| Many studies have demonstrated that dual-polarimetric radar is an effective tool for hail detection. Studies employing radar at S-band frequencies have found that hail is characterized by high reflectivity (Zh > 50 dBZ) and near zero differential reflectivity (-1 < Zdr < 1 dB). Several studies have hypothesized that hail signatures observed by higher frequency radars, such as C-band, should be similar. To test the hypothesis, the dual-polarimetric radar signatures of nine hail events are carefully documented using C-band observations from the Advanced Radar for Meteorological and Operational Research (ARMOR). Unlike previous results at the S-band, this study shows that hail is characterized by high Zh (> 50 dBZ) and high Z dr (3 --- 8 dB) at the C-band. In addition, a radar model is used to investigate the physical nature of the C-band hail signature and a hydrometeor identification algorithm is tested to evaluate its ability to detect hail at the C-band. |
