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Progress report on analysis of differential attenuation radar data obtained during WISP-91
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1991
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Description:Liquid water attenuates radar signals more strongly at shorter wavelengths than at longer ones. In theory, the differential attenuation at two wavelengths offers a new method for obtaining range-resolved measurements of cloud liquid water content by remote sensing. A relatively inexpensive dual-wavelength system was assembled from existing X-band (3.2 cm) and K0-band (0.87 cm) radars and operated during the 1991 Winter Icing and Storms Project to experimentally test this technique. Analysis of the data is in early stages. This report describes the differential attenuation theory, experimental procedures and instrumentation, data collection, data processing, and one preliminary case study. The detailed case study of a cloud that produced very light drizzle prompted development of automated editing refinements to the original processing algorithm to remove complications from ground clutter, non-Rayleigh scattering, receiver saturation, and other factors. The refined algorithm yielded reasonable liquid water content values of 0.2-0.6 g m'3 over most of the scan region for this case. The refined algorithm will be applied to data of the other cases and the results will be compared with available microwave radiometer and aircraft data to complete the technique assessment.
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Rights Information:CC0 Public Domain
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