Vertical Profiles of Raindrop Size Distribution Observed by Micro Rain Radar

Song Can; Zhou Yuquan; Wu Zhihui

doi:10.11898/1001-7313.20190408

Vol.30, NO.4, 2019

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Article Navigation > Journal of Applied Meteorological Science > 2019 > 30(4): 479-490

Song Can, Zhou Yuquan, Wu Zhihui. Vertical profiles of raindrop size distribution observed by micro rain radar. J Appl Meteor Sci, 2019, 30(4): 479-490. DOI: 10.11898/1001-7313.20190408.

Citation:

Song Can, Zhou Yuquan, Wu Zhihui. Vertical profiles of raindrop size distribution observed by micro rain radar. J Appl Meteor Sci, 2019, 30(4): 479-490. DOI: 10.11898/1001-7313.20190408.

Song Can, Zhou Yuquan, Wu Zhihui. Vertical profiles of raindrop size distribution observed by micro rain radar. J Appl Meteor Sci, 2019, 30(4): 479-490. DOI: 10.11898/1001-7313.20190408.

Citation:

Song Can, Zhou Yuquan, Wu Zhihui. Vertical profiles of raindrop size distribution observed by micro rain radar. J Appl Meteor Sci, 2019, 30(4): 479-490. DOI: 10.11898/1001-7313.20190408.

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Vertical Profiles of Raindrop Size Distribution Observed by Micro Rain Radar

DOI: 10.11898/1001-7313.20190408

Song Can¹,
Zhou Yuquan^{1,2
,
,},
Wu Zhihui³

1.
Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044
2.
Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081
3.
Weather Modification Office of Hebei Province, Shijiazhuang 050021

Received Date: 2019-05-03
Rev Recd Date: 2019-05-30
Publish Date: 2019-07-31

Abstract

Abstract

Raindrop size distribution (DSD) is of great importance for understanding the microphysical process of precipitation, as well as improving the microphysical parameterization scheme in numerical model. Most studies of DSD focus on precipitation characteristics on the surface. However, vertical profiles of DSD and rain parameters are important for quantitatively accurate precipitation estimation from weather radars. Based on data observed by the ground-based PARSIVEL disdrometer and a vertical pointing micro rain radar (MRR) at Xingtai, Hebei Province located in North China from June to September in 2016, the vertical evolution of precipitation microphysical parameters and DSD of different rain rate classed for stratiform precipitation are analyzed. Measurements from MRR, rain gauge and ground PARSIVEL disdrometer are compared. Results show that measurements from MRR, rain gauge and PARSIVEL disdrometer have good agreement in rain rate. MRR and PARSIVEL disdrometer show good consistency in medium sized (1-2.5 mm) range of DSD but have slight differences for small and large raindrops. MRR observes much more small particles than PARSIVEL disdrometer. When the rain rate is low, with low relative humidity around the ground, both large and small drops decrease with the altitude decreasing, so as to the liquid water content and rain rate, which is explained by the evaporation. When the rain rate is high, the concentration of particles for precipitation is much larger, and the vertical variation of DSD is more obvious. The profiles of radar reflectivity show a positive slope(dZ/dH>0). The concentration of medium-sized and large raindrops increases obviously with decreasing altitude at the cost of reducing small raindrops for precipitation with rain rate between 2-20 mm·h^-1, indicating that the coalescence is the dominant process for 2-20 mm·h^-1. The largest contribution to the total number concentration is small drops (0-0.5 mm) with diameters between 0-1 mm and can reach up to 50% above altitude of 2 km. Small particles contribute less to the precipitation intensity as the altitude decreasing. These small raindrops account only 15% to the surface precipitation, while the medium-sized raindrops can contribute 60% with rain rate between 2-20 mm·h^-1. Large raindrops (>2 mm) is about 50% of the surface rainfall for the largest rain rate class. These results provide useful information for better understanding rain processes and quantitative estimation of precipitation in the future.
- micro rain radar;
- raindrop size distribution;
- vertical profiles;
- precipitation of different intensities

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References(40)

Figures and Tables

Fig. 1 Daily precipitation observed by rain gauge, disdrometer and MRR of rainy days during 1 Jun-30 Sep in 2016

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Fig. 2 Comparisons between rain rate(a) and mean drop size distribution(b) observed by disdrometer at the surface and MRR at an altitude of 100 m at Xingtai during 1 Jun-30 Sep in 2016

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Fig. 3 Observed number of raindrops as a function of the drop diameter and falling velocity during 1 Jun-30 Sep in 2016(black curve represent the empirical relationship between diameter and velocity from Reference[5])

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Fig. 4 Averaged profiles of drop size distributions for stratiform precipitation cases with different subgroups at Xingtai during 1 Jun-30 Sep in 2016 (a)0.1 mm·h^-1≤R≤0.2 mm·h^-1, (b)0.2 mm·h^-1 < R≤2 mm·h^-1, (c)2 mm·h^-1 < R≤20 mm·h^-1, (d)R>20 mm·h^-1

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Fig. 5 Vertical profiles of liquid water content(a), rain rate(b), D_m(c) and radar reflectivity(d) for stratiform precipitation cases with different subgroups of rain ratesat at Xingtai during 1 Jun-30 Sep in 2016

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Fig. 6 Frequency distributions of relative humidity for different rain rate classes of stratiform precipitation at Xingtai during 1 Jun-30 Sep in 2016

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Fig. 7 Contributions of different raindrops to total number concentration N_t and rain rate R for the stratiform precipitation cases in different rain rate classes at Xingtai during 1 Jun-30 Sep in 2016

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Table 1 Main parameters of MRR

参数	取值
发射频率	24.23 GHz
功率	50 mW
波束宽度	2°
时间分辨率	10~3600 s(可调节)
高度分辨率	10~1000 m(可调节)
距离库数	31
速度分辨率	0.191 m·s^-1
速度范围	0~12.3 m·s^-1

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