Abstract
To improve the understanding of high-latitude rain microphysics and its implications for the remote sensing of rainfall by ground-based and spaceborne radars, raindrop size measurements have been analyzed that were collected over five years with a Joss-Waldvogel disdrometer located in Järvenpää, Finland. The analysis shows that the regional climate is characterized by light rain and small drop size with narrow size distributions and that the mutual relations of drop size distribution parameters differ from those reported at lower latitudes. Radar parameters computed from the distributions demonstrate that the high latitudes are a challenging target for weather radar observations, particularly those employing polarimetric and dual-frequency techniques. Nevertheless, the findings imply that polarimetric ground radars can produce reliable "ground truth" estimates for space observations and identify dual-frequency radars utilizing a W-band channel as promising tools for observing rainfall in the high-latitude climate.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 392-404 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology |
Volume | 51 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Feb 2012 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Keywords
- Boreal meteorology
- Radars/Radar observations
- Rainfall
- Satellite observations