Abstract
Cloud and rain liquid water path and total water vapor are retrieved simultaneously from passive microwave observations with the multifrequency dual‐polarized Advanced Microwave Radiometer for Rain Identification (ADMIRARI). A data set of linearly polarized brightness temperatures has been collected at 30° elevation angle together with slant radar reflectivity profiles at 24.1 GHz from a micro rain radar (MRR) pointing into the same viewing direction. The slant path integrated values are retrieved via a Bayesian inversion approach, the quality of which is evaluated by a simulation‐based retrieval sensitivity study. The algorithm includes a physical constraint by taking into account the rain column structural information from the MRR observations. Measurements and derived path‐integrated water component estimates from 23 August to 12 November 2008, obtained in Cabauw, Netherlands, are analyzed. During raining cloud conditions the zenith‐normalized root‐mean‐square error for water vapor, cloud liquid water path, and rain liquid water path are, on average, estimated to 1.54 kg m−2, 144 g m−2, and 52 g m−2, respectively. On the basis of these results, long‐term estimated distributions of cloud water–rainwater partitioning for midlatitude precipitating clouds are presented for the first time as obtained by a ground‐based radiometer.
Highlights
[5] The increasing use of ground-based multifrequency passive microwave radiometers for the observation of atmospheric parameters has fostered their exploitation for retrieving rainfall rates
Mean quality index Number of observations contents is observed, with CLWP ranging from 0 to $1 kg mÀ2 while the rain LWP (RLWP) stays
In addition it sees a clear tendency on the cloud versus rain distribution to follow the 2:1 line until approximately 0.4 kg mÀ2 for either cloud and rain liquid water path (LWP), the distribution spreads out with CLWP reaching as high as 1.4 kg mÀ2, but that feature is not followed by the RLWP
Summary
[5] The increasing use of ground-based multifrequency passive microwave radiometers for the observation of atmospheric parameters has fostered their exploitation for retrieving rainfall rates. A novel approach to simultaneously retrieving cloud and ice water paths (including mixed layers) and mean rainfall rate by Matrosov [2009b] uses multifrequency radar measurements (Ka, W, and ancillary S bands) and results in values of LWP in the range of 300–400 g mÀ2 for stratiform precipitation; even values of cloud LWP above 1000 g mÀ2 are commonly found. Those works focus on specific cases, they found on average only insignificant correlations between cloud LWP and rainfall rates. Such particles produce negative PD which depend on observation wavelength, hydrometeor size distribution, and observation slant angle
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