Education / Outreach

1. Design and Deployment of Quickly Scanning, Dual-Frequency, Dual-Polarization, Dual-Doppler Mobile Radar Network Joshua Wurman and Karen Kosiba, Center for Severe Weather Research Katja Friedrich, University of Colorado at Boulder Education / Outreach Radar Characteristics Science DOWs deploy to universities to support radar meteorology education. Students design and conduct experiments and analyze DOW data. The DOW Facility is supported by the National Science Foundation through grant 0734001. DOW6 and DOW7: Dual Polarization and Dual Frequency Radar Systems = 2x speed dual-pol and 45 degree and H/V simultaneous modes* * DOWs 6 and 7 can also transmit pure H in one frequency for LDR while using 45 in second frequency, collecting LDR simultaneously with ZDR, Rho-HV, and Phi-DP products. PAMREX Penn State University The Pennsylvania Mobile Radar Experiment (PAMREX) used the DOWs in the fall of 2003 and 2004 to study a wide variety of phenomena such as the interaction of fronts and thunderstorms with ridges and valleys, terrain-induced atmospheric circulations, and phenomena owing to atmospheric interactions with Lake Erie. Complex terrain can produce atmospheric circulations capable of triggering thunderstorms, in addition to influencing already mature thunderstorms and their attendant severe weather. Surface temperature and roughness differences between Lake Erie and the land surface of Pennsylvania routinely affect small-scale weather as well with “lake effect” snow bands being perhaps the most widely known of these lake-induced phenomena. COPS 2007 Left: Example fine-scaleDOW observations of the hurricane boundary layer for several hurricanes. MAP 1999 Rapid Scan Multiple Beam Radar: 7-second volumetric scanning DROPS Purdue University Dr. Jeff Trapp, professor in the Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Purdue University, requested one of the CSWR mobile weather research radars for deployment to West Lafayette, Indiana from October 21 through November 18, 2009. Student teams planned research projects related to the occurrence of isolated severe and non-severe thunderstorms, mesoscale convective systems, frontal rain bands and lake-effect snow. UNDEO University of Nebraska The University of Nebraska DOW Education and Outreach (UNDEO) project was an NSF-funded collaboration between the Department of Geosciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and CSWR, conducted in November of 2008. The project allowed a 15-day on-campus deployment of a DOW for classroom instruction and hands-on experience. Left: A low-reflectivity ribbon (LRR) observed by DOW 7 during the VORTEX2 field campaign. ZDR on left, reflectivity on right. Above: Misovortices embedded in lake-effect snow bands observed during Lake-Effect Snow Project 2010. Above: DOW observation of a tornado near Quinter, KS during ROTATE 2008 How to Request the DOWs for Research Any NSF-sponsored PI can request the DOWs and support from the Deployment Pool. If approved by NSF, deployment costs are covered by Deployment Pool, not individual project grants. Non-NSF PI’s can request DOWs, but not Deployment Pool support. Contact CSWR at www.cswr.org and admin@cswr.org. How to Request the DOWs for Education Universities and K-12 can request the DOWs in support of science education. A DOW is brought to the university/school, students and educators are trained in DOW operations, and they then can lead deployments, data collection, etc. A streamlined proposal and review process is in place for short, typically 2-4 week educational deployments. Contact CSWR at www.cswr.org and admin@cswr.org.