A 94-GHz Cloud Radar System on a NASA High-Altitude ER-2 Aircraft

The 94-GHz (W band) Cloud Radar System (CRS) has been developed and flown on a NASA ER-2 high-altitude (20 km) aircraft. The CRS is a fully coherent, polarimetric Doppler radar that is capable of detecting clouds and precipitation from the surface up to the aircraft altitude in the lower stratosphere. The radar is especially well suited for cirrus cloud studies because of its high sensitivity and fine spatial resolution. This paper describes the CRS motivation, instrument design, specifications, calibration, and preliminary data from NASA's Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers-Florida Area Cirrus Experiment (CRYSTAL-FACE) field campaign. The unique combination of CRS with other sensors on the ER-2 provides an unprecedented opportunity to study cloud radiative effects on the global energy budget. CRS observations are being used to improve our knowledge of atmospheric scattering and attenuation characteristics at 94 GHz, and to provide datasets for algorithm implementation and validation for the upcoming NASA CloudSat mission that will use a 94-GHz spaceborne cloud radar to provide the first direct global survey of the vertical structure of cloud systems. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]