DETERMINATION OF THE MELTING LAYER FROM METEOROLOGICAL RADAR DATA

OMER ABDEL RAZAG SHARIF ABU BAKER SHARIF

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

DETERMINATION OF THE MELTING LAYER FROM METEOROLOGICAL RADAR DATA

2006/2007-I OMER ABDEL RAZAG SHARIF ABU BAKER SHARIF

Industrial Research and Consultancy Centre (IRCC), Khartoum, Sudan. Dr. NOR HISHAM BIN HJ KHAMIS E-Mail: moshakis111@hotmail.com DECEMBER 2006 DECEMBER 2006

I hereby declare that I have read this thesis and in my opinion this thesis is sufficient in terms of scope and quality for the award of the degree of Master of Engineering (ElectricalTelecommunication Engineering)

Signature

: ...

Name of Supervisor : Dr. NOR HISHAM BIN HJ KHAMIS Date : ...

DETERMINATION OF THE MELTING LAYER FROM METEOROLOGICAL RADAR DATA

OMER ABDEL RAZAG SHARIF ABU BAKER SHARIF

A project report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Engineering (Electrical- Telecommunication Engineering)

Faculty of Electrical Engineering Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

DECEMBER 2006

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I declare that this thesis entitled Determination of the Melting Layer from Meteorological Radar Datais the result of my own research except as cited in the references. The thesis has not been accepted for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature of any other degree.

Signature Name Date

: : OMER ABDEL RAZAG SHARIF ABU BAKER : .

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To my Beloved Mother, Father, Brothers and Faience. and to the Souls of Mohammed Abdel Aziz and Mustafa Hashim who devoted their lives towards defending Islam and our country.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, and Most Merciful Praise be to Almighty Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) who gave me the courage and patience to carry out this work. Pease and blessing of Allah be upon his last prophet Mohammed (Sallulaho-Alaihe Wassalam) and all his companions (Sahaba), (Razi-Allaho-Anhum) who devoted their lives towards the prosperity and spread of Islam. My deep appreciation and heartfelt gratitude goes to my supervisor, Dr. Nor Hisham Bin Hj Khamis for his kindness, constant endeavor, guidance and the numerous moments of attention he devoted through out this work. I extend my deepest gratitude to my close friend, Eng. Ayman A.A. Alwarfalli for his encouragement and motivation. A special thanks and deepest gratitude to my friends, Eng. Abdel razig Saeed Mohammed, Eng. Elmueiz El tayeb Sulaiman, and Eng. Naji Abdel Gadir Ahmed for providing their workstations to complete my work. Acknowledgement is due to my senior colleague and friend Eng. Illiasaak Ahmad, and my classmate Eng. Sahazati bt. Md. Rozali for translating the abstract to Bahasa Malaysia. Also, a heartfelt acknowledgement is due to Dr. Abdelwahab Mohammed Ali, who revised the thesis, for his valuable comments about the thesis format and the language.

v A heartfelt gratitude and acknowledgement are due to the Sudanese community in UTM, Skudai for their kindness, care, valuable advices and cooperation, which generates a similar environment as what I left. Sincere friendship is the flavor and spice of life, I owe thanks to my close friends in Sudan, who offered different kinds of support. (KTC-S46 and S47) at UTM, Skudai. I would like to extend the acknowledgement to the Industrial Research and Consultancy Centre (IRCC), Sudan, and all my colleagues there for their continuous courage and support. Special heartfelt thanks to the Engineering Industries Department and the Economical Studies Department in IRCC for their cooperation, patience and unlimited support. Family support plays a vital role in the success of any individual. I would like to convey a heartfelt thanks to my parents, brothers, and other family members including all my uncles, ants and their families; their prayers and encouragement always helped me take the right step in life. Also special thanks to all neighbors in Block 11, Alsafiah, Sudan, for their spiritual support and heartiest prayers. Sincere thanks are extended to my classmates and colleagues in the international student building

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ABSTRACT

The bright band is the enhanced radar echo (reflectivity) associated with the melting of hydrometeors in stratiform rain. However; incorrect determination of the bright-band may lead to significant overestimation of precipitation such as rainfall rate reaching the ground, sometimes by as much as a factor of five, as in the example for rainfall rate. Radar has the potential to distinguish between different hydrometeors through the vertical profile of reflectivity by its statistical moments. The vertical profile can be used to determine the bright band. The main objective of this project is to determine the boundaries of the melting layer (bright band) based on the meteorological radar measurements. This determination includes the evaluation of the rain height and zero degree isotherms height. To achieve this description fully, the raw radar measurements have been sorted out, filtered, and decoded, plotted and analyzed. Radar observables have been plotted against the corresponding heights, and their boundaries have been determined according to the enhancement and transition of radar parameters. The results give an acceptable correlation with the international telecommunication union- radio communication sector (ITU-R) recommendations and a good one with the results that are obtained from the precipitation radar on-board the tropical rainfall measuring mission (TRMM) satellite and the characteristics of the melting layer in Singapore, which obtained using Sband polarization-diversity Doppler radar.

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ABSTRAK

Jalur terang ialah pantulan radar yang ditingkatkan nilainya dan berkait rapat dengan pencairan pemendakan hujan stratiform. Namun begitu, kesilapan dalam penentuan kadar gema bagi jalur terang mengakibatkan kesan yang ketara semasa menentukan kadar pemendakan. Kesilapan anggaran kadang-kala boleh mencecah sehingga 5 skala-faktor akibat daripada kesilapan penganggaran kadar turun hujan, contohnya. Radar mempunyai potensi untuk mengklasifikasikan jenis pemendakan melalui data statistical moments pantulan profil menegak. Oleh yang demikian, objektif utama dalam projek ini adalah untuk menentukan sempadan-sempadan lapisan pencairan bagi jalur terang berdasarkan data yang diperolehi daripada radar meteorologi. Selain daripada itu, penilaian keatas rain height dan zero degree Data mentah yang diperolehi dari radar telah isotherms height juga dilakukan. yang sebaik mungkin.

disusun, disaring, dinyahkod, dan seterusnya dianalisa bagi mendapatkan maklumat Data yang telah diproses tadi kemudiannya diplotkan Sempadan bagi data-data tersebut ditentukan berlawanan dengan nilai tinggi.

mengikut peningkatan dan had transisi radar. Keputusan yang diperolehi adalah memberangsangkan kerana ianya selari dengan cadangan yang diberikan oleh ITUR. Keputusan yang diperolehi juga sama baiknya dengan keputusan yang didapati melalui radar satelit pemendakan TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission). Ianya juga bersamaan dengan ciri-ciri pencairan lapisan di Singapura yang diperolehi melalui radar S-band polarization-diversity Doppler.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER DECLARATION DEDICATION

TITLE

PAGE ii iii iv vi vii viii xi xiii xvi xix xx 1 1 2 5 5 6 7 8 8 8 8 11 13

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT ABSTRAK TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF SYMBOLS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF APPENDENCES 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 2 Introduction Project Background and Problem Statement Project Objective Scope of the Project Project Methodology Thesis Out line

METREOLOGICAL RADAR AND REFLECTIVITY DATA 2.1 2.2 Introduction RADAR Review 2.2.1 Introduction 2.2.2 2.3 Target Information Extraction Meteorological Radar

ix 2.3.1 Introduction 2.3.2 2.3.3 2.4 2.5 The Role of the Antenna on 14 16 16 18 18 19 22 25 25 27 28 29 30 30 31 31 32 32 33 35 35 36 38 Introduction Statistical Moments in Multi-Parameter 39 3.4.2.1 Differential Reflectivity (ZDR) 39 38 Reflection from the Target Transmission and Reception Resolution Meteorological Radar Equation 2.5.1 2.5.2 2.6 2.7 General Radar Equation Radar Equation for Distributed Target 13

Kluang Radar Station and RAPIC Transmitter Radar Data Format 2.7.1 2.7.2 2.7.3 2.7.4 ASCII Asynchronous Format for Radial Radar Data Encoding Types Sixteen Level ASCII Encoding Sixteen Level Run Length Encoding Representation

2.8 2.9 3

Transmission of Radar Data Summary

THE MELTING LAYER, CONCEPT AND METHODS OF DETECTION 3.1 3.2 Introduction The Melting Layer 3.2.1 Introduction 3.2.2 3.3 3.3.1 3.3.2 3.4 Meteorological Radar Relationships Introduction ITU-R Models for Propagation in NonMelting Layer Models

Ionized Media Methods for Detecting the Boundaries of the 3.4.1 3.4.2 Radar Melting Layer

x 3.4.2.2 Linear (LDR) 3.4.2.3 The Co-Polar Correlation ( co) 3.4.2.4 Differential Phase Shift (DP) 3.4.2.5 Ground Propagation 3.5 3.6 4 4.1 4.2 The Analysis of the Vertical Profile of Radar 42 48 49 49 50 50 59 66 Radar 72 74 Summary Introduction Heights and Thickness of the Melting Layer Resolution Range Dependence Month-to-Month Variability of the Melting 89 91 93 93 96 97 102-128 Summary Summary and Conclusions Recommendation for Future Work 76 78 78 78 85 Profiles of Summary Introduction Data Preprocessing and Analysis 4.2.1 Sorting Radar Data 4.2.2 Development of Data Sorting Program and its Outcomes 4.3 4.4 4.5 Layer 4.6 5 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 6 6.1 6.2 REFERENCES APPENDICES A-D Decoding the Meteorological Radar Data Plotting the Vertical Reflectivity Clutter Anomalous 42 Depolarization Ratio 40 41 41

METEOROLOGICAL RADAR DATA ANALYSIS

Reflectivity-Height Curve Determination of the Boundaries of the Melting

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Layer Boundaries

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

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LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO. 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Radar Specifications

TITLE 15 volumetric elevations angle 16 Volumetric signal strength thresholds and the corresponding rain rate The sixteen characters that define absolute levels The forty-nine characters that define the deviation encoding The distribution of radar scans over the elevation angles The properties of VRP_Kluang1 folder contents The number of radar images for all elevation angles over its occurrence period Distribution of the radar data over its period according to the corresponding resolution range Properties of the sorted radar data for 1000m resolution range Properties of the sorted radar data for 500m resolution range Statistical properties for the heights and thickness of the melting layer using 500m resolution range Statistical properties for the heights and thickness of the melting layer using 1000m resolution range Comparison between the melting layer heights values in tropics Statistical properties for the heights and thickness of the melting layer using the two resolution ranges, 500m and

PAGE 22 26 28 29 29 51 54 57 62 64 66 81 83 83 89

xii 1000m, in the same period (4th -8th March and 23rd April 1998) 5.5 Monthly variation of the statistical properties for the heights and thickness of the melting layer (from 2nd January to 18th June 1998) 91

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LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO. 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 3.1 3.2

TITLE Radar simplified block diagram (Edde, 1993) Spherical coordinates (Edde, 1993) PPI display of resolution (Edde, 1993) Monostatic radar observation geometry RAPIC System A typical sample of radar intensity scanned by RAPIC transmitter Typical radar reflectivity height profile (Thurai et al, 2003) Reference vertical profile with enhancement region corresponding to the melting layer (Baldini and Gorgucci, 2005)

PAGE 9 12 13 15 23 27 37

43 reflectivity profiles for different 45 47 50 51 52 53 53

3.3

Vertical 2001)

radar

meteorological radar parameters (Wilson and Tan, 3.4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 VRP data in the bright band region proposed by (Zafar and Chandrasekar, 2005) The Meteorological radar data from Kluang radar station in the first half of 1998 Distribution of radar images over RHI scans All radar images that captured using 0.5 EA copied to folder EA 0.5 Radar images from 2nd to 9th January copied to Kluang1 EA_0.5 folder The meteorological radar data for all RHI scans

xiv according to the time series of occurrence 4.6 4.7 4.8 Contents of VRP_Kluang1 folder The flowchart of sorting the radar data The sorted meteorological radar data for 1000m range: (a) the date folders (parent folders), (b) radar radials in the first day (00298) (children folders), and (c) the radar images which are captured in 04:22 gmt for all the elevation angles 4.9 4.10 4.11 The flow chart of the developed decoding algorithm for the radar data The flow chart of the decoding algorithm provided by Australian Meteorological Bureau Sample of decoded radar data (a) The decoded radar data according to the AZ, (b) Plot of the decoded data in term of reflectivity against radar range and AZ 4.12 Combination of the decoded radar data for the 15 EAs after being sorted according to the radial angles and assembled in a three dimensions matrix 4.13 Determination of the vertical height of the 15 decoded points according to the elevation angle and the scan range 4.14 4.15 5.1 Some samples of the vertical profile of radar reflectivity curve The flow chart of determination the boundaries of the melting layer Spread Plots of the Boundaries of the Melting Layer using 1000m Resolution Range: (a) h0-dBZ, (b) hRdBZ, and (c) BBH-dBZ 5.2 Histograms of the melting layer boundaries using 500m resolution range: (a) Histogram of h0, (b) Histogram of hR, (c) Histogram of BBH, and (d) Histogram of BBth 5.3 Spread plots of the boundaries of the melting layer using 1000m resolution range: (a) h0-dBZ, (b) hR-dBZ, 82 81 80 77 75 73 73 71 70 69 64 54 61

xv and (c) BBH-dBZ 5.4 Histograms of the melting layer boundaries using 1000m resolution range: (a) Histogram of h0, (b) Histogram of hR, (c) Histogram of BBH, and (d) Histogram of BBth 5.5 5.6 Height of clouds over Klang valley(Malaysia) on 9 March 2006 The spread plots of boundaries of the melting layer using the two resolution ranges (RRs): (a) h0-dBZ for 500m RR, (b) h0-dBZ for 1000m RR, (c) hR-dBZ for 500 RR, (d) hR-dBZ for 1000 RR, (e) BBH-dBZ for 500m RR, and (f) BBH-dBZ for 1000m RR 5.7 Histograms of boundaries of the melting layer using the two resolution ranges (RRs): (a) Histogram of h0 for 500m RR, (b) Histogram of h0 for 1000m RR (c) Histogram of hR for 500m RR, (d) Histogram of hR for 1000m RR, (e) Histogram of BBH for 500m RR, (f) Histogram of BBH for 1000m RR and (g) Histogram of BBth for 500m RR, and (h) Histogram of BBth for 1000m RR 5.8 D.1 Month-to-Month variability for (a) h0, (b) hR, (c) BBH, and (d) BBth Spread plots of the boundaries of the melting layer using 500m resolution range: (a) h0- hR, (b) h0- BBH (c) h0- BBth (d)hR - BBH, (e) hR BBth and (f) BBth- BBH D.2 Spread plots of the boundaries of the melting layer using 1000m resolution range: (a) h0- hR, (b) h0- BBH (c) h0- BBth (d)hR - BBH, (e) hR BBth and (f) BBthBBH 130 129 90 88 87
th

83 85

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LIST OF SYMBOLS

A A Ag Aeff ASin ASout BBH BBth CR c D Do Di dBZ e em ein FH f f Gt(r) Gr(r) H (t-) h hB hbot

Area (m2) Total Attenuation (in dB) Geometric area Effective area (m2) Inner average slope Outer average slope Radar bright-band height (km) Bright band thickness (km) Radar calibration constant Velocity of propagation (m/sec) Diameter (m), size of particles Outer diameter (m) Inner diameter (m) dB Z= 10 log10 Z Relative dielectric constant Dielectric constant of the medium Dielectric constant of the inclusions or embedded particles Freezing height (km) Fraction of the total particle volume Frequency (Hz) Gain of the transmitted antenna in direction r Gain of the received antenna in direction r Impulse response of the radar receiver Length of square-wave pulse in Radar Bottom border of bright band Bright band region bottom height (km)

xvii hpeak hR hT htop h0 L LDR. N N (D) n P1(r) P2(r) Pt Pr R, r Tx V W Z ZDR ZH ZV Ze Zpeak Zrain Zsnow DP H Height of peak of bright band reflectivity Rain height (km) Top border of bright band Bright band region top height (km) 0C isotherm height, peak of reflectivity Losses of microwave measurement element Linear depolarization ratio Concentration of particles in certain size The drop size distribution (DSD) Complex index of refraction Power transmitted in direction r (W) Power transmitted by omni-directional antenna in direction r (W) Transmitted power (W) Received power (W) Range, distance or radius (m) Transmitter Resolution volume (m3) Power density (W/m2) Effective reflectivity factor (mm6/m3) Differential reflectivity Reflectivity measured at horizontal polarization Reflectivity measured at vertical polarization Effective radar reflectivity factor (mm6/m3) Peak of bright band reflectivity Reflectivity of rain Reflectivity of snow Antenna solid angle Differential phase shift Radar reflectivity (m2 m-3) Wavelength (m) Pulse duration (second) Effective area of the radar target (m2) Backscatter cross section for horizontal polarization

xviii V g c p co co Backscatter cross section for vertical polarization Specific attenuation for atmospheric gases (dB/km) Specific attenuation for clouds (dB/km) Specific attenuation for precipitation (dB/km) Latitude of the earth-station location Co-polar correlation Scattering differential phase

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ASCII AZ BB CW DSD EA EM ISO ITU-R JDN LOS PPI PE RADAR RCS RHI RIU RR SNR TRMM-PR UK UTM VPR VRP

American Standard Code for Information Interchange Azimuth angle (degree) Bright Band Continuous wave Drop Size Distributions Elevation angle Electromagnetic International Standard Organization International telecommunication union Radio communication sector Julian Day Number Line-of-site Plan position indicator Permanent Echo Radio Detection And Ranging Radar Cross Section Range Height Indicator Radar Interface Unit Resolution Range Signal to Nose ratio Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission-Precipitations Radar United Kingdom Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Vertical profile of radar reflectivity Vertical reflectivity profiles

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LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX A B RADAR DATA

TITLE A MATLAB PROGRAM FOR SORTING THE

PAGE 102

A MATLAB PROGRAM FOR PLOTTING THE VERTICAL PROFILE OF THE RADAR REFLECTIVITY 106

A PART OF MATLAB PROGRAM FOR DETECTING THE RAIN EVENT AND DETERMINE THE BOUNDARIES OF THE MELTING LAYER 122

SCATTER PLOTS FOR THE HEIGHTS AND THICKNESS OF THE MELTING LAYER FOR THE WHOLE METEOROLOGICAL RADAR DATA WITH 500MAND 1000M RESOLUTION RANGE AND THEIR REGRESSION BESTFIT LINES 128

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1

Introduction

Satellite communications systems become an important segment of the global telecommunication infrastructure. This includes an integration of number of

applications and services, which use satellites to relay radio transmissions between earth terminals. These services had traditionally been available via terrestrial

networks and radio broadcastings.

With the rapid growth of the information technology there is an increasing demand for broadband satellite services, which will provide reliable transmission of information. Multi-media applications including data and video require large This demand will

bandwidth and low error rates for satisfactory performance.

exceed the present services existence today. Furthermore, there will be increasing problems of finding the required frequency spectrum to provide the bandwidth for broadband services, which has brought saturation to the conventional frequency bands allocated for satellite services, namely L (1/2 GHz), S (2/4 GHz), and C (4/6 GHz).

New and demanding satellite applications evolved has led to utilize and exploit higher frequencies bands such as Ka-band (20/30 GHz) and above. Spectrum at Ka-band (20/30 GHz) or higher frequencies band has great importance for broadband services. This is because of its relatively unused spectrum with no

2 congestion problem, which offers much greater bandwidths, frequency reuse capability than the current spectrum at Ku-band (11/12 GHz), and smaller component sizes.

1.2

Project Background and Problem Statement

The use of higher and higher frequencies in telecommunication systems requires the investigation of the effects of troposphere on electromagnetic wave propagation, and particular attention must be paid to the attenuation induced by raindrops and other hydrometeors along the radio path (Capsoni et al, 2003).

Rain affects the design of any communication or remote sensing system that relies on the propagation of electromagnetic waves thorough the lowest 10 km of Earths atmosphere at frequencies above 1GHz. Communication systems may

experience loss of signal due to the attenuation caused by rain on a radio link and might be temporarily unavailable for use. The problem for system designers is the prediction or forecast the effects of rain on communication system located anywhere on or above the surface of Earth (Crane, 1996).

The direct measurements approach to investigate the rain effect and its parameters is, in most cases, not feasible or convenient because of the cost and time to collect statistically meaningful data and the difficulty to extrapolate the results to other sites. Therefore, nowadays, the indirect measurement technique has become widely used. In this respect, there is a growing interest on radar data; the main reason is the ability of this instrument to detect with great spatial detail precipitation over a large area, in real time, and with a single installation. Radar data can be used, in principle, to evaluate through simulations, propagation impairments due to hydrometeors for any length of ground or satellite radio paths, any kind and complexity of the radio system and for any frequency. The drawback is that radar reflectivity (Z), which is the basic measure of the meteorological target, cannot be directly used; its conversion to rain intensity (or attenuation) is not unique, depending mostly on Drop Size Distributions (DSD). Hence, the need of a

3 calibration that multi-parameter radar can carry out, in some way, using the set of independent measurements on the state of precipitation they perform, while single parameter radar cannot (Capsoni et al, 2003).

The enhancement in radar reflectivity caused by melting snowflakes below the 0C isotherm is known as the bright-band. It is due to changes in size, fall speed and phase during the melting process. If unrecognized, the bright-band can lead to significant overestimation of precipitation reaching the ground, sometimes by as much as a factor of 5 (Tan and Goddard, 1995).

Although the qualitative explanation of the reflectivity enhancement causing the bright band has been made by Ryde (1946), still there is no consensus after more than 60 years on a quantitative assessment because the bright band is usually more intense than predicted. Earlier quantitative estimates by Austin and Bemis (1950); Wexler (1955); Wexler and Atlas (1956); and Lhermitte and Atlas (1963) as well as the models of Ekpenyong and Srivastava (1970) either confirmed this observation or attempted to explain the differences either through shape effects (non-sphericity of snowflakes and melting snowflakes, Atlas et al.(1953) or by growth of precipitation through condensation and aggregation at the top of the melting layer followed by breakup below. This aggregation-breakup combination appeared essential in all cases to explain the bright band intensity and several in-situ or aircraft measurements were attempted to verify this claim. However, there is still debate as to whether this effect is important (Stewart et al. 1984; Yokoyama et al., 1985; Willis and Heymsfield, 1989) or negligible (Du Toit 1967; Ohtake 1969). Recent models of Dissanayake and McEwan (1978), Klaassen (1988), and Hardaker et al. (1991) either obtain correct reflectivity enhancement or overestimate the bright band intensity by considering the bright band enhancement to be caused by the melting of low-density snowflakes alone.

The lack of agreement between model results and observations is also exacerbated by the fact that there are no extensive measurement records of the bright band. Most comparisons of models and observations are too often based on one or few events or even simply on the first published bright band measurement made with a Doppler radar (Lhermitte and Atlas, 1963). Given the large number of factors that

4 may influence the bright band shape such as snowflake sizes and shapes, temperature profile, and vertical air velocity, it is not surprising to have so many, often contradictory, explanations of the bright band phenomenon (Fabry at el., 1994).

The lack of knowledge on the detailed physics of the melting layer has some practical consequences in hydrology and microwave communication. In microwave communication, the enhanced reflectivity of the bright band results in enhanced scattering and greater signal extinction. Scattering causes interference between

microwave links while extinction disrupts communications. As current microwave frequencies are becoming crowded, new bands will have to be used and a good quantification of bright band effects becomes necessary to estimate the reliability of these new frequencies. Knowledge of attenuation by the melting layer will also be crucial in order to properly estimate rainfall using short wavelength space-borne radars (Fabry at el., 1994).

The estimated rain rate from ZH,V is undoubtedly overestimated.

It is

necessary to correct for the effect of the bright-band on radar measurements when attempting to interpret estimates of rain rate from radar data. The critical step is to detect the height where the melting process happens, which means the height of bright-band (Tan and Goddard, 1995).

Finally, the bright band phenomenon is a challenge to the knowledge of precipitation physics and scattering theory. The inability to explain it quantitatively is a proof that our understanding of these topics is incomplete and additional efforts must be invested to quantify the mechanisms causing the bright band.

Long term measurements of the bright band will allow us to derive the dependence of bright band characteristics on precipitation type and intensity that should help to quantify the contribution of the various causes to the bright band signature. Averages over long records are insensitive to the peculiarities of a given event, such as contamination by horizontal advection, and emphasize the characteristics that are persistent and related to the physics of snow melting. Although no upper air microphysical observations can be made over such a long

5 period, several hypotheses can be tested using the average reflectivity signature in and around the melting layer.

Data collected in the first half of 1998 using meteorological S-band radar located in Kluang (Malaysia) are used to compute average profiles of radar reflectivity in and surrounding the melting layer in an attempt to determine its boundaries.

From the above discussion, it is clear any obtained data about the rainfall rate cannot be directly interpreted. It is rather important to predetermine the boundaries of the melting layer in order to conduct a valid as well as accurate estimation of the rain rate.

1.3

Project Objective The main objective of this project is to determine the boundaries of the

melting layer (bright band) based on the meteorological radar measurements. This determination includes the evaluation of the rain height (hR), zero degree Celsius isotherm height (h0), melting layer or bright band height (BBH) and its thickness (BBth).

1.4

Scope of the Project

The scope of this project includes:

Instrument and Location: Meteorological S-band radar belongs to the Meteorological Department of Malaysia, which is located in Kluang (Latitude=2.02, Longitude=103.320 and height=88.1 m above MSL).

6 Duration: The used data covers 116 days collected over the period from 2nd January to 18th June 1998 for 285,231 scans (1.26 GB on disk) with 15 elevation angles of 0.5, 1.2 1.9, 2.7, 3.5, 4.6, 6.0, 7.5, 9.2, 11.0, 13.0, 16.0, 20.0, 25.0, and 32.0

Resolution Range: Two types of radar resolution ranges of 500m and 1000m were used interchangeably and simultaneously.

Development of programs to sort out, filter, decode the radar data and plot the vertical profile of radar reflectivity from the decoded data over the radar ranges using MATLAB platform (version 7.04 release14).

Determination the melting layer boundaries according to the plotted profile. These boundaries include the rain height (hR), zero degree Celsius isotherm height (h0), melting layer or bright band height (BBH) and its thickness (BBth).

1.5

Project Methodology

To carry out this project, the following methodology is designed:

Build up of the vertical reflectivity profile (VRP) based on radar data, which includes the following tasks: o Preprocessing tasks, which include sorting out and filtering the meteorological radar data. o Decoding the radar data, and calculation of its reflectivity intensity in decibel (dBZ) for the full range of Azimuth for all the 15elevation angles. o Plot the reflectivity versus height curves.

Determination of the boundaries of bright band according to:

7 o Curvature of reflectivity versus height curve. o Increasing and Decreasing of reflectivity. o Maximum reflectivity.

Comparison the results with ITU-R model and other models in tropical regions for validation

1.6

Thesis Out line

Chapter one concerns with the introduction of the study in hand, which starts with brief introduction, and continues stating the problem, the objective, the scope of the study and finally methods employed to achieve the goals set forth. Chapter two, which is the first chapter of the literature review, presents the RADAR principles and characteristics, by focusing on meteorological radar, which its data is used in this project. Chapter three shows the concept of the melting layer and its properties. In this chapter, different procedures of detecting and determining the boundaries of the melting layer are explored. Chapter four explains the execution of the project by driven its wheel and handle the analysis of the meteorological data. Chapter five presents and discuses the findings of the analytical procedures employed. The results were interpreted and compared with the ITU-R recommendations and other findings in the tropical region to measure the validity of the obtained results. Chapter six summarizes and emphasizes the obtained results and the contribution of the study. This chapter also proposes the future work that can be done for more accurate determination of the boundaries of the bright band as well as better understanding of the melting process and its characteristics.