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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-6361</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Retrieval and sensitivity analysis of cloud microphysical parameters via dual-frequency radar using regularized optimal estimation</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Zhu</surname>
<given-names>Jiarui</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0009-1105-3662</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Kou</surname>
<given-names>Leilei</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Shang</surname>
<given-names>Jian</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Huang</surname>
<given-names>Zhongyu</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Yang</surname>
<given-names>Weiyu</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>School of Atmospheric Physics, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud- Precipitation of China Meteorological Administration, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>National Satellite Meteorological Center, Beijing 100081, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>30</day>
<month>10</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>29</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Jiarui Zhu et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-6361/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-6361/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-6361/egusphere-2026-6361.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-6361/egusphere-2026-6361.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>This study proposes an adaptively regularized bidirectional retrieval framework for cloud microphysical parameters using dual-frequency radar, evaluated via multi-source error sensitivity analyses and observational validations. Key features include: (1) a forward operator library for equivalent radar reflectivity factor (Zₑ) and specific attenuation coefficient (k) across diverse hydrometeor states; (2) Twomey&amp;ndash;Tikhonov regularization to stabilize the optimization by constraining state increments and preserving forward operator continuity; and (3) a joint inverse-forward iterative strategy utilizing path-integrated attenuation (PIA) as a soft prior constraint for simultaneous attenuation correction and parameter optimization. Using WRF-simulated marine cyclones as a benchmark, W-/Ka-band radar experiments isolate key error sources, including radar noise, PIA uncertainties, a priori fields, and hydrometeor variations. While sensitivity analyses demonstrate the algorithm&apos;s effectiveness in suppressing a priori perturbations and mitigating PIA biases, retrieval accuracy remains susceptible to hydrometeor misclassification and observation noise, particularly within low signal-to-noise ratio regimes. Under combined uncertainties from Gaussian reflectivity noise (&amp;sigma; = 2 dB) and 10 %&amp;ndash;20 % random PIA errors, relative errors for retrieved mass-weighted mean diameter (Dₘ) and equivalent liquid mass content (Mₑ) remain within 26 % and 40 %, respectively. Collocated W- and Ka-band measurements from ground-based (CloudCube) and spaceborne (EarthCARE, GPM) platforms further confirm algorithm reliability. When validated using liquid water path (LWP), retrievals from ground-based W-/Ka-band marine stratocumulus observations achieve about 30% error reduction over single-frequency W-band approaches, yielding a normalized root-mean-square error of 0.57 and a mean absolute percentage error of 29.2% relative to microwave radiometer data. In spaceborne mixed-precipitation comparisons, the algorithm leverages W-/Ka-band complementarity, yielding a marginal positive Dₘ bias against EarthCARE (ME = 0.04 mm) and a negative bias relative to GPM (ME = &amp;minus;0.12 mm). This work offers valuable methodological insights for next-generation spaceborne dual-frequency cloud radar missions.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="29"/></counts>
<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>National Natural Science Foundation of China</funding-source>
<award-id>42475146</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs2">
<funding-source>National Natural Science Foundation of China</funding-source>
<award-id>U2342222</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs3">
<funding-source>China Meteorological Administration</funding-source>
<award-id>CMA2024QN10</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
</front>
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