Published in

American Geophysical Union, Geophysical Research Letters, 10(48), 2021

DOI: 10.1029/2021gl092547

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Inference of Precipitation in Warm Stratiform Clouds Using Remotely Sensed Observations of the Cloud Top Droplet Size Distribution

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

Full text: Unavailable

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Orange circle
Published version: archiving restricted
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

AbstractDrizzle is a common feature of warm stratiform clouds and it influences their radiative effects by modulating their physical properties and lifecycle. An important component of drizzle formation are processes that lead to a broadening of the droplet size distribution (DSD). Here, we examine observations of cloud and drizzle properties retrieved using colocated airborne measurements from the Research Scanning Polarimeter and the Third Generation Airborne Precipitation Radar. We observe a bimodal DSD as the aircraft transects drizzling open‐cells whereby the larger mode reaches a maximum size near cloud center and the smaller mode remains relatively constant in size. We review similarities between our observations with droplet growth processes and their connections with precipitation onset. We estimate droplet sedimentation using the cloud top DSD and find a correlation with rain water path of 0.82. We also examine how changes in liquid water paths and droplet concentrations may act to enhance or suppress precipitation.