Intercomparison of Ground-Based Raxpol Mobile Radar and WSR-88D Operational Radar with the GPM Spaceborne Radar during Hurricane Ian

The Rapid scan X-band Polarimetric (RaXPol) mobile radar offers unique flexibility in volume coverage patterns with vast advantages in both spatial and temporal resolution compared to operational S-band WSR-88D radars. Particularly in Range Height Indicator scan (RHI) mode, RaXPol excels in providing high-resolution observations of vertical storm structures and melting layer heights, which are important to accurate precipitation estimation and microphysical parameter retrieval. Often in high-profile meteorological events, RaXPol can be deployed by the University of Oklahoma to take fine-scale observations of the storms. Inter-comparisons between RaXPol and WSR-88D are needed to ensure consistent retrievals. In this presentation, we will focus on the deployment of RaXPol during Hurricane Ian as a part of a three-week research and educational field campaign in collaboration with the University of Florida in September 2022. The comparison involves the RaXPol radar, the Tampa (KTBW) WSR-88D radar, and the spaceborne Ku (13.6 GHz) and Ka (35.5 GHz) band Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) onboard NASA/GPM mission, as Hurricane Ian traversed over the Florida Peninsula. Through volume-matching with WSR-88D and aligning overpass angle bins with RaXPol RHI scans at azimuths 154° and 64°, we aim to evaluate the consistency in identifying bright band heights and examine radar reflectivity differences using cross-validation indices. This analysis will shed light on distinct characteristics in RaXPol data retrievals and establish a testbed for calibration using GPM DPR observations.