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Micro Rain Radar

The Micro Rain Radar is a compact Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar or vertically pointed radar that is capable to measure the vertical profile of rain drop size distribution (DSD). From DSD data other rain parameters such as Rain Rate, Radar reflectivity, liquid water content (LWC), hydrometeor fall velocity can be estimated. The measuring principle of MRR is based on Doppler frequency shift theory. MRR transmits electromagnetic radiation at 24.1 GHz vertically into the atmosphere. A part of emitted signal is scattered back to the antenna by the rain drops. In effect the frequency content of the returned signal is compared with that of the transmitted signal and frequency shifts are interpreted due to the falling velocity of the rain drops relative to the stationary antenna. As the drops of different diameters have different falling velocity the backscattered signal consists of a distribution of different Doppler frequencies. The radar obtains the drop spectrum from the Doppler spectrum assuming the known relationship of drop fall velocity and drop size. From this drop spectrum, different rain parameters are calculated. The MRR installed at ACARR provides data every 1 minute and with a height resolution of 200 m covering a vertical height of up to 6 km