Abstract

The results from airborne in situ sampling of convective tropical storms in the Amazon and Kwajalein are presented. Three cases from the Amazon and two from Kwajalein are compared and provide examples of the much larger dataset that was obtained from field campaigns in these two regions during 1999. The strength of the updraft was a major factor in determining the microphysical characteristics of hydrometeors. Weak updrafts exhibited a well-developed warm rain process by the time droplets had reached the freezing level. Stronger updrafts (>5 m s⁻¹) contained smaller droplets or ice particles at cloud midlevels than regions with the weaker updrafts. Significant supercooled liquid water was found only at temperatures warmer than −12°C, although traces of liquid water were observed at temperatures as cold as −18°C. In deep stratiform anvil regions, aggregation was observed to be a major growth mechanism. These clouds did not contain appreciable amounts of supercooled water. Clouds with similar updrafts in the Amazon and Kwajalein exhibited similar particle types and concentrations. The implications of these results for current Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) investigations are discussed.

Abstract

This study reports on the evolution of particle size distributions (PSDs) and habits as measured during slow, Lagrangian-type spiral descents through deep subtropical and tropical cloud layers in Florida, Brazil, and Kwajalein, Marshall Islands, most of which were precipitating. The objective of the flight patterns was to learn more about how the PSDs evolved in the vertical and to obtain information of the vertical structure of microphysical properties. New instrumentation yielding better information on the concentrations of particles in the size (D) range between 0.2 and 2 cm, as well as improved particle imagery, produced more comprehensive observations for tropical stratiform precipitation regions and anvils than have been available previously. Collocated radar observations provided additional information on the vertical structure of the cloud layers sampled.

Most of the spirals began at cloud top, with temperatures (T) as low as −50°C, and ended at cloud base or below the melting layer (ML). The PSDs broadened from cloud top toward cloud base, with the largest particles increasing in size from several millimeters at cloud top, to 1 cm or larger toward cloud base. Some continued growth was noted in the upper part of the ML. Concentrations of particles less than 1 mm in size decreased with decreasing height. The result was a consistent change in the PSDs in the vertical. Similarly, systematic changes in the size dependence of the particle cross-sectional area was noted with decreasing height. Aggregation—as ascertained from both the changes in the PSDs and evolution of particle habits as observed in high detail with the cloud particle imager (CPI) probe—was responsible for these trends.

The PSDs were generally well-represented by gamma distributions of the form N = N _0Γ D ^μ e ^{−λ _Γ D} that were fitted to the PSDs over 1-km horizontal intervals throughout the spirals. The intercept (N _0Γ), slope (λ _Γ), and dispersion (μ) values were derived for each PSD. Exponential curves (N = N ₀ e ^−λD ; μ = 0) were also fitted to the distributions. The λ _Γ values for given spirals varied systematically with temperature as did the values of λ (exponential), and the data generally conformed to values found in previous studies involving exponential fits to size distributions in midlatitude frontal and cirrus layers. Considerable variability often noted in the PSD properties during the loops of individual spirals was manifested primarily in large changes in N _0Γ and N ₀, but μ, λ _Γ, and λ remained fairly stable. Temperature is not found to be the sole factor controlling λ _Γ or λ, but is a primary one. Direct relationships were found between λ _Γ and N _0Γ, or λ _Γ and μ, for the gamma distributions, and λ and N ₀ for the exponential. The latter relationship was not found as distinctly in earlier studies; observed PSDs in this study had better fidelity with less scatter. The μ values changed monotonically with T over the range of temperatures and were directly related to N _0Γ or λ _Γ, thereby reducing the number of variables in the PSD functional equation to two. In the upper part of the ML, N ₀, and λ continued to decrease, and in the lower part these values began to increase as the largest particles melted.

General expressions relating various bulk microphysical, radar, and radiative-transfer-related variables to N _0Γ and λ _Γ were developed; they are useful for both tropical and midlatitude clouds. These relationships facilitate the specification of a number of bulk properties in cloud and climate models. The results presented in this paper apply best to temperatures between 0° and −40°C, for which the measured radar reflectivities fall in the range of 0 to 25 dBZ _e .