CIF: Millimeter-wavelength Radar Facility for Cloud and Precipitation Research

该社区仪器和设施（CIF）合同是为了支持最先进的35 ghz （ka波段，8毫米波长）扫描极化雷达（KASPR）和一套现代辅助、微波和光学传感器，作为一种车载、可运输、基于“云”雷达的仪器套件，用于研究一系列动态微物理云过程。这个全面的毫米波长云雷达设施可以提供从沿海雾到冬季风暴的广泛云和降水条件的测量。该设施是对其他机载和地面社区观测设施的补充，适用于陆基和舰基部署。该设施将能够研究对气候应用至关重要的云系统，如边界层云、对流砧云、中纬度卷云和混合相层状云。预计它将提供独特的、高时空分辨率的微物理和动力学观测，这是研究气象和气溶胶在改变云和降水系统中的作用所需要的，这些观测将结合观测和建模分析。CIF将汇集来自全国各地大学的科学家、工程师、本科生和研究生，包括地球科学领域代表性不足的学生。该设施将为下一代大气科学家提供观测研究和遥感设施操作的基础培训。该合同将通过大气和地球空间科学设施申请流程，增强更广泛的科学界使用雷达的能力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Community Instruments and Facilities (CIF) award is for support of a state-of-the-art 35-GHz (Ka-band, 8-mm wavelength) Scanning Polarimetric Radar (KASPR) and a supporting set of modern auxiliary, microwave, and optical sensors as a truck-mounted, transportable, “cloud” radar-based instrumentation suite for studying a range of dynamical & microphysical cloud processes. This comprehensive millimeter-wavelength cloud radar facility can provide measurements in a wide spectrum of cloud and precipitation conditions from coastal fog to winter storms. The facility is complementary to other airborne and surface-based community observing facilities and is suitable for both land and ship-based deployments. The facility and will enable the study of cloud systems critical to climate applications such as boundary layer clouds, convective anvils, mid-latitude cirrus, and mixed-phase stratiform clouds. It is expected to provide unique, high spatiotemporal resolution microphysical and dynamical observations that are needed for investigation of the role of meteorology and aerosol in altering cloud and precipitation systems using a combination of observational and modeling analyses. The CIF will bring together scientists, engineers, and undergraduate and graduate students from universities across the nation including underrepresented students in the Geosciences. The facility will provide foundational training in observational research and operation of remote sensing facility to the next generation of atmospheric scientists. This award will enhance the ability of the broader scientific community to use the radars through the Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences facility request process.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.