Fukao S., Hamazu K. Radar for Meteorological and Atmospheric Observations

Springer, 2014. — 556 p.During the past several decades an appreciable amount of research and development has been focused on the use of remote sensing techniques to better our understanding of weather and the atmosphere. Radar has the obvious advantage of providing observations with temporal and/or spatial continuity which is leading to improved forecasts of weather.
Observations and interpretation of Doppler and polarimetric weather radar data, combined with in situ observations, have led to giant leaps in our understanding of the dynamics and microphysics of weather systems. Complementary to weather radar observations are those obtained with typically longer wavelength radars (i.e., wavelengths from meters to centimeters versus centimeters to millimeters used to observe precipitation and clouds), observing the precipitation-free atmosphere. The echoing mechanism at these longer wavelengths is typically Bragg scatter from refractive index perturbations caused by turbulent mixing, or reflection from sharp gradients in refractive index. These long-wavelength and super-powerful radars, referred to as atmospheric radars, have mapped the vertical structure of reflectivity and radial winds in the clear atmosphere from below a kilometer to well above 100 km, whereas meteorological radars map the reflectivity and radial velocities of precipitation and cloud particles on horizontal surfaces at various heights in the troposphere. Weather and cloud radar research has attracted the attention of meteorologists whereas atmospheric radar research has primarily attracted the attention of atmospheric physicists.
The authors have done a remarkable job of combing the results of research in these two disciplines to provide readers with a comprehensive overview of the outstanding observations that have been made with radar used as a remote sensor of weather and atmospheric phenomena. This book has a generous amount of figures that display many of the remote sensing facilities to give the reader a quick appreciation for the variety of atmospheric and meteorological radar types around the world, many of which are unique and interesting. Furthermore, liberal reference to publications provides readers a vast reservoir for further pursuit of their preferred topics of interest. In addition this book presents the fundamentals of remote sensing so that students and professors, with a minimal background in physics and electromagnetic theory, and engineers in the field can better understand the potential and limitations of radar in observing weather and the atmosphere while learning about the various instruments and techniques used in remote sensing. The authors plan to maintain a Website where comments from readers can be addressed and where supplements to the book can be found; this will help to keep the book current and up-to-date.