DOPPLER RADAR

Weather radar that measures direction and speed of a moving object, such as drops of precipitation, by determining whether atmospheric motion is horizontally toward or away from the radar. Using the Doppler effect, it measures the velocity of particles. Named for J. Christian Doppler, an Austrian physicist, who in 1842 explained why the whistle of an approaching train had a higher pitch than the same whistle when the train was going away. See NEXRAD.

Radar that can measure radial velocity , the instantaneous component of motion parallel to the radar beam (i.e., toward or away from the radar antenna).