A 3-GHz profiler for precipitating cloud studies

A 3-GHz profiler has been developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Aeronomy Laboratory to observe the evolution and vertical structure of precipitating cloud systems. The profiler is very portable, r obust, and relatively inexpensive, so that continuous, unattended observati ons of overhead precipitation can be obtained, even at remote locations. Th e new profiler is a vertically looking Doppler radar that operates at S ban d, a commonly used band for scanning weather radars (e.g., WSR-88D). The pr ofiler has many features in common with the 915-MHz profiler developed at t he Aeronomy Laboratory during the past decade primarily for measurement of lower-tropospheric winds in the Tropics. This paper presents a description of the new profiler and evaluates it in the field in Illinois and Australia in comparison with UHF lower-tropospheric profilers. In Illinois, the new profiler was evaluated alongside a collocated 915-MHz profiler at the Flatl and Atmospheric Observatory. In Australia it Was evaluated alongside a 920- MHz profiler during the Maritime Continent Thunderstorm Experiment. The res ults from these campaigns confirm the approximate 20-dB improvement in sens itivity, as expected for Rayleigh scatter. The results show that the new pr ofiler provides a substantial improvement in the ability to observe deep cl oud systems in comparison with the 915-MHz profilers.