Rapid surveillance of weather

A scheme to speed up the processing of weather radar data has been developed by CIMMS scientist Sebastian Torres. In the project, partly funded by the FAA, Torres learned that by sampling weather radar signals more frequently one could potentially increase severe weather warning lead-times. Igor Ivic, CIMMS engineer, has experimentally verified these results on the NSSL research radar and documented these in his M.S. thesis.

The method of estimating Doppler spectral moments and polarimetric variables on pulsed radars using a whitening transformation was the subject of Torres' Ph.D. thesis. The scheme takes samples of echoes at rates several times larger than the reciprocal of the transmitted pulse length. The scheme works best on strong echoes: weak echoes would still require standard filtering.

This new development applies to any weather radar and has exciting implications for the weather forecasting and research community. Observations at minute intervals are required to understand the details of a vortex as it forms and dissipates near the ground. Even faster rates of volumetric data are required to determine the presence of transverse winds. And, most importantly, fast update rates would also yield more timely warnings of impending severe weather phenomena such as tornadoes and strong winds.