MAPR (Multiple
Antenna Profiler Radar) is an advanced wind profiler radar being developed
at NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric
Research) /EOL (Earth Observing Laboratory - formerly ATD)
to make rapid wind measurements of the boundary layer.
The radar was originally based on a Radian (now Vaisala) LAP 3000 915
MHz wind profiler, however has been highly modified. The antenna is divided
into 4 vertically pointing sub-arrays for reception and uses Spaced Antenna
techniques to measure wind. As the atmosphere moves over the radar, the
motion of the atmospheric echoes is tracked over the receivers to make
a wind measurement. A measurement can be made on time scales of 30 seconds
to 5 minutes, which is considerably faster than the 10-15 minutes required
by traditional DBS wind profilers. MAPR is generally deployed as part
of an ISS
(Integrated Sounding System). MAPR can also be run in multiple frequency
mode to make FDI RIM (Frequency Domain Interferometry Range IMaging)
fine range resolution measurements.
MAPR is currently deployed at the
ISPA-2007 Project
at Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Plots are available on the
Realtime Plots page.
Recent Deployments :
- T-REX Project
Project in the Owens Valley, California, March & April 2006.
-
Sierra Rotors Project in the Owens Valley, California, March & April 2004.
- IHOP
Project in the Oklahoma panhandle May & June 2002.
- ISPA-2002
Project at Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Jan & Feb 2002.
- Marshall
FDI RIM (Frequency Domain Interferometry - Range IMaging) experiments
at Marshall near Boulder, Colorado, Sept 2001.
- ISPA-2001
(Inhibition of Snowfall by Pollution Aerosol) at Steamboat Springs,
Colorado, Feb 2001.
- VTMX deployment in
the Salt Lake Valley for a Dept of Energy study of urban basin stable
layers, Oct 2000.
- A
cold front passage at Erie CO on 18 December 1998
- An
animation of MAPR winds during a cold front at Erie (1MB)
- Squalls
observed from the R/V Mirai near the island of Nauru in the central
Pacific during the Nauru99
campaign. There's a picture
of MAPR on the deck of the Mirai.
More Links:
MAPR development is supported by NCAR/ATD. Support also comes from
the Department of Energy VTMX program.
Previous support has come from ARM and
Radian.
Refs
Cohn, S.A., C.L. Holloway, S.P. Oncley, R.J. Doviak and R.J. Lataitis, "Validation
of a UHF spaced antenna wind profiler for high resolution boundary layer observations",
Radio Sci, 32, 1279 - 1296, 1997.
Cohn, S.A., W.O.J. Brown, C.L. Martin, M.E. Susedik, G. Maclean, and D.B.
Parsons, "Clear
Air Boundary Layer Spaced Antenna Wind Measurement with the Multiple Antenna
Profiler (MAPR)", Annales Geophysicae, 19(8), 845 - 854, 2001. CONTACTS
Science:
Bill Brown,
Email: wbrown at ucar.edu
Steve Cohn,
Email: cohn at ucar.edu
FDI RIM:
Tian-You Yu, Email: tyu at ou.edu
Engineering:
Mike Susedik, Email:
susedik at ucar.edu
Software:
Charlie Martin, Email:
martinc at ucar.edu
Gary Granger, Email:
granger at ucar.edu |