Thales

Olivier Pujol

Jean-Paul Artis

Clémentine Costes

Henri Sauvageot

Frédéric Mesnard

Alia Iassamen

Nicolas Bon

A method of correcting the reflectivity measurements performed by a radar such as a weather radar, a reflectivity measurement being associated with a resolution volume includes analyzing the current resolution volume to determine whether the plane representing the 0&#xb0; C. isotherm passes through it. When the plane representing the 0&#xb0; C. isotherm passes through the current resolution volume, the volume is split into two parts lying on either side of said plane, the attenuation associated with the resolution volume is determined by taking into account the contribution of each of the parts to the measured reflectivity. The reflectivity associated with the current resolution volume is corrected using the attenuation thus determined. An onboard weather radar implements the method.

Method of correcting reflectivity measurements by isotherm detection and radar implementing the method

A method of correcting reflectivity measurements performed by a radar, such as a weather radar, includes a reflectivity measurement being associated with a resolution volume. The method includes acquiring the reflectivity measurement Zcorresponding to the current resolution volume, estimating the attenuation kintroduced by the cloud droplets, said estimating being carried out by using an average vertical profile of the cloud liquid water content, estimating the attenuation kintroduced by dioxygen, estimating the attenuation kintroduced by the water vapor, determining the total specific attenuation k of the non-detectable components taking into account the attenuation k, the attenuation kand the attenuation kestimated in the preceding steps, and correcting the measured reflectivity taking into account the estimated total specific attenuation k. The method may be implemented by an onboard weather radar.

Method of correcting reflectivity measurements and radar implementing this method

The present invention relates to a method of characterizing the convection intensity of a cloud by a meteorological radar. The reflectivity of said cloud to an electromagnetic wave being distributed in space, the distribution of the reflectivity being discretized according to a network of points (i, j, k) of the space in three dimensions, at least one profile () is defined as a normalized function of a parameter (), which is in turn a given numeric function in two dimensions (i, j) of the distribution of the reflectivity at each point of the network, said normalized function varying uniformly between a minimum constant value and a maximum constant value, the function being equal to the minimum value when the parameter is less than a low threshold (threshold min) and being equal to the maximum value when the parameter is greater than a high threshold (threshold max), the cloud being characterized as convective when the profile is equal to one of the constant values and as stratiform when it is equal to the other constant value. The invention applies notably to meteorological radars on board aeroplanes.

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Villeneuve d'Ascq, France

Olivier Pujol