Study on tropical rain with special reference to rain Drop Size Distribution and integral rain parameters using ground-based and satellite measurements

Department of Physics, Cochin University of Science and Technology

Utilização de imagens do ALOS/PALSAR no mapeamento digital de atributos físicos dos solos.

O levantamento e a análise da espacialização dos atributos do solo através de ferramentas de geoestatística são fundamentais para que cada hectare de terra seja cultivado segundo as suas reais aptidões. As imagens de radar de abertura sintética (SAR) têm um grande potencial para a estimação de umidade do solo e, desta forma, estes sensores podem auxiliar no mapeamento de propriedades físicas e físico-hídricas dos solos. O objetivo geral deste estudo foi avaliar o potencial de utilização de imagens de radar (micro-ondas) ALOS/PALSAR na identificação de solos em uma área da Formação Botucatu, dominada por solos de textura arenosa e média no município de Mineiros - GO. A área tem aproximadamente 946 ha, com o relevo da região variando de plano a suave ondulado e geologia da área é composta basicamente, por Arenitos da Formação Botucatu. No presente estudo foram amostrados 84 pontos para calibração e 25 pontos para validação, coletados nas profundidades de 0-20 cm e 60-80 cm. As amostras de solo analisadas para a determinação de areia, silte, argila, capacidade de campo (CC), ponto de murcha permanente (PMP) e água total disponível (AD). Para o desenvolvimento do trabalho foram adquiridas imagens de cinco datas e diferentes polarizações, totalizando 14 imagens, que foram processadas para a correção geométrica e correção radiométrica, utilizando o MDE. Também foram gerados covariáveis dos atributos do terreno: elevação (ELEV), declividade (DECLIV), posição relativa da declividade (PR-DECL), distância vertical do canal de drenagem (DVCD), fator-ls (FATOR-LS) e distância euclidiana (D-EUCL). A predição dos atributos do solo foi realizada utilizando os métodos Random Forest (RF) e Random Forest Krigagem (RFK), tendo como covariáveis preditoras as imagens de radar e os atributos do terreno. O processamento das imagens do radar ALOS/PALSAR possibilitou as correções geométrica e radiométrica, transformando os dados em unidades de coeficiente de retroespalhamento (?º) corrigidos pelo modelo digital de elevação (MDE). As imagens adquiridas representaram de forma ampla as variações de ?º ocorridos em diferentes datas. Os solos da área de estudo são predominantemente arenosos, com a maioria dos pontos amostrados classificados como NEOSSOLOS QUARTZARÊNICOS, seguidos dos LATOSSOLOS. Os modelos RF empregados para a predição dos atributos físicos e físico-hídricos dos solos proporcionaram a análise da contribuição das covariáveis preditoras. Os atributos do terreno que exerceram maior influência na predição dos atributos estudados estão relacionados à elevação. As imagens de 03/05/2009 (HH1, VV1, HV1 e VH1) e 26/09/2010 (HH3 e HV3), obtidas em períodos mais secos, tiveram melhores correlações com os atributos do solo. As análises dos semivariogramas dos resíduos da predição dos modelos RF demonstraram maior dependência espacial na camada de 60 a 80 cm. A abordagem da Krigagem somada ao modelo RF contribuíram para a melhoria da predição dos atributos areia, argila, CC e PMP. O uso de imagens de radar ALOS/PALSAR e atributos do terreno como covariáveis em modelos RFK mostrou potencial para estimar os atributos físicos (areia e argila) e físico-hídricos (CC e PMP), que podem auxiliar no mapeamento de solos associados aos materiais de origem da Formação Botucatu.

Rainfall estimation by rain gauge-radar combination: a concurrent multiplicative-additive approach

A procedure (concurrent multiplicative-additive objective analysis scheme [CMA-OAS]) is proposed for operational rainfall estimation using rain gauges and radar data. On the basis of a concurrent multiplicative-additive (CMA) decomposition of the spatially nonuniform radar bias, within-storm variability of rainfall and fractional coverage of rainfall are taken into account. Thus both spatially nonuniform radar bias, given that rainfall is detected, and bias in radar detection of rainfall are handled. The interpolation procedure of CMA-OAS is built on Barnes' objective analysis scheme (OAS), whose purpose is to estimate a filtered spatial field of the variable of interest through a successive correction of residuals resulting from a Gaussian kernel smoother applied on spatial samples. The CMA-OAS, first, poses an optimization problem at each gauge-radar support point to obtain both a local multiplicative-additive radar bias decomposition and a regionalization parameter. Second, local biases and regionalization parameters are integrated into an OAS to estimate the multisensor rainfall at the ground level. The procedure is suited to relatively sparse rain gauge networks. To show the procedure, six storms are analyzed at hourly steps over 10,663 km2. Results generally indicated an improved quality with respect to other methods evaluated: a standard mean-field bias adjustment, a spatially variable adjustment with multiplicative factors, and ordinary cokriging.

Comunicação organizacional e inovação em micro e pequena empresa: um estudo sobre a aplicação do Radar da Inovação

Estudo sobre a comunicação organizacional e a capacidade de inovar em empresa de pequeno porte. A questão norteadora busca responder se a comunicação organizacional pode fazer avançar e/ou apoiar a inovação em micro e pequenas empresas. O objetivo central é analisar a relação existente entre a inovação e a comunicação organizacional. Aplicou-se o método estudo de caso e a pesquisa documental para interpretação de instrumento diagnóstico denominado “Radar da Inovação” em uma empresa de pequeno porte, localizada no interior de São Paulo. O diagnóstico é realizado com base em dimensões avaliativas que visam verificar a maturidade e o grau de inovação em micro e pequenas empresas. Por meio da avaliação dessas dimensões foi possível construir quadros analíticos e destacar a influência da comunicação organizacional na promoção da inovação. Os resultados apontam que todas as dimensões do “Radar de Inovação” podem melhorar sua performance por meio da comunicação organizacional.

Organizational communication and innovation in micro and small companies: a study on the application of the Innovation Radar

This paper is a study on corporate communication and the ability to innovate in small businesses. The guiding question seeks to respond whether organizational communication is able to make progress and / or support innovation in micro and small companies, and the main objective is to analyze the relationship between innovation and organizational communication. It was applied the case study method and document research for interpreting a diagnosis instru- ment called “Innovation Radar” in a small business company located in the countryside of São Paulo state. The diagnosis is made based on assessment dimensions aimed at checking the maturity and the degree of innovation in micro and small companies. By evaluating these di- mensions it was possible to build analytical frameworks and highlight the influence of corporate communication in promoting innovation. The results indicate that every dimension of the “In- novation Radar” can improve their performance by means of corporate communication.

Polarimetric X-band weather radar measurements in the tropics: radome and rain attenuation correction

A polarimetric X-band radar has been deployed during one month (April 2011) for a field campaign in Fortaleza, Brazil, together with three additional laser disdrometers. The disdrometers are capable of measuring the raindrop size distributions (DSDs), hence making it possible to forward-model theoretical polarimetric X-band radar observables at the point where the instruments are located. This setup allows to thoroughly test the accuracy of the X-band radar measurements as well as the algorithms that are used to correct the radar data for radome and rain attenuation. For the campaign in Fortaleza it was found that radome attenuation dominantly affects the measurements. With an algorithm that is based on the self-consistency of the polarimetric observables, the radome induced reflectivity offset was estimated. Offset corrected measurements were then further corrected for rain attenuation with two different schemes. The performance of the post-processing steps was analyzed by comparing the data with disdrometer-inferred polarimetric variables that were measured at a distance of 20 km from the radar. Radome attenuation reached values up to 14 dB which was found to be consistent with an empirical radome attenuation vs. rain intensity relation that was previously developed for the same radar type. In contrast to previous work, our results suggest that radome attenuation should be estimated individually for every view direction of the radar in order to obtain homogenous reflectivity fields.

Determinación de longitudes efectivas de lluvia en trayectos de enlaces vía satélite a partir de los datos de reflectividad del Radar meteorológico de Kapildui

[ES]En este proyecto se presenta un estudio sobre la estimación de la longitud efectiva de lluvia derivada de los escaneos de elevación obtenidos por el radar meteorológico de Kapildui, en Álava. Se estudia la altura y la longitud de la lluvia para distintos eventos: para lluvia estratiforme y para lluvia convectiva. Se analizará la variabilidad espacial y temporal para diferentes ángulos de elevación del radar. Finalmente, se presentará una versión del algoritmo implementado para el cálculo de longitudes efectivas de lluvia y se realizará un estudio estadístico de la variabilidad de ésta para diferentes direcciones y con diferentes eventos de lluvia.

Anàlisi d'observacions de superfície en relació al diagnòstic de tipus de precipitació observat amb radar

Màster en Meteorologia

Bayesian retrieval of complete posterior PDFs of oceanic rain rate from microwave observations

A new Bayesian algorithm for retrieving surface rain rate from Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) over the ocean is presented, along with validations against estimates from the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR). The Bayesian approach offers a rigorous basis for optimally combining multichannel observations with prior knowledge. While other rain-rate algorithms have been published that are based at least partly on Bayesian reasoning, this is believed to be the first self-contained algorithm that fully exploits Bayes’s theorem to yield not just a single rain rate, but rather a continuous posterior probability distribution of rain rate. To advance the understanding of theoretical benefits of the Bayesian approach, sensitivity analyses have been conducted based on two synthetic datasets for which the “true” conditional and prior distribution are known. Results demonstrate that even when the prior and conditional likelihoods are specified perfectly, biased retrievals may occur at high rain rates. This bias is not the result of a defect of the Bayesian formalism, but rather represents the expected outcome when the physical constraint imposed by the radiometric observations is weak owing to saturation effects. It is also suggested that both the choice of the estimators and the prior information are crucial to the retrieval. In addition, the performance of the Bayesian algorithm herein is found to be comparable to that of other benchmark algorithms in real-world applications, while having the additional advantage of providing a complete continuous posterior probability distribution of surface rain rate.

Unusually high differential attenuation at C band: Results from a two-year analysis of the French Trappes polarimetric radar data

The differential phase (ΦDP) measured by polarimetric radars is recognized to be a very good indicator of the path integrated by rain. Moreover, if a linear relationship is assumed between the specific differential phase (KDP) and the specific attenuation (AH) and specific differential attenuation (ADP), then attenuation can easily be corrected. The coefficients of proportionality, γH and γDP, are, however, known to be dependent in rain upon drop temperature, drop shapes, drop size distribution, and the presence of large drops causing Mie scattering. In this paper, the authors extensively apply a physically based method, often referred to as the “Smyth and Illingworth constraint,” which uses the constraint that the value of the differential reflectivity ZDR on the far side of the storm should be low to retrieve the γDP coefficient. More than 30 convective episodes observed by the French operational C-band polarimetric Trappes radar during two summers (2005 and 2006) are used to document the variability of γDP with respect to the intrinsic three-dimensional characteristics of the attenuating cells. The Smyth and Illingworth constraint could be applied to only 20% of all attenuated rays of the 2-yr dataset so it cannot be considered the unique solution for attenuation correction in an operational setting but is useful for characterizing the properties of the strongly attenuating cells. The range of variation of γDP is shown to be extremely large, with minimal, maximal, and mean values being, respectively, equal to 0.01, 0.11, and 0.025 dB °−1. Coefficient γDP appears to be almost linearly correlated with the horizontal reflectivity (ZH), differential reflectivity (ZDR), and specific differential phase (KDP) and correlation coefficient (ρHV) of the attenuating cells. The temperature effect is negligible with respect to that of the microphysical properties of the attenuating cells. Unusually large values of γDP, above 0.06 dB °−1, often referred to as “hot spots,” are reported for 15%—a nonnegligible figure—of the rays presenting a significant total differential phase shift (ΔϕDP > 30°). The corresponding strongly attenuating cells are shown to have extremely high ZDR (above 4 dB) and ZH (above 55 dBZ), very low ρHV (below 0.94), and high KDP (above 4° km−1). Analysis of 4 yr of observed raindrop spectra does not reproduce such low values of ρHV, suggesting that (wet) ice is likely to be present in the precipitation medium and responsible for the attenuation and high phase shifts. Furthermore, if melting ice is responsible for the high phase shifts, this suggests that KDP may not be uniquely related to rainfall rate but can result from the presence of wet ice. This hypothesis is supported by the analysis of the vertical profiles of horizontal reflectivity and the values of conventional probability of hail indexes.

Radar bright band correction using the linear depolarisation ratio

The enhanced radar return associated with melting snow, ‘the bright band’, can lead to large overestimates of rain rates. Most correction schemes rely on fitting the radar observations to a vertical profile of reflectivity (VPR) which includes the bright band enhancement. Observations show that the VPR is very variable in space and time; large enhancements occur for melting snow, but none for the melting graupel in embedded convection. Applying a bright band VPR correction to a region of embedded convection will lead to a severe underestimate of rainfall. We revive an earlier suggestion that high values of the linear depolarisation ratio (LDR) are an excellent means of detecting when bright band contamination is occurring and that the value of LDR may be used to correct the value of Z in the bright band.

Bollène-2002 experiment: radar quantitative precipitation estimation in the Cévennes–Vivarais region, France

The Bollène-2002 Experiment was aimed at developing the use of a radar volume-scanning strategy for conducting radar rainfall estimations in the mountainous regions of France. A developmental radar processing system, called Traitements Régionalisés et Adaptatifs de Données Radar pour l’Hydrologie (Regionalized and Adaptive Radar Data Processing for Hydrological Applications), has been built and several algorithms were specifically produced as part of this project. These algorithms include 1) a clutter identification technique based on the pulse-to-pulse variability of reflectivity Z for noncoherent radar, 2) a coupled procedure for determining a rain partition between convective and widespread rainfall R and the associated normalized vertical profiles of reflectivity, and 3) a method for calculating reflectivity at ground level from reflectivities measured aloft. Several radar processing strategies, including nonadaptive, time-adaptive, and space–time-adaptive variants, have been implemented to assess the performance of these new algorithms. Reference rainfall data were derived from a careful analysis of rain gauge datasets furnished by the Cévennes–Vivarais Mediterranean Hydrometeorological Observatory. The assessment criteria for five intense and long-lasting Mediterranean rain events have proven that good quantitative precipitation estimates can be obtained from radar data alone within 100-km range by using well-sited, well-maintained radar systems and sophisticated, physically based data-processing systems. The basic requirements entail performing accurate electronic calibration and stability verification, determining the radar detection domain, achieving efficient clutter elimination, and capturing the vertical structure(s) of reflectivity for the target event. Radar performance was shown to depend on type of rainfall, with better results obtained with deep convective rain systems (Nash coefficients of roughly 0.90 for point radar–rain gauge comparisons at the event time step), as opposed to shallow convective and frontal rain systems (Nash coefficients in the 0.6–0.8 range). In comparison with time-adaptive strategies, the space–time-adaptive strategy yields a very significant reduction in the radar–rain gauge bias while the level of scatter remains basically unchanged. Because the Z–R relationships have not been optimized in this study, results are attributed to an improved processing of spatial variations in the vertical profile of reflectivity. The two main recommendations for future work consist of adapting the rain separation method for radar network operations and documenting Z–R relationships conditional on rainfall type.

Spatial variability of liquid cloud and rain: observations and microphysical effects

Spatial variability of liquid cloud water content and rainwater content is analysed from three different observational platforms: in situ measurements from research aircraft, land-based remote sensing techniques using radar and lidar, and spaceborne remote sensing from CloudSat. The variance is found to increase with spatial scale, but also depends strongly on the cloud or rain fraction regime, with overcast regions containing less variability than broken cloud fields. This variability is shown to lead to large biases, up to a factor of 4, in both the autoconversion and accretion rates estimated at a model grid scale of ≈40 km by a typical microphysical parametrization using in-cloud mean values. A parametrization for the subgrid variability of liquid cloud and rainwater content is developed, based on the observations, which varies with both the grid scale and cloud or rain fraction, and is applicable for all model grid scales. It is then shown that if this parametrization of the variability is analytically incorporated into the autoconversion and accretion rate calculations, the bias is significantly reduced.