Spatial and Temporal Extrapolation of Disdrometer Size Distributions Based on a Lagrangian Trajectory Model of Falling Rain

Methodologies to improve disdrometer processing, loosely based on mathematical techniques common to the field of particle flow and fluid mechanics, are examined and tested. The inclusion of advection and vertical wind field estimates appears to produce significantly improved results in a Lagrangian hydrometeor trajectory model, in spite of very strict assumptions of noninteracting hydrometeors, constant vertical air velocity, and time independent advection during a radar scan time interval. Wind field data can be extracted from each radar elevation scan by plotting and analyzing reflectivity contours over the disdrometer site and by collecting the radar radial velocity data to obtain estimates of advection. Specific regions of disdrometer spectra (drop size versus time) often exhibit strong gravitational sorting signatures, from which estimates of vertical velocity can be extracted. These independent wind field estimates can be used as initial conditions to the Lagrangian trajectory simulation of falling hydrometeors.Comment: 25 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables. Submitted to The Open Atmospheric Science Journal, http://www.bentham.org/open/toascj

Spatial variability of surface rainfall as observed from TRMM field campaign data

The spatial variability of surface rainfall over 5- and 30-day time periods is observed, and it is found that the spatial decorrelation length of precipitation is comparable to the size of a single surface gauge network. The observed variability is found to affect radar-derived precipitation estimation, particularly if it is based on calibration using rain gauges. The radar subgrid-scale variability is also observed using some redundant and finer-scale gauge networks deployed during the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission ( TRMM) ground-validation field campaigns. Based upon statistical analysis and a point-based decision-making system, a best-suited spatial temporal filtering technique is suggested and, when applied to match radar data with any other surface observation, is found to reduce bias

In Situ Disdrometer Calibration Using Multiple DSD Moments

In situ calibration is a proposed strategy for continuous as well as initial calibration of an impact disdrometer. In previous work, a collocated tipping bucket had been utilized to provide a rainfall rate based ~11/3 moment reference to an impact disdrometer's signal processing system for implementation of adaptive calibration. Using rainfall rate only, transformation of impulse amplitude to a drop volume based on a simple power law was used to define an error surface in the model's parameter space. By incorporating optical extinction second moment measurements with rainfall rate data, an improved in situ disdrometer calibration algorithm results due to utilization of multiple (two or more) independent moments of the drop size distribution in the error function definition. The resulting improvement in calibration performance can be quantified by detailed examination of the parameter space error surface using simulation as well as real data.Comment: 21 pages, 16 figures, Acta Geophysica 201

Laser Calibration of an Impact Disdrometer

A practical approach to developing an operational low-cost disdrometer hinges on implementing an effective in situ adaptive calibration strategy. This calibration strategy lowers the cost of the device and provides a method to guarantee continued automatic calibration. In previous work, a collocated tipping bucket rain gauge was utilized to provide a calibration signal to the disdrometer's digital signal processing software. Rainfall rate is proportional to the 11/3 moment of the drop size distribution (a 7/2 moment can also be assumed, depending on the choice of terminal velocity relationship). In the previous case, the disdrometer calibration was characterized and weighted to the 11/3 moment of the drop size distribution (DSD). Optical extinction by rainfall is proportional to the 2nd moment of the DSD. Using visible laser light as a means to focus and generate an auxiliary calibration signal, the adaptive calibration processing is significantly improved

Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) 2014 and 2015 Observations

No abstract availabl

Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD)

No abstract availabl

Hurricane Imaging Radiometer Wind Speed and Rain Rate Retrievals during the 2010 GRIP Flight Experiment

Microwave remote sensing observations of hurricanes, from NOAA and USAF hurricane surveillance aircraft, provide vital data for hurricane research and operations, for forecasting the intensity and track of tropical storms. The current operational standard for hurricane wind speed and rain rate measurements is the Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR), which is a nadir viewing passive microwave airborne remote sensor. The Hurricane Imaging Radiometer, HIRAD, will extend the nadir viewing SFMR capability to provide wide swath images of wind speed and rain rate, while flying on a high altitude aircraft. HIRAD was first flown in the Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes, GRIP, NASA hurricane field experiment in 2010. This paper reports on geophysical retrieval results and provides hurricane images from GRIP flights. An overview of the HIRAD instrument and the radiative transfer theory based, wind speed/rain rate retrieval algorithm is included. Results are presented for hurricane wind speed and rain rate for Earl and Karl, with comparison to collocated SFMR retrievals and WP3D Fuselage Radar images for validation purposes

NSCAT high-resolution surface wind measurements in Typhoon Violet

NASA scatterometer (NSCAT) measurements of the western Pacific Supertyphoon Violet are presented for revolutions 478 and 485 that occurred in September 1996. A tropical cyclone planetary boundary layer numerical, model, which uses conventional meteorological and geostationary cloud data, is used to estimate the winds at 10-m elevation in the cyclone. These model winds are then compared with the winds inferred from the NSCAT backscatter data by means of a novel approach that allows a wind speed to be recovered from each individual backscatter cell. This spatial adaptive (wind vector) retrieval algorithm employs several unique steps. The backscatter values are first regrouped in terms of closest neighbors in sets of four. The maximum likelihood estimates of speed and direction are then used to obtain speeds and directions for each group. Since the cyclonic flow around the tropical cyclone is known, NSCAT wind direction alias selection is easily accomplished. The selected wind directions are then used to convert each individual backscatter value to a wind speed. The results are compared to the winds obtained from the tropical cyclone boundary layer model. The NSCAT project baseline geophysical model function, NSCAT 1, was found to yield wind speeds that were systematically too low, even after editing for suspected rain areas of the cyclone. A new geophysical model function was developed using conventional NSCAT data and airborne Ku band scatterometer measurements in an Atlantic hurricane. This new model uses the neural network method and yields substantially better agreement with the winds obtained from the boundary layer model according to the statistical tests that were used

HIRAD Instrument Calibration and Brightness Temperature Image Accuracy, Precision and Resolution

No abstract availabl

Validation of Rain Rate Retrievals for the Airborne Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD)

The NASA Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) mission is an aircraft field measurements program using NASA's unmanned Global Hawk aircraft system for remote sensing and in situ observations of Atlantic and Caribbean Sea hurricanes. One of the principal microwave instruments is the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD), which measures surface wind speeds and rain rates. For validation of the HIRAD wind speed measurement in hurricanes, there exists a comprehensive set of comparisons with the Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR) with in situ GPS dropwindsondes [1]. However, for rain rate measurements, there are only indirect correlations with rain imagery from other HS3 remote sensors (e.g., the dual-frequency Ka- & Ku-band doppler radar, HIWRAP), which is only qualitative in nature. However, this paper presents results from an unplanned rain rate measurement validation opportunity that occurred in 2013, when HIRAD flew over an intense tropical squall line that was simultaneously observed by the Tampa NEXRAD meteorological radar (Fig. 1). During this experiment, Global Hawk flying at an altitude of 18 km made 3 passes over the rapidly propagating thunderstorm, while the TAMPA NEXRAD perform volume scans on a 5-minute interval. Using the well-documented NEXRAD Z-R relationship, 2D images of rain rate (mm/hr) were obtained at two altitudes (3 km & 6 km), which serve as surface truth for the HIRAD rain rate retrievals. A preliminary comparison of HIRAD rain rate retrievals (image) for the first pass and the corresponding closest NEXRAD rain image is presented in Fig. 2 & 3. This paper describes the HIRAD instrument, which 1D synthetic-aperture thinned array radiometer (STAR) developed by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center [2]. The rain rate retrieval algorithm, developed by Amarin et al. [3], is based on the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) technique, which compares the observed Tb's at the HIRAD operating frequencies of 4, 5, 6 and 6.6 GHz with corresponding theoretical Tb values from a forward radiative transfer model (RTM). The optimum solution is the integrated rain rate that minimizes the difference between RTM and observed values. Because the excess Tb from rain comes from the direct upwelling and the indirect reflected downwelling paths through the atmosphere, there are several assumptions made for the 2D rain distribution in the antenna incident plane (crosstrack to flight direction). The opportunity to knowing 2D rain surface truth from NEXRAD at two different altitudes will enable a comprehensive evaluation to be preformed and reported in this paper