Evaluation of radar reflectivity factor simulations of ice crystal populations from in situ observations for the retrieval of condensed water content in tropical mesoscale convective systems

Fontaine, Emmanuel; Leroy, Delphine; Schwarzenboeck, Alfons; Delanoë, Julien; Protat, Alain; Dezitter, Fabien; Grandin, Alice; Strapp, John Walter; Lilie, Lyle Edward

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2239-2017

Articles | Volume 10, issue 6

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2239-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2239-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 10, issue 6

Research article

|

13 Jun 2017

Research article |

| 13 Jun 2017

Evaluation of radar reflectivity factor simulations of ice crystal populations from in situ observations for the retrieval of condensed water content in tropical mesoscale convective systems

Emmanuel Fontaine, Delphine Leroy, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Julien Delanoë, Alain Protat, Fabien Dezitter, Alice Grandin, John Walter Strapp, and Lyle Edward Lilie

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Final revised paper (published on 13 Jun 2017)
Preprint (discussion started on 24 Oct 2016)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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AC1: 'missing reference', Emmanuel Fontaine, 25 Oct 2016
RC1: 'Review of: “Radar Reflectivity Factors Simulations of Ice Crystal Populations from In-Situ Observations for the Retrieval of Condensed Water Content in Tropical Mesoscale Convective System”', Anonymous Referee #1, 16 Dec 2016
RC2: 'reviewer comment', Anonymous Referee #2, 22 Dec 2016

Short summary

In this study we evaluate a method to estimate cloud water content (CWC) knowing cloud reflectivity. Ice hydrometeors are replace by ice oblate spheroids to simulate their reflectivity. There is no assumption on the relation between mass and their size. Then, a broad range of CWCs are compared with direct measurements of CWC. The accuracy of the method is ~ ±32 %. This study is performed in areas of convective clouds where reflectivity and CWC are especially high, what makes it unique.