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Radar Basics and Estimating Precipitation

Jon W. Zeitler
Science and Operations Officer
National Weather Service
Austin/San Antonio Forecast Office

Radar Beam Basics

Energy Scattering
As pulse volumes within the radar beam encounter targets, energy will be
scattered in all directions. A very small portion of the intercepted energy will be
backscattered toward the radar. The degree or amount of backscatter is
determined by target:
size (radar cross section)
shape (round, oblate, flat, etc.)
state (liquid, frozen, mixed, dry, wet)
concentration (number of particles per unit volume)
We are concerned with two types of scattering, Rayleigh and non-Rayleigh.
Rayleigh scattering occurs with targets whose diameter (D) is much smaller (D <
/16) than the radar wavelength. The WSR-88D's wavelength is approximately
10.7 cm, so Rayleigh scattering occurs with targets whose diameters are less than
or equal to about 7 mm or ~0.4 inch. Raindrops seldom exceed 7 mm so all liquid
drops are Rayleigh scatters.
Potential problem: Nearly all hailstones are non-Rayleigh scatterers due to their
larger diameters.

Probert-Jones Radar Equation

Simplified Radar Equation

Equivalent Reflectivity (Ze)


Since we technically don't know the drop-size distribution or
physical makeup of all targets within a sample volume, radar
meteorologists oftentimes refer to radar reflectivity as
equivalent reflectivity, Ze.
The assumption is that all backscattered energy is coming from
liquid targets whose diameters meet the Rayleigh
approximation. Obviously, this assumption is invalid in those
cases when large, water-coated hailstones are present in a
sample volume. Hence, the term equivalent reflectivity instead
of actual reflectivity is more valid.

Reflectivity (Z) vs.


Decibels of Reflrectivity (dBZ)
(Equation 5)

dBZ = 10log10Z

Beam-Filling

Sending vs. Listening

Sending vs. Listening

99.843% of the time the WSR-88D is listening for signal returns.

The Doppler Dilemna

A low PRF is desirable for target range and power, while a


high PRF is desirable for target velocity. The inability to
satisfy both needs with a single PRF is known as the Doppler
Dilemma. The Doppler Dilemma is addressed by the WSR88D with algorithms.

Range Folding

Subrefraction: dry adiabatic, moisture increases with height. In


addition to underestimated echo heights, this phenomenon tends
to reduce ground clutter in the lowest elevation cuts.
Superrefraction: temperature inversion. In addition to
overestimated echo heights, increases ground clutter in the
lowest elevation cuts and is the cause of what we normally refer
to as anomalous propagation or AP echoes.

The Earth is Round!

Storms Too Close!

Each pulse has a volume with dimensions of ~ 500


meters (~ 1500 meters) in length by ~ 1 wide in short
pulse (long pulse) mode. This means that two targets
along a radial must be at least 250 (750) meters apart for
the radar to be able to distinguish and display them as
two separate targets (i.e., more than H/2 range separation
distance).

Storms or Bats?

Strategies to Fix Problems

Drop Size Distribution

Drop Size Distribution

Rainfall Rate

Rainfall Rate

Rainfall Rate

R(Z) Relationships (Battan 1973)

BREAK!

What is Dual Polarimetric Radar?

Sends and receives horizontal &


vertical polarized radiation
Image courtesy Terry Schuur

Polarimetric Variables Depend


on Several Things
Hydrometeor:
Shape
Orientation
Dielectric constant
Distribution of sizes

Applications of Dual
Polarization Radar
Rainfall Estimation (vast improvement)
Bright Band Detection (vast improvement)
Clutter Filtering/Data Quality Improvement
(vast improvement)
Rain/Snow Discrimination (vast improvement)
Hail Detection (some improvement)
Updraft Location (some improvement)
Tornado Detection (some improvement)

Polarimetric Variables
Backscattering:
Zh - reflectivity factor for horizontal polarization
ZDR - differential reflectivity
|hv(0)| - co-polar correlation coefficient

Propagation - forward scattering:


DP - differential phase
KDP - specific differential phase (range derivative of
DP)

Shapes of Large Drops in Equilibrium

Differential Reflectivity (ZDR)


Definition: the ratio of the power returns
from the horizontal and vertical
polarizations
Units: decibels (dB)

Z hh

Z DR 10 log10
Z vv

Simple ZDR Calculation for a


Sample of Raindrop Sizes

What does ZDR Mean?


Ev
Eh

ZDR > 0 Horizontallyoriented mean profile

Ev
Eh

Ev
Eh

ZDR < 0 Vertically-oriented


mean profile
ZDR ~ 0 Near-spherical
mean profile

Differential Reflectivity (ZDR)


-4

-3.5

-3

-2.5

-2

-1.5

-1

-0.5

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

4.5

5.5

Small (Spherical) <<< RAIN >>> Large (Oblate)


Dry <<< GRAUPEL >>> Wet
Dry (Prolate)

<<<<<

HAIL

>>>>>

Melting (Oblate)

Aggregated/Low-Density <<< CRYSTALS >>> Pristine/Well-Oriented


Dry <<< SNOW >>> Wet

GROUND CLUTTER / ANOMALOUS PROPAGATION


BIOLOGICAL SCATTERERS
DEBRIS
CHAFF

ZDR is a Good Indicator of:


1. median liquid drop size (ZDR,median
drop diameter)
2. hail shafts (ZDR ~ 0dB or negative
coincident with high Zh)
3. areas of large rain drops or liquidcoated ice (ZDR ~3-6 dB)
4. convective updrafts (ZDR ~1-5 dB)
above 0oC level
5. tornado debris ball

ZDR Limitations (Gotchas)


Values are biased towards the larger
hydrometeors (D6 dependence)
Tumbling/Random orientation will bias
toward 0 ZDR
Can be noisy if:
-Low / Insufficient sampling (low
SNR)
- Reduced correlation coefficient (CC)

May 9th tornadic


supercell: Intense
ZDR Column

0oC level in-cloud ~17 kft

hv
Correlation Coefficient ( hv): A correlation between the
reflected horizontal and vertical power returns. It is a good
indicator of regions where there is a mixture of precipitation
types, such as rain and snow.

Affected by:
Hydrometeor types, phases, shapes,
orientations
Presence of large hail

hv Usage
Identify hail growth regions in deep moist
convection (mixtures of hydrometeors)
Reduce ground clutter/AP contamination
(hv very low in these areas)
Identify giant hail ???

hv

SNOW
~0.85-1.00

CLUTTER
~0.5-0.85

CHAFF
~0.2-0.5
Reflectivity (Zh)

Correlation Coefficient (rhv)

hv Minimumin Theory

Giant Hail, Protuberances, Mie Scattering: min hv

Differential Phase Shift (DP)


Definition: the difference in the phase shift
between the horizontally and vertically
polarized waves
Units: degrees (o)

DP H V

Differential Phase Shift fDP


fDP = fh fv (fh, fv 0) [deg]
The difference in phase between the horizontallyand vertically-polarized pulses at a given range
along the propagation path.
- Independent of partial beam blockage,
attenuation, absolute radar calibration,
system noise

What Affects Differential Phase?

Forward Propagation has its


Advantages
Immune to partial (< 40%) beam
blockage, attenuation, calibration,
presence of hail

Gradients Most Important

Specific Differential Phase Shift


(KDP)
Definition: range derivative of the differential phase
shift
Units: degrees per kilometer (o/km)

f (r ) f (r )
K
2r r
DP

DP

DP

Specific Differential Phase: KDP


Specific Differential Phase (KDP): A comparison of the returned phase
difference between the horizontal and vertical pulses. This phase
difference is caused by the difference in the number of wave cycles
(or wavelengths) along the propagation path for horizontal and
vertically polarized waves. This is the range derivative of
typically calculated in 1-5 km increments along the radial.

DP,

Provides a good estimate of liquid water


in a rain/hail mixture
Indicates the onset of melting

Specific Differential Phase Shift


(KDP)
-0.5

0.5

1.5

2.5

Small <<< RAIN >>> Large


Dry <<< GRAUPEL >>> Wet
Dry (Prolate)

<<<<<

HAIL

>>>>>

Melting (Oblate)

Dry/Aggregated <<< CRYSTALS >>> Pristine/Well-Oriented


Dry <<< SNOW >>> Wet

*** Non-meteorological values not shown here because


they are removed anywhere CC < 0.90 (or 0.85) ***

Kdp Usage

To isolate the presence of rain from hail


R(Z, Zdr, Kdp) much better than R(Z)
Most sensitive to amount of liquid water

To locate regions of drop shedding, Kdp columns


Drops are shed from melting or growing
hailstones near the updraft, forming a Kdp
column

To distinguish between snow/rain


Kdp in wet, heavy snow is almost always larger
at a fixed value of Zh than that observed for rain

KDP Limitations (Gotchas)


KDP values set to No Data at CC <
0.90, or 0.85)
Sensitive to non-uniform beam filling
Unreliable at far ranges
KDP Smoothing techinque:
Compare Z and
KDP fields at
each gate

1.

2.

< 40 dBZ, KDP computed at each gate


from 12 adjacent gates either side (6.25
km)
> 40 dBZ, KDP computed at each gate
from 4 adjacent gates either side (2.25
km) to preserve heavy cores

Marginally Severe Supercell

14 May 2003

HV

Z
HCA
Z
DR

5.25 diameter hail


Beam Height ~ 4600 ft AGL

Correlation Coefficient (CC)


Definition: how similarly the horizontally and
vertically polarized backscattered energy are
behaving within a resolution volume for Rayleigh
scattering
Units: none (0-1.00)

r HV (0)

*
S vv S hh

S 2
hh

1/ 2

2 1/ 2
vv

Sij = An element of the backscatter matrix

Think Spectrum Width for Hydrometeors

Correlation Coefficient Values


0.96 CC 1

Small hydrometeor diversity*

0.80 CC < 0.96

Large hydrometeor diversity*

CC < 0.70

Non-hydrometeors present
* Types, sizes, shapes, orientations, etc.

Correlation Coefficient (CC)


0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.85

0.9

0.91

0.92

0.93

0.94

0.95

0.96

0.97

0.98

0.99

Large <<< RAIN >>> Small


Wet <<< GRAUPEL >>> Dry
Wet / Large

<<<<<

HAIL

>>>>>

Dry / Small
CRYSTALS

<<Melting Layer>>

Wet <<< SNOW >>> Dry

GROUND CLUTTER / ANOMALOUS PROPAGATION


BIOLOGICAL
SCATTERERS
DEBRIS
CHAFF

NonMeteorological
Regime

Overlap

Meteorological
Regime

What is CC Used for?


Not-met targets (LOW CC < 0.70)
Best discriminator

Melting layer detection (Ring of reduced


CC ~ 0.80 0.95)
Giant hail? (LOW CC < 0.70 in the midst
of high Z/Low ZDR)

Marginally Severe Supercell

Precip

What about the re


All > 0.97
Insects

CC Limitations (Gotchas)
High error in low signal-to-noise
ratios (SNR)
If low, errors increase in other
dual-pol variables

Polarimetric Rainfall Algorithm vs.


Conventional
One hour point measurements:
Radar estimates vs. gages

R(Z)

R(Z, KDP, ZDR)

Polarimetric Rainfall Algorithm vs.


Conventional
Bias of radar areal rainfall estimates

Spring hail
cases

Cold season
stratiform rain

QPE Process in a Nutshell


Step 1
1. Hybrid scan the
variables into
Polar, 1 degree
azimuth, 250 m
bins

Hybrid Hydroclass

QPE Process in a Nutshell


2. Apply an instantaneous Rate:
R(Z), R(KDP), and R(Z,ZDR)
But which one is accepted?

R(Z ) 0.017 Z

0.714

R( KDP) 44.0 KDP

R(Z , ZDR) 0.0142 Z

0.882

sign( KDP)
0.770

1.67

ZDR

QPE Process in a Nutshell


3. Assign a variation of 1 of those 3 rates to
each bin based on HCA precip type

Based on 43 events (179 hrs) of radar rainfall data

Rate Designation Table


R (mm/hr)

Conditions

Echo
Classes

Not
computed

Nonmeteorological echo (Ground Clutter or Unknown) is classified

GC ,UK

Classification is No Echo or Biological

NE, BI

R(Z, ZDR)

Light/Moderate Rain is classified

RA

R(Z, ZDR)

Heavy Rain or Big Drops are classified

HR, BD

R(KDP)

Rain/Hail is classified and echo is below the top of the melting layer

RH

0.8*R(Z)

Rain/Hail is classified and echo is above the top of the melting layer

RH

0.8*R(Z)

Graupel is classified

GR

0.6*R(Z)

Wet Snow is classified

WS

R(Z)

Dry Snow is classified and echo is in or below the top of the melting DS
layer

2.8*R(Z)

Dry Snow classified and is echo above the top of the melting layer

DS

2.8*R(Z)

Ice Crystals are classified

IC

QPE Output (all produced via


hybrid scan)

4bit, 250 m Hybrid-scan Hydro Class


8bit, 250 m Rate
4 bit, 250 m 1hr Accum
4 bit & 8bit versions of 250 m STP Accum (G-R
bias applied)
8 bit, 250 m no G-R bias applied STP
8 bit, 250 m User Selectable (will be used for any
and all accumulation time periods)
8 bit, 250 m 1hr and STP Difference field vs.
Legacy

Hydrometeor Classification Algorithm


Challenges
Typical Radar sampling limitations (snow at
2000 ft AGL may not be snow at the surface)
Verification
Fuzzy Logic and cross over between types
Differentiating between light rain and dry snow
in weak echoes

Melting layer detection can


help

Melting Layer Detection


Mixed phase hydrometeors: Easy
detection for dual-pol!
Z typically increases
ZDR and KDP definitely increase
Coexistence of ice and water will reduce the
correlation coefficient (CC ~0.95-0.85)

Melting Layer Detection Algorithm


Methodology
Precipitation echoes stratiform or
convective regions with high SNR
Middle tilts (4-10 elevation angles)
Limitation: Overshoot precip
Project results to other tilts in time and
space

ML Product in AWIPS

Hail Detection
Dual-Pol Hail Signature
High Z (> 45 dBZ)
Low ZDR (-0.5 to 1 dB), Low KDP (-0.5 to
1 o/km) if dry or mostly dry
Reduced CC (0.85 to 0.95)

Limitations
Size detection?
Hail signatures may get diluted by
Rain mixing with hail
Far range

Rain/Snow Discrimination
Z

RAIN
< 45 dBZ

SNOW
< 45 dBZ

ZDR

0 to 2 dB

-0.5 to 6 dB

KDP

0 to 0.6 deg/km

-0.6 to 1 deg/km

CC

>0.95

>0.95 (can be less if


wet)

If the variables overlap so much, how can polarimetric radar


discriminate between rain and snow???

Rain/Snow Discrimination: Its all


in trends with height
Rain
Polarimetric signatures (ZDR and KDP) have a direct
dependence on Z
ZDR and KDP do not typically increase with height
Almost always a pronounced melting layer above rain

Snow
Polarimetric signatures (ZDR and KDP) do not have
dependence on Z
ZDR and KDP typically increase with height
Differences between warm and cold snow
Cold snow has higher polarimetric variables than warm
snow

Warm vs. Cold vs. Wet Snow


Temperature determines this
< -5oC = Cold
~+1oC > T > -5oC = Warm
> +1oC = Wet

Crystals (plates, columns, needles)

Aggregate Crystals (Dry)

Aggregate Crystals (Wet)

Radar Cross Section


Characteristics

Z/ZDR/CC
Characteristics

High Density
High Concentration
Oblate, Horizontal Orientation
Small size

Z < 35 dBZ
ZDR 0-6 dB
CC > 0.95

Decreasing density
Decreasing Concentration
Less oblate
Larger size

Z increasing
ZDR decreasing
0 > ZDR > 0.5 dB
CC > 0.95

Rapid increase in density


Rapid increase in oblateness

Z increasing but < 45


dBZ
ZDR rapidly increasing
0.50 > CC > 0.9

Surface. Assume temperatures decrease steadily with height

Rain Snow Discrimination


Z

Snow

ZDR

Rain

KDP

CC

One Hour Later


Z
-SN

KDP

ZDR

CC

Data Quality Improvement


Ground clutter/Anomalous propagation
High reflectivity (Z) -- (> 35 dBZ)
Near zero or slightly negative ZDR
Noisy, lower correlation coefficient (CC) -- (< 0.90)

Insects/Biological scatterers
Low reflectivity (Z) -- (< 35 dBZ)
Horizontally-oriented with elongated shape: very high
ZDR (> 2 dB up to 6 dB)
Heterogeneity causes very low correlation coefficients
(< 0.70)

Tornado Detection
Tornado debris is large (from radar perspective),
irregularly shaped and randomly oriented
Z > 45 dBZ
ZDR near 0 dB
CC very low (< 0.8)
A good sign that a tornado is already in progress!
Diagnostic ONLY
Has only been verified for EF-1 or greater
tornadoes at relatively close ranges

Tornadic Debris Signature (TDS)


Z

ZDR

TDS!

CC

Debris cloud near GM Plant

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