Peculiarities and Experience of W-Band Cloud Radar Calibration

This paper is devoted to discussing peculiarities of W-band cloud radar calibration. After a brief overview of meteorological radar calibration methods for quantitative information retrieval, we focus on problems and their possible solutions with respect to mm-wave radar calibration. The experimental part of the research is based on multi...

Radio Frequency Interference Characterization and Mitigation for Polarimetric Weather Radar: A Study Case

Radio frequency interference (RFI) has become a growing concern for weather radar, distorting radar variable estimation. By simultaneously or alternately transmitting the horizontal and vertical polarized waves, polarimetric weather radar can be referred to as SHV radar or AHV radar. The SHV radar can mimic the AHV radar by discarding either...

UAV-aided weather radar calibration

Weather radar is well recognized as an effective sensor for obtaining the microphysical and dynamical properties of precipitation at high spatial and temporal resolution. Radar calibration is one of the most important prerequisites for achieving accurate observations. In this article, a portable, cost-effective and repeatable radar calibration...

Velocity-Based EDR Retrieval Techniques Applied to Doppler Radar Measurements from Rain: Two Case Studies

In this article, five velocity-based energy dissipation rate (EDR) retrieval techniques are assessed. The EDR retrieval techniques are applied to Doppler measurements from Transportable Atmospheric Radar (TARA)—a precipitation profiling radar—operating in the vertically fixed-pointing mode. A generalized formula for the Kolmogorov constant is...

Remote Sensing of Droplet Number Concentration in Warm Clouds: A Review of the Current State of Knowledge and Perspectives

The cloud droplet number concentration (N_d) is of central interest to improve the understanding of cloud physics and for quantifying the effective radiative forcing by aerosol-cloud interactions. Current standard satellite retrievals do not operationally provide N_d, but it can be inferred from retrievals of cloud optical...

Adaptive and high-resolution estimation of specific differential phase for polarimetric X-band weather radars

One of the most beneficial polarimetric variables may be the specific differential phase K_DP because of its independence from power attenuation and radar miscalibration. However, conventional K_DP estimation requires a substantial amount of range smoothing as a result of the noisy characteristic of the measured...

Radar Target and Moving Clutter Separation Based on the Low-Rank Matrix Optimization

A novel algorithm is put forward to separate radar target and moving clutter based on a combination of the low-rank matrix optimization (LRMO) and the decision tree. Similar to the moving object detection in the field of automated video analysis, the proposed separation method, which is carried out in the range-Doppler domain, makes use of...

Object-Orientated Filter Design in Spectral Domain for Polarimetric Weather Radar

Aiming at removing stationary and moving clutter while retaining precipitation for dual-polarization weather radar, a new clutter suppression method, named the object-orientated spectral polarimetric (OBSpol) filter, is put forward in this paper. Based on the spectral polarimetric feature and the range-Doppler continuity of precipitation, the...

Retrieving fall streaks within cloud systems using doppler radar

The interaction of ice crystals with supercooled liquid droplets in mixed-phase clouds leads to an enhanced growth of ice particles. However, such processes are still not clearly understood although they are important processes for precipitation formation in midlatitudes. To better understand how ice particles grow within such clouds, changes...

High-resolution polarimetric X-band weather radar observations at the Cabauw Experimental Site for Atmospheric Research

In 2007, the horizontally scanning polarimetric X-band radar IDRA (IRCTR Drizzle Radar) was installed on top of the 213 m high mast at the Dutch meteorological observatory Cabauw Experimental Site for Atmospheric Research (CESAR) at Netherlands. This radar complements a large variety of measurement instruments at CESAR by providing information...

Ground-based remote sensing of precipitation using a multi-polarized FM-CW Doppler radar