Proceedings with Extended Abstracts (single PDF file) - Radio ...

DERIVING DROP SIZE DISTRIBUTION FROM VHF AND UHF RADARSPECTRAN.V.P. Kiran Kumar and D. Narayana RaoNational MST Radar Facility, Gadanki, IndiaIntroductionMeasurements of Raindrop size distributions (DSDs) are very important in the studiesof the growth of precipitation, cloud microphysics and for the improvement of radar estimatesof rainfall intensities. DSDs describe the number and size of raindrops in precipitation. Thevertical distribution and time evolution of the DSD provide information about the dynamicalprocess of precipitating clouds. Vertically pointing Doppler radar profilers operating at veryhigh frequency (VHF) and ultrahigh frequency (UHF) are potential tools for remotelydetermining DSDs. This is because, with the help of these radars, we can directly determinethe fall-velocity spectrum of the hydrometeors. If the velocity can be related to the size of thefalling droplets, then the DSDs can be estimated using Doppler radars. And from VHF radarswe can determine the ambient air motions in the precipitating clouds that advect overhead.The ability of wind profilers (UHF or VHF) to estimate DSDs have beendemonstrated by several investigators using various techniques (Wakasugi et al. 1986;Gossard 1988; Rajopadhyaya et al. 1993). Currier et al. (1992), Maguire and Avery (1994),and Rajopadhyaya et al. (1998) used the vertical air motion information from a VHF profilerto retrieve precipitation characteristics from UHF Doppler spectra. In this present study, weuse this approach to evaluate rain-rate estimation in high and low intensity rain regimes ofprecipitating clouds. The method assumes a DSD shape. A gamma distribution is used in allthe results shown in this paper. A theoretical model is fitted to the radar spectrum and is usedto estimate the size distribution of raindrops. The derived rain rate and water content are thencompared with the collocated surface disdrometer values recorded at the profiler site.System Description and Method of Data analysisThe Indian MST Radar, Lower Atmospheric Wind Profiler (LAWP) and disdrometerare located at Gadanki (13.5 0 N, 79.2 0 E), in the southern part of India. The Indian MST Radaroperates at a frequency of 53 MHz with a peak power of 2.5 MW. Antenna array consistingof 1024 crossed yagi antennas generates radiation pattern with 3 0 half-power beam width. Acomplete description of the system is given by Rao et al. (1995) and Kishore (1995). For thepresent study we have used a 2-µs pulsed and only 12 beam positions (four in 10 0 off-verticaldirections and 8 in vertical direction) corresponding to a range resolution of 300 m and a timeresolution of 58 s.The operating frequency of the LAWP is 1357.5 MHz. The phased antenna arrayconsists of 24 x 24 elements. It transmits a peak power of 1KW. The receiver has a maximumgain of 120dB. This profiler has been configured to operate in Doppler Beam Swinging(DBS) mode. The antenna beam can be positioned, through electrical phase switching, atthree fixed orientations, viz., Zenith, 15°down to East and North. The LAWP is operated intwo modes, low and high mode, alternatively. In the low mode, radar samples are taken up to4.8 km with a range resolution of 150 m, while in the high mode the data are collected up to12.3 km with a range resolution of 150 m. In the present study we have used only verticalbeam. A Joss-Waldvogel disdrometer used for measuring DSDs at the ground continuouslyand automatically. The surface disdrometer records the number and size of raindrops hitting278