Characterization of shallow oceanic precipitation using profiling and scanning radar observations at the Eastern North Atlantic ARM observatory

Lamer, Katia; Puigdomènech Treserras, Bernat; Zhu, Zeen; Isom, Bradley; Bharadwaj, Nitin; Kollias, Pavlos

doi:10.5194/amt-12-4931-2019

Title: Characterization of shallow oceanic precipitation using profiling and scanning radar observations at the Eastern North Atlantic ARM observatory

Journal Article · 11 September 2019 · Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (Online)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4931-2019 · OSTI ID:1569543

^[1]; Puigdomènech Treserras, Bernat ^[2]; Zhu, Zeen ^[3]; Isom, Bradley ^[4]; Bharadwaj, Nitin ^[4];

^[5]

City College of New York, NY (United States)
McGill Univ., Montreal, QC (Canada)
Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States)
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Shallow oceanic precipitation variability is documented using three second-generation radar systems located at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Eastern North Atlantic observatory: ARM zenith radar (KAZR2), the Ka-band scanning ARM cloud radar (KaSACR2) and the X-band scanning ARM precipitation radar (XSAPR2). First, the radar systems and measurement post-processing techniques, including sea-clutter removal and calibration against colocated disdrometer and Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) observations are described. Then, we present how a combination of profiling radar and lidar observations can be used to estimate adaptive (in both time and height) parameters that relate radar reflectivity (Z) to precipitation rate (R) in the form Z=αR^β, which we use to estimate precipitation rate over the domain observed by XSAPR2. Furthermore, constant altitude plan position indicator (CAPPI) gridded XSAPR2 precipitation rate maps are also constructed. Hourly precipitation rate statistics estimated from the three radar systems differ because KAZR2 is more sensitive to shallow virga and XSAPR2 suffers from less attenuation than KaSACR2 and as such is best suited for characterizing intermittent and mesoscale-organized precipitation. Further analysis reveals that precipitation rate statistics obtained by averaging 12 h of KAZR2 observations can be used to approximate that of a 40 km radius domain averaged over similar time periods. However, it was determined that KAZR2 is unsuitable for characterizing domain-averaged precipitation rate over shorter periods. But even more fundamentally, these results suggest that these observations cannot produce an objective domain precipitation estimate and that the simultaneous use of forward simulators is desirable to guide model evaluation studies.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830; SC0012704

OSTI ID:: 1569543

Report Number(s):: BNL--212183-2019-JAAM; PNNL-SA--147307

Journal Information:: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (Online), Journal Name: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (Online) Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 12; ISSN 1867-8548

Publisher:: European Geosciences UnionCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (68)

Influences of drizzle on stratocumulus cloudiness and organization: Influences of Drizzle on Stratocumulus Zhou, Xiaoli; Heus, Thijs; Kollias, Pavlos Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 122, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1002/2017jd026641	journal	July 2017
Sensitivity of multiparameter radar rainfall algorithms Gorgucci, Eugenio; Scarchilli, Gianfranco; Chandrasekar, V. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 105, Issue D2 https://doi.org/10.1029/1999jd900309	journal	January 2000
A Parametric Time Domain Method for Spectral Moment Estimation and Clutter Mitigation for Weather Radars Nguyen, Cuong M.; Moisseev, Dmitri N.; Chandrasekar, V. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 25, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1175/2007jtecha927.1	journal	January 2008
Spectral Polarimetric Radar Clutter Suppression to Enhance Atmospheric Echoes Unal, Christine Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 26, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1175/2009jtecha1170.1	journal	September 2009
Clouds, Aerosols, and Precipitation in the Marine Boundary Layer: An Arm Mobile Facility Deployment Wood, Robert; Wyant, Matthew; Bretherton, Christopher S. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 2016, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-13-00180.1.2016.1.test	journal	June 2016
Observations of Drizzle in Nocturnal Marine Stratocumulus vanZanten, M. C.; Stevens, B.; Vali, G. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 62, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1175/jas-3355.1	journal	January 2005
Cloud Regime Variability over the Azores and Its Application to Climate Model Evaluation Rémillard, Jasmine; Tselioudis, George Journal of Climate, Vol. 28, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-15-0066.1	journal	December 2015
Attenuation-Based Estimates of Rainfall Rates Aloft with Vertically Pointing K _a -Band Radars Matrosov, Sergey Y. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 22, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1175/jtech-1677.1	journal	January 2005
Scanning ARM Cloud Radars. Part II: Data Quality Control and Processing Kollias, Pavlos; Jo, Leng; Borque, Paloma Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 31, Issue 3, p. 583-598 https://doi.org/10.1175/jtech-d-13-00045.1	journal	March 2014
Calibrating Ground-Based Radars against TRMM and GPM Warren, Robert A.; Protat, Alain; Siems, Steven T. Monash University https://doi.org/10.26180/5b56ad80add19	text	January 2018
Observations of the variability of shallow trade wind cumulus cloudiness and mass flux: OBSERVATION OF SHALLOW TRADE WIND CUMULI Lamer, K.; Kollias, P.; Nuijens, L. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 120, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JD022950	journal	June 2015
Estimation of cloud fraction profile in shallow convection using a scanning cloud radar: Cloud Fraction of Shallow Cumuli Oue, Mariko; Kollias, Pavlos; North, Kirk W. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 43, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL070776	journal	October 2016
Influences of drizzle on stratocumulus cloudiness and organization: Influences of Drizzle on Stratocumulus Zhou, Xiaoli; Heus, Thijs; Kollias, Pavlos Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 122, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD026641	journal	July 2017
Observations of mesoscale cellular convection from the marine stratocumulus phase of ?fire? Moyer, Kerry A.; Young, George S. Boundary-Layer Meteorology, Vol. 71, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00709222	journal	October 1994
Review of the Different Sources of Uncertainty in Single Polarization Radar-Based Estimates of Rainfall Villarini, Gabriele; Krajewski, Witold F. Surveys in Geophysics, Vol. 31, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-009-9079-x	journal	August 2009
Sensitivity of multiparameter radar rainfall algorithms Gorgucci, Eugenio; Scarchilli, Gianfranco; Chandrasekar, V. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 105, Issue D2 https://doi.org/10.1029/1999JD900309	journal	January 2000
How often does it rain over the global oceans? The perspective from CloudSat: RAIN FREQUENCY FROM CLOUDSAT Ellis, Todd D.; L'Ecuyer, Tristan; Haynes, John M. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 36, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GL036728	journal	February 2009
Scaling of Drizzle Virga Depth With Cloud Thickness for Marine Stratocumulus Clouds Yang, Fan; Luke, Edward P.; Kollias, Pavlos Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 45, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL077145	journal	April 2018
Water vapor microwave continuum absorption: A comparison of measurements and models Rosenkranz, Philip W. Radio Science, Vol. 33, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1029/98RS01182	journal	July 1998
Precipitation-generated oscillations in open cellular cloud fields Feingold, Graham; Koren, Ilan; Wang, Hailong Nature, Vol. 466, Issue 7308 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09314	journal	August 2010
Low cloud precipitation climatology in the southeastern Pacific marine stratocumulus region using CloudSat Rapp, Anita D.; Lebsock, Matthew; L’Ecuyer, Tristan Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 8, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/1/014027	journal	February 2013
An empirical sea clutter model for low grazing angles Gregers-Hansen, Vilhelm; Mital, Rashmi 2009 IEEE Radar Conference https://doi.org/10.1109/RADAR.2009.4977006	conference	May 2009
Identification and Suppression of Nonmeteorological Echoes Using Spectral Polarimetric Processing Alku, Laura; Moisseev, Dmitri; Aittomaki, Tuomas IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 53, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2014.2380476	journal	July 2015
Ground Clutter Canceling with a Regression Filter Torres, Sebastián M.; Zrnic, Dusan S. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 16, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0426(1999)016<1364:GCCWAR>2.0.CO;2	journal	October 1999
A Technique for Autocalibration of Cloud Lidar O'Connor, Ewan J.; Illingworth, Anthony J.; Hogan, Robin J. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 21, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0426(2004)021<0777:ATFAOC>2.0.CO;2	journal	May 2004
A Method for Determining Cirrus Cloud Particle Sizes Using Lidar and Radar Backscatter Technique Intrieri, Janet M.; Stephens, Graeme L.; Eberhard, Wynn L. Journal of Applied Meteorology, Vol. 32, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(1993)032<1074:AMFDCC>2.0.CO;2	journal	June 1993
Comparison of Radar Data from the TRMM Satellite and Kwajalein Oceanic Validation Site Schumacher, Courtney; Houze, Robert A. Journal of Applied Meteorology, Vol. 39, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(2001)040<2151:CORDFT>2.0.CO;2	journal	December 2000
Stratiform Cloud Formation in the Marine Boundary Layer Paluch, I. R.; Lenschow, D. H. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 48, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1991)048<2141:SCFITM>2.0.CO;2	journal	October 1991
Finescale Structure and Microphysics of Coastal Stratus Vali, Gabor; Kelly, Robert D.; French, Jeffrey Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 55, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1998)055<3540:FSAMOC>2.0.CO;2	journal	December 1998
The Structure and Mesoscale Organization of Precipitating Stratocumulus Savic-Jovcic, Verica; Stevens, Bjorn Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 65, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JAS2456.1	journal	May 2008
A Parametric Time Domain Method for Spectral Moment Estimation and Clutter Mitigation for Weather Radars Nguyen, Cuong M.; Moisseev, Dmitri N.; Chandrasekar, V. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 25, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JTECHA927.1	journal	January 2008
A Technique for the Automatic Detection of Insect Clutter in Cloud Radar Returns Luke, Edward P.; Kollias, Pavlos; Johnson, Karen L. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 25, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JTECHA953.1	journal	September 2008
Polarimetric Spectral Filter for Adaptive Clutter and Noise Suppression Moisseev, Dmitri N.; Chandrasekar, V. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 26, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1175/2008JTECHA1119.1	journal	February 2009
Spectral Polarimetric Radar Clutter Suppression to Enhance Atmospheric Echoes Unal, Christine Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 26, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JTECHA1170.1	journal	September 2009
Development and Applications of ARM Millimeter-Wavelength Cloud Radars Kollias, Pavlos; Clothiaux, Eugene E.; Ackerman, Thomas P. Meteorological Monographs, Vol. 57 https://doi.org/10.1175/AMSMONOGRAPHS-D-15-0037.1	journal	April 2016
Scientific Maturation of the ARM Program Mather, J. H.; Turner, D. D.; Ackerman, T. P. Meteorological Monographs, Vol. 57 https://doi.org/10.1175/AMSMONOGRAPHS-D-15-0053.1	journal	April 2016
Dynamics and Chemistry of Marine Stratocumulus—DYCOMS-II Stevens, Bjorn; Lenschow, Donald H.; Vali, Gabor Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 84, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-84-5-579	journal	May 2003
Supplement to Dynamics and Chemistry of Marine Stratocumulus—DYCOMS-II Stevens, Bjorn; Lenschow, Donald H.; Vali, Gabor Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 84, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-84-5-Stevens	journal	May 2003
The Epic 2001 Stratocumulus Study Bretherton, Christopher S.; Uttal, Taneil; Fairall, Christopher W. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 85, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-85-7-967	journal	July 2004
Pockets of open Cells and Drizzle in Marine Stratocumulus Stevens, Bjorn; Vali, Gabor; Comstock, Kimberly Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 86, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-86-1-51	journal	January 2005
Rain in Shallow Cumulus Over the Ocean: The RICO Campaign Rauber, Robert M.; Stevens, Bjorn; Ochs, Harry T. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 88, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-88-12-1912	journal	December 2007
Clouds, Aerosols, and Precipitation in the Marine Boundary Layer: An Arm Mobile Facility Deployment Wood, Robert; Wyant, Matthew; Bretherton, Christopher S. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 96, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-13-00180.1	journal	March 2015
The Barbados Cloud Observatory: Anchoring Investigations of Clouds and Circulation on the Edge of the ITCZ Stevens, Bjorn; Farrell, David; Hirsch, Lutz Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 97, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-14-00247.1	journal	May 2016
Retrieving Stratocumulus Drizzle Parameters Using Doppler Radar and Lidar O’Connor, Ewan J.; Hogan, Robin J.; Illingworth, Anthony J. Journal of Applied Meteorology, Vol. 44, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1175/JAM-2181.1	journal	January 2005
Observations of Drizzle in Nocturnal Marine Stratocumulus vanZanten, M. C.; Stevens, B.; Vali, G. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 62, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-3355.1	journal	January 2005
Drizzle in Stratiform Boundary Layer Clouds. Part II: Microphysical Aspects Wood, R. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 62, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS3530.1	journal	September 2005
Mesoscale Variability and Drizzle in Southeast Pacific Stratocumulus Comstock, Kimberly K.; Bretherton, Christopher S.; Yuter, Sandra E. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 62, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS3567.1	journal	October 2005
Aerosol and Cloud Microphysical Characteristics of Rifts and Gradients in Maritime Stratocumulus Clouds Sharon, Tarah M.; Albrecht, Bruce A.; Jonsson, Haflidi H. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 63, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS3667.1	journal	March 2006
Cloud Regime Variability over the Azores and Its Application to Climate Model Evaluation Rémillard, Jasmine; Tselioudis, George Journal of Climate, Vol. 28, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0066.1	journal	December 2015
Spatial Variability of Liquid Water Path in Marine Low Cloud: The Importance of Mesoscale Cellular Convection Wood, Robert; Hartmann, Dennis L. Journal of Climate, Vol. 19, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3702.1	journal	May 2006
The Utility of X-Band Polarimetric Radar for Quantitative Estimates of Rainfall Parameters Matrosov, Sergey Y.; Kingsmill, David E.; Martner, Brooks E. Journal of Hydrometeorology, Vol. 6, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM424.1	journal	June 2005
Attenuation-Based Estimates of Rainfall Rates Aloft with Vertically Pointing K _a -Band Radars Matrosov, Sergey Y. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 22, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-1677.1	journal	January 2005
A Mobile Rapid-Scanning X-band Polarimetric (RaXPol) Doppler Radar System Pazmany, Andrew L.; Mead, James B.; Bluestein, Howard B. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 30, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-12-00166.1	journal	July 2013
Calibrating Ground-Based Radars against TRMM and GPM Warren, Robert A.; Protat, Alain; Siems, Steven T. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 35, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-17-0128.1	journal	February 2018
Stratocumulus Clouds Wood, Robert Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 140, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-11-00121.1	journal	August 2012
Improving the Representation of Low Clouds and Drizzle in the ECMWF Model Based on ARM Observations from the Azores Ahlgrimm, Maike; Forbes, Richard Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 142, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-13-00153.1	journal	February 2014
Clouds, Aerosols, and Precipitation in the Marine Boundary Layer: An Arm Mobile Facility Deployment Wood, Robert; Wyant, Matthew; Bretherton, Christopher S. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 2016, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-13-00180.1.2016.1.test	journal	June 2016
Reflectivity and rain rate in and below drizzling stratocumulus Comstock, Kimberly K.; Wood, Robert; Yuter, Sandra E. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 130, Issue 603 https://doi.org/10.1256/qj.03.187	journal	October 2004
Fast approximate calculation of multiply scattered lidar returns Hogan, Robin J. Applied Optics, Vol. 45, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.45.005984	journal	January 2006
A Ten-Year Tropical Rainfall Climatology Based on a Composite of TRMM Products Adler, Robert F.; Wang, Jian-Jian; Gu, Guojun Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan, Vol. 87A https://doi.org/10.2151/jmsj.87A.281	journal	January 2009
Early Evaluation of Ku- and Ka-Band Sensitivities for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) Toyoshima, Koichi; Masunaga, Hirohiko; Furuzawa, Fumie A. SOLA, Vol. 11, Issue 0 https://doi.org/10.2151/sola.2015-004	journal	January 2015
Calibrating Ground-Based Radars against TRMM and GPM Warren, Robert A.; Protat, Alain; Siems, Steven T. Monash University https://doi.org/10.26180/5b56ad80add19	text	January 2018
Calibrating Ground-Based Radars against TRMM and GPM Warren, Robert A.; Protat, Alain; Siems, Steven T. Monash University https://doi.org/10.26180/5d09d3226af68	text	January 2019
An aircraft case study of the spatial transition from closed to open mesoscale cellular convection over the Southeast Pacific Wood, R.; Bretherton, C. S.; Leon, D. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol. 11, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-2341-2011	journal	January 2011
On the relationship between open cellular convective cloud patterns and the spatial distribution of precipitation Yamaguchi, T.; Feingold, G. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol. 15, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-1237-2015	journal	January 2015
An aircraft case study of the spatial transition from closed to open mesoscale cellular convection over the Southeast Pacific Wood, R.; Bretherton, C. S.; Leon, D. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, Vol. 10, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-10-17911-2010	journal	January 2010
Detection and characterization of heavy drizzle cells within subtropical marine stratocumulus using AMSR-E 89-GHz passive microwave measurements Miller, M. A.; Yuter, S. E. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, Vol. 6, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1-2013	journal	January 2013
(GO) ² -SIM: a GCM-oriented ground-observation forward-simulator framework for objective evaluation of cloud and precipitation phase Lamer, Katia; Fridlind, Ann M.; Ackerman, Andrew S. Geoscientific Model Development, Vol. 11, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4195-2018	journal	January 2018

Cited By (1)

Mind the gap – Part 1: Accurately locating warm marine boundary layer clouds and precipitation using spaceborne radars Lamer, Katia; Kollias, Pavlos; Battaglia, Alessandro Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, Vol. 13, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2363-2020	journal	January 2020

Similar Records

Retrieval of warm precipitation microphysics

Dataset · 2019 · OSTI ID:1542906

Lamer, Katia

Estimation of Cloud Fraction Profile in Shallow Convection Using a Scanning Cloud Radar

Journal Article · 2016 · Geophysical Research Letters (Online) · OSTI ID:1329783

Oue, Mariko; Kollias, Pavlos; North, Kirk W.; +4 more

X-band ARM Scanning Precipitation 2 radar data processed with Corrected Moments in Antenna Coordinates 2.0

Dataset · 2022 · OSTI ID:1573362

Jackson, Robert; Sherman, Zachary; Collis, Scott

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Title: Characterization of shallow oceanic precipitation using profiling and scanning radar observations at the Eastern North Atlantic ARM observatory

Citation Formats

References (68)

Cited By (1)

Similar Records

Related Subjects