Articles | Volume 18, issue 19
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-5265-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-5265-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comparisons of polarimetric radio occultation measurements with WRF model simulation for tropical cyclones
Shu-Ya Chen
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Global Atmospheric Observation and Data Application Research Center, National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan
Ying-Hwa Kuo
UCAR Community Programs, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA
Hsiu-Wen Li
Global Atmospheric Observation and Data Application Research Center, National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan
Ramon Padullés
Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC), Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), Barcelona, Spain
Estel Cardellach
Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC), Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), Barcelona, Spain
Francis Joseph Turk
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
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EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3596, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3596, 2025
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The EarthCARE/CPR provides the first spaceborne Doppler velocity measurements, while the GPM/DPR excels at observing rain and heavy snow, which are more attenuated in CPR. Using coincident observations from both radars, we examined vertical motions in stratiform and convective precipitation systems. The synergy between the radars enables a more comprehensive understanding of hydrometeor fall speeds and vertical air motions across different precipitation types.
Antía Paz, Ramon Padullés, and Estel Cardellach
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This study explores how different assumptions in cloud microphysics affect the vertical distribution of hydrometeors during extreme precipitation events, such as atmospheric rivers. Using a combination of high-resolution weather simulations and radiative transfer modeling, we identify snow as the dominant contributor to the observed vertical signal. The analysis highlights the sensitivity of precipitation structure to particle properties, that could help refine atmospheric modeling approaches.
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Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 953–970, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-953-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-953-2025, 2025
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Polarimetric radio occultations (PROs) use polarized radio signals from satellites to detect moisture and precipitation in Earth's atmosphere. By applying nonlinear regression and k-means cluster analysis to over 2 years of PRO and non-PRO data, this study shows how deviations from a refractivity model relate to vertical profiles of water vapor pressure (moisture) and that differences between components of PRO signals correlate directly with vertical profiles of water path (precipitation).
Terence L. Kubar, Manuel de la Torre Juarez, Jonas Katona, and F. Joseph Turk
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We analyze space-borne observations of simultaneous vertical profiles of precipitation, cloud layers, and temperatures, and find that about 80–90 % of cloud tops globally reach or are below the level of least stability. Since water vapor is limited at these low temperatures, this height may be a more important constraint on cloud top heights than the tropopause height below the level of maximum stability. Only the heaviest precipitating clouds vertically extend above this most unstable level.
Ramon Padullés, Estel Cardellach, Antía Paz, Santi Oliveras, Douglas C. Hunt, Sergey Sokolovskiy, Jan-Peter Weiss, Kuo-Nung Wang, F. Joe Turk, Chi O. Ao, and Manuel de la Torre Juárez
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 5643–5663, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5643-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5643-2024, 2024
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This dataset provides, for the first time, combined observations of clouds and precipitation with coincident retrievals of atmospheric thermodynamics obtained from the same space-based instrument. Furthermore, it provides the locations of the ray trajectories of the observations along various precipitation-related products interpolated into them with the aim of fostering the use of such dataset in scientific and operational applications.
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In this article, we described a joint retrieval approach combining two techniques, RO and MWR, to obtain high vertical resolution and solve for temperature and moisture independently. The results show that the complicated structure in the lower troposphere can be better resolved with much smaller biases, and the RO+MWR combination is the most stable scenario in our sensitivity analysis. This approach is also applied to real data (COSMIC-2/Suomi-NPP) to show the promise of joint RO+MWR retrieval.
Ramon Padullés, Estel Cardellach, and F. Joseph Turk
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2199–2214, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2199-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2199-2023, 2023
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The results of comparing the polarimetric radio occultation observables and the ice water content retrieved from the CloudSat radar in a global and statistical way show a strong correlation between the geographical patterns of both quantities for a wide range of heights. This implies that horizontally oriented hydrometeors are systematically present through the whole globe and through all vertical levels, which could provide insights on the physical processes leading to precipitation.
Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Ewan Crosbie, Michael Shook, Jeffrey S. Reid, Maria Obiminda L. Cambaliza, James Bernard B. Simpas, Luke Ziemba, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Phu Nguyen, F. Joseph Turk, Edward Winstead, Claire E. Robinson, Jian Wang, Jiaoshi Zhang, Yang Wang, Subin Yoon, James Flynn, Sergio L. Alvarez, Ali Behrangi, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 3777–3802, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3777-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3777-2021, 2021
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This study characterizes long-range transport from major Asian pollution sources into the tropical northwest Pacific and the impact of scavenging on these air masses. We combined aircraft observations, HYSPLIT trajectories, reanalysis, and satellite retrievals to reveal distinct composition and size distribution profiles associated with specific emission sources and wet scavenging. The results of this work have implications for international policymaking related to climate and health.
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Short summary
This study used Polarimetric radio occultation (PRO) observations to evaluate simulations of cloud hydrometeors with five microphysics schemes for three typhoons from 2019 and 2021. The simulated cloud hydrometeors distributions varied significantly depending on model initial conditions, typhoon structures, and microphysics schemes. Results in this study demonstrate the potential for using PRO observation to evaluate the performance of different microphysics schemes in numerical models.
This study used Polarimetric radio occultation (PRO) observations to evaluate simulations of...