Extended Abstract (440K)10C.9
High Resolution Airborne Radar Measurements of Hurricane Isabel
Robert F. Contreras, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA; and D. Esteban Fernandez, P. S. Chang, and P. G. Black
The Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler (IWRAP) is a dual-frequency, conically-scanning Doppler radar that measures high resolution profiles of rain's effective reflectivity Ze and Doppler velocity, as well as surface wind vectors via scatterometry. IWRAP was flown aboard a NOAA WP-3D aircraft during the 2003, 2004, and 2005 hurricane seasons as part of the ONR's Coupled Boundary Layers Air-Sea Transfer (CBLAST) experiment, NASA's Ocean Vector Winds research, and the NOAA/NESDIS Ocean Winds and Rain experiments. We will start with a description of IWRAP and its capabilities. Following this we will introduce a new dataset available to the CBLAST community. We will finish with high resolution radar observations of Hurricane Isabel with an emphasis on the 3-D structure of the storm, especially in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). In particular, IWRAP will be shown to be effective at resolving linear boundary layer structures.
Session 10C, Special Session: CBLAST Hurricane III
Wednesday, 26 April 2006, 3:30 PM-5:45 PM, Regency Grand BR 1-3
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