A Comprehensive Observational Analysis for the Effects of Gas Cannons on Clouds and Precipitation

To analyze the effects of gas cannons on clouds and precipitation, multisource observational data, including those from National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis, Hangzhou and Huzhou new-generation weather radars, laser disdrometer, ground-based automatic weather station, wind profiler radar, and Lin''an C-band dual polarization radar, were adopted in this study. Based on the variational dual-Doppler wind retrieval method and the polarimetric variables obtained by the dual-polarization radar, we analyzed the microphysical processes and the variations in the macro - and microphysical quantities in clouds from the perspective of the synoptic background before precipitation enhancement, the polarization echo characteristics before, during and after enhancement, and the evolution of the fine three-dimensional kinematic structure and the microphysical structure. The results show that the precipitation enhancement operation promoted the development of radar echoes and prolonged their duration, and both the horizontal and vertical wind speeds increased. The dual-polarization radar echo showed that the diameter of the precipitation particles increased, and the concentration of raindrops increased after precipitation enhancement. The raindrops were lifted to a height corresponding to 0 to -20 ℃ due to vertical updrafts. Based on the disdrometer data during precipitation enhancement, the concentration of small raindrops (lgNw) showed a significant increase, and the mass-weighted diameter Dm value decreased, indicating that the precipitation enhancement operation played a certain“lubricating”effect. After the precipitation enhancement, the concentration of raindrops did not change much compared with that during the enhancement process, while the Dm increased, corresponding to an increase in rain intensity. The results suggest the positive effect of gas cannons on precipitation enhancement.