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Dr. Dusan Zrnic

Dusan, an expert in signal and weather radar theory, arrived at NSSL in 1973

• Related Doppler spectra to tornado models
• Instigated the publication of “Doppler radar and weather observations” --Academic Press
• Initiated the polarimetric research program in 1984 (worked with Allen Zahrai to develop polarimetric radar signal processors)
• Demonstrated that a design flaw in the WSR-88D would have severely compromised its performance
• Acquired from NWS a WSR-88D for R&D

Notes:
Dusan first came as a post doctoral researcher in Fall 73 to end of summer 74, then again Fall 75 to end of summer 76, and then joined NSSL permanently in Jan 78. The accomplishments listed here are only a small sample of his contributions to NSSL’s Radar Research. The relation of Doppler spectra to tornadoes is the basis for present day research being supported by the NWS and pursued by Faculty (Tian Yu) at OU. The initiation of polarimetric research began in 1978 with discussions with Canadian scientists (Brian Barge and Bob Humphreys) who had shown promise of polarimetry to improve the utility of weather radars. The design flaw was the implementation of circular polarization for the WSR-88D design. Because of propriety concerns NSSL scientists (including Dusan) were not informed of the designs being considered for the WSR-88D. We only heard about the use of circular polarization through friends who were on design review boards. But the information came too late for the NWS to make changes to the pre-production radars (i.e., 10 radars). These first ten radars were deployed with circular polarization and later changed to linear polarization.