High-resolution Precipitation and Lightning Monitoring by the Ku-band Broadband Radar and the VHF Broadband Digital Interferometer

Abstract

We propose a high-resolution precipitation and lightning monitoring for meteorological application. This monitoring is mainly utilized the Ku-band broadband radar (BBR) and the VHF broadband digital interferometer (DITF). The BBR can accurately measure the radar reflectivity factor and the mean Doppler velocity with 5 m resolution over a range from 40 m to several kilometers for 10 W power using a pulse compression technique. The two or more DITFs make us visualize lightning channel propagations in three dimensions. Moreover, we add new functions that integrate these observation data and disclose integration analyses results with the quasi real-time information disclosure system. Initial observations for severe storms with lightning during summer and winter thunderstorm season by these monitoring instruments indicate that we obtain detailed precipitation distribution and detect active convective cells with lightning discharges.