A series of radar-based laboratory exercises have been developed for a junior-level Remote Sensing class taught at Lyndon State College. The labs complement lecture material that covers theoretical discussion of how pulsed, coherent Doppler weather radars operate. The learning objectives of these labs are to 1) learn how to identify artifacts in radar data, 2)gain experience interpreting multi-parameter, single-Doppler, and clear-air radar data, and 3) integrating other meteorological and non-meteorological data sets to aid Doppler radar data interpretation.

Specific lab topics include; 1) an introduction to the software packages used to display and manipulate radar data, 2) identifying second trip and side lobe contamination, 3)multi-parameter data interpretation, 4)single-Doppler interpretation of VADs, rotation and divergence signatures, aliased velocity data, and spectral width, and 5) analysis of a convective initiation event along the Front Range of Colorado by the Denver Convergence Zone. Data sources used in these labs come from research data sets archived by the Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL) at NCAR and Level II and III data products archived at the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). Software packages used to display and manipulate the data include SOLO developed by EOL, the Integrated Data Viewer (IDV), the GEMPAK GARP application, and Google Earth.

This talk will provide an overview of the lab exercises and attendant learning objectives. Lessons learned and informal assessment information will also be presented.