SOURCE: World’s most advanced shipborne radar ready to set sail

In mid-October, Steven Rutledge will sail to the intertropical convergence zone near the Equator aboard a 300-foot vessel called the R/V Roger Revelle.

It’s not a vacation cruise. Rutledge, professor of atmospheric science, will lead a Colorado State University team on a five-week research voyage to test a new weather radar. After more than two years of planning and construction at the CSU-CHILL National Radar Facility in Greeley, the team will deploy the most advanced shipborne radar the world has ever seen.

The radar is called SEA-POL (short for “seafaring polarimetric”), and it was built through a $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation awarded to Rutledge and V. “Chandra” Chandrasekar, professor in CSU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The ship deployment is funded by an additional $300,000 from NASA and the National Science Foundation.

Read the full SOURCE article, “World’s most advanced shipborne radar ready to set sail.”

Photo: Members of the SEA-POL team with the radar, right before disassembly and shipment to San Diego for its voyage to sea. From left: engineer Francesc Junyent, engineer Jim George, CSU-CHILL facility manager Pat Kennedy, Professor of Atmospheric Science Steve Rutledge, graduate student Alex Morin, and Rutledge’s dog, Saphira.