Raindrop Size Distribution and Radar Parameters at Cape Verde

By A. Nzeukou, H. Sauvageot, A. D. Ochou, C. F. Kébé. 2003

90 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Precipitation measurement using passive or active microwaves from space- or ground-based radar involves hypotheses about the raindrop size distribution (DSD). A universal knowledge of DSD characteristics is needed. A 4-yr dataset collected with a disdrometer at Dakar, Senegal, on the Atlantic coast of West Africa is used to analyze the DSD at the end of the continental trajectory of Sahelian squall lines. The DSDs are stratified in eight rain-rate classes and are fitted to analytical distributions. The shape of the averaged DSDs is found to be very similar from one year to the next. From rain rates R higher than about 20 mm h−1, the slope of the DSDs tends toward a constant value. The coefficients of the Z–R relation, between the radar reflectivity factor Z and R, are different for convective and stratiform parts of the squall lines. However, because the Z–R relations for convective rain intersect the relation for stratiform rain for high rates, it is suggested that using a single Z–R relation en...

Subfields: Atmospheric Science, Environmental Engineering

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/172a10ff92bfdcce86db3f5cd5318adfeff26f40