5. Clouds and Precipitation

Cloud Remote Sensing — Quiz

Test your understanding of cloud remote sensing with 5 practice questions.

Practice Questions

Question 1

According to the radar equation, returned power $P_r$ scales with range $R$ as $P_r\propto R^{-4}$. If the range doubles, by what factor does $P_r$ change?

Question 2

A spaceborne 94 GHz radar has a minimum detectable reflectivity of $-20$ dBZ. What is the corresponding linear reflectivity factor $Z$ in mm$^6$ m$^{-3}$?

Question 3

In dual-wavelength radar retrievals using W-band (94 GHz) and Ka-band (35 GHz), the ratio of reflectivities $Z_{94}/Z_{35}$ is primarily used to estimate which microphysical property?

Question 4

For lidar remote sensing, the lidar ratio $S$ is defined as $S=\alpha/\beta$, where $\alpha$ is extinction (km$^{-1}$) and $\beta$ is backscatter (km$^{-1}$ sr$^{-1}$). If $\beta=1.0\times10^{-4}$ km$^{-1}$ sr$^{-1}$ and $S=20$ sr, what is $\alpha$?

Question 5

In a synergistic radar-lidar retrieval, if the lidar signal is fully attenuated within an optically thick cloud but radar echo remains, the algorithm estimates cloud properties based on which empirical relationship?