A new high-altitude airborne millimeter-wave radar for atmospheric research

A high-altitude airborne millimeter-wave radar for atmospheric research is being developed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The radar will be mounted on the High-Performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research (HIAPER). We present simulations of the minimum detectable signal, the reflectivity accuracy, the polarimetric purity, and the expected accuracy of cloud liquid water retrievals to describe the expected performance of the radar. We also describe the phased approach to implementing the system which starts with a W-band Doppler radar, and through phases, adds pulse compression, polarimetric capability, and a second wavelength (Ka-band) radar.