Comparison of millimeter-wave cloud radar measurements for the Fall 1997 Cloud IOP

One of the primary objectives of the Fall 1997 IOP was to intercompare Ka-band (350Hz) and W-band (95GHz) cloud radar observations and verify system calibrations. During September 1997, several cloud radars were deployed at the Southern Great Plains (SOP) Cloud and Radiation Testbed (CART) site, including the full time operation 35 GHz CART Millimeter-wave Cloud Radar (MMCR), the University of Massachusetts (UMass) single antenna 33GHz/95 GHz Cloud Profiling Radar System (CPRS), the 95 GHz Wyoming Cloud Radar (WCR) flown on the University of Wyoming King Air, the University of Utah 95 GHz radar and the dual-antenna Pennsylvania State University 94 GHz radar. In this paper the authors discuss several issues relevant to comparison of ground-based radars, including the detection and filtering of insect returns. Preliminary comparisons of ground-based Ka-band radar reflectivity data and comparisons with airborne radar reflectivity measurements are also presented.