Radio-Occultation and Heavy Precipitation aboard the PAZ orbiter (ROHP-PAZ) and its Ground-Based campaign

Ramon Padulles1, Estel Cardellach2, Sergio Tomás1, Manuel de la Torre Juarez3, Joe J Turk4 and Chi O Ao3, (1)Institute for Space Sciences (ICE - CSIC/IEEC), Barcelona, Spain, (2)Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), Barcelona, Spain, (3)NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (4)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States
Abstract:
For the first time ever, GNSS Radio Occultastion measurements will be taken at two polarizations, to exploit the potential capabilities of polarimetric radio occultation for detecting and quantifying heavy precipitation events and other de-polarizing atmospheric effects (e.g. cloud ice). We report the results on discriminating rain from a mountain top experiment set up to identify and understand the factors that affect the polarimetric RO signal by collecting heavy rain together with free-rain data.