An Observation Operator for Radar Refractivity Change: Comparison of Observations and Convective-Scale Simulations
Caumont, Olivier ; Foray, Anouck ; Besson, Lucas ; Parent du Châtelet, Jacques
Weather radar refractivity depends on low-level moisture, temperature, and pressure and is available at high space-time resolutions over large areas. It is of definite meteorological interest for assimilation, verification, and process-study purposes. In this study, the path-averaged refractivity change is simulated from the Arome cloud-resolving atmospheric system analyses and compared with corresponding radar observations over a 35-day period with various meteorological conditions. For that, a novel post-processing procedure is applied to radar data to improve its quality. Also, an observation operator is developed that ingests Arome analyses and simulates a 3-h path-averaged refractivity change. A sensitivity study shows that simulated path-averaged refractivity change is immune to the modelling of the beam height as long as it remains below approximately 60 m above the ground. Comparisons show overall consistency between observed and simulated path-averaged refractivity change, with discrepancies at times that suggest an improvement in analyses once radar refractivity change observations are assimilated. Finally, errors introduced when retrieving local refractivity from path-averaged refractivity are estimated and it is found for our dataset that such retrievals halve the range of usable observations.
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