Signal Processing across the Atlantic: a Partnership between the UKMO and the US National Severe Storms Laboratory

Through a Memorandum of Agreement between the United Kingdom (UK) Met Office and the United States (US) National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), the Met Office’s Radar Group and the NSSL’s Advanced Radar Techniques (ART) Team have partnered to develop, implement, and field advanced signal processing techniques for weather radars. Based in Exeter, the Met Office’s Radar Group works on developing and improving the UK weather-radar network with the goal of providing the next generation of weather radar capability that supports nowcasting, forecasting, and numerical weather prediction. The Radar Group has recently taken the responsibility to design and supply the next generation of radar to the UK network. Designed in-house, the new radar system consists of radar sub-systems procured from a variety of local suppliers and integrated by the team. Based in Norman (Oklahoma), the NSSL’s ART Team conducts research and development of innovative signal processing and adaptive sensing techniques to improve the quality, coverage, accuracy, and timeliness of meteorological products from weather radars.  The mission of the ART Team includes the exploration and demonstration of unique capabilities offered by multifunction phased-array radar for weather observations; and the transfer of technology to existing radar systems in government, public, and private organizations.

Fueled by a clear mission alignment; the combined capabilities to develop, implement, and test signal-processing techniques on weather radars; and a unique opportunity for technological exchange, both organizations recognized the value and embraced the idea of developing a mutually beneficial partnership. Specific primary areas of mutual interest include mitigation of ground and wind-turbine clutter, mitigation of interference, and identification of ground-clutter contamination using dual-polarization information.

In this work, we describe this unique collaboration paradigm with the hope that our experiences inspire other meteorological services to establish similar partnerships that transcend geographical, political, and proprietary boundaries.