TWRC

Tropical Wind and Rain Climatology

1 November 2013 - 31 December 2014

Lead Scientist: Bronwyn Dolman

Observatory: TWP

A 54.1 MHz wind profiling radar has operated at the TWP site since 2006, when it was installed to participate in the TWP-ICE. It has operated since this time, but is limited to 3.4 km in vertical acquisition range. Leaving the antenna array, the electronics of the profiler was replaced with an ATRAD state of the art build standard. This allowed continuous sampling to approximately 10 km (weather condition dependent) in low (100 m resolution) and high (250 m resolution) modes, with 2 minute resolution, and thus allowed retrieval of rainfall properties from near ground to the freezing level. The system ran continuously, and wind data was made available. Dropsize distributions were retrieved on a case by case basis, with research moving towards real time operation. It is anticipated that several papers will result from this research, as retrieval methods are refined and in intercomparisons with other instruments.