Validation of Rain-Rate Estimation in Hurricanes from the Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer: Algorithm Correction and Error Analysis

Simultaneous observations by the lower fuselage (LF) radar, the tail (TA) radar, and the Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR) on board the NOAA WP-3D aircraft are used to validate the rainfall rate estimates from microwave emission measurements of SFMR in tropical cyclones. Data collected in Hurricane Bonnie (1998) and Hurricane Humberto (2001) with a total of 820 paired samples are used in the comparisons. The SFMR 10-s path-integrated rain rates are found to have an overestimate in light rain and an underestimate in heavy rain relative to radar rainfall estimates. Examination of the existing SFMR algorithm shows that the coefficient should be changed in the attenuation—rain-rate relationship used in the inversion algorithm. After this correction, a linear regression result with a correlation coefficient of 0.8 and a slope close to 1 is obtained. But an overall high bias of 5 mm h 1 of the SFMR rainfall estimate relative to radar is also found. The error analysis shows that the bias is nearly independent of rain type, a result confirming Jorgensen and Willis’s conclusion that the drop size distributions between convective and stratiform rain in hurricanes are similar. It is also shown that the bias is a weak function of wind speed, as well as a weak inverse function of radial distance to the hurricane center. Temperature dependence has been ruled out as the main explanation. After doing sensitivity tests, the authors conclude that the bias results from a combination of two factors: an underestimate of the freezing-level height, and a downward increase of radar reflectivity in the high wind regions. If the true downward increase is 1–2 dBZ km 1 ,a 0.5-km underestimate of the freezing-level height could account for up to a 3–5 mm h 1 bias.