Characteristics and Small-Scale Variations of Raindrop Size Distribution over the Yangtze River Delta in East China
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 25, Issue 7
Abstract
To understand rain microphysics at the scale of 100 km over the Yangtze River Delta in East China, the characteristics and small-scale variations of raindrop size distribution (DSD) are investigated using data from two-year observations by five OTT Parsivel disdrometers. The characteristics of DSD are quantified and compared for three rainfall classifications: convective, stratiform, and mixed rainfall. Localized and relationships are further derived based on the quantified DSD. For overall DSD, convective rain shows significant dispersion between different stations, while there is no obvious difference in stratiform and mixed rainfall. The DSD parameter shows that the convective rainfall tends to be enhanced but the stratiform and mixed rainfalls tend to be weakened by urbanization. The convective rainfall has the largest variability in number density () and mass-weighted mean diameter () followed by mixed rainfall, and stratiform rainfall has the smallest dispersion. Besides, both the and relationships vary with rainfall types. These findings not only help to better understand precipitation physics but also contribute to the quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) of weather radar, hydrological modeling, and water resource assessment.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, or code used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request ([email protected]).
Acknowledgments
This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41975030 and 41327003) and the Scientific Research Projects of Nanjing Meteorological Bureau, China (Grant No. NJ201907). We also thank the Editor and anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions that improved our paper.
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Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 25 • Issue 7 • July 2020
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©2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 21, 2019
Accepted: Jan 17, 2020
Published online: Apr 27, 2020
Published in print: Jul 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Sep 27, 2020
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