Polarimetric and Kinematic Analysis of Simultaneous Tornado Debris Signatures during the 10 May 2010 Tornado Outbreak

Recent studies have utilized photogrammetry and single-Doppler analyses to investigate the temporal evolution of tornadic debris signatures (TDSs), but little work has been done to document the three‑dimensional wind fields associated with an evolving TDS. Previous studies have also documented through damage surveys and single-radar observations the sedimentation of tornadic debris. However, few studies have used polarimetric radar data in conjunction with a three-dimensional wind field to document debris transport in supercells or interrogate the dependence of debris sedimentation on storm updraft and downdraft characteristics.

This study uses data collected by KTLX and KOUN WSR-88D S-band radars as well as the University of Oklahoma’s Advanced Radar Research Center’s OU-PRIME C-band radar to construct single- and dual-Doppler analyses of a tornadic supercell that simultaneously produced an EF-4 and an EF-2 tornado near Norman, OK on 10 May 2010. The dataset contains two TDSs in close proximity to one another that merge into the same parent updraft aloft, and eventually merge into one large TDS. Both TDSs exhibit asymmetric structure but with contrasting polarimetric characteristics. The objective of this study is to relate the spatial distribution of the polarimetric radar variables to kinematic fields in order to elucidate the formation mechanisms of asymmetries in the two TDSs and to examine how debris are lofted and transported by the storm-scale updraft. Among the analyses will be forward debris trajectories using the dual-Doppler wind fields, which are used to recreate TDS structure and interrogate storm-scale debris sedimentation.