Illustrating the utility of flexible and adaptive scanning using the NSSL Advanced Technology Demonstrator in CY25

Grant no. NA21OAR4320204 Dual-polarization phased-array radar (PAR) technology is currently being investigated as a potential tool for weather observations by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in collaboration with the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO) at the University of Oklahoma. Past research has demonstrated that PARs provide advantages when observing rapidly changing weather because the technology allows meteorologists to observe a full vertical picture of a thunderstorm in 1-2 minutes. While these temporal benefits are significant, dual-polarization PAR has been the subject of intense research recently because as the radar beam is electronically steered away from the center of the field of view, biases occur in the dual-polarization radar variables. To address this dual-polarization PAR challenge, NSSL, along with public and private partners, built the Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) PAR in the mid-2010s to investigate if a reliable calibration method can be determined. Results of this work show that dual-polarization PARs can be well calibrated, which results in no meaningful biases as the beam is electronically steered across the field of view.