NSSL research helps fulfill NOAA's mission goals through
development of and testing new radar technologies that are essential
to providing integrated observations, predictions and warnings of high-impact
weather including tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and flash floods.
WSR-88D Improvements
- Faster and better signal processing will extend the usefulness of
the current National Weather Service radar network.
- Adding dual-polarization
capability to the WSR-88D radar network will
improve precipitation discrimination and estimation and improve hazardous
weather detection, extending the functionality
of the current NEXRAD system.
- Implementing range and velocity ambiguity
mitigation techniques in the WSR-88D radar network will result
in an improved ability for the WSR-88D to detect severe weather,
flash floods, winter storms, and provide aviation forecasts.
- An increased ability to identify aviation
weather hazards and to track, classify and identify aircraft will
improve airline safety and help fill gaps in homeland security.
Phased Array Radar
- Phased array technology could significantly
extend warning lead times, increase accuracy, and reduce the uncertainty
of predicting severe weather events.
- Adapting phased array technology to both
weather observation and aircraft surveillance will provide significant
cost benefits and a higher level of security to the nation
Real-time Applications
- Researching and prototyping new severe weather
warning applications using WDSS-II multi-sensor technology will help
fast-track improvements into operations and provide a robust decision
support system for forecasters.
Testbeds
- The National Weather Radar Testbed at NSSL
will shorten the cycle time from weather radar research to National
Weather Service operations, leading to increased accuracy and lead-times,
and reducing the uncertainty of predicting severe weather events.
- A cost-effective network of many small radars
that can scan lower regions of the atmosphere will provide better
weather coverage in high population or weather-sensitive areas.
Mobile Doppler Radars
- Mobile radars can operate in the near-storm environment to provide
scientists with data that corroborates their research.