Doppler on Wheels—the biggest 'dish' on the road!

Doppler on Wheels—the biggest 'dish' on the road!
In January 2015, the deployment of a Doppler-on-Wheels (DOW) during one of New England's largest snowstorms in recent history offered an opportunity to study the details of storm development and evolution. The data gathered are likely to provide insights into the intensity and type of precipitation in these storms and to improve the ability to predict snowfall amounts. Credit: Josh Wurman, Karen Kosiba, CSWR

For nearly a decade, with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Doppler on Wheels (DOW) has been doing its best work in dangerous weather, driving into the eye of the storm to gather scientific data about wind, rain and snow that are missed by stationary radar systems.

Meteorologist Josh Wurman and his team at the Center for Severe Weather Research in Boulder, Colo., can coordinate a fleet of storm-chasing vehicles from a compact control room inside one of the DOW trucks.

From thunderstorms to blizzards, hurricanes to tornadoes, DOW is providing extensive and detailed information that may ultimately improve warning systems and weather prediction.

Doppler on Wheels—the biggest 'dish' on the road!
Using the Doppler-on-Wheels (DOW), the King Air and other equipment, scientists from across the country converged on the shores of Lake Ontario. They worked to better understand the atmospheric conditions and mechanisms that lead to the deep snows that accumulate across the region each winter. The NSF-funded project, called OWLeS (Ontario Winter Lake-effect Systems), was a collaborative effort of nine universities. OWLeS' unique suite of modern mobile observing equipment and computer-based storm models was expected to help researchers understand the processes that control the timing and location of the zones of heavy snow. Credit: CSWR

Citation: Doppler on Wheels—the biggest 'dish' on the road! (2015, May 19) retrieved 28 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2015-05-doppler-wheelsthe-biggest-dish-road.html
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