Fine-scale Doppler radar observations of tornadoes

Science

Volumn 272, Issue 5269, 1996, Pages 1774-1777

  Wurman, Joshua ^a   Straka, Jerry M ^a   Rasmussen, Erik N ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA   (United States)

^b NATIONAL SEVERE STORMS LABORATORY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; DISASTER; DOPPLER ECHOGRAPHY; PRIORITY JOURNAL; SHEAR RATE; TELECOMMUNICATION; VELOCITY; WIND;

DOPPLER RADAR; RADAR OBSERVATION; STORM; TORNADO; WIND SHEAR ZONE;

EID: 0029663009     PISSN: 00368075     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1126/science.272.5269.1774     Document Type: Article

References (18)

1. W S. Lewellen, in Proceedings, Symposium on Tornadoes: Assessment of Knowledge and Implications for Man (Texas Tech University, Lubbock, 1976), pp. 107-143.
2. C. D. Church, J T Snow, E. M. Agee, Bull. Am Meteorol Soc 58, 900 (1977).
3. R. P. Davies-Jones, in Thunderstorm Morphology and Dynamics, E. Kessler, Ed. (Univ of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK, ed. 2, 1986), pp. 197-236.
4. R Rotunno, in Mesoscale Meteorology and Forecasting, P. S. Ray, Ed. (American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA, 1986), pp. 414-436
5. W S. Lewellen, in The Tornado. Its Structure, Dynamics, Prediction, and Hazards (Geophys. Monogr Am Geophys. Union 79, American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, 1993), pp. 19-39.
6. J T. Snow, Rev. Geophys Space Phys 20, 953 (1982).
7. E. A. Rasmussen et al, Bull Am Meteorol. Soc. 75 995 (1994).
8. H. B. Bluestein and J. H. Golden, in The Tornado Its Structure, Dynamics, Prediction and Hazards (Geophys. Monogr Am. Geophys Union 79, American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, 1993), pp. 319-352
9. H B. Bluestein, J. G. LaDue, H. Stein, D. Speeder, W P. Unruh, Mon. Weather Rev. 121, 2200 (1993)
10. J. Wurman, J. M. Straka, E. N Rasmussen, M. Randall, A Zahrai, preprint, 27th American Meteorlogical Society International Conference on Radar Meteorology, Aspen, CO, 1995.
11. _, in preparation.
12. -1 Plotted radar times were 2 min ahead of UTC.
13. -1, which were manually unfolded to produce the velocity fields shown in the figures
14. R. J. Doviak and D. S. Zrnic. Doppler Radar and Weather Observations (Academic Press, New York, 1993).
15. Small-scale suction vortices, 10 to 30 m in diameter, were not unambiguously revealed in either the 50- to 75-m radar resolution volumes of reflectivity or in velocity data retrieved at Dimmitt, TX. It is possible that higher velocities exist in these features, although this was not indicated by the damage survey. Very few structures were struck and therefore damaged by this tornado
16. We used the following software packages to analyze the data and produce the figures Solo (to display and unfold raw data); Reorder (to interpolate to Cartesian grids); and Zebra (to display gridded data), developed by the Research Data Program of the Atmospheric Technology Division at the National Center for Atmosphere Research (NCAR).
17. -1 from 185° (from just west of south) was applied to correct for the time skew between low- and high-altitude observations The grid spacing was 50 m. The nearest-neighbor method was used to interpolate to the Cartesian grid
18. Supported by the University of Oklahoma (J M.S. and J.W.), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) (E.N R., J.M.S., and J.W.); NCAR, Atmospheric Technology Division, Remote Sensing Facility (J.W.); and the Center for the Analysis and Prediction of Storms through NSF grant ATM-912 0009 (J.M S. and J.W.). The Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, at the University of Oklahoma, also played an important role. The truck for the mobile radar was provided by NSSL (R. Maddox and D Forsythe), and the radar transmitter was provided by NCAR (D. Carlson and P. Hildebrand). M. Randall and E Loew provided the software and hardware for the PC Integrated Radar Acquisition data acquisition system. A. Zahari designed the antenna controller. D. Nealson and P. Griffin provided assistance in building and maintaining the radar L. Chan prepared this manuscript