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Cloud Microphysical Properties, Processes, and Rainfall Estimation Opportunities

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Radar and Atmospheric Science: A Collection of Essays in Honor of David Atlas

Part of the book series: Meteorological Monographs ((METEOR))

Abstract

In this work the longstanding question of the connections between raindrop-size distributions (RDSDs) and radar reflectivity-rainfall rate (Z-R) relationships is revisited, this time from the combined approach of rain-forming physical processes that shape the RDSD, and a formulation of the RDSD into the simplest free parameters of the rain intensity R, rainwater content W, and median volume drop diameter D0. This is accomplished through a theoretical analysis, using a gamma RDSD, of D0-R and W-R relations implied by the coefficients and exponents in empirical Z-R relations. The results provide a means by which these Z-R relations can be classified. The most dramatic of these classifications involves the relation between D0 and W, which shows a remarkable ordering with the rain types.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalum, Jerusalem, Israel

    Daniel Rosenfeld

  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, USA

    Carlton W. Ulbrich

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  1. Daniel Rosenfeld
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  2. Carlton W. Ulbrich
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  1. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, UCLA, 405 Hilgard Ave., 90095-1565, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Roger M. Wakimoto

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© 2003 American Meteorological Society

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Rosenfeld, D., Ulbrich, C.W. (2003). Cloud Microphysical Properties, Processes, and Rainfall Estimation Opportunities. In: Wakimoto, R.M., Srivastava, R. (eds) Radar and Atmospheric Science: A Collection of Essays in Honor of David Atlas. Meteorological Monographs. American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-878220-36-3_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-878220-36-3_10

  • Publisher Name: American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-878220-36-3

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