Calculations of Doppler Radar Velocity Spectrum Parameters for a Mixture of Rain and Hail

UA-IAP-SR-75-30 The radar reflectivity factors, the reflectivity-weighted mean terminal velocities (VT) and the standard deviations (cr) of the resulting VT Doppler spectra were computed for specified size distributions of rain, dry and wet ice spheres (taken to be hailstones) and rain with hail. Un...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Martner, Brooks E., Battan, Louis J.
Other Authors: Institute of Atmospheric Physics, The University of Arizona
Format: Report
Language:English
Published: Institute of Atmospheric Physics, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ) 1975
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10150/634521
Description
Summary:UA-IAP-SR-75-30 The radar reflectivity factors, the reflectivity-weighted mean terminal velocities (VT) and the standard deviations (cr) of the resulting VT Doppler spectra were computed for specified size distributions of rain, dry and wet ice spheres (taken to be hailstones) and rain with hail. Unambiguous estimates of the mean velocity and standard deviation can be obtained from a radar measurement of reflectivity for rain alone and dry ice spheres as a function of maximum sphere size. The results for wet ice spheres are strongly dependent on the thickness of the liquid water coating on the ice core. When rain and hail coexist, large values of reflectivity are associated with large ranges of VT and crv. If the shape of the hail size distribution is known, an independent measurement of the maximwn hailstone diameter or a knowledge of the standard deviation of the observed Doppler velocity spectrum can reduce the uncertainty in estimates of VT. Research supported by the Atmospheric Sciences Section, National Science Foundation, NSF Grant DES 73-06558A01 This title from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics Reports collection is made available by the Department of Hydrology & Atmospheric Sciences and the University Libraries, University of Arizona. If you have questions about titles in this collection, please contact repository@u.library.arizona.edu.