CFRSL rain measurement facility — Part-2 rain profiling radar

The Central Florida Remote Sensing Laboratory has established a rain measurement facility in Central, Fl to study the statistical properties of tropical rainfall and the associated interaction with electromagnetic waves. The rain absorption coefficient is an important parameter, which governs the atmospheric propagation absorption loss during rainfall. This paper (part-2 of 2) describes this research facility and presents the theoretical design of a rain profiling radar system. This L-band pulsed radar will provide zenith-viewing reflectivity measurements over altitude increments of 150 m to augment a passive microwave radiometer that is used to estimate the rain absorption coefficient at C-band. A theoretical “Z-R” relationship (radar reflectivity values associated with corresponding rain rate) is used in a MATLAB radar simulation to illustrate the radar measurement performance using a numerical weather model to provide a realistic thunderstorm rainfall event.