Quantification of uncertainties in attenuation correction for single-polarization weather radars at C- and X-band

At Cor X-band wavelengths, the importance of attenuation affecting the radar signal in rain has been recognized for a long time. Because of the non-sphericity of rain drops, backscaterring and propagation of electromagnetic waves depend on their polarization state. As most operational weather radars in Europe are single-polarization C-band systems, the quantification of the influence of uncertainties concerning (1) radar calibration, (2) the parameterization of power law relations between the integral variables (in particular radar reflectivity Z and specific attenuation k), and (3) total path integrated attenuation (PIA) estimates, at the horizontal and vertical polarization states, is highly relevant. In this work, we focus on two attenuation correction algorithms: a forward (Hitschfeld and Bordan, 1954) and a backward (Marzoug and Amayenc, 1994) scheme.