A Field Study of Reflectivity and Z–R Relations Using Vertically Pointing Radars and Disdrometers

Abstract

Observations from a 16-month field study using two vertically pointing radars and a disdrometer at Wallops Island are analyzed to examine the consistency of the multi-instrument observations with respect to reflectivity and Z-R relations. The vertically pointing radars were operated at S and K bands and had a very good agreement in reflectivity at a gate centered on 175 and 177 m above ground level over a variety of storms. This agreement occurred even though the sampling volumes were of different size and even though the S band measured the reflectivity factor directly, whereas the K-band radar deduced it from attenuated K-band measurements. Indeed, the radar agreement in reflectivity at the collocated range gates was superior to that between the disdrometer and either radar. This is attributed in large part to the spatial separation of the disdrometer and radar sample volumes, although the lesser agreement observed in a prior collocated disdrometer-disdrometer comparison suggests the larger size of the radar sample volumes as well as the better overlap also play a role. Vertical variations in the observations were examined with the aid of the two radar profilers. As expected, the agreement between the disdrometer reflectivity and the reflectivity seen in the vertically pointing radars decreased with height. The effect of these vertical variations on determinations of Z-R relation coefficients was then examined, using a number of different methods for finding the bestfitting coefficients. The coefficient of the Z-R relation derived from paired disdrometer rain rate and radar reflectivity decreased with height, while the exponent of the Z-R relation increased with height. The coefficient and exponent of the Z-R relations also showed sensitivity to the choice of derivation method [linear and nonlinear least squares, fixed exponent, minimizing the root-mean-square difference (RMSD), and probability matching]. The influence of the time lag between the radar and disdrometer measurements was explored by examining the RMSD in reflectivity for paired measurements between 0-and 4-min lag. The nolag conditions had the lowest RMSD up to 400 m, while 1-min lag gave the lowest RMSD at higher heights. The coefficient and exponent of the Z-R relations, on the other hand, did not have a significant change between no-lag-and 1-min-lag-based pairs.

Automated rain rate estimates using the Ka-band ARM zenith radar (KAZR)

“…The coefficients and exponents derived from this study are with in the range between 75 and 300 and 1.2 and 2.0 used in the operational Z e -R relations. The expo- nent from the KAZR relation is slightly smaller (B = 1.18) compared to the values (B = 1.3−1.4) derived previously by Tokay et al (2009) who used vertically pointing S-and Kaband radars with a collocated disdrometer. This can be attributed to the effect of attenuation for low rain rates, which is assumed to be negligible in the proposed Z e -R relation based on the KAZR.…”

Performance Evaluation of Micro Rain Radar Over Sumatra Through Comparison With Disdrometer and Wind Profiler

“…The MRR records spectra at 32 range gates that leads to an observable height range between 0.15 and 4.65 km when a resolution of 150 m is used. If smaller resolution (e.g., < 100 m) is used, the first and the second range gates are normally omitted from processing, because they may be affected by near-field concept [6,28]. Furthermore, the last range gate is usually excluded from analysis, since it is too noisy.…”

“…The radar only provides the radar reflectivity (Z) and we need to convert it to rainfall rate (R) by using an equation which is commonly known as the Z-R relation. The equation relates the measured Z and the estimated R and can be derived traditionally from long-term observations of DSD [6,7]. Finally, knowledge of the DSD is also important in cloud physics [8,9], soil erosion study [10], and harvesting energy from raindrop [11].…”

Effect of R-Z Relationships Derived from Disdrometer Data on Radar Rainfall Estimation during the Heavy Rain Event on 5 July 2005

“…This transformation process causes the significant error (Fujiwara, 1965;Joss and Waldvogel, 1970;Zawadzki, 1984;Lee and Zawadzki, 2005b;Lee et al, 2007;Berenguer and Zawadzki, 2008;Berenguer and Zawadzki, 2009;Tokay et al, 2009). The use of a single climatological R-Z relationship can lead to 41% error in Montreal, Quebec, Canada (Lee and Zawadzki, 2005b) and however can be significantly reduced to 7% with proper R-Z relationships that are classified with proper microphysical processes.…”