VALIDATION OF REMOTE MEASUREMENT OF RAIN CHARACTERISTICS BY THE METHOD OF DOUBLE FREQUENCY RADAR SENSING

Subject and Purpose. Th e development of radar methods for measuring liquid-drop precipitation characteristics is of great importance for studying physical processes in the atmosphere and for lots of applied problems to be solved. At the same time, an experimental research of these methods in situ is essential to determine their frames and scope and estimate retrieval errors of the rain parameters. The purpose of the work is to evaluate eff ectiveness of the previously proposed method that is based on the parametrization of the distribution function of drops by size, uses averaged touch-probing data of the three-parameter gamma distribution of the parameters versus the rain intensity, and employs the double-frequency method of precipitation remote sensing. For its validation, the rain intensity results obtained by the radar sensing are compared with the data taken from the ground raingauge. Methods and Methodology. Th e measurement results gained by the proposed method are compared with the measurement results obtained by the standard technique. Results. An experimental study using the previously developed algorithm and with a refi ned double-frequency weather radar MRL-1 has been given to the double-frequency sensing of liquid-drop precipitation. Th e obtained results show that the proposed data processing algorithm for double-frequency sensing of liquid-drop precipitation is good at the rain intensity retrieval and makes it possible to estimate liquid precipitation amounts over long periods of time. Conclusion. Th e rain intensity measured with the use of meteo radar almost completely coincides, both qualitatively and quantitatively, with the data from the ground raingauge. Th e algorithm proposed by the authors for processing double-frequency radar sensing data on liquid-drop precipitation retrieves the rain intensity and, also, evaluates liquid-drop precipitation amounts.