Instrument : Radar Wind Profiler (RWP)

Instrument Categories
Atmospheric Profiling

General Overview

The radar wind profiler/radio acoustic sounding system (RWP/RASS), available in 915-MHz (for U.S. deployments) and 1290-MHz (for deployments outside the U.S.), measures wind profiles and backscattered signal strength between (nominally) 0.1 km and 5 km and virtual temperature profiles between 0.1 km and 2.5 km. It operates by transmitting electromagnetic energy into the atmosphere and measuring the strength and frequency of backscattered energy. Virtual temperatures are recovered by transmitting an acoustic signal vertically and measuring the electromagnetic energy scattered from the acoustic wavefront. Because the propagation speed of the acoustic wave is proportional to the square root of the virtual temperature of the air, the virtual temperature can be recovered by measuring the Doppler shift of the scattered electromagnetic wave.

Output Value-Added Products

This instrument is an input to the following value-added products, which provide improved measurements or derived quantities.

  • rwptemp : Radar Wind Profilers (RWP), 50 and 915 MHZ: virtual temperature profiles

Output Datastreams

  • 1290rwpwindcon : 1290-MHz Radar Wind Profiler/RASS (RWP1290): wind consensus data
  • 1290rwpwindmom : 1290-MHz Radar Wind Profiler/RASS (RWP1290): wind moments
  • 1290rwpwindspec : 1290-MHz Radar Wind Profiler/RASS (RWP1290): wind spectra
  • 915rwphiwindcon : 915-MHz Radar Wind Profiler/RASS (RWP915): high power, wind consensus data
  • 915rwplowindcon : 915-MHz Radar Wind Profiler/RASS (RWP915): low power, consensus wind data
  • 915rwpprecipcon : 915-MHz Radar Wind Profiler, precipitation consensus data
  • 915rwpprecipmom : 915-MHz Radar Wind Profiler, precipitation moments data
  • 915rwpprecipspec : 915-MHz Radar Wind Profiler, precipitation spectra data
  • 915rwptemp : 915-MHz Radar Wind Profiler/RASS (RWP915): virtual temperature profile data
  • 915rwptempcon : 915-MHz Radar Wind Profiler/RASS (RWP915): temperature consensus data
  • 915rwptempmom : 915-MHz Radar Wind Profiler/RASS (RWP915): temperature moments
  • 915rwpwind : 915-MHz Radar Wind Profiler/RASS (RWP915): wind profile data
  • 915rwpwindcon : 915-MHz Radar Wind Profiler/RASS (RWP915): wind consensus data
  • 915rwpwindmom : 915-MHz Radar Wind Profiler/RASS (RWP915): wind moments

Primary Measurements

The following measurements are those considered scientifically relevant.

Locations

  • North Slope Alaska (NSA)
    • Central Facility, Barrow AK (C1)
  • Southern Great Plains (SGP)
    • Beaumont, KS (ABLE) (A2)
    • Beaumont, KS (Intermediate) (I1)
    • Billings, OK (SE radar wind profiler site, Intermediate / Auxiliary) (I9)
    • Central Facility, Lamont, OK (C1)
    • Lamont, OK (NW radar wind profiler site, Intermediate / Auxiliary) (I10)
    • Medicine Lodge, KS (I2)
    • Meeker, OK (Intermediate) (I3)
    • Oxford, KS (A5)
    • Supplemental 7, Lamont, OK (S07)
    • Supplemental 8, Lamont, OK (S08)
    • Tonkawa, OK (NE radar wind profiler site, Intermediate / Auxiliary) (I8)
    • Whitewater, KS (A1)
  • ARM Mobile Facility (FKB)
    • Black Forest, Germany (M1)
  • ARM Mobile Facility (GRW)
    • Graciosa Island, Azores, Portugal (M1)
  • ARM Mobile Facility (HFE)
    • Shouxian, Anhui, China (M1)
  • ARM Mobile Facility (NIM)
    • Niamey, Niger (M1)
  • ARM Mobile Facility (PGH)
    • ARIES Observatory, Nainital, Uttarkhand, India (M1)
  • ARM Mobile Facility (PVC)
    • Highland Center, Cape Cod MA; AMF 1 (M1)
  • ARM Mobile Facility (SBS)
    • Steamboat Springs CO, Valley Site (M1)

Contact(s)

Richard Coulter
(630) 252-5833
rlcoulter@anl.gov

Timothy Martin
technical contact
(630) 252-8708
tjmartin@anl.gov