Quantification of Path-Integrated Attenuation for X- and C-Band Weather Radar Systems Operating in Mediterranean Heavy Rainfall

Abstract

The aim of the current study is to quantify attenuation effects that X- and C-band weather radar systems may experience in heavy rainfall. Part of this information can be obtained from power-law relationships between the attenuation coefficient k (dB km⁻¹) and the rain rate R (mm h⁻¹). These relations exhibit a strong dependence on the wavelength used and a significant influence of the raindrop size and temperature distributions. Here the purpose is to go one step further by providing estimates of the path-integrated attenuations (PIAs) that could be observed as a function of range for a given wavelength. Obviously, these values depend on the space and time structure of rainfall and, therefore, refer to a given climatological context. The methodology used consists of using k–R relations to downgrade carefully processed S-band radar data to the corresponding X- and C-band signals. The data were collected in the Cévennes region, a Mediterranean region in France subject to intense and long-lasting rain events during the autumn season. A refined data processing procedure was applied to the available reflectivity measurements, including ground-clutter removal and correction for the effects of the vertical profile of reflectivity as well as a final bias adjustment using rain gauge data. For three rain events, 75 h of instantaneous rain-rate fields thus were available with total rain amounts that exceeded 300 mm over most of the area of interest. Examples of attenuated profiles are presented, and PIA-range-frequency curves are established for the two wavelengths considered under various hypotheses that concern the raindrop size distribution. One of the results is that, at C band, a PIA of 3 dB is exceeded for 5% of the rain-rate profiles at a range of 50 km. Another finding is that a multiplicative factor of about 6 exists between C- and X-band attenuation effects. Implications for rain-rate estimation at X- and C band are discussed.