Advanced Search
Select up to three search categories and corresponding keywords using the fields to the right. Refer to the Help section for more detailed instructions.
 
 
i

Superseded

This Document Has Been Replaced By:

i

Retired

This Document Has Been Retired

i

Up-to-date Information

This is the latest update:

Development of an Operational Convective Nowcasting Algorithm Using Raindrop Size Sorting Information from Polarimetric Radar Data
  • Published Date:

    2018

  • Source:
    Weather and Forecasting, 33(5), 1477-1495.
Filetype[PDF-4.55 MB]


Details:
  • Personal Author:
  • Description:
    Raindrop size sorting is a ubiquitous microphysical occurrence in precipitating systems. Owing to the greater terminal fall speed of larger particles, a raindrop's fall trajectory can be sensitive to its size, and strong air currents (e.g., a convective updraft) can enhance this sensitivity. Indeed, observational and numerical model simulation studies have confirmed these effects on raindrop size distributions near convective updrafts. One striking example is the lofting of liquid drops and partially frozen hydrometeors above the environmental 0 degrees C level, resulting in a small columnar region of positive differential reflectivity Z(DR) in polarimetric radar data, known as the Z(DR) column. This signature can serve as a proxy for updraft location and strength, offering operational forecasters a tool for monitoring convective trends. Beneath the 0 degrees C level, where WSR-88D spatiotemporal resolution is highest, anomalously high Z(DR) collocated with lower reflectivity factor at horizontal polarization Z(H) is often observed within and beneath convective updrafts. Here, size sorting creates a deficit in small drops, while relatively large drops and melting hydrometeors are present in low concentrations. As such, this unique raindrop size distribution and its related polarimetric signature can indicate updraft location sooner and more frequently than the detection of a Z(DR) column. This paper introduces a novel algorithm that capitalizes on the improved radar coverage at lower levels and automates the detection of this size sorting signature. At the algorithm core, unique Z(H)-Z(DR) relationships are created for each radar elevation scan, and positive Z(DR) outliers (often indicative of size sorting) are identified. Algorithm design, examples, performance, strengths and limitations, and future development are discussed.
  • DOI:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/waf-d-18-0025.1
  • Document Type:
    Journal Article
  • Funding:
    Grant no. NA11OAR4320072
  • Collection(s):
    NOAA Cooperative Institutes
    Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR)
    National Weather Service (NWS)
  • Main Document Checksum:
  • File Type:
  • Supporting Files:
    No Additional Files
    1. Filetype[PDF - 8.33 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Wells, K. C.; Millet, D. B.; Bousserez, N.; Henze, D. K.; Griffis, T. J.; Chaliyakunnel, S.; Dlugokencky, E. J.; Saikawa, E.; Xiang, G.; Prinn, R. G.; O'Doherty, S.; Young, D.; Weiss, R. F.; Dutton, G. S.; Elkins, J. W.; Krummel, P. B.; Langenfelds, R.; Steele, L. P.;
      Published Date:
      2018
      Source:
      Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 18(2), 735-756.
      Description:
      We present top-down constraints on global monthly N2O emissions for 2011 from a multi-inversion approach and an ensemble of surface observations. The inversions employ the GEOS-Chem adjoint and an array of aggregation strategies to test how well curr...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 8.33 MB]
    2. Filetype[PDF - 1.87 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Raczka, B.; Biraud, S. C.; Ehleringer, J. R.; Lai, C. T.; Miller, J. B.; Pataki, D. E.; Saleska, S. R.; Torn, M. S.; Vaughn, B. H.; Wehr, R.; Bowling, D. R.;
      Published Date:
      2017
      Source:
      Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, 122(8), 1969-1987.
      Description:
      The seasonal pattern of the carbon isotope content (delta C-13) of atmospheric CO2 depends on local and nonlocal land-atmosphere exchange and atmospheric transport. Previous studies suggested that the delta C-13 of the net land-atmosphere CO2 flux (d...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 1.87 MB]
    3. Filetype[PDF - 11.77 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Dieng, D.; Laux, P.; Smiatek, G.; Heinzeller, D.; Bliefernicht, J.; Sarr, A.; Gaye, A. T.; Kunstmann, H.;
      Published Date:
      2018
      Source:
      Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 123(15), 7950-7973.
      Description:
      In this study, we analyze a set of agroclimatological indices across West Africa and assess their projected changes for the future. We apply the regional climate model CCLM (COnsortium for Small-scale MOdelling in CLimate Mode) with a high spatial re...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 11.77 MB]
    4. Filetype[PDF - 1.74 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Kenagy, H. S.; Sparks, T. L.; Ebben, C. J.; Wooldrige, P. J.; Lopez-Hilfiker, F. D.; Lee, B. H.; Thornton, J. A.; McDuffie, E. E.; Fibiger, D. L.; Brown, S. S.; Montzka, D. D.; Weinheimer, A. J.; Schroder, J. C.; Campuzano-Jost, P.; Day, D. A.; Jimenez, J. L.; Dibb, J. E.; Campos, T.; Shah, V.; Jaegle, L.; Cohen, R. C.;
      Published Date:
      2018
      Source:
      Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 123(17), 9813-9827.
      Description:
      Although urban NOx lifetimes have been examined extensively during summertime conditions, wintertime NOx chemistry has been comparatively less studied. We use measurements of NOx and its oxidation products from the aircraft-based WINTER (Wintertime I...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 1.74 MB]
    5. Filetype[PDF - 3.46 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Jarvinen, E.; Ignatius, K.; Nichman, L.; Kristensen, T. B.; Fuchs, C.; Hoyle, C. R.; Hoppel, N.; Corbin, J. C.; Craven, J.; Duplissy, J.; Ehrhart, S.; El Haddad, I.; Frege, C.; Gordon, H.; Jokinen, T.; Kallinger, P.; Kirkby, J.; Kiselev, A.; Naumann, K. H.; Petaja, T.; Pinterich, T.; Prevot, A. S. H.; Saathoff, H.; Schiebel, T.; Sengupta, K.; Simon, M.; Slowik, J. G.; Trostl, J.; Virtanen, A.; Vochezer, P.; Vogt, S.; Wagner, A. C.; Wagner, R.; Williamson, C.; Winkler, P. M.; Yan, C.; Baltensperger, U.; Donahue, N. M.; Flagan, R. C.; Gallagher, M.; Hansel, A.; Kulmala, M.; Stratmann, F.; Worsnop, D. R.; Mohler, O.; Leisner, T.; Schnaiter, M.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 16(7), 4423-4438.
      Description:
      Under certain conditions, secondary organic aerosol (SOA) particles can exist in the atmosphere in an amorphous solid or semi-solid state. To determine their relevance to processes such as ice nucleation or chemistry occurring within particles requir...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 3.46 MB]
    6. Filetype[PDF - 6.69 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Butler, R.; Palmer, P. I.; Feng, L.; Andrews, S. J.; Atlas, E. L.; Carpenter, L. J.; Donets, V.; Harris, N. R. P.; Montzka, S. A.; Pan, L. L.; Salawitch, R. J.; Schauffler, S. M.;
      Published Date:
      2018
      Source:
      Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 18(17), 13135-13153.
      Description:
      We use the GEOS-Chem global 3-D atmospheric chemistry transport model to interpret atmospheric observations of bromoform (CHBr3) and dibromomethane (CH2Br2) collected during the CAST and CONTRAST aircraft measurement campaigns over the western Pacifi...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 6.69 MB]
    7. Filetype[PDF - 6.51 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Fried, A.; Barth, M. C.; Bela, M.; Weibring, P.; Richter, D.; Walega, J.; Li, Y.; Pickering, K.; Apel, E.; Hornbrook, R.; Hills, A.; Riemer, D. D.; Blake, N.; Blake, D. R.; Schroeder, J. R.; Luo, Z. J.; Crawford, J. H.; Olson, J.; Rutledge, S.; Betten, D.; Biggerstaff, M. I.; Diskin, G. S.; Sachse, G.; Campos, T.; Flocke, F.; Weinheimer, A.; Cantrell, C.; Pollack, I.; Peischl, J.; Froyd, K.; Wisthaler, A.; Mikoviny, T.; Woods, S.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 121(12), 7430-7460.
      Description:
      We have developed semi-independent methods for determining CH2O scavenging efficiencies (SEs) during strong midlatitude convection over the western, south-central Great Plains, and southeastern regions of the United States during the 2012 Deep Convec...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 6.51 MB]
    8. Filetype[PDF - 3.54 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Janssens-Maenhout, G.; Crippa, M.; Guizzardi, D.; Dentener, F.; Muntean, M.; Pouliot, G.; Keating, T.; Zhang, Q.; Kurokawa, J.; Wankmuller, R.; van der Gon, H. D.; Kuenen, J. J. P.; Klimont, Z.; Frost, G.; Darras, S.; Koffi, B.; Li, M.;
      Published Date:
      2015
      Source:
      Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 15(19), 11411-11432.
      Description:
      The mandate of the Task Force Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution (TF HTAP) under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) is to improve the scientific understanding of the intercontinental air pollution transport, to quan...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 3.54 MB]
    9. Filetype[PDF - 7.20 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Brown, S. S.; Dube, W. P.; Tham, Y. J.; Zha, Q. Z.; Xue, L. K.; Poon, S.; Wang, Z.; Blake, D. R.; Tsui, W.; Parrish, D. D.; Wang, T.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 121(5), 2457-2475.
      Description:
      Nighttime reactions of nitrogen oxides influence ozone, volatile organic compounds, and aerosol and are thus important to the understanding of regional air quality. Despite large emissions and rapid recent growth of nitrogen oxide concentrations, the...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 7.20 MB]
    10. Filetype[PDF - 7.02 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Kim, J.; Johnson, L. E.; Cifelli, R.; Choi, J.; Chandrasekar, V.;
      Published Date:
      2018
      Source:
      Water, 10(7), 21.
      Description:
      Soil moisture retention (SMR) capacity plays a key role in estimating the direct runoff when a multi-pulse storm event occurs. It is very important to know how much SMR will be recovered during the intervals of no rain of a multi-pulse storm. This st...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 7.02 MB]
    11. Filetype[PDF - 1.81 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Fairall, C. W.; Matrosov, S. Y.; Williams, C. R.; Walsh, E. J.;
      Published Date:
      2018
      Source:
      Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 35(3), 593-608.
      Description:
      The NOAA W-band radar was deployed on a P-3 aircraft during a study of storm fronts off the U.S. West Coast in 2015 in the second CalWater (CalWater-2) field program. This paper presents an analysis of measured equivalent radar reflectivity factor Z(...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 1.81 MB]
    12. Filetype[PDF - 5.19 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Mahish, M.; Jefferson, A.; Collins, D. R.;
      Published Date:
      2018
      Source:
      Atmosphere, 9(2), 18.
      Description:
      A 4-year record of aerosol size and hygroscopic growth factor distributions measured at the Department of Energy's Southern Great Plains (SGP) site in Oklahoma, U.S. were used to estimate supersaturation (S)-dependent cloud condensation nuclei concen...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 5.19 MB]
    13. Filetype[PDF - 4.56 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Mahoney, K.; Swales, D.; Mueller, M. J.; Alexander, M.; Hughes, M.; Malloy, K.;
      Published Date:
      2018
      Source:
      Journal of Climate, 31(16), 6281-6297.
      Description:
      Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are well-known producers of precipitation along the U.S. West Coast. Depending on their intensity, orientation, and location of landfall, some ARs penetrate inland and cause heavy rainfall and flooding hundreds of miles from ...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 4.56 MB]
    14. Filetype[PDF - 1.47 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Dimdore-Miles, O. B.; Palmer, P. I.; Bruhwiler, L. P.;
      Published Date:
      2018
      Source:
      Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 18(24), 17895-17907.
      Description:
      We consider the utility of the annual inter-polar difference (IPD) as a metric for changes in Arctic emissions of methane (CH4). The IPD has been previously defined as the difference between weighted annual means of CH4 mole fraction data collected a...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 1.47 MB]
    15. Filetype[PDF - 1.26 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Byju, P.; Dommenget, D.; Alexander, M. A.;
      Published Date:
      2018
      Source:
      Geophysical Research Letters, 45(15), 7683-7691.
      Description:
      Sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) in portions of the extratropics are known to recur from one winter to the next without persisting through the intervening summer. Previous studies identified only a limited number of midlatitude regions where ...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 1.26 MB]
    16. Filetype[PDF - 1.13 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Richardson, K.; Asmutis-Silvia, R.; Drinkwin, J.; Gilardi, K. V. K.; Giskes, I.; Jones, G.; O'Brien, K.; Pragnell-Raasch, H.; Ludwig, L.; Antonelis, K.; Barco, S.; Henry, A.; Knowlton, A.; Landry, S.; Mattila, D.; MacDonald, K.; Moore, M.; Morgan, J.; Robbins, J.; van der Hoop, J.; Hogan, E.;
      Published Date:
      2019
      Source:
      Marine Pollution Bulletin, 138, 222-229.
      Description:
      Abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) comprises a significant amount of global marine debris, with diverse impacts to marine environments, wildlife, and the fishing industry. Building evidence on ALDFG is critical to holistically understa...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 1.13 MB]
    17. Filetype[PDF - 2.34 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Smith, M.; Stammerjohn, S.; Persson, O.; Rainville, L.; Liu, G. Q.; Perrie, W.; Robertson, R.; Jackson, J.; Thomson, J.;
      Published Date:
      2018
      Source:
      Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans, 123(5), 3164-3185.
      Description:
      High-resolution measurements of the air-ice-ocean system during an October 2015 event in the Beaufort Sea demonstrate how stored ocean heat can be released to temporarily reverse seasonal ice advance. Strong on-ice winds over a vast fetch caused mixi...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 2.34 MB]
    18. Filetype[PDF - 724.45 KB]
      Personal Author:
      Chakraborty, A.; Ervens, B.; Gupta, T.; Tripathi, S. N.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 121(8), 4317-4332.
      Description:
      Size-resolved fog water samples were collected in two consecutive winters at Kanpur, a heavily polluted urban area of India. Samples were analyzed by an aerosol mass spectrometer after drying and directly in other instruments. Residues of fine fog dr...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 724.45 KB]
    19. Filetype[PDF - 4.19 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Kim, P. S.; Jacob, D. J.; Fisher, J. A.; Travis, K.; Yu, K.; Zhu, L.; Yantosca, R. M.; Sulprizio, M. P.; Jimenez, J. L.; Campuzano-Jost, P.; Froyd, K. D.; Liao, J.; Hair, J. W.; Fenn, M. A.; Butler, C. F.; Wagner, N. L.; Gordon, T. D.; Welti, A.; Wennberg, P. O.; Crounse, J. D.; St. Clair, J. M.; Teng, A. P.; Millet, D. B.; Schwarz, J. P.; Markovic, M. Z.; Perring, A. E.;
      Published Date:
      2015
      Source:
      Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15(18), 10411-10433.
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 4.19 MB]
    20. Filetype[PDF - 5.27 MB]
      Personal Author:
      Heiblum, R. H.; Altaratz, O.; Koren, I.; Feingold, G.; Kostinski, A. B.; Khain, A. P.; Ovchinnikov, M.; Fredj, E.; Dagan, G.; Pinto, L.; Yaish, R.; Chen, Q.;
      Published Date:
      2016
      Source:
      Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 121(11), 6336-6355.
      Description:
      We study the evolution of warm convective cloud fields using large eddy simulations of continental and trade cumulus. Individual clouds are tracked a posteriori from formation to dissipation using a 3-D cloud-tracking algorithm, and results are prese...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 5.27 MB]

You May Also Like:

  1. Filetype[PDF - 6.20 MB]
    Personal Author:
    Fridlind, Ann M.; Van Lier-Walqui, Marcus; Collis, Scott; Giangrande, Scott Edward, 1977-; Jackson, Robert C.; Li, Xiaowen; Matsui, Toshihisa; Orville, Richard; Picel, Mark H.; Rosenfeld, Daniel; Ryzhkov, Alexander; Weitz, Richard; Zhang, Pengfei;
    Published Date:
    2019
    Source:
    Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 2979–3000, 2019.
    Description:
    To probe the potential value of a radar-driven field campaign to constrain simulation of isolated convection subject to a strong aerosol perturbation, convective cells observed by the operational KHGX weather radar in the vicinity of Houston, Texas, ...
    File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 6.20 MB]
  2. Filetype[PDF - 6.80 MB]
    Personal Author:
    Snyder, J. C.; Ryzhkov, A. V.; Kumjian, M. R.; Khain, A. P.; Picca, J.;
    Published Date:
    2015
    Source:
    Weather and Forecasting, 30(6), 1819-1844.
    Description:
    Observations and recent high-resolution numerical model simulations indicate that liquid water and partially frozen hydrometeors can be lofted considerably above the environmental 0 degrees C level in the updrafts of convective storms owing to the wa...
    File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 6.80 MB]