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Colorado State University Radar to Be Used to Research Tornadoes

Posted on: Tuesday, 9 August 2005, 18:00 CDT

Aug. 9--FORT COLLINS -- New low-power, low-cost radar designed by Colorado State University and its research partners will be used in studying tornadoes in one of the most tornado-prone areas of the country.

Some of the nation's leading electrical engineers, atmospheric scientists and computer science experts collaborated on the project.

In 2003, Colorado State teamed with universities across the nation in the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere, or CASA, to develop a network of radar systems. Ultimately, weather forecasters will be able to use the network to direct resources to regions where threats exist.

The first radar created from the CASA partnership, called CASA Radar 1, will be used for severe weather detection in Oklahoma's "tornado alley," which is east of the line between Oklahoma City and Norman. The region attracts about 22 tornadoes per year.

CASA Radar 1 was designed by researchers, faculty and students from Colorado State, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. The low-power radar is highly reliable, inexpensive, adaptive and can operate collaboratively in a system of similar radars.

The CASA team worked with CSU-CHILL staff in April to test the newly designed radar next to the CHILL facility east of Greeley, north of the Greeley/Weld Airport.

CSU-CHILL, the nation's most advanced weather radar research facility, supports the atmospheric science and engineering research communities by providing data and evaluating experimental techniques in remote sensing of the atmosphere.

The facility is jointly operated by the Colorado State departments of atmospheric science and electrical and computer engineering and is funded by the National Science Foundation and the state of Colorado.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Greeley Tribune, Colo.

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Source: Greeley Tribune, Colorado

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