First results from the Canadian Convair (NRC) 35 GHz cloud-profiling radar during AIRS

The NRC Institute for Aerospace Research and the Meteorological Service of Canada have collaborated for a number of years in making atmospheric measurements using the NRC Convair 580 aircraft. This has involved measurements of physical parameters including atmospheric state, cloud particle microphysics and solar radiation. In recent years an IR lidar system with dual beams has been installed. During 1999, a cloud-profiling radar (CPR), operating at a wavelength of 8.6 mm, was installed to make additional remote measurements. This millimetre-wave radar system provides a unique capability when used in concert with other sensors such as the lidar and A-Band spectrometer. During December 1999 and January/February 2000, the radar was used for the first time in the Alliance Icing Research Study (AIRS). The primary focus of the study was to measure atmospheric conditions leading to aircraft icing, using both in-situ as well as remote measurements from the aircraft and the ground. The purpose of this paper is to describe the radar and lidar and other related aircraft sensors, and to show some preliminary results from the AIRS experiment. The motivation for using a cloud radar on the aircraft was to make measurements of radar reflectivity (and eventually Doppler spectra) at high sensitivity and spatial resolution