Intercomparison of Vertical Structure of Storms Revealed by Ground-Based (NMQ) and Spaceborne Radars (CloudSat-CPR and TRMM-PR)

Veronica M Fall,Yang Hong,Qing Cao

doi:10.1155/2013/270726

Abstract

Spaceborne radars provide great opportunities to investigate the vertical structure of clouds and precipitation. Two typical spaceborne radars for such a study are the W-band Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) and Ku-band Precipitation Radar (PR), which are onboard NASA's CloudSat and TRMM satellites, respectively. Compared to S-band ground-based radars, they have distinct scattering characteristics for different hydrometeors in clouds and precipitation. The combination of spaceborne and ground-based radar observations can help in the identification of hydrometeors and improve the radar-based quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE). This study analyzes the vertical structure of the 18 January, 2009 storm using data from the CloudSat CPR, TRMM PR, and a NEXRAD-based National Mosaic and Multisensor QPE (NMQ) system. Microphysics above, within, and below the melting layer are studied through an intercomparison of multifrequency measurements. Hydrometeors' type and their radar scattering characteristics are analyzed. Additionally, the study of the vertical profile of reflectivity (VPR) reveals the brightband properties in the cold-season precipitation and its effect on the radar-based QPE. In all, the joint analysis of spaceborne and ground-based radar data increases the understanding of the vertical structure of storm systems and provides a good insight into the microphysical modeling for weather forecasts.

Highlights

There is not much information available to diagnose largescale vertical cloud structure and associated precipitation characteristics other than within the vicinity of groundbased radars
To offer cross-verification of the observations made by these two radars, a comparison with the National Mosaic and Multisensor Quantitative Precipitation Estimation (QPE) (NMQ) system, which employs the NEXRAD radar network, will be used
The CloudSat satellite’s Cloud Profiling Radar is very useful in the diagnosis of storm structure, due to the products that show the cross-section of reflectivity and temperature profile and cloud classification and precipitation type

Summary

Introduction

There is not much information available to diagnose largescale vertical cloud structure and associated precipitation characteristics other than within the vicinity of groundbased radars. Spaceborne satellites and their onboard radars provide the opportunity to observe and analyze the entire vertical cloud structure. Neither the TRMM or CloudSat satellites passed over the storm at these exact times or locations, due to CloudSat’s limited spatial coverage and TRMM’s latitudinal bounds. This storm, was still significant enough to warrant looking further into the storm structure and products through a comparison of CloudSat and NMQ as well as TRMM and NMQ.

Background

Data Analysis

Conclusion