The latest data and more information about the research agreement is available on the Cumbria weather radar website. Radar Applications in Northern England (RAINE) data collected by the NCAS X-band radar in Cumbria is available for researchers and members of the public to view. For NCAS, we are excited to make observations in a new region that will allow us to explore many scientific questions about the rainfall processes in mountainous terrain. We are happy to be working with the Environment Agency to provide them with high resolution data in this under-observed region so that they may improve their flood forecasts. Ryan Neely and Lindsay Bennett, scientists at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science added: We’re seeing many benefits from the collaboration including a greater interest from all parties to integrate data from deployments like this, and other third party radars into the national Met Office rainfall products. The deployment of the NCAS radar will help us to build a strong case for investment where it’s needed. Tim Harrison, Senior Advisor for the Environment Agency said: Importantly, the location of the radar will improve the observations of rainfall over Cumbria, helping to make flood forecasting in the area more accurate.ĭata collected by the radar will provide evidence for the need to invest in a permanent solution and help researchers better understand the type of extreme rainfall that sometimes affects Cumbria.Ī separate partnership project between the Environment Agency, Met Office, National Resources Wales, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Department of Infrastructure Northern Ireland is developing a national strategy for the UK’s radar network over the next 15 years and data from the radar will help to support the development of a long term radar solution in Cumbria. The radar measures rain, wind and other parameters. Weather radars are the most effective way to collect real-time rainfall information and NCAS operates the only mobile weather radar in the UK. Learn more about bringing multiple sources of rainfall data into the national weather radar Provide information to support the development of a long term weather solution for Cumbriaįurther understand the challenges associated with collecting high quality data over mountainous terrain Improve the weather radar coverage in north Cumbria for up to a year The deployment is a collaborative research project between the Environment Agency, the University of Leeds and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, called Radar Applications in Northern England (RAIN-E). For the next 12 months, the NCAS X-band radar will provide data that will help improve the Environment Agency’s rainfall detection capability and should lead to an improvement in our flood forecasting and warning services. The new radar network delivers five times more data - 1.8 million rainfall observations per hour per radar, with almost a terabyte being received from each radar over the course of a year.The Environment Agency and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) have successfully deployed a mobile weather radar in Cumbria. The Met Office radar network is one of the longest established radar networks of its kind in the world and consists of 15 radars across the UK - the oldest is at Hameldon Hill, near Burnley in Manchester and has been operating since 1974. Radar therefore provides a crucial input to short-range weather forecasts (nowcasts) of precipitation rate, and improves the skill of weather forecasts when it is assimilated into numerical weather prediction models.” The most intense rainfall events are often highly localised and can therefore be missed or under-sampled by rain gauge networks, and whilst their occurrence can be forecast with skill, it is often not currently possible to forecast their exact location. The Head of the Met Office Public Weather Service Derrick Ryall said “ Weather radar provides the only means of measuring the spatial extent and distribution of rainfall over a wide geographical area. These new scientific advancements have not only improved radar coverage but will lead to improvements in the accuracy of rainfall estimates, particularly during high impact weather events, such as flooding. For the first time the size and shape of raindrops and snowflakes can be captured, as well as wind speed data. The Met Office have completed a £10 million pound state-of-the-art upgrade of the UK’s rainfall radar network.
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