The 3rd Symposium on Integrated Observing Systems

8.5
PRECIPITATION MICROPHYSICS OBSERVED DURING THE 5–6 FEBRUARY STORM OF CALJET

Allen B. White, NOAA/ERL/ETL and CIRES, Boulder, CO; and P. Neiman, C. King, J. Jordan, M. Ralph, and O. Persson

During the winter of 1997-98, scientists from the NOAA Environmental Technology Laboratory deployed an integrated observing network at Cazadero, CA in support of the California Land Falling Jets Experiment (CALJET). The network consisted of a 915-MHz wind profiler with a Radio Acoustic Sounding System (RASS), a vertically-pointing 3-GHz radar, a laser ceilometer, as well as a suite of surface meteorological sensors including a tipping bucket rain gauge. In this paper we demonstrate the synergistic nature of the data collected with the observing network by analyzing measurements taken during the storm that occurred on 5–6 February, 1998. The analysis will focus on aspects of precipitation microphysics, determined by comparing velocity and reflectivity profiles measured by the 3-GHz radar with the rain gauge data, in addition to details on how the microphysics responded to mesoscale features of the storm as viewed by the observing network, with particular emphasis on wind profiler/RASS measurements

The 3rd Symposium on Integrated Observing Systems