The NCAR Modular Profiler Development, Recent Progress and Deployment to PECAN

The 449 MHz Modular Wind Profiler has been developed at NCAR / EOL to provide the user community with a more flexible profiling radar than traditional wind profilers. The system uses a unique modular antenna design enabling the system to be scaled to suit the needs of a particular experiment. Antenna modules can be combined together to probe high into the troposphere, or can broken up into smaller dispersed groups to probe the boundary layer over an extended area. The system is capable of rapid wind measurement using Spaced Antenna techniques and high vertical resolution using Range IMaging (RIM) techniques. A mobile version of the profiler is also being developed that can be installed on the back of a pickup truck or small trailer for rapid deployment or chase operations. An advanced modular amplifier is being developed for the system, enabling a scalable amplifier that potentially can be distributed around the antenna array. The profiler has been deployed to a number of field projects, including DEEPWAVE in New Zealand, METCRAX-II in Arizona and PECAN in Kansas. At PECAN a mid-troposphere version of the profiler was deployed where it made unique measurements of elevated convection, waves and the low level jet.