Abstract
Array Weather Radar (AWR) is a novel type weather radar equipped with a distributed phased array technology. As a new instrument with new technology, the AWR offers very high spatiotemporal resolution that enables detection of the fine-scale flow field and reflectivity of severe convective storms. This new AWR provides coordinated observations of a target from three subarrays of transmitter-receiver antenna units. This paper introduces a resolution enhancement concept that the very high range resolution of one subarray can be used to compensate lower azimuth and elevation resolutions of the other subarrays of the AWR. The resolution enhancement effect is estimated using data point density. A data fusion method is then presented to obtain a unified high-resolution reflectivity from the networked and coordinated AWR subarray observations. First, based on the reflectivity data from the AWR subarray volume scans, numbers of the data-point filling in both the azimuth and elevation directions are calculated. Then, the fusion of three subarray reflectivity data is achieved through the vertical and horizontal filling and merging in a common coordinate system. The final product of the fused high-resolution reflectivity is verified using both subjective and objective evaluations. The verification experiments included radar echoes of two simulated weather scenarios, a small-scale heavy precipitation and a tornado, along with a real precipitation event. The real precipitation event was observed from the AWR system that is installed and operational at the Changsha Huanghua International Airport. The performance of the proposed high-resolution reflectivity fusion method yields a 35% smaller root mean square error and an 11% increase in the correlation coefficient to the maximum extent. The real event result shows that the final fused high-resolution reflectivity depicted a more detailed and complete echo structure compared to the China New Generation Weather Radar network observation.
Highlights
Meteorological disasters, such as typhoons, hail-falls, heavy rains, and tornadoes, threaten lives and properties and impact countries all over the world [1,2]
Weather radar networks have been established in different countries such as the Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) program in the United States in the 1980s, the China New Generation Weather Radar (CINRAD) network in the
The high-resolution reflectivity fusion method mainly comprises three steps which are described in detail
Summary
Meteorological disasters, such as typhoons, hail-falls, heavy rains, and tornadoes, threaten lives and properties and impact countries all over the world [1,2]. Ltd. of the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, with the participation of the Meteorological Observation Center and the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences of CMA This networked radar system consists of four X-band weather radars, forming a diamond-shaped distribution. In 2015, Japan established the Osaka Urban Phased Array Radar Demonstration Network, which provides products such as reflectivity, vertical integrated liquid water content, and precipitation rate in real time [27] It was the first time in the history of the weather radars that two short-range phased array radars were used to form a Phased Array Radar Network, which mitigates the shortcomings such as large time difference and a low scan speed of traditional weather radar systems.
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