Articles | Volume 16, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2381-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2381-2023
Research article
 | 
09 May 2023
Research article |  | 09 May 2023

Calibrating radar wind profiler reflectivity factor using surface disdrometer observations

Christopher R. Williams, Joshua Barrio, Paul E. Johnston, Paytsar Muradyan, and Scott E. Giangrande

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Cited articles

Angevine, W. M., Buhr, M. P., Holloway, J. S., Trainer, M., Parrish, D. D., MacPherson, J. I., Kok, G. L., Schillawski, R. D., and Bowlby, D. H.: Local meteorological features affecting chemical measurements at a North Atlantic coastal site, J. Geophys. Res., 101, 28935–28945, 1996. 
Angevine, W. M., Grimsdell, A. W., McKeen, S. A., and Warnock, J. M.: Entrainment results from the Flatland boundary layer experiments, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 13689–13701, 1998. 
ARM: Radar Wind Profiler (915RWPPRECIPMOM), 2011-03-22 to 2019-08-18, Southern Great Plains (SGP) Central Facility, Lamont, OK (C1), Compiled by Muradyan, P., Atmospheric Radiation Measurement user facility, ARM Data Center [data set], https://doi.org/10.5439/1025128, 1998a. 
ARM: Radar Wind Profiler (915RWPPRECIPSPEC), 2011-03-22 to 2019-08-18, Southern Great Plains (SGP) Central Facility, Lamont, OK (C1), Compiled by Muradyan, P., Atmospheric Radiation Measurement user facility, ARM Data Center [data set], https://doi.org/10.5439/1025129, 1998b. 
ARM: Radar Wind Profiler (915RWPWINDMOM), 2014-03-06 to 2019-03-10, Southern Great Plains (SGP) Central Facility, Lamont, OK (C1), Compiled by Muradyan, P., Atmospheric Radiation Measurement user facility, ARM Data Center [data set], https://doi.org/10.5439/1025136, 1998c. 
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Short summary
This study uses surface disdrometer observations to calibrate 8 years of 915 MHz radar wind profiler deployed in the central United States in northern Oklahoma. This study had two key findings. First, the radar wind profiler sensitivity decreased approximately 3 to 4 dB/year as the hardware aged. Second, this drift was slow enough that calibration can be performed using 3-month intervals. Calibrated radar wind profiler observations and Python processing code are available on public repositories.