The Attenuation Correction for Ka Band Cloud Radar

To correct the attenuation of radar echo at millimeter-wave Ka-band cloud radar, stratus cloud, precipitating stratus cloud and convective cloud echo data were chosen as the samples for the test. In this paper, the precipitation clouds attenuation correction in vertical direction which detected by Ka-band ground-based in July 2016 in the south suburb meteorological observatory of Beijing Province in China to observe by bin-by-bin attenuation correction algorithm and the hierarchical bin-by-bin attenuation correction algorithm were researched and their difference was compared. The results showed that, (1) in case of stratus clouds with weak echo, the corrections were minor and these echoes were almost right. (2) In case of rainfall, both water droplets and rich water vapor along the ray path caused strong attenuation, and it was difficult to carry out the correction. After attenuation correction, the quality of millimeter wavelength radar data definitely improved though difference still existed. (3) The effect of hierarchical bin-by-bin attenuation correction was stronger than that of bin-by-bin attenuation correction.