Exploration of the lower atmosphere with millimeter-wave radar

Abstract : With the high peak power and large antenna gain of the WARLOC W-band (94 GHz) radar, clear-air radar returns from the lower atmosphere, which have no visible underlying scattering mechanism, have been observed. Due to their close resemblance to classical sea spikes from the sea surface scatter, the unknown phenomena are being referred to as air spikes. In this paper, a brief description of the high power WARLOC radar and preliminary observations of radar returns from air spikes are presented. Characteristics of air spikes in terms of height distribution, velocity response, volume density distribution, radar cross section, and spatial extent are discussed.