Hydrometeor Distribution and Linear Depolarization Ratio in Thunderstorms
1
Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Bocni II, 141 00 Praha 4, Czech Republic
2
Faculty of Science, Charles University, Albertov 6, 128 00 Praha 2, Czech Republic
3
Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, University of Pardubice, 532 10 Pardubice 2, Czech Republic
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Remote Sens. 2020, 12(13), 2144; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12132144
Received: 3 June 2020
/
Revised: 1 July 2020
/
Accepted: 2 July 2020
/
Published: 3 July 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Precipitation: Part II)
The distribution of hydrometeors in thunderstorms is still under investigation as well as the process of electrification in thunderclouds leading to lightning discharges. One indicator of cloud electrification might be high values of the Linear Depolarization Ratio (LDR) at higher vertical levels. This study focuses on LDR values derived from vertically pointing cloud radars and the distribution of five hydrometeor species during 38 days with thunderstorms which occurred in 2018 and 2019 in Central Europe, close to our radar site. The study shows improved algorithms for de-aliasing, the derivation of vertical air velocity and the classification of hydrometeors in clouds using radar data. The comparison of vertical profiles with observed lightning discharges in the vicinity of the radar site (≤1 km) suggested that cloud radar data can indirectly identify “lightning” areas by high LDR values observed at higher gates due to the alignment of ice crystals, likely because of an intensified electric field in thunderclouds. Simultaneously, the results indicated that at higher gates, there is a mixture of several hydrometeor species, which suggests a well-known electrification process by collisions of hydrometeors.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
cloud radar; thunderstorm; LDR; hydrometeor; hydrometeor classification; lightning; discharge
▼
Show Figures
Graphical abstract
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
MDPI and ACS Style
Sokol, Z.; Minářová, J.; Fišer, O. Hydrometeor Distribution and Linear Depolarization Ratio in Thunderstorms. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 2144. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12132144
AMA Style
Sokol Z, Minářová J, Fišer O. Hydrometeor Distribution and Linear Depolarization Ratio in Thunderstorms. Remote Sensing. 2020; 12(13):2144. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12132144
Chicago/Turabian StyleSokol, Zbyněk, Jana Minářová, and Ondřej Fišer. 2020. "Hydrometeor Distribution and Linear Depolarization Ratio in Thunderstorms" Remote Sensing 12, no. 13: 2144. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12132144
Find Other Styles
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
