Proceedings with Extended Abstracts (single PDF file) - Radio ...

FIRST RESULTS OF THE BOUNDARY LAYER AND TROPOSPHERICRADAR SYSTEMS FOR ENSO STUDIES IN NORTHERN PERUD. Scipión 1 , J. Chau 1 , and L. Flores 21 Radio Observatorio de Jicamarca, Instituto Geofísico del Perú, Lima2 Laboratorio de Física – Universidad de Piura1. Introduction.The Instituto Geofísico del Perú (IGP) has recently bought with the cooperation of theWorld Bank, two new Boundary Layer & Troposphere Radar (BLTR) systems to improve thecapacity for predicting and evaluating the El Niño phenomenon (ENSO) to assist in theprevention and mitigation of disasters in Peru (R. Woodman and P. Lagos, personalcommunication). Both systems have been installed in northern Peru, because this area is one ofthe most sensitive to El Niño phenomenon in the World. In particular, Piura which is a desertlikearea with an average annual rainfall of 50 mm, in few months of ENSO becomes a tropicalarea (rainfall of 3000 mm in less than 6 months!). The data from these systems will beincorporated to the regional numerical weather model of IGP.The first system was installed at Universidad de Piura (UDEP) where it complementsthe existing Piura ST system [Gage et al., 1991]. As we will show below, the validation of thenewly installed BLTR system in Piura has been tested against winds obtained wit the ST radarand also against winds obtained from pilot balloons. The ST and BLTR radars operate at49.920 MHz, and we avoid possible interference between both of them by operating the BLTRsystem in slave mode. The second BLTR system was installed ~200 km SE of Piura close toPorcuya. Atmospheric dynamics above this site will be very important because it is located atthe lowest part of the Andes in the northern part of Peru and therefore in the border of thePacific and Atlantic basins.In this work, we will present first results, comparison and statistical studies betweenBLTR, ST and Pilot Balloons of instantaneous data, consensus data, and NCEP Reanalysis dataover UDEP and Porcuya.2. Peruvian ProfilersTable 1 shows the different systems operating in Northern Peru. The ST system wasinstalled in 1989 as part of the Transpacific Profiler Network [e.g., Gage et al., 1991], itoperates at 49.92 MHz and uses the Doppler Beam Swinging (DBS) technique; its rangecoverage is between 2 – 12kms. with 1km resolution and it takes 12 minutes to cover all thebeams (north, south, east, west and vertical).Table 1 Wind profilers in Northern Peru.Location Altitude Type Band Size Peak Power Method PeriodPiura 43m. ST VHF 100m x 100m 30 kW DBS 1989 -Piura 43m. BLT VHF 30m x 30m 12 kW SA 2001 - ?Porcuya 1163m. BLT VHF 30m x 30m 12 kW SA 2002 -357