Rain-induced characteristics in C- and X-band synthetic aperture radar observations of tropical cyclones

Abstract

ABSTRACT This work focused on the rain-induced characteristics of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) at the C- and X-bands. Six SAR images were collected in tropical cyclones: four C-band dual-polarized Sentinel-1 (S-1) images during the 2016 hurricane season and two vertical–vertical) polarized TerraSAR-X (TS-X) images of Hurricane Sandy (2012). Wind speeds were retrieved from the S-1 images at the vertical–horizontal polarization channel, and winds from the TS-X images were obtained from the Hurricane Research Division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . Simultaneously, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) rain rates, current data from the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model and wave spectra simulated by the WAVEWATCH-III (WW3) model were collocated. The three-scale backscattering model was employed to simulate the normalized radar cross-section (NRCS)without considering the rain effect, yielding a 2.21-dB root mean square errorand 2.23-dB for S-1 and TS-X, respectively. The difference between model-simulated and observed NRCS was analysed using the TRMM rain rate. The results indicate a linear relationship of the difference at the X-band with the TRMM rain rate, while the difference at the C-band exhibited a ‘V’ relationship with the TRMM rain rate. It was also discovered that the difference at the X-band decreased with increasing wind speed, while the difference at the C-band increased with increasing wind speed.