Observed extinction by clouds at 95 GHz

Measurements of backscattered power were made in maritime stratus clouds with a 95 GHz radar mounted on an aircraft. The aircraft also carried probes for in situ cloud measurements of liquid water content (LWC) and hydrometeor size distribution. Horizontal flight segments of 5-10 km length, over which the LWC was relatively uniform, were selected for analysis. Mean values of LWC ranged from 0.05 to 0.8 g/m/sup 3/. The observations yielded an extinction coefficient of 4.6 dB/km per g/m/sup 3/ of cloud water.