A bistatic radar network was deployed along the Washington coast in January-February 2001. This network was deployed to gather Doppler velocity measurements of the airflow within frontal rainbands in landfalling cyclonic storm systems during the first field phase of IMPROVE (Improvement of Microphysical Parameterizations through Observational Verification Experiment). A unique aspect of this bistatic network deployment was its focus on wide-spread, stable, stratiform precipitation systems, as opposed to the more typical focus on deep convective precipitation systems. As such, this deployment presents a rigorous test of the bistatic concept, with the generally lower values of reflectivity present in this class of precipitation system.

The network consisted of NCAR’s 10-cm “S-Pol” Doppler radar located at Westport, Washington, and two “BiNet” receivers, one 30 km north of the radar, and one 55 km south of the radar. This arrangement was intended to provide dual-Doppler coverage over an area ~4000 km2 in size in the immediate offshore vicinity of Westport. This poster will show results of analysis of a Doppler volume gathered during the 1-2 February rainband associated with the passage of an upper-level cold front. Specific challenges to be discussed are the unfolding of the Doppler data and the retrieval of the 3-D wind field. Winds will be compared to in situ measured winds from the University of Washington’s Convair-580 research aircraft.