The Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), Cochin, India, hosts the world’s first 205-MHz stratosphere–troposphere (ST) wind profiler radar. This radar constitutes 619 three-element Yagi–Uda antennas with a power aperture product of 1.6 × 108 Wm2 and is capable of providing accurate three-dimensional wind profiles for an altitude range of 315 m–20 km. The system description and its first time validation and results from some of the radar’s potential applications are being presented. The radar wind profiles have been validated against collocated GPS–radiosonde measurements during the summer monsoon of 2016. The radar and radiosonde profiles show very good correlation with coefficients of 0.99 and 0.93 for zonal and meridional winds, respectively. The standard deviation of the radar measurements with respect to radiosonde measurements is found to be 1.85 m s−1 for zonal wind and 1.66 m s−1 for meridional wind. Moreover, the radar also detects echoes from the ionosphere. The ST radar at Cochin (10.04°N, 76.33°E; 40 m MSL) is an ideal observational facility, located in the tropics, for understanding the processes of the Indian summer monsoon at the region of its onset, which is expected to enhance science’s knowledge of monsoon dynamics.
We use measurements from the Experiment to Detect the Global EoR Signature (EDGES) to determine scale and zero-level corrections to the diffuse radio surveys by Guzmán et al. at 45 MHz and by Landecker & Wielebinski at 150 MHz. We find that the map of Guzmán et al. requires a scale correction of 1.076 ± 0.034 (2σ) and a zero-level correction of −160 ± 78 K (2σ) to best-fit the EDGES data. For the map of Landecker & Wielebinski, the scale correction is 1.112 ± 0.023 (2σ) and the zero-level correction is 0.7 ± 6.0 K (2σ). The correction uncertainties are dominated by systematic effects, of which the most significant are uncertainty in the calibration of the EDGES receivers, antenna pointing, and tropospheric and ionospheric effects. We propagate the correction uncertainties to estimate the uncertainties in the corrected maps themselves and find that the 2σ uncertainty in the map brightness temperature is in the range 3.2%–7.5% for the map of Guzmán et al. and 2.1%–9.0% for the map of Landecker & Wielebinski, with the largest percentage uncertainties occurring at high Galactic latitudes. The corrected maps could be used to improve existing diffuse low-frequency radio sky models, which are essential tools in analyses of cosmological 21 cm observations, as well as to investigate the existence of a radio monopole excess above the cosmic microwave background and known Galactic and extragalactic contributions.
A novel Mini Wind Profiling radar at 205 MHz has been set up at Cochin (10.04°N, 76.33°E), India, with the main objective of studying the dynamics of the Indian summer monsoon. This paper presents the first time validation of this Mini Wind Profiler using collocated radiosonde wind measurements. The wind profiles within 1–6 km altitude range have been validated. The radar wind profiles match very well with the radiosondes both in terms of magnitude and direction and ideally captures the day‐to‐day wind variations. The correlation between radar and radiosonde's zonal and meridional wind is 0.91 and 0.85, respectively. The standard deviation of the difference between radiosonde and radar for zonal wind is found to be 1.95 m s−1 and 1.56 m s−1 for meridional wind. These observations are seen to agree quite well with other established wind profiler radars operating elsewhere in the world. The results show that the 205 MHz Wind Profiler is capable of providing high‐quality wind data, and this could be pivotal for monsoon studies in years to come.
A state-of-the-art, indigenously developed, and the world's first 205 MHz stratosphere-troposphere (ST) wind profiler radar installed at the Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala, with the support of Science Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, is introduced in this article. This radar provides a cost-effective and high precision technology capable of monitoring in all weather conditions round the clock. Its primary goal is to understand the characteristics of the Indian summer monsoon at its gateway at Cochin. Brief technical details and the validation of radar data with the colocated GPS radiosonde observations are mentioned. Applications of the ST radar data for various studies of atmospheric, ionospheric and radio astronomical features are discussed. Cochin ST Radar is open to all researchers from national institutes, universities and other academic institutions for conducting regular as well as special experimental campaigns, based on their scientific proposals.
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