Using microwave links to adjust the radar rainfall field

The final stage in processing radar data so as to arrive at an estimated rain field typically involves a comparison of the preliminary radar-derived estimates of hourly rainfall with those observed by ground-based gauges. Often a mean field bias adjustment will then be applied using an age-weighted average of the individual gauge–radar comparisons. In this paper, a mean field bias adjustment is presented that uses the path-integrated rainfall estimates provided by microwave links together with information from gauges. It is shown to be at least as efficient as the current gauge-based procedure used by the UK Met Office to improve the accuracy of radar-based estimates of rainfall at the ground.