Analysis of Three Types of Collocated Disdrometer Measurements at the ARM Southern Great Plains Observatory
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
To better provide U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility’s disdrometer deployment strategy and support ARM precipitation-related projects, this study analyzes 18 months of drop size distribution (DSD) observations from six collocated disdrometers deployed at the ARM Southern Great Plains (SGP) site. Emphasis is placed on quantifying the uncertainties related to DSD and rainfall properties using different types of disdrometers and different pairing concepts. The instrument sampling errors are also discussed, which improves our understanding of instrument-specific impacts on rainfall measurements. The key findings are as follows: 1) All the disdrometers show consistent behaviors overall regarding accumulated precipitation, mean rainfall rate, DSD parameters, and radar reflectivity values; and 2) Strong agreement is shown between three disdrometer types in terms of their DSDs for mid-size drop range (D = 1 mm-4 mm). The two-dimensional video disdrometer performance meets expectations as the most accurate unit among all. The paired disdrometer shows a reduced statistical sampling error in terms of drop counts and other DSD properties. A concept of deploying two or more collocated disdrometers side by side is recommended for future ARM field campaigns.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). ARM Data Center
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- Contributing Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL); Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0012704
- OSTI ID:
- 1828172
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/SC-ARM-TR-275
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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