A New Melting Particle Model and its Application to Scattering of Radiowaves by a Melting Layer of Precipitation

A melting layer of precipitation is composed of melting snow particles, and we modeled them by three-layered spherical particles, in which the innermost layer is air, the middle ice and the outermost water. Based on this model, the radar reflectivity, together with the specific phase shift and the specific attenuation of a melting layer of precipitation, were computed at 1–100 GHZ by using the Mie theory. The radar bright band is explained by this model. We compared our numerical results with that in the literature Zhang (IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation 42(3):347–356, 1994), Zhang (IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation 42(3):492–500, 1994). It demonstrates that the three-layered snow sphere model is appropriate and practicable, so the computed results are more accurate. This study can be used in radar remote sensing and satellite-earth communications.