Publication Abstracts
Kumjian et al. 2019
Kumjian, M.R., O.P. Prat, S. Collis,
, and H.C. Morrison, 2019: A moment-based polarimetric radar forward operator for rain microphysics. J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol., 58, no. 1, 113-130, doi:10.1175/JAMC-D-18-0121.1.There is growing interest in combining microphysical models and polarimetric radar observations to improve our understanding of storms and precipitation. Mapping model-predicted variables into the radar observational space necessitates a forward operator, which requires assumptions that introduce uncertainties into model-observation comparisons. These include uncertainties arising from the microphysics scheme a priori assumptions of a fixed drop size distribution (DSD) functional form, whereas natural DSDs display far greater variability. To address this concern, this study presents a moment-based polarimetric radar forward operator with no fundamental restrictions on the DSD form by linking radar observables to integrated DSD moments. The forward operator is built upon a dataset of > 200 million realistic DSDs from one-dimensional bin microphysical rain shaft simulations, and surface disdrometer measurements from around the world. This allows for a robust statistical assessment of forward operator uncertainty and quantification of the relationship between polarimetric radar observables and DSD moments. Comparison of "truth" and forward-simulated vertical profiles of the polarimetric radar variables are shown for bin simulations using a variety of moment combinations. Higher-order moments (especially those optimized for use with the polarimetric radar variables: the 6th and 9th) perform better than the lower-order moments (0th and 3rd) typically predicted by many bulk microphysics schemes.
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BibTeX Citation
@article{ku09100t, author={Kumjian, M. R. and Prat, O. P. and Collis, S. and van Lier-Walqui, M. and Morrison, H. C.}, title={A moment-based polarimetric radar forward operator for rain microphysics}, year={2019}, journal={Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology}, volume={58}, number={1}, pages={113--130}, doi={10.1175/JAMC-D-18-0121.1}, }
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RIS Citation
TY - JOUR ID - ku09100t AU - Kumjian, M. R. AU - Prat, O. P. AU - Collis, S. AU - van Lier-Walqui, M. AU - Morrison, H. C. PY - 2019 TI - A moment-based polarimetric radar forward operator for rain microphysics JA - J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol. JO - Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology VL - 58 IS - 1 SP - 113 EP - 130 DO - 10.1175/JAMC-D-18-0121.1 ER -
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