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Replacement For Aging Doppler Radar Being Tested

Posted by kdawson on from the sounds-like-a-freight-train dept.

longacre writes "Due to its limited range and slow scan times, the backbone of weather prediction in the US since the early 1990s, the NEXRAD radar system, is deeply flawed in the eyes of meteorologists. A new system being tested by researchers at the NOAA and four universities called the Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) network aims to fill the holes left by NEXRAD, using radar nodes piggybacked onto existing infrastructure, such as rooftops and cell towers. From the article: 'Based on faster and more comprehensive data collection, [Distributed Collaborative Adaptive Sensing] processing can refocus the CASA radars on a particularly interesting part of a storm (like an area that looks like it might develop a tornado) without losing track of an entire storm cell. "The system is continuously diagnosing the atmosphere and reallocating resources using wireless Internet as a backbone," says [the CASA team director].' Testing has begun in Oklahoma, Houston, and Puerto Rico, and initial installations could begin in 5 years."

5 of 105 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Rednecks. by Anpheus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's still property, it's still their home.

    And they still lost it.

  2. Slow by Wowsers · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Suppose that doppler radar is slow, and that it takes 5 seconds for it to do a 360 degree sweep. Is a faster system going to improve the generally rubbish weather forecasts of "it might rain today"?

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    1. Re:Slow by Hatta · · Score: 4, Insightful

      5 seconds? We had a tornado here in Omaha a couple weeks ago, and the sirens provided no warning because it hit during the 5 minute blind spot in the radar. On one pass it was a severe thunderstorm, on the next pass it was a tornado on the ground.

      If they can't make the radar rotate faster, they should add more dishes to the same radar so it's looking in 2 or 3 directions at once.

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      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  3. Re:Rednecks. by oodaloop · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, when you're poor there aren't many great options of where to live. I'm sure if they could afford better real estate, they would move. When I was poor I lived in an apt near an airport because it was all I could afford. If all I could afford in my area was a trailer in a tornado zone, well then I guess that's where I'd live.

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    Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
  4. Re:Rednecks. by oodaloop · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'M on a high horse? For what, pointing out how poor I've been? You're blaming the victim, calling them stupid for living where they do, making fun of the way they talk, discounting all the hardship and turmoil theses people go through, and I'M on a high horse?

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    Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.