Really Awesome Devices Advancing Research (Invited Presentation)

Weather radars have become so ubiquitous in the field of meteorology that you might have forgotten how cool they really are…and they are getting cooler! Ever since radar was first used to map weather echoes, it has become a valuable tool to the meteorological community for monitoring and understanding various weather phenomena. Advancements in technology have expanded radars’ capabilities and the radars of today aren’t your daddy’s radar (well, maybe parts of some are…). Not only are radars operated from fixed sites, but also we put them on planes, trucks, and poles, and ship them all over the world to get the best data possible. Applications range from the everyday monitoring of weather for operations or climate studies with stationary radars to the mapping of the fine-scale, rapidly-evolving 3D structure of tornadoes with mobile radars. I will provide historical context of why weather radars have evolved to the state they are in today and what the future of radar observations may hold. And, don’t worry if you don’t know the difference between an X-band and an S-band (and which one you might choose for your research) or slant-45 and alternating polarizations, these design choices (and much more!) will be discussed. Although data from a single radar is pretty awesome, integrated observations from other platforms (including multiple radars) can greatly enhance our understanding and predictability of weather.