High-Resolution, Rapid-Scan Dual-Doppler Retrievals of Vertical Velocity in a Simulated Supercell

Abstract Observation system simulation experiments are used to evaluate different dual-Doppler analysis (DDA) methods for retrieving vertical velocity w at grid spacings on the order of 100 m within a simulated tornadic supercell. Variational approaches with and without a vertical vorticity equation constraint are tested, along with a typical (traditional) method involving vertical integration of the mass conservation equation. The analyses employ emulated radar data from dual-Doppler placements 15, 30, and 45 km east of the mesocyclone, with volume scan intervals ranging from 10 to 150 s. The effect of near-surface data loss is examined by denying observations below 1 km in some of the analyses. At the longer radar ranges and when no data denial is imposed, the “traditional” method produces results similar to those of the variational method and is much less expensive to implement. However, at close range and/or with data denial, the variational method is much more accurate, confirming results from previous studies. The vorticity constraint shows the potential to improve the variational analysis substantially, reducing errors in the w retrieval by up to 30% for rapid-scan observations (≤30 s) at close range when the local vorticity tendency is estimated using spatially variable advection correction. However, the vorticity constraint also degrades the analysis for longer scan intervals, and the impact diminishes with increased range. Furthermore, analyses using 30-s data also frequently outperform analyses using 10-s data, suggesting a limit to the benefit of increasing the radar scan rate for variational DDA employing the vorticity constraint.