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NEXRAD-In-Space: A Geostationary Orbiting Doppler Radar for Hurricane Monitoring and StudiesUnder NASA's Earth Science Technology Program, a novel mission concept has been developed for detailed monitoring of hurricanes, cyclones, and severe storms from a geostationary orbit: "NEXRAD in Space" (NIS). By operating in the Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO), NIS would enable rapid-update sampling (less than or equal to 1 hour cadence) of three dimenional fields of 35 GHz (Ka-band) radar reflectivity factor (Z) and line-of-sight Doppler velocity (VD) profiles, at mesoscale horizontal resolutions (approx. 10 km) over a circular Earth region of approximately 5300 km in diameter (equivalent to much of an oceanic basin, such as the Atlantic). NIS GEO-radar concept was chosen as one of only four potential post-2020 missions for the Weather Focus area in the 2007-2016 NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Science Plan. The results of the first project aiming at developing the NIS concept highlighted the enormous potential of such mission, and the technological challenges presented by it. In essence, it is because of its rapid-cadence capability that NIS science planning is focusing on hurricane monitoring and prediction. Hurricanes, or generically tropical cyclones (TCs), have always been among the most devastating natural phenomena. This has been painfully reiterated in recent years with a number of powerful TCs landfalling in North America and elsewhere. In April 2007, the first NIS Science Workshop was convened at the University of Miami to galvanize the scientific community's interest in NIS's measurement capabilities for improved TC monitoring and prediction. The general consensus of the workshop was that a GEO Doppler radar would provide a major breakthrough in regards to the observation of TCs, and, when combined with cloud-resolving numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. This paper presents brief summaries of the instrument concept, the current technology status, the anticipated impacts on hurricane monitoring and model prediction, and the future science and technology roadmap.
Document ID
20150006611
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Im, Eastwood
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Durden, Stephen L.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Tanelli, Simone
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Fang, Houfei
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Rahmat-Samii, Yahya
(California Univ. Los Angeles, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
April 24, 2015
Publication Date
September 13, 2011
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Meeting Information
Meeting: Advanced RF Sensors and Remote Sensing Instruments (ARSI)
Location: Noordwijk
Country: Netherlands
Start Date: September 13, 2011
End Date: September 15, 2011
Sponsors: European Space Agency. European Space Research and Technology Center, ESTEC
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
precipitation
Doppler
hurricanes
cyclones
radar

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