Characterization of urban ground clutter with new generation airborne Doppler weather radar

To characterize urban ground clutter as seen by an airborne X-band Doppler weather radar, data are collected while viewing the ground in the vicinity of airports at Philadelphia, Denver, and Orlando. These flights are made to determine the feasibility of using such a radar to detect low-altitude wind shears. The ground returns which are of interest are called clutter returns, according to the intended principal use of the radar. Analysis of the data yields information about normalized radar cross section (NRCS), spectral width and location of clutter spikes in the velocity spectrum, and the effects of out-of-range clutter returns.