'Doppler on Wheels' comes to Penn State for weather research

University Park, Pa. -- Two 'Doppler on Wheels' (DOW) vehicles have arrived at Penn State's University Park campus for the Pennsylvania Mobile Radar Experiment (PAMREX), a research project of the department of meteorology. PAMREX uses the DOW vehicles, previously used to chase tornados in Oklahoma and to look at mountain precipitation in the Italian Alps, to investigate the effect that Pennsylvania's ridge-and-valley topography has on weather. For information about PAMREX, visit http://www.meteo.psu.edu/~marko/pamrex/ According to researchers Yvette Richardson, assistant professor of meteorology, and Johannes Verlinde, associate professor of meteorology, having the vehicles at University Park for eight weeks will give students the opportunity to collect a variety of data, which they will then analyze next semester. Students, including those taking meteorology 497D/597D -- radar observations and analysis I, will look at such weather phenomenon as lake-effect rain and snow, thunderstorms and weather fronts entering the area. They also will explore the effects that State College has on weather downwind. Graduate student Jim Marquis said he wants to use the equipment to measure storm interaction with the mountains, and air flow in general. The two DOWs, owned by the nonprofit Center for Severe Weather Research, are used to provide a three-dimensional image of clouds, precipitation and even insects. The DOWs were developed by the University of Oklahoma, the National Severe Storms Laboratory and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. For pictures of the equipment, go to http://live.psu.edu/still_life/10_08_03_dow/index.html