A portable CW/FM-CW Doppler radar for local investigation of severe storms

Conference · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:6501669

Unruh, W P; Wolf, M A; Bluestein, H B

During the 1987 spring storm season we used a portable 1-W X-band CW Doppler radar to probe a tornado, a funnel cloud, and a wall cloud in Oklahoma and Texas. This same device was used during the spring storm season in 1988 to probe a wall cloud in Texas. The radar was battery powered and highly portable, and thus convenient to deploy from our chase vehicle. The device separated the receding and approaching Doppler velocities in real time and, while the radar was being used, it allowed convenient stereo data recording for later spectral analysis and operator monitoring of the Doppler signals in stereo headphones. This aural monitoring, coupled with the ease with which an operator can be trained to recognize the nature of the signals heard, made the radar very easy to operate reliably and significantly enhanced the quality of the data being recorded. At the end of the 1988 spring season, the radar was modified to include FM-CW ranging and processing. These modifications were based on a unique combination of video recording and FM chirp generation, which incorporated a video camera and recorder as an integral part of the radar. After modification, the radar retains its convenient portability and the operational advantage of being able to listen to the Doppler signals directly. The original mechanical design was unaffected by these additions. During the summer of 1988, this modified device was used at the Langmuir Laboratory at Socorro, New Mexico in an attempt to measure vertical convective flow in a thunderstorm. 2 refs., 2 figs.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 6501669
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-88-3868; CONF-890355-1; ON: DE89005445
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

440300 -- Miscellaneous Instruments-- (-1989)
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
500100* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Basic Studies-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES
DETECTION
DISASTERS
DOPPLER EFFECT
ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
INVESTIGATIONS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
METEOROLOGY
PERFORMANCE
RADAR
RANGE FINDERS
STORMS
TORNADOES
WIND