This program was a joint project of the National Weather Service (NWS), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the US Air Force Meteorological Agency (AFWA), which took place from 2000-2004.

It has resulted in the upgrading of the entire meteorological radar network in the United States by adding dual polarization to better determine the type of hydrometeor, and quantities that have fallen.

In July 2000, the first planning meeting for JPOLE was held at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), and it was determined that the project would take place in two stages: JPOLE was introduced using a testbed NEXRAD mounted in Norman, Oklahoma, on the grounds of the NSSL.

[5] In general, most hydrometeors have a larger axis in the horizontal (for example, drops of rain become oblates when falling because of the resistance of the air).

The radar beam probes a larger or smaller volume depending on the characteristics of the transmitting antenna.

The intensity ratio between the H and V channels returning from successive samples is called the correlation coefficient (