Weather radar is a key tool to study microphysical properties of clouds and precipitation. In literature, quantitative comparisons have been made between space borne and ground radars to provide deep insight into the internal structure of clouds and cloud systems (Gaussiat et al. 2004). In particular in the last years, several studies have been published comparing data from W-band Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) on board CloudSat (CS), operating at 94 GHz, and ground radar observations. Impressive progresses in cloud physics and dynamics investigations and benefits for applications, from nowcasting to climate studies (Stephens et al. 2002), have been reached by means of CS. Hudak et al. (2008) describe the validation data from the Environment Canada radar network and the precipitation detection algorithm in the CS product. Protat et al. (2009) compare CS reflectivities and basic ice cloud properties with ground-based radar observation, showing generally good agreements between the two datasets. Liu et al. (2010) compare the observed vertical structure of cloud occurrence and reflectivity distributions from CS and ground-based millimeter-wavelength cloud radar in the tropical western Pacific region. The present study aims at presenting method and preliminary results of a quantitative comparison between data from CS, and data from a ground radar, operating at the frequency of 5.6 GHz (hereinafter GR), to investigate microphysical properties of a cloud system. In particular we focus our attention on the ice component of the cloud, firstly because it is the main portion of the system and secondly it is well investigated by both of the available radars.
W-band from space and C-band ground radar analysis for investigating cloud microphysical characteristics
Marra AC;Marra GP;Moscatello A;Turnone A;Prodi F
2012
Abstract
Weather radar is a key tool to study microphysical properties of clouds and precipitation. In literature, quantitative comparisons have been made between space borne and ground radars to provide deep insight into the internal structure of clouds and cloud systems (Gaussiat et al. 2004). In particular in the last years, several studies have been published comparing data from W-band Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) on board CloudSat (CS), operating at 94 GHz, and ground radar observations. Impressive progresses in cloud physics and dynamics investigations and benefits for applications, from nowcasting to climate studies (Stephens et al. 2002), have been reached by means of CS. Hudak et al. (2008) describe the validation data from the Environment Canada radar network and the precipitation detection algorithm in the CS product. Protat et al. (2009) compare CS reflectivities and basic ice cloud properties with ground-based radar observation, showing generally good agreements between the two datasets. Liu et al. (2010) compare the observed vertical structure of cloud occurrence and reflectivity distributions from CS and ground-based millimeter-wavelength cloud radar in the tropical western Pacific region. The present study aims at presenting method and preliminary results of a quantitative comparison between data from CS, and data from a ground radar, operating at the frequency of 5.6 GHz (hereinafter GR), to investigate microphysical properties of a cloud system. In particular we focus our attention on the ice component of the cloud, firstly because it is the main portion of the system and secondly it is well investigated by both of the available radars.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
