We explore a novel scanning cloud radar concept for observing the evolution of low-level clouds and convective initiation in a targeted manner. Results from high resolution cloud model simulations will be used to perform a trade study to define measurement requirements and help inform design specifications of radar system with a metasurface antenna for electronic steerable beam scanning in two dimensions. A key goal of the study is to identify enabling technology to develop a new measurement capability involving a cloud radar, nominally operating at W-band (94 GHz), that scans in two dimensions while also providing near-surface radar profiles of boundary layer clouds.

A future airborne campaign for the targeting cloud radar concept is an excellent candidate for a NASA EV-S proposal. With the acknowledgement that spaceborne sensors alone will not fully meet NASA’s Earth Science priorities outlined in the Decadal Survey, the targeting cloud radar could also be infused in AOS and PBL suborbital components.