Title :
CloudSat´s Cloud Profiling Radar After Two Years in Orbit: Performance, Calibration, and Processing
Author :
Tanelli, Simone ; Durden, Stephen L. ; Im, Eastwood ; Pak, Kyung S. ; Reinke, Dale G. ; Partain, Philip ; Haynes, John M. ; Marchand, Roger T.
Author_Institution :
Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA
Abstract :
The Cloud Profiling Radar, the sole science instrument of the CloudSat Mission, is a 94-GHz nadir-looking radar that measures the power backscattered by hydrometeors (clouds and precipitation) as a function of distance from the radar. This instrument has been acquiring global time series of vertical cloud structures since June 2, 2006. In this paper, an overview of the radar performance and status, to date, is provided together with a description of the basic data products and the surface clutter rejection algorithm introduced for the Release 04 data product release.
Keywords :
atmospheric precipitation; backscatter; calibration; clouds; meteorological radar; radar clutter; remote sensing by radar; spaceborne radar; CPR; Cloud Profiling Radar; CloudSat Mission; backscatter measurement; frequency 94 GHz; global time series; hydrometeors; surface clutter rejection algorithm; Atmosphere; Calibration; Clouds; Instruments; Laboratories; Power measurement; Propulsion; Radar antennas; Radar measurements; Spaceborne radar; A-train; CloudSat; clouds; radar;
Journal_Title :
Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TGRS.2008.2002030
