CANDAC/PEARL DataSet - 0PAL 35 GHz Cloud Radar (MMCR)

The CANDAC 35 GHz vertically pointing Doppler radar (MMCR) was commissioned in September, 2007, as a replaced for a comparable NOAA system that had been operating at Eureka since 2006. The MMCR routinely cycles sequentially through four data acquisition modes devoting about 9 s to each. They include higher and lower resolutions (45 and 90 m), each with coded and noncoded pulse wave forms. Sensitivities, height coverage, Nyquist velocity and other features differ between modes. Cloud heights, thicknesses, internal structure and vertical motions have been revealed with excellent detail. The information from the radar is also being used in conjunction with measurements from a co-located microwave radiometer and a high spectral resolution lidar to describe the microphysical character of the cloud systems in the Polar Regions. Application of this analysis is to provide climatology of cloud properties and to assess the impacts of clouds on the Arctic radiation environment. The data is also being used in the validation of cloud properties from space-based instruments.