Hail recognition based on radar reflectivity cross section

In this paper, a hailstorm recognition method based on radar reflectivity cross section was proposed. Firstly, the strong echo(over 45dBZ) height of hail monomer was calculated and compared with 0°C and -20°C isothermal height which was got by air sounding. Then three methods were obtained to draw position of radar reflectivity cross section (cutting line). Radar reflectivity cross section was generated based on the cutting line with nearest neighbor interpolation in radial direction as well as azimuth, and linear interpolation in vertical direction. Weak echo region or bounded weak echo region was extracted using boundary detection in different areas which has different echo intensities. Finally, some weather processes were tested with the proposed approach. On this basis, rule mining for hail recognition was realized. The experimental results indicate that the cross section generated in this study has good observation value and is helpful to identify and forecast hailstone effectively.