Processing reflectivity and Doppler velocity from EarthCARE's cloud-profiling radar: the C-FMR, C-CD and C-APC products

Abstract. The Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation (EarthCARE) satellite mission is a joint effort by the European Space Agency (ESA) Japanese Aerospace Exploration (JAXA). EarthCARE features first spaceborne 94 GHz cloud-profiling radar (CPR) with Doppler capability. raw CPR observations auxiliary information are used as input to three Level-2 (L2) algorithms: (1) C-APC: Antenna Pointing Characterization; (2) C-FMR: feature mask reflectivity; (3) C-CD: Corrected Measurements. These algorithms apply quality control corrections primary measurements derive important geophysical variables, such hydrometeor locations, best estimates of particle sedimentation fall velocities. C-APC algorithm uses natural targets introduce any needed velocities due antenna pointing. C-FMR product provides based on only-reflectivity quality-controlled radar-reflectivity profiles corrected for gaseous attenuation at GHz. In addition, path-integrated (PIA) flags identifying presence multiple scattering in observations. Finally, C-CD quality-controlled, bias-corrected mean velocity (Doppler mispointing, non-uniform beam filling folding). estimate estimated using novel technique.