Vertically pointing profilers are useful tools for studying the vertical structure of precipitating cloud systems when they advect over the profiler sites. S-band (3 GHz or 10 cm wavelength) profilers observe the Rayleigh scattering processes from rain drops while W-band (94 GHz or 3.2 mm wavelength) profilers observe the Rayleigh and Mie scattering processes from the same rain drops. In previous studies, the vertical profile of air motion and rain drop size distributions (DSDs) were estimated from either the S-band or the W-band observations. In this study, we use the simultaneous S-band and W-band observations to estimate the profile of air motion and DSDs.

The collocated S-band and W-band observations were collected in Miami, Florida, during the July 2002 CRYSTAL-FACE campaign. Several stratiform and convective events were observed by both profilers during this 30 day campaign. The new retrieval technique uses the unattenuated S-band observations to determine the absolute reflectivity of the DSD and the Mie scattering characteristics of the W-band Doppler velocity spectra to estimate the ambient air motion. The retrieval technique and several examples will be presented at the conference.