Variation of Radio Refractivity with Respect to Moisture and Temperature and Influence on Radar Ray Path

In this study, the variation of radio refractivity with respect to temperature and moisture is analyzed. Also, the effects of vertical gradients in temperature and moisture on the propagation paths of electromagnetic waves of weather radar are examined for several sites across the United States using several years of sounding data from the National Weather Service. The ray path is important for identifying storm characteristics and for properly using the radar data in initializing numerical weather prediction models. It is found that during the warm season the radio refractivity gradient is more sensitive to moisture gradients than to temperature gradients. Ray paths from the commonly accepted vertical ray path model are compared to a ray path computed from a stepwise ray tracing algorithm using data from actual soundings. For the sample of about 16 000 soundings examined, we find that only a small fraction of the ray paths diverge significantly from those calculated using a ray path model based on the US Standard Atmosphere. While the problem of ray dueting in the presence of a temperature inversion is fairly well known, we identify the presence of a strong vertical moisture gradient as the culprit in the majority of the cases where significant deviations occurred.     

雷达定量估测降水的亮带自动消除改进方法

层状云降水中,0 ℃层融化效应会引起雷达反射率因子局部增大,若不进行订正,则会高估雷达估测的降水.本文提出一种基于新一代天气雷达反射率因子垂直廓线的0 ℃层亮带自动识别与订正算法,以减小因亮带造成的降水高估.本研究首先对降水类型进行分类,在SHY95的基础上增加了垂直方向的反射率因子三维特征,避免亮带的反射率因子高值区被误识别为对流云区;其次,在层状云区识别出一个可能的亮带影响区,在其中查找亮带,采用旋转坐标系法精确的识别亮带的顶、底高度;最后,利用最小二乘法拟合亮带上、下层的斜率,平滑垂直廓线(VPR,Vertical Profile of Reflectivity)的显著突出部分.将该方法应用于北京地区2010—2011年10次包含亮带的降水过程,得到的亮带订正后的均方根误差E_RMS、平均绝对误差E_RMA、平均相对误差B_RM值较初值均有显著减小(分别减小1.538 mm,0.417和0.468).结果表明,该方法能够有效地识别与订正亮带,使得定量测量降水精度有所提高.     

集合卡尔曼滤波同化中雷达位置的敏感性研究

针对对流尺度集合卡尔曼滤波（EnKF）雷达资料同化中雷达位置对同化的影响进行研究。为了考察强对流出现在雷达不同方位时集合卡尔曼滤波同化雷达资料的能力,以一个理想风暴为例,设计了8个均匀分布在模拟区域周围的模拟雷达进行试验。单雷达同化试验中,初期同化对雷达位置较敏感,而十几个循环后对雷达方位的敏感性降低。造成初期同化效果较差的雷达观测位于模拟区域正南和正北方向,这两部雷达与模拟区域中心的连线垂直于风暴移动方向（即环境气流的方向）。双雷达试验的结果表明,正东、正南、正西和正北方向的雷达组合观测会使同化初期误差较大,这说明并不是所有与风暴连线成90°的雷达组合都能在短时同化中得到合理的分析结果,还需要都处于模拟区域对角线上（即与环境气流成45°夹角）,同化效果才较好。短时同化后的确定性预报结果表明,较大分析误差也会导致较大预报误差。这些分析误差主要是由于同化初期不准确的集合平均场驱动出的不合理的背景误差协方差造成的。当背景场随着同化循环得到改进后,驱动出的合理的背景误差协方差使得不同位置雷达同化造成的差异逐步减小。基于上述结果,引入迭代集合均方根滤波（iEnSRF）算法,结果显示使用该算法后,雷达位置对同化效果的影响减小,同化不同位置的雷达资料均能有效降低分析和预报误差。      

Light refraction by mean temperature gradients in the near-earth atmosphere

Visible light ray paths in the atmospheric surface layer are numerically computed by division of 500- to 5000-m ranges into small intervals so that the ray path height and thus refractive index gradient is nearly constant for each step. Meteorological conditions are varied by using different combinations of sensible heat fluxes, surface stresses, and surface roughnesses. Although the effect of water vapor gradients can be substantial, their effect is not included here. The results are confined to heights of less than 5 m because of the restrictive values chosen for the ratio of the eddy diffusivity of heat to that of momentum. Mirages hide lower portions of images and the minimum height seen varies approximately inversely proportionally to the observer height. Image distortion and laser beam displacement or angle of arrival can be used to determine the mean refractive index gradient, which determines the temperature gradient in the absence of large moisture gradients along the propagation path. A simple, non-iterative formula relating laser beam displacement or angle of arrival to the average temperature gradient can be used only if the beam height varies less than 10% throughout the path.     

基于功率谱的风廓线雷达回波强度定标方法

风廓线雷达已在我国得到大范围的业务布网应用,现有业务产品主要为风场信息。为了充分发挥风廓线雷达的作用,获取更多的天气过程信息,该文提出仅使用风廓线雷达返回信号功率谱进行数据定标（DCNP）的方法。使用雷达系统噪声功率对返回信号功率谱单位幅度进行标校计算,基于标校后的雷达探测功率谱分布数据计算回波强度功率谱密度分布、回波强度、大气折射率结构常数。利用2017年北京风廓线雷达、2016年南京风廓线雷达和2018年梅州风廓线雷达观测数据,对我国业务运行的3种主要型号风廓线雷达进行算法评估试验。定标方法的计算结果稳定,风廓线雷达不同探测模式之间的一致性较好。使用每个测站定标结果与相邻天气雷达数据进行比较,风廓线雷达回波强度定标结果与天气雷达也有较好的一致性。DCNP方法与基于信噪比（SNR）的强度计算方法进行比较,与SNR方法相比,DCNP方法定标结果更加稳定可靠。     

SIMULTANEOUS DETERMINATION OF AEROSOL SIZE DISTRIBUTION AND REFRACTIVE INDEX AND SURFACE ALBEDO FROM RADIANCE-PART III: PARAMETRIZATION AND APPLICATION

Based on the radiative transfer calculation results, three approximate expressions of the sky radiance in almucantar and its increment caused by surface albedo are presented. They are simple, but accurate enough. The dependence of the fitted aerosol scattering phase functions on refractive index is also studied, and its reasonable form is given. For Junge size distribution, the approximate equations of the phase functions with some special scattering angles are obtained. These approximate equations significantly simplify the retrieval algorithm of simultaneous determination of aerosol size distribution and its refractive index and surface albedo. This method can be realized with a microcomputer, and has been used to process and analyse the experimental data measured in Hefei of Anhui Province.     

Simultaneous determination of aerosol size distribution and refractive index and surface albedo from radiance- Part III: Parametrization and application

Based on the radiative transfer calculation results, three approximate expressions of the sky radiance in almucantar and its increment caused by surface albedo are presented. They are simple, but accurate enough. The dependence of the fitted aerosol scattering phase functions on refractive index is also studied, and its reasonable form is given. For Junge size distribution, the approximate equations of the phase functions with some special scattering angles are obtained. These approximate equations significantly simplify the retrieval algorithm of simultaneous determination of aerosol size distribution and its refractive index and surface albedo. This method can be realized with a microcomputer, and has been used to process and analyse the experimental data measured in Hefei of Anhui Province.     

基于径向功率谱的风廓线雷达错误风数据处理

选取上海市世博园区站、金山站和嘉定F1赛车场站3个风廓线雷达站2012年3月7日凌晨一次降水过程生成的错误水平风场数据,通过对比该时段高、低模式扫描实时径向功率谱数据,指出在降水初期风廓线雷达软件质量控制出现错误的原因,并重新识别错误时段的功率谱,反演水平风场数据。分析表明:在降水初期由于风廓线雷达各波束探测的数据在空间上不一致,易导致雷达软件采用的质量控制算法并不能全部识别和消除降水对数据的干扰,从而出现偏差。基于风廓线雷达高时空分辨率径向功率谱数据的分析处理方法可有效验证雷达软件质量控制算法,且经过该方法反演后的水平风场更为合理。     

C波段双偏振雷达降水估计的误差分析与建模

双线偏振雷达定量降水估计精度受多种因素影响,为了更好地应用双偏振雷达估计降水并进一步提高降雨估测精度,需对雷达降水估计进行误差分析和建模.基于2015—2016年南京信息工程大学C波段双偏振雷达、雨滴谱仪观测资料以及南京地区雨量计数据,统计分析雷达估测降水的误差分布,分离雨量计代表性误差,并对随机误差和系统误差量化建模...     

Real-time estimation of the vertical profile of radar reflectivity to improve the measurement of precipitation in an Alpine region

Summary Over the years much research has been directed towards exploring the potential of radar as an instrument for estimating rain. It is shown that with the present reflectivity measuring radar, good qualitative and in certain conditions even quantitative information may be obtained in an Alpine country. In other words, we would need an extremely dense and costly network of gauges to obtain a spatial resolution easily attainable with radar.But radar only estimates the precipitation it can see. Even the most ingenious procedure using sophisticated equipment will not allow measurements in areas not observed fully or at all, e.g., behind mountains. But likewise in flat country we will find — at longer ranges — increased errors due to losses caused by the earth's curvature and errors caused by the reduced resolution of the radar beam. Therefore, choosing a good radar site is important: A higher one will in general improve the visibility, but increase at the same time the amount of clutter by ground echoes. Doppler radar will help in this respect. To what extent will be shown by the results obtained with the new radars planned to replace Albis and La Dôle north of the Alps and the third, new radar site in the south, probably on Monte Lema in the Tessin, during the years 1993 till 1996. Results are presented describing the accuracy obtained with present radars when just applying all year round a fixed correction for reduced visibility at longer ranges. Planned strategies are discussed for eliminating clutter, for making quantitative measurements, and for reducing the time needed to investigate the entire volume by using an electronically scanned antenna. By decreasing the update period for the full volume information down to the order of one minute, contradicting requirements of various users, such as hydrologists and air traffic controllers, could be fulfilled. However, questions relating to price and reliability will have to be answered in an acceptable way.With 10 Figures     

Meteorological research applications of MM-wave radar

Summary MM-wave radar has now been developed well beyond that of simply providing qualitative information about the presence or location of clouds. Uncertainty about cloud properties leading to gross errors in climate model results has provided the impetus to develop mm-wave radars into reliable, quantitative tools for studying clouds. Besides depicting the small-scale (a few tens of meters) features of tenuous cirrus and low level stratus clouds, the 3 mm and 8 mm wavelength radars described here can examine the physical structure, dynamics and small-scale turbulence of clouds when used alone. Polarization capability of these radars is now generating new information about the deformity of cloud particles needed for calculations of radiation budgets of clouds. When used with other sensors such as lidar or radiometers, additional cloud microphysical information can be retrieved. We discuss here two different ways to calculate ice mass content profiles from radar/lidar data and from radar/IR radiometer data. Mm-wave radar is most suited for these calculations because of complications introduced by 1) Bragg (refractivity) scatter, 2) the lower resolution, and 3) ground clutter effects at longer wavelengths. Combining radar and microwave radiometer data is shown to provide liquid water profiles in warm marine stratus clouds. The small size and weight of mm-wave radars make them particularly suitable for use on aircraft and satellite platforms and we show recent results from an airborne system to make that point. The technology has now advanced to the point where unattended, vertically-pointing, Doppler mm-wave radars will soon be commonly used in research applications.With 6 Figures     

A Reflectivity Climatology Algorithm for Hybrid Scans and Its Application to Radar Coverage over the Tibetan Plateau

The traditional algorithm for hybrid radar scans uses standard terrain digital elevation model (DEM) data and the latitudes, longitudes and altitudes of contributing radar stations. While radar station location information is often inaccurate, signal blockages due to trees, buildings, and other surface objects are not included in the DEM data. Accordingly, hybrid scan elevations derived using this traditional algorithm are prone to errors. Here, reflectivity climatology data (the frequency of occurrence of reflectivity) are used to improve the algorithm for hybrid scans. Three parameters are introduced, then applied to evaluation of signal blockage for every radar bin using a fuzzy logic technique. This new algorithm provides an improved determination of the lowest unblocked elevation for hybrid scans. The new algorithm is validated by examining the scope and continuity of the calculated hybrid scan reflectivity in a case study, and the performance of this climatology-based algorithm is evaluated relative to the traditional terrain-based algorithm. The climatology-based hybrid scans are then used to examine the spatial coverage provided by the operational weather radar network over the Tibetan Plateau. The results indicate that the terrain-based hybrid scan algorithm introduced errors that caused obvious V-shaped gaps in hybrid scan reflectivity. By contrast, the climatology-based hybrid scan algorithm more accurately determined the lowest unblocked elevation and reduced the impacts of blockage. The coverage map illustrates the limitations of the weather radar network over the Tibetan Plateau. These limitations inhibit the usefulness of the radar data. Additional radar or observational data are needed to fill these gaps and minimize the impacts of signal blockage.     

Improvement of radar quantitative precipitation estimation based on real-time adjustments to <Emphasis Type="Italic">Z-R</Emphasis> relationships and inverse distance weighting correction schemes

The errors in radar quantitative precipitation estimations consist not only of systematic biases caused by random noises but also spatially nonuniform biases in radar rainfall at individual rain-gauge stations.In this study,a real-time adjustment to the radar reflectivity-rainfall rates(Z-R) relationship scheme and the gauge-corrected,radar-based,estimation scheme with inverse distance weighting interpolation was developed.Based on the characteristics of the two schemes,the two-step correction technique of radar quantitative precipitation estimation is proposed.To minimize the errors between radar quantitative precipitation estimations and rain gauge observations,a real-time adjustment to the Z-R relationship scheme is used to remove systematic bias on the time-domain.The gauge-corrected,radar-based,estimation scheme is then used to eliminate non-uniform errors in space.Based on radar data and rain gauge observations near the Huaihe River,the two-step correction technique was evaluated using two heavy-precipitation events.The results show that the proposed scheme improved not only in the underestimation of rainfall but also reduced the root-mean-square error and the mean relative error of radar-rain gauge pairs.     

台风“碧利斯”的雷达反演及改进

利用两步变分反演方法,研究2006年第4号台风“碧利斯”,对照单部雷达资料和两部雷达资料的反演结果。结果表明：利用单部雷达资料不能很好的反演出台风的风场结构特征,而两部雷达资料在第一步反演背景场时,可以看出台风的涡旋特征。通过检验发现,此次台风过程的水平切向风在最大风速半径内部与Rankine模型相近,外部与Chen 3模型接近。为了更有效地利用单部雷达的观测信息准确定位台风的移动路径,故在单部雷达资料第一步反演背景场时加入模型弱约束。反演结果表明,加入模型弱约束后,反演的背景风场就能看出台风的涡旋特征,通过第二步反演后与两部雷达资料结果相近;加模型弱约束的单部雷达反演结果与两部雷达反演结果间u、v分量的相关系数均在0.8或以上,2-7 km高度层u、v分量的均方根误差明显减小。     

台风“碧利斯”的雷达反演与改进

利用两步变分反演方法研究2006年第4号台风＂碧利斯＂,比较单部雷达资料和双部雷达资料的反演结果。结果表明：利用单部雷达资料不能很好地反演出台风的风场结构特征,而双部雷达资料在第一步反演背景场时,可以显示出台风的涡旋特征。通过检验发现,此次台风过程的水平切向风在最大风速半径内部与Rankine模型相近,外部与Chen 3模型接近。为了更有效地利用单部雷达的观测信息准确定位台风的移动路径,故在单部雷达资料第一步反演背景场时加入模型弱约束。反演结果表明,加入模型弱约束后,反演的背景风场可以看出台风的涡旋特征,通过第二步反演后与双部雷达资料结果相近;加模型弱约束的单部雷达反演结果与双部雷达反演结果间u、v分量的相关系数均为0.8或以上,2—7 km高度层u、v分量的均方根误差明显减小。     

CINRAD/SA雷达接收机故障分析

对防城港CINRAD/SA型天气雷达一次接收机故障的传输路径、故障定位等方面分析,找出故障发生的原因,提出了相应的处理方法。     

机载雷达风切变识别算法研究及在机场预报中的应用

大气中的风切变严重威胁飞机安全,尤其低空风切变是影响飞机起降的重要因素。利用多普勒雷达速度资料计算一维切向、一维径向与二维合成风切变,准确判断风切变的危险区域,能够及时为飞行及起降提供告警。针对多普勒雷达业务应用的主用户处理器PUP(Principal User Processor)上风切变自动识别产品存在的边缘识别较弱及定位误差较大等问题,根据多普勒雷达速度资料径向分布的特点,利用最小二乘法线性拟合优势,选择适于机载雷达参数的拟合窗口,对多个实例进行了识别分析。对比结果表明最小二乘法在识别效果、定位精度、边缘识别等方面优于PUP风切变自动识别产品,提高了风切变识别能力,有助于为机载雷达风切变识别及预警提供更好的依据。     

天气雷达测定回波顶高的几种误差

研究天气雷达测定回波顶高的几种误差表明:大气异常折射会引起回波顶高明显误差。但在标准大气条件下,由于几类误差相互抵消,因此近距离测定强对流云回波顶高精度较高。     

基于雷达三维组网数据的对流性地面大风自动识别

应用雷达三维组网数据和地面加密自动站风场资料,统计分析了对流性地面大风的6个主要雷达识别指标：风暴最大反射率因子、风暴最大垂直积分液态水含量、垂直积分液态水含量随时间变率、风暴最大反射率因子下降高度、风暴体移动速度和垂直积分液态水含量密度等参数。根据雷达识别指标和地面大风的相关程度,给出了识别指标的隶属函数和权重系数;采用不等权重法,建立了具有模糊逻辑的对流性地面大风识别方法。并将对流性地面大风的出现概率分为3级：当识别风暴单体的判据小于0.3时,出现对流性地面大风的概率小;当判据在0.3—0.5时,产生对流性地面大风的概率较大;当判据大于0.5时,出现对流性地面大风的概率很大。通过对河北省2012年6月21日线状风暴和2009年7月23日孤立单体风暴引发的灾害大风典型个例的识别效果检验,证明这种方法识别到的风暴单体跟踪效果良好,识别出的大风范围与实况风场基本吻合,命中率、虚警率和临界成功指数分别达81.8%、25.0%和64.3%,利用模糊逻辑原理建立对流性大风的识别算法是切实可行的。     

球面定常行星波射线的变化与波列的分支

为了解释大气低频波列的结构特征,本文把慢变介质中波传播的理论应用于行星波。采用射线追踪方法,借助于几何直观,在波射线与纬线平行的纬度附近,讨论了波数k_s的分布对波射线变化与波列分支的作用。并讨论了沿波射线路径波幅的变化。提出,在波数k_s为极值的纬度附近,定常行星波列存在着明显的分支现象。在传播期间,波幅在分支纬度附近为极大值。这些结论与双测和模拟的结果是相当一致的。此外,本文还讨论了“大圆路径理论”的局限性。