ECSS2023-114
https://doi.org/10.5194/ecss2023-114
11th European Conference on Severe Storms
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

The Flexible Array of Radars and Mesonets (FARM)

Joshua Wurman1, Karen Kosiba1, Jeff Trapp2, and Steve Nesbitt2
Joshua Wurman et al.
  • 1Flexible Array of Radars and Mesonets (FARM) University of Illinois, USA (jwurman@illinois.edu)
  • 2Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois, USA

The Flexible Array of Radars and Mesonets (FARM) Facility is an extensive mobile/quickly-deployable (MQD) multiple-Doppler radar and in-situ instrumentation network hosted by the University of Illinois, with a design focus on obtaining targeted observations in Severe Local Storms. 

The FARM comprises four mobile / quickly-deployable radars: two X-band dual-polarization, dual-frequency (DPDF) , Doppler On Wheels DOW6/DOW7, the Rapid-Scan DOW (RSDOW), and a quickly-deployable (QD) DPDF C-band On Wheels (COW).

The FARM also includes 3 mobile mesonet (MM) vehicles with 3.5-m masts, an array of rugged  QD weather stations (PODNET), QD weather stations deployed on infrastructure such as light/power poles (POLENET), four disdrometers, six MQD upper air sounding systems and a Mobile Operations and Repair Center (MORC).

The FARM’s integration of radar, in situ, and sounding systems provides robust kinematic, thermodynamic, and microphysical observations.  Components of FARM (previously called the DOW Facility)  have deployed to >30 projects during 1995-2022 in North and South America and Europe (including COPS and MAP), obtaining pioneering observations of a myriad of small spatial scale and short temporal scale phenomena including tornadoes, hurricanes, lake-effect snow storms, aircraft-affecting turbulence, convection initiation, microbursts, intense precipitation systems, boundary layer structures and evolution, airborne hazardous substances, coastal storms, wildfires and wildfire suppression efforts, weather modification effects, and mountain/alpine winds and precipitation.

This poster will focus on the design, capabilities, and most recent updates to the FARM Facility, including very recent and anticipated future missions, including LEE (2022-2023), PERILS-2022 and 2023, ICE-CHIP (2024-2025), CROCUS (2024-2026), Tornado Structure Study (2023-2024), CREST 2025.  

Proposed major upgrades to the FARM targeted observing network, including the S-Band On Wheels NETWORK (SOW-NET) replacing large stationary S-band research radars, and the Bistatic Adaptable Radar Network (BARN) will be summarized.

 

How to cite: Wurman, J., Kosiba, K., Trapp, J., and Nesbitt, S.: The Flexible Array of Radars and Mesonets (FARM), 11th European Conference on Severe Storms, Bucharest, Romania, 8–12 May 2023, ECSS2023-114, https://doi.org/10.5194/ecss2023-114, 2023.