Back to the Great Plains

A team of students from MIRSL and from Purdue University's Department of Earth, Atmosphere, and Planetary Sciences are hitting the Great Plains to study severe convective storms with a phased-array X-band radar.  Above the Low Power Radar (LPR) scans a storm in northwestern Oklahoma.  One objective of the research is to study the morphology and evolution of the Differential Reflectivity (Zdr) signature of such storms.  Zdr is the ratio of horizontally polarized echo to verticaly polarized echo and is an indicator of raindrop size and shape.  The structure of Zdr can indicate regions of updraft. (Photo credit Milind Sharma)