GRDM

G-band Radar Demonstration for Microphysics

6 March 2023 - 30 June 2023

Lead Scientist: Matthew Lebsock

Observatory: AMF

Multiple high-frequency, millimeter-wave, nadir-pointing radars will be deployed at the Scripps research pier alongside the AMF instruments deployed for the EPCAPE (Eastern Pacific Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment) field campaign . The radars will include a W-band (94 GHz) and four G-band (158, 165, 174, and 240 GHz) channels. These radars will complement the high-sensitivity ARM KAZR. The goal of the deployment is to observe drizzling stratocumulus and demonstrate the capabilities of the multi-frequency radar data set to constrain profiles of liquid water content and drizzle drop characteristic size. The methodology used to derive the cloud and precipitation parameters will exploit both differential attenuation and differential reflectivity between low-frequency (Ka-band) and high-frequency (G-band) channels. The method will also exploit the capability of the G-band observations to constraint the attenuation due to water vapor. These observations will quantify the capabilities and limitations of the emerging technology of G-band radars for constraint stratocumulus cloud microphysics, which are key to constraining both aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions and low-cloud climate feedback.