HIWRAP Instrument

  • Released Monday, October 6th, 2014
  • Updated Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023 at 1:50PM
  • ID: 11669
The HIWRAP is the High-Altitude Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler, a "conically scanning" Doppler radar, meaning it scans in a cone-shaped manner. Wind measurements are crucial for understanding and forecasting tropical storms since they are closely tied to the overall dynamics of the storm. The HIWRAP instrument is able to measure line-of-sight (along the radar beam) and because it scans in a cone beneath the aircraft, it gets two looks at most parts of the storm, allowing calculations of the 3-dimensional wind and rain fields. In the absence of rain, it can also measure ocean surface winds.

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Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Series

This visualization can be found in the following series:

Tapes

This visualization originally appeared on the following tapes:
  • HS3 HIWRAP Instrument (ID: 2014089)
    Monday, October 6, 2014 at 4:00AM