ELDORA Observations During VORTEX95

This is a photograph of a tornado intercepted by ELDORA over the Texas Panhandle on May 22,1995.(Photo taken by Ching-hwang Liu)

What is ELDORA ?

ELDORA(Electra Doppler Radar) is an unique airborne doppler radar which is designed and developed by National Center for Atmospheric Research(NCAR) and the Centre de Recherche en Physique de l'Environnment Terrestre et Planetaire (CRPE).

What is VORTEX ?

VORTEX(Verification of the Origin of Rotations in the Tornadoes Experiment) is a large multiagency field project which focused on studying issues concerning tornadoes and tornadic storms. This project is partially funded by National Science Foundation(NSF). Further information about this project can be found on the National Severe Storms Laboratory's homepage.

The Unique Features of ELDORA

• Increased Accuracy and Sensibility
• Higher Spatial Resolution in the Along-track Direction
• A Large Unambiguous Velocity

Examples of ELDORA's Performance During VORTEX95

During VORTEX95, ELDORA captured a lot of extremely interesting weather phenomena such as dryline, microburst, supercell storms and most strikingly, tornadoes. The following beautiful radar images are only some of the unprecedented data obtained by ELDORA.

Clear-air Return

• First Mission
• The Dryline and Dry Convective Plumes
• Storm Inflow
• Low-reflectivity Microbursts

Convection

• Weak-echo Regions and Implications for Hail Growth
• Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability
• Tornadoes

Dual-Doppler Synthesis of a Supercell

• Supercell Synthesis (Synthesis was done by Wen-Chau Lee)

Other Results of VORTEX95

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Need a Reprint of this Paper ?

This paper has been published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Volume 77,Number 7, July 1996. If you are interested in more information about ELDORA Observation During VORTEX95, please refer to the bulletin paper. Reprints can be obtained by writing a letter to Dr. Roger M Wakimoto, Department of Atmospheric Science, University of California, Los Angeles, 405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90095.