Airborne doppler radars profiles: data set description page


Data set source
Information on available Data
Quality Control Processing
Data format
References
Data selection page
Vertical structure of the wind field from airborne dual-beam Doppler radars using the DAVAD analysis.

Data set source

  • NCAR ELECTRA
  • NOAA P3
    • This data is provided by Alain Protat (CETP/CNRS, France).


    Information on available data in the FASTEX Central Archive

    At this time, files are available for the following IOPs:

    aircraftIOPdatenumber of files begin timeend time
    NOAA P31297020911 15:303817:3450
    NOAA P3169702179 04:310010:4910

    Quick look of these data.


    Quality Control Processing

  • DAVAD analysis
    The DAVAD (Dual-beam Airborne Velocity Azimuth Display) analysis allows to obtain the vertical structure of the wind field from airborne dual-beam Doppler radars performing " purls ", i.e. circular trajectories. It relies upon the same principle as the VAD analysis which is applied to ground-based Doppler radars performing conical scannings, but thanks to the additional information provided by the dual beam antenna, it allows to get a vertical profile of the wind and of its first order derivatives at the radar's vertical. More precisely, in each horizontal plane, one obtains the horizontal wind components and their first order horizontal derivatives, namely, horizontal divergence (allowing in turn the vertical component to be obtained), stretching and shearing deformations, and vertical vorticity. Moreover, the DAVAD analysis provides an estimate of the terminal fall velocity of the hydrometeors in the case of stratiform precipitation.

  • Data providers validation
    Each set of data is validated by the data providers before sending it to the FASTEX Central Archive


    • Data format

  • ASCII files , one file for each profile, including the following parameters:
    altitude, 2 horizontal wind components, reflectivity, horizontal divergence, vertical component of vorticity, stretching deformation, shearing deformation, and terminal fall velocity of hydrometeors (convention : positive downward)

  • Spatial coverage and resolution: Coverage: variable, generally between 50 and 100km between 2 following profiles; vertical resolution: 300 m, from 150 to 7050m.

  • Temporal coverage and resolution: Coverage: 1 vertical profile every about 10 minutes

    • References

    Scialom, G., A. Protat and Y. Lemaitre : Vertical structure of a FASTEX secondary cyclone derived from dual-beam airborne radar data. Quartely J. Royal Meor. Soc., 2000, submitted.
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    Updated: 23 October 2000