Cloud and precipitation studies using millimeter-wavelength radars

云通过对辐射的反射、吸收和发射，热量和水分的垂直输送，以及降水的产生及其相关的潜热释放和蒸发，在地球气候中起着至关重要的作用。尽管计算能力和模式的复杂性不断提高，云过程的代表性差仍然是气候和天气数值模拟中不确定性的主要来源之一。为了充分理解云的作用并改进其在数值模式中的参数化，需要在所有尺度上对云的形成、演化和消散进行基本（过程）研究。观测数据集是此类研究的关键要素，因为许多云过程，如降水形成、云湍流、夹带和冰晶演化，仍然没有充分的机制理解。

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.