A Retrieval Method of Vertical Profiles of Reflectivity for Migratory Animals Using Weather Radar

Abstract

Quantifying the distribution of the aerial organisms is essential for investigating the movement and behavior of migratory animals. This large-scale broad-front migration can be readily detected by weather radars. However, estimating their vertical distribution is still biased due to the vertical variability of the reflectivity in the radar beam. In this article, we establish a weather radar biological observation model and propose a retrieval method to identify the vertical profiles of reflectivity (VPRs) using regularization technique, which can eliminate the estimation bias. The performance of the method is evaluated using different radar antenna patterns and different regularization parameters, and a sensitivity analysis is performed. The improvement of the method is represented by comparing to the direct method. We apply this method to autumn migration cases over the east coast of China; the demonstration results show the potential of this method in the study of migratory animals.