ARM Scientists Lead Radar Courses at ERAD2014

 
Published: 14 October 2014

In September, radar engineers and science colleagues gathered in Garmisch-Partenkrichen, Germany, for the 8th European Conference on Radar in Meteorology and Hydrology. Leading ARM radar experts and ARM data users shared their advances during two short-course workshops.
Open-source radar short course presented at ERAD2014.

Open-Source Radar Short Course

With a focus on hands-on exercises, ARM radar scientists Scott Collis and Jonathan Helmus, Argonne National Laboratory, worked together with Daniel Michelson, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, and Maik Heistermann, University of Potsdam, to deliver a 1-day workshop on how to work with radar data using open-source tools. The course featured a module on the Python ARM Radar Toolkit (Py-ART) and concluded with an exercise on using the Py-ART, and German Wradlib packages together. To access the open-source materials, visit GitHub.

Research Applications of Radar Doppler Spectra Short Course

Using the spectra forward simulator, an observed W-band Doppler spectrum in stratiform rain, exhibiting two non-Rayleigh notches (black curve, lower left panel), is matched with a simulated spectrum (red curve, lower left panel) through real-time user adjustment of a variety of simulator controls governing microphysics, dynamics, and radar operational parameters. Using the spectra forward simulator, an observed W-band Doppler spectrum in stratiform rain, exhibiting two non-Rayleigh notches (black curve, lower left panel), is matched with a simulated spectrum (red curve, lower left panel) through real-time user adjustment of a variety of simulator controls governing microphysics, dynamics, and radar operational parameters.

Aimed at students and scientists interested in cloud and precipitation microphysics and dynamics, Atmospheric System Research scientist Edward Luke, Brookhaven National Laboratory with Frederic Tridon and Alessandro Battalia, University of Leicester, and Stefan Kneifel, McGill University, with contributions from Pavlos Kollias, McGill University, held an all-day hands-on Doppler spectra workshop that grew from a 2-hour Doppler spectra lab session presented at ERAD2012 as part of its Short Course on Millimeter Wavelength Radars. The course featured the theoretical underpinning of radar Doppler spectra formation, and exploring Brookhaven National Laboratory’s
Radar Doppler Spectra Visualization and Analysis Java Toolkit to explore actual data. Using a Doppler spectrum forward simulator—newly integrated within the visualization toolkit—participants were able to perform ad hoc liquid cloud retrievals of vertical air velocity, turbulence, and cloud and precipitation properties by adjusting simulator controls in real-time to produce synthetic Doppler spectra that match observed ones.

During the 5-day conference, ERAD2014 hosted 370 participants across 40 countries. The agenda included over 115 talks and 250 poster presentations. The two ARM-data inspired radar workshops included nearly 50 participants for the combined courses. The next ERAD conference will take place in Turkey in October 2016.