Radar Measurement of Precipitation-Related Depolarization in Thunderstorms

Abstract
Observations of thunderstorm regions above 4 km have been made by means of a two-channel polarization diversity radar at 16.5 GHz. There is a brief description of the radar equipment. Computer-generated plots of the radar data show regions of depolarization presumably originating in ice-crystal clouds, and abrupt changes in depolarization induced by lightning strokes. There is a discussion of the physical processes causing the various effects.