Tuesday, 29 August 2023
Boundary Waters (Hyatt Regency Minneapolis)
Rapid-scan, polarimetric radar observations of hail have shown operational utility, through a better understanding the microphysical evolution of hail and processes that drive hail growth. In addition, radar derived algorithms can provide hail size estimates, which aid in warning operations and may improve with faster temporal sampling. Recent emphasis has been on phased array radars (PARs), as these can provide update times on the order of seconds and dense vertical sampling, which may allow for a better understanding of how hail forms and descends. Improvements to the data quality in PARs can also improve our hail algorithms and hail tracking compared to the current operational radar network. However, there are very few datasets from phased array radars of hail-producing storms.
This study utilizes observations from the fully-digital, polarimetric, S-band Horus phased array radar that has been recently developed at the Advanced Radar Research Center at the University of Oklahoma, with support from NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL). Horus provides update times on the order of a minute or less and offers much greater flexibility in scanning strategies compared to the existing WSR-88D radar. Volumetric Horus data has been collected on hail-producing storms, including the 19 April 2023 supercells across central Oklahoma that produced multiple rounds of severe hail. Data collection will continue through the spring 2023 convective season as well. Horus data will be ingested into the WDSS-II software to explore the utility of the initial observations collected, with particular emphasis on the detection of hail as well as polarimetric signatures associated with deep convection and hail. In addition, Horus data will serve as input to the Multi-Radar, Multi-Sensor (MRMS) algorithms, such as the hydrometeor classification algorithm and the maximum estimated size of hail (MESH), to compare Horus-derived MESH, for example, to the operational MRMS output. These observations will serve as initial motivation for examining the operational utility of fully-digital PARs for observing severe convection and, in particular, hailstorms.
This study utilizes observations from the fully-digital, polarimetric, S-band Horus phased array radar that has been recently developed at the Advanced Radar Research Center at the University of Oklahoma, with support from NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL). Horus provides update times on the order of a minute or less and offers much greater flexibility in scanning strategies compared to the existing WSR-88D radar. Volumetric Horus data has been collected on hail-producing storms, including the 19 April 2023 supercells across central Oklahoma that produced multiple rounds of severe hail. Data collection will continue through the spring 2023 convective season as well. Horus data will be ingested into the WDSS-II software to explore the utility of the initial observations collected, with particular emphasis on the detection of hail as well as polarimetric signatures associated with deep convection and hail. In addition, Horus data will serve as input to the Multi-Radar, Multi-Sensor (MRMS) algorithms, such as the hydrometeor classification algorithm and the maximum estimated size of hail (MESH), to compare Horus-derived MESH, for example, to the operational MRMS output. These observations will serve as initial motivation for examining the operational utility of fully-digital PARs for observing severe convection and, in particular, hailstorms.
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