Main Instrument
A 10 cm wavelength Doppler and dual-polarization radar built in 1968 and used for weather surveillance around the Montreal, Canada area. It is part of the Canadian weather radar network, used by the local weather office to monitor weather in real time for a variety of applications, from severe weather detection to sewer flow forecasting.
Characteristics :
- Its ICAO calling identifier is CWMN.
- Its coordinates are 45°25′26.76″N 73°56′14.64″W / 45.4241°N 73.9374°W / 45.4241; -73.9374, at 50 m above sea level.
- It has a large 9 meter (30 foot) diameter antenna transmitting impulses from a klystron.
- Its tower is 25 m high.
- It scans the atmosphere on 24 angles from 0.5 to 34.4 degrees above the horizon in 5 minutes.
- It was originally recording only reflectivities, giving position and intensity of precipitation. In 1992, it was upgraded to treat Doppler data and thus estimate the motion of the drops. It was upgraded again in 1999 with a dual polarization capability which allows direct identification of the type of precipitation (rain, snow, hail, etc...).
As it is a research as well as an operational radar, the large amount of data accumulated is studied for further development in radar hardware and software capabilities. The data are correlated with the other instruments in related research.
Read more about this topic: J. S. Marshall Radar Observatory
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