Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics www.nonlin-processes-geophys.net 1023-5809 1607-7946 15 6 2008 10.5194/npg-15-987-2008 http://www.nonlin-processes-geophys.net/15/987/2008/ http://www.nonlin-processes-geophys.net/15/987/2008/npg-15-987-2008.html http://www.nonlin-processes-geophys.net/15/987/2008/npg-15-987-2008.pdf 987 997 2008-12-16 Comparative rainfall data analysis from two vertically pointing radars, an optical disdrometer, and a rain gauge E. I. Nikolopoulos A. Kruger anton-kruger@uiowa.edu W. F. Krajewski C. R. Williams K. S. Gage IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado and Physical Sciences Division, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, USA currently at: University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA The authors present results of a comparative analysis of rainfall data from several ground-based instruments. The instruments include two vertically pointing Doppler radars, S-band and X-band, an optical disdrometer, and a tipping-bucket rain gauge. All instruments were collocated at the Iowa City Municipal Airport in Iowa City, Iowa, for a period of several months. The authors used the rainfall data derived from the four instruments to first study the temporal variability and scaling characteristics of rainfall and subsequently assess the instrumental effects on these derived properties. The results revealed obvious correspondence between the ground and remote sensors, which indicates the significance of the instrumental effect on the derived properties. % vor jede Referenz Atlas, D., Srivastava, R. C., and Sekhon, R. S: Doppler radar characteristics of precipitation at vertical incidence, Rev. Geophys. Space Phys., 11, 1–35, 1973. % vor jede Referenz Bras, R. L. and Rodriguez-Iturbe, I.: Random functions and hydrology, Reading, Massachusetts, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1985. % vor jede Referenz Ciach, G. J.: Local random errors in tipping-bucket rain gauge measurements, Adv. Water Resour., 22, 585–595, 2003. % vor jede Referenz Ciach, G. J. and Krajewski, W. F.: Analysis and modeling of spatial correlation structure of small-scale rainfall in Central Oklahoma, Adv. Water Resour., 29, 1450–1463, 2006. % vor jede Referenz Clark, W. L., Gage, K. S., Carter, D. A., Williams, C. R., Johnston, P. E., and Tokay, A.: Calibration issues using impact disdrometers for calibration of Doppler radar profilers, paper presented at 12th Symp. on Meteor. Observ. and Instrum., Amer. Meteor. Soc., California, abstract number P1.16, 2003. % vor jede Referenz de Lima, M. I. P. and Grasman, J.: Multifractal analysis of 15-min and daily rainfall from a semi-arid region in Portugal, J. Hydrol., 220, 1–11, 1999. % vor jede Referenz Fabry, F.: On the determination of scale ranges for precipitation fields, J. Geophys. Res., 101, 12 819–12 826, 1996. % vor jede Referenz Georgakakos, K. P., Carsteanu, A. A., Sturdevant, P. L., and Cramer, J. A.: Observation and analysis of Midwestern rain rates, J. Appl. Meteorol., 33, 1433–1444, 1994. % vor jede Referenz Habib, E. and Krajewski, W. F.: Uncertainty analysis of the TRMM ground-validation radar-rainfall products: application to the TEFLUN-B field campaign, J. Appl. Meteorol., 41, 558–572, 2002. % vor jede Referenz Habib, E., Krajewski, W. F., Nespor, V., and Kruger, A.: Numerical simulation studies of rain gauge data correction due to wind effect, J. Geophys. Res., 104, 19 723–19 734, 1999. % vor jede Referenz Habib, E., Krajewski, W. F., and Kruger, A.: Sampling errors of tipping-bucket rain gauge measurements, J. Hydrol. Eng., 6, 159–166, 2001. % vor jede Referenz Harris, D., Seed, A., Menabde, M., and Austin, G.: Factors affecting multiscaling analysis of rainfall time series, Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 4, 137–156, 1997. % vor jede Referenz Harris, D., Menabde, M., Seed, A., and Austin, G.: Breakdown coefficients and scaling properties of rain fields, Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 5, 93–104, 1998. % vor jede Referenz Hauser, D. and Amayenc, P.: Exponential Size Distributions of Raindrops and Vertical Air Motions Deduced from Vertically Pointing Doppler Radar Data Using a New Method, J. Appl. Meteorol., 22, 407–418, 1983. % vor jede Referenz Kiely, G. and Ivanova, K.: Multifractal analysis of hourly precipitation, Phys. Chem. Earth (B), 24, 781–786, 1999. % vor jede Referenz Kitchen, M. and Blackall, R. M.: Representativeness errors in comparisons between radar and gauge measurements of rainfall, J. Hydrol., 134, 13–33, 1992. % vor jede Referenz Kottegoda, N. T. and Rosso, R.: Statistics, Probability, and Reliability for Civil and Environmental Engineers, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1997. % vor jede Referenz Krajewski, W. F. and Smith, J. A.: Radar Hydrology: rainfall estimation, Adv. Water Resour., 25, 1387–1394, 2002. % vor jede Referenz Krajewski, W. F., Ciach, G. J., and Habib, E.: An analysis of small-scale rainfall variability in different climatological regimes, Hydrol. Sci. J., 48(2), 151–162, 2003. % vor jede Referenz Krajewski, W. F., Kruger, A., Caracciolo, C., Golé, P., Barthes, L., Creutin, J.-D., Delahaye, J.-Y., Nikolopoulos, E. I., Ogden, F., and Vinson, J.-P.: DEVEX-Disdrometer Evaluation Experiment: Basic results and implications for hydrologic studies, Adv. Water Resour., 29, 311–325, 2006. % vor jede Referenz Marshall, J. S. and Palmer, W.: The distribution of raindrops with size, J. Meteorol., 5, 165–166, 1948. % vor jede Referenz Muramoto K., Ebisu, S., Servomaa, H., Kubo, M., and Shiina, T.: Z-R Relationship for Individual Snowfall and its Evaluation, SICE Annual Conference in Fukui, Japan, 2003. % vor jede Referenz Nikolopoulos, E. I.: Analysis of high resolution data of vertical structure of rainfall, M. S. thesis, Univ. of Iowa at Iowa City, Iowa, 2004. % vor jede Referenz Olsson, J., Niemczynowicz, J., and Berndtsson, R.: Fractal analysis of high-resolution rainfall time series, J. Geophys. Res., 98, 23 265–23 274, 1993. % vor jede Referenz Sieck, L. C., Burges, S. J., and Steiner, M.: Challenges in obtaining reliable measurements of point rainfall, Water Resour. Res., 43, W01420, doi:10.1029/2005WR004519, 2007. % vor jede Referenz Williams, C. R., Ecklund, W. L., and Gage, K. S.: Classification of precipitating clouds in the tropics using 915-MHz wind profilers, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 12, 996–1012, 1995. % vor jede Referenz Williams, C. R., Johnston, P. E., Clark, W. L., Gage, K. S., Carter, D. A., and Kucera, P. A. Calibration of scanning radars using vertically pointing profilers and surface disdrometers, paper presented at 12th Symp. on Meteor. Observ. and Instrum., Amer. Meteor. Soc., California, abstract number 11.3, 2003. % vor jede Referenz Williams, C. R., Gage, K. S., Clark, W., and Kucera, P.: Monitoring the reflectivity calibration of a scanning radar using a profiling radar and a disdrometer , J. Atmos. Ocean, Tech., 22, 1004–1018, 2005.