Author: Bernard D. Weiss

Publisher:

Published: 1968

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13:

This report presents an operational evaluation of the fully configured, three-station SPARSA network at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station. The purpose of the evaluation was to determine the network’s ability to detect and track thunderstorms and to show the growth and decay of active cells in the triangulation area depicted on the display console. The data were collected over a period of 37 days in the summer of 1967 and include a total of 70 thunderstorms. The tests indicate that when manned continuously the SPARSA equipment successfully identified all known areas of electrical activity and in most cases provided ample warnings of storm growth and decay within a 50-mile radius of the Cape Kennedy Control Center. Surface weather observations in and around the triangulation area were used to verify SPARSA information. (Author)