During August, September, and October, Jacksonville, Florida experiences numerous types of detectable weather. The average temperature range sits between a high of 33 C and a low of 18 C. On average, the Jacksonville metro will receive around 130 mm of rain each month, with an average dBz value of 36. Freezing level heights sit at around 5 km and echo heights can exceed 8 km. Storm areas vary immensely, since we have pop-up convection, frontal systems, and hurricanes. Wind speeds can be in the realm of 70 m/s in extreme situations. Storms evolve at varying times, from a few minutes to a half hour. Storms can move at 10 m/s and have an area of up to 7.25e04 km².
Both S-Band volume scans have a volume scan completion of under 8 minutes. S-band radars in clear air mode have a maximum range of 375 km with a spatial resolution at 3.68 km x 3.68 km. For precipitation mode, the range is 176.46 km with a resolution of 1.73 km x 1.73 km. The X-Band radar’s volume scan completion is under 6 minutes. In precipitation mode, the X-Band radar has a maximum range of 100 km and the spatial resolution is 0.98 km x 0.98 km; in XTREME mode, it has a maximum of 50 km at 0.49 km x 0.49 km. All spatial resolutions are 75% of the maximum range of the VCP.
Our proposal includes 2 S-Band radars (83.5 km apart) and an X-Band radar. The S-Band radars use a 9.32 m antenna achieving a 0.75° beamwidth (located in Lessie and NW Ralford). The X-Band radar’s 2.80 m antenna achieves a 0.75° beamwidth (home location is Orange Springs). Our S-Band clear air scans 9 elevations with a PRF of 400Hz and a Nyquist velocity of 10 m/s. Both S-Band precipitation modes use an 850 Hz PRF, have a Nyquist velocity of 21.25 m/s, and repeat low-elevation scans in different fashions; Precipitation Mode 1 measures 20 total angles, and Precipitation Mode 2 measures 18 total angles. Our X-Band precipitation mode uses a 1500 Hz PRF, the S-band Precipitation Mode 1 scan strategy, and has a Nyquist velocity of 11.25 m/s. The X-Band XTREME mode uses a 3000 Hz PRF and a Nyquist velocity of 22.5 m/s to measure 16 angles. In all situations, a velocity-folding algorithm is applied. Dual-polarization will assist with severe weather detection, specifically with the addition of differential reflectivity, correlation coefficient, linear depolarization ratio, differential phase, and specific differential phase.
The addition of two S-band radars for our proposed radar sites will allow us to have true wind data. Having a mobile X-Band radar component near the east coast of Florida will specifically be used for severe incoming weather such as hurricanes/tropical storms. Our X-Band has an emphasis on lower levels to capture high wind velocities and precipitation closest to the ground.While our X-Band radar will be scanning for wind and precipitation, it will not actually scan the storm itself. Any amount of attenuation is unavoidable. Our strategy does not allow for a lot of upper tropospheric scans since the main risks in the area are pop-up storms, frontal systems, and hurricanes that are closer to the ground.