Tutorial 3.5
Thursday PM, 27 April 2006

Polarimetric Doppler Weather Radar
Instructor: Richard Doviak, National Severe Storms Laboratory, USA

Synopsis: This tutorial reviews the principles of Polarimetric Doppler weather radar and its application to the observation of weather and the quantitative radar measurement of meteorological parameters. It highlights the engineering and scientific research to remotely probe and show the structure of many atmospheric phenomena (tornadoes, microbursts, solitary waves, etc.) not available by any other practical means. The quantitative measurement of rainfall provided by polarimetry will be discussed. Doppler techniques have found application in the network of weather radars (NEXRAD/WSR-88D) presently operated by the USA National Weather Service (NWS), as well as in networks in other nations. Now the NWS plans to upgrade its operational radars to have polarimetric capability. The latest advances in polarimetric-Doppler weather radar technology are presented, and polarimetric data are shown to offer significant improvements in remote measurement of rainfall. The use of phase coded signals and staggered PRF techniques to resolve range ambiguities will be discussed. Radar observations are related to atmospheric phenomena observed by eye, and radar data fields are correlated with photographs and/or satellite images of the phenomena. The attendees will benefit by gaining an understanding of the theory, design, operation, and applications of Polarimetric Doppler weather radar. The focus will be on meteorological phenomena, their radar signatures, and quantitative measurement of weather parameters.
This Tutorial has a recommended book: Doppler Radar and Weather Observations, Richard J. Doviak and Dusan S. Zrnic, Academic Press, 2nd edition, 1993. Unfortunately, the book is out of print, but might be available at web sites.

Dr. Richard J. Doviak is a senior engineer at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), an Affiliated Professor in the Departments of EE and Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma, and a Fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, the IEEE, and the American Meteorological Society. His B.S.E.E. is from Rensselear Polytechnic Institute, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. are from the University of Pennsylvania. At NSSL he was responsible for leading a project to develop 10 cm Doppler weather radars that became the prototype used by the National Weather Service. He has been a visiting professor at Kyoto University, Japan, and at the Australian National University. He was an Associate Editor for the Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, an Associate Editor for the Journal of Applied Meteorology, and the Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.