Andrew L. Pazmany

Observations of Tornadoes and Other Convective Phenomena with a Mobile, 3-mm Wavelength, Doppler Radar: The Spring 1999 Field Experiment

Abstract In the spring of 1999 a field experiment was conducted in the Southern Plains of the United States, during which a mobile, millimeter–wavelength pulsed Doppler radar from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, was used by a storm–intercept team from the University of Oklahoma to collect data in tornadoes and developing tornadoes. With a 0.18° beam antenna, resolution as high as 5–10 m in the azimuthal direction was attained in a tornado on 3 May. Data collected in three supercell tornadoes are described. Features such as eyes, spiral bands, and multiple vortices/wavelike asymmetries along the edge of the eyewall are discussed. Winds approaching 80 m s–1 were resolved without folding using the polarization diversity pulse pair technique. Two tornadoes formed at an inflection point in reflectivity where the hook echo and apparent rear–flank downdraft intersected. Finescale transverse bands of reflectivity were evident in one hook echo. Data in a dust devil are also described. Numerous other data...

An airborne 95 GHz dual-polarized radar for cloud studies

A 95 GHz dual-polarization radar system was developed and flown on the University of Wyoming King Air research aircraft, from which it measured reflectivity, depolarization, and Doppler-derived velocity mean and standard deviation of a variety of clouds. This paper describes the radar and a data acquisition system that uses commercially available digitizers, signal processors, and signal generators. The authors also describe the tradeoffs between spatial resolution and ability to estimate reflectivity and velocity. This paper presents the first known airborne measurements of clouds made at 95 GHz; these are thought to be the most highly resolved millimeter-wave cloud images made to date. Depolarization, measured in terms of the linear depolarization ratio (LDR), was especially high in the melting band and in regions containing pristine ice crystals. These measurements demonstrate the advantages that high-spatial-resolution airborne millimeter-wave radars offer for the study of cloud microphysical properties. >

Close-range observations of tornadoes in supercells made with a dual-polarization, X-band, mobile doppler radar

Abstract A mobile, dual-polarization, X-band, Doppler radar scanned tornadoes at close range in supercells on 12 and 29 May 2004 in Kansas and Oklahoma, respectively. In the former tornadoes, a visible circular debris ring detected as circular regions of low values of differential reflectivity and the cross-correlation coefficient was distinguished from surrounding spiral bands of precipitation of higher values of differential reflectivity and the cross-correlation coefficient. A curved band of debris was indicated on one side of the tornado in another. In a tornado and/or mesocyclone on 29 May 2004, which was hidden from the view of the storm-intercept team by precipitation, the vortex and its associated “weak-echo hole” were at times relatively wide; however, a debris ring was not evident in either the differential reflectivity field or in the cross-correlation coefficient field, most likely because the radar beam scanned too high above the ground. In this case, differential attenuation made identificat...

Finescale structure and microphysics of coastal stratus

Observations were made of unbroken marine stratus off the coast of Oregon using the combined capabilities of in situ probes and a 95-GHz radar mounted on an aircraft. Reflectivity and Doppler velocity measurements were obtained in vertical and horizontal planes that extend from the flight lines. Data from three consecutive days were used to examine echo structure and microphysics characteristics. The clouds appeared horizontally homogeneous and light drizzle reached the surface in all three cases. Radar reflectivity is dominated by drizzle drops over the lower two-thirds to four-fifths of the clouds and by cloud droplets above that. Cells with above-average drizzle concentrations exist in all cases and exhibit a large range of sizes. The cells have irregular horizontal cross sections but occur with a dominant spacing that is roughly 1.2‐1.5 times the depth of the cloud layer. Doppler velocities in the vertical are downward in all but a very small fraction of the cloud volumes. The cross correlation between reflectivity and vertical Doppler velocity changes sign at or below the midpoint of the cloud, indicating that in the upper parts of the clouds above-average reflectivities are associated with smaller downward velocities. This correlation and related observations are interpreted as the combined results of upward transport of drizzle drops and of downward motion of regions diluted by entrainment. The in situ measurements support these conclusions.

Mobile doppler radar observations of a tornado in a supercell near Bassett, Nebraska, on 5 June 1999. Part II: Tornado-vortex structure

Abstract This is Part II of a paper detailing an analysis of high-resolution wind and reflectivity data collected by a mobile, W-band Doppler radar; the analysis depicts the near-surface life history of a tornado in a supercell in north-central Nebraska on 5 June 1999. The structure of the tornado vortex near the ground is described from a sequence of sector scans at 10–15-s intervals during much of the lifetime of the tornado. The formation of the tornado vortex near the ground is described in Part I. The wind and reflectivity features in the tornado evolved on timescales of 10 s or less. A time history of the azimuthally averaged azimuthal and radial wind profiles and the asymmetric components of the azimuthal and radial wind fields in the tornado were estimated by applying the ground-based velocity track display (GBVTD) technique to the Doppler wind data. If the magnitude of the asymmetric part of the radial wind component were indeed much less than that of the azimuthal wind component (a necessary req...

Doppler Radar Observations of Dust Devils in Texas

Abstract Analyses of a dust-devil dataset collected in northwest Texas are presented. The data were collected just above the ground at close range with a mobile, W-band (3-mm wavelength) Doppler radar having an azimuthal (radial) resolution of 3–5 m (30 m) at the range of the dust devils. Most dust devils appeared as quasi-circular rings of relatively high radar reflectivity. Four dust-devil vortices were probed, three of which were cyclonic and one anticyclonic. Documentation was obtained of a pair of adjacent cyclonic vortices rotating cyclonically around each other. Approximate radial profiles of azimuthal and radial wind components and of radar reflectivity are detailed and discussed. The diameters of the core of the dust devils ranged from 30 to 130 m; the latter diameters are much wider than that of typical dust devils in a homogeneous environment. The widest vortex was cyclonic and exhibited evidence of a two-cell structure (i.e., sinking motion near the center and rising motion just outside the ra...

The Structure of Tornadoes near Attica, Kansas, on 12 May 2004: High-Resolution, Mobile, Doppler Radar Observations

Abstract The University of Massachusetts W- and X-band, mobile, Doppler radars scanned several tornadoes at close range in south-central Kansas on 12 May 2004. The detailed vertical structure of the Doppler wind and radar reflectivity fields of one of the tornadoes is described with the aid of boresighted video. The inside wall of a weak-echo hole inside the tornado was terminated at the bottom as a bowl-shaped boundary within several tens of meters of the ground. Doppler signatures of horizontal vortices were noted along one edge in the lowest 500 m of the tornado. The vertical structure of Doppler velocity displayed significant variations on the 100-m scale. Near the center of the tornado, a quasi-horizontal, radial bulge of the weak-echo hole at ∼500–600 m AGL dropped to about 400 m above the ground and was evident as a weak-echo band to the south of the tornado. It is suggested that this feature represents echo-weak material transported radially outward by a vertical circulation. Significant vertical ...

Ground-Based Velocity Track Display (GBVTD) Analysis of W-Band Doppler Radar Data in a Tornado near Stockton, Kansas, on 15 May 1999

Abstract On 15 May 1999, a storm intercept team from the University of Oklahoma collected high-resolution, W-band Doppler radar data in a tornado near Stockton, Kansas. Thirty-five sector scans were obtained over a period of approximately 10 min, capturing the tornado life cycle from just after tornadogenesis to the decay stage. A low-reflectivity “eye”—whose diameter fluctuated during the period of observation—was present in the reflectivity scans. A ground-based velocity track display (GBVTD) analysis of the W-band Doppler radar data of the Stockton tornado was conducted; results and interpretations are presented and discussed. It was found from the analysis that the axisymmetric component of the azimuthal wind profile of the tornado was suggestive of a Burgers–Rott vortex during the most intense phase of the life cycle of the tornado. The temporal evolution of the axisymmetric components of azimuthal and radial wind, as well as the wavenumber-1, -2, and -3 angular harmonics of the azimuthal wind, are a...

A Mobile Rapid-Scanning X-band Polarimetric (RaXPol) Doppler Radar System

AbstractA novel, rapid-scanning, X-band (3-cm wavelength), polarimetric (RaXPol), mobile radar was developed for severe-weather research. The radar employs a 2.4-m-diameter dual-polarized parabolic dish antenna on a high-speed pedestal capable of rotating the antenna at 180° s−1. The radar can complete a 10-elevation-step volume scan in about 20 s, while maintaining a 180-record-per-second data rate. The transmitter employs a 20-kW peak-power traveling wave tube amplifier that can generate pulse compression and frequency-hopping waveforms. Frequency hopping permits the acquisition of many more independent samples possible than without frequency hopping, making it possible to scan much more rapidly than conventional radars. Standard data products include vertically and horizontally polarized equivalent radar reflectivity factor, Doppler velocity mean and standard deviation, copolar cross-correlation coefficient, and differential phase. This paper describes the radar system and illustrates the capabilities ...

The Vertical Structure of a Tornado near Happy, Texas, on 5 May 2002: High-Resolution, Mobile, W-band, Doppler Radar Observations

Abstract A mobile, W-band Doppler radar scanned, at close range, portions of a tornado near Happy, Texas, on 5 May 2002. Simultaneous boresighted video images were also recorded, which facilitated correlating the radar-observed features of the tornado with its visual features. Range–height indicators (RHIs) of radar reflectivity and Doppler velocity were collected that detail, with high spatial resolution, aspects of the vertical structure of the tornado near the ground. Most of the RHIs showed a column of a weak-echo hole from about 60 m above the ground up to the top of the domain at 800–1000 m above the ground; the hole was roughly 40% broader about 100 m above the ground as it was above, resulting in a characteristic pear-shaped vertical cross section of reflectivity. In this tornado, the condensation funnel was much narrower than the width of the weak-echo hole; the visible debris cloud near the ground was approximately just as wide as the hole above 150 m. The mean depth of the debris cloud was arou...