Attenuation correction for reflectivity observations from a dual-frequency dual-polarization doppler radar

In recent years, monitoring of precipitation using higher frequency radar systems, such as X-band, Ku-band, and Ka-band, has gained increasing interest because of the cost efficiency and portability. However, at such frequencies, the electromagnetic waves will suffer from attenuation due to propagation in precipitation, and the attenuation is determined by the extinction cross section of precipitation particles. Therefore, radar measurements of reflectivity (??) must be corrected for attenuation before it can be used for quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE). Since the introduction of dual-polarization concept, a number of attenuation correction procedures have been proposal based on dual-polarization observations. Among which, the differential phase based methodology was shown to have less effect on radar calibration and system errors. It is extensively used for correcting C-band and X-band observations.