Cloud properties from airborne radar observations collected in field campaigns

The HIAPER Cloud Radar (HCR) is a 94 GHz W-band radar deployed in an underwing pod on the NCAR HIAPER aircraft. We use dual polarized Doppler observations collected in three major field campaigns:

• The Cloud Systems Evolution in the Trades (CSET) study focused on the characterization of the cloud fields in the stratocumulus and the fair-weather cumulus regimes within the subtropical easterlies over the northern Pacific.
• Motivated by challenges in their modeling, Southern Ocean clouds were observed south of Tasmania during the Southern Ocean Clouds, Radiation, Aerosol Transport Experimental Study (SOCRATES).
• Deep convective clouds in a tropical environment were the focus in the Organization of Tropical East Pacific Convection (OTREC) field campaign.

In this study we classify clouds sampled by HCR in these very different environments into twelve categories, based on the clouds’ convective and stratiform characteristics. We calculate dimensional and convective properties of the clouds in the different categories and contrast and compare derived statistics. We analyze updraft regions observed in all cloud categories, their dimensions and velocities. Characteristics of precipitation shafts from the precipitating clouds, such as precipitation fraction or strength are also provided.