UCAR receives funding for new radar technology

Jonson Kuhn, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.
·4 min read

Jun. 9—New high-dollar funding is on Boulder's University Corporation for Atmospheric Research's radar and it could go a long way towards helping predict and plan for extreme weather all over the globe.

Congressman Joe Neguse, D-Lafayette, recently announced that, as of June 1, UCAR began receiving $91.8 million in funding spread out over the next five years from the National Science Foundation, all of which will go towards designing and building the first Airborne Phase Array Radar system for meteorology use.

UCAR manages the National Center of Atmospheric Research on behalf of the National Science Foundation. Wen-Chau Lee is a researcher for NCAR and has been instrumental in the development process of APAR as the chief scientist. According to Lee, APAR is going to improve upon current radar systems such as the Electra Doppler Radar (ELDORA), which primarily examined wind analysis rather than microphysics.

APAR will be looking at the atmosphere at higher resolutions and looking more deeply into clouds and thunderstorms with dual polarization capabilities, which essentially means APAR will be able to differentiate between snowflakes, rain and ice crystals whereas other radars implemented in the past could not, thus providing a more clear understanding of a storm's microphysical properties.

ELDORA, which was retired in 2013, was at a disadvantage because the radar was mounted to the tail of the aircraft, where APAR will have four different panels attached to the top, bottom and sides of the aircraft, allowing for it to look in all directions at all times. Furthermore, APAR will have the ability to look further into clouds, allowing the C-130 to fly at further and safer distances from storm clouds while still compiling critical information at faster speeds than ELDORA was capable of.

"Clouds are incredibly important components of the energy cycle in the Earth's climate systems," Lee said. "If we do not understand individual clouds — or individual thunderstorms — we won't understand the collective impact of these clouds on the Earth's climate. APAR is a tool that will help us deepen our understanding."

APAR, adapting the phased array radar technology initially used within military purposes, will now be used to capture 3D winds and microphysical data, giving forecasters critical information for better predicting high-impact weather events such as hurricanes, atmospheric rivers, tornadoes and blizzards. Lee said that as soon as the advanced radar technology became available for civilian use, he discussed the idea of using it for meteorology purposes with NCAR engineers.

Lee said APAR will first be built into panels that will then be deployed on the NSF/NCAR C-130 aircraft. The tentative deadline to have the radar operational will be in the summer of 2028. Though the C-130 aircraft will remain housed at NCAR's Broomfield hangar, it will be used for various field campaigns and science projects all over the world.

"The goal is that when APAR is built in five years, we'll have all of the necessary tools ready for the scientists to conduct transformative research," Lee said.

In addition to partnering with Ball Aerospace and NOAA, Lee said NCAR will be partnering with universities such as Colorado State University, State University of New York Stony Brook, University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Oklahoma.

"One of the big objectives of NCAR is to serve U.S. universities, so we would like to have a community engagement to join in this endeavor," Lee said. "The end result is for the everyday citizen to benefit from this research activity. Eventually if NOAA and the US Air Force hurricane reconnaissance fleet adopt this technology, it will further expand the hurricane forecast, which is a major concern of the U.S. citizen."

In August 2022, Neguse along with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the NCAR facility in Boulder to hold a roundtable discussion with various community leaders and scientists regarding the climate crisis and how funding research could help better understand ways to prevent future climate change.

"Colorado leads the charge in climate research. Our innovative researchers are producing results that will change the world, and I am thrilled that UCAR will receive transformative funding. I remain steadfast in my commitment to supporting our labs and working to build a more climate-resilient future," Neguse said in a news release.