Meet UMaXX

 MIRSL has just re-installed an X-band weather radar atop the tower on Orchard Hill on the UMass campus.  Formerly the platform for the CASA Engineering Research Center's prototype radar, the tower now houses the UMass eXperimental X-band radar (UMaXX).  UMaXX will be used for weather observations and as a reference radar for polarimetric studies with a phased-array radar on loan to UMass from Raytheon under research funded by the National Science Foundation's Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences.  Shown in the photo are MIRSL graduate students Casey Wolsieffer (left) and Will Heberling (right) following the installation of the major components of the radar within the radome.  The radar will go online this fall following commissioning and calibration.