The European Union COST (Cooperation in Science and Technology) action on advanced weather radar systems is described. The associated five-year research project, which began in early 1993, has the objective to develop guideline specifications for a future generation of European operational radar systems. The authors describe the status of the project, the results reached so far in assessing and reviewing the potential improvements to conventional radars, the products and application of Doppler radar data, the contribution of polarimetric radars to the improvement of quantitative precipitation measurements and for nowcasting, and the possible development of electronically scanned systems. Problems to be tackled in the remaining years of the project are assessments of future technological feasibility, market forecasts, and cost/benefit investigations for the varied requirement profiles across Europe. It is intended to generate a high-level specification for the next generation of weather radars in Europe.
*DLR, Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany.
+University of Salford, Telford Research Institute, Salford, United Kingdom.
#University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom.
@Swiss Meteorological Institute, Osservatorio Ticinese, Locarno Monti, Switzerland.
&Technical University Graz, Institute of Communications and Wave Propagation, Graz, Austria.
