Rain Observations with Micro Rain Radar (MRR) over a Tropical Station

Abstract

The Micro Rain Radar (MRR) a high resolution radar operates at a frequency of 24 GHz installed at Thumba (8.5°N, 76.9°E) under Ka band propagation experiment is used extensively to characterize the tropical rain. This radar measurements of rain were obtained with fine spatial and temporal resolutions like One minute time resolution and 200 m height resolution. With this radar for the first time classification of precipitating systems are studied. With the presence or absence of bright band a radar signature of melting layer one can classify particular rain type as convective or stratiform. For present study MRR data from September 2005 onwards are collected. The main objective is to classify precipitation system into Stratiform and Convective with the presence or absence of Bright band. Another potential of this radar is ability to give information of vertical structure of fall velocity of hydrometeors. This also gives profiles of number concentration of various ranges of Drop sizes, liquid water content and rain rate for different heights. There is a dearth of rain drop Size data and distribution models for the tropics, especially over Indian continent. Models for drop size distribution are required for the evaluation of microwave and millimeter wave propagation effects due to rainfall. In the present paper various DSD models namely exponential, gamma model and lognormal model with different combination of moments for observing the characteristic features of tropical rain are studied. These results are compared with the collocated ground based Disdrometer. Attenuation at Microwave frequencies during the presence of rain is a serious concern to the communication. Once temporal and spatial information of DSD is known microwave attenuation can be studied. These results will be presented in this paper.