Abstract
To investigate the impact of rainfall type on rainfall estimation using polarimetric variables, rainfall relations such as those between rain rate (R) and specific differential phase (KDP), between R and KDP/differential reflectivity (ZDR), and between R and reflectivity (Z)/ZDR, were examined with respect to the precipitation type classified using drop size distributions (DSDs) measured by a disdrometer. The classification of rainfall type was assessed using four different methods: temporal rainfall variation; and the relations between intercept parameter (N0) and R; normalized intercept parameter (Nw) and median diameter (D0); and slope parameter (Λ) and R. The logN0–R relation discriminated between convective and stratiform rain with less standard deviation than the other methods as shown by the Z–ZDR scatter with respect to the rainfall types. The transition type from convective to stratiform and vice versa occurred in the stratiform rain region for all methods. To apply the classified rainfall relations to radar rainfall estimation, logNw and D0 were retrieved from polarimetric variables to discriminate the rainfall types in the radar domain. The DSD classification was verified with the vertical profile of reflectivity extracted at two positions corresponding to gage sites. Statistical analysis of four different rainfall events showed that rainfall estimation using the relations with precipitation type were better than those obtained without classification. The R(KDP,ZDR) relation with classification performed best on rainfall estimation for all rainfall events. The greatest improvement in rainfall estimation was obtained from R(Z,ZDR) with classification. We conclude that the classification of rainfall type leads to more accurate rainfall estimation. The different relations R(KDP), R(KDP,ZDR), and R(Z,ZDR) with respect to the rain types using polarimetric radar show improvement compared to estimation without consideration of rainfall type, in Korea.
Highlights
Rainfall types can be categorized as stratiform or convective depending on the upward wind speed and the temporal and spatial sizes of the cloud system
Many researches have explained the distinction between these precipitation types using raindrop size distribution (RDSD) and radar variables
The observed reflectivity from the Gudeoksan radar (PSN; not shown in Figure 1 because it is very from the Gudeoksan radar (PSN; not shown in Figure 1 because it is very close to POSS) was used to determine the precipitation types using temporal evolution of the vertical profile of reflectivity because the maximum elevation angle (1.6◦ ) of Bislsan radar (BSL) is too low to obtain the vertical structure of the rainfall system
Summary
Rainfall types can be categorized as stratiform or convective depending on the upward wind speed and the temporal and spatial sizes of the cloud system. Atmosphere 2019, 10, 773 variation in rainfall rate defined by the standard deviation of rainfall rate over 5 minutes to categorize the stratiform and convective precipitation using a disdrometer This classification methodology has been adopted in many areas having different climatology [6,7,8,9]. A rainfall relation of the form R(Z,ZDR ,KDP ,AH ) using combined polarimetric variables was examined [32] These studies focused on estimating rainfall as a function of polarimetric variables for different categories of rainfall intensity without classification of rainfall types. Adirosi et al [33] provided weather radar algorithms for rainfall and attenuation estimation from polarimetric measurements for convective and stratiform rain.
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