The Dulles Airport Pressure Jump Detector Array for Gust Front Detection
Abstract Wind shear has long been recognized as one of the major aviation hazards in the airport environment. A principal source of dangerous wind shear is the thunderstorm gust front, a cold air outflow from the thunderstorm downdraft. The gust front is particularly hazardous not only because of the large surface wind shears associated with it, but also because of its highly localized character. Often the down-draft or downburst region producing such fronts is of the order of a few kilometers or less in dimension. As a result, vertically profiling wind shear detection techniques such as the hybrid acoustic-microwave radar system described in the companion paper by Hardesty et al. (1977) do not provide adequate total protection. In this paper we describe an array of pressure sensors installed at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., to detect and monitor gust fronts that could endanger aircraft operations. The pressure sensors (designed to respond only to sudden pressure increase) are so inexp...