TCSP ER-2 DOPPLER RADAR (EDOP) V1

The TCSP ER-2 DOPPLER RADAR (EDOP) dataset was collected by the ER-2 Doppler radar (EDOP), which is an X-band (9.6 GHz) Doppler radar mounted in the nose of the ER-2 aircraft that provides vertically profiled reflectivity and Doppler velocity at aircraft nadir along the flight track. The instrument has two fixed antennas, one pointing at nadir and the second pointing approximately 33 degrees ahead of nadir. The beam width of the antenna is 3 degree in the vertical and horizontal directions which, for a 20 km altitude, yields a nadir footprint at the surface of 1 km. Each Antenna measures the doppler velocity, doppler spectral width, and reflectivity factor. Doppler velocities provide a measure of the pulse volume-weighted hydrometer motion (hydrometer fallspeed + air motion). Vertical air motion can be calculated from the nadir beam by removing the fallspeed contribution with an approximation. The linear depolarization ratio (the ratio of the cross-polar to the co-polar reflectivites) can be measured along the forward beam. EDOP provides measurements from a forward pointing beam that is used in combination with the nadir beam for estimating the along-track winds. The TCSP mission collected data for research and documentation of cyclogenesis, the interaction of temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind and air pressure that creates ideal birthing conditions for tropical storms, hurricanes and related phenomena. The goal of this mission was to help us better understand how hurricanes and other tropical storms are formed and intensify.