On the relationship among cloud turbulence, droplet formation and drizzle as viewed by Doppler radar, microwave radiometer and lidar

Abstract

Cloud radar, microwave radiometer, and lidar remote sensing data acquired during the Atlantic Stratocumulus Transition Experiment (ASTEX) are analyzed to address the relationship between (1) drop number concentration and cloud turbulence as represented by vertical velocity and vertical velocity variance and (2) drizzle formation and cloud turbulence. Six cases, each of about 12 hours duration, are examined; three of these cases are characteristic of nondrizzling boundary layers and three of drizzling boundary layers. In all cases, microphysical retrievals are only performed when drizzle is negligible (radar reflectivity 0.5) between radar reflectivity and in-cloud vertical velocity variance, although one of the boundary layers that experienced drizzle exhibited a negative correlation between these parameters. However, in the subcloud region, all boundary layers that experienced drizzle exhibit a negative correlation between radar reflectivity and vertical velocity variance. Copyright 1999 by the American Geophysical Union.