ARMOR (Advanced Radar for Meteorological and Operational Research)

Doppler weather radar Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly pulse- ...

is a C-Band, Dual-Polarimetric Doppler Weather Radar, located at the

Huntsville International Airport Huntsville International Airport (Carl T. Jones Field) is a public airport and spaceport ten miles southwest of downtown Huntsville, in Madison County, Alabama, United States. The airport is part of the Port of Huntsville (along with the In ...

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in th ...

. The radar is a collaborative effort between

WHNT-TV WHNT-TV (channel 19) is a television station in Huntsville, Alabama, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Florence, Alabama, Florence-licensed The CW, CW owned-and-operated station WHDF (channel 15). Bo ...

and the

University of Alabama in Huntsville The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) is a public research university in Huntsville, Alabama. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and comprises nine colleges: arts, humanities & social science ...

. Live data for the radar is only available to a limited audience, such as UAH employees and NWS meteorologists. All ARMOR data is archived at the

National Space Science and Technology Center The National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC) in Huntsville, Alabama is a joint research venture between NASA and the seven research universities of the state of Alabama, represented by the Space Science and Technology Alliance. The ai ...

located on the UAH campus.

History

This radar was originally a

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...

(NWS) local warning radar (

WSR-74 WSR-74 radars were Weather Surveillance Radars designed in 1974 for the National Weather Service. They were added to the existing network of the WSR-57 model to improve forecasts and severe weather warnings. Some have been sold to other countries ...

C) installed in 1977. It was refurbished and upgraded to

Pulse-Doppler A pulse-Doppler radar is a radar system that determines the range to a target using pulse-timing techniques, and uses the Doppler effect of the returned signal to determine the target object's velocity. It combines the features of pulse radars and ...

capabilities in 1991. When the NEXRAD network replaced previous NWS radars, it was donated to the UAH Department of Atmospheric Science in 2002 and upgraded to dual-polarimetry using the SIGMET Antenna Mounted Receiver in the fall 2004. Baron Radar division of Baron Services, Inc., Huntsville, AL, upgraded the transmitter in 2005 to a 350 kW

solid state Solid state, or solid matter, is one of the four fundamental states of matter. Solid state may also refer to: Electronics * Solid-state electronics, circuits built of solid materials * Solid state ionics, study of ionic conductors and their u ...

VHDD-350C transmitter. In the fall of 2006, a high performance ''Seavey'' dual-polarization antenna and Orbit pedestal were purchased for ARMOR by the same company and made fully functional by the end of October. ARMOR is the first dual polarimetric radar used in broadcast television news, and one of the first systems of its type open for educational use to a public university,

The University of Alabama in Huntsville The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) is a Public university, public research university in Huntsville, Alabama. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and comprises nine colleges: arts, humaniti ...

(UAH).

Description

ARMOR is a modified

C-Band (5625 MHz) radar with a 0.5 - 1.0° resolution in azimuth and a spatial resolution varying from 60 to 500 meters, with a typical resolution of 150m. ARMOR sits 206 meters above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. The pulse length can vary from 0.4 to 4

microsecond A microsecond is a unit of time in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one millionth (0.000001 or 10−6 or ) of a second. Its symbol is μs, sometimes simplified to us when Unicode is not available. A microsecond is equal to 100 ...

s and its peak power is 350 kW. ARMOR's antenna is 3.7 m, or 12 feet, in diameter, and its typical PRF ranges from 250 to 2000 Hz. At its maximum, its rotation rate is 36 degrees/second. It transmits and receives vertical and horizontal polarized signals and operates with a SIGMET RVP8 signal processor. ARMOR is capable of area-specific sector scans, and unlike the

NEXRAD NEXRAD or Nexrad (Next-Generation Radar) is a network of 160 high-resolution S-band Doppler weather radars operated by the National Weather Service (NWS), an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the United ...

Network, can be manually operated.

Usages

The following is information about the radar and its advanced systems: *One-of-a-kind technology transfer via real-time use of ARMOR in the broadcast meteorology domain. *Real-time operational feed to NWS for nowcasting and training at NWS WFO Huntsville *Supports basic thunderstorm, cloud physics, cloud electrification and precipitation research within the UAH/NASA Severe Thunderstorm Observations and Research Meteorological NETwork (STORM-NET) *Source for Satellite precipitation mission ground truth and physical validation via precipitation microphysics retrieval and kinematic measurements (dual-Doppler) *Vastly improved Quantitative Precipitation Estimation (QPE) for surface hydrological and water cycle studies *Operational meteorological decision support tool development and data assimilation (e.g. NASA-SPoRT) *Detailed cloud kinematic, microphysical, electrification, and lightning studies using the NASA Northern Alabama Lightning Mapping Array (NASA-MSFC/NSSTC Thunderstorm and Lightning Group), ARMOR polarimetric variables and real-time dual-Doppler capability. *Potential hydrological data input for assimilation into local distributed runoff models, regional flood plain studies/planning *Near surface wind retrievals for assimilation into pollutant dispersion models *Boundary layer studies including identification of biological flyers

Users

In a unique partnership, this research radar was once used by meteorologists at WHNT-TV for forecasting and on air severe weather coverage, making ARMOR the first dual polarimetric capable radar utilized by a television station. The data received from the radar is continuously archived at the

at UAH for full volumetric and surveillance scans. ARMOR also deploys a live feed to the Huntsville

Office making it one of the first NWS offices to gain first hand experience with dual-pol radar. Currently, as of 2022, the entirety of the National

network operates with dual-polarimetric capabilities.

External links

ARMOR Radar Specifications

Baron Services

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armor Doppler Radar Weather radars