Sensors, Vol. 20, Pages 5257: Improving Radar Rainfall Estimations with Scaled Raindrop Size Spectra in Mei-Yu Frontal Rainstorms

Sensors, Vol. 20, Pages 5257: Improving Radar Rainfall Estimations with Scaled Raindrop Size Spectra in Mei-Yu Frontal Rainstorms Sensors doi: 10.3390/s20185257 Authors: Zheng Wu Zhang Xie Lei Hydrological calibration of raw weather radar rainfall estimation relies on in situ rainfall measurements. Raindrop size distribution (DSD) was collected during three typical Mei-Yu rainstorms in July 2014 using three particle size velocity (Parsivel) DSD sensors along the Mei-Yu front in Nanjing, Chuzhou, and the western Pacific, respectively. To improve the radar precipitation estimation in different parts of the Mei-Yu front, a scaling method was adopted to formulate the DSD model and further derive the Z–R relations. The results suggest a distinct variation of DSDs in different parts of the Mei-Yu front. Compared with statistical radar Z–ARb relations obtained by mathematical fitting techniques, the use of a DSD model fitting based on a scaling law formulation theoretically shows a significant improvement in both stratiform (33.9%) and convective (2.8%) rainfall estimations of the Mei-Yu frontal system, which indicates that using a scaling law can better reflect the DSD variations in different parts of the Mei-Yu front. Polarimetric radar has indisputable advantages with multiparameter detection ability. Several dual-polarization radar estimators are also established by DSD sensor data, and the R(ZH, ZDR) estimator is proven to be mor...
Source: Sensors - Category: Biotechnology Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research