As weather radars have been around for half a century, the knowledge of the scattering and propagation characteristics of weather targets and the atmosphere ought to be fairly solid. Or so we would like to think. Furthermore, hardware developments pushing radars at new wavelengths or making possible new measurement techniques open new questions on the scattering and propagation of radar waves.
Radar is hence an ideal tool for studying the effects of weather on microwave communications.
As our needs for communication increase, current frequency bands are getting crowded and new, more weather sensitive ones, have to be considered. A more thorough study of the influence of weather on these new frequency bands must then be made before billions are invested in equipment and technology. The effects of rain and snow on microwave propagation have received considerable attention and are now fairly well known. Melting snow, and its associated enhancement in reflectivity known as the bright band , is another story. As a result, considerable research is made at McGill on the melting layer and its impact on microwave communications.