A new power-law model for μ–Λ relationships in convective and stratiform rainfall

Journal Article (2024)
Author(s)

Christos Gatidis (TU Delft - Atmospheric Remote Sensing)

Marc Schleiss (TU Delft - Atmospheric Remote Sensing)

Christine Unal (TU Delft - Atmospheric Remote Sensing)

Research Group
Atmospheric Remote Sensing
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-235-2024
More Info
expand_more
Publication Year
2024
Language
English
Research Group
Atmospheric Remote Sensing
Issue number
1
Volume number
17
Pages (from-to)
235–245
Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Abstract

In this study, we take a closer look at the important issue of μ–Λ relationships in raindrop size distributions (DSDs) by conducting a systematic analysis of 20 months of data collected by disdrometers in the Netherlands. A new power-law model for representing μ–Λ relationships based on the double normalization framework is proposed and used to derive separate μ–Λ relationships for stratiform and convective rain events. The sensitivity of the obtained relationships to measurement uncertainty is studied by applying two different quality control filters based on the mass-weighted mean drop diameter (Dm) and liquid water content (LWC). Our results show that there are significant differences in μ–Λ relationships between convective and stratiform rainfall types. However, the retrieved relationships appear to be quite robust to measurement noise and there is good agreement with other reference relations for similar climatological conditions.