Reduced turbulent mixing in a mesoscale NWP model for radar propagation forecasting

Abstract

The effect of the atmosphere on radar coverage in complex coastal environments is of great importance in many naval applications. Variations in atmospheric refractivity driven by vertical gradients of temperature and moisture can significantly enhance or reduce the range at which a particular target may be detected. Mesoscale Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models can be used to predict the spatial and temporal variation of atmospheric refractivity fields, which form the basis for forecasting radar coverage patterns.