Polarimetric Radar Observations in the Ice Region of Precipitating Clouds at C-Band and X-Band Radar Frequencies

AbstractData collected by C-band and X-band radars in northwestern Italy are analyzed to study the behavior of the polarimetric variables in the ice region of precipitating clouds, with special emphasis on the specific differential phase Kdp. It is found that stratiform precipitation, irrespective of the precipitation type at the ground and as opposed to convective systems, is characterized by well-pronounced positive differential reflectivity Zdr and Kdp values near the model-predicted −15°C isotherm. The regions of enhanced Zdr and Kdp are likely related to the growth of dendrite crystals in the region where the difference between the saturation vapor pressure over water and the saturation vapor pressure over ice is greatest. Coincident C-band and X-band measurements, in conjunction with electromagnetic scattering simulations, demonstrate that Kdp scales with frequency, indicating that the ice particles in the vapor deposition preferential growth zone are Rayleigh scatterers. Peak values around 2.0° and...

[1]  A. R. Jameson,et al.  Estimation of Propagation-Differential Phase Shift from Sequential Orthogonal Linear Polarization Radar Measurements , 1985 .

[2]  V. Chandrasekar,et al.  Algorithm for Estimation of the Specific Differential Phase , 2009 .

[3]  L. R. Koenig,et al.  A Short Course in Cloud Physics , 1979 .

[4]  Matthias Steiner,et al.  Climatological Characterization of Three-Dimensional Storm Structure from Operational Radar and Rain Gauge Data , 1995 .

[5]  V. N. Bringi,et al.  Differential reflectivity and differential phase shift: Applications in radar meteorology , 1978 .

[6]  Sergey Y. Matrosov,et al.  Estimation of Ice Hydrometeor Types and Shapes from Radar Polarization Measurements , 1996 .

[7]  Martin Hagen,et al.  Polarimetric radar studies of atmospheric ice particles , 1994, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[8]  M. Bailey,et al.  A Comprehensive Habit Diagram for Atmospheric Ice Crystals: Confirmation from the Laboratory, AIRS II, and Other Field Studies , 2009 .

[9]  Alexander V. Ryzhkov,et al.  Discrimination between Rain and Snow with a Polarimetric Radar , 1998 .

[10]  John Hubbert,et al.  An Iterative Filtering Technique for the Analysis of Copolar Differential Phase and Dual-Frequency Radar Measurements , 1995 .

[11]  G. Cox,et al.  Aircraft and dual polarization radar observations of hydrometeors in light stratiform precipitation , 2007 .

[12]  P 2 . 12 Two-layer patterns of enhanced ZDR in clouds , 2009 .

[13]  Jacques Testud,et al.  The Rain Profiling Algorithm Applied to Polarimetric Weather Radar , 2000 .

[14]  K. K. Lo,et al.  The Growth of Snow in Winter Storms:. An Airborne Observational Study , 1982 .

[15]  V. Chandrasekar,et al.  Classification of Hydrometeors Based on Polarimetric Radar Measurements: Development of Fuzzy Logic and Neuro-Fuzzy Systems, and In Situ Verification , 2000 .

[16]  A. Ryzhkov,et al.  Calibration of Dual-Polarization Radar in the Presence of Partial Beam Blockage , 2005 .

[17]  Alexander V. Ryzhkov,et al.  Correlation Coefficients between Horizontally and Vertically Polarized Returns from Ground Clutter , 2006 .

[18]  Stéphane Laroche,et al.  Polarimetric Doppler weather radar: principles and applications , 2002 .

[19]  A. Ryzhkov,et al.  Polarimetry for Weather Surveillance Radars , 1999 .

[20]  G. Heymsfield.  Doppler radar study of a warm frontal region , 1979 .

[21]  Sergey Y. Matrosov,et al.  On the Use of Radar Depolarization Ratios for Estimating Shapes of Ice Hydrometeors in Winter Clouds , 2001 .

[22]  R. Hogan,et al.  Properties of embedded convection in warm‐frontal mixed‐phase cloud from aircraft and polarimetric radar , 2002 .

[23]  G. Mccormick,et al.  Ku-band and S-band observations of the differential propagation constant in snow , 1976 .

[24]  G. Mccormick,et al.  Radar observations of the alignment of precipitation particles by electrostatic fields in thunderstorms , 1976 .

[25]  A. Korolev.  Limitations of the Wegener–Bergeron–Findeisen Mechanism in the Evolution of Mixed-Phase Clouds , 2007 .

[26]  V. Chandrasekar,et al.  Quantitative Precipitation Estimation in the CASA X-band Dual-Polarization Radar Network , 2010 .

[27]  V. Chandrasekar,et al.  Correcting C-band radar reflectivity and differential reflectivity data for rain attenuation: a self-consistent method with constraints , 2001, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[28]  R. Trapp,et al.  Multiscale Structure and Evolution of an Oklahoma Winter Precipitation Event , 2001 .

[29]  S. Rutledge,et al.  A radar and electrical study of tropical hot towers , 1992 .

[30]  A. Korolev,et al.  Ice particle habits in stratiform clouds , 2000 .

[31]  V. Chandrasekar,et al.  Time-varying ice crystal orientation in thunderstorms observed with multiparameter radar , 1996, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[32]  Alexander V. Ryzhkov,et al.  Assessment of Rainfall Measurement That Uses Specific Differential Phase , 1996 .

[33]  Alexander V. Ryzhkov,et al.  Cloud Microphysics Retrieval Using S-Band Dual-Polarization Radar Measurements , 1999 .

[34]  Dino Giuli,et al.  Rainfall and Clutter Discrimination by Means of Dual-linear Polarization Radar Measurements , 1991 .

[35]  D. Zrnic,et al.  Doppler weather radar , 1979, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[36]  H. Andrieu,et al.  Identification of Vertical Profiles of Reflectivity from Volume Scan Radar Data , 1999 .

[37]  G. Vali,et al.  Polarimetric Signatures from Ice Crystals Observed at 95 GHz in Winter Clouds. Part I: Dependence on Crystal Form , 2001 .

[38]  G. Vali,et al.  Polarimetric Signatures from Ice Crystals Observed at 95 GHz in Winter Clouds. Part II: Frequencies of Occurrence , 2001 .

[39]  Alexander V. Ryzhkov,et al.  Calibration Issues of Dual-Polarization Radar Measurements , 2005 .

[40]  Patrick C. Kennedy,et al.  S-Band Dual-Polarization Radar Observations of Winter Storms , 2011 .

[41]  Frédéric Fabry,et al.  Observations of supercooled water and secondary ice generation by a vertically pointing X-band Doppler radar , 2001 .

[42]  Alexei Korolev,et al.  Supersaturation of Water Vapor in Clouds , 2003 .

[43]  Urs Germann,et al.  Effects of Radar Beam Shielding on Rainfall Estimation for the Polarimetric C-Band Radar , 2007 .

[44]  Andrew J. Heymsfield,et al.  Effective Ice Particle Densities Derived from Aircraft Data , 2004 .

[45]  R. Bechini,et al.  Radome attenuation at X-band radar operations , 2010 .

[46]  E. Williams.  Dual polarization radar winter storm studies supporting development of NEXRAD-based aviation hazard products , 2011 .

[47]  Robert D. Palmer,et al.  Multilag Correlation Estimators for Polarimetric Radar Measurements in the Presence of Noise , 2012 .

[48]  R. Houze,et al.  Three-Dimensional Kinematic and Microphysical Evolution of Florida Cumulonimbus. Part I: Spatial Distribution of Updrafts, Downdrafts, and Precipitation , 1995 .

[49]  Lawrence D. Carey,et al.  A multiparameter radar case study of the microphysical and kinematic evolution of a lightning producing storm , 1996 .

[50]  Imrich Chlamtac,et al.  The P2 algorithm for dynamic calculation of quantiles and histograms without storing observations , 1985, CACM.

[51]  Eugenio Gorgucci,et al.  Identification of the Melting Layer through Dual-Polarization Radar Measurements at Vertical Incidence , 2006 .

[52]  C. Magono,et al.  Meteorological Classification of Natural Snow Crystals , 1966 .

[53]  Alexander V. Ryzhkov,et al.  Depolarization in Ice Crystals and Its Effect on Radar Polarimetric Measurements , 2007 .

[54]  Roberto Cremonini,et al.  Radar-Based Analysis of Convective Storms over Northwestern Italy , 2011 .

[55]  Eugenio Gorgucci,et al.  Practical Aspects of Radar Rainfall Estimation Using Specific Differential Propagation Phase , 2000 .

[56]  Li Yangang.  Statistical theory of the Marshall-Palmer distribution of raindrops , 1993 .