Electromagnetic Scattering of Rainfall and Tropical Cyclones over Ocean

Abstract

This chapter introduces a physics-based radiative transfer model to capture the scattering behavior of rainfall over a rough sea surface. Raindrops are modeled as Rayleigh scattering nonspherical particles, while the rain-induced rough surface is described by the Log-Gaussian ring-wave spectrum. The model is validated against both empirical models and measurements. A case study of collocated Envisat ASAR data and NEXRAD rain data is presented. To showcase the capability of the developed scattering model in studying cyclones, we use regional WRF weather model to simulate the Hurricane Hermine occurred in North America at September 2016. Finally, numerical analyses suggest that rain-related scattering becomes significant as compared to wind-related scattering when the frequency is above C-band, while the raindrop volumetric scattering becomes significant above X-band.