[M-IS19] Atmospheric electricity and application of technology for reducing disaster risks

[MIS19-05] Development of Heavy Rainfall Prediction Method Using High Altitude Information from MP-PAWR

*Miyauchi Noriko¹, Hiroshi Kikuchi¹, Yasuhide Hobara¹, Tomoo Ushio² (1.The University of Electro-Communications, 2.Osaka University)

Keywords:Phased Array Weather Radar, Rainfall Observation

In recent years, severe events such as heavy rain, wind gusts, and lightning strikes have been on the increase in Japan. Severe phenomena occur suddenly, within minutes or kilometers, and the damage tends to be more severe and frequent. General meteorological radars are parabolic radars, which take 5 to 10 minutes for 3D observation because the antenna is mechanically rotated and tilted for observation. This makes it difficult to immediately assess the situation and lacks real-time performance because of the time required to update the data. In addition, the low spatio-temporal resolution makes it impossible to properly observe convective rainstorms that develop at high altitudes in a short period of time, making it insufficient for capturing rapidly developing cumulonimbus clouds. Therefore, the spatio-temporal resolution is limited in responding to sudden weather changes. This study uses dual-polarization phased-array weather radar (Multi Parameter-Phased Array Weather Radar: MP-PAWR) to study nine different summer convective rainstorms that occurred near Tokyo, Japan. The observed radar reflection factor Zh, inter-polarization difference Zdr inter-polarization phase difference Kdp at high altitudes (>4.5 km) and near-surface precipitation are investigated. As a result, the possibility of quantitative prediction of near-surface precipitation using high-altitude full-volume scan data acquired by MP-PAWR will be discussed.