ROTATE - Radar Observations of Tornado
and Thunderstorm Experiment
Location: Great Plains, USA (Fig.1)
Date: May 2008
ROTATE employs the DopplerOn Wheels (DOW) mobile radar operated by the Center for Severe Weather Research , mobile mesonet stations, and mobile drop-size and fall velocity disdrometers to observe the kinematic and thermodynamic process of tornado formation, tornado structure, tornado lifecycle, and tornado death (Fig. 2). Major goals are to collect observations that will enable the evaluation of tornadogenesis hypotheses and to continue studies of tornado vortex structure and climatology (Figs. 3 and 4).
 |
  |
| Fig.
1: Rotate 2008 road route. Measurements were taking across the Great
Plains. |
Fig.
2: Rotate instruments such as Doppler on Wheels radar, two probe
vehicles equppled with surface instruments (PODS), and two
particle-size disdrometers mounted on a pick-up truck. |
Fig. 3: Left panel: Drop-size and fall velocity measurement during squall line passage on 26 May 2008. Right panel: NWS radar reflectivity indicating the location of the disdrometers.
Fig. 4: Radar reflectivity (upper panels) and Doppler velocity (lower panels) of a tornadic supercell occuring on 29 May 2008 with NWS data on the outer panels and DOW data in the middle. (Courtesy: Josh Wurman)