Help researchers improve the models used to forecast weather.Advance signal processing techniques to harvest and analyze the immense volumes of data.Record the birth and development of severe storms, including dramatic intensity changes and eyewall formation in hurricanes.Identify whether storms are carrying raindrops, hail, sleet or snow.Collect “high-resolution measurements in space and time”.Scientists and engineers from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Colorado State University, State University of New York (SUNY) Stony Brook, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the University of Oklahoma. The information also could help weather forecasters 'tasked with keeping people safe.' Who will participate in development? 'The increasing severity and frequency of tropical storms and extreme precipitation events due to climate change are causing unprecedented threats to society,' the science foundation said in a news release. Once complete, the radars will be added to aircraft at the NSF and NOAA. The Airborne Phased Array Radar, a state-of-the-art radar to be attached to the outside of an aircraft and flown over land and ocean. Here’s what the Science Foundation had to say about the radar: What is it?

That could include crucial moments when rain, hail, snow and tornadoes are forming, as well as tropical cyclones. The radar would take a closer look at what’s happening deep inside those clouds and storms before they arrive. In what officials say will be a great leap forward in answering these types of questions and providing more precise forecasts, the National Science Foundation is putting $91.8 million toward helping the long-term development of a new, advanced radar system. Watch Video: How do you decide whether to get travel insurance for your vacation?Ĭorrections & Clarifications: This story has been updated with a corrected list of development partners provided after publication.Īfter every major weather disaster, such as the overnight explosion of Hurricane Michael in 2018, the same questions arise around how much the forecast might have benefited from better information about the storm before it arrived and why it's sometimes so hard to forecast surprises in the clouds.

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