remote sensing Letter Low-Cost Ka-Band Cloud Radar System for Distributed Measurements within the Atmospheric Boundary Layer Roberto Aguirre 1 , Felipe Toledo 2 , Rafael Rodríguez 3,4, Roberto Rondanelli 5,6,7 , Nicolas Reyes 1,8 and Marcos Díaz 1,6,* 1 Electrical Engineering Department, Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, University of Chile, Santiago 8370451, Chile;
[email protected] (R.A.);
[email protected] (N.R.) 2 Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, École Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, 91128 Palaiseau, France;
[email protected] 3 Institute of Electricity and Electronics, Facultad de Ciencias de la Ingeniería, Universidad Austral, General Lagos 2086, Valdivia 5110701, Chile;
[email protected] 4 CePIA, Astronomy Department, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción 4030000, Chile 5 Department of Geophysics, Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, University of Chile, Santiago 8370449, Chile;
[email protected] 6 Space and Planetary Exploration Laboratory, Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, University of Chile, Santiago 8370451, Chile 7 Center for Climate and Resilience Research, Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, University of Chile, Santiago 8370449, Chile 8 Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy, Auf dem Hugel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +56-2-2978-4204 Received: 18 June 2020; Accepted: 31 August 2020; Published: 3 December 2020 Abstract: Radars are used to retrieve physical parameters related to clouds and fog. With these measurements, models can be developed for several application fields such as climate, agriculture, aviation, energy, and astronomy. In Chile, coastal fog and low marine stratus intersect the coastal topography, forming a thick fog essential to sustain coastal ecosystems.