WORKSHOP ON WEATHER RADAR POLARIMETRY FOR RESEARCH AND OPERATIONAL APPLICATIONS

A workshop on weather radar polarimetry for research and operational applications was held on 22 and 23 February 1994 at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Polarization radar can provide estimates of the shapes, sizes, phase, and fall orientations of hydrometeors. This information can be used to remove some of the ambiguities present when only the reflectivity is measured. The morning of 22 February was devoted to 16 short presentations highlighting recent advances in polarimetric radar. The afternoon was dedicated to four discussion sessions that further developed important topics. On the following day, plans for the upgrading and development of the existing NCAR polarization radar capability were presented and debated. The workshop resulted in four recommendations: three of which proposed specific field measurement programs to quantify the potential improvements provided by the polarization techniques.