Simulation and Verification of Thunderstorm Echo of Airborne Dual Polarization Weather Radar

‍ ‍A thunderstorm is a transient and highly intense convective weather phenomenon that is often accompanied by hazardous conditions such as lightning， hail， and heavy precipitation， posing a significant threat to the flight safety of civil aviation aircraft. Onboard meteorological radar is crucial for aircraft safety， as it detects and displays real-time weather information near flight routes， aiding the crew in evading hazardous meteorological conditions. Due to the advantages of polarization technologies in meteorological detection， dual-polarization radar has emerged as the development direction for onboard meteorological radar. However， thunderstorm weather exhibits rapid and complex developments， as well as hazardous scenarios， making it challenging to obtain actual measured thunderstorm echo data from onboard dual polarization meteorological radar. To address this issue， this study proposes a thunderstorm echo simulation method based on onboard dual-polarization meteorological radar and verifies its effectiveness. The proposed method begins by simulating thunderstorm meteorological scenarios using the numerical forecasting model and weather research and forecasting （WRF）. Subsequently， the T-Matrix method is utilized to calculate the single particle scattering amplitude matrix of meteorological particles. By incorporating the microphysical characteristics of particles in the scene， the reflectivity factor of thunderstorm targets is computed. Finally， the radar meteorological equation is applied， utilizing the system parameters of onboard meteorological radar， to establish a thunderstorm echo signal model and achieve the simulation of thunderstorm echo signals using dual polarization meteorological radar onboard aircraft. To validate the accuracy of the method， the simulated echo results are subjected to verification based on a thunderstorm cell identification algorithm. Experimental results obtained by simulating thunderstorm echoes at different elevation angles demonstrate that the proposed thunderstorm echo simulation method based on the WRF model exhibits excellent modeling capabilities for thunderstorm weather. The verification through the thunderstorm cell identification algorithm confirms the accurate representation of thunderstorm cell centroid distribution， structural attributes， and three-dimensional characteristics. Furthermore， a comparison with measured data reveals a strong agreement between the simulated thunderstorm echo results and the actual observations， confirming the authenticity and accuracy of the experimental findings.