SNRh-Based Quality Control and Cyprus-Wide Mosaic Generation from X-Band Polarimetric Radar Observations for QPE Applications

 Accurate quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) from X-band Polarimetric weather radar depends strongly on the quality of the input radar measurements. In Cyprus, observations produced by the Larnaca and Paphos X-band radars which are located close to Larnaca and Paphos International airports respectively and are retrieved from the Cyprus Department of Meteorology) provide valuable coverage for precipitation monitoring, however, low-signal conditions and noisy echoes can reduce the reliability of radar-derived products. In the present study, a quality-control framework based on horizontal signal-to-noise ratio (SNRh) is applied to improve the usability of reflectivity and selected Polarimetric fields for precipitation-related applications. SNRh is used as a primary indicator to identify and suppress low-confidence radar echoes prior to gridding analysis and further assimilation to numerical weather prediction model. The quality-controlled radar fields are then combined to generate a Cyprus-wide radar mosaic, providing an island-scale visualization of precipitation structures from both radars. This mosaic product represents better the spatial distribution of weather systems over Cyprus than the single-radar views alone and highlights the importance of consistent preprocessing prior to multi-radar integration. The results indicate that SNRh-based quality control is an effective and practical preprocessing step for reducing noise, improving the spatial consistency of radar fields, and supporting the generation of informative radar products. This investigation is conducted in the frames of the strategic infrastructure project CYGMEN (Cyprus GNSS Meteorology Enhancement) and provides a foundation for future radar-based rainfall retrieval, hybrid QPE algorithms, and operational multi-radar applications over Cyprus, which is characterized as a hot spot region in terms of climate change and extreme weather events.