Urban Hydrological Applications of Dual-Polarization X-Band Radar: Case Study in Korea

Quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) for flash flood forecasting is one of the most commonly used applications of modern meteorological radars. The low-power low-cost small X-band dual-polarization radar system is gaining more interest for urban weather monitoring. This case study presents the installation and application of the first routinely operating dual-polarization X-band radar deployed by the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT) in South Korea. An overview of this KICT radar's observations and attenuation correction is presented. The self-consistency criterion is used to examine the dual-polarization data quality. R(Kdp)-based rainfall relations are developed to perform rainfall estimation. The Kdp field is robustly obtained using an adaptive estimation methodology. Cross comparisons between rainfall products from the KICT X-band dual-polarization radar, ground rain gauges, and traditional Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) S-band radar are conducted to demonstrate the performance of this X-band radar for urban rainfall mapping. (C) 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.