Observation Strategy of the Incus Mission: Retrieving Vertical Mass Flux in Convective Updrafts from Low-Earth-Orbit Convoys of Miniaturized Microwave Instruments

NASA recently chose the Investigation into Convective Updrafts (InCUs) proposal as the next Earth Ventures program mission. INCUS will use a convoy of three identical Ka-band radars measuring radar reflectivity within their common swath to infer the characteristics of any convective updrafts that they observe. We summarize the theoretical basis for this approach, with justification from ground-based zenith profiler data as well as sensitivity analyses of convection-permitting simulations. We then describe and quantify the performance of the approach to detect updrafts from the radar observations. Finally, we illustrate the expected performance of retrievals of vertical transport, and evaluate their ability to meet the objectives of the INCUS mission. How this observation strategy can be adapted to miniaturized passive mm-wave radiometers is also discussed.