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>>When forecasters issue a warning, one of their primary tools is weather radar.
The faster a radar updates - the earlier a warning can be issued to the public.
And minutes truly do matter when we’re talking about protecting life and property.
This is why NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory has a new research radar.
With co-funding from the FAA and NOAA, the Advanced Technology Demonstrator was installed
in July of 2018.
This new radar uses phased array technology - so it scans the sky electronically instead
of mechanically.
This allows the beam to focus in a particular area of interest - such as a tornado - and
provide more frequent weather updates.
>> “This is actually the second phased array radar to go here.
From 2003 to 2016, NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory operated a Navy SPY-1A antenna
installed in this very location.
Using that, we demonstrated some really good things but that was a 1970’s radar that
designed for aircraft and missile tracking.
This radar is built from the ground up with modern technology with the weather mission
in mind.”
>> “The Advanced Technology Demonstrator is the first time that we’ve paired the
benefits of a phased array radar with the benefits of a dual polarization radar.
That dual polarization capability allows us to differentiate between raindrops, ice crystals,
snowflakes, hailstones and determine what type of precipitation is falling.”
>> Now that the Advanced Technology Demonstrator is installed, the hard work begins for researchers.
The radar must be calibrated and tested.
Can the combination of dual polarization on a phased array radar be a better tool for
weather forecasters?
We’ll have to wait and see.
>> “If we prove that those two can work together, we can have the radar of the future.”
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