CUNY CREST hosted Radar Workshop at the CCNY on September 14 and again on September 15, 2023. The workshop was led by Dr. Bob Rabin, NOAA National Severe Storm Center (Retired), Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), University of Wisconsin-Madison, in coordination with Dr. Brian Vant-Hull, Affiliate Scientist with the CUNY CREST Institute. Thirty-two (32) students benefited from the workshop. 

During the workshop, students gained knowledge about theory and use of weather radar data including a hands-on section where they used the NOAA weather and climate toolkit. Topics included: 

  • Brief history of weather radars
  • How radars work
  • Estimation of precipitation rate from radar & multi-sensor observations
  • Detection of precipitation type from polarimetric radar measurements
  • Limitations in precipitation estimation due to beam geometry, bright bands & topography
  • Doppler & estimation of wind velocity, shear & wind profiles

The first day of the workshop was attended by graduate students from the City University of New York (CUNY) while the second day was attended by students from India who were visiting CUNY as part of their STEM Internship program funded by the World Bank and Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR). Students were deeply engaged during the workshop. For the students from India, the workshop was a new exposure that they appreciated. 

Commenting on the workshop, Brian said, “I’ve long wanted to have a radar workshop that our students could attend, on a research level. Bob Rabin always comes to mind when I think about working with weather service data, and he had been eager to come back to visit CREST.”