An Improved Version of the Extended Velocity-Azimuth Display Analysis of Single-Doppler Radar Data

Abstract

Extended velocity-azimuth display (EVAD) analysis is useful for obtaining vertical profiles of horizontal divergence, vertical air velocity, vertical hydrometer velocity, and hydrometeor terminal fall speed in widespread precipitation. The technique uses a volume of velocity data collected with a single Doppler radar. Several improvements to the previously reported EVAD technique are discussed. They include the weighting of Fourier series coefficients to reflect their estimated error, a correction for heteroscedasticity (the systematic variation of residuals) in the regression analysis, and the weighting of data from different elevation angles to compensate for the finite thicknesses of the layers in which each analysis is performed. Vertical air velocity is obtained through a variational procedure. Procedures for dealiasing the velocity data and for rejecting outliers from the dataset are summarized. Recommendations for collecting radar data for use in EVAD analysis are made.