Salient features of the radar nodes in the Puerto Rico tropical weather testbed

A tropical weather testbed, inspired by the CASA IP1 radar network, is to be constructed on the western coast of the island of Puerto Rico. This new radar network testbed will address Quantitative Precipitation Estimation (QPE) in a tropical environment. The testbed will consist of three low-power, short-range, dual polarized X-band Doppler radars. Special considerations were taken in the design of the radar, as related to the tropical seaside environment of the proposed site locations, where high temperatures, humidity, and elevated salinity in the air are common. The goal of the network is to study tropical weather events in the lower 2 km of the troposphere, where reduced accuracy of precipitation estimates by conventional weather radar can occur. This paper will describe the characteristics of the network radar nodes.