Matching methods of classic hail echo cores of weather radar

Because the shape, intensity, and texture features of classic hail echo cores are easy to observe, these features are used to examine the matching methods of classic hail echo cores by using template-based and feature-based matching algorithms in this study. We first introduce the shape, intensity, and texture features of classic hail echo cores and the methods of expressing them quantitatively. Template-based and content-based matching algorithms are then used to calculate the similarity distance between classic hail echoes and real-time echoes and to determine the matching patterns between them based on pixels and features. In addition, we verify and analyze the proposed matching methods by using the case data of an extraordinarily severe hailstorm occurring in the Gansu province of China on May 30, 2005. Our research indicates that the identification rates of these two types of matching methods are very high and that the color features of classic hail echo core images are easy to observe. Moreover, V-shaped notches can also be identified and matched by using the texture feature-based matching method under stricter conditions. However, the results rely to a certain degree on the choices of templates, which indicate that the texture features of classic hail echo core images are not very obvious. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015