Spaceborne Cloud and Precipitation Radars at JPL

The seminar will address the topic of JPL's innovation in developing radar missions and instruments to study clouds and precipitation from space. It will take place in Classroom 27 at the main campus of Politecnico di Torino from 2:30 to 4:00 pm.

Abstract
From CloudSat’s Cloud Profiling Radar successfully operating in space for more than 17 years until its deorbit, to INCUS’s Dynamic Atmospheric triplet of radars, via RainCube’s successful demonstration of the first spaceborne precipitation radar in a Cubesat, and beyond, JPL has been pioneering a variety of mission and instrument concepts tailored specifically at meeting the needs of the cloud, convection and precipitation community for more than 4 decades. A brief overview of the context that enabled such contributions will be followed by specific examples of the importance of concerted advances in airborne radar demonstrations, algorithm development, modeling and technology developments randing from spaceborne electronics for Radars to formation flying and the role of small platforms.

Speaker: Simone Tanelli (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

Biography
Simone Tanelli received his PhD in Remote Sensing from the University of Florence in 1999. He is the INCUS Project Scientist at JPL and Deputy Manager of the Radar Science and Engineering Section.
Between 2006 and 2024 he has been the lead radar engineer for CloudSat’s W-band profiling radar, and between 2015 and 2021 he was the Principal Scientist of the RainCube InVEST technology demonstration.
He has been PI within the PMM Science Team, EarthCARE GV Team and numerous APR-2 and APR-3 field campaigns. He has flown in more than 100 flights around the world chasing storms of all kinds, with radars.
He has over 20 years of experience in research and development of atmospheric active and passive remote sensing measurement systems and methods.