Development of a Transportable 3-GHz Wind Profiler for Wind and Precipitation Studies

A transportable 3-GHz wind profiler has been developed for convenient observations of wind and precipitation. It consists of a phased array antenna with a diameter of 1 m, a transmitter with peak output power of 500 W, a receiver, a radar controller, a DSP (Digital Signal Processor) unit, and a workstation. The whole system is loaded onto a small truck for easy transportability. To verify the validity of wind velocity data obtained by the 3-GHz wind profiler, we conducted simultaneous observations with the MU (Middle and Upper atmosphere) radar at the Shigaraki MU Observatory on January 15, 1998. It showed that the 3-GHz wind profiler has sufficient reliability for wind velocity observations. We investigated the ability of observational height coverage of the 3-GHz wind profiler using height profiles of wind velocities obtained at the Shigaraki MU Observatory during May 25, 1998—November 2, 2000. It showed that the pulse compression is very effective, and the 3-GHz wind profiler has good performance to provide wind velocities in the lower troposphere, especially in precipitation. We also present preliminary results of observation of the front on May 4, 1999 to show the performance of the 3-GHz wind profiler.