The ability of C-band polarimetric radar to account for strong attenuation/differential attenuation is demonstrated in two cases of heavy rain that occurred in the Chicago, Illinois, metropolitan area on 5 August 2008 and in central Oklahoma on 10 March 2009. The performance of the polarimetric attenuation correction scheme that separates relative contributions of ''hot spots'' (i.e., strong convective cells) and the rest of the storm to the path-integrated total and differential attenuation has been explored. It is shown that reliable attenuation correction is possible if the radar signal is attenuated by as much as 40 dB. Examination of the experimentally derived statistics of the ratios of specific attenuation A h and differential attenuation A DP to specific differential phase K DP in hot spots is included in this study. It is shown that these ratios at C band are highly variable within the hot spots. Validation of the attenuation correction algorithm at C band has been performed through cross-checking with S-band radar measurements that were much less affected by attenuation. In the case of the Oklahoma storm, a comparison was made between the data collected by closely located C-band and S-band polarimetric radars.

[1] Radar observations of wild fire plumes in Oklahoma carried out with the prototype of dual polarization S-band WSR-88D weather radar are presented. The observations show that the copolar correlation coefficients between horizontally and vertically polarized returns in the plumes are mostly less than 0.4 and this can be used in identification of plumes. Citation: Melnikov, V. M., D. S.

A new method for mitigation of partial beam blockage that uses the consistency between reflectivity factor Z and specific differential phase KDP and their radial integrals in rain is presented. The immunity of differential phase ΦDP to partial beam blockage is utilized to estimate the bias of reflectivity factor caused by beam blockage. The algorithm is tested on dual-polarization radar data collected by the NCAR S-band polarimetric Dopper radar system (S-Pol) during the Southwest Monsoon Experiment/Terrain-Influenced Monsoon Rainfall Experiment (SoWMEX/TiMREX) in June 2008 in Taiwan. Corrected reflectivity factors in the blocked sectors are compared with corresponding values deduced from a digital elevation model (DEM) to show the advantage of the suggested method in areas where obstacles such as high-rise buildings cause additional blockage that is not accounted for by DEM. The accuracy and robustness of the method is quantitatively evaluated using a series of radar volume scans obtained in three rainfall events.