The Radar images are at present shown only here and on the
Forecast Corner, but will soon
be made into a separate, browseable, dataset.
The images are produced by the
Ross Meteorological Radar Laboratory, and the Cloud and Precipitation
Physics Laboratory, at Tel Aviv University.
The Radar is located on top of the Medical Faculty at the Tel-Aviv university
Ramat-Aviv Campus. The coordinates are 32 degrees and 7 minutes North, 34 degrees 48 minutes
and 21 seconds East.
The
Cloud and Precipitation Laboratory conducts research on the processes of cloud and
precipitation development, on the interaction of aerosols and clouds, on the electrification
of clouds and on the relations between lightning and precipitation.
Both experimental and theoretical approaches are undertaken.
As part of the experimental research the laboratory was directly involved in the study of dust
storms and sprites on board the space shuttle Columbia
(MEIDEX, Mediterranean Israeli Dust
Experiment) with the late Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut.
Some of the research is carried out using a dedicated airplane loaded with scientific instruments
for measuring aerosols and clouds parameters.
A number of numerical model have been developed in the laboratory for the study of
cloud and precipitation development, including the effect of cloud seeding for rain enhancement.
The most recent addition to this effort was the development of a 3D numerical model of the
electrical development of a field of thunderclouds.
The aim of this model is to study the effects of topography on
the generation of lightning and the mutual effects of the clouds on their neighbors.
The Cloud and Precipitation Laboratory houses the Ross Meteorological Radar Laboratory which
operates a 5.6 cm Enterprise WR-100-5 weather radar for the investigation of clouds and storms
in a region of about 200 km around Tel Aviv.
The data collected by the radar, and saved in a database at the Laboratory, is used as input
for many of the numerical models, and for the study of the connection between lightning and
precipitation.
