Calibration, Characterization, and Data Quality of the Scanning ARM Cloud Radar (SACR)

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) climate research facility deploys and operates a wide variety of instrumentation at strategic locations around the globe to better understand and represent the Earth’s atmosphere through models. Millimeter-wave radars are a valuable component of the ARM instrumentation suite because of their ability to observe small cloud particles over a broad region at a high temporal and spatial resolution. The ARM radar group operates several scanning, polarimetric, dual-frequency, millimeter-wave radars (SACRs) across the globe that are designed to observe clouds in marine, continental, and arctic environments. Rigorous characterization and calibration of the SACR system is critical to the success of ARM’s mission and considerable effort is applied to ensure that accurate, research-quality data is delivered to end users. Performing system characterization and calibration between multiple, independent systems at millimeter wavelengths is a difficult challenge even in the best conditions. Adaptations and special considerations were developed due to ARM’s unique mission and the remote environments chosen for SACR deployments. In this poster, a brief description of the SACR system is presented, along with the calibration and characterization methodologies developed for the remote SACR deployments. Results of the exercise and a summary of the SACR data quality will conclude the discussion.