Analysis of Environmental Parameters from the Panama City Tower Radar Experiment

Résumé du livre

Wind and wave data have been analyzed for the Panama City Tower Radar Experiment performed by Keller, Plant and Weissmann (1985), for comparison with radar data. Time series of wave height records were analyzed for a variety of definitions of wave height, with the resultant RMS heights calibrated against spectrum analysis results. As a result of the consideration of the wave spectra and wind history, the data are sorted into three types: equilibrium, fetch limited, and transient in time. Tracking the series of cross section-wind speed pairs for each data set over a few hour period indicates a well defined but different sequential development from one set to the next. While plotting of all the data produces the broad scatter previously reported, little scatter occurs about each individual track. This indicates that the specific sea surface characterization is primarily responsible for determining magnitudes of RCS, and that wind speed is only an implicit variable. Flow distortion effects are suggested as responsible for unusually high radar cross sections (RCS) previously reported for northerly winds, rather than atmospheric stability effects which were suggested originally.