American Meteorological Society, 6th Symposium on Integrated Observing Systems, Orlando Florida, Jan.

2002

P1.7 The NOAA Ron Brown’s Shipboard Doppler Precipitation Radar

Michelle Ryan1,2, M.J. Post1, Brooks Martner1, John Novak3, and Larry Davis4

1NOAA Environmental Technology Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, USA

2Science Technology Corp., Boulder, Colorado, USA

3Quality Ventures, Inc., Golden, Colorado, USA

4Radtec Engineering, Inc., Broomfield, Colorado, USA

A Doppler Weather Radar Available at Sea

Oceans cover two-thirds of the planet's surface but remain data-sparse regions for weather and climate observations for obvious logistical reasons. A new tool for observing oceanic precipitation is the C- A New Tool for Studying Oceanic Precipitation

band Doppler weather radar on board the NOAA research vessel Ronald H. Brown (RHB). Commissioned in 1997, the RHB is among the world's most technologically advanced seagoing research
Major Capabilities: Primary Uses:
platforms and the only ship in the U.S. civilian fleet to carry Doppler radar. The radar provides research-quality measurements of precipitation beyond the confines of land-based radar networks. Initial

applications of the C-band radar data include studies of tropical rainfall, drizzling stratocumulus, monsoons, and validation of satellite-based rain estimates. • Ship-based • Measurements of precipitation at sea

NOAA/ETL serves as instrument mentor for the radar, which was built and installed by Radtec Engineering, Inc. The radar is available to principle investigators on the ship's numerous annual cruises for • Doppler • 3D storm structure and airflow

a variety of marine studies sponsored by NOAA and other agencies. The ship is routinely outfitted with an impressive suite of oceanographic and meteorological research instruments that measure
• Scanning • Satellite and model validations
various environmental conditions, while the radar provides a wide-area context on precipitation and storms with resolution as fine as 75 m. In addition, the RHB commonly hosts several investigator-

provided instruments for individual cruises that typically last about six weeks. • Platform-motion-stabilized

The C-band radar's beam is motion-stabilized by use of an inertial navigation system, which monitors the ship's attitude at 50 Hz and, through coordination with the antenna control system, compensates

for ship motion to maintain the beam at the desired earth-relative elevation and azimuth angles. This feature provides accurate Doppler velocity data even in rough seas. PPI and RHI scans are available

in programmable scan sequences or by manual control. Scan images of reflectivity and radial velocity are presented on a real-time color display, and post-processing data systems allow numerous more

sophisticated radar products to be obtained at sea and following cruises. RHB Cruises Using C-band Radar

Project Year Ocean Sponsors

Instruments onboard the RHB PACS/TEPPS 1997 E. Pacific NOAA INDOEX 1999 Indian

NOAA/NSF JASMINE 1999 Indian NOAA/NSF Nauru99 1999 W. Pacific

Oceanographic: Bathymetric acoustic sounders
NOAA/DOE KWAJEX 1999 W. Pacific NOAA/NASA PACS 2000 E.
The C-band weather radar atop the central mast of the Ronald H. Brown research vessel. Ocean current profilers Salinometers
Pacific NOAA EPIC/PACS 2001 E. Pacific NOAA/NSF
Expendable bathy-thermographs (XBTs) Conductivity-temperature-depth

(CTD) array

Characteristics of the RHB Radar Meteorological: C-band Doppler weather radar

UHF Doppler wind profiler Radiosonde

Frequency: 5.595 GHz (C-band, wavelength = 5.4 cm) Transmit Power: 250 kW peak
Observations of Marine Precipitation Standard surface met package
Transmitter: Magnetron Antenna: 4.3-m diameter

Continental storms have been studied extensively with land-based Doppler radars, but there has been a dearth of similar radars at sea. Consequently, relatively little is known about marine parabolic, center-feed dish within a 5.5-m radome. Antenna Gain: Examples of PI-provided Instruments (EPIC cruise 2001):

precipitation mechanisms, although their impact on civilization through climate energetics and land-falling coastal storms may be great. The Doppler radar onboard the Ronald H. Brown offers an 44 dB with –22 dB sidelobes Beam Width: 1.0 deg., circular Air-Sea Flux instrument package Doppler cloud-profiling radar

attractive new avenue for studying these problems. Pulse Length: selectable, typical defaults are 0.5, 0.8, 1.4, Microwave and infrared radiometers Doppler cloud lidar

and 2.0 microsec. (resolution = 75, 120, 210, 300 m). PRF: selectable, Lidar ceilometer

250-2100 Hz Scans: PPI, RHI, sector, fixed-beam, with elevations

from below horizon to near zenith. Scan Rates: up to 36 deg/s (12 deg/s typical)

Polarization: linear horizontal; system is designed to allow future upgrade to dual-

polarization. Number of range gates: 1024 Maximum Unambiguous

Range: 300 km at PRF=500. Sensitivity: approx. –22 dBZ at 10 km range using 0.5

microsec pulse length. Data System: Sigmet, Inc., RCP-02, and RVP-07

on HP Unix workstation. Platform: 83-m oceanographic research ship.

Acknowledgments:
Research-quality storm reflectivity and Doppler velocity data are available from PPI and RHI scans (above) of the RHB C-band radar. Reflectivity statistics from this

platform, such as in the PACS-2000 cruise data (right), can provide independent open-ocean validation information for assessing rainfall-estimation algorithms that are The following offices have sponsored the radar’s development and/or maintenance: NOAA/SAO, NOAA/OGP,

applied to data from satellite instruments. NOAA/OAR, and NASA/TRMM. Grant Gray formulated scientific and engineering specifications for the radar. The

RHB ship is operated by NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations with a crew led by commissioned officers of

the NOAA Corps.

Fisheye-lens view of RHB from bow tower. (Photo by Scott Sandberg)
Reflectivity data statistics processed by Jessica Koury.
 Radar Measurements
A weather radar is a type of radar used to locate precipitation,
calculate its motion, estimate its type (rain, snow, hail, etc.),
and forecast its future position and intensity. Weather radars
are mostly Doppler radars, capable of detecting the motion of
rain droplets in addition to intensity of the precipitation. Both
types of data can be analyzed to determine the structure of
storms and their potential to cause severe weather. 
 Radar measurement of rainfall
• The meteorological radar is the powerful instrument
for measuring the area extent, location and
movement of rainstorm.
• The amount of rainfall overlarge area can be
determined through the radar with a good degree of
accuracy
• The radar emits a regular succession of pulse of
electromagnetic radiation in a narrow beam so that
when the raindrops intercept a radar beam, its
intensity can easily be known.
 Satellite Measurements
• A weather satellite is a type of
satellite that is primarily used
to monitor the weather and
climate of the Earth.These
meteorological satellites,
however, see more than
clouds and cloud systems, like
other types of environmental
information collected using
weather satellites.
Raingauge Network
• Since the catching area of the raingauge is
very small as compared to the areal extent
of the storm, to get representative picture of
a storm over a catchment the number of
raingauges should be as large as possible,
i.e. the catchment area per gauge should be
small.
• There are several factors to be considered
to restrict the number of gauge:
– Like economic considerations to a large extent
– Topographic & accessibility to some extent.
 Raingauge Network…..
• World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
recommendation:
– In flat regions of temperate, Mediterranean and tropical
zones
• Ideal  1 station for 600 – 900 km 2

• Acceptable 1 station for 900 – 3000 km 2

– In mountainous regions of temperate , Mediterranean and

tropical zones
• Ideal  1 station for 100 – 250 km 2

• Acceptable  1 station for 250 – 1000 km 2

– In arid and polar zone

• 1 station for 1500 – 10,000 km 2

• 10 % of the raingauges should be self recording to

know the intensity of the rainfall
 Raingauge network

• An optimum density of gauges (Storm--

Catchments)
• Optimum number of stations:
Coefficient of variation of the rainfall values at the
2
 Cv  existing m stations
N  

 

Allowable degree of error in the estimate of

Optimum number of stations
the mean rainfall
 Raingauge network

• If there are m stations in the catchment each recording rainfall

values P1,P2,…Pm in a known time, the coefficient of variation Cv
is calculated as:

100   m 1
Cv  Coefficient of variation

P
m
 
2
 P 
i P
Standard deviation
 m 1  1
m 1

1 m

P    Pi  Mean precipitation
m 1 
Ex 2.1
 Preparation of data
• Before using the rainfall records of a
station, it is necessary to firstly check the
data for continuity and consistency.
• The continuity of a record may be broken
with missing data due to many reasons
such as damage or fault in a raingauge
during a period.
• Missing data can be estimated using data
of neighboring stations. In these
calculations the normal rainfall is used as a
standard for comparison.
• The normal rainfall is the average value of
rainfall at a particular date, month or year
over a specified 30-year period. The 30-
year normals are recomputed every
decade. Thus the term normal annual
precipitation at station A means the
average annual precipitation at A based on
a specified 30-years of record.
Estimation of missing data
 Test for record consistency
• Some of the common causes for
inconsistency of record include:
• Shifting of a raingauge station to a new
location,
• The neighborhood of the station
undergoing a marked change.
 Preparation of data
• The normal rainfall is the average value of rainfall at a
particular date, month ot year over a specified 30-year
period.
• Before using rainfall data, it is necessary to check the
data for continuing and consistency
– Missing data
– Record errors
• Estimation of missing data
within 10% 1
Px   P1  P2  P3  ...  Pm 
m
Nx  P1 P2 P3 Pm  Normal ratio method
Px      ...  
m N
 1 N 2 N 3 N m 

Pj: annual precipitations

Nj: normal annual precipitations
Ex 2.2
 Double-mass curve technique
• The checking for inconsistency of a record
is done by the double-mass curve
technique. This technique is based on the
principle that when each recorded data
comes from the same parent population,
they are consistent.
– A group of n (usually 5 to 10) base stations in
the neighborhood of the problem station X is
selected.
– Annual (or monthly mean) rainfall data of
station X and also the average rainfall of the
group of base stations covering a long period is
arranged in the reverse chronological order
(i.e. the latest record as the first entry and the
oldest record as the last entry in the list).
• It is apparent that the more homogeneous
the base station records are, the more
accurate will be the corrected values at
station X. A change in slope is normally
taken as significant only where it persists
for more than five years.
2.7 Preparation of data
(Test for consistency of record)
Ex 2.3
 2.8 Presentation of rainfall data

• Mass Curve of Rainfall ( 降雨累積曲線 )

 2.8 Presentation of rainfall data
• Hyetograph （降雨組體圖）
 2.8 Presentation of rainfall data
• Point rainfall (station rainfall)
• Moving average
• Ex 2.4
TABLE 2.2
 2.9 Mean precipitation over an area
• Arithmetical-mean method 算數平均法
• Thiessen-polygon method 徐昇多邊形法
• Isohyetal method 等雨量線法

Arithmetical-mean method

P1  P2  P3  ....  Pi  ....  Pn 1 N
P
N

N
i
P
i 1

In practice, this method is used very rarely.

 2.9 Mean precipitation over an area

• Thiessen-polygon method
 2.9 Mean precipitation over an area
• Thiessen-polygon method

P1 A1  P2 A2  P3 A3  P4 A4  P5 A5  P6 A6
P
A1  A2  A3  A4  A5  A6
 2.9 Mean precipitation over an area
• Isohyetal method
 2.9 Mean precipitation over an area
• Isohyetal method

 P1  P2   P2  P3   Pn 1  Pn 
a1  
 2a   .......  an 1  
 2   2   2 
P
A
Ex 2.5
Ex 2.6
 2.10 Depth-area-duration
relationships
• Depth-area relation

P  P0 exp  KA  n

Highest amount of rainfall in cm at the K and n are constants in a
storm center given region

Average depth in cm over an

area A km2
 2.10 Depth-area-duration relationships
• Maximum Depth-Area-Duration (DAD) Curves
 2.11 Frequency of point rainfall
• The probability of occurrence of an event of a random
variable (rainfall) whose magnitude is equal to or in
excess of a specified magnitude X is denoted by P.
• The recurrence interval (also known as return period) is
defined as
T=1/P

• This represents the average interval between the

occurrence of a rainfall of magnitude equal to or greater
than X.
 2.11 Frequency of point rainfall
• If the probability of an event occurring is P, the
probability of the event not occurring in a given year is
q=(1-P).

• The binomial distribution can be used to find the

probability of occurrence of the event r times in n
successive years. Thus
n! 2 n2
P2,n  Pq
n r n r n! r nr  n  2 !2!
Pr ,n  C P q  Pq
r
 n  r ! r ! P0,n  q  1  P 
n n

P1  1  q  1  1  P 
n n
Ex 2.7
 2.11 Frequency of point rainfall
• Plotting Position (empirical formula)
The probability analysis may be made either by
empirical or by analytical methods.
Ex 2.8
2.12 Maximum intensity-duration-
frequency relationship
Ex 2.9
 2.13 Probable maximum precipitation
(PMP)
• The probable maximum precipitation
(PMP) is defined as the greatest or
extreme rainfall for a given duration that is
physically possible over a station or basin.

(1) Meteorological methods

(2) The statistical study of rainfall data
 Problems
• 2.1/2.2/2.6/2.7/2.12/2.14/2.16/2.19