Publication Abstracts

Chen et al. 2018

Chen, Y., J. Verlinde, E. Clothiaux, A.S. Ackerman, A.M. Fridlind, M. Chamecki, P. Kollias, M.P. Kirkpatrick, B.-C. Chen, G. Yu, and A. Avramov, 2018: On the forward modeling of radar Doppler spectrum width from LES: Implications for model evaluation. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 123, no. 14, 7444-7461, doi:10.1029/2017JD028104.

Large-eddy simulations of an observed single-layer Arctic mixed-phase cloud are analyzed to study the value of forward modeling of profiling millimeter-wave cloud radar Doppler spectral width for model evaluation. Individual broadening terms and their uncertainties are quantified for the observed spectral width and compared to modeled broadening terms. Modeled turbulent broadening is narrower than the observed values when the turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate from the subgrid-scale model is used in the forward model. The total dissipation rates, estimated with the subgrid-scale dissipation rates and the numerical dissipation rates, agree much better with both the retrieved dissipation rates and those inferred from the power spectra of the simulated vertical air velocity. The comparison of the microphysical broadening provides another evaluative measure of the ice properties in the simulation. To accurately retrieve dissipation rates as well as each broadening term from the observations, we suggest a few modifications to previously presented techniques. First, we show that the inertial subrange spectra filtered with the radar sampling volume is a better underlying model than the unfiltered -5/3 law for the retrieval of the dissipation rate from the power spectra of the mean Doppler velocity. Second, we demonstrate that it is important to filter out turbulence and remove the layer-mean reflectivity-weighted mean fall speed from the observed mean Doppler velocity to avoid overestimation of shear broadening. Finally, we provide a method to quantify the uncertainty in the retrieved dissipation rates, which eventually propagates to the uncertainty in the microphysical broadening.

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BibTeX Citation

@article{ch03210t,
  author={Chen, Y. and Verlinde, J. and Clothiaux, E. and Ackerman, A. S. and Fridlind, A. M. and Chamecki, M. and Kollias, P. and Kirkpatrick, M. P. and Chen, B.-C. and Yu, G. and Avramov, A.},
  title={On the forward modeling of radar Doppler spectrum width from LES: Implications for model evaluation},
  year={2018},
  journal={Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres},
  volume={123},
  number={14},
  pages={7444--7461},
  doi={10.1029/2017JD028104},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - JOUR
ID  - ch03210t
AU  - Chen, Y.
AU  - Verlinde, J.
AU  - Clothiaux, E.
AU  - Ackerman, A. S.
AU  - Fridlind, A. M.
AU  - Chamecki, M.
AU  - Kollias, P.
AU  - Kirkpatrick, M. P.
AU  - Chen, B.-C.
AU  - Yu, G.
AU  - Avramov, A.
PY  - 2018
TI  - On the forward modeling of radar Doppler spectrum width from LES: Implications for model evaluation
JA  - J. Geophys. Res. Atmos.
JO  - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
VL  - 123
IS  - 14
SP  - 7444
EP  - 7461
DO  - 10.1029/2017JD028104
ER  -

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