Abstract
Data from a weather radar located above the polar circle in the North Sea are used to estimate the rain attenuation for a satellite link towards a geostationary satellite operating at Ka-band. Radar reflectivity data are obtained along the slant path from a beacon receiver located close to the radar towards the satellite, and the results of the estimator are compared with measurements of a beacon signal from the satellite. The parameters of the estimator are optimized and compared with values found in the literature. The results show that models from the literature overestimate the attenuation during heavy rainfalls.