Cloud and precipitation studies using millimeter-wavelength radars

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Clouds play a critical role in Earth's climate through the reflection, absorption and emission of radiation, the vertical transport of heat and moisture, and the generation of precipitation and its associated latent heat release and evaporation. Despite ever increasing computational power and model sophistication, the poor representation of cloud processes continues to be one of the major sources of uncertainty in numerical simulations of climate and weather. In order to adequately understand the role of clouds and improve their parameterization in numerical models, fundamental (process) studies on all scales important to cloud formation, evolution and dissipation are required. Observational data sets are a crucial element of such studies because many cloud processes, such as precipitation formation, cloud turbulence, entrainment, and ice crystal evolution, remain insufficiently understood mechanistically.