NASA's CloudSat snaps 3-D weather 'Cloud-Profiling Radar' wows
the crowd NASA is pretty pleased with the first pictures beamed
back from its CloudSat satellite, which reveal "never-before-
seen" 3-D details of clouds, as the press release puts it.
CloudSat - launched on 28 April - carries a millimeter
wavelength "Cloud-Profiling Radar" which is "more than 1,000
times more sensitive than typical weather radar" and capable of
distinguishing between cloud particles and precipitation. Its
main purpose is to "offer new insights into how fresh water is
created from water vapor and how much of this water falls to the
surface as rain and snow". The first data from CloudSat was a
representation of a "warm front storm over the Norwegian Sea":
The blurb explains: CloudSat's first image...was obtained on May
20, 2006. In this horizontal cross-section of clouds, warm air
is seen rising over colder air as the satellite travels from
right to left. The red colors are indicative of highly
reflective particles such as water dro