The NCAR Integrated Sounding System: Deployment for Winter Storms and Development of a New Wind Profiler Northern Plains Winter Storm Conference 2014 William Brown National Center for Atmospheric Research Earth Observing Laboratory Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research NCAR is a research and development center devoted to service, research and education in the atmospheric and related sciences.

NCAR / EOL Earth Observing Lab Meteorological measurements for scientific research Conducts field projects all around the world Aircraft : C130 & Gulfstream V, also uses Navy P3 & NASA Globalhawk Radars : S & Ka Band weather radar P3 aircraft radar Wind profiler radars Lidars (aerosol & water vapor) Meteorological stations & towers Soundings & dropsondes Computing and data systems Logistics, organizational and operations support

Vertically pointing radar designed to measure winds in a column overhead. Virtual temperature with RASS NCAR developing new versions of wind profiler to measure higher and faster Wind Profiler Radars Traditional 915 MHz boundary layer wind profiler Doppler Beam Swinging to measure winds every 15 – 30 minutes NCAR operates 4, approx 50 in operation around North America NOAA Network Profiler

Impact of Wind Profilers Monthly Weather Review, 2010 Wind Forecast Improvement Project NOAA / ESRL April 2014 Not as much information as soundings, however profilers do provide continuous measurements

ISS : Integrated Sounding System ISS: a suite of instruments to profile the lower atmosphere deployed around the world in support of university and other researchers Radiosonde soundings Radar wind profilers Flexible collection of other instruments Diego Garcia, Indian Ocean 85 projects over last 20 years targeting wide variety of science targets Oklahoma

Ship-board Toga Radar Wind Profiler WV GPS & WXT Met Mast Helium Container Balloon Launches Solar Radn, SPN-1 Web Cam NOAA Chem NOAA Chem R/V Revelle Indian Ocean DYNAMO MJO Project

Mobile Profiling Mobile ISS for rapid deployment in front of storms or transient events, education and outreach

PLOWS Winter cyclone study in upper mid-west NCAR MISS & C130 Uni. Alabama MAX & MIPS

PLOWS EOL Sounding Operations MISS Mobile Integrated Sounding System Two winters 3 months deployment ~400 hours of operations 13 IOPs, 125 soundings 15,000 km and 20+ hotels

PLOWS Radiosonde sounding into freezing rain

Sounding into Freezing Rain Temperature Melting Re-Freeeze

Profiler SNR Bright-band / melting layer W Velocity Fall speed Rain, but ice at surface..

Convection example

Snow Riming Study ISPA Inhibition of Snowfall by Pollution Aerosol DRI Storm Peak Lab Steamboat ski resort ISS at bottom of mountain

Snow Riming Study Fall speeds related to riming Mosimann riming index Power station aerosol source Ice crystals at SPL Cohn et.al. Borys et.al.

Salt Lake City PCAPS : Persistent Cold Air Pool Study Study of why the Salt Lake Valley has such persistent mid-winter temperature inversions Nov 2010 – Feb 2011

NCAR / EOL at PCAPS Met. tower 10m winds Temp, RH, P Solar Radn Sodar Ceilometer GPS Water Vapor Web Cam Helium Sounding Microwave Radiometer Released over 100 soundings Deployed 8 meteorological towers Two wind profiler radars Lidar ceilometer Wind Profiler

Profiler Winds Typically southerly flow along valley, Synoptic flow aloft Radio Acoustic Sounding System Virtual temperature Inversion around 800 meters

Sounding data combined with lidar

449 MHz Modular Wind Profiler Hexagonal Module Design Goals Capable Higher altitudes (449-MHz) Faster wind measurements (spaced antenna) Flexible (modular) Efficient to deploy Attributes suitable for a network Innovations Modular design Advance signal processing Inexpensive power amplifier 449 modular profiler

Boundary-layer 3-panel Mid-troposphere 7-panel Full-troposphere 19-panel – to the UTLS 449 MHz Modular Wind Profiler: Scalability

Radar Wind Profiler 7 Panel version deployed for DEEPWAVE project in New Zealand Requested to make rapid wind measurement above marine boundary layer

DEEPWAVE Deeply Propagating Gravity Waves (New Zealand) Ron Smith, Dave Fritts, Jim Doyle, Steve Eckermann, Brian Billings et.al. ISS monitor upstream flow: Modular Wind Profiler Radiosondes Met tower and solar Ceilometer WV GPS

DEEPWAVE Example NCAR Executive Committee Meeting Updrafts Gusts / downward mixing

Mobile Profiling Converting to 449 MHz modular profiler to make rapid wind measurements

Conclusion Profilers provide continuous monitoring of winds and virtual temperature PLOWS winter cyclone study ISPA snow riming PCAPS cold pool Development of 449 MHz modular profiler