Patrick Skach's Blog

Right around sunrise Tuesday morning the National Weather Service Milwaukee Office's radar (MKX) showed some curious circular reflectivity returns.

The echoes developed suddenly and then grew in size between 6:45 AM and 7:30 AM. The MKX staff suspects these to be birds taking off right at sunrise. Some of the echoes initially show returns as high as 30 dBZ, which would equate to a decent shower if the returns were made of rain drops. These are likely dense clusterings of geese heading out early to feed in the fields.

Below is an animated loop of three radar images taken Tuesday morning at 6:47 AM...6:57 AM....and 7:07 AM. There are large plumes located in Dodge, Dane, Columbia, Green Lake, Fond Du Lac, and Rock counties.  In addition, there is a fourth large clustering in northern Illinois and if you look very close a couple much smaller rings in Jefferson and Waukesha counties.

The Radar Ornithology Laboratory at Clemson University (CUROL) was established in 1990. The laboratory is devoted to the acquisition and analysis of radar data as it relates to bird movements in the atmosphere. Relating radar data, field observation, satellite imagery, and weather data, our laboratory has discovered important factors controlling temporal and spatial patterns of daily and seasonal movements of birds. Our use of the WSR-88D (NEXRAD - Weather Surveillance Radar 88D) network in the United States has allowed us to record large-scale migration events and relate these to topography and local and regional weather conditions. We also are using these data to develop continent-wide and regional migration maps and to build predictive models of migration for different regions of the United States. Some recent work at the Laboratory includes:

• Calibrating WSR-88D displays for quantifying bird migration,
• Developing migration maps for different regions of the United States,
• Examining changing migration patterns with comparisons of current and historic radar datasets,
• Developing national migration models from forecast weather variables,
• Forecasting bird migration in the northeastern United States.
• Identifying and delimiting important migration stopover areas by using WSR-88D and classified multispectral satellite data in a GIS,
• Mapping roosting areas of Purple Martins throughout the South, and
• Conducting radar studies of bird migration through Panama.