19.5
Portrayal of a tornadic supercell by phased array radar
Pamela L. Heinselman, CIMMS/Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK; and J. M. Kurdzo and R. A. Brown
A key advantage of the S-band National Weather Radar Testbed Phased Array Radar (NWRT PAR) in Norman, Oklahoma is the capability to scan storms at higher temporal resolution than is possible by the S-band Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) --- 1 min or less vs 4-6 min, respectively. On 24 May 2008 the PAR's rapid-scan capability was used to volumetrically sample a cyclic, tornadic supercell every minute with 1-km vertical sampling through a height of 5 km, and coarser sampling above. During this 1-min volume coverage pattern, the electronic scanning of the PAR provided a second scan of the lowest elevation angle (0.5 degrees) at 30 s intervals. These 30 s scans of the 0.5 degree tilt sampled the tornadic vortex signatures associated with the longest-lived tornado produced by the 24 May supercell. The purpose of this paper is to determine, for this case, the degree to which faster phased array Doppler radar data improves detection of the developing tornado by examining the three-dimensional structure of this storm prior to and during the tornado's lifetime.
Session 19, High-resolution radar observations of supercells and tornadoes
Friday, 31 October 2008, 10:15 AM-11:45 AM, Grand Ballroom Center
Previous paper Next paper