A brief overview of weather radar technologies and instrumentation

Abstract

Weather radar technologies and instrumentation play a vital role in early warning of severe weather. For example, the annual impacts of adverse weather on the U.S. national highway system and roads are staggering: 7,400 weather-related deaths and 1.5 million weather-related crashes [1]. In addition, US$4.2 billion is lost each year as a result of air traffic delays attributed to weather. Research on high-impact weather is broadly motivated by society's need to improve the prediction of these weather events. The research approaches to accomplish this goal vary significantly with the inherent predictability of the weather system. For example, the current forecast approaches for issuing warnings of short-lived events, such as tornadoes and flash floods, are primarily based on observations with a focus on advanced Doppler radar measurements.