Observation of Snowfall in Vertical Plane with X-band Radar

Abstract

We converted a small commercial X-band radar into an instrument for measuring three dimensional distribution of rain drops and/or snow flakes in the air. In this paper, we present the results of a test on its ability of measuring snow flakes distribution. The radar echo clearly shows that crows of snow flakes are advected by wind, which pattern corresponds to the results of observation on the ground in good accuracy. A consideration is made to rectify the nonlnearity of echo attenuation in distance.