A Software Facility to Support Phased Array Weather Radar

The National Science Foundation has made a significant investment in support of the creation of an Airborne Phased Array Radar (APAR). This observational instrument has the potential to revolutionize the ability to observe, and understand high-impact weather events. The impact that the APAR instrument will have on the weather community will be determined by the design of both the hardware and software components. Software engineers at the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research have been tasked with optimizing a data assimilation code that will convert observed radar moments into estimates of wind velocities, temperature, water vapor mixing ratio, air density, and reflectivity. The gridded variables can then be used as initial conditions for numerical weather simulation applications. In addition to reporting on the progress of this effort, we also propose the creation of a software facility to support the software needs of the APAR project. We believe that a coordinated software effort will help eliminate redundant subcritical software efforts and ultimately enhance the productivity of the broader APAR user community.