Reflectivity and rain rate in and below drizzling stratocumulus

• Published in: Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
• Main Authors: Comstock, Kimberly K., Wood, Robert, Yuter, Sandra E., Bretherton, Christopher S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2004
• Subjects: North East Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1256/qj.03.187; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1256%2Fqj.03.187; https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1256/qj.03.187

Abstract Ship‐based radar measurements obtained during the East Pacific Investigation of Climate 2001 stratocumulus (Sc) cruise are used to derive characteristics of the rainfall from drizzling Sc. Reflectivity to rain rate ( Z–R ) relationships are determined from shipboard raindrop‐size distribution measurements obtained from observations using filter‐paper, and compared to Z–R relationships derived from aircraft probe data from below north‐east Atlantic drizzling Sc and stratus. A model for the evaporation and sedimentation of drizzle is combined with reflectivity profiles from a millimetre‐wavelength cloud radar to derive information on the mean raindrop radius and drizzle drop concentrations at cloud base, and to show how Z–R relationships change with height below the cloud base. The Z–R relationships are used in conjunction with shipborne C‐band radar reflectivity data to estimate areal average precipitation with uncertainties at cloud base and at the surface. In the Sc drizzle Z–R relationship, Z = aR b (where a and b are constants), the estimated exponent b = 1.1 to 1.4 is lower than commonly observed in deep convective rain ( b = 1.5). Analyses indicate that variations in Sc rain rates and reflectivities are influenced both by fluctuations in drizzle drop concentration and in mean radius, but that number concentration contributes more to the modulation of rain rate in Sc. Rain rates derived using the scanning C‐band radar are found to be spatially variable, with much of the accumulation originating from a small fraction of the drizzling area. The observations also suggest that rain rate in marine Sc is strongly dependent on cloud liquid‐water path, and inversely correlated with cloud droplet concentration. Copyright © 2004 Royal Meteorological Society