Using Doppler spectra to separate hydrometeor populations and analyze ice precipitation in multilayered mixed-phase clouds
Poster PDF
Authors
Johannes Verlinde — The Pennsylvania State University
Mahlon Rambukkange — Pennsylvania State University
Category
Cloud Properties
Description
Multimodality of Doppler spectra is used to partition cloud phases and to separate distinct ice populations in the radar volume, thereby facilitating analysis of individual ice showers in multilayered mixed-phase clouds. A 35-GHz cloud radar located at Barrow, Alaska, during the Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment, collected the Doppler spectra employed in this study. Data from a pair of collocated depolarization lidars confirmed the presence of liquid in two cloud layers that were analyzed. Surprisingly, both of these cloud layers were embedded in ice precipitation yet maintained their liquid. Our spectral separation of the ice precipitation yielded two distinct ice populations: ice initiated within the two liquid cloud layers and ice precipitation formed in higher cloud layers. Ice fall velocity versus radar reflectivity relationships derived for distinct showers show that a single relationship might not properly represent the ice showers during this period.
