CASA Demonstrates Real-time Wind Field Mapping System (VERNe)

Shown are two hundred meter resolution velocity fields calculated in real-time of a severe storm event located near the town of Anadarko, OK, on May 14^th, 2009.  The six frames indicate a minute-by-minute, independent, multi-doppler calculation of the velocity field calculated at 900 meter height by CASA's VERNe (Velocity Estimation and Display in a Radar Network) software system developed by PhD Student Edin Insanic.  Velocities are shown as colored vectors, against a gray-scale image of the reflectivity.  A velocity vortex can be seen descending from North to South, in the right-hand side of the image, with some of the most extreme velocities above 35 m/s (magenta; equivalent to 80 miles per hour) winds.  Regions of reported storm damage occurred 5 km to the south of this vortex (not shown) with VERNe estimated wind velocities in excess of 45 m/s (burgundy; equivalent to 100 miles per hour), indicating that much of the damage was due to the straight-line winds on the storm's flank rather than the vortex itself.

Calculations and displays such as the one shown above are generated by VERNe in real time using a Geocentric Spherical Coordinate System which provides a universal grid for calculating velocities, velocity estimate errors, and secondary metrics such as sheer and vorticity, which can be used by emergency managers to identify regions of severe weather as they occur. Dr. Edin Insanic presented these results and successfully defended his UMass ECE PhD dissertation on April 1, 2010.