RASTA: The airborne cloud radar, a tool for studying cloud and precipitation during HyMeX SOP1.1.

Julien Delanoë (1) , Alain Protat (2) , Jean-Paul Vinson (3) , Emmanuel Fontaine (4) , Alfons Schwarzenboeck (4) , Cyrille Flamant (1)

1 SPACE - LATMOS
2 CAWCR - Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research
3 LATMOS - Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales
4 LaMP - Laboratoire de météorologie physique

The airborne 95GHz cloud radar RASTA will be operated on-board the Falcon 20 during HyMeX SOP1.1 (September/October 2012). In addition to the radar, state of the art in-situ microphysical probes, such as CDP, 2DS, CPI, PIP, and Robust probe will be deployed to characterize bulk and individual hydrometeor microphysics. Ice particles size distribution will be retrieved and total water content will be quantified from the measurements. The very novel six-beam configuration of RASTA will allow one to retrieve microphysical ice-cloud properties and 3D dynamics of clouds. The underlying idea is to combine radar and in-situ measurements to infer cloud processes that originate precipitation. The spatially limited detailed cloud description using in-situ measurements will be extended to the area covered by the radar. To illustrate the potential of this platform, we will present the instruments and some results from previous campaigns.

Domaines: Météorologie

Julien Delanoë, Alain Protat, Jean-Paul Vinson, Emmanuel Fontaine, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, et al.. RASTA: The airborne cloud radar, a tool for studying cloud and precipitation during HyMeX SOP1.1.. 6th HyMeX Workshop, May 2012, Primosten, Croatia. ⟨hal-00713364⟩