and departure op-
erations were stopped for 16 min. (From Stevenson, 1985.)

detection algorithms as a goal. The development of the observation and algorithm evaluation programs in 1985,
Lincoln Laboratory FL-2 10-cm Doppler weather radar 1986 and 1987 at Memphis, Huntsville and Denver, re-
began at this time, and it was used subsequently for the spectively.

DISCRETE

- KK----- 19 km --~)(

......
. • .. ~ \
'
•
.. "il\
..- ~,/ 'la'" _! Jl Depth = 1.4 km
~~------~r~~ ~
- Length = 17km - - - - -"""

6Vmox = 26 m s- l ave ll.V = 15 ms- 1

# Microbu rstsmox = 3
Lifetime = 57 min

Fig. 5.11 Schematic illustration of a microburst line. (From Hjelmfelt, 1988.)

 THE APPLICATION OF WEATHER RADAR TO AVIATION METEOROLOGY 679
0 3 4k m
0
Fig. 5.12 Illustration of a three-dimensional microburst, including
convergence aloft, rotating downdraft, and surface divergence. (From
Fujita, 1985.)
Following JAWS, BAND, and CLAWS, the FAA became
increasingly interested in the major development of
Doppler radar as an improved tool to detect and warn of
low-altitude wind shear at airports, with a particular focus
on the microburst, following early work reported by Laird
and Evans ( 1982). This ongoing effort is directed toward
a fully automatic detection system for installation in major
airports in the United States.
MIT Lincoln Laboratory began the development of a
TDWR portable test-bed radar and associated software
designed to detect microbursts. Beginning at Memphis,
Tennessee, Lincoln Laboratory established a data collection
experiment near the Memphis airport. Early results of the
test showed that microbursts, particularly high-reflectivity
(heavy rain) microbursts, were common there. There was
substantial optimism that the microbursts could be detected
automatically by sophisticated software.
In 1986, the Lincoln Laboratory radar was located near
the Huntsville airport and was used with the MIST ex-
periment, as mentioned earlier. A major finding of the
TDWR effort at MIST was the documentation of over 100
high-reflectivity microbursts, suggesting that the frequency
of microburst occurrence previously found in Denver is
not so different from the Alabama microburst climatology.
Substantial progress toward automatic detection of micro-
bursts was made.
Automation of hazardous weather detection forms the
core of the TDWR program. Microburst detection algo-
rithms are being developed at Lincoln Laboratory and are
detailed by Merritt and Campbell ( 1987). A more sophis-
ticated approach using artificial intelligence techniques is
given by Campbell ( 1988) and Campbell and Olsen
( 1987). Thunderstorm gust front and wind shift algorithm
development is being jointly developed at Lincoln Labo-
ratory and at NSSL, and is reported by Sanford et al. ( 1987)
and Witt and Smith (1987) .
The continuation of TDWR has been rapid. In 1987,
Lincoln Laboratory was joined principally by NCAR, the
University of Chicago, the University of North Dakota,
and NSSL to continue the development of Doppler radar
as the primary means of providing microburst protection
at airports. Experiments were conducted in the Denver
area in 1987 to complete the basic capability of automatic
microburst detection.
An operational demonstration of TDWR is expected to
take place in Denver in the summer of 1988, where au-
tomated alert products will be provided to air traffic con-
trollers and pilots. Products will probably include:
• Microburst detection (at the surface), including an
estimate of runway wind speed component loss or gain.
• Advanced warning of a descending microburst, based
on detection of microburst features aloft using Doppler
radar, after Roberts and Wilson (1986, 1987).
• Gust front detection.
• Wind shift prediction at airports, using Doppler radar.
Should the operational demonstration be successful, the
FAA is expected to install TDWR systems at major airports
in the United States beginning in 1990. The FAA has stated
that if 100 major airports (presumably the same airports
now covered by LLWAS) are also protected by TDWR,
then approximately 90% of the low-altitude wind shear
risk will be mitigated (personal communication, Mr. Neal
Blake, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Engineering and
Development, FAA). It is on this basis that the FAA is
trying to obtain the funds necessary to cover 100 major
airports.
5.2..4 Use of the FAA ASR-9 Airport
Surveillance Radar to Detect
Low-Altitude Wind Shear
Recently the FAA contracted with Westinghouse Cor-
poration to manufact:ure and install approximately 110
airport surveillance radars to support air traffic control
modernization. The system has a dedicated weather chan-
nel that is fully Dopplerized. In his patent application and
subsequent patent, Atlas ( 1985, 1987) described a method
that utilizes the difference in the Doppler spectra on the
high and low beams of the ASR-9 radar to estimate the
near-surface wind speeds and the associated horizontal
shear. The method also provides for the measurement of
the radial wind component at the level of intersection of
the two beams, thus providing an indication of the vertical
shear. The changes with time of the vertical shear are sug-
gested as a potential precursor of the microburst near the
surface.
The MIT Lincoln Laboratory has been investigating the
utility of the weather information that can be collected on
this channel for use in severe weather detection. Weber
(1986) and Weber and Moser (1987) suggest that the ASR-
9 will be capable of limited measurement of microburst
outflow winds in the 5-20 dBZ radar reflectivity ranges,
680 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
within 20 km of the radars, but under certain operating
limitations. In view of the potential of the Atlas method,
further evaluation is desirable. The FAA, through further
efforts at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, will utilize radar reflec-
tivity information from the radar to provide air traffic con-
trol with storm precipitation intensity information.
6 NEW DIRECTIONS FOR THE
AVIATION WEATHER SYSTEM 6
Hazardous weather must be avoided in the airport ter-
minal area, specifically when aircraft operate below 1000
feet above the ground, while taking off or landing. While
new weather detection technologies have emerged over
many years, the relative percentage of weather-related ac-
cidents has not changed appreciably. During recent years,
the total number of accidents has declined, indicating that
the total safety record has improved significantly. This is
in part due to many technical improvements. Nevertheless,
approximately 50% of all fatal accidents are weather-re-
lated, and this percentage has not changed in 30 years
(personal communication, NTSB).
We are convinced that several major steps must be taken
to remedy this situation. The first step, the start toward
vastly improved pilot awareness of critical wind shear
hazards, along with the development of new avoidance
criteria, is forthcoming with the wide acceptance of the
FAA Windshear Training Aid (see FAA, 1987a). 7 However,
we are persuaded that for a number of other weather haz-
ards, the domain of pilot education and training can be
greatly improved. We believe that an all-too-large segment
of the flying community remains seriously deficient in the
requisite knowledge base of aviation weather hazards.
Adherence to avoidance guidelines such as those given in
the Windshear Training Aid would result in many fewer
weather-caused accidents. The education and training im-
plications of these types of programs are profound.
Not only are more usable criteria needed for assessing
the general weather risk, but a new strategy for their use
is also needed so that pilots continually ask "Is it safe to
continue?"-and proceed only if the answer is affirmative.
Today's weather hazard detection technology, or more
aptly, the transmission of hazard information to the flight
crew (whether they are on the ground or aloft), is not
particularly successful. This often leaves the flight crew in
the untenable position of .making "go/ no go" decisions
6 Derived from McCarthy and Clyne (1987).
7 The Windshear Training Aid is an in-depth syllabus developed by a broad
industry/ government consensus that will bring wind shear knowledge
to the U.S. piloting community. The Aid addresses wind shear weather,
the lessons learned from wind shear accidents and the critical need to
avoid severe wind shear; it also presents a model of flight crew actions,
including a recovery technique to be used by flight crews when they
inadvertently encounter low-altitude wind shear. An excellent summary
of the Aid is available in Kupcis ( 1987).
in relative ignorance. Use of currently available informa-
tion, whether derived from on-board weather radar, pilot
observation or pilot reports (which are unfortunately
scarce), when combined with an inadequate weather
knowledge base, may result in the crew facing decisions
that they must make without sufficient information to be
fundamentally safe.
Today's pilots, in our view, find themselves making a
"go" decision based on intuition rather than on a factual
collection of information, simply because this information
is not generally available. Based on the statistics that in-
dicate a very safe aviation system, this instinct is usually
quite successful, and the flight takes off and lands without
incident. We believe that in spite of the statistics, many
flights operate in weather conditions in which the level of
hazard is essentially unknown. For example, when a pilot
opts to take off or land in thunderstorm conditions, the
potential of severe wind shear, heavy precipitation, severe
turbulence, hail or tornadoes is quite real, but usually in-
sufficient information is available for the crew to assess
the risk. The takeoff or landing, should it occur, is often
based primarily on intuition, not facts. One would then
ask, if this situation is common, why there are not many
more accidents, and the answer may lie in the fact that it
usually takes more than one potentially unsafe action,
usually occurring simultaneously or sequentially and often
involving aspects of the system other than the flight crew,
to create an accident. The very nature of catastrophe typ-
ically requires an accumulation of unsafe practices. In ad-
dition, we cannot forget that pilots have an uncanny ability
to extract themselves from deadly circumstances.
To remedy the situation, we recommend a three-step
process that will lead to a much-improved aviation system
in terms of dealing successfully with hazardous weather
in the terminal area.
The first and immediate step is to improve the pilot
weather education and training process. The authors be-
lieve that many highly professional crews do not have the
weather knowledge base to make an adequate risk as-
sessment prior to takeoff or approach. In our view it will
be necessary to modify the very nature of the knowledge
base required in order to change the quality of pilot risk
assessment. The process should include steps to identify
the critical shortcomings and to rectify the solution by in-
depth training improvements that will challenge pilots,
their unions, and their management to insist upon quality
·risk assessment and associated decision making. An ex-
cellent first step in implementing improved education and
training is seen, clearly, in the Windshear Training Aid.
The second important step is to develop a quantitative
measure of weather hazards by completing the develop-
ment of improved sensing systems such as the enhanced
LLWAS and airport TDWR, or other systems that address
enroute hazards. This should allow pilots and controllers
to make distinctions between, for example, hazardous and
nonhazardous thunderstorms.
 THE APPLICATION OF WEATHER RADAR TO AVIATION METEOROLOGY 681

In completing these developments, it is important that ited by Debbie Davis and Jeanette Walters of NCAR. This
quantitative thresholds of hazard level be established. work is funded partially by NCAR, the National Science
Hazards associated with rainfall rate, wind shear, turbu- Foundation (NSF), and the FAA (through Interagency
lence, lightning strike rate, hail and probability of hail, Agreement DTFA01-82-Y-10513). Research performed at
and tornadoes need to be examined with these improved the University of Chicago was supported by the NSF under
sensing tools so that a pilot will be able to better assess Grant ATM8516705 and NESDIS under Grant
the associated risks. NA85AADRA064. Specific Doppler radar research and
The overall concept for this risk assessment is to establish mesonet-data analysis since February 1987 has been
an integrated airport terminal weather information system sponsored by the MIT Lincoln Laboratory under Contract
designed to collect hazardous and operationally important F19628-85-C-0002.
weather information into a single collection point in the
airport environment, and from there to distribute it to users
in a meaningful and timely manner. Systems such as the
LLWAS, TDWR, the weather channel on the ASR-9 air
traffic radar, and an airborne hazardous weather detection APPENDIX:
system downlinked to the ground must be combined into LIST Of ACRONYMS
a single entity that provides definitive, quantitative weather ARINC Aeronautical Radio, Inc.
hazard information to controllers and pilots. The FAA must ARTCC Air Route Traffic Control Center
look at this integrated system not as LLWAS or TDWR but BAND Boston Area NEXRAD Demonstration
as one system, and design it with the user perspective in CAA Civil Aviation Authority
mind so that pilots can receive definitive and timely CAB Civil Aeronautics Board
weather information in order to make more reasonable CLAWS Classify, Locate, and Avoid Wind Shear ex-
avoidance and other significant operational decisions. periment
How will pilots eventually use the means available for ERL Environmental Research Laboratories
utilizing quantitative weather hazard information, once we FAA Federal Aviation Administration
have bounded the safety limits using the technology we FLOWS FAA/Lincoln Laboratory Operational Studies
address? Instead of today's intuitive method, will the JAWS Joint Airport Weather Studies
aviation system bureaucracy absorb the information such JFK John F. Kennedy International Airport, New
that risk assessment is objective rather than subjective? York
Obviously, until hazard quantification is achieved, ed- LLWAS Low-Level Wind Shear Alert System
ucation and training enhancement is the only vehicle for MIST Microburst and Severe Thunderstorm Exper-
the improvement of safety. However, when a terminal iment
weather system is in place, the government must consider MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology
the means of requiring adherence to hazard-level risk as- NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research
sessment in order to reduce considerably the number of NESDIS National Environmental Satellite Data and In-
potentially unsafe flight operations. This might be achieved formation Service
through operating limitations that would prohibit flight NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar
operations through regions of measured unacceptable risk, NIMROD Northern Illinois Meteorological Research on
or through regulation in flight procedures in a manner Downbursts
similar to ceiling and visibility flight at minimums. The NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
implications of this recommendation are significant, for it tration
is designed to provide flight crews with objective criteria NRC National Research Council
that will significantly reduce their current requirement to NSF National Science Foundation
make intuitive decisions. We suggest that once weather NSSL National Severe Storms Laboratory
hazard quantitification becomes available, .the industry NTSB National Transportation Safety Board
must find a way to bring it effectively into the cockpit. PAM Portable Automated Mesonet
PPI Plan-Position Indicator
RHI Range-Height Indicator
SESAME Severe Environmental Storms and Mesoscale
Acknowledgments. An early draft of this paper was re- Experiment
viewed in detail by a conference review panel chaired by TDWR Terminal Doppler Weather Radar
Mr. James Wilson of NCAR; the authors are indebted to TRACON Terminal Radar Approach Control
the panel for its helpful suggestions. Fujita's research was UCLA University of California~Los Angeles
assisted by Mr. Brian Smith, Research Meteorologist at the UTSI University of Tennessee Space Institute
University of Chicago. The manuscript was typed and ed- WPL Wave Propagation Laboratory
682
Chapter 31b
Aviation Meteorology: Panel Report
James Wilson,* National Center for Atmospheric Researcht
1 INTRODUCTION
The Fujita and McCarthy review (Chapter 31a, hereafter
referred to as F & M) gives an excellent historical discussion
of radar applications to aviation meteorology, as well as a
thorough description of the downburst as an aviation haz-
ard. Because these areas are covered adequately in F & M,
this report will concentrate on future directions that op-
erational aviation meteorology should take. Fujita and
McCarthy also considered future directions and recom-
mended the following three-step process for developing a
safer aviation system:
1) Improve pilot weather education and training.
2) Develop a quantitative measure of weather hazards
by completing the development of improved sensing sys-
tems like LLWAS 1 and TDWR.
3) Establish an integrated airport terminal weather in-
formation system that assembles hazardous and opera-
tionally important weather information at a single collec-
tion point and distributes to users in a meaningful and
timely manner.
The panel agrees with these recommendations, and they
are included in the following discussions of future needs.
2 FUTURE NEEDS
The panel was optimistic about major improvements in
aviation weather products over the next decade. Much of
the enthusiasm is based on existing technology that cur-
rently resides in the research arena. Emphasis should be
on operational implementation of these technologies dur-
ing the next decade. Well-funded efforts should also con-
• Wilson served as panel chairman. Other panel members were ~· ~ar­
tledge (MITRE Corp., McLean, Virginia), C. Chandler (Delta Airlines,
Inc., Atlanta, Georgia), J. Clark (Princeton, New Jersey), A. Hansen (FAA,
Edgewater, Maryland), P. Harney (Utica, New York), J. Lee (NSSL), J.
McCarthy (NCAR), M. Merritt (MIT Uncoln Laboratory), K. Michimoto
(The National Defense Academy, Kanagawa, Japan), C. Mueller (NCAR),
D. Peed (MITRE Corp., McLean, Virginia), V. Peterson (Tycho Tech-
nology, Boulder, Colorado), R. Potts (NCAR), R. Rinehart (University
of North Dakota), R. Wakimoto (University of California, Los Angeles),
K. Wilk (NSSL), and J. Zak (STX, Hampton, Virginia).
tThe National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the
National Science Foundation.
1 Acronyms are defined in the Appendix.
tinue in the development of new sensors and basic research
in their use; however, these developments should not be
used as an excuse to delay implementation of present
technologies. We are deeply concerned that the past un-
derutilization of available weather information should not
be repeated. For example, Kessler ( 1987) maintains that
many of the fatal aircraft accidents since the 1960s could
have been avoided if WSR-57 reflectivity data had been
provided to terminal controllers for diverting takeoff and
landing aircraft from intense precipitation regions. The
challenge of the next ten years will be to utilize present
technology to develop a system to deliver concise, easily
understood and timely weather information to pilots.
The areas identified as the most promising for improve-
ment within the next five years are
1 ) avoidance of heavy precipitation, hail, and storm re-
lated turbulence;
2) avoidance of wind shear hazards during takeoff and
landing;
3) anticipation of runway changes or closures due to
weather;
4) improved enroute winds; and
5) nowcasting for space launch and recovery operations.
Numbers 1 and 2 are obvious safety issues for all aviation,
whereas 3 and 4 are issues of economy and efficiency of
particular interest to commercial aviation. The latter were
specifically targeted by the Aviation Weather Forecasting
Task Force ( 1986) as areas in which improved nowcasts
could produce major savings.
With regard to number 5, the panel noted the serious
weather hazards associated with the U.S. space operations.
During launch, all space vehicles are very susceptible to
hazards from precipitation, lightning, and wind shear; the
shuttle is also vulnerable during landing. Detection of these
hazards is within present state-of-the-art observing sys-
tems. The more difficult problem is providing very short
period ( 0-2 h) hazard forecasts. The panel believes a sig-
nificant increase in safety could be obtained over the next
ten years by developing a high-technology mesoscale
forecast center specifically tailored to the space program.
Particularly critical to this weather center would be the
integration of data from highly sensitive Doppler radars,
mesonetworks, profilers, satellites, and lightning detection
and electric field mapping systems. This test facility should

work in close proximity and collaboration with the existing
operational forecast facility to transfer new technology and
techniques. Similar recommendations have been indepen-
dently made by a panel of experts operating under the
auspices of the National Research Council tasked with re-
viewing meteorological support activities related to space
operations at the Kennedy Space Center (National Re-
search Council, 1988).
The following areas were specifically identified as re-
quiring additional research before significant improve-
ments are possible: detection and forecasting of turbulence,
detection and forecasting of icing, short-term forecasts of
microbursts along approach and departure paths, forecasts
of convective storm initiation, and forecasts of storm in-
tensity change and movement. A number of unresolved
technological issues require continued study. These include
the use of airborne Doppler radar, Doppler lidar and in-
frared radiometers, ASR-9s, dual-polarization radar, rapid
scan and nonscanning high-update radars, wind profilers,
and the siting of ground-based Doppler radar.
The panel agrees with F & M that aviation safety can
also be improved through formal education of pilots and
controllers on aviation weather hazards and the capabilities
and limitations of weather sensors.
2.1 Operational Issues
2.1.1 Detection, Integration, and Qaanti.Scation
of Weather Features
Within the next ten years, weather information will be
available from a vast array of sensors including NEXRAD,
TDWR, ASR-9, LLWAS, profilers, lightning detectors, ra-
winsondes, satellites, surface weather stations, and aircraft
(ARINC and PIREP). These sensors will be able to detect
and provide quantitative information on aviation hazards
including precipitation rate, wind shear, lightning, hail,
tornadoes, turbulence, low visibility, low cloud, freezing
rain, and icing. In addition, enroute wind, cloud, and pre-
cipitation information will be available in greater detail
and accuracy.
As recommended by F & M, data from all sensors must
be integrated and provided to users in an easily understood,
quantitative format. In many cases more than one sensor
provides data on a weather feature (e.g., enroute wind
information may be provided by Doppler radars, profilers,
rawinsondes, aircraft, and satellites). These data are all
taken at different space and time scales and require inte-
gration in order to provide a usable product. Another ex-
ample is the availability of data from four radars
(NEXRAD, TDWR, ASR-9, and airborne). Procedures
must be established that provide complementary, not con-
flicting, information from these four sources.
Traditionally, operational meteorologists have had the
AVIATION METEOROJ.OGY 683
responsibility of assimilating, integrating, and interpreting
available meteorological data and supplying appropriate
information to controllers and pilots. The panel believed
that these services have been inadequate and that much
of the problem resides in a lack of coordination between
the FAA and NWS in responsibilities for weather services.
It is essential that personnel at the highest levels of these
agencies work together to develop an operational structure
that will ensure successful dissemination of critical weather
information. The panel recommends that these agencies
formally establish a joint test facility where data integra-
tion, hazard quantification, forecasting, and weather dis-
semination techniques are developed and tested. The first
operational test of this kind, sponsored by the FAA (con-
ducted by MIT Lincoln Laboratories, NSSL and NCAR
during the summer of 1988 in Denver, Colorado), is testing
procedures for detecting and displaying hazardous weather
in the terminal area using Doppler radar and LLWAS. Tests
of this kind with NWS participation could provide the
foundation on which to develop a test center to integrate
data from all sensors to address the total terminal weather
problem. Funding for such a national Aviation Weather
Test Center should be long term and stable, and should
not be driven by catastrophic events.
In the case of weather hazards, the integrated weather
information needs to be quantified and presented in forms
that are relevant to pilots and controllers. Means for ac-
complishing this are just beginning to evolve. For this to
be successful, meteorologists and aviation users must work
together. Such working groups have already been estab-
lished in relation to the LLWAS and TDWR efforts in Den-
ver. These efforts should continue and should be broad-
ened as part of the Aviation Weather Test Center.
Because of the vast amount of new information which
will be available, meteorologists will require state-of-the-
art workstations capable of processing, analyzing, and
mosaicking meteorological products suitable for rapid de-
cision making. From the standpoint of cost and timely in-
formation dissemination, it is desirable that some opera-
tional weather systems be automated. Examples are
contoured precipitation rate throughout the terminal vi-
cinity and quantified low-altitude wind shear values along
approach and departure paths. Telemetering of specific
weather hazards to the airplane cockpit could be achieved
in the same time frame. In addition, substantial improve-
ments in the quality and presentation of enroute winds
and weather should be possible because of the increased
spatial and temporal data density available to forecast
models.
With increased understanding of mesoscale weather
systems, it may eventually be possible to provide automatic
short-period forecasts of microbursts, tornadoes, wind
changes, and development of convective storms in the ter-
minal area (see Chapters 24a, 24b, 30a and 30b). Artificial
intelligence and other computer systems are crucial and
 684 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
should be increasingly more able to provide hazard fore-
casts automatically. However, the panel strongly believes
that this will be a slow. evolutionary process and that a
human forecaster must be involved in the foreseeable fu-
ture, or else weather sensors will be underutilized. A fore-
caster-computer combination could provide at least some
of the above forecasts almost immediately, significantly
improving the safety and overall efficiency of aviation op-
erations. Experience has shown that the savings in fuel
alone would be substantial if air traffic controllers had some
prior warning of wind changes that would affect runway
usage. The panel recommends development of both com-
pletely automated and forecaster-computer facilities. The
latter facilities should be located at the busier and more
weather sensitive airports. Facilities with forecasters should
frequently interact with the Aviation Weather Test Center
to develop new technologies, educate users, and automate
procedures.
During the 1990s, the NWS will be installing the AWIPS-
90 system into its weather forecast offices, which will pro-
vide advanced means for integrating and displaying data
to the forecaster. This system incorporates many of the
capabilities presently being developed by PROFS. These
systems will accomplish many of the tasks needed at the
forecaster-computer aviation weather facility. Accordingly,
it would seem logical that the forecaster-computer facility
be located, when appropriate, at NWS offices or flight ser-
vice stations with expanded aviation support responsibil-
ities.
2.1.2 Communication and Display of
Hazardous Weather
The best weather analysis and forecasting system is use-
less if the information is not communicated to the users
in a timely and easily understood manner. This has often
been the situation in the past. An FAA-sponsored effort
in Denver combines meteorologists and users to develop
and test display communication procedures jointly. It is
natural that these sorts of activities should continue to
evolve at the Aviation Forecast Center described in the
previous section.
The type of weather information, its format, and pro-
cedures for transmitting to the pilot require study. Ob-
viously the pilot should not receive detailed Doppler ve-
locity data. It would be more appropriate to furnish pilots
with a highly smoothed radar reflectivity field from
ground-based radar overlain with symbolic output locating
wind shift features, hail, lightning, etc. A zoom feature
might be provided to show only the immediate terminal
area and conditions along each runway.
Controversy exists over who should determine that an
approach or departure corridor is unsafe and aircraft op-
erations should be curtailed. In the case of visibility and
ceiling, automatic observations typically indicate if con-
ditions are below established minimums. In the case of
other aviation hazards, minimums have not been estab-
lished and reliable means for detection are not possible in
all cases. Fujita and McCarthy recommend that applied
research should be directed toward specifying quantitative
hazard thresholds that ensure safety but are not overly
burdensome on flight schedules due to unnecessary run-
way closures.
Until specific weather minimums are established and
reliable means to detect them exist, the burden of the de-
cision to land or take off remains with the pilot. Fujita and
McCarthy encourage pilots to acquire (at regular intervals)
training on aviation hazards and on how these hazards
may be avoided with the information available.
2.1.3 Education and Training
Substantial improvements in the aviation weather in-
formation system as discussed above will surely be realized
within the next ten years. In the meantime, as recom-
mended by F & M, considerable improvement in aviation
weather safety can result from better meteorological ed-
ucation of pilots. Weather forecasters supporting aviation
should become more aware of aviation weather needs,
particularly concerning weather hazards to flight. The re-
ports of the N a tiona} Research Council ( 19 83 ) , Aviation
Weather Forecasting Task Force ( 1986 ), and McCarthy
and Clyne ( 1987) detail specific recommendations for this
education; they need not be repeated here. The panel
strongly supports these recommendations.
2.2 Research Issues
The panel members identified the following meteoro-
logical features as important to aviation interests: turbu-
lence, icing, freezing rain, wind shear, hail, heavy rain,
low visibility, and lightning. They are also critical to space
launch and recovery operations. Avoidance of convective
storms means avoidance of many of these events. Indeed,
this has been one of the major contributions of both ground
and airborne radar. Pressures of tight schedules and
crowded airspace make avoidance of all convective storms
impractical, particularly in the terminal area. Therefore,
there is the desire to avoid only regions hazardous to air-
crafts. As F & M show, this has resulted in considerable
attention to low-level wind shear in the past few years. It
has been demonstrated that Doppler radar can be used to
detect many hazardous wind shears and help controllers
anticipate significant wind changes at the terminal. The
panel believed that continued research is still required, not
only into the very short period forecasting of microbursts,
but also into the real-time quantitative measurement of
the intensity and location along the flight path of the
headwind/tailwind components of low-altitude wind
shear. Four-dimensional display of Doppler radar data
needs to be developed to help the forecaster and researcher
better understand the evolution of a downburst-producing
storm. In addition, the panel identified the need to increase

research efforts in the detection and forecasting of tur-
bulence, icing, and hazardous convective storms in the
terminal vicinity. 2 Modeling efforts also need to continue
both to increase basic understanding of convective pro-
cesses and to provide the capability for short period fore-
casts.
2.2.1 Icing
A national plan to improve the general forecasting of
icing conditions has been prepared (Federal Coordinator
for Meteorological Services, 1986). This plan indicates that
real-time observations from Doppler radar will be needed.
Icing detection algorithms for use with NEXRAO are being
developed at the University of North Dakota (Osborn,
1986). The panel was not optimistic that this algorithm
would succeed using radar data alone and encouraged the
incorporation of other observations, particularly those from
soundings. The panel also believed basic studies were re-
quired, including numerical modeling and microphysical
cloud observations. Radiometric profiling to detect regions
of supercooled liquid water may prove useful and should
be investigated. The use of microwave polarization diver-
sity radar should also be examined for applications to de-
tecting icing regions.
2.2.2 Turbulence
Microwave weather radars do not have sufficient sen-
sitivity to detect clear-air turbulence above the boundary-
layer; however, within the clear-air boundary-layer and
within precipitation, Doppler spectrum-width measure-
ments offer promise as means to detect turbulence affecting
aircraft. As detailed in F & M, early studies comparing
Doppler spectrum-width estimates to reported aircraft
turbulence were promising but inconclusive. As detailed
by Zrnic et al. ( 1987), future tests to use Doppler spectrum-
width measurements to quantify turbulent regions within
thunderstorms should account for other spectral-broad-
ening mechanisms such as shear, signal processing effects,
and spectral artifacts.
Wind profilers are able to detect clear-air turbulence
throughout the troposphere and could prove useful in
aviation applications, but it must be recognized that these
measurements are made only directly above widely spaced
geographic locations. Research is required to establish the
usefulness of wind profilers to measure aircraft turbulence
(see Chapters 21b, 27a, 27b and 28a).
2.2.3 Microburst Forecasting
Roberts and Wilson ( 1986, 1987) and Fujita ( 1985) have
identified various reflectivity and Doppler velocity features
2 In most instances, the discussion of hazards in the vicinity of airports
is also applicable to space launch and recovery sites.
AVIATION METEOROLOGY 685
that appear to be associated with microbursts before they
reach the earth's surface. Wakimoto and Bringi ( 1988) re-
cently noted the value of dual-polarization capabilities in
locating strong downdrafts that were associated with mi-
crobursts. The reliability of these and other features to
provide very short (2-10 min) period forecasts of micro-
bursts is unknown and requires further research.
If reliable microburst forecasting can be achieved utiliz-
ing radar, then the type of radar and its location relative
to the airport also become important considerations. This
has significantimpact on the siting of the radars. For ex-
ample, relatively simple Doppler radars suitably sited on
the airport may be able to provide real-time quantitative
measurements of the headwind/ tailwind components. If
it is determined that scanning of mid- and upper-storm
levels is required to obtain microburst forecast information,
then a radar with today's capabilities must be located off-
airport if it is to scan to sufficiently high angles in a rea-
sonable time. A radar on the airport would need to scan
in 1 min the entire hemispherical volume above the radar.
A rapid scan radar for this purpose has not yet been de-
veloped. The need for such a radar for research in con-
vective storm dynamics is discussed in Chapter 24b.
The TDWRs are presently being planned for off-airport
locations. The assumption is that upper-level radar data
will be needed and that the flight-path wind shear com-
ponents can be obtained with similar accuracy from either
an on- or off-airport location. The implications of radar
location are not fully appreciated and require additional
research.
The panel recommended exploratory research into the
possibility of combining data from Doppler radar, which
scans mainly horizontally, with that from a near-vertical
scanning radar located on the airport. The intent would
be to use the near-vertical scanning radar to detect devel-
oping downdrafts. Candidates for the near-vertical scan-
ning system could be a wind profiler or inexpensive mi-
crowave Doppler radar.
Two- and three-dimensional cloud models (Proctor,
1988; Hjelmfelt et al., 1986) are showing promise in sim-
ulating observed downbursts. Continued development in
this area is encouraged with the goal of providing guidance
to the forecaster on the type and intensity of outflow that
the observed atmosphere could support if convective
storms occur.
2.2.4 Algorithms
An integral part of the NEXRAD and TDWR programs
was the development of automated algorithms to detect a
variety of meteorological events, most of which are of
concern to aviation (NEXRAD, 1985; Campbell and Olson,
1987; Merritt and Campbell, 1987; Sanford et al., 1987).
The panel believed that it is important that research be
expanded in this area. This should include integrating data
from other sensors into the algorithms. In some instances,
686 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
additional basic research will be required to better under-
stand the weather event. This additional research is re-
quired especially for algorithms concerned with tornadoes,
microbursts, icing, and convection initiation.
The panel expressed concern that the heavy emphasis
by the FAA and AWS on the exclusive use of algorithms
to detect meteorological events will lead to a serious un-
derutilization of radar and a loss in confidence by pilots,
controllers, and forecasters. Thorough validation of algo-
rithms by geographical regions is essential if users' con-
fidence is to be maintained. The panel believed that au-
tomatic algorithms to contour reflectivity fields, detect
microbursts, detect mesocyclones, derive wind profiles, and
track storms have the greatest potential for success. Those
algorithms concerned with the detection of wind shift lines,
tornadoes, hail, and those intended for forecasting will
require considerably more development. As discussed in
section 2.1, the panel believed both forecaster-computer
and completely automated facilities are needed. At the
former, the forecaster would examine sophisticated dis-
plays that overlay the base radar data, algorithm outputs,
LLWAS, lightning, and other sensor data. The forecaster
would direct computer calculations to desired areas, per-
form quality control checks of algorithm results, and in-
tegrate the data with other meteorological information to
issue warnings and forecasts.
2.3 Hardware
2.3.1 Ground-based Doppler Radar
An important issue in radar siting is the need to provide
pilots with the magnitude of the wind shear along their
approach or departure path. While a single-Doppler radar
could be sited to directly measure the shear along a flight
path, most airports have multiple runways extending in
different directions. Seldom could one radar be sited to
directly measure the headwind I tailwind components
along all possible flight paths. Wilson et al. ( 1984) and
Eilts and Doviak ( 1987) have shown that the shear inten-
sity from microbursts can vary considerably with direction
of penetration. Thus, the shear measured by a single
Doppler may be unrepresentative of the true shear along
any given flight path. In addition, the panel was not op-
timistic that means could be developed to establish the
asymmetry of a wind shear from single-Doppler radar
alone. A possible solution requiring study is the use of low
cost, nonscanning Doppler radars along each runway.
Other partial solutions might be obtained by combining
radar and LLWAS data. In fact, research needs to be fo-
cused on obtaining a wind shear value along each approach
and departure corridor that is based on all available ob-
serving systems. This could include data from the ASR-9,
downlinked in situ and radar observations from aircraft,
and vertical sensing systems. Operational experience, ad-
ditional research, and cost-benefit considerations are
needed before the utility of these various approaches can
be fully assessed.
As indicated in section 2.2, detection of microburst pre-
dictors at mid- and upper-storm levels would require an
off-airport site if a rapid scan radar were not available. A
method for obtaining both microburst predictor data aloft
and low-level wind shear components along each ap-
proach I departure path would be to site two scanning
Doppler radars off the airport. Then the actual wind field
could be synthesized from the radial velocities measured
by the two radars. The radars should be located so that
their beams intersect at angles between roughly 30° and
150° over the field of interest. Another approach might
be to place a single Doppler radar on the airport, situated
for optimum coverage for the instrumented runway(s),
and use a vertically looking radar to detect the precursot:s
of microburst events. As stated above, more research is
needed to explore the practicality of this technique. Com-
binations involving the TDWR with the ASR-9 airport sur-
veillance radar also deserve study.
While it is apparent that a single Doppler radar will have
limitations, the panel strongly believed that deployment
of single-Doppler radar near airports should proceed as
planned. The potential benefits from this imperfect solution
should easily warrant the cost.
2.3.2 Dual Polarization
The possible use of dual-polarization radar to detect mi-
croburst downdrafts was mentioned in section 2.2.3. This
research must be pursued further to determine its actual
utility. It is known that dual-polarization techniques can
define hail regions below the freezing level and the exten-
sion of the regions aloft (see Chapters 19a and 23a). This
is obviously a great value to aviation safety, but it is un-
likely that this will be possible with small airborne radars.
While the present specifications for the TDWR do not
include dual polarization, the panel recommends it be in-
cluded. If its usefulness is not determined by procurement
time, the radar should be built to allow easy implemen-
tation at a later time.
2.3.3 Airborne forward-Looking Systems
NASA Langley Research Center in conjunction with the
FAA is investigating technologies to detect severe wind
shear conditions and turbulence ahead of airplanes. Three
concepts being examined include forward-looking micro-
wave Doppler radar, Doppler lidar, and an infrared radi-
ometer. For Doppler radar several serious problems must
be resolved. These concern removing clutter contamination
in both the main and sidelobe beams, sensitivity to detect
weak signals, and small enough beamwidths to resolve
wind shears. Doppler lidars do not have clutter contami-
nation problems but do suffer serious attenuation in rain

and cloud. Radiometer measurements depend on thermal
differences associated with wind shears that may notal-
ways be present. Theoretical considerations suggest that
these systems have future promise; research and devel-
opment is required. A possible scenario is a combination
microwave system for heavy rain and lidar for very light
rain. Because of the major advantage of airborne systems
to directly measure the wind component or turbulence
along the actual flight path, the panel recommends that
these systems receive serious consideration and the nec-
essary funding for research and development.
2.3.4 ASR-9
The FAA plans to install -130 new airport surveillance
radars (ASR-9). Their primary mission is to detect aircraft.
A separate weather channel will provide displays of re-
flectivity from weather. Since these radars are located on
the airport and are pulsed-coherent, it is natural to consider
their potential for wind shear detection.
Atlas (1987) recently patented a system to make use of
the two receiving beams of the ASR-9 to estimate wind
shear in the terminal vicinity. Weber and Moser (1987)
presented a preliminary analysis of the ASR's capability
to detect wind shear in the vicinity of the airport. They
concluded that the radars are sufficiently sensitive to detect
low-reflectivity (5-20 dBZ) outflows. Because of the ver-
tical-fan antenna pattern, very shallow ( <300 m) wind
shear features may be detected only to a range of 7 km.
On the other hand, the Atlas method utilizes the difference
in the Doppler spectra of the two wide beams and may
allow the measurement of winds near the surface. The
panel recommends that simulations and tests of the various
methods of using the ASR-9 should be performed to de-
termine what operational role, if any, this radar should
have in obtaining low-level wind shear.
3 SUMMARY
Fujita and McCarthy recommended a three-step process
that they believe would lead to a much improved future
aviation system to deal with hazardous weather in the
terminal area. These steps include improving pilot edu-
cation and training regarding hazardous weather, devel-
oping a quantitative measure of weather hazards, and de-
veloping an integrated airport terminal weather infor-
mation system. The panel supports these recommendations
and adds others concerning the direction that research,
development, and operational implementation should take
in the next ten years.
The panel endorses the FAA plan to install the NEXRAD
and TDWR and to expand LLWAS near major airports.
The delivery of these systems, however, is only a partial
solution to the aviation terminal weather problem. The
weather hazard problem should be considered in its en-
tirety, and its solution provided by an integrated system.
Weather data from all sensors should be assembled and
AVIATION METEOROLOGY 687
integrated, and weather hazards should be quantified and
then communicated to users. The FAA and NWS must
cooperatiYely develop forecaster-computer terminal avia-
tion weather facilities for this purpose. To develop the
needed expertise, the panel recommends the establishment
and long-term stable funding of an Aviation Weather Test
Center. This facility would develop and test, in an oper-
ational environment, procedures for integrating data
sources, testing automated algorithms, detecting and
quantifying hazards, disseminating information, and dis-
playing data. This center would also conduct applied re~
search on aviation problems and test new sensors.
In addition, the panel made specific recommendations
for research in four aviation hazard areas and for devel-
opmeflt and testing in five hardware areas. Areas specifi-
cally identified for additional research are turbulence de-
tection, icing detection, convection initiation and storm
intensity change forecasting, and microburst nowcasting
and specification of runway component winds.
Sensors deserving additional research and/ or devel-
opment to test their utility are airborne forward-looking
systems (Doppler radar, Doppler lidar, infrared radiome-
ter}, nonscanning wind profiling systems, ASR-9, and
dual-polarization radar.
The panel urges mission agencies to consider the im-
provements to an aviation weather system as evolutionary.
New procedures for detecting, integrating, quantifying,
displaying, and communicating weather phenomena
should continually be tested and new advances imple-
mented when proven. An organizational structure needs
to be established that allows and encourages the exami-
nation of alternative sensors and technologies to solve
aviation weather problems. A healthy working environ-
ment must be created where researchers, engineers, and
operational people work together with the common goal
of developing a total aviation weather system that provides
hazard weather information in a timely, concise, and easily
understood format to controllers and pilots.
Acknowledgments. Panel members were most helpful and
innovative in reviewing the Fujita and McCarthy report
and then developing the recommendations presented in
this report. C. Chandler, J. Clark, J. Lee, J. McCarthy, C.
Mueller, D. Peed, V. Peterson, R. Rinehart, R. Wakimoto,
K. Wilk, and J. Zak were particularly active throughout
the entire process. We are indebted toT. Theodore Fujita
and John McCarthy for their excellent review and to
McCarthy for his responsiveness in editing the original
manuscript based on the panel's review. The author would
also like to thank Edwin Kessler for his historical perspec-
tive and concerns expressed during the conference; they
influenced the writing of this report. The panel was most
impressed by the quality of the conference and extends.
appreciation to co-chairmen Dave Atlas and Ralph Don-
aldson.
688 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

APPENDIX: MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology

LIST Of ACRONYMS NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administra-
tion
NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research
ARINC Aeronautical Radio, Inc. NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar
ASR-9 Airport Surveillance Radar NWS National Weather Service
AWIPS-90 Advanced Weather Information Processing NSSL National Severe Storms Laboratory
System PIREP Pilot Weather Report
AWS Air Weather Service PROFS Program for Regional Observing and Fore-
F&M Fujita and McCarthy review (Chapter 31a) casting Service (NOAA)
FAA Federal Aviation Administration TDWR Terminal Doppler Weather Radar
LLWAS Low-Level Wind Shear Alert System WSR-57 Weather Service Radar

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RADAR IN METEOROLOGY 773
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REFERENCE SECTION
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 Current Addresses of Contributors 777

Current Addresses of Contributors

The following acronyms appear in this list of addresses.

AFGL Air Force Geophysics Laboratory
AOML Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory
CRPE Centre de Recherches en Physique de L'Environnement Terrestre et Planetaire
ERL Environmental Research Laboratories
ETH Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research
NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NSSL National Severe Storms Laboratory
NWS National Weather Service
WPL Wave Propagation Laboratory

Jiro Aoyagi, Meteorological Research Institute, 1-1 Nagamine, Yatabe-machi, Tsukuba-gun, lbaraki-ken 305, Japan
(Chapter 9)
David Atlas,% NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 610.2, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 (Tribute and Chapter 12)
Pauline Austin, Center for Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge,
Massachusetts 02139 (Chapter 4)
Ben B. Balsley, NOAA/ERL/ Aeronomy Laboratory, 325 Broadway, Boulder, Colorado 80303 (Chapter 21b)
Kenneth V. Beard, Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois, 1101 W. Springfield Ave., Urbana, Illinois 61801
(Chapter 23b)
Alan Betts, RD 2, Box 3300, Middlebury, Vermont 05753 (Chapter 25b)
Edward Brandes, NOAA/ERLjNSSL, 1313 Halley Circle, Norman, Oklahoma 73069 (Chapter 24b)
Viswanathan N. Bringi, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523 (Chap-
ter 19a)
Keith A. Browning, Director of Research, Meteorological Office, London Road, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 2SZ, England
(Chapter 26a)
Donald Burgess, NOAA/ERL/NSSL, 1313 Halley Circle, Norman, Oklahoma 73069 (Chapter 30a)
Richard Carbone, NCAR, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, Colorado 80307-3000 (Chapter 24b)
C.G. Collier, Meteorological Office, London Road, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 2SZ, England (Appendix to Chapter 29a)
William Cotton, Dept. of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523 (Chapter 24b)
Arnett Dennis, Bureau of Reclamation, Code D-1210, P.O. Box 25007, Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225
(Chapter 13)
Ralph J. Donaldson, ST Systems Corp.,% AFGL Weather Radar Facility, Hudson Road, Sudbury, Massachusetts 01776
(Chapter 15)
Richard Douglas, 6890 Monkland Ave., Montreal, Quebec H4B 1J4, Canada (Chapter 8)
Kerry A. Emanuel, Center for Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge,
Massachusetts 02139 (Appendix to Chapter 26b)
Joseph 0. Fletcher, NOAA/Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, WSC-5, Room 908, Rockville, Maryland 20852
(Chapter 1)
G. Brant Foote, NCAR, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, Colorado 80307-3000 (Chapter 24b)
778 Current Addresses of Contributors

T. Theodore Fujita, Dept. of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Ave., Chicago, Illinois 60637
(Chapter 31a)
Kenneth S. Gage, NOAA/ERL/ Aeronomy Laboratory, 325 Broadway, Boulder, Colorado 80303 (Chapters 17 and 28a)
Tzvi Gal-Chen, Dept. of Meteorology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019 (Chapter 24b)
Spiros G. Geotis, Center for Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge,
Massachusetts 02139 (Chapters 4 and 18)
Kenneth M. Glover, AFGL/LYR, AFGL Weather Radar Facility, Hudson Road, Sudbury, Massachusetts 01776
(Chapter 5)
Joseph H. Golden, W /OTS22, NWS/NOAA, 8060 13th St., Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 (Chapter 30b)
Earl E. Gossard, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences ( CIRES), Campus Box 449, University
of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309 (Chapter 27a)
Kenneth R. Hardy, AFGL/LYS, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts 01731-5000 (Chapter 17)
Patrick J. Harney, 21 Sunnyside Dr., Utica, New York 13501 (Chapter 3)
A. Hendry, 56 Bumbank St., Nepean, Ontario K2G OH6, Canada (Chapter 19a)
Gerald Heymsfield, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 612, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 (Chapter 24b)
Peter H. Hildebrand, NCAR, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, Colorado 80307-3000 (Chapter 22a)
Barry Hinton, Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin, 1225 W. Dayton St., Madison, Wisconsin
53706 (Chapter 25b)
Mark Hjelmfelt, NCAR, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, Colorado 80307-3000 (Chapter 24b)
William H. Hooke, NOAA CSO (Office of the Chief Scientist), Herbert Hoover Bldg., Room 5808, 14th & Constitution
Ave. NW, Washington DC 20230 (Chapter 28b)
Robert G. Humphries, MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates Ltd., Meteorological Systems, Richmond, British Columia V6X
2Z9, Canada (Chapter 14)
Arthur R. Jameson, Applied Research Corp., 8201 Corporate Dr., Suite 920, Landover, Maryland 20785 (Chapter 23a)
David B. Johnson, Applied Research Corp., 3005 Center Green Dr., Suit 225, Boulder, Colorado 80301 (Chapter 23a)
David P. Jorgenson, NOAA/ERL/NSSL, R/E/NS1, 325 Broadway, Boulder, Colorado 80303 (Chapter 22b)
Jiirg Joss, Istituto Svizzero di Meteorologia, Osservatorio Ticinese, Via ai Monti 146, CH-6605, Locamo-Monti, Switzerland
(Chapter 29a)
Isadore Katz, 2979 School House Lane, Kenilworth 904, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19144 (Chapter 3)
R. Jeffrey Keeler, NCAR. P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, Colorado 80307-3000 (Chapter 20a)
Edwin Kessler, Route 2, Box 137, Purcell, Oklahoma 73080 (Chapter 6)
Nobuhiki Kodaira, Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan, 7-15-17 Roppongi, Minatoku, Tokyo 106, Japan
(Chapter 9)
Robert A. Kropfli, NOAA/ERL/WPL, 325 Broadway, Boulder, Colorado 80303 (Chapter 27b)
S.M. Kulshrestha, India Meteorological Dept., Lodi Road, New Delhi 110003, India (Chapter 10)
Miguel Folkmar Larsen, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29631 (Chap-
ter 21a)
Leslie R. Lemon, Unisys Corp., 16416 Cogan Dr., Independence, Missouri 64055 (Chapter 30a)
Douglas K. Lilly, Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS), University of Oklahoma, 200
Felgar St., Norman, Oklahoma 73019 (Chapter 26b)
Frank D. Marks, Jr., NOAA/ERL/ AOML, 4301 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, Florida 33149 (Chapter 25a)
 Current Addresses uf Contributors 779

Vladislav Mazur, NOAA/ERL/NSSL, 1313 Halley Circle, Norman, Oklahoma 73069 (Chapter 18)
John McCarthy, NCAR, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, Colorado 80307-3000 (Chapter 31a)
Robert Meneghini, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 675, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 (Chapter 22b)
James I. Metcalf, AFGL/LYR, AFGL Weather Radar Facility, Hudson Road, Sudbury, Massachusetts 01776 (Chapters
5, 14 and 19b)
Mitch Moncrief£, NCAR, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, Colorado 80307-3000 (Chapter 24b)
Richard K. Moore, Radar Systems and Remote Sensing Laboratory, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045-2969
(Chapter 22a)
David B. Parsons, NCAR, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, Colorado 80307-3000 (Chapter 26b)
Richard E. Passarelli, SigmetjLassen Research, 2 Park Dr., Westford, Massachusetts 01886 (Chapter 20a)
J. Richard Probert-Jones, 1 Weighbridge Court, Chipping Campden, GLOS GL55 6JH, England (Chapter 7)
Robert M. Rauber, Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois, 1101 W. Springfield Ave., Urbana, Illinois 61801
(Chapter 23b)
PeterS. Ray, Dept. of Meteorology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306-3034 (Chapter 24a)
Roddy R. Rogers, Meteorology Dept., McGill University, 805 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2K6, Canada
(Chapter 16)
Jurgen Rottger, EISCAT Scientific Assn., Box 705, S-981-27, Kiruna, Sweden (Chapter 21a)
Frank Roux, CRPE, 38-40 Rue du General Leclerc, 92131 Issy-les-Moulineaux, France (Chapter 24b)
Frank Ruggiero, AFGL / LYR, AFGL Weather Radar Facility, Hudson Road, Sudbury, Massachusetts 01776 (Chapter 25b)
Thomas A. Seliga, Pennsylvania State University, 101 Hammond Bldg., University Park, Pennsylvania 16802
(Chapter 14)
PaulL. Smith, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, 501 E. St. Joseph St.,
Rapid City, South Dakota 57701-3995 (Chapter 29b)
Bradley F. Smull, NOAA/ERL/NSSL, R/E/NS1, 325 Broadway, Boulder, Colorado 80303 (Chapter 26b)
Donald M. Swingle, P.O. Box 160, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88004 (Chapter 2)
Carlton W. Ulbrich, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29631 (Chapter 12)
Albert Waldvogel, Atmospheric Physics Laboratory, ETH, Honggerberg, CH-8093, Zurich, Switzerland (Chapter 29a)
Earle R. Williams, Center for Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge,
Massachusetts 02139 (Chapter 18)
James Wilson, NCAR, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, Colorado 80307-3000 (Chapter 31b)
Yu-Mao Xu, Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China (Chapter 11)
Edward Zipser, NCAR, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, Colorado 80307-3000 (Chapter 25b)
Dusan S. Zmic, NOAAfERLfNSSL, R/E/NS, 1313 Halley Circle, Norman, Oklahoma 73069 (Chapter 20b)
 781

Index
Acid rain, radar applied to research on, 345 range, resolution of, 216
Ackerman, John, 4 resolution of, 231
Acoustic, 203 velocity, resolution of, 215
A/D (analogue to digital converter), 231 Anderson, Glen, 49
Aden, Arthur, 8, 15 Angels, 5, 17, 477
Adiabatic water contents, 326 and clear air, 17
Adjustment dot, 134
of winds (in radar analysis), 385-386 echoes, 131, 134
radar gage, 586, 601 layers, 135
spacing of gages, 590, 591 Angular dependence of backscattered power, 545-547,
Aeronomy Laboratory, NOAA, Boulder, Colorado, 126 551
AGC (automatic gain control), 231 Anistropic backscattering, 545-549, 551
ALPEX radars, 556 Anomalous propagation, 3, 614, 615
Air Force Cambridge Research Center (AFCRC), 123, technique for recognizing, 581, 587
125, 126 Antenna beam pattern effects, 71
role in polarization, Ill Antenna controller, device for controlling both azimuth
Air Force Geophysics Laboratory, 49, 51, 194, 196, 637 and elevation scanning, 81
Air Force, Air Weather Service, 36, 41,619,642 Antenna gain, 90
Air Ministry Research Establishment, U.K., 97 Antennas
Air route traffic control center (ARTCC), 662 adaptive, 220
Airborne Doppler radar array processing, 221
and cyclogenesis, 462-463 beamwidth, 583
and mesoscale studies, 470 cross-polarization, 178, 179
design, 289 feeds, 166, 172, 179
factors affecting spectral breadth, 290 gain differential, 184
hurricane observations, 293 multibeam, 646
limitations of, 288 offset fed, 172, 173, 179
potential of, 288 phased array, 646
storm scale observations, 287, 289, 292 polarization errors, 181
velocity measurement uncertainty, 290 polarization, 156
Airborne cloud physics radar relationship to polarization, 110, 111, 113
radar design, 298 side lobes, 166, 169, 179, 183
scientific need, 297 for wind profiling, 250-253
Airborne disdrometer, 23 Anvils, thunderstorm, 396
Airborne lidar, 299 Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University,
Airborne radar, 88, 89, 97, 398, 402, 411-412, 40
424, 686-687 Arctic Cyclone Experiment, observations from, 463
Airborne weather avoidance radar, 300 Area Precipitation Measurement Indicator, 14
Aircraft Area, of echo in relation to rainfall, 614
use in cloud physics research, 98, 99, 102, 104 Area-time integral, 608, 611, 613, 614
use of Doppler radar for collision warning, 123, 124 use in data quality control, 614, 616
interaction with lightning, 144, 149 use with satellite data, 614
guidance, use of polarization, Ill Arecibo observatory radar, 238, 240, 251,
routing studies, using radars, 572 255,278,540,544
Airport safety, the clear-air radar technology, 283 Armijo, Larry, 46
Albert, Ronnie L., 52 Army Air Corps
Alberta Research Council, role in polarization, 113 weather radar origins, 7
All Weather Flying Division, 32, 88 weather radar requirements documents, 9
Allied Research Associates, Inc., 36, 38 Army Electronics Training Center (AETC), 7
Altair radar, Kwajalein, 236 Arnold, Abraham, 12
Ambiguities Artificial intelligence, 643, 679
rangejvelocity, 214 Artificial precipitation, detection by radar, 73
 782 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Aspect sensitive backscattering, 545-549, 551 isotropic scattering model, 548

Aspect sensitivity for refractive index scattering, 238- measurements from hail, 59
240,242-243,245,247,265- 266 partially polarized, 186
Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory resonance theory for dielectric spheres, 60
(AOML), 402, 414 theory for water and ice spheres, 59
Atlas, David 6, 8, 124, 125, 126, 679-680 by water clouds, 72
Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory, Fort Monmouth, New Balloon observations, and clear-air radar studies, 284
Jersey, (1961-1965), 11 Band structure, 73
Atmospheric gradients, 18 Bands, mesoscale precipitation, 473
refractive index, 18 Barbados Oceanographic and Meteorological Experiment
temperature, 18 (BOMEX), 401
water vapor gradients, 18 Barclay, Peter, 46
Atmospheric studies, using radars, 572 Barczys, Daniel, 124
Attenuation, 335, 337 Barnes, Stanley A., 50, 52
attempts to correct for, 102 Baroclinic disturbances, airflow and precipitation
due to clouds, 89 measurement in, 57
cross section, 87 Baroclinic instability, 439
differential, 161 and cyclogenesis, 462
due to rain, 88, 89, 95 Barotropic instability, 439
effects of polarization on, 95 Barratt, Peter, 123, 124
effects of temperature on, 87 Bartolinus, role in basic discovery of polarization, 109
effects of, 662 Batch processing (for radar), 49
effects on precipitation measurements, 611 Battan, Louis J., 8, 44, 125, 658, 661
effects upon radar echoes, 101 photograph of, 129
by gases, 582 Beam axis, height of, 609
measurement of rainfall, 86, 91, 95 Beam broadening, 269
microwave, 615 Beam filling, 609, 614, 615
by precipitation, 8, 10, 12, 15, 582, 599 Beam occultation, 610, 611
proposed use in measuring rain, 587 Beam spreading, with range, 609
by the radome, 583 Bell Telephone Laboratory, 97
by rain, 71, 72 Beltrami flow, 372
by rain, measuring merit of, 22, 26 Bemis, Alan, 22, 23, 123
use of Z-A relationship to correct for, 615, 617 Bergeron process, 98
Austin, George, 5 interaction with coalescence process, 105
Austin, Pauline, 123 Bi-static radar, for turbulence studies, 238, 277-278
Australian Meteorological Service, 46 Biological targets, 478, 479, 500, 511
Autocorrelation function, 204, 216 Birds, 5, 16
windows, 205 Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, 35-36, 37, 38
Boulder Atmospheric Observatory (BAO), 478, 481, 489,
Autocovariance, 186, 187
491,519
Automatic gain control (AGC), 222
Boundary conditions
Autoregressive, 206
error in, 352
Avalanche forecast, by radar, 591
radar analysis of, 351
Averaging, error caused by, 584
Boundary layer
Aviation
convective,477-481,515,51 6-518,521-525
accidents 1, 658, 660-664, 666-671, 677, 680
convective, domes in, 480, 481
safety, 680-681 convergence, 447-456
hazards, 657-668
extrusion, 447-449
pilot training, 660, 662, 665-666, 680-681
marine,477,479,520,523
models, 654
Backscatter, 157, 161 nocturnal, 477, 478
anistropic turbulence model, 549 radar, 564
cross section, 86, 87 radars, 254, 276-277
differential phase shift, 158 Bounded weak echo region (BWER), 8, 356, 623, 628,
general, 535-536, 548 630,645
hailstones, 118, 119 Boussinesq approximation, 385
 INDEX 783

Bouys, bouy-mounted clear-air radars to measure winds Canada, polarization activities in and role of, 113
over the open ocean, 284 Canadian Army Operational Research Group, 88, 89
Bow echoes, 395, 626, 627, 630, 639 Canadian Research Council, 47
Bragg scale, 548 Cancellation ratio, relationship to reflectivity, 111
Bragg scatter (see also turbulent scatter), 241-242 Canting, 158,159,329,337-338
Brandes, Edward A., 50 Carter, John, 46, 48
Brantley, James Q., 123, 124, 127 Cat's-eye pattern, Kelvin's, 485, 486
Breaking internal waves, 544, 562-563 Catalina eddy
Brightband, 16,328,332 generation of, 466
365, 366, 402, 409, 414, structure of, 464-465
417-418,610,614 Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, 123, 124
aircraft observations of, 88 Cell life cycle, of hailcloud, duration of hailcloud cell
correction, 601 echo from initiation to dissipation, 84
early measurements of reflectivity, 24 Center Weather Service Unit (CWSU), 662
early measurements of cancellation ratio, 24 Center for the Environment and Man, Hartford,
echo due to, 87, 88, 89 Connecticut, 50
extension, 5 79 Chaff,324,330,383
and melting snow, 88 Chatanika radar, 544
physical explanation, 22, 23 Chickasha, Oklahoma, 46
polarization characteristics of, 88 Chimera, A.J., 124
polarization measurements applied to, 110, 111 China
relationship to melting layer, 102 radar meteorology in, 80-85
source of error in measuring rainfall, 434, 458-459 weather radar network, 81
thickness of, 88 Chinese weather radar, for detecting hydrometeors, 81
upper, 102 Christmas Island radar, 564
upper, identified as snow trails, 103 Chung-U, Republic of China, radar, 248, 249, 255
British Meteorological Office, 37, 38, 47 Cimarron Field, Oklahoma, 48
Brooks, Herbert B., 8, 9, 15 Circular depolarization ratio (CDR), 110,
Brown, Rodger, 46, 49 111, 113, 333, 335
Browne, Ian C., 123, 124 Circular polarization, 109-114
Browning, Keith, 44, 48 clockwise rotation of, 109
Brunt-VaisaHi frequency, 386 correlation, between components of, 113
Buckland Park, Australia, radar, 248, 255 depolarization, 153, 160, 166, 178, 181
Budd Electronics Co., 38 left hand, 109
Bumgarner, Bill, 49 patent, based on, 111, phase, 155
Buoyancy deviations, 387 radar clutter, role in, 109
Buoyancy equation, 386 right hand, 109
Buoyancy waves, 555-559 Cirrus; effect on satellite observations, 614
Buoyantenergy,352-353,35 5,369,373 Classify, Locate, and Avoid Wind Shear (CLAWS)
Burgess, Donald W., 51 Experiment, 677
Burnham, Jack, 47 Clayton, William, 13, 14
Bums, Anne, 47 Clear air, 479
Bussey, Howard, 5 detection of winds, 383
Clear-air backscatter observations, 33-35, 36-37, 40
Clear-air convection, 138, 139
C-band standard radar, 74 Clear-air radar, 235, 534
C2N,539-540,545,548-549 future of the technology, 282
CDR, 153, 160, 166, 178, 181 for weather forecasting, etc, 282, 283
COPLAN, 349, 384 Clear-air turbulence (CAT), 72, 552-553
COPLANE, 349, 366 detection by radar, 137
CPS-10, 6 Doppler radar measurements, 138
Calibration of radar, 183, 184, 615 Clear atmosphere
hardware, 583 · echoes from, 535
aluminum sphere, 23 history of radar studies of the, 130
standard gain hom, 25, 27 Climatological rainfall rate, 611
ZDR, LOR, CDR, 184 Climatological studies, using radar, 572
784 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Climatology, 610 Sixth, 25

lack of Doppler data, 653 12th, 48
local storm environment, 650, 652 13th, 68
precipitation, 651 Consensus averaging, 225
of tornado outbreaks, 652 Constant altitude plan-position indicator (CAPPI), 81
tropical, 649, 650 Continuous-wave (CW) radar, early use of, 122, 123,
western United States, 655 124
Cloud chemistry, radar applied to research on, 345 Convection (see also MCS, MCC) models, 348-349,
Cloud clusters, 401 354,358,367
Cloud condensation nuclei, role in cloud formation, 98 airmass, tropical, subtropical, 392
Cloud microphysics in cold fronts, 392-393
problems to be addressed by radar research in, 342- and cyclogenesis, 462-463
344 deep,443,452-453
and radar, 341-347 energetic, transport, 396
research areas in, 341-342 generation of energy for, 475-476
scale discrepancies between radar and, 342-343 height of echo tops, 409
Cloud morphology and dynamics, 297 horizontal roll, 451, 456
Cloud physics, 323-340 initiation, 394, 533
Cloud radars, 325, 329-331, 339 line,439, 444-447
Cloud seeding, Soviet use of depolarization in, 112 modeling of, 393
Cloud study, by K-band radar, 72 organized, available potential energy, 391, 395
Clouds and precipitation, 325-328 shallow low-level, 451-452
cold processes, 327-328 shallow upper-level, 450-451
convective clouds in tropics, 426-427 shear in the organization of, 391-392
diurnal cycle of precipitation, 428 slantwise, 392, 473-474, 475
mixed-phase processes, 326-327 synoptically forced, 450-453
precipitation climatology for the tropics, 428 temporal and spatial characteristics of, 409
rainfall estimates from space, 428-430 topographically forced, 453-456
warm processes, 325-326 Convection Profonde Tropicale 1981 (COPT-81), 81,
Clouds, stereophotogrammetry, 66 404,407,424,464
Clutter suppression, 212, 214, 227 Convective Initiation and Downburst Experiment
Clutter (CINDE), 465
ground, effects of, 611 Convective cells
identification by polarimetric observations, 615 appearance on radar screens, 101, 102, 104
use of circular polarization in rainfall, 109 life cycle, 115
Coalescence, 661 in thunderstorms, 101
freezing, 327 Convective instability, 482, 483
interaction with ice-phase processes, 105 Convective parameterization, for mesoscale circulations,
role in precipitation formation, 98, 104 462-464
Coastal front, as a cause of convective bands, 456 Convective storms, hail in, 113
Coaxial-colinear antennas (COCO), 251 Convergence
Cockeyed cat's-eye pattern, Taylor's, 485, 486 frictional, 447, 456
Coding, pulse, 258-260 low level, 444, 447
Coherence time, 200 Conveyor belts, 433-436, 474
Coherency, 153 associated with polar trough, 443
matrix, 154, 159, 161 with forward-sloping ascent, 435-436
Coherent integration, 258 with rearward-sloping ascent, 435
Coherent memory filter, 126 Copolar measurements, use of, 110-114
Cold pools, 368-369, 377 Coriolis effect, 354, 366, 370, 371
propagation of, 394 Cornell University, 123
Color display, of reflectivity and mean velocity, 121 Aeronautical Laboratory, 46, 123, 124, 128
Coloradowind profiling network, 253-254, 537 Comer reflector, 4
Complex terrain, 531 Correlation, temperature/humidity, 506-508, 526, 527
Conditional symmetric instability, 440, 473-474, 475 Cospectrum, temperature/humidity, 506, 507
Conferences, Weather Radar, 124, 125, 126 Criteria
First, 22 damaging wind recognition, 626, 629, 630, 632, 638
Second, 23 hail recognition, 626, 629, 630, 640
 INDEX 785

Lemon, 626-628 Department of Defense, 112

mesoscale recognition, 632 Depolarization, 110, 112, 161
radar warning, 619, 620, 625-628, 630, 632, 644, 645 of signal in troposphere and stratosphere, 250-251
storm structure recognition, 626-628, 630, 631 Deposition, wet, 617
tornado recognition, 437, 630, 631, 626, 636, 637 Description of polarization, 109-114
TVS recognition, 636, 637 coherency matrix, 110
Weather Radar Identification of Severe Thunderstorm polarization sphere of Poincare, 109
(WRIST), 628 Stokes'parameters, 109, 110
wind recognition, 626, 638, 639 Detectability, signal, 260-261
Critical level, 484, 486 Deutsche Forschungs- und Versuchsanstalt fur luft- und
Cross polarization, 109-114 Raumfahrt (DFVLR), West Germany, 192, 195
Cross section Differential
backscattering, 86, 87 linear, 153, 159, 162, 166
extinction, 87 phase shift, 158, 161, 176, 183, 186
of hailstones, 88 Differential absorption lidar (DIAL), 530
radar, of lightning, 143, 146 Differential polarization, 91
of raindrops, 88 Differential reflectivity, 110, 111, 113, 153, 159, 162,
scattering, 86, 87 166,175,192,194, 31~334-335,614,615
of water and ice spheres, 87, 88 Digital Radar Experiment (D /RADEX), 628, 629
Cross correlation, 154, 160, 166, 171, 180, 176 Digital processing
Cross covariance, 182, 207 display and transmission of radar echo signal, 80, 81
Cross polarization, 178 techniques, 625, 628
Cumulonimbus, structure revealed by radar, 56 Digital video integator and processor
Cunningham, Robert M., 22, 23 levels, 626
Cyclogenesis DVIP, 626, 642
polar lows, 462-463 VIP,626, 628,630,645
rapidly deepening, 461-463 Display technology, 661
Divergence, 538-539
as measured by Doppler radar, 447
D/RADEX, 50 Donaldson, Ralph J., 8, 44, 48, 300
OFT (Discrete Fourier Transform), 232 Doppler radar, 86, 324, 330-333, 338-340, 444-450
DIAL (Differential Absorption Lidar), 300 airborne,315,350-352,382, 408,414,415,646,654
DOPLIGHT '87, 634, 637 algorithms, 639, 643
at NSSL, 53 ambiguities, 632, 646
Data anomalous propagation, 653
archival, 285, 655 application to tornado detection, 119, 120, 121
dissemination, 655 applications, 651
exchange, 653 boundary conditions, 351-352
ground truth, 649, 652, 654 Cartesian solution, 384-385
local area assimilation, 654 clear air, 534
operational, 653 clear-air return, 644
precipitation and wind, 654 cloud microphysics applications using, 341-347
quality control, 615 Coplan solution, 384
synthesis, 655 clutter suppression, 581, 587
thermodynamic,654 crossbeam resolution, 651
Database management, in clear-air radar technology, detection of downburst, 380-381
285 dilemma, 632
Decca Radar (company), 124 direct solution of wind field, 384
Decimation, of raingage networks, 608 drop-size measurements, 587
Decker, Fred W., 7, 11 drop-size spectra from, 58
Defford, England, radar, 236, 553 dual, 59, 414, 351, 384, 650, 665, 669, 671
Deformation field, as measured by Doppler radar, 447- Euler-Lagrange equations, 385-386
449 errors, 350-351
Density currents, 495-498 first observations from pulsed, 58
associated with sharp surface cold fronts, 439, 446 geometric error, 350-351
in convection, 394 hail, 373
Denver cyclone, and severe weather, 465 hazardous surface phenomena, 651
786 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

high-powered, to investigate refractive index Doppler shifting, influence on internal wave spectrum,
inhomogeneities, 59 555,558,561
history, 348-349 Doppler spectrum, 536
horizontal wind, divergence and deformation from, autocorrelation function of radar echoes, 55
56,58,59 early meteorological interpretation of, 123, 124, 125
lidar, 665, 673 of lightning radar echoes, 148, 150
limitations, 351-352, 632, 638, 639 maximum entropy method, 262
linear depolarization ratio, 375 parameter estimation, 257, 261-262
matrix display using storage to be, 58 precipation signals, 275-276
measurements, 171, 175, 178, 185, 187 specular echo contributions, 242
method, for wind measurements, 243-247 turbulent scatter, 237, 257
measurement capabilities, 536-542 Doppler technique
mobile, 57, 59 impact of on polarization research, 112, 114
multiple, 323, 338-340, 384-386, 631, 646, 669 refraction, in crystals and ionosphere, 109
for multiradar synthesis, 46, 52 Dot angels, 134
observation of tropical MCSs, 404-408 Dot-source hailcloud, 84
observational limitations, 349
Doviak, R.J., 49, 51
polarization, 186, 187
Downburst, 380-381, 521-525, 621, 626, 628, 638, 642,
polarization methods, 373-375, 383
666-668,673
polarization research, impact on, 112
precipitation measurements, 613 Downdrafts, 609
pseudo-Doppler systems, 653 associated with a mesoscale convective system, 453
public perceptions of, 653 microbursts, downbursts, 395
radial component, 631, 646 Drop-size distribution, 86, 87, 95, 611, 614, 615
range and velocity ambiguities, 653 and attenuation due to rain, 95
rapid scan, 399 Doppler measurements, 587
reduction of variance in hydrology, 597 estimation by differential reflectivity observations, 615
reflectivity estimated terminal velocity, 383 from vertically pointing radar, 93-94
satellite-borne, 646 Joss disdrometer measurement of, 92
scan strategies, 641, 652 Laws and Parsons, 88
short-term forecasting, 613 Marshall and Palmer, 88, 89, 90
signatures aloft associated with, 651 measurement, 578
signatures, signal beam, 652 measurement by filter paper, 94
Single Doppler Velocity Retrieval, 460 measurement by wind-profiling Doppler radar, 542
single Doppler signatures, 631, 634, 639 median volume diameter, 90
single beam research, 653, 654 and multiparameter radar measurements, 91
spaceborne, 317 of raindrops, 83
spectral modification, 352 reduction of variance in hydrology, 597
spectrum width, 651 reflectivity weighted mean size, 615
squall line, 362-369 shape factor, 579
storm splitting, 373 variations of, 92
three-dimensional, 649, 654 and Z-R, 69
tornadoes, 376-379 Dry intrusions, 451-452
training, 643, 645 Dryline, 499
turbulence detection, 644 and convection, 467-468, 470
uncertainties, 350-351 Dual polarization
variational calculus, 385-386 circular, use of, 110-114
VAD profiles, 653-654 first use of, 126
VAD scan, 447-448 linear, use of, 110-114
VIL and SWP thresholds, 653 review of, 110
velocity field, 651 role of, 110-114
vertical incidence measurements, 408, 414, 416 Dual-beam antenna, 125
vertically pointing radar, 92, 93, 94, 330-333, 338- Dual-wavelength radar technique, 324, 335, 339
339 Duffy, Marcellus, 4, 7, 9, 15
volumetric scan strategies, 653 Duration, of echo in relation to rainfall, 614
wind profiling, 534 Dynamic instability, 482, 483, 552-555
 INDEX 787

Dynamic range, 231 Entrainment, 298, 532,

Dynamic retrieval, 387 cumulus, 393
radar applied to research on, 345
ELDORA radar Epstein layer, 491
design, 295 Equatorial Mesoscale Experiment (EMEX), 408
dual beam scan technique, 295 Equivalent reflectivity factor, 87
velocity measurement uncertainty, 290, 291, 296 Errors
ESSA Research Laboratories, Boulder, Colorado, 126 boundary conrutions, 352
Earth Observing System (EOS), 322 dual-Doppler method, 349-350
Easterbrook, Calvin, 46 geometric, 350-351
Echo area horizontal ruvergence, 350
integation as data quality control aid, 615 in radar analysis, 382
relation to rainfall, 614 in rarual velocity, 349
Echo duration, relation to rainfall, 614 in turbulence scatter measurements, Doppler method,
Echo height, relation to rainfall, 614 264-265
Echo pattern in turbulence scatter measurements, gravity waves,
continuity as quality control aid, 615 264, 266, 269, 273
related to Z-R relationships, 70, 71 in turbulence scatter measurements, precipitation
Echo reflectivity, vertical profile, indication of storm effects, 276
severity, 118 . in turbulence scatter measurements, spaced antenna,
Echo signal, smoothing of, 76 249
Echo top height in turbulence scatter measurements, spatial wind
range dependence, 71 variations, 264-265
related to thunderstorm occurrence, 72 in turbulence scatter measurements, spectral width
Echo tops, 623,624,625,628,630 estimate errors, 269
association with hail, regional variability, 117 in turbulence scatter measurements, vertical
Echoes reflectivity variations, 268-269
bow, 649 in turbulence scatter measurements, vertical velocity
clear-air, 534-536, 552-553 measurements, 247, 265-267
in clear atmosphere, 130, 136 in turbulence scatter measurements, wind
comma, 649 measurement errors due to apparent beam rurection,
comma-shaped, 626, 627, 630 265-266
rustinctive,626,628,630 wind measurement, 537-538
hook,648, 650,651 Estimations, 200, 218
low-level hook, 650 accuracy, 210, 211
morphology, 544-548 maximum likelihood, 207
overhang, 621,623,624,628 poly pulse pair, 207, 210
pendantshaped,650 pulse pair, 206, 208, 210
precipitation, 542 Euler-Lagrange equations, 385-386
quasi-specular, 545-547 Evaporation
radar, 355, 359 below cloud base, 99
residual clutter, 653 effects upon radar measurement of rainfall, 99
shape, 625,627,630 Evaporation-induced cooling, 446
spike, 631 Excess rotational kinetic energy (ERKE), 635
top height changes, 650 Experiment on Rapidly Intensifying Cyclones (ERICA),
using lightning data to classify, 655 462
Echoing mechanism, 535-536 Expert systems, 610
Eddy ruffusion coefficient, 540 Extinction cross section, 87
Eddy russipation rate, 539-540, 543-544 Extrapolation, of echo pattern, 616
Education, pilot, 682-687 Extrusion, of upper tropospheric or lower stratospheric
El Nino, 301 air, 449
Electrification, cloud, radar applied to research on, 345
Electromagnetic theory, 109 FACE-2, 612, 614,
Electromagnetic waves, 109 FM-CW radar, 202, 231, 235, 236, 269-270, 277, 531,
Elliptical polarization, state of, 109 544
England, role in polarization, 113 Doppler processing, 236
788 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

phase coding, 259 use of Doppler obseravtions in, 613

on balloons for clear-air radar studies, 284 hydrological problems in, 616
FRONTIERS, 610 mesoscale circulations, 461-468
Fast Fourier transform, first use of, 126 short term, 590, 598, 616, 617
Fast scanning radars, 217, 227 streamflow, 590
Fast switching of polarization, 111 Forward scatter radar, 535
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 47, 49, 51, 662, Four-dimensional data assimilation adjoint methods, 397
665,666,670,673,675,679-681 Fourier transform, 205
Feedhorns French Meteorological Office, 37, 124
conical, 179 Frequency
corrugated, 179 Doppler, 479, 511
dual mode, 179 ViiisiiUi-Brunt (or Brunt-Viiisiilii), 482-485, 488, 506,
multimode, 179 508
trimode, 179 Frequency agility, 177, 185
Ferrite, 164, 165, 180 Frequency allocations, 280-281
Field experiments, 668-680 for clear-air radars, 284
planning, of mesoscale, 470 Frequency domain inferometer, 279
Field programs Frequency spectrum
CCOPE, 193 horizontal velocity, 558-558, 560, 562
CINDE, 192 internal waves, 557-558
CLAWS, 192 vertical velocity, 557-558, 561
MAYPOLE, 192 Fresnel reflection, 242, 270, 548, 550
MIST, 192 model, 550
TRMM, 193-194, 196, 197 wavelength dependence, 242
Filters
Fresnel scatter, 242, 270, 536, 548, 550-551
adaptive,219
model, 550-552
clutter, 212
Friend, Albert W., 9, 11
finite impulse response (FIR), 213
Frontal bands, narrow, 474-475
infinite impulse response (IIR), 213
Finescale structure, 543-544, 546-547 Frontal lifting
First echoes and cyclogenesis, 462
height, 620, 323, 331 and initiation of mesoscale convective systems, 463,
in Thunderstorm Project, 105 470
use in studies of rain formation, 105 Frontal systems
Flash flood ana-cold front, 435
radar detection, 644 coastal front, 456
warning, 607, 614, 611 cold fronts, 433-436, 444-449
Flatland radar, 538, 561, 564 instant occlusion, 443
Fleisher, Aaron, 24, 26, 123 kata-cold front, 435-436
Fletcher, Joseph 0., 7, 8, 9, 15 land breeze front, 456
Floating targets, 609, 613 prefrontal cold surge, 436, 442
Floods, 648, 652 split front, 436
use of microwave radiometry, 654 surface cold front, 435-436
Florida Area Cumulus Experiment (FACE), 356, 401, transverse circulations at fronts, 447, 449
466-477 upper cold front, 435-436
Flow-around-an-obstacle signature, 621 warm conveyor belt, 433-436
Fluctuation rate, 17 warm front, 437
Fluctuations of the radar signal Frontogenetic forcing, as a cause of wide precipitation
autocorrelation function of, 123 band,450
in CW radar, 122 Fronts
in MTI radar, 122 reflectivity enhancements, 274
meteorological interpretation of, 123, 124, 125, 126 vertical velocities around, 273-274
propeller modulation, 124 Froude number, and mesoscale vortices, 465-466
relation to Doppler spectrum, 123 Fujita, T. Theodore, 13, 47, 658, 663, 664, 666-671
Forecasting Full correlation analysis, FCA, for spaced antenna
avalanche, by radar, 591 systems, 248
 INDEX 789

GALE, 28 effect on precipitation measurements, 611

GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE), 402, 415, envelopes, 65
425 field studies, Alberta Hail Studies (ALHAS), 64
GATE, 27 formation, models of, 66
GEWEX (Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment), growth, 375
the role of clear-air technology in, 285 kinetic energy of, 589
Gage-to-radar measurement of intensity, 611
lognormal distribution of, 612 measurements in New England, 26
log ratio, 612 mixture with rain, 611
rainfall ratios, 612, 613 modeling, 376
Gans' theory, 110 occurence, 651
Garrett-Munk spectrum, 557 radar detection of_ 373-375
General Electric Research Laboratory, Wembley, U.K., size distribution, 578
86, 97 study with cooperation of WBZ-TV weathercasters, 26
Generating cells, 331 Hailcloud, cell life cycle, duration of hailcloud cell echo
Genesis of Atlantic Lows Experiment (GALE), 462 from initiation to dissipation, 84
Gerhardt, John, 5 Hailstones
Ghosts, 477 radar reflectivities, Z-R and Z-M, 65
Glaciation, 337 size distributions, 65
Global Atmospheric Research Program (GARP), 402 Hailstorms
Global Atmospheric Research Program (GARP) Atlantic columnar water contents in, 66
Tropical Experiment (GATE) models of, 66
rainfall statistics, 430 radiosoundings near, 66
scale interaction, 426-429 weak echo regions, 66
Global Atmospheric and Tropics Experiment (GATE), winds near, 66
356,367 Haldiman, Dean, 5
Global climatological observations, 301 Halstead, Maurice, 13
Global weather analysis, the role of clear-air radars in Harbury, Peter, 11
large-scale analysis, 285 Harney, Pat, 4
Global weather observations, 301 Harvard University, Cruft Laboratory, 7, 10, 11
Gordon, Bill, 5 Hawaiian Island vortices, generation of, 465
Gould, William B., III, 9, 10, 11 Heat flux, surface, 518-523
Gravity waves, 440, 475 Heavy rain, 82
Groginsky, Herbert, 125 Height, of echo in relation to rainfall, 614
Ground clutter Helicity, 372
anomalous propagation, 581 Beltrami Flow, 372
canceling, 232, 233, 234 helical flow, 3 72
effects of, 611 inertial range energy cascade, 372
maps, 232 nondimensional relative helicity equation, 372
rejection by Doppler, 580, 587 Hennington, Larry, 48
rejection by bit map, 580 Hertz, role in confirming nature of radiation, 109
Gulf Stream, 306 Hilst, Glenn, 26
Gust front, 620, 621, 624, 627, 628, 635, 636, 638, 639, History, radar studies of the clear atmosphere, 130
642,645,667-668 Hoegl, Donat, 25
Gusts, SPA motion as indicator of surface gusts, 451- Holbrook, Richard, 5
452 Holland, Josh, 4, 5
Holmboe's model, 485
Hail, 373-376, 619, 621, 623, 626, 628, 630, 634, 640, Hood Canal floating bridge, sinking of, 465
642,643,645,646 Hook echo, 355, 376, 622, 623, 626-628, 630, 637, 645
associated with shallow line convection, 439 morphology as revealed by radar, 479, 499, 500
detection by radar, 111, 113, 114, 117, 118, 119,329, Horizon, radar, 611
333-337,587,589,611,615,654 Horizontal polarization, 109, 111, 112
echo-top height and hail size, 65 Horizontal shearing instability, 439
echo-top height and probability, 65 Horseshoe updraft, 378
echo-top penetration of tropopause, 65 Houghton, Henry, 22, 26
effect on Z-R relationship, 611 House, Don, 44
790 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Houze, Robert, 27 phase state, effects of, 111

Hudlow, Michael, 14 radar identification of, 333-338
Hurricanes rain, effects of, 110, 111
Alicia (1983), 413-414, 418, 424 random orientation, effects of, 110, 111, 113
Allen (1980), 414, 418-419 scattering effects and properties of, 110-114
Belle (1976), 42 scattering properties of, 324, 328
center, 419-420 shape, effects of, 111
concentric eyewall, 412 shapes of, 328, 335
connecting bands, 412 size distributions of, 328, 332-333, 578
David (1979), 418 snow, effects of, 110, 111, 113
Debby (1982), 417
Earl (1986), 423 ICPR (integrated cross-polar ratio), 171, 178, 181, 182
echo population, characteristics of, 423 IGBP (International Geosphere Biosphere Program), the
Edna (1954), 36 role of clear-air radar technology in, 285
Elena (1985), 418 Ice crystals/particles, 110
eyewall contraction, 4 14 Ice hydrometeors, 111
eyewall structure, 414-417 Ice multiplication, 327
Floyd (1981), 417 Ice nucleation, 64, 65, 66
Frederic (1979), 419, 423 Ice nuclei
Gloria (1985), 42, 414 artificial, for cloud seeding, 99
Irene (1981), 418 biogenic, 66
microphysical processes, 418-419, 423 role in precipitation initiation, 98
motion, 419-421 Ice processes, radar applied to research on, 345
Norbert (1984), 421-422 Ice-water discrimination, 336
primary circulation, 412, 424 Icing, 659, 660
principal rainband, 412, 417 bright band/ freezing level algorithm, 654
rainband structure, 417-418 melting level, 654
rainfall, 418-419 Illinois State Water Survey, 11, 12, 47, 193
secondary circulation, 412, 414, 419 radar measurement of precipitation, 12
secondary rainband, 412, 418 radar program at, 112
secondary wind maxima, 412 Imaging Doppler inferometers, 243, 278
stationary band complex (SBC), 412 Imperial College, London, 37, 38
stratiform precipitation within, 418-419 Incoherent averaging or integration, 260
surface wind estimates in, 423-424 Incoherent scatter radar, 237
symmetric vortex, 420 India
temporal variability of precipitation, 419 development and manufacture of meteorological
track, 419-421 radars in, 77
trochoidal oscillation of track, 420 radar meteorological networks, 78
vertical reflectivity structure of, 414, 421-423 radar meteorology in, 77-79
vortex-scale features, 412-414 Inertial oscillations, 557
Wynne (1980), 420-421 Inferometry, 569, 573-574
Huygens, role in basic discovery of polarization, 109 Initialization of models, 381-382
Huynen Fork, 154, 186 Inner scale of turbulence, 536
Hybrid mode, use of lower tropospheric radars and Insects, 5, 16, 134, 478, 479, 500, 511
conventional wind profilers, 283 Instability
Hydrodynamicalequations, 387 baroclinicjbarotropic, 439
Hydrology, 607-617 conditional symmetric, 440, 473-474, 475
models, 608, 609, 617 convective, 482,483
Hydrometeors, 323-340, 579, 601, 660-661 dynamic, 482, 483, 566-568
ellipsoidal shapes of, 110, 111 horizontal shearing, 439
hail, polarization effects of, 111, 113 Kelvin-Helmholtz, 449
ice,325-329,331-332,335-337,340 longitudinal mode, 482, 483
liquid, 324-328, 332, 335, 337, 339-340 potential, 435-436, 451
melting of, 328-329, 332, 335, 337 of stratified shear flow, 552-555
orientation and fall behavior, 328-329, 335, 338 transverse mode, 482, 483
phase of, 615 Integration circuitry, 71, 76
 INDEX 791

Inter-Union Commission on Radio Meteorology, 135 Kerr, D.E., 3, 123

Intercomparison between clear-air radar techniques, 284 Kessler, Edwin, 45, 46, 126
Interdisciplinary research, using radars, 572 Kinematic processes, 348
Interferometer, 243, 278 Kinematic retrieval, 388-389
Internal gravity waves, 555-559 Kinzer, Gilbert D., 46, 51
Internal wave spectra Klystron tube, early use of, 122, 124, 126
model spectra, 557-559 Kodaira, Nobuhiko, 25
observed spectra, 557-559 Kolmorgorov microscale, in clear-air radar technology,
Intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), 402 284
Inversion of wind field, 365-366 Kwajalein Missile Range, 41
Inversions
capping, 478, 479 LOR, 153, 159, 162, 166
nocturnal, 4 78 LIDAR, airborne systems, 319
subsidence, 477 Lagrangian statistics, 532
temperature, 477, 478 Lake breezes, and convection, 466-467
Ionosphere, radio wave propagation in, 109, 114 Lake effect
Ionosphere radar as a cause of shower bands, 456
use of polarimetry in, 109 snow storms, snow bands, 467
relation to wind profiler, 237 Land breeze
Isoecho contouring and convection, 466-467
circuitry, 71, 76, 116, 118 land breeze cold front as a cause of line convection,
contouring technique, 662 456
Isotropic turbulence, 548 Laser techniques, use of, 110, 111
model, 549 Latent heat release, 407
Istvan, E.J., 5, 8 Layers
elevated, 506
JDOP, 652 elevated, structure of, 506
Japan Meteorological Agency, 69, 74, 76 finestructure of 3-5, 573-574
Japan, radar meteorology in, 69-76 finestructure of, 486-491
Jennings, Jesse, 46 morphology of turbulent layers, 544
Jet multiple, morphology as revealed by radar, 483, 488,
low-level, 435, 439, 447 490,491,495
and nocturnal convection, 467 stable layers, 535-536, 541, 543
rear-inflow, 449 tilted layers, 537, 547
Jicamarca Radio Observatory, 139, 237, 238 Lead time, for warning, 630, 641, 642
Jodrell Bank Experimental Station, University of Lee waves, influence on vertical velocity spectrum, 561
Manchester, 123, 124 Lee, J.T., 47, 49
Joint Agency Turbulence Experiment, 42 Lhermitte, Roger M., 45-46, 124, 126, 129
Joint Airport Weather Study (JAWS) 33-34, 638 Lidar, 202
Joint Doppler Operational Project (JDOP), 41, 120, 121, boundary layer uses, 530
634,·640, 641, 661 Doppler, winds, 398
and NSSL, 51 and mesoscale measurements, 469-470
Joint Doppler Weather Studies (JAWS), 669-671, 675, Ligda, Myron, 5, 23
677, 679 Light, 109
Joss disdrometer, 92 Lightning
Joss, Jurg, 25 aircraft interaction with, 144, 149
Junctions, turnstile, 167, 172, 180 associated flashes, 148
channel acceleration, 149
K-band radar, 72 channel length per unit volume, 145, 147
observation in winter storms, 330 early observations, 23
Kalman filtering, 612 echo intensity of, 55
Katz, Isadore, 4 electron density of, 143, 146, 149
Kellogg, William C., 7, 8 flash density, 147, 148
Kelvin-Helmholtz billows, 553, 562 flash rates, 648, 655
Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, 137, 449, 543-544, 552- interferometric observations of, 149
555,562 location networks, 616
792 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

measurements at MIT, 27 Radiation Laboratory ,3, 86, 88, 89, 97, 123, 125
overdense plasma condition of, 143, 144, 146 Weather Radar Project, 10, 123
plasma frequency of, 146 Matrix
radar cross section of, 143, 146 backscattering, 157,161
radar echoes from, 55 coherency, 154, 159, 161
radar echoes from, 106 polarization error, 182
rain gush associated with, 148 propagation, 161
refractive index discontinuity of, 148, 150 scattering, 154, 157, 175
small side echoes from, 148 transformation, 155
temperature of, 146 Maximum entropy, 205
triggered, 149 Maximum height of wind measurements, frequency
underdense plasma condition of, 143, 146 dependence, 267-268
Lightning radar echoes Maxwell, role in theoretical formaulation of
anisotropy of, 147, 150 electromagnetic fields, 109
decay rate of, 148 Maynard, R.H., 8
Doppler spectrum of, 148, 150 McGill University, 32, 33, 40, 41, 123
interstroke behavior of, 145, 149 role in polarization, 113
multiwavelength observations of, 146 role in radar, 112
phased array measurements of, 150 Measurement capabilities
pulse-to-pulse variability of, 145 atmospheric stability, 541-542
radar polarization studies of, 148, 149, 150 divergence, 538-539
relationship to precipitation reflectivity, 148, 149 horizontal wind, 537-538
short wavelength measurements of, 149 momentum flux, 539
volume reflectivity of, 147, 148 precipitation, 542
Limitations, radar turbulence, 539-540
antenna sidelobe, 620, 638 vertical velocity, 538
aspect ratio, 619, 628 Median filter, 233
attenuation,620,632 Melting band
beam filling, 620 echo intensities in, 55
precipitation particle diameter, 620 relation to freezing level, 55
Lincoln Laboratory, MIT, 35, 36, 38-39, 40, 41, 125 Melting layer, 110, 111, 328, 332,411, 418,423
Lindenburg squall network, 658 Melting level, 614
Line Echo Wave Pattern (LEWP), 626, 630 Melting-induced circulation, 446, 450
Linear depolarization ratio (LOR), 110, 111, 334-335 Merritt, Lester, 50
Linear polarization Mesoscale convective complex (MCC), climatology, 357
horizontal, 111, 112 Mesoanticyclone, 356, 633
polarization, state of, 109-114 Mesocyclones, 51
polarization, vertical, 111, 112 algorithm, 643
Log ratios, decorrelation distance of, 612, 613 characteristics, 632-636
Look-up tables, 610 classification of, 654
Low-Level Meteorological Simulator (LLMS), 14 core wrapping, 651
Low precipitation (LP) storm, 625 derechoes, 651
Low-Level Wind Shear Alert System (LLWAS), 50, 673- disturbances, montoring PBL for, 652
675, 679-681 Doppler radaqignature, 119, 120
Low-level jet, and nocturnal convection, 467 evolution, 623, 634-636, 651
flow, 651
Macroburst, 668, 673 forecaster recognition, 651, 655
Maebashi Thunderstorm Observation Network, 658 forecasting, 65 2
Magnetostrictive filter, 126 identification, 622, 626, 631-634
Magnus effect, 3 71 inflow, 651
Martner, Brooks, 129 late night, 652
Mass continuity equation, 384 mesoscale convective complex, 651
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 32, 33, 35, mesoscale convective systems, 651
36,37,40 microburstjdownburst detection, 652
Lincoln Laboratory, 670, 675-677 midlevel vortex, 651
Officers Radar Course, 7 Rankine combined vortex, 651
 INDEX 793

Severe Weather Association, 623, 626, 628, 638, 641, Microbeam radars, 339-340
642 Microbursts, 521-525, 638, 646, 657, 658, 662-680
signatures, 649, 651 Microburst line, 670, 677
strong shear environment, 634, 635 Microphysical processes, 348
weak shear environment, 636 Microphysical radar measurements, 323-340
Mesohigh, associated with mesoscale convective system, canting,337-338
453 cloud observations, 325, 329-331, 339
Mesoscale, 659, 661, 666, 668 drop-size distributions, 328, 332-333
definition of, 473, 474 first echo studies, 323, 331
Mesoscale Convective Complex (MCC), 9-10, 628 generating cells, 331
wind shear, 11-12, 376 hydrometeor identification, 333-338
Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCS) ice-water discrimination, 337
conceptual model, 402-403 melting layer, bright band, 328, 332
convective motions, 404-406, 453 precipitation streamers, 331
criteria, 356 Middle atmosphere, radar observations of, 562-564
definition, 356-357 Midland, Texas, 50
environment, 358 Mie scattering, 111
forcing of, 427 Millimeter radar, Doppler, airborne, 398, 399
forecasting associated rainfall, 428 Millstone Hill radar, 544
initiation and structure of, 463-464 Misocyclone, 633, 636
life cycle, 404 Mitchell, Robert, 4
mesoscale motions, 406-407 Mixing, radar applied to research on, 345
microphysical characteristics, 410-412 Mobile, 202
movement, 358 Modeling
radar structure, 402-404 convection,348-349, 354,358,367
rainfall, 358 downburst, 381
rainfall, 406-407 hail, 376
satellite imagery, 357-358 hydrologic, 608, 609, 617
squall line, 402-406 hydrometeorological, 652
squall lines, 359, 426 mesoscale, 616, 617
stratiform precipitation characteristics, 402-406 squall lines, 359, 367-369
structure, 358 storm systems, 367-369
tropical vs. midlatitude MCSs, 426 supercell, 354-355
vertical heating profile, 407 tornadoes, 378-379
windflow, 356 trajectory, 617
Mesoscale meteorology, advances due to use of radar, Moments, estimation of, 232
107 Momentum checking, 350, 366, 387
Mesoscale numerical model, for simulating precipitation Momentum equation, 371, 387
patterns forced by land-water contrasts, 456 in fluid shear term, 371, 373, 379
Mesoscale precipitation bands, physical mechanism of, in vertical, 387
473 Momentum flux measurement, 271-273, 539
Mesoscale precipitation features (see mesoscale Monsoon Experiment (MONEX), 28, 467
convective systems), 404 summer, 402, 410-412
Mesoscale studies, using radar, 572 winter, 402, 410-412
Mesoscale systems, 433-460 Montgomery, Ray, 5
mesoscale precipitation areas, 450-451, 456-457 Morphology
mesoscale rainbands, 436-444 bow echo, 651
Mesoscale vortices, orographically induced, 464-466 of buoyancy waves, as revealed by radar, 485, 486
Mesoscale wind variability, 559-562 of convective domes, as revealed by radar, 479, 481
Mesosphere, radar observations of, 562-564 of entrainment, as revealed by radar, 481
Meteorological Office, U.K., 124 geomorphology, 652
Meteorological Research Institute, Tokyo, 40, 69, 70, 71, of hook echoes, as revealed by radar, 479, 499, 500
72,73, 76, 125 of hummocks, as revealed by radar, 481
Meteorological measurements, 19 of Kelvin-Helmholtz waves, as revealed by radar,
Micoburst and Severe Thunderstorm Project (MIST), 485, 486
380,669-671,679 LEWP, of hook echoes, 650
794 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

line echo, 651 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 192,

of multiple layers, as revealed by radar, 483, 488, 490, 193, 402
491,495 National Research Council (NRC), Canada, role of, 110,
as revealed by conventional radar, 650 111, 113, 193, 194
as revealed by radar, 480 National Science Foundation, support for radar
of roll alignment, as revealed by radar, 481-483, 517, meteorology, 112
518 National Severe Local Storms Research Project, 44
of the scattering medium in the clear atmosphere, National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), 39, 40, 41,
542-548 44,481, 482, 497, 498, 499, 516, 517, 518, 521, 629,
of turbulent echoes, 544-548 633,634,637,639,641
Motion, equation of, 371, 386 aviation meteorology at, 47
Motorola, Inc., 40 Doppler radar at, 44-46, 48
Mount Fuji mandate of, 45
radar installation at summit, 74-75 nature of radar contributions of, 45
radar observations from, 75-76 Norman, Oklahoma, 125, 126
wake turbulent flow around, 72 National Severe Storms Laboratory, 660, 661, 673, 675,
Mountainous regions, 609 679
MST radars, 231, 235, 238 National Severe Storms Project, 44
alternate terminology for clear-air radars, 282 National Weather Service (NWS), 619, 626, 629, 631,
MTI radar (moving-target identification), early use of, 634, 641, 642
122, 123, 124 Naval Research Laboratory, 32
MU, middle and upper atmosphere radar, 236, 238, Networks
252-253,255,271,279-280,545-546,551,564 operational radar, in Japan, 73-74, 76
Multifrequency studies, problems for clear-air radars of profilers, uses, 285
operating at more than one frequency, 284 of radars, 5 70-5 72
MULTIMET radar, developed and operationalized in of wind profilers, 537, 556, 564
India, 78 Neutral curve, 485, 486
Multiparameter measurements New England experiments, 18
and bright band, 88 electromagnetic measurements, 18
cloud microphysics applications using, 341-347 meteorological soundings, 18
using differential polarization, 91 New Mexico Institute for Mining Technology, role in
use in hydrology, 579, 588 polarization, 112, 194, 196
of rainfall, 91 New York University, 125
reduction of variance in hydrology, 597 Newell, Reginald E., 24, 26
relationship to convective dynamics, 399 Newton, Chester W., 45
Multiple Doppler windfields, errors in, 393, 395, 396- Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD), 5, 39, 41-
397 42,51,53,120,121, 12~ 124, 12~ 229,232,382,
421,46~ 47~495,49~ 499,509,511,512,526,
NEXRAD (see Next Generation Weather Radar) 527, 607, 611, 612, 616, 619, 631, 637, 642-646,
NOAA P-3 radar 675-677
comparison with ground radars, 291 algorithms, 649, 653, 655
design, 293 automation, 653
hurricane observations, 293, 294 aviation hazards, 682-687
scan technique, 295 clutter, 653
storm research use, 292, 293 combining airborne and ground radar, 654
velocity measurement uncertainty, 290, 291 displays, 655
NOAA, Aeronomy Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, 126 expert systems, 655
Narrow frontal bands, 474-475 flash flooding applications, 430-431
Nastronero, John, 4 future tropical locations, 430
National Aeronautics and Space Administration implementation, 653-654, 655
(NASA), 40, 41, 42, 193, 196 and mesoscale studies, 468
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), 53, network coverage, 648, 653
126, 19~ 19~481,482,494,495,501,516,521, operational capabilities, 654-655
669,675,677,679,637 operator training, 652, 653, 655
National Hurricane Research Project, 44 scan strategies, 653, 655
 INDEX 795

severe storm detection issues, 652-653 Orographic rain, 456-459

tropical cyclone applications, 431 Orographic studies, using radars, 570-571
as wind profilers, 284 Orthogonal mode transducer, 154, 180
Nocturnal thunderstorms, in the midwestern United Outer scale of turbulence, 548-549
States, 467 Ozone, 449
Noise
phase noise, 213 Partial reflection, 535-536, 541, 547, 550
shot, 200, 204 Partial size distributions
thermal power, 200, 204 hail,578,587,589
Northeastern University, Boston, 38, 40 rain, 578, 579, 587
Northern Illinois Meteorological Research on Downburst snow, 578
(NIMROD), 380, 667-669 Patent on use of polarization for aircraft guidance, 111
Nowcasting, 616 Patterns
convectioninitiation,682-687 of echo continuity as quality control aid, 615
downburst, 682-687 of echo extrapolation of, 616
hail, 682,683 Paulsen, Wilbur, 3
icing, 683, 684, 685 Peace, Robert, 46, 128
precipitation, 682-687 Pennsylvania State University, role in polarization, 114
tornadoes, 683, 684 Performance monitoring, 615
turbulence, 683, 684, 685 Periodogram, 205
wind shifts, 682, 683, 684 Pershore radar (U.K.), 124, 125, 127
Nuclear clouds Perturbation pressure, 348, 365-367, 371, 381
radar observations of, 13 Phase, circularly polarized waves, 156
radioactive fallout, 13 Phase calibration, 185
Nulls Phase circuitry, 154, 180
CO-POL, 186 Phase codes, 216
X-POL, 186 Phase differential, 161, 176, 183, 186
Numerical weather prediction Phase shifters, 156, 172, 180
and mesoscale convective systems, 463 Phase tracking, 181
modeling, and observations, a joint approach, 471 Phased arrays, 250-253
models and cyclogenesis, 462 Physical chemistry, polarization applications to, 111
using radars, 570-571 Pierce, Edward T., 52
Pig Hill, Sudbury, Massachusetts, 38
Oblate particles, spheroids, 110 Plan shear indicator (PSI), 39, 120
Observations, and numerical modeling, a joint approach, Planetary boundary layer
471 definition, 528
Observatoire de Magny-les-Hameaux, France, 124 investigation by lower tropospheric clear-air radars,
Occultation, of radar beam, 610, 611 283
Ocean currents and eddies, 306 Planning of technological developments, 470
Office of Meteorological Research, U.S. Weather Bureau, Platteville radar, 537-538, 545
44 Pohnpei radar, 556, 564
Ohio State University, role in polarization, 110, 113, 114 Poincar. sphere, 186
Oklahoma-Kansas PRE-STORM, 53, 362, 464 Poker Flat MST radar, 251, 255, 545, 547, 556, 560, 562,
Operational radar projects 563
ARAMIS, 592 Polar air trough, 453
COST-73, 593 Polar lows, observations of, 462-463
FRONTIERS, 591, 592, 597-601 . Polarimetric observations, 614, 615
GATE, 591 use to detect hail, 615
NEXRAD, 595 use to estimate drop-size distributions, 615
Operational wind profiling, 564 use to identify ground clutter, 615
Optics, 109 Polarimetric radar, relationship to convective dynamics,
Optimum polarization, origin of, 110 399
Orientation angle, 153 Polarization, 233
Orientation, ellipse, 155 antennas, 156
Orographic effects, 610 aviation hazard detection, 686
 796 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

and CDR, 66 area of, 611

charts, 186 areal estimates, 648, 652, 654
differential, 91 attenuation, 8, 10, 12, 15
diversity radars, 153 continuous and shower rain, 12
early measurements, 24, 27 effect on microwave communications, 615
early measurements of cancellation ratio, 24 efficiency, 609
early measurements of particle orientation, 24 fields, representivity of data, 580
effects on attenuation due to rain, 95 forecasts, 608, 609, 652
elliptical, 155 fractal nature of, 613
error matrix, 182 gage data, 648, 652
error measurement, 183 measurement for hydrology, 577, 585
errors, 181, 182 NEXRAD processing algorithms, 652
fork, 186 orographic enhancement, 601
isolation, 167, 168, 172, 180, 181 radar applied to research on, 344
nulls, 186 rate of, 12
observations of bright band, 88 relationship to radar reflectivity, presentation of
optimal, 186 methodology to be used in hydrology, 83
orthogonal, 155, 158 reflectivity, relationship to lightning radar echoes, 148,
studies of lightning radar echoes, 148, 149, 150 149
switch isolation, 154, 180, 181 sampling errors, 584, 585
switch temperature effects, 169, 180 snowfall accumulation, 654
switches, 153, 167, 171, 173 stratiform,609,610,613
switching, 153, 180 streamers, 331
vectors, 155 theory of development, 66
Polarization diversity, 611, 614, 615 trails, 16
possible application to hydrology, 588 type,610,612, 613,614
reduction of variance in hydrology, 597 from warm clouds, observations, 99, 104
use to discriminate against second trip echoes, 615 variability, 580
Polarization measurements variations between radar beam and ground, 610
of hydrometeors, 328, 330, 332, 334-337 Precipitation bands
of melting band, 55 convective rainbands triggered by orography, 458
for microwave attenuation, 60 evolution of rainbands, 441-443
Polarization radar, cloud microphysics applications intersecting rainbands, 443-444
using, 341-34 7 mesoscale frontal rainbands, 436-444
Polarization sphere, 109, 111 midlake frontal rainbands, 456
Polarization switching, 217 narrow rainbands, 437-440
postfrontal, 475
Polarization techniques, 33, 36, 42
prefrontal, 475
algorithm, 643
shoreline, 456
differential phase, 646
shower bands, 453-456
differential reflectivity, 646
topographically forced bands, 453-456
hail detection, 642
upper-level (U-type) bands, 440-442, 450
rainfall measurement, 644
wide rainbands, 440-441, 450
Polarizers, networks, 155, 156, 158, 172, 180 wide frontal, 473-474
Poole, Cliff, 4 Precipitation echoes, 16
Porcupine radar, 125, 126 brightband,88
Portable Automated Mesonet (PAM), 494, 495, 669 comparison to turbulent scatter, 275-276
Postfrontal precipitation bands, 475 early echoes, 16
Potential vorticity, 449 first detection, 86, 97
Power spectrum, 17 fluctuating character of, 89
independent scatterers, 17 hail,86
radial velocities, 17 melting level, 87
turbulence, 17 rain, 86
Prandtl number, turbulent (Pr), 505 snow, 86,90
Precipitation, 11 tropical rain, 89
area average, 612 wavelength dependence, 90
 INDEX 797

Precipitation estimates constants, 161

adjustment of, on basis of raingage data 609, 610, differential phase shift, 161, 176, 183, 186
611, 612, 613 effect correction, 163
adjustment of, on basis of raingage data, pixel-by- effects, 161, 163
pixel, 610 matrix, 161
adjustment of, on basis of raingage data, spatially Propagation conditions, 20
varying,610,612,613 and meteorological soundings, 20
statistical techniques for, 609 rtial trapping, 20
Precipitation features standard, 20
generator cells, 450 substandard, 20
line elements, 439 superrefraction, 20
mesoscale precipitation areas, 450-451, 456-457 Propagation of electromagnetic waves, 16
precipitation cores, 439 ducts, 18
rainbands, 436-444 leaky waveguide, 18
shower bands, 453-456 trapping, 18
using radar, 55 Pseudo-Doppler radar, 123, 124
Precipitation measurement, 542, 607-617 Pulse, coding and compression of, 231
absolute versus percentage uncertainties, 608 Pulse Doppler radar, 71
accuracy assessment, 608 defined, 122
use of area-time integrals in, 613, 614 Pulse compression, 217
baseline, 609 Pulse integrator, 23, 24, 25
use of Doppler measurements in 7, 617 Pulse pair processing, 41
use of echo area in, 614 estimation of Doppler mean and variance, 121
use of echo duration in, 614 first use, 126
effect of range upon, 609 Pulse repetition frequency, 632
effect of vertical reflectivity profile upon, 609 Pulse storm, 620, 621, 626
employing, 109-114 Pye Ltd., 124
employing polarization, 109-114
measurements, attenuation of microwaves, 57 Quantitative theory of weather radar
by radar, 86-97 the radar equation, 60
by radar in North Wales, 57 testing, 54, 60
relation of rate of rainfall to echo intensity, 57 Quasi-monochromatic buoyancy waves, 556
use of echo height in, 614 Quasi-specular echoes, 545-547
use of polarimetric observations in, 614 Quasi-two-dimensional stratified turbulence, 542, 547,
Precipitation physics, 33, 36, 40-41, 298 558,560
hailidentification,33, 36,37-38
melting layer, 33, 41 R-meter, 24, 123
rain parameter diagram, 36 RASAPH (Radar Signal Spectrograph), 123
upper snow bands, 33 RASS (Radio Acoustic Sounding System), 279-280
Prefrontal precipitation bands, 475 in conjunction with clear-air radars, 283
Prefrontal squall lines, 475 RONSARD (dual-Doppler method), 366
Pressure fields, radar retrieved, 522-525 Rabi, 1.1., 3
Price, Harold G., 8 Radar "tree," depicting history and evolution of radar
Processors meteorology, 95-96
commercial, 226 Radar Data Processor (RADAP), 629, 642
implementation, 221 Radar analysis system (RADAN), 49
multiple channel, 221 Radar and lidar, review of, 110
programmable, 226 Radar data, processing of, 46, 49
Profiler, Doppler, winds, 398 Radar data, transmission by teletype of, 47
Program for Regional Observing and Forecasting Radar types
Services (PROFS), 641 118-cm FPS-502, 113
Project Rough Rider, 47, 50 3.2 em, Decca D-19, 113
Project SESAME (Severe Environmental Storms and 7901 (in China), 80, 81
Mesoscale Experiment), 51, 52, 677 7923 (in China), 80, 81
Propagation 7934 (in China), 80, 81
anomalous, 614, 615 9223 (in China), 80, 81
798 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

airborne Doppler, 516 LN-27, 62

airborne, 653 P-3 Airborne Doppler, 315
airborne, 660-662, 666, 671, 681 Porcupine Doppler, 38, 39, 41-42
airborne, 88, 89, 97 RADAPII, 649, 653
AN/APQ-13, first operational sites, 6, 9, 10 RIT,478,480, 481,500,502-511
AN/CPS-9 (radar storm detector), developed by S-matrix, 192, 194
Raytheon, 6, 10 SCR-584, 8
AN/CPS-9 (radar storm detector), frequency SCR-615-B, 22
selection, 9, 14 S-hand radar, 74, 78, 649, 653
AN/CPS-9, prototype, 23 SCR-268, 4, 5
ANjCPS-9 (radar storm detector), sensitivity-time SCR-517, 3
control for range compensation, 10 SCR-547, 4
AN/CPS-10 (radar wind finder), developed by RCA, SCR-584, 3, 4
10 SCR-615, 3
AN/GMD-1, 4 SCR-658 (rawinsonde set), 8
ANjGMD-1B (rawinsonde set), accuracy of, 12 TPQ-6, 33
AN jGRD-1 (sferics set), 8 TPQ-11, 37, 38
AN/MPS-34 (nuclear surveillance radar), 14 TPS-10, 61, 62
AN/TMQ-19 (meteorological measuring set), 12, 14 UHF, 230, 235, 282, 333, 339, 529, 566, 570-571
AN/TMQ-34 (nuclear surveillance radar), use of VHF, 130, 139, 230, 282, 333, 339, 566, 570-571
MASER preamplifier, 14 VISTAR airborne Doppler, 40
ANjTPS-41 (nuclearjweather surveillance radar), WP-3D,410-411,424
isoecho contour capability, 14 WR-66, 27
AN/TPS-41, range and precipitation attenuation WR-73, 27
circuits, 14 WSR-57, 39,620,629,642,651
APS-34, 33 X-band, 653
ASR-9, 679-680, 683, 687 Radar applications
ASTERIX, (French Airborne Doppler Radar), 316 advances required to improve microphysics research,
AWIPS-90, 643 343-344
C-band,649 antenna gain, 90
CHILL, 193 antenna programs, FASE, 63
CP-2, 192 applied to microphysical problems, 344-346
CPN-18, 46, 49 attenuation display, ADA, 67
CPS-9, 35, 36, 39 attenuation in precipitation, 63
CPS-9, 63 attenuation,649
Chilbolton, U.K., 192 clear-air monitoring, 652, 654
D/RADEX-RADAP, 652 cloud chemistry research, 345
DC-19, 66 cloud electrification research, 345
Decca 41, 65 cloud systems research, 346
Doppler facilities, 648 coverage, 655
Doppler weather, 481 dekametric, for sea state, 60
dual (multi) Doppler, 481-483, 516-525 digital reflectivity, 648, 652
ELDORA (Electra Doppler Radar), 318 entrainment and mixing research using, 345
FL-2 first U.K. system, 97
FM-CW, Chadwick, 477, 478, 481, 484, 489, 492, 496, first U.S. system, 97
501,509 first detection of aircraft, 86, 97
FM-CW, Richter, 477, 479, 485, 486, 487, 488, 491, first detection of precipitation, 86, 97
493 hydrometeor phase, 654
FPS-3, 36 isoecho contouring, 90
FPS-4, 36 limitations in availabili,ty of, 343
FPS-6, 36 methods required for better microphysical studies, 343
FPS-18, 48, 67 microphysics applications of, 342
FPS-68, 38 observables, 159, 161
FPS-77, 38 polarimetry, 654
FPS-502, 66 precipitation measurement, 86-97
HYFA,478,480,494,495,497-499 precipitation mechanisms using, 344-345
ICRAD, 649 propagation studies, 88
 INDEX 799

radiative transfer research, 345-346 Radiative transfer, radar applied to research on, 345-346
raingage comparisons, 23-24, 26 Radio Acoustic Sounding System (RASS), 468-469, 529,
resonant cavity magnetron, 97 571
stepped grey scale, 63, 64 Radio and Space Research Station, U.K., 88
storm detection, 88 Radio refractive index, 535
sweep integrator, 94 Radio wave propagation
and thunderstorms, 89 polarization properties of, 111
tilts, 649, 652 over-the-horizon (OTH), 133
vertically pointing Doppler, 92-94 role of, 110
wind finding, 86, 88 Radioactive fallout prediction techniques, 12, 13
wrist technique, 649 Radiometers, stepped frequency microwave (SFMR),
Radar displays 423-424
AZLOR, 67 Radiosonde winds
CAPPI, 63 comparison of radar with, 247
CAPPI, 81 Doppler method, 247
HARPI, 67 spaced antenna method, 248-250
HTI, 62 Rainband, 76, 348, 369
PPI, 61, 63 connecting, 412
RHI, 62 eyewall, 412
Radar echoes, 16 hurricane, 412
from birds and insects, 16 principal, 412, 417
from clear air, 17 secondary, 412, 418
from cumulonimbus, 55 structure, 417-418
diffuse, 16 Scilly Isles observing program, 57
from large-scale systems, 55 convective, triggered by orography, 458
from rain or snow, 16 evolution of, 441-443
from refractive index irregularities, 16 intersecting, 443-444
from sea and land, 16 mesoscale frontal, 436-444
from ships, 16 midlake precipitation bands, 456
from thunderstorms, 16 narrow, 437-440
Radarequation,502 shoreline precipitation band, 456
for meteorology, 89, 90 shower bands, 453-456
for reflection, 241 topographically forced bands, 453-456
for turbulent scatter, 240 upper-level (U-type) bands, 440-442, 450
Radar meteorological research in India, 78 warm front and warm sector, 56
Radar reflectivity wide, 440-441, 450
of bright band, 61 Raindrop spectra, drop-size distribution of raindrops, 83
early measurements, 22, 23-24, 27 Raindrop-size distribution, 69-70
of hail, Z-R, Z-M, 65 Raindrop-size measurements
of rain and snow, Z-R, Z-M, 61, 65 flour pellet technique, 25
and rainfall rate, Z-R, 61 filter paper, 26
Radar reflectivity factor (Z), 83 disdrometer, 27
definition, 101 Raindrops
relationship to rainfall rate, 101 characteristics of, 109, 114
Radar research station growth by coalescence, 61, 63
East Hill, 54 size spectra, evolution, 63
Malvern, 54 size spectra, observations, 61
Radar systems for hydrology Rainfall
adjustment with gages, 584-586 areal integration, 71
choice of wavelength, 583 areal measurements, 91-92, 94-95
choice of site, 583 associated with lightning, 148
hardware calibration, 583, 584 association with radar echoes, 99
urban hydrology, 591 comparison with raingages, ,91-92, 94-95
Radiation Laboratory (MIT), 22, 23, 27, 86, 88, 89, 97, continuous, bright band, 61
123, 125 effects of vertical winds on, 86
Radiation, Inc., 124 formation by coalescence, 98, 104
Radiation, radar applied to research on, 345-346 gushes, detected by radar, 106
800 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

hurricane,418-419 Raytheon Company, 35, 125

intensity, measurement of, 110-114 Receivers
importance of stratiform, 406-408, 418-419 A/D conversion, 223
measurement by conical scan rain radar, 311 dynamic range, 222
measurement errors, 434 limiting, 222
measurement using attenuation, 95 two channel, 180
measurement using vertically pointing Doppler radar, Reflection
92-94 Fresnel, 548, 550
measurements by radar, 47, 50 partial, 535-536, 541, 547, 550
measurement technique, 308 specular, 568-570, 573-574
multiparameter measurement of, 91, 95 specular, partial, 492, 493
orographic, 91 Reflection coefficient, surface, 4
parameter diagram, 90, 91 Reflectivity, 153, 160, 166, 171, 660, 661, 670, 671, 679
properties of, intensity, measurements of, 109, 114 use to adjust rainfall estimates, 610, 611
properties of, see also hydrometeors, 109, 114 ofbrightband,87,88
quantitative estimates, 402 of hail, 87
quantitative measurement using Z-R relations, 89-97 radar, 492, 502
rate and radar reflectivity (Z-R) relationships, 70-71 of rain, 87
sampling errors using raingages, 95 of snow, 87
showery, maximum Z aloft, 61 vertical distribution in convective and stratiform rain,
thunderstorm, 91 409-410
total amount measured by radar, 70-71 vertical structure in hurricanes, 414, 421-423
tropical, 89 vertical profile of, 609, 610, 614
vertical structure, 72 volume, 539, 549
rain radar system design, 309 Reflectivity factor (Z), 87, 494, 498-500, 502, 620, 628,
SAR rain radar, 311 629, 644
TRMM radar, 309 equivalent, 87
Rainfall rate profile, 585, 605
attenuation methods, 317 versus rain rate, Z-R, 578, 579
and radar reflectivity, Z-R, 61 Reflectivity gradient, 624, 628
climatological, 611 Reflectivity intensity, 625, 626, 628
Rainfall systems Refraction, atmospheric, 610, 617
in midlatitudes, 433-460 Refractive index, 5, 503
orographic, 456-459 discontinuity, of lightning, 148, 150
rainbands, 436-444, 450 irregularities, 16
shower bands, 453-456 optical, 508
Rain gages potential, 504
accuracy of, 608, 613 radio, 504, 505, 568-570
use to adjust precipitation estimates, 609, 610, 611, structure tilts, measurements of, 266
612, 613 structure parameter, 491-493, 502, 505, 509-511
comparisons, 23-24, 26 Refractivity structure turbulence constant, 548-549
equivalence to radar observations, 613 Refractivity turbulence, 539, 545
networks, 608 Refractometer, soundings of refractive index, 135
tipping bucket, errors, 613 Research Flight Facility, U.S. Weather Bureau, 44, 47
weighing type, 613 Research areas for clear-air radars, recommended areas
Raman lidar, 530 of research for clear-air research, 284
Range normalization, 610 Retrieval of pressure fields, 51, 52
Range smearing, 268-269 Reynold's number, 370
Rankine vortex, 631, 632, 636 Richardson number (Ri), 353, 385, 486, 489, 491, 492,
Rapid scan radars, 340 494,544,552-553,567
Rasaph, 24 bulk, 391-392
Ratios, gage to radar, 612 critical, 485, 486, 489, 491, 492, 494
Ray, Peter, 49 in relation to shearing instability in frontal zones, 450
Rayleigh friction, 563 River Forecast Center, Fort Worth, Texas, 47
Rayleigh scattering, 111, 153, 200 Roach, W.T., 47
Rayleigh-Cans criterion, 329 Robbiani, Raymond, 14
 INDEX 801

Rocket launch facilities, wind profilers to establish Rayleigh, 86, 89, 158, 159, 510
launch criteria, 283 stochastic Bragg, 477
Rogers, R.R., 24 Schaffner, Mario, 25
Round Hill, South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, 33-35 Schiff, William, J., 9
Royal Aircraft Establishment, U.K., 47, 124 Schmidt, Michael, 49
Royal Signals and Radar Establishment, U.K., 88 Schotland, Richard M., 125
Rudd, Donald, H., 7, 8, 9, 15 Scope photography, 23
Rust, W. David, 52 Sea and land clutter, 16
Rutherford and Appleton Laboratories, U.K., 88 Sea breezes
Rutkowski, Walter, 24 circulation, leading to shower bands, 455
and convection, 466-467
SHARP system, 616 Sea clutter, 18
SNR, signal to noise ratio, 232 enhancement by strong winds, 75-76
SOUSY VHF radar, West Germany, 237, 238, 248, 255, sea roughness, 18
278 Second trip echoes, use of polarization diversity to
ST radars, alternate terminology for clear-air radars, 282 discriminate against, 615
STJMST radars, 201 Seeder-feeder mechanism, 456-458
STORM, scale interactions and, 470-471 Seeding, by dry ice, 73
STORM-Central, 194 Senter, Oscar, 4, 5
STORMFURY, 423 Sequential analysis, 612
Sample time, 200 Severe Local Storms Forecast Unit (SELS), 44
San Angelo, Texas, 44 microburst, 42
Sandretto, Pete, 4 Severe storms
Sasaki, Yoshikazu, 45 convective, including thunderstorms, hailstorms and
Satellite observations tornadoes, 81
combination with radar observations, 608, 609, 614, detection by radar, 115-121
616 echo identification, 81,84
effect of cirrus debris on, 614 methods of forecasting, 81, 84
rainfall estimates from, 609, 614 methods of identification of, 81, 84
Satellites observations, 36, 37-38, 39-40, 42
clear-air radars on satellites, 284 short-term forecasts of, 81, 84
estimates of rain, 591 Severe thunderstorm
impact on atmospheric sciences, 112 definition, 619
reduction of variance in hydrology, 597 environments, 621, 623
Satellite radar, 398 keys to understanding, 620
Saturated internal wave spectrum, 559, 562-563 movement, 621, 622
Saucier, Walter H., 45 radar detection, 620, 625, 626, 628, 630, 632-640
Scale interactions signatures, conventional radar, 625-631
mesoscale, 396, 398 signatures, Doppler radar, 632-642
and mesoscale circulations, 470-471 structure, three dimensional, 620-625, 627, 628
in the tropics, 427-428 warnings, 619
Scatter mechanisms, 568-570 Severe weather probability (SWP), 629, 630
Scattering Severe weather detection, 650, 653, 656
and attenuation from precipitation, 63 Severe weather warnings, 655
Bragg, 477, 502 Severe weather watches, 650
cross section, 86, 87 Severely sheared storm, 625
by hail, 88 Shallow, inviscid, and elastic equations, 386
HYFA, 478, 483 Shear
by ice and water spheres, 88 broadening, 269
of light by molecules, 86 cyclonic shear at edge of low-level jet, 447
matrix, 154, 157, 175 effect of vertical shear on intensity of line convection,
mechanisms, need for a unified theory for clear-air 447
scattering, 284 Sheet-layer models, 490, 491
Mie, 86, 95 Shielding effects
by rain, 88 earth curvature, 581, 582
RIT,478, 480,481,488 mountains, 580, 601-606
802 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Shower bands, 453-456 drifts, comparison with conventional dear-air

Sichuan, China flood catastrophe, simulations of, 465 inferometer, relation to, 278-279
Sidelobes, antenna, 243 layer tilt measurements, 278
Siegert, A.J.F., 5, 123 mesospheric wind measurements, 248
Signal Corps Ground Signal Agency, 7 parameter estimates, 262
Signal fluctuations, 63 radar methods, 284
audio-frequency, early measurements, 24 for wind measurements, 244, 247-248, 278-279
audio-frequency, theory, and interpretation, 24 Special Sensors Technical Area, Combat Surveillance
Signal strength, 20 and Target Acquisition Laboratory, 14
Signal-to-noise ratio, 201 Spectra
Simpson, Robert H., 44 Doppler radar, 479, 511
Sinclair Radio (company}, 124 Doppler radar, broadening of, 514, 515
Single Doppler Velocity Retrieval refractive index, 502, 507
and NEXRAD, 469 measurement, analog, 125, 126, 128
snowfall, associated with convection forced by land- Spectrum, 203
water contrasts, 456 Doppler, 536
Single cell, 348, 354, 369 Garrett-Munk, 557
Sirmans, Dale, 46, 49 Gaussian, 204
Siting of radars, for hydrological applications, 583 Internal wave, 557-558, 562
Slantwise convection, 473-474, 475 interpretation of, 204
Sletten, Carlyle, 8, 15 model internal wave, 557-558
Snow,609,611,613 moments, 205, 207, 208, 209
backscatter from, 55 vertical velocity, 558, 561
bright band observations, 113, 114 Specular reflections (see also Fresnel reflections, Fresnel
choice of wavelength, 583 scatter}, 238, 240
cover, 308 Spengler, Ken, 3
generating cells, 62, 63, 103 Sperry Rand Research Center, 46
measurement of, 586, 587, 591, 604 Spilhaus, Athelstan F., 7
size distribution, 5 78 Splitting, 3 73
trails, 62 counter-rotating vortices, 373
vertical profile in snow, 581, 582 in multicells, supercells, 373
Snowflakes precipitation downdraft and outflow, 373
fall speeds, 62 pressure gradients, 373
parameter specification, 70 vorticity production, 373
size distributions, 64 Sputnik, impact of the advent of radar meteorology, 112
Soil moisture, 303, 307 Squall lines, 348, 356, 359-369, 402-406, 475, 624-628
Solar power, for remote clear-air radar applications, 285 of thunderstorms, 82
Solid-particle Z-R relationships, 70 buoyant energy, 369
Sousy radar, 541, 554 cell movement, 360-362
South Africa, role in polarization, 113, 114 charcteristics, 359-361
Soviet Union, role in polarization, 112 cold pool, 368-380
Space shuttle, operations, 682, 683 definition, 359
Space weather radar dynamical forcing, 366-367
design, 301 hydrostatic effects, 367
imaging radar, 301 initiation and structure of, 463-464
needs for, 301 life cycle, 361-362
radar scatterometer, 301, 304 modeling, 366-369
radar altimeter, 301 nonhydrostatic effects, 367
SAR, 301 physics, 367
SEASAT, 302 prefrontal, 475
Spaceborne radar radar detection of, 362-367
and mesoscale studies, 470 three-dimensional flow, 365
Tropical Rainfall Monitoring Mission (TRMM}, 321 tornadic activity, 359-360
Spaced antenna method, antenna spacing, 248 vertical motions, 365
application to small systems, 248 wind shear, 360-361, 368-369
 INDEX 803

Stable layers, 535-536, 541, 543, 547 collapse phase, 623, 628, 631
Statistical techniques, for adjustment of precipitation echo pattern, 355-356
estimates, 609, 612 environment, 355
Steady-state model environment, 623
for cumulonimbus, 56 heavy precipitation, 625
for large-scale systems, 56 lifecycle, 355-356
Stereoradar, dual-beam analysis techniques, 316 low precipitation (LP), 625
Stokes parameters, 161 modeling, 355-356
Stone, Melvin, 24 radar evolution, 621-623
Stone, William G., 13, 14 radar observations of, 115, 116
radar structure, 621-626, 628, 630, 631, 634
Storm Radar Data Processor (STRADAP), 38, 39
Severe Weather Association, 621, 623, 630
Storms
and tornadoes, 356, 379
behavior, 655
Surface energy budgets, and mesoscale circulations,
criteria, 648, 649
466-468
detection, by radar, 88
Surface fluxes, and cyclogenesis, 462
downdraft, 650, 651
Sweep integration
extratropical, 654
analog, 25
fronts, 654
digital, 25
forecasting, 651, 652
Swingle, Donald M., 10, 11, 12
gust front, 650, 651, 652, 654
Swiss Meteorological Institute, 41
hazards, avoidance by aircraft, 116
Switches
high elevation, 652, 655
ferrite, 180
hurricanes, 654
mechanical, 167
hybrid storms, 652
Symmetric instability, and cyclogenesis, 462
mesocyclone, indication of severity, 652
Synthesized soundings, 20
multicellular, 651
Synthetic aperature radar (SAR), 202, 301
occlusion process, 650
shuttle imaging radar, 322
over the ocean, 306
rear flank downdraft, 650
size of, 608 TDWR (Terminal Doppler Weather Radar), 229, 232,
structure, 23, 26, 27 233,234
supercells, 651, 652 aviation hazards, 682-687
turbulence and radar echo intensity, 47 TOGA (Tropical Oceans and Global Atmosphere), the
TVS, POD and FAR, 651, 652, 654 role of clear-air radar technology in, 285
updrafts, 651, TPQ-6, 6
water budget of, 609 TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission), 193-
warnings, 648, 652 194, 196, 197, 309
waterspouts, 655 TRW Systems, 46
Stout, Glenn, 11, 47 Taiwan Area Mesoscale Experiment (TAMEX), 465
Stratified turbulence, 542-543 Targets
Strauch, Richard G., 126 biological (insects), 478, 479, 500, 511
Structure constant of refractive index turbulence, cn2, floating,609,613
238, 240, 275 point, 478, 479
deduction of, 243, 270 radar, chaff, 478, 516, 517, 520
Structure parameter radar, debris, 478
(constant), temperature, 491, 492, 493, 502, 505 radar, hydrometeors, 478, 500, 501, 502
(constant), velocity, 502, 505 Taylor, W.L., 52
refractive index, 491, 492, 493, 502, 505 Taylor transformation, 560
refractive index, climatology of, 509 Technological developments, planning of, 470
Summers, AI, 129 Technology transfer, 657, 669, 673-680
Sunset radar, 541, 545, 554, 560 Temperature fields, using radar retrieval, 571
Colorado, 237 Temperature profile measurements by radar, 279-280
Supercell thunderstorm, 354-356, 370-373, 375 Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR), 677-681
characteristics, 354-355 Texas Tornado Warning Network, 117
804 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Theoretical explanations for echoes, 16 Tornadic Vortex Signature (TVS), 50, 51, 120, 121, 636-
by Goldstein, 16 638
by Kerr, 16 Tornadoes, 29-33,619,621,623,626,628,630,634-
Thermodynamic fields, retrieval from wind fields, 564 637, 641, 645, 646
Thermodynamic profiling systems, and mesoscale anticyclonic rotation, 376
studies, 468-469 anticyclonic, 651
Thin lines, 627 associated with line convection, 439
Three-dimensional radar echo structure, 625, 628, 630 association with mesocyclone, 120
Thresholding data, 224 circulation, 356, 376-380
Thunderstorm cyclonic rotation, 376
buoyant energy release,25 detection by radar, 116, 117, 119, 120, 121
Byers-Braham model of, 48 development of, 650, 651, 652
cell, 620-622, 627, 628 Doppler radar estimation of wind speed in, 50
classification, 348-349, 352 Doppler radar identification of, 124, 126
complexes, 359-361 evolution statistics, 651
definition of multicell, 358 fluid shear term, 379
Doppler radar identification of, 48, 51 genesis of, 394-395
dynamical pressure, 370-371 "horseshoe" updraft, 378
electrification, 383 modeling, 3 79
environmental interactions of, 47 pressure gradient, 3 79
environmental role, 368 rotation, 376, 379, 380
gust fronts in, 50 wall cloud, 3 79
hazards of, 44, 47 warnings, based on radar, 117, 121
helicity effects, 372 Tracking of echoes by correlation (TREC), 531
initiation, 382-383 Tradex radar, Kwajalein, 236
intercept program of, 48 Training, requirements for forecasters, 460
kinetic energy exchange, 372 Trapped internal waves, 555
multicell, 348, 358-359, 369-373 Trapping, 4
multicell, 620-625, 627, 628 Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), 429-430,
outflow wind, 638, 639 609
perturbation pressure, 371 646, 644
pressure gradient, 3 71 Tropical cyclones (see hurricanes), 401
project, 620
Tropical meteorology, defined, 426
propagation buoyancy, 370-371
propagation,369-371 Tropopause detection, 239, 274-275
and radar, 89 Tropopause fold, 444
radar measurement of wind shear and turbulence in, Tropopause penetration, by echo tops, indication of
49 storm severity, 117
radar-observed motions of, 48 Troposcatter, 535
reflectivity structure, 620 of radio waves, 133
relation to buoyant energy, 352-353 Turbulence, 566-5 70
rotation, 371-373 algorithm, 654
structure, observed by radar, 115, 116 attempts to measure by radar, 106
study by radar, 72 clear-air, 552, 553
turbulence, 644 diffusion coefficient, 540
water and energy budgets, 66 dissipation rate, 539-540, 543-544
wind shear, 370-371 inner scale, 536
Thunderstorm Project, 32, 44, 104, 115, 620, 658, 662, measurement, 539-540
666 measurements using window, 55
Tibbetts, Judson, 5 mesospheric, 562
Tilted layers, 537, 547 microscale, 536, 539-540, 542-544
Tilts, refractive index structures, 266, 278 outer scale, 548-549
Time domain averaging, 202, 223 possible role in coalescence of droplets, 98, 106
Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, 47 refractivity, 539, 545
Topography, effects of, 610, 613, 614 stratified, 542-543
 INDEX 805

turbulence layer separation and the ultimate vertical temperature, 502, 505
spatial resolution of clear-air radars, 284 velocity, 502, 505, 514
Turbulence dissipation rates, 240, 267, 269 VED (Velocity Elevation Display), 244
Turbulent echoes, 544-545 Velocity
Turbulent layer thickness, 270 horizontal, 537-538
Turbulent scattering, 535 vertical, 538
Typhoon (see hurricanes), 83, 420-421 Velocity-azimuth display (VAD), 125, 244, 511, 513,
observation and warning by radar, 69, 73, 74-76 643
study of band structure, 73 Venezuelan International Meteorological and
study of eye, 73 Hydrological Experiment (VIMHEX)
VIMHEX-1969, 401
Uhlenbeck, G.E., 123 VIHMEX-1972, 401
Undersampling Verification techniques, 629, 641
spatial domain, problems with, for clear-air radar Vertical reflectivity profile, effects in hydrology, 580,
techniques, 284 601-604,625,626
temporal domain, problems with, for clear-air radar measurement of, 580, 604-606
techniques, 284 proposed correction for, 585
wavenumber domain, problems with, for clear-air reduction of variance in hydrology, 597
radar techniques, 284 Vertical shear, and mesoscale convective systems, 463
Uncertainties, of precipitation measurements, 608, 609 Vertical velocity
Union City, Oklahoma, 50 aspect sensitivity, errors associated with, 247
United States, activities in polarization and role of, 110- as measured by Doppler radar in frontal systems,
112, 114 445-451
University of Arizona, 88 measurements, 244, 245
University of Chicago, 32, 40, 47, 126 synoptic scale measurements, 273
University of Michigan, 38, 47 measurement, 538
University of Oklahoma, relation to NSSL, 45, 48, 52-53 spectrum, 558, 561
Unsolved problems, research and operations areas using variability, 560-561
clear-air radar technology that requires major effort, Vertical winds, measurement by clear-air radars, 282
284 Vertically Integrated Liquid (VIL), 614, 625, 628-630,
Updrafts, 609 642, 643, 645
inflow, 621, 628, 630 Video integrating processor, forerunner at NSSL, 46
scale selection, 396 VIL (vertically integrated liquid water), 118
strength indicators, 620, 622-624, 626, 628, 640, 642 Vincent-Reid method for measuring momentum flux,
Upper bands 272-273
descent speeds of, 55 Volume reflectivity, 539, 549
Doppler radar investigation of, 58 Volume scan data, 610
U.S. Army Air Corps Weather Service, 4 Vortical mode, 542, 547, 563
U.S. Army Signal Corps Vortices, multiple ring, 670
Fort Monmouth and Belmar, New Jersey, 88, 89 Vorticity equation, 371, 378
laboratories, 5 VSWR, 180
sponsorship of early work, 22, 26
U.S. Navy, 124 Waco, Texas, 44
U.S. Weather Bureau, 124, 125 Wall cloud, 3 79
Wallops Island, Virginia, 40, 41, 42, 236
Wang, Sue Lee, 49
VAD, 511 Ward, Neil, 48
by tracking chaff, 72-73 Warm rain, radar applied to research on, 344-345
linear, 482, 484 Water budgets, of storms, 609
parabolic, 482 Watershed, size of, 608
VaisaHi-Brunt Frequency, 482-485, 488, 506, 508 Watson Laboratories, Air Materiel Command, 32
van Thullenar, Clayton F., 44, 45 Watson, Bruce, 13
Variability, mesoscale wind, 559-562 Watts, Walter, 46
Variance Wave Propagation Laboratory, NOAA, 46, 50
refractive index, 502, 505 Wave depression, four types of analysis of, 56
806 RADAR IN METEOROLOGY

Wave-induced turbulence, 555 in storm splitting, 373

Waveforms design in tornadoes, 376
ambiguity function, 218 Wind-profiling Doppler radars, 141
complementary codes, 218 Wind aloft, 21, 313
Wavelength Wind aloft, wind speed measurements by radar, 21
choice of wavelength in hydrology, 583 Winds
critical cutoff for turbulent scatter, 267 above the boundary layer, 655
multiple parameter techniques, 588 clear-air radar observation of, 650
Wavenumber spectra derecho, 651
horizontal, 557, 560 gust front, 650
vertical, 557, 559 hodographs, 650, 655
Waves measurement, 537-538, 650
breaking, 544, 562-563 profilers, 650
buoyancy (gravity), and dynamic instability, 485, 486 radar and profiler winds in models, 654
buoyancy (gravity), breaking, 491, 492, 493 shear vectors, 650, 654
buoyancy (gravity), generation of, 485 use in models, 650
buoyancy (gravity), mountain lee, 483, 496 variability, 559-562
buoyancy (gravity), frontal lee, 496 Witten, Louis, 7, 15
buoyancy (internal gravity), 555-559 Woods mechanism, 490
inertial, 55 7 Worcester, Massachusetts, 44
quasi-monochromatic, 556 Workstations, for use by forecasters, 460
spectrum of, 557-559
trapped,555
Yagi antennas, 238, 251
Weak Echo Region (WER), 8, 356, 376, 621, 623, 628,
630
Weather Equipment Measurement Section (WEMS), 7, 8 Z-A relationships, 615
Weather Radar Project, MIT, 123 Z-R relations, 323, 610, 611, 614, 615, 617
Weather flights, coordination with MIT radars, 23 and areal measurement of rainfall, 91-92, 94-95
Weather modification, 607,609 and daily rainfall amounts, 92, 94-95
application to, 113 due to Ryde, 87
by artificial ice nuclei, 99, 107 first, 88, 90
use of radar sets in experiments, 107 and echo patterns, for rain, 70-71
by water spray seeding, 107 and echo patterns, for solid particles, 70
Weather radar equations, 8 effect of hail on, 611
Weather radar network, in China, 81 errors due to, 611
Weighting function, 384 exponent in, 611
Weinstein, Joseph, 9 Marshall-Palmer, 89
Westplains thunderstorm, 624 optimization of, 611
Wexler, Raymond, 9, 22, 23, 24 and quantitative measurement of rainfall, 87-92
Whedon, Francis L., 10, 11 and rainfall type, 90, 92
Wichita Falls, Texas, 48, 52 and rain parameter diagram, 90, 91
Wide frontal precipitation bands, 473-474 and seasonal rainfall amounts, 94-95
Wiley Post Airport, Oklahoma City, 50 variability of, 610,611
Wilk, Kenneth E., 44, 50, 51 and vertically pointing Doppler radar, 92-94
Williams, Edwin, 23 ZDR (differential reflectivity), 153, 159, 162, 166, 175
Wilson, James W., 50 calibration, 184
Wind component synthesis, 350, 383-384 measurement, 163, 169, 171, 175, 177, 178, 180, 182,
Wind profiler, 201, 236, 238, 253-255, 382, 428-429, 183, 185, 187
468,534 Zahrai, Allen, 48
Wind shear 23-24, 372, 373, 376, 386-387, 662-680 Zero tilt reflectivity (ZTR), 629
measurement by wind profilers, 283 Ziegler, Conrad, 49
in storm propagation, 370-371 Zigrossi, George, 46, 128
in storm rotation, 372 Zittel, David, 50