Japanese weather information platform Weathernews has installed its new high-frequency compact weather radar in Yachimata City, Chiba Prefecture, and is currently undertaking a field test to verify its efficacy.
The new Eagle radar performs 360° observations within 30 seconds, enabling the near real-time tracking of the development of cumulonimbus clouds within a 50km radius. This makes it possible to capture guerilla thunderstorms, linear precipitation zones, heavy snow, wind gusts, hail, and other localized weather events with greater accuracy.
The Eagle radar is intended to succeed the current WITH weather radar technology developed by Weathernews in 2009, which take five minutes to perform the same observations and make it difficult to track rapidly developing weather events.
Weathernews will be evaluating the accuracy of the radar and making final adjustments until June 2022. Once completed, it intends to install the Eagle radar in a total of 50 locations in Asia within two years to reinforce its global weather monitoring system.
During the testing phase, the Weathernews Forecast Center monitors the radar and uses the observation data to improve the accuracy of forecasts for periods of a few hours ahead. As was the case with the WITH radars, Weathernews will not only be capturing the state of clouds in 3D but will also be working on the development of services. The company will initially focus on Japanese companies, developing services such as decision-making support relating to snow removal and detour recommendations for road management companies.
Weathernews has been working on the development of the Eagle radar in collaboration with the University of Oklahoma since 2014. It also signed a memorandum of understanding with Nanowave in June 2017 regarding the mass production of the radar technology.