NOAA eyes replacing ageing network of WSR-88D NEXRAD weather radar to warn of tornadoes and thunderstorms

WASHINGTON – U.S. weather forecasters are beginning the long process of replacing the nation's network of NEXRAD WSR-88D weather radar systems, and are approaching industry for suggestions on the best available enabling technologies to do so.

Officials of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service (NWS) in Washington issued a request for information (NOAANWSNEXT) last week for the Weather Radar Technologies and Concepts of Operations for the National Weather Service project.

NEXRAD -- developed in cooperation by the NEW, U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) -- detects, processes, and displays hazardous and routine weather information using Doppler weather radar systems that detect and produce more than 100 different long-range and high-altitude weather observations on precipitation, winds, and thunderstorms.

NEXRAD, in operation since the early 1990s, helps provides location, time of arrival, and severity of weather conditions to determine the best routing for aircraft, and helps warn the public about approaching severe weather like tornadoes and thunderstorms, as well as damaging winds.

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Yet NEXRAD is nearly four decades old, and has exceeded its original 20-year design life. Although the system has been upgraded, NEXRAD still has more than 4,000 components that face obsolescence and supply chain challenges, putting the system at an increasing risk of long or possible permanent failures. NEXRAD is a product of Unisys Corp. in Blue Bell, Pa., which won a government contract to build the system in 1990 after prevailing over Raytheon.

NOAA leaders have decided it's time to replace NEXRAD to prevent disruption in the Nation’s weather radars due to aging infrastructure; expand radar coverage; and create a network of radars that are flexible and scalable.

The current national weather radar system is a combination of the NEXRAD radar system and other sensors like the Automated Surface Observing System and satellite sensors such as the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite.

NOAA experts are exploring existing and cutting-edge technologies to advance future weather surveillance Doppler radar capabilities. From industry, NOAA is looking for commercial radars with weather detection capabilities. Experts want to know the radar's maturity level, frequency bands of operation, and future deployment timelines.

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Of these weather radar technologies, NOAA would like to know plans for improvement over the current NEXRAD WSR-88D radar network, in terms of software and hardware.

Of particular interest are approaches to reduce the radar's volume scan period to increase lead times and lower false alarm rates for severe weather like flash floods and tornadoes, with no degradation in performance.

NOAA also is interested in low-elevation scanning, mitigating ground clutter, maintaining low interference between beams, and the ability to incorporate data from other meteorological sensors. Officials also are interested in radar digital signal processing capable enough to filter out complex interference from wind turbine farms.

Companies interested should email responses no later than 20 Sept. 2024 to Kevin Buum at [email protected]; Dan Hoffman at [email protected]; and Holly Ferguson at [email protected]. More information is online at https://sam.gov/opp/48f9f8bc90d64d44a885acad343a1bb1/view.