High-Temporal Resolution Observations of Severe Convective Storms Using the Atmospheric Imaging Radar

The Atmospheric Imaging Radar (AIR) is a mobile, X-band, imaging radar that uses digital beamforming to collect simultaneous RHI scans while steering mechanically in azimuth to obtain high-temporal weather data.  The AIR is capable of collecting 20º-by-170º sector volumes in under 10 seconds, which allows it to document rapidly changing storm features that would otherwise have been unresolved by traditional, pencil-beam radars.  The datasets shown in this study are a subset of the deployments from the 2016 AIR field campaign and illustrate some of the possible future research and operations applications for imaging radars.  Three datasets are selected for presentation, including an instance where the AIR documented a slow-moving, tornadic supercell near Woodward, OK on 23 May, 2016. This deployment consists of one hour of continuous, seven-second volumetric updates that span the intensification stages of the supercell and the entire lifecycles of multiple tornadoes at 18-20 km in range.  Additional cases presented include the transition of a robust supercell into a quasi-linear convective system at close range on 16 May 2016 near Elk City, OK, and a large hail-producing, anticyclonic supercell near Cloud Chief, OK on 8 May 2016.