A robust low-level cloud and clutter discrimination method for ground-based millimeter-wavelength cloud radar

Abstract

Abstract. Low-level clouds play a key role in the energy budget and hydrological cycle of the climate system. The accurate long-term observation of low-level clouds is essential for understanding their climate effect and model constraints. Both ground-based and spaceborne millimeter-wavelength cloud radars can penetrate clouds but the detected low-level clouds are always contaminated by clutter, which needs to be removed. In this study, we develop an algorithm to accurately separate low-level clouds from clutter for ground-based cloud radar using multi-dimensional probability distribution functions along with the Bayesian method. The radar reflectivity, linear depolarization ratio, spectral width, and their dependence on the time of the day, height, and season are used as the discriminants. A low-pass spatial filter is applied to the Bayesian undecided classification mask by considering the spatial correlation difference between clouds and clutter. The final feature mask result has a good agreement with lidar detection, showing a high probability of detection rate (98.45 %) and a low false alarm rate (0.37 %). This algorithm will be used to reliably detect low-level clouds at the Semi-Arid Climate and Environment Observatory of Lanzhou University (SACOL) site for the study of their climate effect and the interaction with local abundant dust aerosol in semi-arid regions.