Model simulations of non-uniform beam filling correction for spaceborne precipitation radar

A rain cell model is used to simulate effects of spatial gradients and vertical structure in rain rate on spaceborne radar observations. The Ku-band radar data is subject to substantial attenuation for rain rates >; 10 mm/hr and the nominal field-of-view (FOV) is 5 km. A theoretically based method to correct for attenuation in the measured radar reflectivity factor was tested for these conditions: rain cell depth 5 km, rain cell diameters ranging from 10 to-2.5 km, rain cells centered on the FOV center and out to 7 km from the center, vertical rain cells, and rain cells tilted at 45 degrees. The theoretically based correction method works reasonably well for vertical cells and tilted cells located close to the FOV center.