Comparison of microphysical characteristics of rain between the Southern Korean Peninsula and Oklahoma using two-dimensional video disdrometer data

Details

• Journal Title:
  Journal of Hydrometeorology
• Personal Author:
  Bang, Wonbae ; Lee, GyuWon ; Ryzhkov, Alexander ; Schuur, Terry ; Sunny Lim, Kyo-Sun
• NOAA Program & Office:
  CIMMS (Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies) ; OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; NSSL (National Severe Storms Laboratory)
• Description:
  Differences in atmospheric environments can have a significant impact on microphysical processes of precipitation. Dominant warm (cold) rain processes in East Asia (southern Great Plains of the United States) are implied by a large (small or constant) gradient of reflectivity at low levels in vertical reflectivity profiles. Long-term ground observations using two-dimensional video disdrometers were conducted in the southern Korean Peninsula (KOR) and Norman, Oklahoma, United States (OKL). Raindrop size distributions (RSD) and their moments in the two regions were analyzed in the framework of scaling normalized RSDs. Results show that the concentrations of small (big) raindrops were higher (smaller) in KOR than in OKL. KOR RSDs were also found to be characterized by relatively high characteristic number concentrations N′0 and small characteristic diameters D′m when compared to OKL RSDs. The N′0 increases with increasing D′m in both KOR and OKL at lower Z with the opposite trend at higher Z. In addition, OKL RSDs with D′m>2.5mm indicate the existence of an equilibrium between coalescence and breakup processes. Rainfall estimation relationships between the rain rate R and radar variables were retrieved from scattering simulations at S-, C-, and X-band wavelengths. KOR RSDs showed relatively small horizontal reflectivity and specific differential phase shift at the same R and same wavelength when compared to OKL RSDs. The regional dependency was significant due to the different microphysical process in KOR and OKL. The specific attenuation of KOR was, however, similar to that of OKL only at S band, indicating an advantage of using specific attenuation in S band in rainfall estimation.
• Source:
  Journal of Hydrometeorology, 21(11), 2675-2690
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-20-0087.1
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  Grant no. NA16OAR4320115
• Place as Subject:
  Asia ; North America
• Rights Information:
  Other
• Compliance:
  Submitted
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/31634/noaa_31634_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.91 MB]
• Collection(s):
  Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) ; NOAA Cooperative Institutes
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:49387f83cd4e3e2cc4cb8ba0d9f72a680b0c5407132dfa58b54770395c7be6ab