Estimation of Ground-Level Reflectivity Factor in Operational Weather Radar Networks Using VPR-Based Correction Ensembles

An operational method is presented that corrects the bias of radar-based quantitative precipitation estimations (QPE) in radar networks that is due to the vertical profile of reflectivity (VPR) factor. It is used in both rain and snowfall. Measured average VPRs are obtained from the volume scans of each radar at ranges of 2–40 km. At each radar, two time ensembles of the bias estimates are made use of: the first ensemble contains 0–24 members at each range gate, calculated by beam convolution from the measured VPRs at 15-min intervals during the most recent 6 h. The second ensemble similarly contains 24 members calculated from parameterized climatological VPRs. In each scan the precipitation type classification and the climatological VPR are matched with the freezing level obtained from a numerical weather prediction model. The members of the two ensembles are weighted for both time lapse and quality and are then combined. At each composite grid point, the value of the networked VPR correction is then determined as a distance-weighted mean of the time ensembles of biases from all radars located closer than 300 km. In the absence of calibration errors, the resulting estimate of the reflectivity factor at ground levelZₑis a seamless continuous field. As verified by radar–radar and radar–gauge comparisons in the Finnish network of eight C-band Doppler radars, the method efficiently reduces the range-dependent bias in QPE. For example, at radar ranges of 141–219 km, the average bias in the ground levelZₑwas −8.7 and 1.2 dB before and after the VPR correction, respectively.