Seasonal dependence of characteristics of rain drop size distribution over two different climatic zones of India

Abstract

Raindrop size distribution (DSD) plays a significant role in understanding the microphysical process of rainfall and the quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) in hydrology, especially in urban environments which has spatial and temporal variability. In this study, the seasonal variation in DSD and its response to cloud regimes over two contrasting coastal sites (i.e. Kolkata (22.58° N, 88.45° E) and Trivandrum (8.43° N, 76.98° E) of India obtained using laser precipitation monitor (LPM) disdrometer for more than 2 years are investigated. The results show a significant difference in DSD spectra between Kolkata and Trivandrum. It is observed that the smaller-size (< 0.5 mm) particles are more dominant over Trivandrum than at Kolkata. During the monsoon, larger raindrops (D > 2 mm) dominate over Kolkata when compared with Trivandrum and clear separations in DSD were observed in the pre-monsoon season. The percentage contribution of the rain types to the total rainfall duration over Kolkata (Trivandrum) is found to be about 74.13% (80.50%), 18.97% (15.35%) and 6.98% (4.13%) for stratiform, transition and convective, respectively. In the convective rain, the smaller (mid-size, 1 < D < 3 mm and large, D > 3 mm) drops concentrations are higher (lower) over Trivandrum, while mid-size and larger (smaller, D < 0.5 mm) drops are higher (lower) over Kolkata. The convective rains are dominated by continental/maritime and maritime over Kolkata and Trivandrum, respectively. As the rain rate increases, the DSD spectra have larger widths with peaks around diameter D ~ 0.5 mm over both the locations. Further, the empirical relations between reflectivity (Z) and rain rate (R) were established, which are found to be different for different rain types. In each rain type, the Z-R relationship over Kolkata (Trivandrum) is Z = 56.4*R^1.94 (Z = 21.3*R^2.18), Z = 118.8*R^1.89 (Z = 106.4*R^1.83), and Z = 388.0*R^1.54 (Z = 303.1*R^1.38) for convective, transition and stratiform rains, respectively. These results clearly indicate that the two locations are dominated by different cloud systems and microphysical processes. Therefore, the present results are expected to provide a better understanding of regional DSD variability and Z-R relationship with seasons, rain types and cloud microphysical processes, which is the significance of the present study.