Microphysics of Heavy Rainfall Observed during the Prediction of Rainfall Extremes Campaign In the Pacific (PRECIP) 2022

The Prediction of Rainfall Extremes Campaign In the Pacific (PRECIP) collected novel observations in East Asia during the 2022 spring and summer to improve our understanding of the multi-scale dynamic, thermodynamic, and microphysical processes that produce extreme precipitation. The campaign was designed to maximize the chances of observing a variety of heavy rainfall events in the moisture-rich natural laboratory of the western North Pacific in order to find the commonalities across different weather phenomena. The U.S. instrumentation included the Colorado State University SEA-POL radar, radiosondes, disdrometers, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research S-Pol radar and three MicroPulse Differential Absorption LIDARs (DIALs). PRECIP was conducted in from May to August 2022 in partnership with the Taiwan TAHOPE and Japan T-PARCII experiments, which included research X-band radars and the operational Central Weather Bureau and Japan Meteorological Agency radar networks. An overview of the project and analysis of the new radar observations will be presented. Composites of microphysical characteristics retrieved from range-height vertical scans across a wide spectrum of precipitation events are combined with thermodynamic measurements from the radiosonde and DIALs over the 3-month project. The presentation will highlight the new field observations obtained from the field campaign radar network and the implications for improving our understanding of heavy rainfall.