2018/07/26 by Zachary B. Wienhoff, Howard B. Bluestein, Louis J. Wicker +5 · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations #Precipitation Measurement and Analysis #Climate variability and models
paper · pdf · doi:10.1175/mwr-d-17-0360.1
Abstract In many instances, synchronization of Doppler radar data among multiple platforms for multiple-Doppler analysis is challenging. This study describes the production of dual-Doppler wind analyses from several case studies using data from a rapid-scanning, X-band, polarimetric, Doppler radar—the RaXPol radar—and data from nearby WSR-88Ds. Of particular interest is mitigating difficulties related to the drastic differences in scanning rates of the two radars. To account for differences in temporal resolution, a variational reflectivity tracking scheme [a spatially variable advection correction technique (SVAC)] has been employed to interpolate (in a Lagrangian sense) the coarser temporal resolution data (WSR-88D) to the times of the RaXPol volume scans. The RaXPol data and temporally interpolated WSR-88D data are then used to create quasi–rapid scan dual-Doppler analyses. This study focuses on the application of the SVAC technique to WSR-88D data to create dual-Doppler analyses of three tornadic supercells: the 19 May 2013 Edmond–Carney and Norman–Shawnee, Oklahoma, storms and the 24 May 2016 Dodge City, Kansas, storm. Results of the dual-Doppler analyses are briefly examined, including observations of the ZDR columns as a proxy for updrafts. Potential improvements to this technique are also discussed.