Cloud and precipitation studies using millimeter-wavelength radars

云通过反射、吸收和发射辐射，垂直输送热量和水分，产生降水及其相关的潜热释放和蒸发，在地球气候中发挥关键作用。尽管计算能力和模式的复杂性不断提高，但云过程的糟糕表示仍然是气候和天气数值模拟中的主要不确定性来源之一。为了充分理解云的作用并改进其在数值模式中的参数化，需要在所有尺度上进行对云的形成、演变和消散具有重要意义的基础(过程)研究。观测数据集是这类研究的关键要素，因为许多云过程，如降水形成、云湍流、夹带和冰晶演化，在机制上仍然缺乏足够的了解。

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.