The transmitter and electrical power distribution sea containers from NASA's N-Pol transportable research weather radar system were unloaded at the CSU-CHILL site on 17 October 2008. N-Pol is currently undergoing a series of technical evaluations and upgrades. In the course of these activities, it was desired to test the operation of N-Pol's electronics in isolation from the standard N-Pol antenna. To accomplish this, the existing CSU-CHILL waveguide system was modified to allow the antenna to be connected either the CHILL or N-Pol radars. The details can be seen in the following photograph taken from the roof of the N-Pol transmitter container:
[[Image:Npol unload crop.JPG|150px|right]]
[[Image:waveguide_anot.png]]
Components of the NASA S-Pol radar arrived at the CSU-CHILL radar site on 17 October 2008. Testing of the N-Pol radar using the CHILL offset feed antenna has recently started. '''[[Initial N-Pol Operations at the CHILL|(more)]]'''
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The turnstile switches make it easy to select which radar system is driving the antenna. During test operations on the afternoon of 4 November 2008, a volume scan of an area of virga was first done by the CSU-CHILL radar; the same volume scan was then repeated using N-Pol. Two example PPi images are shown below. In each case, the left panel is co-polar horizontal reflectivity (dBZ), and the right is differential reflectivity (dB):
[[Image:chl_4nov08.png]]
[[Image:npol_4nov08.png]]
Additional episodes of "back-to-back" data collection by CHILL and N-Pol will be conducted through the end of 2008.
Revision as of 17:13, 6 November 2008
Components of the NASA S-Pol radar arrived at the CSU-CHILL radar site on 17 October 2008. Testing of the N-Pol radar using the CHILL offset feed antenna has recently started. (more)
