A Quality Control Method and Implementation Process of Wind Profiler Radar Data

Abstract

Wind profiler radar (WPR) is used for all-weather atmospheric wind-field monitoring. However, the reliability of these observations reduces significantly when there is electromagnetic interference echo, generally caused by ground objects, birds, or rain. Therefore, to optimize the data reliability of WPR, we proposed a synthetic data quality control process. The process included the application of a minimum connection method, judgment rule, and median test optimization algorithm for optimizing clutter suppression, spectral peak symmetry detection, and radial speed, respectively. We collected the base data from a radiosonde and multiple radars and conducted an experiment using these data and algorithms. The results indicated that the quality control method: (1) had good adaptability to multiple WPRs both in clear sky and precipitation; (2) was useful for suppressing ground clutter and (3) was superior to those of the manufacturer as a whole. Thus, the data quality control method proposed in this study can improve the accuracy and reliability of WPR products and multiple types of WPR, even when they function under vastly different weather conditions.

Keywords

• wind profile
• quality control
• spectral peak search
• ground clutter
• median test