DOW-Doppler on Wheels Field Project

One of my favorite parts about attending Embry-Riddle, are the amazing opportunities that the school provides us to branch out and better our education.This summer semester I have been participating in a really cool field project involving the million dollar vehicle, the Doppler on Wheels. The Meteorology department worked in conjunction with the National Science Foundation and the Center for Severe Weather Research chasing storms across the state of Florida. We have been using a Doppler Radar on Wheels to study storms to help improve warning systems for public safety.

The group of us gathered around the DOW during Embry-Riddles Open House event

Here we are standing in front of the POD, a mobile device we can leave in the field to gather more information

During our field experiment not only were we chasing storms but also involved in different outreach programs throughout the community. We visited several different schools around the surrounding counties as well as the Museum of Science and the NOAA Hurricane Awareness Tour featuring two different Hurricane hunter aircraft.

     I had so much fun learning about all of the different equipment  inside the DOW and it was so exciting to transfer what I was seeing outside in the sky to what was being received on the RADAR

Here I am being trained by the representative from NOAA on how the DOW works

Picking up some storms on the RADAR!!

Not only did we see some amazing data from the RADAR but we were able to chase some pretty cool storms and take great pictures!

Shelf cloud in Port Orange, FL

Looking out at a huge anvil from Tampa Bay!

This was such an amazing opportunity and it created a lot of buzz around the Central Florida area.  A couple of the days the DOW was followed around by some news crews and we were even featured on CBS!

Our time with the DOW has come to an end as it has to participate in some field experiments out in Kansas. For the remainder of the semester we will spend our time analyzing the data that that we had gathered over the past month and create research presentations. I am so grateful I was given this opportunity and it will be one I will surely never forget.

Until Next Time!

-Kealey