Constructing Three-Dimensional Multiple-Radar Reflectivity Mosaics over China

China has set up a dense weather Doppler radar network with total 216 radars around China by 2014, which is called China New Generation Weather Radar (CINRAD). The dense radar network and the advent of the effective data compression and high speed internet transportation make feasible the real-time China radar Mosaic and Quantitative precipitation estimates (QPE) system over China mainland (CMQ). In this study, high spatial (≤1 km) and temporal (6 min) resolution three-dimensional (3D) multi-radar reflectivity mosaics are constructed via converting multi-radar observations from spherical coordinate system to Cartesian coordinate system. Firstly, the vertical interpolation scheme is applied to remapping individual radar observations from native spherical coordinates to Cartesian coordinates. Secondly, Gaussian weighting functions are used to mosaic multiple-radar reflectivity fields to produce a united 3D reflectivity grid over China. This effort to construct 3D multiple–radar reflectivity mosaics lays a foundation stone for the CMQ which is expected to have widespread applications in hydrology, meteorology, and natural hazards (e.g. tornado and landslide) monitoring and prediction over China.