CW3E Observations

Radiometric Wind Profilers

CW3E operates a Radiometrics XBS-BL 915 Radar Wind Profiler (RWP) owned by San Diego Gas and Electric. The profiler is located in southern California on the campus of UC San Diego. Wind data collected by the profiler are critically important for understanding atmospheric river (AR) strength, orientation, and other characteristics when ARs make landfall. During the dry season, the data support fire weather information needs. Data will be used for process-based studies to develop longer term modeling and forecasting improvements at timescales ranging from weather to climate; and for situational awareness by local forecasters, emergency managers, and other decision-makers.

The RWP is a pulse radar system that uses directed and repeated pulses of radio frequency (RF) energy broadcast vertically to “echo-locate” and measure the differing movement of wind at various heights above the ground by calculating the Doppler shift of the transmitted and received signals. In its current operational configuration the data processing system calculates winds flowing aloft in height increments of approximately 50m to 70m.

The RWP provides near real-time measurements of the winds from the surface to 3000 m. The profiler computes a 30-minute “consensus average” of the winds which is updated every six minutes.

Plot description: Wind barbs depicting the horizontal wind speed and direction, colored based on wind speed (knots) at the selected location over the previous 48 hours (x-axis) from the surface up to 3 km above ground level (y-axis). For visualization purposes data are interpolated to hourly averages and a vertical resolution of 0.1 km. Data are updated once per hour. For an archive of images and data click here.

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