Implementations of CSU hydrometeor classification scheme for C-band polarimetric radars

Dual-polarization radar measurements are sensitive to hydrometeor properties such as shape, phase state, and fall behavior, so that they can be used for hydrometeor classification purposes. Fuzzy logic based approaches to perform robust hydrometeor classification from dual polarization radar measurements have been successfully applied and evaluated mainly with S-band radars. Adaptation of such classification schemes to C-band is becoming increasingly important, specially because of the extensive use of C band Dual polarization radar systems in Europe. This paper transforms the CSU algorithm for hydrometeor classification ( Liu and Chandrasekar, 2001) for C band applications. Modifying the CSU classification scheme to C-band requires some adaptations, which include both the adjustment of the membership functions and the adoption of implementations for the reduced set of measurements usually available in current C-band radars. Implementations of the C-band version of the CSU hydrometeor classification scheme to two different C-band radar, namely the Polar 55C radar (Rome, Italy) and the ARMOR (Huntsville, Al) are presented and evaluated in the paper.