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Chin. Phys. B, 2010, Vol. 19(10): 109201    DOI: 10.1088/1674-1056/19/10/109201
GEOPHYSICS, ASTRONOMY, AND ASTROPHYSICS Prev  

Spectral dispersion of cloud droplet size distributions and radar threshold reflectivity for drizzle

Xie Xiao-Ning(解小宁)a)b)^†ger and Liu Xiao-Dong(刘晓东)a)c)
a State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710075, China; b Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;  Department of Environmental Science and Technology, School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
Abstract  From first principles, we find that the radar threshold reflectivity between nonprecipitating clouds and precipitating clouds is strongly related to not only the cloud droplet number concentration but also the spectral dispersion of cloud droplet size distributions. The further investigation indicates that the threshold value is an increasing function of spectral dispersion and cloud droplet number concentration. These results may improve our understanding of the cloud-precipitation interaction and the aerosol indirect effect.
Keywords:  radar threshold reflectivity      spectral dispersion      cloud droplet number concentration  
Received:  18 November 2009      Revised:  24 May 2010      Accepted manuscript online: 
PACS:  92.60.Jq (Water in the atmosphere)  
  92.60.Mt (Particles and aerosols)  
  92.60.Nv (Cloud physics and chemistry)  
Fund: Project supported by the Special Foundation for China Nonprofit Industry (Grant No. GYHY200706036), the National Excellent Young Scientists Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40825008), and the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2010CB833406).

Cite this article: 

Xie Xiao-Ning(解小宁) and Liu Xiao-Dong(刘晓东) Spectral dispersion of cloud droplet size distributions and radar threshold reflectivity for drizzle 2010 Chin. Phys. B 19 109201

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