Visit to the SPolKa
Published: 3 November 2011
The SPolKa is a dual-wavelength (10-cm S band and 0.8-cm Ka bands) polarimetric radar. The S-band radar will detect all of the precipitating and many of the non-precipitating clouds, and with its polarimetric capabilities will provide information on particle type (snow, ice, graupel, rain) to give better rain estimates. The Ka- and S-band radars are beam-matched, meaning that the same cloud volume is observed at both wavelengths, allowing dual-wavelength retrievals. Given the fact that the Ka-band is much more strongly attenuated by water vapor than the S-band, if a cloud is seen by both bands then examining the difference in reflectivity at the two wavelengths will provide information on the amount of water vapor between the radar and the cloud. These water vapor retrievals will provide important information about the humidity structure in the lower atmosphere during the MJO initiation.
Scott Ellis of NCAR gave me and a visiting scientist, Hiroyuki Yamada, a tour of the SPolKa. Yamada is from JAMSTEC (the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology) and had spent the last few weeks launching radiosondes on Male (the capital of the Maldives) as part of the CINDY/DYNAMO/AMIE campaigns.
— Sally McFarlane
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