A variational technique for dealiasing Doppler radial velocity data

Velocity folding, or aliasing, is one of most significant impediments to the use of radial winds from Doppler weather radar. In this note, a variational algorithm is developed in which dealiasing is performed using wind gradient information. The key to the proposed method is that, by operating on gradients of velocity rather than on the velocity itself, aliasing ambiguities are readily identified and eliminated. The viability of the method is demonstrated by applying it to Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) observations from a winter-weather event and a tornadic supercell storm.