Deep convolutional neural network for meteorology target detection in airborne weather radar images

Considering the problem that the scattering echo images of airborne Doppler weather radar are often reduced by ground clutters,the accuracy and confidence of meteorology target detection are reduced.In this paper,a deep convolutional neural network(DCNN)is proposed for meteorology target detection and ground clutter suppression with a large collection of airborne weather radar images as network input.For each weather radar image,the corresponding digital elevation model(DEM)image is extracted on basis of the radar antenna scan-ning parameters and plane position,and is further fed to the net-work as a supplement for ground clutter suppression.The fea-tures of actual meteorology targets are learned in each bottle-neck module of the proposed network and convolved into deeper iterations in the forward propagation process.Then the network parameters are updated by the back propagation itera-tion of the training error.Experimental results on the real mea-sured images show that our proposed DCNN outperforms the counterparts in terms of six evaluation factors.Meanwhile,the network outputs are in good agreement with the expected mete-orology detection results(labels).It is demonstrated that the pro-posed network would have a promising meteorology observa-tion application with minimal effort on network variables or parameter changes.

Convective Storm VIL and Lightning Nowcasting Using Satellite and Weather Radar Measurements Based on Multi-Task Learning Models

Convective storms and lightning are among the most important weather phenomena that are challenging to forecast.In this study,a novel multi-task learning(MTL)encoder-decoder U-net neural network was developed to forecast convective storms and lightning with lead times for up to 90 min,using GOES-16 geostationary satellite infrared brightness temperatures(IRBTs),lightning flashes from Geostationary Lightning Mapper(GLM),and vertically integrated liquid(VIL)from Next Generation Weather Radar(NEXRAD).To cope with the heavily skewed distribution of lightning data,a spatiotemporal exponent-weighted loss function and log-transformed lightning normalization approach were developed.The effects of MTL,single-task learning(STL),and IRBTs as auxiliary input features on convection and lightning nowcasting were investigated.The results showed that normalizing the heavily skew-distributed lightning data along with a log-transformation dramatically outperforms the min-max normalization method for nowcasting an intense lightning event.The MTL model significantly outperformed the STL model for both lightning nowcasting and VIL nowcasting,particularly for intense lightning events.The MTL also helped delay the lightning forecast performance decay with the lead times.Furthermore,incorporating satellite IRBTs as auxiliary input features substantially improved lightning nowcasting,but produced little difference in VIL forecasting.Finally,the MTL model performed better for forecasting both lightning and the VIL of organized convective storms than for isolated cells.

Radar Echo and Lightning Characteristics Analysis on A Strong Thunderstorm Weather in Fuxin

Based on the radar data and lightning position indicator data of strong thunderstorm weather which happened in Fuxin on July 8,2007,the relationship between the lightning activity and the radar echo was analyzed.The results showed that Fuxin area located in the cross position of T-shaped trough and was affected by the cold air which continuously glided down.The corresponding warm front on the ground advanced southward and arrived here.It was the weather background of this thunderstorm weather.The position variation of lightning occurrence was closely related to the strong echo movement of squall line,and the velocity echo clearly reflected and predicted the movement tendency of the radar echo.

Current Status and Future Challenges of Weather Radar Polarimetry: Bridging the Gap between Radar Meteorology/Hydrology/Engineering and Numerical Weather Prediction

After decades of research and development, the WSR-88 D(NEXRAD) network in the United States was upgraded with dual-polarization capability, providing polarimetric radar data(PRD) that have the potential to improve weather observations,quantification, forecasting, and warnings. The weather radar networks in China and other countries are also being upgraded with dual-polarization capability. Now, with radar polarimetry technology having matured, and PRD available both nationally and globally, it is important to understand the current status and future challenges and opportunities. The potential impact of PRD has been limited by their oftentimes subjective and empirical use. More importantly, the community has not begun to regularly derive from PRD the state parameters, such as water mixing ratios and number concentrations, used in numerical weather prediction(NWP) models.In this review, we summarize the current status of weather radar polarimetry, discuss the issues and limitations of PRD usage, and explore potential approaches to more efficiently use PRD for quantitative precipitation estimation and forecasting based on statistical retrieval with physical constraints where prior information is used and observation error is included. This approach aligns the observation-based retrievals favored by the radar meteorology community with the model-based analysis of the NWP community. We also examine the challenges and opportunities of polarimetric phased array radar research and development for future weather observation.

Regional Prediction of Impending Debris Flow Based on Doppler Weather Radar

Debris flow prediction is one of the important means to reduce the loss caused by debris flow. This paper built a regional prediction model of impending debris flow based on regional environmental background （including topography, geology, land use, and etc.）, rainfall and debris flow data. A system of regional prediction of impending debris flow was set up on ArcGIS 9.0 platform according to the model. The system used forecast precipitation data of Doppler weather radar and observational precipitation data as its input data. It could provide a prediction about the possibility of debris flow one to three hours before it happened, and was put into use in Liangshan Meteorological Observatory in Sichuan province in the monsoon of 2006.

Using MC Algorithm to Implement 3D Image Reconstruction for Yunnan Weather Radar Data

3D image reconstruction for weather radar data can not only help the weatherman to improve the forecast efficiency and accuracy, but also help people to understand the weather conditions easily and quickly. Marching Cubes (MC) algorithm in the surface rendering has more excellent applicability in 3D reconstruction for the slice images;it may shorten the time to find and calculate the isosurface from raw volume data, reflect the shape structure more accurately. In this paper, we discuss a method to reconstruct the 3D weather cloud image by using the proposed Cube Weighting Interpolation (CWI) and MC algorithm. Firstly, we detail the steps of CWI, apply it to project the raw radar data into the cubes and obtain the equally spaced cloud slice images, then employ MC algorithm to draw the isosurface. Some experiments show that our method has a good effect and simple operation, which may provide an intuitive and effective reference for realizing the 3D surface reconstruction and meteorological image stereo visualization.

Design and Analysis of Transmitter Charge Switch Assembly Load on Weather Radar Test Platform

This paper provides a new method for designing the load of transmitters switch components on provincial radar test platform. Based on the calculation of the specific parameters related to the actual charge switch components, the load-related data model is obtained, the simulation is carried out, and the results are consistent with the actual test results. Through the theoretical numerical analysis of the load of the charging switch components of the transmitter device in the new generation of weather radar maintenance test platform, radar maintenance personnel at all levels can deepen the thorough understanding of the CINRAD/SA transmitter and have some enlightenment and improvement on the maintenance guarantee ability of the new generation of weather radar.

WIND SHEAR IDENTIFICATION WITH THE RETRIEVED WIND OF DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR

Wind shear reflects that the wind field is not uniform, which is one of the primary factors which make the retrieval of the wind field difficult. Based on volume velocity process(VVP) wind field retrieval technique, the intensity of wind shear is identified in this paper. After analyzing the traditional techniques that rely on the difference of radial velocity to identify wind shear, a fixed difference among radial velocities that may cause false identification in a uniform wind field was found. Because of the non-uniformity in wind shear areas, the difference of retrieved results between surrounding analysis volumes can be used as a measurement to show how strong the wind shear is. According to the analysis of a severe convective weather process that occurred in Guangzhou, it can be found that the areas of wind shear appeared with the strength significantly larger than in other regions and the magnitude generally larger than4.5 m/(s·km). Besides, by comparing the variation of wind shear strength during the convection, it can be found that new cells will be more likely to generate when the strength is above 3.0 m/(s·km). Therefore, the analysis of strong wind shear's movement and development is helpful to forecasting severe convections.

Analysis of the False Alarm Fault in Antenna-servo System of Weather Radar

A false alarm fault frequently appeared in antenna-servo system of the CINRAD/SA weather radar of Shanwei in the second half of 2011, so possible reasons for the false alarm fault were listed firstly using method of exhaustion, and then the main reason was determined using exclusive method. That is, the fault was closely related to the signal transmission channel from the antenna mount to servo system in RDA cabinet. After ex- amining questionable nodes in the transmission channels of the alarm signal, we found that the false alarm fault might result from the interference of a burr in the temperature sensing circuit of the elevation motor. In actual operation, a filter capacitor was connected with the corresponding pin in the upper optical board to screen the interference of a burr, thereby successfully eliminating the false alarm fault in antenna-servo system of the CIN- RAD/SA radar of Shanwei.

Application Analysis of the Emergency Communication System in Weather Radar

According the work arrangements and requirements of carried satellite emergency communications, Fujian Meteorological Bureau establishes a satellite emergency communication system for radar stations to meet the needs of data transmission under the radar state of emergency. This paper introduces the main construction content, structure diagram, network diagram, drills and emergency communications procedures of the emergency communication system for the province’s meteorological radar satellite and provides the test emergency situation of the province’s meteorological radar-satellite data transmission. Satellite emergency communication system can basically meet the needs of emergency radar data transmission.

A New X-band Weather Radar System with Distributed Phased-Array Front-ends: Development and Preliminary Observation Results

A novel weather radar system with distributed phased-array front-ends was developed. The specifications and preliminary data synthesis of this system are presented, which comprises one back-end and three or more front-ends. Each front-end, which utilizes a phased-array digital beamforming technology, sequentially transmits four 22.5°-width beams to cover the 0°–90° elevational scan within about 0.05 s. The azimuthal detection is completed by one mechanical scan of0°–360° azimuths within about 12 s volume-scan update time. In the case of three front-ends, they are deployed according to an acute triangle to form a fine detection area(FDA). Because of the triangular deployment of multiple phased-array front-ends and a unique synchronized azimuthal scanning(SAS) rule, this new radar system is named Array Weather Radar(AWR). The back-end controls the front-ends to scan strictly in accordance with the SAS rule that assures the data time differences(DTD) among the three front-ends are less than 2 s for the same detection point in the FDA. The SAS can maintain DTD < 2 s for an expanded seven-front-end AWR. With the smallest DTD, gridded wind fields are derived from AWR data, by sampling of the interpolated grid, onto a rectangular grid of 100 m ×100 m ×100 m at a 12 s temporal resolution in the FDA. The first X-band single-polarized three-front-end AWR was deployed in field experiments in 2018 at Huanghua International Airport, China. Having completed the data synthesis and processing, the preliminary observation results of the first AWR are described herein.

Parameterized Forward Operators for Simulation and Assimilation of Polarimetric Radar Data with Numerical Weather Predictions

Many weather radar networks in the world have now provided polarimetric radar data(PRD)that have the potential to improve our understanding of cloud and precipitation microphysics,and numerical weather prediction(NWP).To realize this potential,an accurate and efficient set of polarimetric observation operators are needed to simulate and assimilate the PRD with an NWP model for an accurate analysis of the model state variables.For this purpose,a set of parameterized observation operators are developed to simulate and assimilate polarimetric radar data from NWP model-predicted hydrometeor mixing ratios and number concentrations of rain,snow,hail,and graupel.The polarimetric radar variables are calculated based on the T-matrix calculation of wave scattering and integrations of the scattering weighted by the particle size distribution.The calculated polarimetric variables are then fitted to simple functions of water content and volumeweighted mean diameter of the hydrometeor particle size distribution.The parameterized PRD operators are applied to an ideal case and a real case predicted by the Weather Research and Forecasting(WRF)model to have simulated PRD,which are compared with existing operators and real observations to show their validity and applicability.The new PRD operators use less than one percent of the computing time of the old operators to complete the same simulations,making it efficient in PRD simulation and assimilation usage.

Improvement and Design of Transmitter Modifier Wind Cooling Protection for CINRAD/CB Weather Radar

Doppler weather radar has important applications in measuring the intrinsic factors of cloud, rainfall and various convective weather occurrences. Among them, CINRAD/CB Doppler weather radar is based on the requirements of the China Meteorological Administration and many units have been provided. The modulator is a critical part of the transmitter’s high voltage, where high voltage, high current, and energy conversion are concentrated. It is therefore necessary to redesign the transmitter modulator cooling system protection. This article describes the new design of hardware and software solutions. The fan is a DV5214/2N DC fan from Ebmpapst, Germany. The speed is up to 5000 rpm, the power is 18.5 W, and the single fan current is about 0.8 A. It is powered by 28 V. The protection board uses a DC/DC module to output a 5 V voltage and a 3.3 V voltage adjustment chip LM1117. The embedded web software is based on the TCP/IP protocol stack provided by MICROCHIP. After the cooling system is designed and installed in the radar station in Xi’an, China and other places, after long-term operation, the comprehensive test shows that the system runs well.

Suppression of Log-Normal Distributed Weather Clutter Observed by an S-Band Radar

We have observed weather clutter containing targets (ships) using an S-band radar with a frequency 3.05 GHz, a beam width 1.8°, and a pulsewidth 0.5 μs. To investigate the weather clutter amplitude statistics, we introduce the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). We have found that the weather clutter amplitudes obey the log-normal, Weibull, and log-Weibull distributions with the shape parameters of 0.308 to 0.470, 4.42 to 4.51, and 15.91 to 16.44, respectively, for small data within the beam width of an antenna. We have proposed the log-normal/CFAR circuit modified a Cell-Averaging (CA) LOG/CFAR circuit. It is found that weather clutter is suppressed with improvement of 51.58 dB by log-normal/CFAR. As a result, we have showed that weather clutter observed by S-band radar does not obey the Rayleigh distribution and our log-normal/CFAR circuit has an effect on suppression of clutter and detection of target, while conventional LOG/CFAR circuit does not. In addition, if our circuit can be realized, we will have an advantage economically.

An Automatic Monitoring and Alarming Method for the Power Supply of Weather Radars

As weather radar stations require headroom environment to operate,they were mostly built on highlands which are usually unattended.The mains supply is relatively poor,and the risk of radar stoppages due to power outage is therefore ever-present.As such,the radar construction program is used to build a complementary security video monitoring system.By collecting monitoring images of the regulated power supply in real-time from power supply auto transfer systems in distribution rooms and radar transceiver rooms,using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient to analyse pixel variation trends,and supplementing statistical analysis of pixel characteristics difference to eliminate misjudgments resulting from low image contrast in special scenarios,a software can be developed through C#.It has the function of automatically monitoring mains supply and alerting staff on duty to handle the power outage in a timely manner via text message so that any potential risk is neutralised before it can cause damage.This monitoring and auto-alerting approach is generally applicable to unattended rooms with large amounts of electronical equipment.

Exploration and Research on Fault Maintenance System of New Generation Weather Radar

In order to improve the standardization, specialization, intelligence and timeliness of the new generation weather radar fault repair, the technical threshold of radar fault repair is greatly reduced, so that the general operators can carry out radar fault repair work. In order to achieve this goal, this paper designs a new generation weather radar fault repair system, which aims to solve two problems: one is to solve the causes and locations of the new generation weather radar faults which can be quickly and accurately detected and diagnosed[1];the other is to solve the problem that the grass-roots radar operational staff are inexperienced in maintenance and will not be repaired, and to provide visual through the maintenance system. Maintenance methods and steps with expert intelligence level [2], so that general radar operators can operate radar fault repair according to video steps, and have the technical level of maintenance experts, to achieve breakthroughs in technical difficulties of radar fault repair, to achieve both disease detection and treatment effect, to improve the efficiency of the use of new generation weather radar and to achieve modern technical equipment support. Chemistry plays an important role and significance.

Design of Compilation System of New Generation Weather Radar Case Data

Based on updating of new generation weather radar software,compilation system of new generation weather radar case data could automatically back up data and compile radar case.Using C language and VC++6.0 development technology,the software realizes the automatic sorting and saving of radar base data,radar products and radar status information on different machines every day,and automatically creates various folders and files required for compiling data.By inputting the days,date,start and end times,renaming and compression of the base data,product data and status information could be automatically completed,to realize automation,batch,process and standardization of case data compilation.Since putting into the radar business,the operation has been stable and reliable.The working efficiency of business personnel has been improved,and a large number of manpower has been saved.It can be transplanted and popularized in other new generation weather radar stations.

Construction, Techniques and Application of New Generation Doppler Weather Radar in China

New generation Doppler weather radar (NEXTRAD) has become one of the most important tools for monitoring and forecasting severe weather. It has been widely used in some developed countries. The construction of China’s NEXTRAD network has started since 1998, and this project is supported by national debt. In this paper the author addresses the development of NEXTRAD techniques, the pre\|sent situation of construction and application of NEXTRAD in China, some problems to be carefully considered in construction, and seve\|ral new fields of future radar technique developments and applications in weather monitoring.

Microphysical and Dynamical Climatology of Precipitating Systems Inferred by Weather Radar Polarimetric Measurements in Brazil

This work presents the climatology of the microphysics and the dynamics of weather systems in two coastal areas of São Paulo and the Espírito States at high spatial-temporal resolution as measured by two dual Doppler weather radars during the summer and early fall of 2015. Averages and respective standard deviations of polarimetric variables, namely, reflectivity (Z), differential reflectivity (ZDR), differential phase (ϕDP), specific differential phase (KDP), copolar correlation coefficient (ρoHV), radial velocity (Vr), and the spectral width (W) were obtained within a 240-km range on plan position indicator (PPI), constant altitude plan position indicator (CAPPI) and vertical cross-sections to analyze overall horizontal and vertical precipitation microphysics and mesoscale circulation of prevailing weather systems, and their peculiarities over coastal and oceanic, and urban and rural areas. Overall, raindrops tend to be larger over the Metropolitan area of São Paulo from the surface to up to 6 km altitude indicating more vigorous updrafts caused by the heat island effect and the local sea breeze. The vertical microphysical structure is remarkably distinct over the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo (MASP) where thunderstorms can reach 20-km altitude in summertime under sea breeze and heat island effects. On the other hand, there is a dominancy of smaller drop sizes though larger ones observed close to the surface by the coast of Espírito Santo and at the land-ocean interface influenced by the local low-level jet and oceanic-type CCN. Convective cells tend to be smaller associated with Easterlies and more organized with Westerlies. The results indicate distinct features on hydrometeor types and circulation characteristics under these different surface and boundary-layer conditions in close agreement with previous results in the literature.

Possibility of Solid Hydrometeor Growth Zone Identification Using Radar Spectrum Width

In this study,the correlation between simulated and measured radar velocity spectrum width(σ_(v))is investigated.The results show that the dendrites growth zones(DGZs)and needles growth zones(NGZs)mostly contain dendrites(DN)and needles(NE),respectively.Clearσ_(v) zones(1.1<σ_(v)(m s^(-1))<1.3 and 0.3<σ_(v)(m s^(-1))<0.7 for the DGZ and NGZ,respectively)could be identified in the case studies(27 and 28 February 2016)near altitudes corresponding to temperatures of–15°C and–5°C,according to the Japan Meteorological Agency and mesoscale model reanalysis data.Oblate particles with diverse particle shapes were observed in the DGZ withσ_(v)>1.2 m s^(-1),a differential reflectivity(ZDR)higher than 0 dB,and a cross-correlation coefficient(ρhv)less than 0.96.In contrast,prolate particles with relatively uniform shapes were observed in the NGZ withσ_(v)<0.6 m s^(-1),a ZDR less than 0 dB,andρhv higher than 0.97.The simulation results show that the DN exhibited a largerσ_(v) compared to the NE,and this observedσ_(v) was strongly dependent on the wind fluctuations(v’)due to turbulence or wind shear.In contrast,the NE exhibited a significantly smallσ_(v)~0.55 m s^(-1),which converges irrespective of v’.In addition,a strong correlation between the measuredσ_(v) values at five radar elevation angles(θ=6.2°,9.1°,13.1°,19°,and 80°)and those simulated in this study confirmed the significance of the analysis results.