Premium
Inference of Precipitation in Warm Stratiform Clouds Using Remotely Sensed Observations of the Cloud Top Droplet Size Distribution
Author(s) -
Sinclair Kenneth,
van Diedenhoven Bastiaan,
Cairns Brian,
Alexandrov Mikhail,
Dzambo Andrew M.,
L'Ecuyer Tristan
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2021gl092547
Subject(s) - drizzle , environmental science , precipitation , liquid water path , graupel , liquid water content , atmospheric sciences , mode (computer interface) , meteorology , cloud computing , physics , computer science , operating system
Drizzle 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.