Publication Abstracts

Kumjian et al. 2019

Kumjian, M.R., O.P. Prat, S. Collis, M. van Lier-Walqui, 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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