Validation of the Rain Profiling Algorithm “ZPHI” from the C-Band Polarimetric Weather Radar in Darwin

Abstract An extensive application of a rain profiling algorithm (ZPHI) employing a C-band polarimetric radar (the C-POL radar of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre in Darwin) is presented. ZPHI belongs to the class of rain profiling algorithms that have been developed for spaceborne or airborne radars operating at attenuating frequencies. By nature, these algorithms are nonlocal: the full profile of the measured radar reflectivity is inverted to derive a retrieved profile of the rainfall rate. The retrieval accuracy lays in the imposition of an “external constraint” in the inversion procedure. In this case, that is supplied by the differential phase shift ΦDP. The primary products of ZPHI are the profile along the beam of the specific attenuation A, and the “normalized” intercept parameter N*0. The rainfall rate is further estimated through an R–A relation adjusted for N*0. ZPHI solves automatically two problems met when operating at C band: the along-path attenuation and the variability...

[1]  R. Lhermitte.  Cloud and precipitation remote sensing at 94 GHz , 1988 .

[2]  Eugenio Gorgucci,et al.  Measurement of Mean Raindrop Shape from Polarimetric Radar Observations , 2000 .

[3]  T. N. Krishnamurti,et al.  The status of the tropical rainfall measuring mission (TRMM) after two years in orbit , 2000 .

[4]  Jacques Testud,et al.  The Rain Profiling Algorithm Applied to Polarimetric Weather Radar , 2000 .

[5]  Eugenio Gorgucci,et al.  Calibration of radars using polarimetric techniques , 1992, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[6]  A. Waldvogel,et al.  The N0 Jump of Raindrop Spectra , 1974 .

[7]  P. Webster,et al.  TOGA COARE: The Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment. , 1992 .

[8]  Carlton W. Ulbrich,et al.  Path- and Area-Integrated Rainfall Measurement by Microwave Attenuation in the 1–3 cm Band , 1977 .

[9]  H. Direskeneli,et al.  Disdrometer Measurements during an Intense Rainfall Event in Central Illinois: Implications for Differential Reflectivity Radar Observations , 1986 .

[10]  Robert A. Black,et al.  The Concept of “Normalized” Distribution to Describe Raindrop Spectra: A Tool for Cloud Physics and Cloud Remote Sensing , 2001 .

[11]  M. Kitchen,et al.  Representativeness errors in comparisons between radar and gauge measurements of rainfall , 1992 .

[12]  Walter Hitschfeld,et al.  ERRORS INHERENT IN THE RADAR MEASUREMENT OF RAINFALL AT ATTENUATING WAVELENGTHS , 1954 .

[13]  S. Rutledge,et al.  Polarimetric Radar Measurements of Tropical Rain at a 5-cm Wavelength , 1999 .

[14]  Eugenio Gorgucci,et al.  Radar and Surface Measurement of Rainfall during CaPE: 26 July 1991 Case Study , 1995 .

[15]  V. Bringi,et al.  Comparison of Dual-Polarization Radar Measurements of Rain with Ground-Based Disdrometer Measurements , 1982 .

[16]  A. R. Jameson.  A comparison of microwave techniques for measuring rainfall , 1991 .

[17]  Robert Meneghini,et al.  Intercomparison of Single-Frequency Methods for Retrieving a Vertical Rain Profile from Airborne or Spaceborne Radar Data , 1994 .

[18]  Mongi Marzoug,et al.  A Class of Single- and Dual-Frequency Algorithms for Rain-Rate Profiling from a Spaceborne Radar. Pad I: Principle and Tests from Numerical Simulations , 1994 .

[19]  Karen Andsager,et al.  Laboratory Measurements of Axis Ratios for Large Raindrops , 1999 .

[20]  Emmanouil N. Anagnostou,et al.  Uncertainty Quantification of Mean-Areal Radar-Rainfall Estimates , 1999 .

[21]  Kenji Nakamura,et al.  Dual-parameter radar rainfall measurement from space: a test result from an aircraft experiment , 1991, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[22]  Alexander V. Ryzhkov,et al.  Cloud Microphysics Retrieval Using S-Band Dual-Polarization Radar Measurements , 1999 .

[23]  T. Bird,et al.  The BMRC/NCAR C-Band Polarimetric (C-POL) Radar System , 1998 .

[24]  M. Sachidananda,et al.  Rain Rate Estimates from Differential Polarization Measurements , 1987 .

[25]  V. Chandrasekar,et al.  Error Structure of Multiparameter Radar and Surface Measurements of Rainfall. Part III : Specific Differential Phase , 1990 .

[26]  J. Marshall,et al.  THE DISTRIBUTION OF RAINDROPS WITH SIZE , 1948 .

[27]  J. W. F. Goddard,et al.  Technique for calibration of meteorological radars using differential phase , 1994 .