Real-Time Color Doppler Radar Display

Abstract Color enhancement of images has become a powerful tool in rapid evaluation of grey-scale information. Recent advances in semiconductor technology have made possible the construction of an inexpensive digital real-time color-enhanced (or false-color) display for meteorological radar information such as reflectivity and Doppler velocities. Variable magnification allows detailed analysis of selected areas of the radar coverage. The display was interfaced to a Doppler/reflectivity processor on the NRRE S-band radar at Grover, Colorado, during the 1974 hail season. A preliminary meteorological analysis of the Doppler color displays of the storm of 7 August 1974 demonstrates a large variety of significant features which may be observed either in real-time or subsequently. These include the regions of convergence and vorticity, major inflow and outflow regions, and turbulence. Most importantly, it is shown that the updraft cores can he identified with the easterly-momentum air which has been transported...