Radar – Dual Polarization.
Equipment description: With dual polarization as a standard feature, the magnetron based system is a fully fledged high-end weather radar system, which delivers high quality data for a large variety of applications. The METEOR 50DX can be used for regional campaigns in hydrological forecasting and scientific research, as a gap-filler in existing meteorological networks or to fulfil general meteorological functions in the X-Band range. Read more...
Estratégia de observação do radar banda X utilizada durante o experimento - CHUVA – São José dos Campos
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Radiosondes – temperature, humidity and wind profiles.
Equipment description: Digicora III – Radiosonde (RS 92) 4 launchings per day, at 00 06 12 18 UTC and during the Airplane flights.
Anemometric Tower: wind speed and direction and meteorological ground station.
Equipment description: 70 m with 6 height leves and meteorological ground station.
Microwave Profiling Radiometer - MP3000.
Equipment description: Measurement: Surface-based passive microwave and infrared remote sensing at 35 Channels (Frequency: 22.00 – 30.00 GHz and 51.00 – 59.00 GHz). Surface sensor (Temperature, Relative Humidity, and Barometric Pressure). Temperature, relative, cloud liquid water, water vapor profiles.
Time-resolution: 2-6 minutes.
LIDAR – backscaterring coefficient.
Equipment description: Lidar Raman System
2 channels: 532nm and 607nm (only night period).
Time resolution: 0.2s - about 1.1min average
Spatial Resolution: 7.5m vertical
Output: Lidar signal (RAW data), backscatter coefficient (post processing).
Disdrometer – THIES.
Equipment description: A disdrometer measures the size and fall speed of precipitation. A laser diode and some optics produce a parallel infrared light sheet of 0.75 mm thickness with a detection area of 20 x 228 mm2. When the precipitation particles fall through this beam, the receiving signal is reduced. The amplitude of the reduction is related to the size of the particles, and the duration of the reduction is related to the fall speed. Precipitation type is then determined from known statistics of particle size and velocity for the different precipitation types. A rough temperature constraint is also used; all precipitation above 9 °C is considered liquid (except hail) and all precipitation below –4 °C is solid. The output consists of many parameters, including 1- minute SYNOP, METAR codes, precipitation intensity and amount, and full particle size and velocity distributions.
Disdrometer Parsivel.
Equipment description: Ott Inc. PARSIVEL Optical Laser Disdrometer, Joss Waldvogel Acoustic Impact Disdrometer Model RD 80.
GPS (Global Positioning System).
Equipment description: A dual-frequency receiver for scientific applications, created specifically for reference stations and other high precision applications, with a capacity to collect the following observables GPS L1 C/A, L2C, L1 e L2 with its 24 available channels.
Disdrometer Parsivel.
Equipment description: Ott Inc. PARSIVEL Optical Laser Disdrometer, Joss Waldvogel Acoustic Impact Disdrometer Model RD 80.
Estação de Fluxos de Superfície.
Descrição do Equipamento: Medidas dos fluxos turbulentos de momentum, calor sensível, latente e dióxido de carbono usando a técnica de correlação de vórtices. Os instrumentos (anemometro sonico e analisador de gás infravermelho IRGA da firma Campbell Scientific) são coletados a uma taxa de amostragem de 20 Hz e calculados os fluxos on line.
Lightning Mapping Array (LMA).
Equipment description: The LMA system locates electromagnetic sources emitted by lightning at VHF ("Very High Freqyency") frequencies. The LMA was developed by the New Mexico Institute of Technology and was installed in the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo by NASA, University of Alabama-Huntsville, INPE (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais) and USP (University of São Paulo). São Paulo network was called SPLMA and uses TV channels 8 (180-186 MHz) and 10 (192-198 MHz) to identify the electromagnetic wave form produced by various processes associated with the propagation of the lightning channels. From these waveforms, it is calculate the time difference of these signals in each of the 12 stations, at 80 microsecond intervals. Hundreds and thousands of lightning sources can be detected in space and time, allowing the three-dimensional (3-D) mapping of lightning with an accuracy of ~ 50 m up to a 150 km distance from the center of the network. Each station is equipped with a GPS ("Global Positioning System") that provide the arrival time of radiation sources with an accuracy of 2x10-8 seconds. This system not only detects sources produced by cloud-ground lightning, but also those from intra-cloud lightning that are far more common.
For the CHUVA experiment, 12 sensors were deployed to São Paulo and a clustering algorithm based on time and distance criteria between the sources will be used to track lightning sources of each discharge in order to map the its path. This dataset is very important for studying the development of storms, nowcasting, severe weather alerts and proxy data for GOES-R Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) sensor, scheduled for release in late 2015.
Lightning Network (LINET).
Equipment description: The LINET system was developed by Nowcast (www.nowcast.de), a weather company that cooperates with German and international institutions on research and development. LINET is a lightning location network for high-precision detection of total lightning, with more than 100 sensor sites across Europe. The sensors of the network measure the electromagnetic waves of lightning strokes – so-called “sferics” – and forward the data to a central processing unit. Here, the data from all sensor sites is collected and analyzed to obtain location, time, strength and emission height of the lightning events. All located strokes are stored in a database and can be displayed in a lightning map in real time. Final stroke solutions are available within less than one minute. The sensor consists of a pair of orthogonal vertical loops that passively detects the magnetic field flow in the frequency range of VLF/LF (1 to 200 kHz).
For CHUVA experiment, 7 LINET sensors were installed in the metropolitan region of São Paulo to monitor 3-D lightning activity in thunderstorms. LINET was deployed to São Paulo by the EUMETSAT (www.eumetsat.int), DLR (German Aerospace Center, www.dlr.de), INPE (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais) and USP (University of São Paulo). As the LMA system, LINET data is very important to study the development of storms, nowcasting, severe weather alerts and proxy data for the MTG Lightning Imager (LI), scheduled to be launched in 2017.
Vaisala Thunderstorm CG Enhanced Lightning Sensor LS7001.
Equipment description: The LS7001 is the ideal solution for tracking lightning threats to ground-based assets at risk and is the choice of many power transmission companies around the world.
A network of LS7001s detects both cloud lightning and cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning, delivering unmatched performance in its ability to provide the most accurate peak current estimations and polarity, with CG stroke location precision better than 150m and a CG lightning flash Detection Efficiency over 90%.
This unique performance capability is achieved by combining the Vaisala Total Lightning Processor and LS7001s that employ Low Frequency magnetic direction finding and time-of-arrival technologies.
Vaisala Total Lightning Sensor TLS200.
Equipment description: The TLS200 is the latest and most advanced technology for total lightning detection providing more comprehensive information to improve warnings and situational awareness. For industries and activities, where lightning is a threat, this can yield improved operational efficiency with less downtime and fewer false alarms all without jeopardizing safety. Airport operations are an excellent example.
Vaisala Global Lightning Dataset GLD360.
Equipment description: Vaisala Global Lightning Dataset GLD360 is a service which provides real-time lightning data for accurate and early detection and tracking of severe weather. The data provided by GLD360 is generated by a Vaisala owned and operated world wide network.
GLD360 service greatly enhance forecasting and early warnings capability for high seas, thunderstorms and cyclones.
High-Speed Cameras.
Equipment description: Six different high-speed digital video cameras (Photron Fastcam 512 PCI, Red Lake Motion Scope 8000S, Phantom v310, v9.1 and Basler Pilot piA640-210gm), with time-resolutions and exposure times ranging from 100 microseconds (10,000 frames per second) to 10 milliseconds (100 frames per second),will be used to record images of cloud-to-ground and intracloud lightning. All video imagery is recorded without any frame-to-frame persistence and is time-stamped to GPS. The minimum recording length of all the cameras is two seconds; our past studies report a maximum flash duration of 1.4 s with approximately 99% of more than 400 cases lasting less than 1 s for negative CG flashes. This recording length is sufficient also for positive lightning.
Sferics Timing And Ranging Network (STARNET).
Equipment description: The STARNET network, which is coordinated by USP, detects the noise emitted by lightning (sferics) within the frequency range 7-15 kHz. In this frequency range, the sferics can propagate thousands of kilometers away from multiple reflections within the waveguide formed by the earth's surface and the ionosphere. The STARNET VLF sensors also use the GPS as a universal time reference to synchronize the measurements of vertical electric field. From the difference of time-of-arrival of each signal at the stations it is possible to identify the position of an atmospheric discharges, usually associated with cloud-ground lightning. At the moment, STARNET has 7 VLF antennas that are distributed in Brazil and the island of Guadeloupe and can detect up to 100 sferics per second over all South America.
The World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN).
Equipment description: WWLLN grew out of the 'TOGA' network which had its roots in the southern Pacific region. Since 2003 WWLLN has been locating lightning all around the world, with increasing detection efficiency every year as we add new stations. We now have approximately 60 stations deployed. Each station detects VLF (Very Low Frequency) radio waves from lightning, calculates the time of group arrival of the wave packet, and sends that time with high precision to a pair of independent central processors, which then use time of arrival techniques to determine the best fit for lightning anywhere in the world. WWLLN has demonstrated mean location accuracy of between 5 and 10 km spatially, and within a few tens of microseconds in time. Studies conducted as long ago as 2006 showed that WWLLN detects nearly all lightning-generating storms. Comparison studies with local networks operating at higher frequencies indicate that WWLLN detects about 10% of all cloud to ground strokes and 5% of in-cloud strokes. Additionally, for higher power strokes (and therefore higher peak currents), WWLLN detection efficiency rises to between 35 and 50% for 70A peak currents and above.
WWLLN is a participant in the CHUVA experiment near Sao Paulo, Brazil during 2011 and 2012. WWLLN presently has 3 receivers in Brazil, an additional four sensors in South America and an additional 7 to 10 stations within a few thousand km of Brazil. WWLLN sensors typically participate in locating lightning strokes up to 5 or 6,000 km from the individual stations in the daytime, and up to 10 to 12,000 km distant strokes at night. We demand that 5 WWLLN stations detect each stroke before we report it's location, so we can accurately locate the stroke, but also conduct error analysis on the fit.
WWLLN data have been important for many scientific publications, which can be found at http://wwlln.net/publications. The current world map of lightning strokes is located at "http://wwlln.net along with looping images of the present cloud cover with lightning locations overlaid.
Imagem: http://wwlln.net/L_plot_global_map.jpg
SGlobal Lightning Network (GLN).
Equipment description: The Global Lightning Network® (GLN®) is a partnership of WSI Corporation, a leading weather information provider to business and government, and TOA Systems Inc. a preeminent manufacturer of integrated lightning detection and warning systems. The two companies are also partners in the U.S. Precision Lightning Network (USPLN, www.uspln.com), an advanced lightning stroke detection network with precision metrics covering the continental US.
The GLN is based on several hundred TOA Systems lightning sensors positioned throughout the world. TOA Systems’ DSP-DF2000 is an advanced lightning sensor with digital signal processing and dual-band operation. The DSP-DF2000 processes lightning strokes with time difference-of-arrival technology that employs high resolution internal timing devices and GPS timing as a reference.
Arrival Time Difference network (ATDnet).
Equipment description: The Met Office’s Arrival Time Difference network (ATDnet) detects lightning strokes, and can therefore identify the locations and intensity of active thunderstorms in real-time, over a large portion of the world. Lightning emits electromagnetic radiation over a broad frequency range. Our eyes detect it by the bright flash of visible light, but an even stronger signal is emitted at much lower frequencies than light, in the Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio-wave part of the spectrum (~10kHz). Unlike light, this VLF radio-wave emission travels over thousands of kilometres as it gets trapped between the surface and an electrically-conductive atmospheric layer (the ionosphere) at an altitude of about 80km. ATDnet uses VLF receivers located at several places in the world (currently mainly in Europe) to record the arrival time of the VLF signal emitted from a lightning stroke. By analysing the arrival time difference at these sites, it is possible to calculate the lightning location. Using this technique, ATDnet can detect over 70 lightning strokes per second, at ranges exceeding 10,000km from the network centre with location accuracies as low as 1km over Europe.
Coletor de material particulado 1,8 LPM - PM2,5 - "Minisampler".
Descrição do Equipamento: O medidor separa o material particulado no ar na fração inalável fina com diâmetro aerodinâmico máximo de 2,5 µm, coletando uma amostra sobre um elemento filtrante de policarbonato, (Nuclepore, 37 mm), por coletores Mini Sampler da Harvard, com vazão de 1,8 lpm durante 24 horas. A concentração das partículas é determinada em laboratório pela pesagem dos filtros, para a determinação da massa do material tem sido utilizada a balança ultra-micro analítica (UMX2 da Meltler & Toledo). Além da concentração média do material particulado é possível também identificar os elementos que o compõe. Veja um exemplo de avaliação do material particulado relacionado com a precipitação no arquivo anexo.Read more...