Precipitation Observations with NSSL’s X-band Polarimetric Radar during the SNOW-V10 Campaign

Mountain Weather: Observation and Modeling

“…For a polarized x-band radar, at higher levels, a horizontally extensive region of enhanced ZDR is a rather prominent feature. Similar signatures of a high vertical gradient of Z, enhanced ZDR, and reduced r hv , made in approximately the À8 to À12 C range at both S-band (Andric, Zrnic, & Melnikov, 2009;Kennedy & Rudledge, 2011) and C-band (Moisseev, Saltikoff, & Leskinen, 2009) have been attributed to rapid dendritic growth and onset of snow aggregation (Schuur et al, 2014;Ryzhkov and Zrniae, 2007).…”

“…The effects of evaporation can be seen in size sorting due to depletion of small drops, resulting in a decrease in Z and an increase in ZDR with decreasing height (Schuur et al, 2014;Matrosov, 2010). Z decreases as the backscatter cross-sections across the entire drop spectrum are reduced.…”

“…Schuur et al (2014) showed that RHIs collected on January 30e31, 2010 during SNOW-V10 project can be used interpret microphysical processes using polarimetric radar data from the NO-XP. The NO-XP RHI scan at 0254 UTC on January 30, 2010 is used to obtain Z, ZDR, and r hv and these are shown Figure 19(a),(b), and (c), respectively.…”

“…Polarimetric radar variables such as differential reflectivity (ZDR), specific differential phase (KDP), and correlation coefficient (r hv ) provide important additional information about microphysical properties of hydrometeors in clouds and precipitation. Here, the work of Schuur et al (2014) on use of NOAA dual polarized X-band radar for mountain weather study is summarized.…”

“…The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Severe Storms Laboratory X-band dual-Polarized (NO-XP) radar was used to understand winter weather conditions over the mountainous regions to support the activities at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic games (Schuur, Ryzhkov, Forsyth, Zhang, & Reeves, 2014). The NO-XP mission was to support the 0e6 h nowcast/forecast of precipitation type and amount over Cypress Mountain (61 km from NO-XP location) to improve our understanding of the winter environment through the use of dual-polarized X-band radars, and to study the rain/snow mix environment.…”