Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility US Department of Energy
 
 

Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment: Parsivel Disdrometer Support

22 April 2011 - 6 June 2011

Lead Scientist: Mathew Schwaller

Observatory: sgp, sgp

The Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) took place in and around the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) Central Facility site, with an Intensive Operations Period from April 22, 2011 through June 6, 2011. The experiment was a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) ARM Climate Research Facility (ACRF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration¹s (NASA) Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission Ground Validation (GV) program. During MC3E, 2-Dimensional Video Disdrometers (2DVDs) provided measurements of particle size and concentration for particles of 0.3­8 mm in diameter (bin resolution of 0.20 mm), axis ratio distribution, and fall-velocity information. Parsivel disdrometers provided measures of rain DSD, particle phase, and fall-velocity. Particle sizes detected by the Parsivels ranged from 0.3 mm to 20 mm, with a geometrically increasing bin size from 0.129 mm at 0.3 mm to 1.03 mm at 8 mm drop diameters. Parameters derived from the disdrometer measurements included total concentration, liquid water content, mean mass diameter, rain rates, and retrieved radar reflectivity. These observations offered an important constraint on the retrieval of precipitation properties from ground radars and airborne remote sensors.

Co-Investigators

Viswanathan Bringi
Walter Petersen
Ali Tokay

Timeline

  • Parent Campaign
  • Sibling Campaign

2018

Pu Z, C Lin, X Dong, and S Krueger. 2018. "Sensitivity of Numerical Simulations of a Mesoscale Convective System to Ice Hydrometeors in Bulk Microphysical Parameterization." Pure and Applied Geophysics, 176(5), doi:10.1007/s00024-018-1787-z.

2016

Jensen MP, WA Petersen, A Bansemer, N Bharadwaj, LD Carey, DJ Cecil, SM Collis, AD Del Genio, B Dolan, J Gerlach, SE Giangrande, G Heymsfield, P Kollias, TJ Lang, SW Nesbitt, A Neumann, M Poellot, SA Rutledge, M Schwaller, A Tokay, CR Williams, DB Wolff, S Xie, and EJ Zipser. 2016. "The Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E)." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 97(9), 10.1175/bams-d-14-00228.1.
Research Highlight

Wang J, X Dong, B Xi, and H Andrew. 2016. "Investigation of liquid cloud microphysical properties of deep convective systems: 1. Parameterization of rain drop size distribution and its application for stratiform rain estimate." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 121(18), 10.1002/2016jd024941.
Research Highlight

2014

Giangrande SE, S Collis, A Theisen, and A Tokay. 2014. "Precipitation Estimation from the ARM Distributed Radar Network during the MC3E Campaign." Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 53(9), 10.1175/jamc-d-13-0321.1.
Research Highlight

2013

Giangrande SE, S Collis, J Straka, A Protat, C Williams, and S Krueger. 2013. "A Summary of Convective-Core Vertical Velocity Properties Using ARM UHF Wind Profilers in Oklahoma." Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 52(10), 10.1175/jamc-d-12-0185.1.
Research Highlight


View All Related Publications

Campaign Data Sets

IOP Participant Data Source Name Final Data
Mathew Schwaller GPM Ground Validation Autonomous Parsivel Unit (APU) MC3E Order Data