Pb. Chilson et al., SOMARE-99: A demonstrational field campaign for ultrahigh-resolution VHF atmospheric profiling using frequency diversity, RADIO SCI, 36(4), 2001, pp. 695-707
During May of 1999 the sounding system (SOUSY) VHF radar was operated in a
demonstrational field campaign specially designed to test the applicability
of range imaging (RIM) to radar studies of the atmosphere. The RIM techniq
ue utilizes frequency diversity to offer a novel method of improving radar
range resolution over that which can be obtained with a conventional pulsed
radar with the same bandwidth. During the field campaign, which is being c
alled SOUSY Multifrequency Atmospheric Radar Experiment 1999 (SOMARE-99), t
he application of RIM on a VHF radar has been demonstrated. The data from S
OMARE-99 are intended for investigating the dynamics and morphology of fine
-scale vertical structures in the troposphere. This paper gives an overview
of SOMARE-99 and provides some initial scientific results. A central and i
mportant result was obtained by comparing RIM-processed radar observations
and data from radiosondes. Profiles of the vertical gradient of the general
ized refractive index and the so-called RIM-enhanced echo power are found t
o bear similarities during one particular case, for which the radiosonde wa
s located directly over the radar. Furthermore, a spectral analysis of thes
e two parameters has provided evidence that RIM is successfully identifying
multiple structures within the radar sampling volume with scales smaller t
han the conventional range resolution.