Abstract
AbstractA new, advanced radar has been developed at Colorado State University (CSU). The Sea-Going Polarimetric (SEA-POL) radar is a C-band, polarimetric Doppler radar specifically designed to deploy on research ships. SEA-POL is the first such weather radar developed in the United States. Ship-based weather radars have a long history, dating back to GATE in 1974. The GATE radars measured only reflectivity. After GATE, ship radars also provided Doppler measurements. SEA-POL represents the next advancement by adding dual-polarization technology, the ability to transmit and receive both horizontal and vertical polarizations. This configuration provides information about hydrometeor size, shape, and phase. As a result, superior rain-rate estimates are afforded by the dual-polarization technology, along with hydrometeor identification and overall improved data quality. SEA-POL made its first deployment as part of the Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study, second field phase (SPURS-2) fall 2017 cruise to the eastern tropical Pacific, sailing on the R/V Roger Revelle. SPURS-2 was a field project to investigate the fate of freshwater deposited on the ocean’s surface. Oceanographers are keenly interested in how fast these freshwater patches mix out by wind and upper-ocean turbulence, as the less dense rainfall sitting atop the salty ocean inhibits mixing through increased stability. To this end, during SPURS-2, SEA-POL produced rain maps identifying the location of freshwater lenses on the ocean’s surface thereby providing context for measurements of SST and salinity. Examples of SEA-POL polarization measurements are also discussed to assess microphysical processes within oceanic convection. Future ocean-based field campaigns will now benefit from SEA-POL’s advanced dual-polarization technology.
Highlights
A new Sea-Going Polarimetric (SEA-POL) radar was successfully deployed on its inaugural cruise as part of the SPURS-2 project, marking the first shipboard deployment of a polarimetric C-band weather radar by the U.S research community
In GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE), four ships were outfitted with 5 cm wavelength (C band) ref lectivity-only radars to examine the structure of tropical mesoscale convective systems (MCSs)
A wealth of new findings regarding squall lines and accompanying stratiform precipitation emerged from GATE (Houze 1977; Houze and Cheng 1977; Zipser 1977), even though antenna scanning was not stabilized for ship motions and no Doppler velocity data were available
Summary
A new Sea-Going Polarimetric (SEA-POL) radar was successfully deployed on its inaugural cruise as part of the SPURS-2 project, marking the first shipboard deployment of a polarimetric C-band weather radar by the U.S research community. These are a few reasons why a polarimetric radar like SEA-POL was developed for deployment on U.S research ships. Examined roll and pitch data from the Gas Exchange SEA-POL measurements of ZDR and KDP in Study (GasEx) cruise of the RHB, which took place in rain and ice provide robust scientific data and the Southern Ocean during austral winter in 2008.
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