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  4. Reconstructing the Drizzle Mode of the Raindrop Size Distribution Using Double-Moment Normalization
 
research article

Reconstructing the Drizzle Mode of the Raindrop Size Distribution Using Double-Moment Normalization

Raupach, Timothy H.  
•
Thurai, Merhala
•
Bringi, V. N.
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January 1, 2019
Journal Of Applied Meteorology And Climatology

Commonly used disdrometers tend not to accurately measure concentrations of very small drops in the raindrop size distribution (DSD), either through truncation of the DSD at the small-drop end or because of large uncertainties on these measurements. Recent studies have shown that, as a result of these inaccuracies, many if not most ground-based disdrometers do not capture the "drizzle mode" of precipitation, which consists of large concentrations of small drops and is often separated from the main part of the DSD by a shoulder region. We present a technique for reconstructing the drizzle mode of the DSD from "incomplete" measurements in which the drizzle mode is not present. Two statistical moments of the DSD that are well measured by standard disdrometers are identified and used with a double-moment normalized DSD function that describes the DSD shape. A model representing the double-moment normalized DSD is trained using measurements of DSD spectra that contain the drizzle mode obtained using collocated Meteorological Particle Spectrometer and 2D video disdrometer instruments. The best-fitting model is shown to depend on temporal resolution. The result is a method to estimate, from truncated or uncertain measurements of the DSD, a more complete DSD that includes the drizzle mode. The technique reduces bias on low-order moments of the DSD that influence important bulk variables such as the total drop concentration and mass-weighted mean drop diameter. The reconstruction is flexible and often produces better rain-rate estimations than a previous DSD correction routine, particularly for light rain.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1175/JAMC-D-18-0156.1
Web of Science ID

WOS:000457313600003

Author(s)
Raupach, Timothy H.  
Thurai, Merhala
Bringi, V. N.
Berne, Alexis  
Date Issued

2019-01-01

Publisher

AMER METEOROLOGICAL SOC

Published in
Journal Of Applied Meteorology And Climatology
Volume

58

Issue

1

Start page

145

End page

164

Subjects

Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences

•

Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences

•

drizzle

•

rainfall

•

drop size distribution

•

small-scale variability

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2-dimensional video disdrometer

•

collision-induced breakup

•

optical disdrometer

•

radar

•

rainfall

•

cloud

•

parameterization

•

representation

•

estimators

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LTE  
Available on Infoscience
June 18, 2019
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/157376
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