Dynamical assessment of altitudinal trend of drop size distributions in a tropical region of Nigeria

Abstract

A comparative assessment of different statistical drop size distributions in a tropical location in Nigeria is presented in this paper. The wet season months of the year 2014 rain data, measured using vertically-pointing Micro Rain Radar (MRR) installed at the Department of Physics, The Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria was considered. The data were archived at the Communication Research Group, Department of Physics, The Federal University of Technology Akure. The drop sizes were estimated from the fall velocity. The stratiform rainfall type was considered in this study due to its preponderance of occurrence. Three heights (160 m, 1440 m, and 2240 m) were reviewed for this study. These heights were given due consideration because of the density of the data. All the statistical distributions considered which include Lognormal, Gamma, and Weibull distributions performed better at the 160 m height compared to other heights. It was however observed that the Gamma and Weibull distribution performed better than the Lognormal distribution at this height. The results obtained in this study will be fundamental for the application of remote sensing and the propagation field in this area. The results will be useful to radio communication engineers to properly design a good fade margin in a radio communication system in this region.