Wyoming Cloud Radar (WCR)

The WCR, jointly developed by the Universities of Wyoming and Massachusetts, can be operated in various single- and dual-beam configurations.

The WCR can be equally supported by the Wyoming King Air, the NSF/NCAR C-130, or used as a ground-based facility.

One of the radar’s advantages is that it depicts reflectivity and velocity fields at high spatial resolution - on the order of 10 m. Observations can be closely coupled with microphysics and air motion measurements made by other probes on the aircraft, Doppler velocity vector fields can be obtained from dual-beam measurements, and the instrument can be equally supported by the Wyoming King Air, the NSF/NCAR C-130, or used as a ground based facility. Additionally where radar reflectivity is too low, radiometers detect clouds and determine their vertically integrated liquid water content. This capability will help in evaluating attenuation effects in the radar data.