Collaborative Research: EAGER--Initial Evaluation of Polarimetric Phased Array Radar for the Study of Storm Electrification and Lightning

该项目将利用新的天气雷达技术来评估云中的小水滴和冰晶对闪电发展的作用。相控阵雷达是天气雷达的下一代技术，可以提供对云和降水的极快扫描。快速扫描能力是探测发生在几秒钟量级的关键闪电过程的关键。该项目的潜在社会影响将是闪电预报的下游改进，这是一个重大的公共安全问题。该项目还包括招募不同类别的学生参与部署和数据分析的计划，从而确保培养下一代科学家。这项研究将使用新的相控阵雷达技术，在很短的时间尺度上提供雷暴的双极化观测，以研究风暴的带电过程。高时间分辨率和全瞬时垂直数据对于描述在风暴上升气流附近促进闪电启动的结构、描述闪电通道与冰晶排列特征等微物理特征的相互作用以及探索雷达采样体内通道对雷达信号的直接散射至关重要。S波段霍鲁斯雷达和C波段对雷达将与RaXPol X波段雷达一起部署在俄克拉荷马州闪电测绘阵列(LMA)网络范围内，在2023年和2024年进行10次部署。研究人员将每80次重复进行一次扫描序列S，包括在整个风暴体积上进行风暴尺度的双多普勒扫描，以解决上升气流和下沉气流，同时交错在闪电和涡旋时间尺度上基本上连续更新，以在中尺度背景下提供快速和详细的空间分辨率。该团队还将使用多普勒光谱偏振法分离分辨率体积内的水流星，以研究微物理特性。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will make use of new weather radar technology to assess the role that small-scale droplets and ice crystals in clouds have on the development of lightning. Phased-array radar is a next-generation technology for weather radar that can provide extremely fast scanning of clouds and precipitation. The fast-scanning ability is key for detecting key lightning processes that happen on the order of seconds. The potential societal impact of this project would be the downstream improvement in lightning prediction, a significant public safety problem. The project also includes plans for recruiting a diverse cohort of students to participate in the deployment and data analysis, thereby ensuring training of the next generation of scientists.This study will use new phased array radar technology to provide dual-polarization observations of thunderstorms at very short time scales to study the storm electrification process. High temporal resolution and full instantaneous vertical data are critical to characterizing the structures which promote lightning initiations near storm updrafts, describing the interplay of lightning channels with microphysical features such as ice crystal alignment signatures, and exploring the direct scattering of radar signals from channels within radar-sampled volumes. The S-band Horus radar and the C-band PAIR radar will be deployed alongside the RaXPol X-band radar within reach of the Oklahoma Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) network in 10 deployments across 2023 and 2024. The researchers will conduct a scan sequence repeating every 80 s, including storm-scale dual-Doppler scans over the full storm volume, to resolve updrafts and downdrafts, while interleaving essentially continuous updates at lightning and eddy time scales to provide fast-time and detailed spatial resolution within mesoscale context. The team will also separate hydrometeors within resolution volumes using Doppler spectral polarimetry methods to study microphysical properties.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.