CloudSat

CloudSat was selected as a NASA Earth System Science Pathfinder satellite mission in 1999 to provide observations necessary to advance our understanding of cloud abundance, distribution, structure, and radiative properties. Since 2006, CloudSat has flown the first satellite-based millimeter-wavelength cloud radar—a radar that is more than 1000 times more sensitive than existing weather radars. Unlike ground-based weather radars that use centimeter wavelengths to detect raindrop-sized particles, CloudSat's radar allows us to detect the much smaller particles of liquid water and ice that constitute the large cloud masses that make our weather.

Links

• http://cloudsat.atmos.colostate.edu/

People

Matthew Lebsock Climate Physics Read More >>		Graeme Stephens Director of the Center for Climate Sciences Read More >>
Kentaro Suzuki Climate Physics Read More >>		Brian Kahn AIRS Atmospheric Science Read More >>