NOAA 98-85 

 
Contact:  Jeanne Kouhestani                      FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                                                 Dec. 3, 1998

NOAA SHIP RONALD H. BROWN GETS NEW DOPPLER RADAR FOR STUDY OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

Doppler Installed at Ship's Home Port in Charleston, S.C.

To further scientific understanding of global climate change, a new and more powerful Doppler radar similar to those used by the National Weather Service to forecast severe weather was installed this week on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ship Ronald H. Brown as it prepares to embark on an around-the- world cruise. The seagoing Doppler radar will enable the oceanographic research ship to study precipitation patterns and storm dynamics in particularly data-sparse areas ove the world's oceans, NOAA said.

Doppler radars provide information on location and intensity of precipitation as well as information on the wind structure of storms. The Ronald H. Brown's new Doppler, which replaces one that was installed when the ship began operations in 1997, has greater capabilities that will maximize detection of atmospheric phenomena to ranges never achieved before. The ship's globe-circumventing cruise will encompass a number of projects that will study different facets of climate relating to prediction and change.

The Ronald H. Brown is among the most technologically advanced seagoing research platforms in the world today, and is the only ship in the U.S. civilian fleet that has a Doppler radar. It will also sail with other measurement systems to observe profiles of wind, temperature, humidity, aerosols, clouds and precipitation, and related profiles in the ocean such as temperature, salinity and currents.

The new Doppler radar was designed and built by Radtec Engineering Inc. of Broomfield, Colo. It was installed in Charleston, S.C., where the ship is home ported.

The Ronald H. Brown is under the command of Capt. David Peterson of the NOAA Commissioned Corps, the nation's seventh uniformed service. The NOAA research fleet is operated and managed by the Office of NOAA Corps Operations, composed of civilians and NOAA Corps officers. The Ronald H. Brown's complement includes five commissioned officers, 20 civilian crew members, and up to 34 scientists.