(posted by Karen Kosiba)Since the Vortex2 armada is still waiting for weather within the Vortex2 domain, I thought I would introduce you to 2 or our radars.
Hi -- I am DOW6, a dual-polarization, dual frequency X-band radar. I am blue.
Hi -- I am DOW7, a dual-polarization, dual-frequency X-band radar. I also am blue and MUCH cooler than DOW6.
Yes, it is true--CSWR operates 2 dual-pol, dual frequency radars.
What exactly is a dual-polarization, dual frequency radar you may ask (I hope!)...
Most radars are single polarization--which means that they send out energy in one direction (vertical or horizontal). These radars give you information about how much (and the size) precipitation is occurring. Obviously this is very useful information (will our town flood?)! But, what if you want to know if the precipitation is hail or rain or graupel? In thunderstorms, this information actually tells you something about the processes occurring within the storm that may affect tornadogenesis.
Now, in order to get information about precipitation type (dual-pol), these radars have to scan slowly ("slowly" is relative--tornado processes evolve over seconds...). When looking at supercell thunderstorms, we like to scan fast (also relative)! In order to scan "fast", two frequencies (dual-frequency) are used and we then use the combined information to get "fast" dual-polarization data.
So, in summary (if you only read 1 sentence read this one!) DOW6 and DOW7 are able to scan quickly (good for getting information on fast evolving phenomena like tornadoes) and obtain information about the precipitation type within a storm (useful for understanding thermodynamic and microphysical processes that are critical to tornadogenesis).
It's nice to meet you, DOW6 and DOW7!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. Are you all running the phased array radars that I've been hearing about?
Some lady in a spanish language forum posted about vortex2 and thats how i got here, so you are gonna have a lot of non blogspot followers reading about season 2. Good Luck on your endeavour. Spanish forum post is at this address: http://foro.univision.com/t5/Fen%C3%B3menos-Naturales/Los-secretos-de-los-tornados/td-p/393708805
ReplyDeleteTell us more about the operations of Dow6 and 7.
ReplyDeleteWho operates them, how do get into position to best view the storm? Why does Dow7 think is is cooler, what does Dow6 says about that?
Good Luck Hunting!
ReplyDeleteDOW5 (which will be interviewed soon!) is one type of phased array radar. It combines electrical and mechanical scanning.
ReplyDeleteCIRPAS (operated by the Naval Post Graduate School) and PAR (operated by the National Severe Storms Lab) also are phased array radars. CIRPAS is mobile, while the PAR is stationary (located in Norman, OK).
I definitely will tell everyone more about the DOWs and their missions in upcoming posts(I am glas you asked!)!
ReplyDeleteI also want to introduce everyone to our crew, as well.
I am very interested in tornadoes and can't wait to see what Votex 2 finds out! Good luck!
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