Vertical Reflectivity Profiles in the Czech Weather Radar Network

Czech weather radar network (CZRAD), consisting of 2 Doppler radars (Gematronik Meteor 360AC and EEC DWSR-2501C), performs operational volume scanning in 10-min. intervals. In-house software has been used for analysis of spherical volume data of reflectivity and radial winds. Vertical reflectivity profiles were calculated during the 3-year period for distances between 30 and 80 km from the radar where the full volume coverage is ensured. These vertical profiles served for correcting precipitation estimates: if available, instantaneous profiles were used, otherwise monthly "climatological" ones were substituted. Comparison of daily precipitation sums from 800 raingauges with the radar estimates (uncorrected maximum reflectivity fields, statistically and vertical profile corrected) are presented. The performance of vertical profile based corrections shows slightly better results than other methods. A bright band detection alogrithm based on vertical reflectivity profile was derived and tested on 3-year series of aerological data from 2 rawinsond stations. The bright band detected from daily average reflectivity profiles was located closely to the 0 deg.C isotherm.