Observations and analysis of uncorrelated rain

Most microphysical models in precipitation physics and radar meteorology assume (at least implicitly) that raindrops are completely uncorrelated in space and time. Yet, several recent studies have indicated that raindrop arrivals are often temporally and spatially correlated. Resolution of this conf...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the atmospheric sciences 2005-11, Vol.62 (11), p.4071-4083
Main Authors: LARSEN, Michael L, KOSTINSKI, Alexander B, TOKAY, Ali
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arrivals
Atmospheric models
Atmospheric precipitations
Atmospherics
Clustering
Correlation
Correlation analysis
Datasets
Droplets
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
Fractal analysis
Fractals
Mathematical models
Meteorology
Physics
Precipitation
Probability
Radar
Radar meteorology
Rain
Raindrops
Rainfall
Rainfall measurement
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Summary:Most microphysical models in precipitation physics and radar meteorology assume (at least implicitly) that raindrops are completely uncorrelated in space and time. Yet, several recent studies have indicated that raindrop arrivals are often temporally and spatially correlated. Resolution of this conflict must begin with observations of perfectly uncorrelated rainfall, should such 'perfectly steady rain' exist at all. Indeed, it does. Using data with high temporal precision from a two-dimensional video disdrometer and the pair-correlation function, a scale-localized statistical tool, several 610-20-min rain episodes have been uncovered where no clustering among droplet arrival times is found. This implies that (i) rain events exist where current microphysical models can be tested in an optimal manner and (ii) not all rain can be properly described using fractals.
ISSN:0022-4928
1520-0469
DOI:10.1175/JAS3583.1