Observations from space of meteorological fields on the scale of numerical weather forecasting models

In this paper we report the results of some preliminary studies concerning the use of a weather radar from a polar orbiting space platform for the direct observation of meteorological fields (rain and large-scale small-value vertical velocity) at horizontal resolutions which are useful in the initialisation-diagnosis of numerical limited area models (LAMs). The studies have been performed with specific reference to the "Cassini" radar from the International Space Station (ISS).