Identification and removal of non-precipitation echoes using the characteristics of radar echoes

This paper explores the removal of non-precipitation echoes such as normal ground echoes (GRE) and anomalous propagation (AP) in ground-based radars using a fuzzy logic approach. Membership functions and their weights are objectively derived from the characteristics of radar echoes as a function of radar reflectivity. The dependence on echo intensity is shown to significantly improve the proper identification of non-precipitation echoes. Likewise, the distinctive characteristics of non-precipitation echoes at lower angles also suggest a dependence on the elevation angles of the radar measurements. The evaluation of the proposed method is performed with the operational McGill S-band radar. The performance of the proposed method is comparable with that from polarimetric measurements that are considered as truth. It can thus easily be implemented in operational radars.