Convective/stratiform classification from TRMM Precipitation Radar

TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR) provides three dimensional reflectivity observations from space. A technique to distinguish between convective and stratiform regions in storms using reflectivity profiles is developed using the multiresolution analysis by the use of wavelet transform. The wavelet transform of radar signals are used to conduct scale analysis, spatial variability, and subsequently to distinguish between the convective and stratiform regions. The convective/stratiform separations obtained using this method are compared against current method used [Awaka et al. 1998] in the TRMM operational algorithms. The results are also compared against ground radar observations. The data analysis shows that the technique presented in this paper works fairly well convective/stratiform separation