High resolution rainfall mapping with a regional network of polarimetric radars at S- and X-band frequencies

Since spring 2012, the Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) has been transformed from a research to operational demonstration emphasis, and has started the development of Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) urban remote sensing network. Radar-based Quantitative Precipitation Estimation (QPE) is one of the major research activities in the deployment of this urban test bed. In this paper, the polarimetric rainfall algorithms have been investigated for the X-band CASA/XUTA radar and the local S-band KFWS radar. A demonstration QPE system fusing the data of X-band radars and the S-band radar has been developed. In order to validate and evaluate the dual-polarization radar rainfall products, 20 rain gauges operated by the City of Grand Prairie are used for cross comparison between the radar measurements and gauge observations. The QPE system evaluation results presented here show excellent performance of the rainfall products with low bias and normalized standard error.