| NSF Org: |
AGS Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | September 8, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | September 8, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1741712 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Subhashree Mishra
sumishra@nsf.gov (703)292-2979 AGS Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | September 15, 2017 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2019 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $367,764.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $367,764.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1945 VASSAR CIR BOULDER CO US 80305-5603 (720)304-9100 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
CO US 80305-5603 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | FARE-Facil for Atmos Res & Ed |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): | |
| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
The Center for Severe Weather Research will construct a new quickly deployable, dual-polarization, dual-frequency C-band Radar On Wheels (CROW). CROW has an innovative design that will allow rapid deployment, has a small footprint and conveys the ability to peer deeply into intense precipitation. This radar system will provide a capability that is lacking in NSF's requestable user facilities and will open new avenues of investigation in the areas of severe weather research, including measurement of convective systems, tropical and winter storms, as well as atmospheric boundary layer studies. C-band (5 cm wavelength) radar is more capable of observing through intense precipitation than the X-band (3 cm wavelength) radar that is typical of mobile facilities, including the Doppler on Wheels (DOWs) that are currently part of the NSF Lower Atmosphere Observing Facilities. CROW, requiring no advance site preparation, will also be deployable for educational projects, permitting students to use a longer-wavelength, fine-beamwidth radar to observe phenomena containing intense precipitation. It will be designed to be operable by students with little prior experience, to promote hands-on learning opportunities. CROW will be a high-impact outreach and exhibition tool, easily, quickly, and inexpensively deployed not only to university/college educational missions, but also festivals, museums, and related venues.
The CROW mobile radar employs an innovative design to circumvent compromises between resolution and size that are inherent in existing radars. CROW will have a 1-degree beamwidth and quick scanning, independent dual frequencies to allow for high spatial and temporal resolution. Dual-polarization capability, coupled with the independent frequencies, will permit accurate measurements of differential reflectivity (ZDR), from which droplet type is identified, at twice the scanning speed of single frequency radars. CROW will be outfitted with two 1-megawatt transmitters to permit higher sensitivity to clear-air and weak distant signals than any existing mobile C-band radar and comparable to that of research quality S-band (10 cm wavelength) systems typically used for meteorological applications. CROW will be built on a custom-designed trailer that includes a small crane for assembling the radar antenna on-site, thereby enabling transport of a twelve-foot diameter antenna necessary for C-band operations. Set-up and assembly of the radar antenna and associated structures is estimated to take about two hours, making the system suitable for observation of predictable events, but not for targeting of rapidly evolving phenomena, such as tornadoes.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The Center for Severe Weather Research (CSWR) was requested by NSF to complete and deploy a new cutting-edge mobile, DOW-type, truck radar to a large multi-national, multi-agency severe weather study in Argentina called RELAMPAGO. Another NSF partner had been unable to provide a planned radar for this project.
A grant for the construction of this new radar, called the C-band On Wheels (COW) was awarded in September 2017, with shipping required less than 11 months later, in August 2018. This development schedule was extremely accelerated, and required extreme extra effort and dedication by key CSWR personnel. For several months work days began pre-dawn and extended well in to the evening. Work continued on most weekends. The extra efforts extended to intense and rapid shipping, regulatory and import/export logistics in a foreign context which had doomed the deployment of the originally-planned NSF radar. CSWR got the job done, on schedule, for far less than the originally-planned cost to deploy the other radar.
Through the dedication and adaptability of CSWR and its staff, the COW development, and its rapid deployment and data collection, were overwhelmingly successful.
The new COW represents a qualitative jump in mobile/adaptable radar technology. Extending on its ?X-band? predecessors, the Doppler On Wheels (DOW), the COW is truck-mounted, and can target a variety of high-impact weather affecting communities across the USA. Like the DOWs, it can be deployed ahead of potentially tornadic storms, in hurricanes, in blizzards, on mountain tops, etc. The unique design of the COW, which ?self assembles? a large 12.5 foot wide antenna, uses an on-board crane, allows for ?C-band? long wavelength energy to be focused into a very narrow beam, with 2.5x smaller area than other mobile radars. This means the images of severe weather are 2.5x sharper, allowing scientists and forecasters to see unprecedented detail. The COW also uses a unique dual-transmitter dual-polarization design, employing the most powerful transmitters of any mobile radar.
Additionally the 2x faster scanning using CSWR's dual-frequency technology permits better imaging of rapidly evolving weather. Finally, the COW has 2x 1 megawatt transmitters, 8x more powerful than any other truck-mounted C-band radar, and 2x more powerful than S-band research radars such as SPOL.
It is CSWR?s hope to work with NSF to make this uniquely capable and valuable system available to the broad research community through NSF?s Lower Atmospheric Observing Program. Recently NSF has announced that it will not support CSWR?s instrumentation, but we are hoping NSF will reconsider in light of the value of these systems and demand in the community.
With renewed NSF support, the COW, DOWs, and other CSWR instrumentation can continue to be maintained in the service of NSF-supported science.
Last Modified: 12/29/2019
Modified by: Joshua M Wurman
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