Abstract
Stratiform and convective rain are associated with different microphysical processes and generally produce drop-size distributions (DSDs) with different characteristics. A previous study, using data from a tropical coastal location found that the two rain types could be separated in the NW–Dm space, where Dm is the mass-weighted mean diameter and NW is the normalized intercept parameter. The separation method has also been tested using data and observations from a midlatitude continental location with semiarid climate, and a subtropical continental location. In this paper, we investigate the same separation technique using data and observations from a midlatitude coastal region. Three-minute DSDs from disdrometer measurements were used for the NW versus Dm based classification and were compared with simultaneous observations from an S-band polarimetric radar 38 km away from the disdrometer site. Specifically, range-height indicator (RHI) scans over the disdrometer were used for confirmation. The results showed that there was no need to modify the separation criteria from previous studies. Scattering calculations using the three-minute DSDs were used to derive retrieval equations for Nw and Dm for the S-band radar and applied to the RHI scans to identify convective and stratiform rain regions. Two events are shown as illustrative examples.
Highlights
Stratiform and convective rain are associated with different microphysical processes and generally produce drop-size distributions (DSDs) with different characteristics
The importance of classification of rain types as convective and stratiform is related to the very different microphysical processes that go into the formation of their respective drop-size distributions (DSDs)
Differences in drop-size distributions (DSDs) between stratiform and convective rain have been examined in the past by several researchers, e.g., [4,5], and [6], who used ground-based disdrometer data, as well as [7,8,9], and [10], who used aircraft data
Summary
Is part of the ground-validation activities in support of the Global Precipitation. Measurement (GPM) Mission [22], as well as studies on precipitation microphysics, e.g.,. The ground instruments included many different types of disdrometers and rain gauges, including an MPS, several 2DVDs and a Pluvio rain gauge [24], all collocated at the same coastal site. 2/3rd-scaled double wind fence (DFIR; [25]) to reduce the effects of high winds on the measurements of small drops. The MPS was used for relatively accurate measurements of drop concentration of small drops (1 mm. The overlap region has been investigated before [26]; that study found that the best agreement between the two instruments was obtained in the diameter range of 0.75–1 mm
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