page_title: Tropical cyclone observation
section_title: Radar
hierarchical_section_title: Tropical cyclone observation / Remote sensing / Radar
caption_attribution_description: This image shows Hurricane Erika at 4:59 a.m. CDT on August 16, 2003, as it neared its landfall in Mexico. The foreground image is reflectivity data from the NWS NEXRAD radar at Brownsville, Texas; which is the black dot to the north of the center of the image. The background is true colour imagery derived from NASA's MODIS satellites.
context_page_description: Tropical cyclone observation has been carried out over the past couple of centuries in various ways. The passage of typhoons, hurricanes, as well as other tropical cyclones have been detected by word of mouth from sailors recently coming to port or by radio transmissions from ships at sea, from sediment deposits in near shore estuaries, to the wiping out of cities near the coastline. Since World War II, advances in technology have included using planes to survey the ocean basins, satellites to monitor the world's oceans from outer space using a variety of methods, radars to monitor their progress near the coastline, and recently the introduction of unmanned aerial vehicles to penetrate storms. Recent studies have concentrated on studying hurricane impacts lying within rocks or near shore lake sediments, which are branches of a new field known as paleotempestology.
context_section_description: During World War II, radar technology was developed to detect aircraft.  It soon became apparent that large areas became obscured when significant weather was in the area.  In 1957, the National Weather Service established the United States' first radar network to cover the coastline and act as first warning of an impending tropical cyclone.  Upgraded in the 1990s to use doppler technology, radar can provide rainfall estimates, wind estimates, possible locations of tornadoes within a system's spiral bands, as well as the center location of a tropical cyclone. The United States operates with a network of 158 Doppler Radars across the country.
caption: Radar image of Hurricane Erika making landfall over Northeastern Mexico
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