An airborne 95 GHz dual-polarized radar for cloud studies

Journal Article · Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994 · IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/36.298002· OSTI ID:7081457

Pazmany, A L; McIntosh, R E ^[1]; Kelly, R D; Vali, G ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (United States). Microwave Remote Sensing Lab.
2. Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (United States). Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences

A 95 GHz dual-polarization radar system was developed and flown on the University of Wyoming King Air research aircraft, from which it measured reflectivity, depolarization, and Doppler-derived velocity mean and standard deviation of a variety of clouds. This paper describes the radar and a data acquisition system that uses commercially available digitizers, signal processors, and signal generators. The authors also describe the tradeoffs between spatial resolution and their ability to estimate reflectivity and velocity. This paper presents the first known airborne measurements of clouds made at 95 GHz; these are thought to be the most highly resolved millimeter-wave cloud images made to date. Depolarization, measured in terms of the linear depolarization ratio (LDR), was especially high in the melting band and in regions containing pristine ice crystals. These measurements demonstrate the advances that high-spatial-resolution airborne millimeter-wave radars offer for the study of cloud microphysical properties.

• DOE Contract Number: FG02-90ER61060
• OSTI ID: 7081457
• Journal Information: IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States), Vol. 32:4; ISSN 0196-2892
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CLOUDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
REMOTE SENSING
RADAR
DESIGN
PERFORMANCE TESTING
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
RANGE FINDERS
TESTING
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