{"id":386,"date":"2017-06-30T11:48:17","date_gmt":"2017-06-30T10:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/radargroup\/?page_id=386"},"modified":"2019-05-23T12:05:59","modified_gmt":"2019-05-23T11:05:59","slug":"chilbolton","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/met-radargroup\/chilbolton\/","title":{"rendered":"Chilbolton"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>The Chilbolton Facility for Atmospheric and Radio Research<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.met.reading.ac.uk\/radar\/images\/dish4.jpg\" width=\"190\" \/>Our group has close links with the Chilbolton Observatory in Hampshire, which offers a unique suite of active and passive instruments for measuring clouds, aerosols and precipitation. It is home to the world&#8217;s largest steerable meteorological radar, whose 25m antenna provides an angular resolution four times higher than typical weather radars.<\/p>\n<p>Many instruments are operated 24\/7 providing continuous data sets of cloud and aerosol properties, which allow long-term statistics to be analysed, and are particularly valuable for\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.met.reading.ac.uk\/~rsc\/home\/research\/theme3.php\">model evaluation<\/a>. These data feed into the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cloud-net.org\/\">CloudNet<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.actris.eu\/\">ACTRIS<\/a>\u00a0european networks.<\/p>\n<p>Data collected by the Chilbolton instruments is freely available via the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/badc.nerc.ac.uk\/\">British Atmospheric Data Centre<\/a>, or by contacting the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.chilbolton.stfc.ac.uk\/Chilbolton\/facilities\/24897.aspx\" class=\"broken_link\">head of the facility<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>CAMRA RADAR<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The Chilbolton Advanced Meteorological Radar is installed on the 25m antenna, and has an extremely narrow beam (0.28 degrees 1-way FWHM), allowing very high resolution measurements. The transmitter is a powerful magnetron system, which transmits 500kW pulses. The raw range resolution is 75m. The radar has full dual-polarisation and Doppler capability.<\/li>\n<li>A second fully coherent transmitter system is currently being developed. This TWTA system will allow the use of very long pulses and pulse compression techniques<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>OTHER RADARS<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The 35 GHz Copernicus radar operates 24\/7 producing profiles of clouds every 30 s. As well as standard reflectivity and Doppler parameters, it records Doppler spectra samples once per minute. The radar has full dual-polarisation capability.<\/li>\n<li>The 94 GHz Galileo radar operates on an &#8220;on-demand&#8221; basis. Profiles of clouds are recorded once per second, as well as Doppler spectra profiles once per minute. The radar has recently been upgraded to dual-polarisation, and allows for arbitrary spacing of H and V pulses.<\/li>\n<li>The METEK 35 GHz scanning cloud radar is part of the NCAS\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncas.ac.uk\/index.php\/en\/about-amf\">Atmospheric Measurement Facility<\/a>. It is based at Chilbolton, but is mounted on a trailer, and can be deployed on field campaigns. It has a powerful magnetron transmitter which makes it sensitive to weak cloud echoes without the need for pulse compression techniques, and can scan rapidly to build up a 3D view of a cloud field.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncas.ac.uk\/index.php\/en\/the-facility-amf\/263-amf-main-category\/amf-x-band-radar\/1098-x-band-radar-overview\">The NCAS X-band mobile radar<\/a>\u00a0is also part of the Atmospheric Measurement Facility, and will be based at Chilbolton when not being used on field campaigns<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>LIDARS<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Vaisla CL51 lidar ceilometer. This lidar operates 24\/7 and provides profiles of clouds and aerosols every 30 s<\/li>\n<li>HALO Doppler Lidar. Doppler capability allows vertical velocity measurements, and retrieval of wind profiles.<\/li>\n<li>A powerful UV Raman lidar is available on-demand. The Raman channel allows retrieval of water vapour profiles.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>PASSIVE INSTRUMENTS<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Radiometrics Microwave radiometer. Uses a range of channels between 22-28 GHz to retrieve water vapour and liquid water paths, and performs scans to derive profiles.<\/li>\n<li>Cimel Sunphotometer. Retrieves aerosol optical depth during clear sky, and cloud optical depth during overcast conditions (retrievals are available through the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov\/\">AERONET<\/a>\u00a0website).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>GAUGES, DISDROMETERS AND METEOROLOGICAL SENSORS<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Fast-response drop-counting rain gauges. These gauges, built in-house, can measure rainfall in increments as small as 0.0019mm, allowing over 100x higher resolution rainfall than standard tipping-bucket gauges (which sample in 0.2 mm increments)<\/li>\n<li>Joss-Waldvogel RD-80 disdrometers. There is one instrument at Chilbolton itself, and another 7 km away at Sparsholt college.<\/li>\n<li>There are numerous other meteorological sensors at Chilbolton for precipitation, temperature, humidity, heat fluxes, and other parameters. More information is available\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.chilbolton.stfc.ac.uk\/Chilbolton\/facilities\/24806.aspx\" class=\"broken_link\">here<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>LINKS<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Chilbolton has its own set of webpages\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.chilbolton.stfc.ac.uk\/\">here<\/a><\/li>\n<li>This\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.britishpathe.com\/video\/new-telescope\/query\/chilbolton\" class=\"broken_link\">pathe news film<\/a>\u00a0documents the opening of Chilbolton in 1967<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chilbolton Facility for Atmospheric and Radio Research Our group has close links with the Chilbolton Observatory in Hampshire, which offers a unique suite of active and passive instruments for&#8230;<a class=\"read-more\" href=\"&#104;&#116;&#116;&#112;&#115;&#58;&#47;&#47;&#114;&#101;&#115;&#101;&#97;&#114;&#99;&#104;&#46;&#114;&#101;&#97;&#100;&#105;&#110;&#103;&#46;&#97;&#99;&#46;&#117;&#107;&#47;&#109;&#101;&#116;&#45;&#114;&#97;&#100;&#97;&#114;&#103;&#114;&#111;&#117;&#112;&#47;&#99;&#104;&#105;&#108;&#98;&#111;&#108;&#116;&#111;&#110;&#47;\">Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":219,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-386","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8.1 - 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