The OAR Outstanding Scientific Paper Award was given to NSSL’s Alexander Ryzhkov, Terry Schuur, Don Burgess, Pam Heinselman, Scott Giangrande and Dusan Zrnic for their paper on “The Joint Polarization Experiment: Polarimetric Rainfall Measurements and Hydrometeor Classification.”

The paper was the cover story published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society in June, 2005 with the lead, “Window on the Weather: Testing the Polarimetric WSR-88D.”

The winning paper described the advantages of a polarimetric WSR-88D, confirmed during the Joint Polarization Experiment (JPOLE) demonstration project in Oklahoma. The OAR award honors the most original, important, useful, and outstanding peer-reviewed publications from OAR laboratories and Cooperative Institutes.

Background: NSSL conducted the Joint Polarization Experiment (JPOLE) in 2002-2003 to demonstrate the operational capabilities of a polarimetric Doppler radar. JPOLE proved that significant improvements in rainfall estimation, precipitation classification, data quality and weather hazard detection were possible using polarized radar.

Significance: The entire national NEXRAD radar network will be upgraded in 2010-2011 with dual-polarization capability extending its functionality and effectiveness.