Cloudy view

Scientists at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) have developed a new radar system that measures cloud base height, thickness, density and internal structure.

The so-called Cloud Radar will not only allow forecasters to predict the weather more precisely, the information gathered will also enable aircraft pilots to judge more accurately whether it is safe to take off and land in diverse weather conditions, offering a powerful safety capability for civil airports and military air bases.

Developed over 10 years by researchers and engineers at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, in collaboration with the Met Office, the 94GHz Cloud Radar can take a complete and accurate profile of cloud or fog up to five miles overhead.

The earliest version of the cloud radar was built to demonstrate that a low-power system operating at high frequency could compete with more common radar types. It was built from the spare components of a radar altimeter designed to operate on a satellite, so that it used small, low-power components in contrast to previous cloud radars that use expensive pulsed sources that consume many times more power and have limited lifetimes.