Preliminary study on the feasibility of performing quantitative precipitation estimation using x-band radar

Conference paper (2009)

Authors

J Figueras i Ventura International Research Centre for Telecommunication and Radar
R van de Beek External organisation
H.W.J. Russchenberg Microwave Technology and Systems for Radar
R Uijlenhoet External organisation
Research Group
International Research Centre for Telecommunication and Radar
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Published Date

2009

Language

Undefined/Unknown

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Research Group

International Research Centre for Telecommunication and Radar

Abstract

RCTR developed IDRA (IRCTR drizzle radar), a new weather radar aimed at obtaining high temporal and spatial resolution observations of rain, drizzle, low level clouds and fog. The system is placed on top of a 213 m tall meteorological tower in Cabauw (the Netherlands). The radar has been operating on a continuous basis from April till November 2008 and a consistent data set has been obtained. In order to asses the performance of the system a comparison between rainfall-rate retrieved from radar data and measurements from a network of rain gauges placed in the area surrounding the Cabauw tower and operated by the Wageningen University has been carried out.
There are a significant number of rain events where both data from rain gauges and radar data were available. The analysis of these events shows a very good agreement on the trend of the time series of rain gauges and collocated radar measurements but significant differences in the actual values retrieved by the two instruments, particularly during the colder season. Importantly, the radar was able to observe light rain rates (below 0.5 mm/h) that were not properly measured by the rain gauges.
In the paper, extended information on the used data sets is going to be provided. A detailed analysis of the rain rate comparison, including weather conditions, for two relevant days, one corresponding to the warm season and the other to the cold season is going to be performed.