Tridon et al (2018)

closure of airborne in-situ observations with triple-frequency radar data

Authors

Frederic tridon et al.

Papers

Tridon, F.Battaglia, A.Chase, R. J.Turk, F. J.Leinonen, J.Kneifel, S., et al., (2019). The microphysics of stratiform precipitation during OLYMPEX: Compatibility between triple‐frequency radar and airborne in situ observationsJournal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres1248764– 8792https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD029858

The link between stratiform precipitation microphysics and multifrequency radar observables is thoroughly investigated by exploiting simultaneous airborne radar and in situ observations collected from two aircraft during the OLYMPEX/RADEX (Olympic Mountain Experiment/Radar Definition Experiment 2015) field campaign. Above the melting level, in situ images and triple‐frequency radar signatures both indicate the presence of moderately rimed aggregates. Various mass‐size relationships of ice particles and snow scattering databases are used to compute the radar reflectivity from the in situ particle size distribution. At Ku and Ka band, the best agreement with radar observations is found when using the self‐similar Rayleigh‐Gans approximation for moderately rimed aggregates. At W band, a direct comparison is challenging because of the non‐Rayleigh effects and of the probable attenuation due to ice aggregates and supercooled liquid water between the two aircraft. A variational method enables the retrieval of the full precipitation profile above and below the melting layer, by combining the observations from the three radars.

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