Lin, D, Pickering, B orcid.org/0000-0002-8474-9005 and Neely III, RR orcid.org/0000-0003-4560-4812 (2020) Relating the Radar Bright Band and Its Strength to Surface Rainfall Rate Using an Automated Approach. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 21 (2). pp. 335-353. ISSN 1525-755X
Abstract
In radar observations of hydrometeors, the 0°C isotherm in the atmosphere (i.e., the freezing level) usually appears as a region of enhanced reflectivity. This region is known as the bright band (BB). In this study, observations over 12 months from a vertically pointing 35-GHz radar and a collocated disdrometer at the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Facility for Atmospheric and Radio Research (NFARR) are used to identify and compare microphysical differences between BB and non-brightband (NBB) periods. From these observations, the relationship between radar reflectivity Z and rainfall intensity R is found to be Z = 772R0.57 for BB periods and Z = 108R0.99 for NBB periods. Additionally, the brightband strength (BBS) was calculated using a novel method derived from the Michelson contrast equation in an attempt to explain the observed variability in BB precipitation. A series of Z–R relationships are computed with respect to BBS. The coefficients increase with increasing BBS from 227 to 926, while the exponents decrease with increasing BBS from 0.85 to 0.38. The results also indicate that NBB periods identified in the presence of a 0°C isotherm in other studies may be misclassified due to their inability to identify weak brightband periods. As such, it is hypothesized that NBB periods are solely due to warm rain processes.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 American Meteorological Society. For information regarding reuse of this content and general copyright information, consult the AMS Copyright Policy (www.ametsoc.org/PUBSReuseLicenses). Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Precipitation, Rainfall, Hydrometeorology, Data processing, Radars/Radar observations |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > National Centre for Atmos Science (NCAS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 05 Dec 2019 13:29 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 22:04 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Meteorological Society |
Identification Number: | 10.1175/JHM-D-19-0085.1 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:154182 |