Extended Abstract (132K)P10.23
Real-time airborne radar wind-profiling algorithm for the Integrated Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler
S.J. Frasier, Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA; and T. Chu
The Integrated Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler (IWRAP) is a dual-frequency dual-polarization radar developed by the Microwave Remote Sensing Laboratory at the University of Massachusetts that is installed routinely on the NOAA WP-3D research aircraft. Primarily designed to study the signature of the ocean surface under wind forcing, it has recently been modified to enable profiling through precipitation through the use of pulse-compression. The radar scans conically below the aircraft with a scan rate of 60 rpm, thereby enabling VAD wind retrievals at a 1 s update rate.
Without compensation, wind retrievals at altitudes below approximately 300 m are subject to contamination by scattering from the sea surface through antenna sidelobes, inducing a negative bias in lower boundary layer winds. We have implemented an algorithm that is amenable to real-time implementation that suppresses this surface echo to enable improved retrieval of lower BL winds. The algorithm includes an adaptive notch-filter that rejects the surface echo, enabling fast covariance-based estimation of the precipitation echo Doppler shift. The entire process is performed in the time-domain.
We demonstrate the algorithm's performance with data collected during the 2008 hurricane season. Real-time implementation for future hurricane flights is discussed.
Poster Session 10, Advanced Radar Technologies II
Thursday, 8 October 2009, 1:30 PM-3:30 PM, President's Ballroom
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