Spatial characterization of raincell horizontal profiles from C-band radar measurements at mid-latitude

A spatial characterization of mid-latitude mesoscale rain fields from C-band radar measurements is performed by means of a systematic analysis and modelling of convective raincell shapes. To this aim a large rainfall dataset, derived from an operational C-band dual-polarized radar, has been continuously collected from 1996 to 1999. The radar-derived rain fields consist of 1558 grids of 256×256 km2 with a spatial resolution of 1 km. A new accurate and adaptive algorithm for raincell identification is introduced and thoroughly discussed. From this analysis, a quality-controlled set of 2601 raincells, together with the radial rain intensities (or raincell horizontal profiles), is extracted. Three one-dimensional analytical models of rainfall horizontal profile are reviewed and tested by best fitting their parameters against estimated raincell data. The statistical results of this intercomparison are quantitatively analyzed and discussed in terms of mean rainfall horizontal profiles and root mean square errors.