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NASA NTRS1993

Auxiliary signal processing system for a multiparameter radar

The design of an auxiliary signal processor for a multiparameter radar is described with emphasis on low cost, quick development, and minimum disruption of radar operations. The processor is based around a low-cost digital signal processor card and personal computer controller. With the use of such a concept, an auxiliary processor was implemented for the NCAR CP-2 radar during a 1991 summer field campaign and allowed measurement of additional polarimetric parameters, namely, the differential phase and the copolar cross correlation. Sample data are presented from both the auxiliary and existing radar signal processors.

Chandrasekar, V.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Radar measurement of forested areas during OTTER

To test a forest ecosystem model in the OTTER (Oregon ecosystem research) project, it is desirable to find forest canopy parameters via radar remote sensing measurements. Conventionally, forest biomass, along with quantities such as the leaf area index, drive the model. It is shown that the radar backscatter is not uniquely related to biomass. A sensitivity study is carried out using a forward scattering model to determine the variation of radar cross section as a function of several forest parameters. The results are used to find suitable quantities to recover via radar experiments. A parameter estimation scheme is developed to calculate some preliminary statistical properties of the forest.

Moghaddam, M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Multiparameter radar and advanced microwave precipitation radiometer observations of tropical convection

Combinations of both active and passive microwave sensors have been proposed for experiments such as the tropical rainfall measuring mission (TRMM). During the summer 1991 Convection and Precipitation/Electrification Experiment (CaPE) in central Florida, both cold- and warm-rain precipitation processes were studied with the NCAR CP-2 multiparameter radar, operating at 3 and 10 GHz. The Advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer (AMPR), which operates at 10.7, 19.35, 37.1, and 85.5 GHz, was flown aboard NASA's ER-2 high-altitude aircraft over storms being scanned by the CP-2 radar. Top-of-atmosphere multifrequency TB from the AMPR is presented along with coincident CP-2 radar observations. Joint analysis of both radar and radiometer data sets allows refinement of new and existing precipitation retrieval techniques which will utilize the multifrequency TB from an integrated spaceborne microwave radiometer/radar system.

Vivekanandan, J.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Venus mountain-top mineralogy: Misconceptions about pyrite as the high radar-reflecting phase

Altitude-dependent, high radar-reflectivity surfaces on Venus are observed on most mountainous volcanic terranes above a planetary radius of about 6054 km. However, high radar-reflectivity areas also occur at lower altitudes in some impact craters and plain terranes. Pyrite (FeS2) is commonly believed to be responsible for the high radar reflectivities at high elevations on Venus, on account of large dielectric constants measured for sulfide-bearing rocks that were erroneously attributed to pyrite instead of pyrrhotite. Pentlandite-pyrrhotite assemblages may be responsible for high reflectivities associated with impact craters on the Venusian surface, by analogy with Fe-Ni sulfide deposits occurring in terrestrial astroblemes. Mixed-valence Fe(2+)-Fe(3+) silicates, including oxyhornblende, oxybiotite, and ilvaite, may contribute to high radar reflecting surfaces on mountain-tops of Venus.

Burns, Roger G.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Characterization of wetland, forest, and agricultural ecosystems in Belize with airborne radar (AIRSAR)

The Shuttle Imaging Radar-C/X-SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) Experiment includes the study of wetland dynamics in the seasonal tropics. In preparation for these wetland studies, airborne P, L, and C band radar (AIRSAR) data of Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico acquired by NASA and JPL in March 1990 were analyzed. The first phase of our study focuses on AIRSAR data from the Gallon Jug test site in northwestern Belize, for which ground data were also collected during the three days prior to the overflight. One of the main objectives of the Gallon Jug study is to develop a method for characterizing wetland vegetation types and their flooding status with multifrequency polarimetric radar data.

Pope, Kevin O.↗
NASA NTRS1992

External calibration of polarimetric radar images using distributed targets

A new technique is presented for calibrating polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images using only the responses from natural distributed targets. The model for polarimetric radars is assumed to be X = cRST where X is the measured scattering matrix corresponding to the target scattering matrix S distorted by the system matrices T and R (in general T does not equal R(sup t)). To allow for the polarimetric calibration using only distributed targets and corner reflectors, van Zyl assumed a reciprocal polarimetric radar model with T = R(sup t); when applied for JPL SAR data, a heuristic symmetrization procedure is used by POLCAL to compensate the phase difference between the measured HV and VH responses and then take the average of both. This heuristic approach causes some non-removable cross-polarization responses for corner reflectors, which can be avoided by a rigorous symmetrization method based on reciprocity. After the radar is made reciprocal, a new algorithm based on the responses from distributed targets with reflection symmetry is developed to estimate the cross-talk parameters. The new algorithm never experiences problems in convergence and is also found to converge faster than the existing routines implemented for POLCAL. When the new technique is implemented for the JPL polarimetric data, symmetrization and cross-talk removal are performed on a line-by-line (azimuth) basis. After the cross-talks are removed from the entire image, phase and amplitude calibrations are carried out by selecting distributed targets either with azimuthal symmetry along the looking direction or with some well-known volume and surface scattering mechanisms to estimate the relative phases and amplitude responses of the horizontal and vertical channels.

Yueh, Simon H.↗
NASA NTRS1993

C-band radar backscatter of sea ice in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica during the austral winter of 1992

A C-band ship-based scatterometer was used to measure the backscatter coefficient of sea ice in the Weddell Sea during June and July 1992. These are the first microwave scatterometer data ever to be collected in the Antarctic sea ice cover during the austral winter. The instrument was a frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FM-CW) radar altimeter modified by the University of Kansas Radar Systems and Remote Sensing Laboratory to perform backscatter measurements. Measurements were taken as part of a Jet Propulsion Laboratory experiment aboard the German ice research vessel F.S. Polarstern. Backscatter measurements were performed at incidence angles ranging from 17 to 65 degrees with VV and HV polarization as the Polarstern travelled from east to west across the central Weddell Sea. Backscatter measurements were made of several different types of ice sea including pancake, dark nilas, white nilas, grey, first-year and second-year ice. Periodic external calibrations were performed with the aid of a Luneberg Lens to enable absolute values of backscatter to be derived from the data. At each radar measurement location, in-situ measurements were made of snow and sea ice. Physical and chemical analyses of ice core and snow samples, together with high magnification photography of snow crystallography provide important information with which to develop physical models of the scattering systems. Meteorological information and oceanographic conditions were also recorded throughout the experiment. Many of the stations were chosen to coincide with periods of near-simultaneous or coincident imaging by the ERS-1 satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). This enabled spaceborne imaging by the C-band SAR of areas of sea ice in which backscatter measurements were taken. This provides a valuable tool for interpretation of satellite SAR imagery from Antarctic sea ice in terms of the physical properties of the sea ice and snow. Preliminary results of the backscatter from the various ice types and their relation to the physical properties of sea ice are presented.

Hosseinmostafa, R.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Low-power millimeter-wave radar observations of the atmosphere

Historically, cloud structures, dynamics, and precipitation processes have been observed and measured with sensors from two different spatial resolutions. Laser-based sensors have volume resolutions on the order of 10(exp -4) to 10(exp -2) cubic meters for a 1-s sample. Radar systems operating at wavelengths between 1 and 10 cm have resolutions on the order of 10(exp 4) to 10(exp 7) cubic meters. The resolutions of micro-wave systems depend primarily on the system RF bandwidth and antenna bandwidth. Both resolution regimes were useful in the study of cloud structures and processes - the former for determining resolution on the individual cloud particle scale and the latter for studying the coarse characteristics of cloud dynamics and structure. There are, however, cloud processes and structures that occur on scales that lie between these two regimes: the process of entrainment, where outside air is brought within the cloud boundaries; the mixing of in-cloud particles with different histories; cloud particle coalescence; and ice formation. The use of mm-wave (30- to 300-GHz) radars offers an opportunity to observe cloud processes at these scales and determine their influence on precipitation development, cloud albedos, cloud lifetimes, chemical cycling of tract substances, aircraft icing, and other meteorological phenomena. To determine the usefulness of a 35-GHz radar for observing these precipitation and cloud processes, a research program was initiated. The objectives of this program are to develop a 35-GHz radar, to measure scattering from precipitation and clouds, and to develop a model to compute scattering from clouds using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) technique.

Ronnau, James F.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Breaking Kelvin-Helmholtz waves and cloud-top entrainment as revealed by K-band Doppler radar

Radars have occasionally detected breaking Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) waves under clear-air conditions in the atmospheric boundary layer and in the free troposphere. However, very few direct measurements of such waves within clouds have previously been reported and those have not clearly documented wave breaking. In this article, we present some of the most detailed and striking radar observations to date of breaking KH waves within clouds and at cloud top and discuss their relevance to the issue of cloud-top entrainment, which is believed to be important in convective and stratiform clouds. Aircraft observations reported by Stith suggest that vortex-like circulations near cloud top are an entrainment mechanism in cumuliform clouds. Laboratory and modeling studies have examined possibility that KH instability may be responsible for mixing at cloud top, but direct observations have not yet been presented. Preliminary analyses shown here may help fill this gap. The data presented in this paper were obtained during two field projects in 1991 that included observations from the NOAA Wave Propagation Laboratory's K-band Doppler radar (wavelength = 8.7 mm) and special rawinsonde ascents. The sensitivity (-30 dBZ at 10 km range), fine spatial resolution (375-m pulse length and 0.5 degrees beamwidth), velocity measurement precision (5-10 cm s-1), scanning capability, and relative immunity to ground clutter make it sensitive to non-precipitating and weakly precipitating clouds, and make it an excellent instrument to study gravity waves in clouds. In particular, the narrow beam width and short pulse length create scattering volumes that are cylinders 37.5 m long and 45 m (90 m) in diameter at 5 km (10 km) range. These characteristics allow the radar to resolve the detailed structure in breaking KH waves such as have been seen in photographic cloud images.

Martner, Brooks E.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Pointing mechanisms for the Shuttle Radar Laboratory

The Shuttle Radar Laboratory (SRL) is scheduled for launch in December of 1993 on the first of its two missions. The SRL has three major radar instruments: two distributed phased-array antennas, which make up the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C System (SIR-C) and are capable of being electronically steered, and one X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (X-SAR), which is pointed mechanically by a suite of mechanisms. This paper will describe these mechanisms and summarize the development difficulties that were encountered in bringing them from the design stage through prototype development and protoflight testing.

Lilienthal, Gerald W.↗
NASA NTRS1994

NASA ER-2 Doppler radar reflectivity calibration for the CAMEX project

The NASA ER-2 Doppler radar (EDOP) was flown aboard the ER-2 high-altitude aircraft in September and October 1993 for the Convection and Moisture Experiment. During these flights, the first reliable reflectivity observations were performed with the EDOP instrument. This report details the procedure used to convert real-time engineering data into calibrated radar reflectivity. Application of the calibration results produces good agreement between the EDOP nadir pointing reflectivity and ground truth provided by a National Weather Service WSR-88D radar. The rms deviation between WSR-88D and EDOP is 6.9 dB, while measurements of the ocean surface backscatter coefficient are less than 3 dB from reported scatterometer coefficients. After an initial 30-minute period required for the instrument to reach thermal equilibrium, the radar is stable to better than 0.25 dB during flight. The range performance of EDOP shows excellent agreement with aircraft altimeter and meteorological sounding data.

Caylor, I. J.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Certification methodology applied to the NASA experimental radar system

The objective of the research is to apply selected FAA certification techniques to the NASA experimental wind shear radar system. Although there is no intent to certify the NASA system, the procedures developed may prove useful to manufacturers that plan to undergo the certification process. The certification methodology for forward-looking wind shear detection radars will require estimation of system performance in several FAA-specified microburst/clutter scenarios as well as the estimation of probabilities of missed and false hazard alerts under general operational conditions. Because of the near-impossibility of obtaining these results experimentally, analytical and simulation approaches must be used. Hazard detection algorithms were developed that derived predictive estimates of aircraft hazard from basic radar measurements of weather reflectivity and radial wind velocity. These algorithms were designed to prevent false alarms due to ground clutter while providing accurate predictions of hazard to the aircraft due to weather. A method of calculation of the probability of missed and false hazard alerts has been developed that takes into account the effect of the various algorithms used in the system and provides estimates of the probability of missed and false alerts per microburst encounter under weather conditions found at Denver, Kansas City, and Orlando. Simulation techniques have been developed that permit the proper merging of radar ground clutter data (obtained from flight tests) with simulated microburst data (obtained from microburst models) to estimate system performance using the microburst/clutter scenarios defined by the FAA.

Britt, Charles L.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Goldstone radar contributions to Mars Pathfinder landing safety

Goldstar radar can provide topography 'profiles', statistical surface roughness, and radar images within a few degrees of the sub-Earth point. Goldstone/Very Large Array (VLA) bistatic radar observations can image the whole disk of Mars with integration times on the order of ten min before pixel smearing occurs. Data from all these radar techniques can be useful for observing the local surface conditions relating to landing safety issues for Mars Pathfinder.

Slade, Martin A.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Footprints of storms on the sea: A view from spaceborne synthetic aperture radar

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) on board Seasat observed images of stormlike echoes on the sea in 1978. The core of these images is usually an echo-free hole which is attributed to the damping of the short (30-cm) radar detectable gravity waves by the intense rain in the storm core. Although 'the beating down of waves by rain' is consistent with observations by seafarers and with the first scientific explanation of the phenomenon by Reynolds (1875), neither theory nor experiment has provided definitive support. One experiment appears to provide the key; it shows that the kenetic energy of the rain produces sufficient turbulence in a thin fresh water layer to damp 30-cm waves in 10-20 s, thus producing the echo-free hole. A sequence of positive feedbacks then serves to damp the longer waves. The angular dependence of the sea surface echo cross sections seen by Seasat SAR outside the echo-free hole indicates winds diverging from the downdraft induced by the intense rain core. The wind-generated waves and associated echoes extend out to a sharply defined gust front. The sea surface footprint thus mimics the features of a storm microburst. The variations in surface radar cross section due to a combination of rain and wind effects impacts spaceborne measurements of surface winds by scatterometry and rainfall measurements by radar. Portions of this synthesis remain speculative but serve as hypotheses for further research.

Atlas, David↗
NASA NTRS1994

Structural and stratigraphic features and ERS 1 synthetic aperture radar backscatter characteristics of ice growing on shallow lakes in NW Alaska, winter 1991-1992

Changes in Earth Remote-Sensing Satellite (ERS) 1 C band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) backscatter intensity (sigma(exp 0)) from ice growing on shallow tundra lakes at three locations in NW Alaska are described. Ice core analysis shows that all lakes on the coast at Barrow the ice, whether floating or frozen to the bottom, includes an inclusion-free layer overlying a layer of ice with tubular bubbles oriented parallel to the direction of growth. The clear ice may also be overlain by a discontinuous layer of bubbly snow ice. Backscatter is low (-16 to -22 dB) at the time of initial ice formation, probably due to the specular nature of the upper and lower ice surfaces causing the radar pulse to be reflected away from the radar. As the ice thickens during the autumn, backscatter rises steadily. Once the ice freezes to the lake bottom, regardless of the presence of foward scattering tubular bubbles, low backscatter values of -17 to -18 dB are caused by absorption of the radar signal in the lake bed. For ice that remains afloat all winter the ice-water interface and the tubular bubbles combine, presumably via an incoherent double-bounce mechanism, to cause maximum backscatter values of the order of -6 to -7 dB. The sigma(exp 0) saturates at -6 to -7 dB before maximum ice thickness and tubular bubble content are attained. A simple ice growth model suggests that the layer of ice with tubular bubbles need be only a few centimeters thick midway through the growth season to cause maximum backscatter from floating ice. During the spring thaw a previously unreported backscatter reversal is observed on the floating and grounded portions of the coastal lakes but not on the lakes farther inland. This reversal may be related to the ice surface topography and wetness plus the effects of a longer, cooler melt period by the coast. Time series of backscatter variations from shallow tundra lakes are a record of (1) the development of tubular bubbles in the ice and, by association, changes in the gas content of the underlying water and (2) the freezing of ice to the bottoms of the lakes and therefore lake bathymetry and water availability. SAR is also able to detect the onset of lake ice growth in autumn and the initiation of the spring thaw and thus has potential for monitoring high-altitude lake ice growth and decay processes in relation to climate variability.

Jeffries, M. O.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Improved accuracy of radar WPMM estimated rainfall upon application of objective classification criteria

Application of the window probability matching method to radar and rain gauge data that have been objectively classified into different rain types resulted in distinctly different Z(sub e)-R relationships for the various classifications. These classification parameters, in addition to the range from the radar, are (a) the horizontal radial reflectivity gradients (dB/km); (b) the cloud depth, as scaled by the effective efficiency; (c) the brightband fraction within the radar field window; and (d) the height of the freezing level. Combining physical parameters to identify the type of precipitation and statistical relations most appropriate to the precipitation types results in considerable improvement of both point and areal rainfall measurements. A limiting factor in the assessment of the improved accuracy is the inherent variance between the true rain intensity at the radar measured volume and the rain intensity at the mouth of the rain guage. Therefore, a very dense rain gauge network is required to validate most of the suggested realized improvement. A rather small sample size is required to achieve a stable Z(sub e)-R relationship (standard deviation of 15% of R for a given Z(sub e)) -- about 200 mm of rainfall accumulated in all guages combined for each classification.

Rosenfeld, Daniel↗
NASA NTRS1994

The vertical profile of radar reflectivity of convective cells: A strong indicator of storm intensity and lightning probability?

Reflectivity data from Doppler radars are used to construct vertical profiles of radar reflectivity (VPRR) of convective cells in mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) in three different environmental regimes. The National Center for Atmospheric Research CP-3 and CP-4 radars are used to calculate median VPRR for MCSs in the Oklahoma-Kansas Preliminary Regional Experiment for STORM-Central in 1985. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere radar in Darwin, Australia, is used to calculate VPRR for MCSs observed both in oceanic, monsoon regimes and in continental, break period regimes during the wet seasons of 1987/88 and 1988/89. The midlatitude and tropical continental VPRRs both exhibit maximum reflectivity somewhat above the surface and have a gradual decrease in reflectivity with height above the freezing level. In sharp contrast, the tropical oceanic profile has a maximum reflectivity at the lowest level and a very rapid decrease in reflectivity with height beginning just above the freezing level. The tropical oceanic profile in the Darwin area is almost the same shape as that for two other tropical oceanic regimes, leading to the conclustion that it is characteristic. The absolute values of reflectivity in the 0 to 20 C range are compared with values in the literature thought to represent a threshold for rapid storm electrification leading to lightning, about 40 dBZ at -10 C. The large negative vertical gradient of reflectivity in this temperature range for oceanic storms is hypothesized to be a direct result of the characteristically weaker vertical velocities observed in MCSs over tropical oceans. It is proposed, as a necessary condition for rapid electrification, that a convective cell must have its updraft speed exceed some threshold value. Based upon field program data, a tentative estimate for the magnitude of this threshold is 6-7 m/s for mean speed and 10-12 m/s for peak speed.

Zipser, Edward J.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Airborne radar radiometer measurements of tropical storms

The results from an airborne radar radiometer experiment of rainfall measurement in tropical storms are presented. The experiment was conducted in the Western Pacific in September 1990 with the NASA/DC-8 aircraft which was equipped with a nadir-loking dual-frequency rain radar operating at X band and Ka band, and several channels of microwave radiometers. The X-band radar has a capability of dual-polarization reception which enables the measurements of Linear Depolarization Ratio (LDR). The data of the microwave radiometers are compared with the radar data.

Kumagai, H.↗