Brief History of Radar Meteorology

Christian Hulsmeyer developed a device that could detect the presence of

ships (1904) Tesla (1917) outlined a Radar could be used for vessel tracking Pulsing (ranging) radar first developed during 1930s by British, German, French, and US researchers for defense German developments were thought by the Allies to be focused on death rays 20 Feb 1941 10-cm (S-band) radar used to track rain showers (Ligda) Possibility of such observations was predicted by Ryde (1941) MIT Radiation Laboratory made similar observations in the early 1940s U.S. Air Corps meteorologists receive radar training at MIT in 1943 First operational weather radar, Panama, 1943 Science of radar meteorology born from WWII research

Radar Image from 15 July 1960 Hurricane Abby near Belize U.S. Navy photograph

RADAR-Radio Detection and Ranging

Radar is the art of detecting by means of radio echoes the presence of objects, determining their direction and range, recognizing their characteristics and employing the data thus obtained. Object refers to meteorological targets such as raindrops, hailstones, cloud ice and liquid particles and snowflakes. For the purpose of clear air detection, insects are considered the objects. Birds also are readily detected and hence are of interest. Radar is based on the propagation of electromagnetic waves through the atmosphere, a non-vacuum. EM waves propagate at the speed of light in a vacuum, c = 2.998 x 108 m s-1. Propagation speed in a non-vacuum determines the index of refraction, n = c/ where is the wave speed

Some of the Uses of Radar in Meteorology

Precipitation measurements Wind measurements Turbulence and wind shear detection Nowcasting Hail and aircraft icing detection Location of melting level in stratiform precipitation Mesocyclone and TVS detection Wind soundings in stratiform precipitation Hurricane structure Wind data assimilation in numerical weather prediction models Extrapolation forecasting of severe weather

W and K band radars are cloud radars X, C, S and L band radars are precipitation radars Also - Wind Profilers (UHF & VHF; ~50 to 900 MHz; ~6 to 0.3 m)

Examples of Radar Systems

NWS NEXRAD S-band 2.85 GHz (10.5 cm) Doppler

SMART Radar C-band 5 cm Doppler

TRMM Precipitation Radar (Ku; 13.8 GHz; 2.2 cm)

482 MHz German Meteorological Service Wind Profiler

915 MHz Wind Profiler Southern Great Plains ARM-CART site

Block Diagram of a Radar System

Antenna

Transmitter 106 W Display T/R switch

Receiver 10-14 W