Rain drop size distribution variability and impact on X-band polarimetric radar retrieval: Results from the AMMA campaign in Benin

Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society

Volumn 136, Issue SUPPL. 1, 2010, Pages 243-256

  Gosset, Marielle ^a   Zahirib, Eric Pascal ^b   Moumounic, Sounmaila ^c  

^a INSTITUT DE RECHERCHE POUR LE DÉVELOPPEMENT   (France)

^b UNIVERSITÉ FÉLIX HOUPHOUËT BOIGNY   (Côte d’Ivoire)

^c Université Abomey Calavi UAC   (South Africa)

Author keywords

Microphysics; Tropical rain

Indexed keywords

ATTENUATION ,; ATTENUATION CORRECTION; CONVECTIVE SYSTEMS; DATA SETS; DIFFERENTIAL REFLECTIVITY; DISDROMETERS; DROP SIZE DISTRIBUTION; FIELD CAMPAIGN; GAUGE NETWORK; MICROPHYSICS; MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ANALYSIS; POLARIMETRIC RADARS; POLARIMETRIC VARIABLE; RAIN DROP SIZE; RAIN RATES; RAIN RETRIEVAL; RAIN TYPE; REGION OF INTEREST; SPECIFIC ATTENUATION; TROPICAL RAIN; WEATHER RADARS;

DYNAMIC POSITIONING; GAGES; IMAGE SEGMENTATION; METEOROLOGICAL RADAR; PERCOLATION (SOLID STATE); PHYSICS; POLARIMETERS; POLAROGRAPHIC ANALYSIS; RADAR; REFLECTION; SIZE DISTRIBUTION; STORMS;

RAIN;

CONVECTIVE SYSTEM; DATA SET; PRECIPITATION ASSESSMENT; PRECIPITATION INTENSITY; RADAR; RAINDROP; RAINFALL; RAINGAUGE; SIZE DISTRIBUTION; THEORETICAL STUDY; WEATHER STATION;

BENIN [WEST AFRICA];

EID: 77949389638     PISSN: 00359009     EISSN: 1477870X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/qj.556     Document Type: Article

References (41)

1. Anagnostou EN, Anagnostou MN, Krajewski WF, Kruger A, Miriovsky BJ. 2004. High-resolution rainfall estimation from X-band polarimetric radar measurements. J. Hydrometeorol. 5: 110-128.
2. Andsager K, Beard KV, Laird NF. 1999. Laboratory measurements of axis ratios for large raindrops. J. Atmos. Sci. 56: 2673-2683.
3. Atlas D, Ulbrich CW. 1977. Pathand area-integrated rainfall measurement by microwave attenuation in the 1-3 cm band. J. Appl. Meteorol. 16: 1322-1331.
4. Berne A, Uijlenhoet R. 2005. A stochastic model of range profiles of raindrop size distributions: Application to radar attenuation correction. Geophys. Res. Lett. 32: L10803, DOI:10.1029/2004GL021899.
5. Bringi VN, Chandrasekar V. 2001. Polarimetric Doppler weather radar: Principles and applications. Cambridge University Press.
6. Bringi VN, Chandrasekar V, Balakrishnan N, Zrnić DS. 1990. An examination of propagation effects in rainfall on radar measurements at microwave frequencies. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol. 7: 829-840.
7. Bringi VN, Keenan TD, Chandrasekar V. 2001. Correcting C-band radar reflectivity and differential reflectivity data for rain attenuation: A self-consistent method with constraints. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sensing 39: 1906-1915.
8. Campos E, Zawadzki I. 2000. Instrumental uncertainties in Z-R relations. J. Appl. Meteorol. 39: 1088-1102.
9. Carey LD, Rutledge SA, Ahijevych DA, Keenan TD. 2000. Correcting propagation effects in C-band polarimetric radar observations of tropical convection using differential propagation phase. J. Appl. Meteorol. 39: 1405-1433.
10. Chong M, Amayenc P, Scialom G, Testud J. 1987. A tropical squall line observed during COPT 81 experiment in West Africa. Part I: Kinematic structure inferred from dual-Doppler radar data. Mon. Weather Rev. 115: 670-694.
11. Depraetere C, Gosset M, Ploix S, Laurent H. 2009. The organization and kinematics of tropical rainfall systems ground tracked at mesoscale with gages: First results from the campaigns 1999-2006 on the Upper Ouémé Valley (Benin). J. Hydrol. 375: 143-160.
12. Dolan B, Rutledge SA. 2009. A theory-based hydrometeor identification algorithm for X-band polarimetric radars. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol. 26: 2071-2088.
13. Goddard JWF, Morgan KL, Illingworth AJ, Sauvageot H. 1995. 'Dualwavelength polarization measurements in precipitation using the CAMRa and Rabelais radar.' Pp 196-198 in 27th Conference on radar meteorology, Vail, Colorado, USA, 9 -13 October 1995. Amer. Meteorol. Soc.
14. Gorgucci E, Scarchilli G, Chandrasekar V, Bringi VN. 2001. Rainfall estimation from polarimetric radar measurements: Composite algorithms immune to variability in raindrop shape-size relation. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol. 18: 1773-1786.
15. Gosset M, Cazenave F, Moumouni S. 2008. 'Observations in West African squall lines with an X-band polarimetric radar.' Proceedings of 5th EGU Radar Conference ERAD 2008, Helsinki, Finland, 1 -5 July 2008.
16. Jameson AR. 1992. The effect of temperature on attenuation-correction schemes in rain using polarization propagation differential phase shift. J. Appl. Meteorol. 31: 1106-1118.
17. Lee GW, Zawadzki I. 2005. Variability of drop size distributions: Noise and noise filtering in disdrometric data. J. Appl. Meteorol. 44: 634-652.
18. Maki M, Keenan TD, Sasaki Y, Nakamura K. 2001. Characteristics of the raindrop size distribution in tropical continental squall lines observed in Darwin, Australia. J. Appl. Meteorol. 40: 1393-1412.
19. Maki M, Park S-G, Bringi VN. 2005. Effect of natural variations in rain drop size distributions on rain rate estimators of 3 cm wavelength polarimetric radar. J. Meteorol. Soc. Jpn 83: 871-893.
20. Mathon V, Laurent H. 2001. Life cycle of the Sahelian mesoscale convective cloud systems. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 127: 377-406.
21. Matrosov SY, Kropfli RA, Reinking RF, Martner BE. 1999. Prospects for measuring rainfall using propagation differential phase in X-and Ka-radar bands. J. Appl. Meteorol. 38: 766-776.
22. Matrosov SY, Clark KA, Martner BE, Tokay A. 2002. X-band polarimetric radar measurements of rainfall. J. Appl. Meteorol. 41: 941-952.
23. Matrosov SY, Kingsmill DE, Martner BE, Ralph FM. 2005. The utility of X-band polarimetric radar for quantitative estimates of rainfall parameters. J. Hydrometeorol. 6: 248-262.
24. May PT, Keenan TD, Zrnić DS, Carey LD, Rutledge SA. 1999. Polarimetric radar measurements of tropical rain at a 5-cm wavelength. J. Appl. Meteorol. 38: 750-765.
25. Mishchenko MI, Travis LD. 1998. Capabilities and limitations of a current FORTRAN implementation of the T-matrix method for randomly oriented, rotationally symmetric scatterers: Computational methods. J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer 60: 309-324.
26. Moumouni S, Gosset M, Houngninou E. 2008. Main features of rain drop size distributions observed in Benin, West Africa, with optical disdrometers. Geophys. Res. Lett. 35: L23807, DOI:10.1029/2008GL035755.
27. Nzeukou A, Sauvageot H, Ochou AD, Kebe CMF. 2004. Raindrop size distribution and radar parameters at Cape Verde. J. Appl. Meteorol. 43: 90-105.
28. Park S-G, Bringi VN, Chandrasekar V, Maki M, Iwanami K. 2005a. Correction of radar reflectivity and differential reflectivity for rain attenuation at X band. Part I: Theoretical and empirical basis. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol. 22: 1621-1632.
29. Park S-G, Maki M, Iwanami K, Bringi VN, Chandrasekar V. 2005b. Correction of radar reflectivity and differential reflectivity for rain attenuation at X band. Part II: Evaluation and application. J. Atmos. Oceanic. Technol. 22: 1633-1655.
30. Pruppacher HR, Beard KV. 1970. A wind tunnel investigation of the internal circulation and shape of water drops falling at terminal velocity in air. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 96: 247-256.
31. Redelsperger J-L, Thorncroft CD, Diedhiou A, Lebel T, Parker DJ, Polcher J. 2006. African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis: An international research project and field campaign. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 87: 1739-1746.
32. Roux F. 1988. The West African squall line observed on 23 June 1981 during COPT 81: Kinematics and thermodynamics of the convective region. J. Atmos. Sci. 45: 406-426.
33. Russell B, Williams ER, Gosset M, Cazenave F, Descroix L, Guy N, Lebel T, Ali A, Metayer F, Quantin G. 2010. Radar rain-gauge comparisons on squall lines in Niamey, Niger for the AMMA. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 136(s1): 290-304.
34. Sauvageot H, Lacaux J-P. 1995. The shape of averaged drop size distributions. J. Atmos. Sci. 52: 1070-1083.
35. Steiner M, Smith JA, Uijlenhoet R. 2004. A microphysical interpretation of radar reflectivity-rain rate relationships. J. Atmos. Sci. 61: 1114-1131.
36. Testud J, Le Bouar E, Obligis E, Ali-Mehenni M. 2000. The rain profiling algorithm applied to polarimetric weather radar. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol. 17: 332-356.
37. Testud J, Oury S, Black RA, Amayenc P, Dou X. 2001. The concept of 'normalized' distribution to describe raindrop spectra: A tool for cloud physics and cloud remote sensing. J. Appl. Meteorol. 40: 1118-1140.
38. Uijlenhoet R, Steiner M, Smith JA. 2003. Variability of raindrop size distributions in a squall line and implications for radar rainfall estimation. J. Hydrometeor. 4: 43-61.
39. Zahiri E-P, Gosset M, Lafore J-P, Gouget V. 2008. Use of a radar simulator on the output fields from a numerical mesoscale model to analyze X-band rain estimators. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol. 25: 341-367.
40. Zawadzki I. 1984. 'Factors affecting the precision of radar measurements of rain.' Pp 251-256 in Proceedings, 22nd Conference on radar meteorology, Zurich, Switzerland, 10 -13 September 1984. Amer. Meteorol. Soc.
41. Zrnić DS, Ryzhkov A. 1996. Advantages of rain measurements using specific differential phase. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol. 13: 454-464.