Quantitative Analysis of Lightning Rod Impacts on the Radiation Pattern and Polarimetric Characteristics of S-Band Weather Radar.
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| Title: | Quantitative Analysis of Lightning Rod Impacts on the Radiation Pattern and Polarimetric Characteristics of S-Band Weather Radar. |
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| Authors: | Wang, Xiaopeng1,2 (AUTHOR), Yin, Jiazhi2,3 (AUTHOR) yinjiazhi@cmacrcc.com, Ye, Fei3 (AUTHOR), Yang, Ting3,4 (AUTHOR), Xie, Yi4,5 (AUTHOR), Yu, Haifeng5,6 (AUTHOR), Hu, Dongming1,6 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Remote Sensing. Feb2026, Vol. 18 Issue 3, p392. 18p. |
| Subjects: | Antenna radiation patterns, Polarimetry, Radar meteorology, Lightning protection, Radar antennas |
| Abstract: | Highlights: What are the main findings? Lightning rods significantly increase the sidelobe levels of an S-band dual-polarization weather radar by up to 4.55 dB, while leaving the main-beam pointing and beamwidth essentially unchanged. Lightning rods introduce localized, azimuth-dependent polarimetric disturbances, producing a roughly 0.24–0.25 dB positive Z DR bias in snowfall and mixed-phase precipitation, whereas freezing-rain cases show no persistent azimuthal anomaly. What are the implications of the main findings? The clear directionality and posture-dependent behavior of the interference indicates that lightning rod geometry and placement should be explicitly considered in radar-antenna structural design, installation, and site planning. The quantified Z DR biases provide a practical reference for developing polarimetric quality-control schemes and bias-correction approaches for lightning-rod–induced disturbances in dual-polarization radar products. Lightning rods, while essential for protecting weather radars from direct lightning strikes, act as persistent non-meteorological scatterers that can interfere with signal transmission and reception and thereby degrade detection accuracy and product quality. Existing studies have mainly focused on X-band and C-band systems, and robust, measurement-based quantitative assessments for S-band dual-polarization radars remain scarce. In this study, a controllable tilting lightning rod, a high-precision Far-field Antenna Measurement System (FAMS), and an S-band dual-polarization weather radar (SAD radar) are jointly employed to systematically quantify lightning-rod impacts on antenna electromagnetic parameters under different rod elevation angles and azimuth configurations. Typical precipitation events were analyzed to evaluate the influence of the lightning rods on dual-polarization parameters. The results show that the lightning rod substantially elevates sidelobe levels, with a maximum enhancement of 4.55 dB, while producing only limited changes in the antenna main-beam azimuth and beamwidth. Differential reflectivity ( Z D R ) is the most sensitive polarimetric parameter, exhibiting a persistent positive bias of about 0.24–0.25 dB in snowfall and mixed-phase precipitation, while no persistent azimuthal anomaly is evident during freezing rain; the co-polar correlation coefficient ( ρ h v ) is only marginally affected. Collectively, these results provide quantitative, far-field evidence of lightning-rod interference in S-band dual-polarization radars and provide practical guidance for more reasonable lightning-rod placement and configuration, as well as useful references for Z D R -oriented polarimetric quality-control and correction strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | Engineering Source |
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