The influence of rainfall on PR radar measurement of ocean surface wind speed and its calibration

Rain can significantly degrade the wind vector retrieval from Precipitation Radar (PR) by three mechanisms, namely, two-way rain attenuation, rain volume-backscattering, and ocean surface roughening from the rain splash effect. Here we first derive the radar equation for PR in rainy conditions. Then we use the rain attenuation model for Ku band, volume backscatter model for spherical raindrops and PR-TMI (TRMM Microwave Imager, TMI) matchup datasets from June to August in 2010 to solve the radar equation, and quantitatively analyze the influence of rainfall on PR radar measurement of ocean surface wind speed. Our results show that the significant effect of rain on radar signal is dominated by two-way rain attenuation and rain splash effect, and the effect of rain volume-backscattering is relatively the weakest, which can even be neglected in rain-weak conditions. Moreover, both the two-way rain attenuation and rain splash effect increase with the increasing of integration rain rate and incident angle. Last, we combine volume-backscattering effect and splash effect into a simple phenomenological model for rain calibration and select three typhoon cases from June to August in 2012 to verify the accuracy of this model. Before calibration, the mean difference and mean square error (MSE) between PR-observed σ⁰ and wind-induced σ⁰ are about 2.95 dB and 3.10 dB respectively. However, after calibration, the mean difference and MSE are reduced to 0.64 dB and 1.61 dB respectively. The model yields an accurate calibration for PR near-nadir normalized radar cross section (NRCS) in rainy conditions.