Last update
13 Dec 2001
This page is maintained by
Chris Westbrook
All content Copyright © The University of Reading unless otherwise stated.
Quicklooks from long-term observational campaigns
Data at BADC
The cloud radar and lidar at Chilbolton operate round-the-clock, and much of the data is now available at the British Atmospheric Data Centre in NetCDF format (you will need to register). To read this data you may find the programs on our software page useful - please also read the radar documentation and lidar documentation. This activity is funded by the European Space Agency under the Cloud Characteristics II project.
94-GHz radar quicklooks 1 May 1999 to 17 October 2000905-nm lidar quicklooks 17 February to 31 October 2000
Recent images
Images are also produced automatically as the data are taken.
Older images
Radar
reflectivity from the Rabelais and Galileo radars taken during
CLARE'98 (9-23 October 1998)Composites of radar, lidar,
rainrate and cloud cover from 25 October 1998 to 24 January 1999Lidar
backscatter coefficient from 2 October 1998 to 28 January 1999Quicklooks from field experiments
CWVC (1999-2001)
Images from the 3-GHz radar during the CWVC flights.
Flight I (30
March 1999)Flight II (9
June 2000)Flight III (20
October 2000)Flight IV (21
November 2000)Flight V (28
February 2001)Negative KDP in thunderstorms
When negative KDP is observed in the cores of thunderstorms it indicates the vertical alignment of ice crystals. This is something that cannot occur by inertial forces alone, so indicates the presence of a strong electric field. When the orientation changes suddenly from vertical to horizontal (KDP switches from negative to positive) then it indicates a lightning strike.An
example from 28 July 2000All the
thunderstorm scans from CAMRa on 28 July 2000.All the
thunderstorm scans from CAMRa on 4 July 2000.All the
thunderstorm scans from CAMRa on 4 July 2001.