THE ENHANCEMENT OF RADAR RETRIEVALS BY THE USE OF HIGHER MOMENTS OF DROP SPECTRUM

We evaluate the relationship between radar reflectivity and cloud parameters using data from a large-eddy simulation model with size-resolving microphysics. Based on simulations of a marine stratocumulus cloud observed during the Atlantic Stratocumulus Transition Experiment and a continental stratus cloud observed over the Southern Great Plains ARM Climate Research Facility we show that both cloud liquid water and precipitation flux are very sensitive to cloud microphysics, in general, and to concentration and mixing ratio of rain drops, in particular. The cloud water retrievals show little improvement when the total drop concentration is included in the retrieval algorithm. We evaluate an algorithm which includes additional information on the large droplet tail of the drop size distribution and discuss the possibility of using additional independent measurements needed to constrain the cloud liquid water retrieval.