Radar in Meteorology: Battan Memorial and 40th Anniversary Radar Meteorology Conference

817 Pages·1990·251.9 MB·English

by  David Atlas (eds.)

RADAR IN METEOROLOGY
RADAR IN METEOROLOGY: BATTA N MEMORIAL AND
40TH
ANNIVERSARY
RADAR METEOROLOGY CONFERENCE
EDITED BY
DAVID ATLAS
American Meteorological Society
Boston
1990
© American Meteorological Society 1990
Originally published by American Meteorological Society Boston in 1990
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1990
Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this publication in
scientific and educational works is hereby granted, provided the source is acknowledged. All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN 978-0-933876-86-6 ISBN 978-1-935704-15-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-935704-15-7
Typeset and printed in the United States of America by Lancaster Press, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Section openers designed by Helga Hardy.
Published by the American Meteorological Society, 45 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02176.
Richard E. Hallgren, Executive Director
Kenneth C. Spengler, Executive Director Emeritus
Evelyn Mazur, Assistant Executive Director
Arlyn S. Powell, Jr., Publications Manager
Editorial support provided by Laura Westlund, Pamela Jones, Jon Feld, Linda Esche, Brenda Gray, Harold Nagel, and Susan McClung.
Table of Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1x
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Tribute to Professor Louis J. Battan
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I. HISTORY
1 Early Developments of Weather Radar during World War II . . . . . 3
].0. Fletcher
2 Weather Radar in the United States Army's Fort Monmouth
Laboratories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Donald M. Swingle
3 Radar Meteorology at Radiation Laboratory, MIT,
1941 to 1947 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Isadore Katz and Patrick f. Harney
4 Weather Radar at MIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Pauline M. Austin and Spiros G. Geotis
5 A History of Weather Radar Research in the U.S. Air Force . . . . . 32
James I. Metcalf and Kenneth M. Glover
6 Radar Meteorology at the National Severe Storms Laboratory,
1964-1986 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Edwin Kessler
7 A History of Radar Meteorology in the United Kingdom· . . . . . . . 54
J.R. Probert-fones
8 The Stormy Weather Group (Canada) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
R.H. Douglas
9 History of Radar Meteorology in Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Nobuhiko Kodaira and ]ira Aoyagi
10 Radar Meteorology in India: A Brief Historical Perspective . . . . . 77
S.M. Kulshrestha
11 Radar Meteorology in The People's Republic of China . . . . . . . . . 80
Yu-Mao Xu
12 Early Foundations of the Measurement of Rainfall by Radar 86
David Atlas and Carlton W. Ulbrich
v
13 Advances in Precipitation Physics Following the Advent of
'Weather Radar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
A.S. Dennis and W.F. Hitschfeld
14 Polarization Diversity in Radar Meteorology: Early
Developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Thomas A. Seliga, Robert G. Humphries, and fames I. Metcalf
15 Foundations of Severe Storm Detection by Radar . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Ralph f. Donaldson
16 The Early Years of Doppler Radar in Meteorology . . . . . . . . . . . 122
R.R. Rogers
17 The History of Radar Studies of the Clear Atmosphere . . . . . . . 130
Kenneth R. Hardy and Kenneth S. Gage
18 Lightning Investigation with Radar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Earle R. Williams, Vladislav Mazur, and Spiros G. Geotis
II. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
19a Technology of Polarization Diversity Radars for Meteorology 153
V.N. Bringi and A. Hendry
19b Technology of Polarization Diversity Radars for Meteorology:
Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
fames I. Metcalf
20a Signal Processing for Atmospheric Radars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
R. Jeffrey Keeler and Richard E. Passarelli
20b Signal Processing: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
· Dusan S. Zrnic
21a UHF JVHF Radar Techniques for Atmospheric Research and
Wind Profiler Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
f. Ro"ttger and M.F. Larsen
21b Clear-Air Radar Technology: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Ben B. Balsley
22a Meteorological Radar Observations from Mobile Platforms . . . . 28 7
Peter H. Hildebrand and Richard K. Moore
22b AirbornejSpaceborne Radar: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
David P. Jorgensen and Robert Meneghini
23a Cloud Microphysics and Radar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
A.R. Jameson and D.B. Johnson
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23b Cloud Microphysics and Radar: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Kenneth V. Beard and Robert M. Rauber
24a Convective Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Peter Ray
24b Convective Dynamics: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
R. Carbone, B. Foote, M. Moncrieff, T. Gal-Chen, W. Cotton, ·
M. Hjelmfelt, F. Roux, G. Heymsfield, and E. Brandes
25a Radar Observations of Tropical Weather Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Frank D. Marks, Jr.
25b Tropical Meteorology: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
Edward Zipser, Alan Betts, Frank Ruggiero, and Barry Hinton
26a Organization and Internal Structure of Synoptic and Mesoscale
Precipitation Systems in Midlatitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
K.A. Browning
26b Mesoscale Organization and Processes: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . 461
David B. Parsons, Bradley F. Smull, and Douglas K. Lilly
Appendix: Notes on the Physical Mechanisms of Mesoscale
Precipitation Bands, Kerry A. Emanuel
27a Radar Research on the Atmospheric Boundary Layer . . . . . . . . . 477
Earl E. Gossard
27b The Atmospheric Boundary Layer: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
Robert A. Kropfli
28a Radar Observations of the Free Atmosphere: Structure and
Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
Kenneth S. Gage
28b Radar Observations of the Free Atmosphere: Panel Report 566
W.H. Hooke
III. OPERATIONAL APPLICATIONS
29a Precipitation Measurement and Hydrology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 77
Jiirg Joss and Albert Waldvogel -
Appendix A: Radar Data Processing and Short-Period
Forecasting in the United Kingdom, C.G. Collier
29b Precipitation Measurement and Hydrology: Panel Report . . . . . 607
Paul L. Smith
30a Severe Thunderstorm Detection by Radar 619
Donald W. Burgess and Leslie R. Lemon
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30b Severe Storm Detection: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648
Joseph H. Golden
31a The Application of Weather Radar to Aviation Meteorology . . . 65 7
T. Theodore Fujita and John McCarthy
31b Aviation Meteorology: Panel Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682
James Wilson
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
Current Addresses of Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781
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Preface
This volume, dedicated to the memory of Professor Louis topics such as nowcasting, severe storm detection, and
J. Battan, had its origin in the 40th Anniversary Radar hazards to aviation such as low-level wind shear. Radar
Meteorology Conference, which took place in Boston on has led the way in remote sensing of the atmosphere and
9-13 November 1987. The conference commemorated the its applications span virtually the entire discipline. More
anniversary of the first radar conference held at the Mas over, its use continues to expand as the dream of putting
sachusetts Institute of Technology on 14 March 1947. A weather radar in space approaches reality. At the same
tribute to Professor Battan follows this preface. time, the impressive technological advances in this and
After four and a half decades from the beginning of related fields provide further assurance that exciting pro
radar in World War II, those of us nearing the end of our gress will continue. The chapters on the technology of sig
careers thought it would be useful to look back and doc nal processing, polarimetry, air and spacebome radar, and
ument from whence we came, to take stock of the advances wind profiling systems are illustrative of the latest devel
which have been made since then, and to exploit our joint opments and trends and point to future system designs.
wisdom in setting the agenda for the future. In accordance One of my goals as editor was to provide some sort of
with these goals, both the conference and this volume were synthesis. I tried to do this mainly through the cross-ref
organized in three broad segments: history, critical reviews erencing among the various chapters, the reduction of re
of progress and status, and panel reports providing a dundancy, the filling of significant gaps, and the resolution
broader perspective and a look into the future. of conflicts where desirable. In some cases, I deliberately
The histories (Chapters 1-18) cover the people, events left conflicting ideas to depict the controversy that sur
and institutions that played pivotal roles during the first rounds a particular subject. For example, in several papers
two decades of radar studies. In some cases the institutional about polarization diversity, opinion is divided as to
and national histories bring us up to the present time. Re whether or not measurements of differential reflectivity
grettably, a report was not available from the Soviet Union, will enhance the accuracy of radar measurements of rain
where seminal work was done from the late 1940s. fall. I also retained many overlapping references to
The reviews in Chapters 19 through 31 cover techno NEXRAD (Next Generation Weather Radar) because they
logical, scientific and operational topics. These were writ provide differing viewpoints as to how this radar may best
ten by experts in each of the subject areas. Following each be used in addressing the various problems.
review is a panel report on the same subject. The latter, With minor exceptions related to format and organiza
authored by one or more scientists, represents a broad tion, I made no attempt to standardize writing style. Thus,
consensus of a group of specialists who met in advance of each chapter has its own distinct flavor depending upon
the conference to critique preliminary versions of the re the style of the author.
views and subsequently prepared a report aimed at pro The book is especially timely since the field is about to
viding a balanced view, filling in gaps, and identifying explode with the forthcoming widespread installation of
avenues of the most promising research and development the most modem Doppler radars throughout the United
for the decades ahead. States. These include the Next Generation Weather Radar,
Altogether the work involved more than 200 participants UHF and VHF wind profiling radars, and Terminal Doppler
and authors. The volume is therefore literally a product Weather Radars for wind shear detection. In Western Eu
of the entire community and represents a compendium of rope modem weather radars are being integrated into a
knowledge in this field that is not likely to be replicated cooperative network. New operational and research sys
for many years. It will be of value to students, scientists tems have been installed in Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan
and technologists, and members of the operational com and the People's Republic of China, among others. The
munities. It will also serve as a guidebook to decision airborne Doppler radars operated by the National Oceanic
makers. and Atmospheric Administration in the United States have
A glance at the Table of Contents will show that this produced dramatic research results and have stimulated
book is not a provincial treatise on radar meteorology. Al the development of new airborne systems both in the
though the technological chapters deal explicitly with var United States and France. Also, the emerging plans to place
ious aspects of the instruments, the remaining chapters rain-measuring radars on satellites promise unprecedented
discuss a broad spectrum of scientific and operational observational capabilities.
problems in meteorology. In this sense the reviews and These initiatives are already creating a demand for a
panel reports are problem oriented. Indeed, in most cases new generation of broadly based researchers· with ad
radar is treated as only one of the required tools. The papers vanced skills in the radar arts and for operational meteo
cover scientific subjects ranging from cloud microphysics rologists-capable of exploiting the modem technology. We
and dynamics to aspects of global climate, and operational expect that this compendium will contribute strongly to-
ix
ward these ends. The large number of new systems will The one discouraging factor in this otherwise exciting
also increase the amount of observational data by several picture is the failure of our universities to train adequate
orders of magnitude in the next decade, thereby providing numbers of scientists in the instrumental and observational
a very rich source of new material to the science community aspects of meteorology in order to meet future needs. We
which will surely lead to new insights and discoveries. hope that this volume will help to stimulate the academic
When viewed in the context of the striking advances community to rectify this situation.
taking place in parallel fields of space observations, com While this book and the conference from which it grew
puter technology, communications, information handling have dominated the last three years of my life, I am grat
and display, and numerical modeling of meteorological ified by how much I have learned, by the satisfaction of
and oceanic phenomena, the outlook for the future is having participated in setting the foundations for the fu
breathtaking. The existing activities under the World Cli ture, and the exquisite joy of seeing how far we have come
mate Research Program, the emerging activities for study since I started on the road of radar in meteorology 45
ing atmosphere-oceans-land as an integrated system, and years ago.
the rich variety of planned and ongoing experiments on
storm and mesoscale problems provide the stage on which
much of the research and operational activity will be David Atlas
played out. Editor
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