Recent observations of clouds and precipitation by the airborne precipitation radar 2ndgeneration in support of the GPM and ACE missions

The Ku-/Ka-band, Doppler, scanning, polarimetric airborne radar, known as the Airborne Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (APR-2) has been collecting data since 2001 in support of many spaceborne instruments and missions aiming at the observation of clouds and precipitation (e.g., TRMM, AMSR-E, GPM, CloudSat, ACE). The APR-2 suite of processing and retrieval algorithms (ASPRA) produces Level 1 (L1) products, microphysical classification and retrievals, and wind intensity estimates. ASPRA was also generalized to operate on an arbitrary set of radar configuration parameters to study the expected performance of multi-frequency spaceborne cloud and precipitation radars such as the GPM DPR (Global Precipitation Measurement mission, Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar) and a notional radar for the Aerosol/Clouds/Ecosystem (ACE) mission. In this paper we illustrate the unique dataset collected during the Global Precipitation Measurement Cold-season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEx, US/Canada Jan/Feb 2012). We will focus on the significance of these observations for the development of algorithms for GPM and ACE, with particular attention to classification and retrievals of frozen and mixed phase hydrometeors.