Clip Source: National Weather ServiceThe Basics of Weather Radar
Overview
Within this notebook, we will cover:
How do weather radars work?
Doppler Radar
Emmitted Energy
Dual-Polarization
Fundamental Radar Products
Base Reflectivity & Composite Reflectivity
Base Velocity & Storm Relative Velocity
Echo Tops
Correlation Coefficient
Differential Reflectivity
Artifacts in Radar Data
Clutter
Three-Body Scatter Spike (TBSS)
Velocity Alisiasing
Prerequisites
Concepts |
Importance |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
Helpful |
Basic concepts of meteorology |
|
Helpful |
Intro concepts of remote sensing |
Time to learn: ~ 3 hours
How do weather radars work?
Image Source: Sundry Photography/Public domainDoppler Radar
To work with radar data as a software engineer, atmospheric scientist, operational meteorologist, or in many other positions, knowledge of radar is paramount. So, how do weather radars work? Let’s start with the basics. Radar stands for RAdio Detection and Ranging, and it is an electronic instrument used for the detection and ranging of distant objects that scatter or reflect radio energy emmitted by the radar. A Doppler radar is a radar that detects and interprets the Doppler Effect in terms of the radial velocity (speed towards or away from the radar) of a target.
Emmitted Energy
Clip Source: The COMET ProgramDoppler radar sends out energy in pulses and listens for any returned signal.
Dual-Polarization
Fundamental Radar Products
Base Reflectivity & Composite Reflectivity
Base Velocity & Storm Relative Velocity
Echo Tops
Correlation Coefficient
Differential Reflectivity
Artifacts in Radar Data
Clutter
Three-Body Scatter Spike (TBSS)
Velocity Aliasing
Summary
In this cookbook we have discussed the basics of weather radars including the common products that meteorologists use to issue forecasts and warnings.
Additional Learning Resources
References
COMET MetEd
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
Unidata
National Weather Service (NWS)
American Meteorological Society Glossary of Meteorology
