Radar meteorology: principles and practice

Cover......Page 1
Half-title Page......Page 3
Title Page......Page 5
Copyright Page......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Preface......Page 13
Notation......Page 15
 1.1 How it all started......Page 23
 1.2 Why radars now......Page 24
 1.3 Understanding radar observations......Page 26
 1.4 Supplemental readings......Page 29
 2.1 Radar: an active remote sensor......Page 30
 2.2 Microwaves and the atmosphere......Page 31
 2.3 Propagation in the atmosphere......Page 42
 2.4 Basic radar measurements......Page 46
 2.5 Weather surveillance......Page 51
 3.1 The radar equation......Page 54
 3.2 The equivalent reflectivity factor......Page 55
 3.3 Reflectivity factor and rain rate......Page 57
 3.4 Radar products......Page 60
 4.2 Precipitation processes: a quick overview......Page 65
 4.3 The vertical structure of rain echoes......Page 67
 4.4 Radar signatures of widespread rain......Page 70
 4.5 Frozen precipitation......Page 74
 4.6 Nonprecipitation weather targets......Page 77
 4.7 Nonweather targets......Page 80
 4.8 An echo identification approach......Page 83
 5.1 Doppler measurements......Page 87
 5.2 Information at vertical incidence and profiling......Page 88
 5.3 Mean Doppler velocity on PPI displays......Page 98
 5.4 Velocity„-based„ products......Page 105
 5.5 Data contamination and ambiguities......Page 108
 6.1 Why polarization matters......Page 114
 6.2 Dual„-polarization„ measurables......Page 115
 6.3 Signatures and artifacts......Page 124
 6.4 Applications......Page 132
 7.1 A forecast approach......Page 137
 7.2 Severe convection and its controls......Page 138
 7.3 What to look for......Page 148
 8.1 Radar, widespread systems, and threat forecasting......Page 155
 8.2 What radar can contribute......Page 158
 8.3 A case study of winter storm forecasting......Page 164
 8.4 What about tropical cyclones?......Page 167
 9.1 Precipitation monitoring needs......Page 170
 9.2 Sources of estimation errors......Page 172
 9.3 Radar„-based„ accumulation generation......Page 174
 9.4 Uses......Page 187
 10.1 Nowcasting needs and approaches......Page 188
 10.2 The basis for simple nowcasting systems: extrapolation......Page 190
 10.3 Precipitation nowcasting......Page 191
 10.4 Severe weather nowcasting......Page 193
 10.5 Mesoscale modeling after radar data assimilation......Page 196
 11.1 Using multiple viewing angles......Page 202
 11.2 Multiple Doppler retrievals......Page 205
 11.3 Near„-surface„ refractive index......Page 207
 11.4 Multiple„-frequency„ and attenuation measurements......Page 208
 12.1 Cloud radars......Page 211
 12.2 Spaceborne radars......Page 217
 13.1 The radar system......Page 223
 13.2 The weather echo and its fluctuations......Page 230
 13.3 Representativeness of measurements......Page 232
 13.4 Where do we go from here?......Page 236
 A.1 Geometry of ground„-based„ radar measurements......Page 237
 A.2 Operations on reflectivity data......Page 243
 A.3 Regressions and mapping functions......Page 245
 A.4 Variances, covariances, and autocorrelations......Page 249
 A.5 Basic radar signal processing......Page 256
References......Page 266
Index......Page 276