Airborne 4-Frequency Radar Measurements of Convection During IPHEx

The Integrated Precipitation and Hydrology Experiment (IPHEx) field campaign was conducted in the Southeast U.S. from 15 May to 30 June 2014 in support of Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) ground validation. The NASA ER-2 flew during this campaign as a GPM simulator with radars and radiometers that covered the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) frequencies. The main goal for the ER-2 was to collect high spatial and temporal resolution data sets to be used for GPM algorithm validation and improvement. Goddard Space Flight Center provided 3 nadir-pointing Doppler radars covering X- through W-band. The High-altitude Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler (HIWRAP) provided Ku and Ka-band measurements that are similar to GPM's DPR. In addition, the W-band Cloud Radar System (CRS) and ER-2 X-band Radar (EXRAD) were on board. The 4 frequencies provide opportunity for developing consistent retrieval algorithms as well as to expand the dynamic range (i.e., particle size) of the retrievals. There were a total of 15 science flights during IPHEx that measured a variety of land-based and oceanic precipitation, with may convective, stratiform, and cloud targets. This presentation will provide preliminary observations and analyses from the IPHEx ER-2 radars from moderate and deep convection, some with hail. We will discuss the general precipitation and updraft properties of the convection from the 4 frequency measurements that have very different scattering and attenuation properties. Preliminary results from hydrometeor properties retrieved from the observations will be discussed.