Quantitative Precipitation Estimation Using X-Band Dual-Pol Phase-Array Radar Measurements over Southern China

An increasing number of sporadic, localized extreme precipitation storms has been recorded in recent decades in southern China. Rapid development of cumulonimbus clouds usually brings localized heavy rainfalls whose life cycle last from 30 min to 60min or a couple of hours. For example, the extreme precipitation storm on 7 May of 2017 brought 184.4 mm to Guangzhou, China, which triggered serious urban waterlogging and led to tremendous loss of properties and five deaths. In order to monitor and predict the heavy rainfalls, it is important to observe the precipitation with high spatial and temporal resolution observation means to monitor the development of cumulonimbus clouds. Phase-array weather radar has been proved an effective instrument to corresponding to the demands for monitoring and predictions. Since July, an X-band dual-pol phase-array radar has been deployed in Shengzhen city to monitor the localized precipitation around Shengzhen and Guangzhou. In this study, the authors make use of the observations in summer season from July to September to estimate the precipitation over the local regions cover Shengzhen city and Guangzhou city. This is the first efforts to use the dual-pol phase-array weather radar observations to estimate precipitation over southern China, and it is expect that such efforts will helps people better understand the characteristics and mechanism of local heavy precipitation storms in southern China.