Radar Observatory

The Radar Science group provided funding to Prosensing Inc. to refurbish, upgrade and test the KASPR and has agreed with Prosensing on a long-term service and loan agreement. The KASPR was installed in a secured area in the South P Parking Lot on South Campus of Stony Brook University that was recently established using funds from the Stony Brook University Provost’s Office.

The radar observatory hosted and supported the operation of several radars, lidars and other remote sensors that arrived at Stony Brook University and Brookhaven National Laboratory in the spring and summer of 2017. As of 2024, the equipment has moved to other locations.

The radar observatory at Stony Brook is the first of its kind not only in the U.S. but also worldwide. It will be a great asset to Stony Brook University and our collaborators at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). The proposed instrumentation will build upon the existing expertise in cloud and precipitation modeling and observations at SoMAS.

In conjunction with the S-band NEXRAD WSR-88D radars surrounding Stony Brook University (e.g., KOKX at Upton, NY, and KDIX at Philadelphia, PA), it will provide unique datasets of multi-wavelength, polarimetric variables, and Doppler spectra to observe winter storms over the Northeastern United States.

The influx of the radar systems combined with the recently expanded expertise in radar meteorology at SoMAS will set SBU as a leader in millimeter-wavelength and phased-array radar applications and education. The proposed facility is highly portable and is suitable for deployment in remote land and marine locations. The facility can be deployed on SoMAS marine vessels for the study of clouds over the coast of Long Island and it can also be deployed in large field experiments.

Multi-frequency, multi-sensor, fixed site at Stony Brook

  • 35-GHz scanning fully polarimetric cloud radar
  • 94-GHz Profiling Cloud Radar
  • 24-GHz Micro Rain Radar (MRR-PRO)
  • Microwaver Radiometer Profiler (LWP, WVP and T/r profiling)
  • Parsivel Disdrometer
  • Graw-E Sounding System
  • Ceilometer

 

Location of the South P Lot facility and nearest NEXRAD facility
Above: Location of the South P Lot facility and nearest NEXRAD facility

Below: In March 2017, a state-of-the-art Ka-band Scanning Polarimetric Radar (KASPR) was delivered to the Stony Brook University (SBU) South P Lot.

In March 2017, a state-of-the-art Ka-band Scanning Polarimetric Radar (KASPR) was delivered to the Stony Brook University (SBU) South P Lot.

School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, SoMAS, at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5000, USA
Phone: 631-632-8700
somas@stonybrook.edu