OU meteorologists are impressed with their progress on a new, low power, inexpensive radar that could increase warning time for tornadoes and flooding.

Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) radars, which were designed to attach to cell phone towers, are part of a ten-year project in which some OU faculty are participating. This radar system builds on the current radar infrastructure and has the capability to network with other radars and send detailed information, said Kevin Kloesel, associate dean of the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences.

“The new radar can scan every 30 seconds, cover down low and has the ability to zero in on the storm,” Kloesel said. “These radars talk to each other like air traffic controllers and hand off the storm.”

The current radar system in place in the United States, NEXRAD, is composed of 142 radars and used for severe weather prediction, said Kelvin Droegemeier, CASA deputy director and meteorology professor.

“They are the workhorse radar in the U.S. and can collect data up to 250 miles away,” Droegemeier said.

However, because of the Earth’s natural curve, NEXRAD radars cannot project radar to each part of the atmosphere, which results in less predictability on the ground level, Kloesel said.

The CASA radar is designed to work in conjunction with the NEXRAD radar so that information can be gathered both on the ground and in upper levels of the atmosphere, Droegemeier said.

“CASA radars are meant to see the part of the atmosphere that NEXRAD cannot,” Droegemeier said. “These two systems are very complementary and will work together well.”

Fred Carr, School of Meteorology director, said it is difficult to use current radar technology to fully predict a storm cells’ movements, because NEXRAD systems cannot scan all areas of the sky. It is predicted that CASA technology will fill in the holes and improve forecasting.

A variety of test beds have been set up to test the accuracy of the radars, Kloesel said. The Oklahoma test bed is located between Chickasha and Lawton and has been providing storm information to the National Weather Center for the past two springs.

Carr said that the radars are used for weather forecasting as well as measuring rainfall and establishing water within river basins in other areas.

A test bed in Puerto Rico is using radar to gather weather information that cannot be seen with the NEXRAD radars due to the mountains, which prohibit the radars, Kloesel said.

“We try to put test beds in places where you can test all types of weather,” Kloesel said.

He said the test beds in Puerto Rico are aiming to combat the problems and issues of flooding.

“This radar is capable of revolutionizing how we view weather,” Kloesel said. “The broadcast industry is very interested in this radar and from the standpoint of the public, it will revolutionize what you see on TV as radar imagery.”

This project is under the direction of the Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere, an NSF Engineering Research Center, and is being developed by a partnership of meteorologists at four universities including: The University of Oklahoma, Colorado State University, The University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez.