Evaluation of the SACR ADVance Velocity-Azimuth Display (SACR-ADV-VAD) Value-Added Product

 
Poster PDF

Authors

Tami Fairless — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Karen Lee Johnson — Brookhaven National Laboratory
Katia Lamer — Brookhaven National Laboratory
Scott Giangrande — Brookhaven National Laboratory
Pavlos Kollias — Stony Brook University

Category

ARM infrastructure

Description

The Velocity Azimuth Display (VAD) technique has historically been used to retrieve vertical profiles of the wind using weather radars (Lhermitte and Atlas, 1961). Scanning radar mean Doppler velocity observations at a constant range are combined to estimate wind speed and direction at a particular height above the radar location. Here, the VAD technique is applied to the Ka-Band Scanning ARM Cloud Radar (KASACR) in the SACR ADVance Velocity-Azimuth Display (SACR-ADV-VAD) Value-Added Product (VAP). The VAP complements infrequent soundings by providing profiles of horizontal wind speed and direction in-cloud every time the SACR operates the Hemispherical Sky Range-Height Indicator scan strategy. The time resolution of the product is approximately every 30-60 minutes with a vertical spatial resolution of approximately 50 m. The product is currently available in evaluation for August, 2012 at the Southern Great Plains (SGP) and September, 2012 for the PVC campaign held in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. This poster presents an evaluation of the SACR-ADV-VAD VAP. Lhermitte, RM, and DA Atlas. 1961, "Precipitation motion by pulse Doppler radar." Proc. 9th Weather Radar Conf., Boston, American Meteorological Society, Boston, Mass., 498-503.