The quantitative precipitation estimation system for Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW) urban remote sensing network

Abstract

• Dual-polarization radar can provide better QPE than traditional single-pol radar. • National weather radar network was upgraded with dual-polarization capability. • Dense networks of small radars can fill the sampling gap of today’s large installations. • High-resolution QPE can be achieved by combining large national radar with small gap-filling radars. The Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW) urban radar network consists of a combination of high resolution X band radars and a standard National Weather Service (NWS) Next-Generation Radar (NEXRAD) system operating at S band frequency. High spatiotemporal-resolution quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) is one of the important applications of such a network. This paper presents a real-time QPE system developed by the Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) Engineering Research Center for the DFW urban region using both the high resolution X band radar network and the NWS S band radar observations. The specific dual-polarization radar rainfall algorithms at different frequencies (i.e., S- and X-band) and the fusion methodology combining observations at different temporal resolution are described. Radar and rain gauge observations from four rainfall events in 2013 that are characterized by different meteorological phenomena are used to compare the rainfall estimation products of the CASA DFW QPE system to conventional radar products from the national radar network provided by NWS. This high-resolution QPE system is used for urban flash flood mitigations when coupled with hydrological models.