Micro Rain Radar (MRR) at Ny-Ålesund

Mentor: Andreas Walbröl, Data: Kerstin Ebell

METEK Micro Rain Radar at AWIPEV Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, on the roof of the atmospheric observatory.

The Micro Rain Radar (MRR) is a vertically pointing FM-CW (frequency modulated continuous wave) Doppler radar operating at K-band (24.1 GHz, 12.4 mm wavelength). The emitted radar signal (only 50 mW transmitting power) is backscattered by falling hydrometeors (rain, graupel, snow). From the Doppler spectra, the radar reflectivity factor (Ze) and the terminal fall velocity distribution can be derived. The range resolution can be varied from 10 to 200 m, and together with the 30 range gates, this determines the maximum height range of 300-6000 m. In the case of rain, Doppler spectra can be used to derive vertical profiles of microphysical rain properties, such as drop-size distribution and rain rate. Recently, the MRR system was also studied for its potential to observe snowfall (Kneifel et al. 2011). An improved MRR algorithm (IMProToo - Improved MRR Processing Tool) for snowfall observations has been developed at IGMK by Maahn et al. (2012) and is applied to the measurements.

• If you are interested in receiving data please contact Kerstin Ebell

• Quicklooks

Maahn, M. and Kollias, P., 2012: Improved Micro Rain Radar snow measurements using Doppler spectra post-processing, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 5, 2661-2673, doi:10.5194/amt-5-2661-2012.