Improving Quantitative Precipitation Estimation by X-Band Dual-Polarization Radars in Complex Terrain Over the Bay Area in California, USA IGARSS 2020 - 2020 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium

Recently, an X-Band radar with dual-polarization capabilities was deployed in Santa Rosa, California to aid in monitoring precipitation and to provide high resolution QPE by better understanding the rainfall processes in this region. The dominant type of rainfall occurring in this region is stratiform and it can be further classified into cold bright-band rain and warm orographic rain with absence of bright-band. S-Band profiler and disdrometer measurements from two NOAA Physical Sciences Division sites are used to study the microphysics of these two rainfall types. A methodology has been developed to discriminate these rainfall types using dual-polarization radar variables and apply appropriate rainfall estimators according to the rainfall type. When applied to operational radar data, the method shows great potential for improving the QPE estimation compared to traditional operational QPE products which more often tends to greatly underestimate rainfall in the California coastal region.