Radar Forward Modeling for the NASA Investigation of Convective Updrafts Mission

The Investigation of Convective Updrafts (INCUS) mission is the third of NASA's new generation of PI-led Earth Venture missions (EVM-3). It will consist of three 35 GHz (Ka-band) small-sat radars flying in close formation so that the time difference between radar reflectivity measurements is 30, 90, and 120 seconds. A TEMPEST heritage microwave radiometer on one of the three spacecraft will provide wide swath context for the radar measurements and also estimates of ice water path. INCUS is scheduled for launch in late 2026, and algorithm development pre-launch is ongoing. In support of algorithm development activities, the INCUS science and engineering team has compiled a suite of radar forward models that can be used to produce realistic synthetic INCUS radar data. Models are used to convert high resolution numerical model simulations of convection into simulated radar reflectivity measurements. This presentation will describe the INCUS radar forward models, and provide examples of simulated radar reflectivity for a range of different types of convective cloud system.