ELDORA OBSERVATIONS DURING VORTEX-95

Airborne radar platforms have played an increasingly important role in advancing our understanding of storms that are either too remote or o ccur too infrequently for ground-based radars. Recognizing this potent ial, the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the Centre de Re cherche en Physique de l'Environnment Terrestre et Planetaire have des igned and developed ELDORA (Electra Doppler Radar), a tail Doppler rad ar with the following unique capabilities: 1) increased accuracy and s ensitivity by averaging more independent samples in the radar pulse vo lume, 2) higher spatial resolution in the along-track direction by usi ng a faster rotation rate of the antenna, and 3) a large unambiguous v elocity measuring interval by means of a dual pulse repetition frequen cy. Although the first field deployment of ELDORA occurred in 1993, it was not until VORTEX (Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Torn adoes Experiment) that the system was operating up to its full capabil ities. Examples of the radar's ability to detect clear-air phenomena a re presented along with high-resolution images near severe local storm s and tornadoes.