Vertical and Horizontal Polarization Observations of Slowly Varying Solar Emissions from Operational Swiss Weather Radars
The electromagnetic power that arrives from the Sun in the C-band has been used to check the quality of the polarimetric, Doppler weather radar network that has recently been installed in Switzerland. The operational monitoring of this network is based on the analysis of Sun signals in the polar vol...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2014-12-01
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| Series: | Atmosphere |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/6/1/50 |
| _version_ | 1818287649581957120 |
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| author | Marco Gabella Maurizio Sartori Marco Boscacci Urs Germann |
| author_facet | Marco Gabella Maurizio Sartori Marco Boscacci Urs Germann |
| author_sort | Marco Gabella |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The electromagnetic power that arrives from the Sun in the C-band has been used to check the quality of the polarimetric, Doppler weather radar network that has recently been installed in Switzerland. The operational monitoring of this network is based on the analysis of Sun signals in the polar volume data produced during the MeteoSwiss scan program. It relies on a method that has been developed to: (1) determine electromagnetic antenna pointing; (2) monitor receiver stability; and (3) assess the differential reflectivity offset. Most of the results from such a method had been derived using data acquired in 2008, which was a period of quiet solar flux activity. Here, it has been applied, in simplified form, to the currently active Sun period. This note describes the results that have been obtained recently thanks to an inter-comparison of three polarimetric operational radars and the Sun’s reference signal observed in Canada in the S-band by the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO). The focus is on relative calibration: horizontal and vertical polarization are evaluated versus the DRAO reference and mutually compared. All six radar receivers (three systems, two polarizations) are able to capture and describe the monthly variability of the microwave signal emitted by the Sun. It can be concluded that even this simplified form of the method has the potential to routinely monitor dual-polarization weather radar networks during periods of intense Sun activity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T01:43:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-214e60ca2e494ba7bb074496cf6bd8ab |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4433 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T01:43:51Z |
| publishDate | 2014-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Atmosphere |
| spelling | doaj.art-214e60ca2e494ba7bb074496cf6bd8ab2022-12-22T00:03:40ZengMDPI AGAtmosphere2073-44332014-12-0161505910.3390/atmos6010050atmos6010050Vertical and Horizontal Polarization Observations of Slowly Varying Solar Emissions from Operational Swiss Weather RadarsMarco Gabella0Maurizio Sartori1Marco Boscacci2Urs Germann3MeteoSwiss, via ai Monti 146, Locarno Monti CH-6605, SwitzerlandMeteoSwiss, via ai Monti 146, Locarno Monti CH-6605, SwitzerlandMeteoSwiss, via ai Monti 146, Locarno Monti CH-6605, SwitzerlandMeteoSwiss, via ai Monti 146, Locarno Monti CH-6605, SwitzerlandThe electromagnetic power that arrives from the Sun in the C-band has been used to check the quality of the polarimetric, Doppler weather radar network that has recently been installed in Switzerland. The operational monitoring of this network is based on the analysis of Sun signals in the polar volume data produced during the MeteoSwiss scan program. It relies on a method that has been developed to: (1) determine electromagnetic antenna pointing; (2) monitor receiver stability; and (3) assess the differential reflectivity offset. Most of the results from such a method had been derived using data acquired in 2008, which was a period of quiet solar flux activity. Here, it has been applied, in simplified form, to the currently active Sun period. This note describes the results that have been obtained recently thanks to an inter-comparison of three polarimetric operational radars and the Sun’s reference signal observed in Canada in the S-band by the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO). The focus is on relative calibration: horizontal and vertical polarization are evaluated versus the DRAO reference and mutually compared. All six radar receivers (three systems, two polarizations) are able to capture and describe the monthly variability of the microwave signal emitted by the Sun. It can be concluded that even this simplified form of the method has the potential to routinely monitor dual-polarization weather radar networks during periods of intense Sun activity.http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/6/1/50weather radar receiversmonitoringrelative calibrationsolar emission |
| spellingShingle | Marco Gabella Maurizio Sartori Marco Boscacci Urs Germann Vertical and Horizontal Polarization Observations of Slowly Varying Solar Emissions from Operational Swiss Weather Radars Atmosphere weather radar receivers monitoring relative calibration solar emission |
| title | Vertical and Horizontal Polarization Observations of Slowly Varying Solar Emissions from Operational Swiss Weather Radars |
| title_full | Vertical and Horizontal Polarization Observations of Slowly Varying Solar Emissions from Operational Swiss Weather Radars |
| title_fullStr | Vertical and Horizontal Polarization Observations of Slowly Varying Solar Emissions from Operational Swiss Weather Radars |
| title_full_unstemmed | Vertical and Horizontal Polarization Observations of Slowly Varying Solar Emissions from Operational Swiss Weather Radars |
| title_short | Vertical and Horizontal Polarization Observations of Slowly Varying Solar Emissions from Operational Swiss Weather Radars |
| title_sort | vertical and horizontal polarization observations of slowly varying solar emissions from operational swiss weather radars |
| topic | weather radar receivers monitoring relative calibration solar emission |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/6/1/50 |
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