Ph. Hildebrand et al., THE ELDORA ASTRAIA AIRBORNE DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR - GOALS, DESIGN, AND FIRST FIELD-TESTS/, Proceedings of the IEEE, 82(12), 1994, pp. 1873-1890
This paper describes the development and first operation of an innovat
ive research tool for observing atmospheric storms: art airborne X-ban
d Doppler radar. The radar has been built jointly by the National Cent
er Sor Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, CO and the Centre de Re
cherche en Physique de l'Environnement Terrestre et Planetaire (CRPE)
in Paris, France. The radar is called ELDORA/ASTRAIA for Electra Doppl
er Radar/Analyse Stereoscopic par Radar Aeroporte sur Electra. The rad
ar is designed to provide high-resolution measurements of the air moti
on and rainfall characteristics of very large storms. storms which are
frequently too large and/or too I-emote to be adequately observed by
ground-based radars. This paper includes discussions of the scientific
impetus and design criteria, as well as the engineering solutions to
these design needs. The design options and tradeoffs and the resulting
capabilities are discussed. The paper concludes with an evaluation of
the performance of the system at its first field lest, conducted as a
part of the international global warming experiment in the equatorial
Pacific Ocean known as the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled O
cean-Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE). This evaluation illu
strates that the major design goals for the radar-collection of relati
vely noise-free velocity and reflectivity data using a rapid scanning
radar-have been adequately met. Future options for further improvement
s to the radar are discussed.