Accuracy of polarimetric radar ZDR estimates: Implications for the quantitative observation of meteorological and non-meteorological echoes

Abstract This paper considers theoretical and observed uncertainties in the estimates of ZDR and ρHV(0) using data from an operational S-band radar and a mobile X-band radar. Cases of widespread uniform precipitation including bright-band, clear air and ash echoes from forest fires are all considered in order to obtain a wide range of ρHV(0) values as this along with the radar frequency and spectrum width determine the uncertainties. The theoretical uncertainties in these parameters provide a good estimate of the lower bound of the standard deviations of the observed values where these have been estimated using the adjacent data to the target pixel. The implications for the accuracy of precipitation estimation, particle identification and estimates of drop-size distributions are discussed.