Meteorological Radar Observations from Mobile Platforms

Abstract

Over two decades ago Lhermitte (1967, 1972) discussed the possibilities of airborne radars for meteorological research, and Atlas (1963) discussed the early attempts at the Air Force Cambridge Geophysical Laboratories to construct an airborne weather radar. Due primarily to technological limitations, these plans were never implemented. The first implementation of a research-quality mobile weather radar occurred when, under the guidance of Byron Phillips and others, the NOAA P-3 aircraft were built in the early 1970s and included nose, belly and tail weather radars. The NOAA P-3 airborne radar reflectivity observations have played a strong role in developing our understanding of hurricanes (e. g., see Black et al., 1972; Marks, 1981; Barnes et al., 1983; Jorgensen, 1984a,b). The Doppler capability was initially tested in one of the tail radars and plans were made for eventual implementation of Doppler capabilities in both aircraft. The capabilities of these airborne Doppler radars were evaluated first using data collected in 1982 by Jorgensen et al. (1983a), and then more extensively by Hildebrand and Mueller (1985) and Mueller and Hildebrand (1985).

The National Center for Atmospheric Research is supported by the National Science Foundation.