VHF Wind Profiling Radar Studies at Darwin, Australia

A 54.1 MHz wind profiling radar was installed at Darwin, Australia in late 2005, to participate in the TWP-ICE campaign, and it has remained in this location. The primary purpose of the instrument was to measure the horizontal and vertical lower troposphere winds in the vertical column above the profiler. The profiler operates at 7.5 kW, and utilizes the Spaced Antenna Full Correlation Analysis (FCA) technique to measure winds, this achieving high temporal resolution. In addition to sampling the wind field, VHF profilers are capable of retrieving the rain drop size distribution (DSD), as radar returns are received from precipitation and clear-air with roughly equal magnitude. DSD retrievals then permit examination of the precipitation structure and spatial and temporal evolution in the vertical column above the profiler as rain bands pass over head. Understanding the evolution of the rain drop size distribution (DSD) in the descent from cloud to ground is important for quantitative precipitation estimation. The Darwin profiler has been used in multiple intercomparison studies. The FCA technique is well known to underestimate the wind magnitude by up to 10%, when compared to other measurement techniques, but agree well in direction. As the profiler is co-located with routine sonde launches, a large intercomparison data set exists, which can be used to investigate empirical corrections to the underestimation. Similarly, profiler vertical velocity estimates can be compared to Doppler Lidar measurements, and the relative strengths of both instruments examined. The profiler can also be used in rainfall studies. During TWP-ICE, when rainfall events passed over the profiler the DSD was retrieved. Each rain event was then separated into stratiform, convective and transitional regions. The integral rainfall parameters were then averaged through each region, and examined for evidence of a dominant microphysical process. For example, evaporation is detected through an increase in the median drop diameter and reflectivity, but a decrease in the liquid water content, as the small drops preferentially evaporate. As the profiler is located within the footprint of a C band polarimetric radar, data can be compared. Similarly, data can be contrasted with a co-located cloud radar. Case studies from several profiler experiments will be presented and discussed.