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

Suny At Stony Brook, Stony Brook NY

Investigators

Abstract

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.