Dr. Sandra Cruz-PolRF Systems and Remote Sensing

Past Projects

NSF ERC CASA (Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere)

NASA FAR (Cloud Microwave Remote Sensing) CLiMMAte Lab

NSF MRI Tropinet (Weather radar network on west part of PR)

NASA TCESS (Atmospheric path delay using satellite and in-situ data)

10,000 ft

tornado

wind

earth surface

snow

3.05

km

0 40 80 120 160 200 240

RANGE (km)

Horz. Scale: 1” = 50 kmVert. Scale: 1” -=- 2 km

5.4

km

1 km

2 km

4 km

gapCayey NWS radar

Oeste de PR

10,000 ft

tornado

wind

earth surface

snow3.

05 k

m

3.05

km

040

80 120 160 200 240

RANGE (km)

Achievements Establishing weather radar network on the island together with

Drs. Jose Colom-Ustáriz, Rafael Rodriguez Solis, and Leyda León Colón

Event on Aug 2010

UPRM OTG radars NWS Radar (15 km range) non-Doppler (250km Doppler non-polarimetric)

only rain rain & wind** Note the improved spatial/temporal resolution, plus is sampling lower atmosphere.

Grad Students; Jorge Trabal, G. Pablos, José Ortiz, Melisa Acosta, Wilson Castellano, Estefany Lancheros, Jose Cordero, Ricky Ríos, Joel Rosario,

Benjamin de Jesús…

Future: Emergency Center-leverageWave radars (for current, wind , rescue and tsunami apps)

Can be implemented with:• Microwave range finders

(CMFM)• Marine navigation radars (X-

band)• The range gated pulsed

Doppler microwave radar• Dual frequency microwave

radar• HF radar (4-50 Mhz)

Alignment to Broad Research

Themes

How do your interests align with broad research themes such as the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges?

Examples of broad themes: Sustainability, Health, Security, Communications, Information Technology,

Climate Change, Big Data

National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges (http://www.engineeringchallenges.org): Make solar energy economical, Provide energy from fusion, Develop

carbon sequestration methods, Manage the nitrogen cycle, Provide access to clean water, Restore and improve urban infrastructure, Advance health informatics, Engineer better medicines, Reverse-engineer the brain, Prevent nuclear terror, Secure cyberspace, Enhance virtual reality, Advance personalized learning, Engineer the tools of scientific discovery