Evaluation of GPM Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar algorithms to estimate drop size distribution parameters, using ground-based measurement over the Central Andes of Peru

Abstract

The raindrop size distribution (DSD) parameters, which consists of the mass-weighted average diameter (Dm) and the scaling parameter for the concentration (Nw) are essential to estimate precipitation in numerical modelling and other research areas such as the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core satellite. In the present work, we used the GPM Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar algorithms (GPM-DPR), single (SF) and dual (DF) frequency, and in situ observations to derive the DSD parameters and evaluate the performance of algorithms under the complex orography and climate regime of the central Andes. We used data from optical disdrometer and Ka-band profiler radar over Huancayo Observatory during the austral summer monsoon. Our results indicate that the GPM-DPR algorithms have problems to correctly estimate the DSD parameters of convective rains due to the high variability in time and space of this type of rain and is the result of fixing the shape parameter (µ). The estimation of DSD parameters in stratiform rains, which are very common in the central Andes, is strongly affected by the limitation of the DF algorithm in light rain rates caused by its inability to estimate Dm < 1 mm.