A preliminary analysis of STORMVEX cloud reflectivity spatial characteristics
Author
Roger Marchand — University of Washington
Category
Cloud Properties
Description
The ongoing Storm Peak Laboratory Cloud Property Validation Experiment (STORMVEX) is creating a large correlative data set of remote sensing observations and direct in situ measurements by combining mountain-top observations at Storm Peak Laboratory with nearby/collocated measurements from the second ARM Mobile Facility. A prerequisite to using these data sets in cloud microphysical retrieval development is to understand when clouds and precipitation directly above the ARM scanning radar (where the observed Doppler spectra provide information on particle fall velocities) have the same distribution of microphysical properties as that measured at Storm Peak Lab. In this poster, we present results of a preliminary analysis of the scanning W-band cloud radar observations gathered during the experiment. We examine the spatial heterogeneity of cloud occurrence and radar reflectivity distributions from the radar range-height-indicator scans at several fixed azimuths, as well as the consistency of reflectivity observations directly above the radar and mountain-top sites with in situ microphysical data sets.
