Norman center to modify military radar to track weather

Tuesday, November 19th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ New radar technology that would give communities up to 20 minutes notice of severe storms and tornadoes is being tested at the National Severe Storms Laboratory.

Research scientists in Norman will begin making subtle changes to the SPY-1 radar, used by Navy ships to track aircraft, to make a precise weather tracking system.

The radar technology replaces the historic Doppler radar that captured some of the first data on tornadoes 20 years ago.

The new radar will be ready for testing in May, just in time for spring's worst storms. It will cost $26 million to build the system and millions more to implement it nationwide.

The system weighs more than three tons and will stand 55 feet to the top of the radome, which resembles a giant teed-up golf ball.

University of Oklahoma, Lockheed Martin, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration will fund construction of the system.

The FAA hopes to find ways to use the weather radar for tracking weather and aircraft.

``The point of this is to increase our ability to provide better and faster warnings to the public for severe weather,'' said Doug Forsyth, head of radar research at the severe storms lab.

The idea is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's national mission to protect the public.

Forsyth said the phased array radar scans the sky much faster than a Doppler radar and generates more information for forecasters.

The Doppler radar scans a storm by completing several rotations as the radar beam moves farther from the horizon with each rotation.

The phased array radar scans top to bottom as the radar rotates once. The difference in scan time instantly improves warnings by five minutes.

Meteorologists also can isolate an area in a storm and scan that spot for more information. The radar occasionally will need to make a full sweep, which is when the FAA wants it to track airplanes.

The faster turns allow scientists to catch smaller changes, which helps forecasting, and may lead to a better understanding of how tornadoes form.

Researchers in Norman hope to use a T-28 aircraft next spring to test the radar's accuracy. The aircraft can fly through hailstorms and is used to report weather conditions to scientists on the ground as they study radar readings.