TITLE:
Analysis of Vertical Profiles of Precipitable Liquid Water Content in a Tropical Climate Using Micro Rain Radar
AUTHORS:
Joseph S. Ojo, Omololu O. Daodu, Olalekan L. Ojo
KEYWORDS:
Liquid Water Content, Micro Rain Radar, Vertical Profile, Tropical Climate, Radar Reflectivity Factor
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.7 No.2,
February
27,
2019
ABSTRACT: In this paper, some distinctive features of the vertical profile of precipitable liquid water content (LWC) with considerable respect to rain rates (R) and radar reflectivity (Z) obtained in a tropical location are presented. Assessment of LWC allows applications in the specific area of flight icing severity, aviation safety as well as signals traversing through the atmosphere. The parameters were typically measured using vertically-pointing Micro Rain Radar (MRR) over a period of 2 years (2011-2012) at Akure, a tropical location of Nigeria. The radar scanned at every 10 seconds and integrated over one minute samples to reduce event logging error associated with the instrument. The vertical profile of the LWC typically reveals a prominent seasonal variation. However, majority of the LWC profiles has low LWC, less than 0.1 gm−3 while the maximum observed LWC is about 3.18 gm−3. A strong like hood relation was observed between the melting layer height and the LWC, with the LWC reaches peak at the considerable height of about 4160 m which coincides precisely with the freezing height level (rain height of ~4520 m) of the study location. Good correlation was also observed between the LWC and R in most of the heights considered. The results obtained will assist system engineers to assess the level of absorption, reflection and attenuation of electromagnetic signals as a result of precipitable LWC along the transmitting paths. The novelty of the present work is in the area of linking LWC and Z as against usual relation between Z and R.