Optimal Polarimetric Radar Rain Rate Estimator for Semi-arid Regions

In this paper we developed a new physically based based estimator using the Rayleigh approximation. The proposed estimator uses the reflectivity and the specific differential phase simultaneously in order to provide an accurate estimation for both small and large rates. The estimator was optimized so that it minimizes the systematic error effects as well as the measurement ones. simulations were performed using generated “Real-like” data. Results show that, in the opposite of the existing physically-based algorithms, the proposed one presents a good accuracy for both small and large rain rates with variances less than 15% and biases less than 6% in all cases.