Attenuation correction for a high-resolution polarimetric X-band weather radar

[摘要] In 2007, IRCTR (Delft University of Technology) installed a new polarimetricX-band LFMCW radar (IDRA) at the meteorological observation site of Cabauw,The Netherlands. It provides plan position indicators (PPI) at a fixedelevation with a high range resolution of either 3 m or 30 m at a maximum observation range of 1.5 km and 15 km,respectively. IDRA aims to monitor precipitation events for the long-termanalysis of the hydrological cycle. Due to the specifications of IDRA, thespatial and temporal variability of a large range of rainfall intensities(from drizzle to heavy convective rain) can be studied.

Even though the usual observation range of IDRA is limited to 15 km,attenuation due to precipitation can be large enough to seriously affect themeasurements. In this contribution we evaluate the application of a combinedmethod to correct for the specific and the differential attenuation, and inthe same vein estimate the parameters of the raindrop-size distribution. Theestimated attenuations are compared to a phase constraint attenuationcorrection method.

[学科分类] 电子、光学、磁材料