Abstract
Abstract. In this study, a shipborne 95 GHz Doppler cloud radar mounted on a stabilized platform is used to retrieve vertical profiles of three-dimensional (3D) winds by sequentially pointing the stabilized platform in different directions. A specific challenge is that the maximum angle off zenith is 8∘, which implies that the projection of the horizontal wind components onto the radar beam directions is a small component of Doppler velocity in most cases. A variational 3D wind retrieval technique is then described, allowing for 1 min 3D wind profiles to be retrieved. Statistical comparisons with 3-hourly radiosonde launches from the ship indicate that horizontal wind profiles can be obtained from such cloud radar observations at small off-zenith angles with biases less than 0.2 m s−1 and standard deviations of differences with radiosonde winds less than 2.5 m s−1.
Highlights
Pointing Doppler cloud radars provide unique observations to better understand the interactions between dynamics and microphysics in clouds and light precipitation and cloud radiative forcing
The pilot study to test the new wind profiler mode was conducted during the Years of the Maritime Continent – Australia (YMCA) field experiment (12 November to 17 December 2019)
A challenge with using such setup is that the maximum off-zenith angle is 8◦, which does not correspond to a large projection of the horizontal wind components onto the radar beam directions
Summary
Pointing Doppler cloud radars provide unique observations to better understand the interactions between dynamics and microphysics in clouds and light precipitation and cloud radiative forcing. When the cloud radar is used on the Marine National Facility (MNF) research vessel (RV) Investigator, the maximum angle off zenith that can be pointed safely at with the stabilized platform is ±8◦ in pitch and roll directions due to the size of the aperture on the container roof. This is smaller than typical angles of ±15–20◦ used for wind profilers.
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