Development of an Active-Passive Millimeter Wave Remote Sensing System for Cloud Measurements

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9871398McIntosh Understanding of the physics of clouds and precipitation is necessary in order to address a variety of meteorological problems from rain formation through cloud radiative properties which are important to many issues on climate and global climate change. The Principal Investigators will develop an advanced suite of airborne instrumentation that will allow better data collection than heretofore possible on the water budget of cloud systems. This set of instruments has been named the Active-passive Millimeter wave Remote Sensing system (AMRS). The completed system will be comprised of a cloud profiling radar (transmit frequency of 95 GHz) and two (20.6 and 31.6 GHz) radiometers. AMRS will be mounted on the University of Wyoming's KingAir national aircraft facility and used principally for fundamental cloud physics research. Together with an existing extensive set of in situ probes, the proposed ARMS will substantially add to the King Air's research capabilities.The 95 GHz cloud profiling radar component has already been developed under prior support. This unique system has enabled numerous significant research findings about the structure and dynamics of clouds, which are now in the literature. Under the current grant, the Principal Investigators will develop the two radiometers. The combined use of the of AMRS sensors will represent a significant increase in capabilities for understanding cloud microphysics and dynamics and will help address fundamental problems that range from precipitation production to impact of clouds on climate. ***