Calibration of W-band cloud radars using non-radar measurements

Abstract

Monitoring and forecasting of meteorological conditions is critical to the safe and regular operation of the global air transport system. The advent of new millimeter radars for meteorological observations not only opens up opportunities for obtaining more detailed information about cloudiness, but also necessitates the development of appropriate calibration methods to ensure reliable quantitative results. This work is devoted to the discussion of the calibration challemges of the W-band cloud radar. The problems of millimeter-band radar calibration using multi-instrument measurements are considered and solutions to these problems are proposed. The experimental part of the study is based on rain measurements over several years at the atmospheric research site in the Netherlands. The measurement data are used to compare and merge the 94 GHz radar data with non-radar measurements from the laser disdrometer, microwave radiometer, and synchronous weather station data. Specialized MATLAB software is developed for complex multi-instrument data processing and radar calibration."