Field Experiment on Convective Precipitation by X-Band Phased-Array Radar and Preliminary Results

Developed by the State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, and Anhui Sun-Create Electronics Ltd. Co., X-band phased-array radar (XPAR) was combined with C-band polarization radar (CPOL) to observe convective precipitation in Heshan, Jiangmen district, Guangzhou, from April to June 2013. S-band operational radar (SA) data were also collected to examine the reflectivity bias of XPAR. In this study, the work modes and observation capability for convective precipitation are examined to improve the radar performances. The characteristics of XPAR and work mode are first introduced in this paper, and the precipitation structures and reflectivity sensitivities by three work modes are compared with those by CPOL and SA. XPAR data with temporal resolution of 1 min are used to analyze the genesis and evolution of convective cell that developed in the rear of a convection line on May 30, 2013. The results indicate that XPAR can capture the main characteristics of 3D structures of precipitation with the three work modes and can complete one volume scan within 1 min with higher temporal and spatial resolutions than that by CPOL and SA. Moreover, the XPAR data with fine mode can reveal the initiation and evolution of convective cells in detail, in addition to two convergence zones and their relationships with reflectivity structures, which could not be observed by CPOL and SA. Further, the XPAR data with high temporal and spatial resolutions are helpful for improving the understanding of the meso-γ and additional detailed structures in convective systems.