Spectral Analysis of Polarimetric Weather Radar Data With Multiple Processes in a Resolution Volume

A new approach for the clear air velocity estimation in weather radar is presented. A combination of nonparametric with parametric spectral analyses allows us to identify and extract multiple processes caused by different scatterer types within a single radar resolution volume. An example of clear air observed using an S-band dual polarization radar is presented. Heretofore, migrating birds and wind-blown insects that are mixed within each resolution volume caused such data to be unusable for meteorological interpretation. In this paper, we construct power spectral densities of polarimetric variables. We use the polarimetric spectral densities to differentiate the scatterer types within the observed radar resolution volume. We demonstrate how our combination of non-parametric and parametric spectral analysis can be used to retrieve the true wind velocity in situations with severe contamination by biological scatterers.