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The cloud profiling radar (CPR) is one of the onboard instruments of the Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE). The CPR has been jointly developed by JAXA and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT.) On March 18, the CPR underwent an engineering model (EM) heat balance vacuum test in the space chamber at the Tsukuba Space Center. The space chamber is a test facility that simulates the space thermal environment to check the environmental perseverance of a satellite.
Overview
Helping to improve predictions for changes in weather
EarthCARE is an earth observation satellite that Japan and Europe have been jointly developing. Using its four sensors (Cloud Profiling Radar, Backscatter Lidar, Multi-Spectral Imager and Broadband Radiometer), clouds and aerosols (small particles like dust and dirt that exist in the earth's atmosphere) will be observed on a global scale to improve the accuracy of climate change predictions.
Climate change predictions are carried out by simulating the climate on computers. The accuracy of these simulations essentially depends on how accurate the data is portrayed from natural phenomena. However, as all natural phenomena related to climate changes are not yet understood, current predictions are sometimes unreliable. The biggest cause of this is said to be the effects from clouds and aerosols in radiation balance of the Earth's atmosphere.
With the EarthCARE mission, observations will be carried out on the distribution of cloud particles and aerosols in a vertical direction and speed measurements performed on cloud particles ascending and descending. These have never previously been thoroughly observed. Through this, the mechanism of radiation balance in interaction between clouds and aerosols can be solved and improvements in climate change predictions are expected.
World's First On-board Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) with Doppler Speed Sensor aboard a Satellite
(Photo by ESA)
The CPR transmits millimeter-waves toward the earth from the satellite's orbit and receives radio waves scattered by the cloud particles. Using the largest antenna ever made, the CPR can make observations with sensitivity ten times higher than current cloud radars aboard satellites by transmitting a large amount of electricity. In addition, the CPR is the first millimeter-wave radar aboard a satellite to have Doppler speed sensor functions. Through this function, we can understand not only the vertical structure of clouds, but also the ascending and descending movement of clouds.
