Links Between Weather Phenomena and Characteristics of Refractivity Measured by Precipitation Radar

Refractivity depends on meteorological parameters such as temperature and water vapour pressure and can be measured using a weather radar. A realistic atmospheric simulation from the Meso-NH numerical model is used in order to describe and establish the relation between refractivity and the dynamic and thermodynamic phenomena responsible for the development and propagation of convection. These investigations lead to discussion of the complementarity between the refractivity and the convective available potential energy. The relation observed between the refractivity signal and the meteorological parameters calls the refractivity measurement into question, since it is based on phase differentiation with time and space and can be degraded by phase aliasing problems. These aliasing problems increase with the radar frequency (perceptible in the S-band, serious in the C-band, and more serious in the X-band) and also with the integration range and sampling time. Thus, a statistical approach permits us to simulate the possibility of measuring the refractivity with operational radar during convective events. A typical case in the south-east region of France is selected to simulate measurements by radar (S-band, C-band, X-band) in convective systems, in order to evaluate the measurement feasibility, particularly in terms of phase ambiguity, related to temporal and spatial sampling, of a future implementation of the refractivity measurement over the French operational radar network. This numerical statistical approach is completed with a similar study using in-situ measurements performed at the Trappes station. The seasonal and diurnal dependencies of aliasing are investigated, leading to clarification of the impact of the turbulent fluxes on the refractivity measurement.     

Two-Dimensional Variational Analysis of Near-Surface Moisture from Simulated Radar Refractivity-Related Phase Change Observations

Because they are most sensitive to atmospheric moisture content, radar refractivity observations can provide high-resolution information about the highly variable low-level moisture field. In this study, simulated radar refractivity-related phase-change data were created using a radar simulator from realistic highresolution model simulation data for a dryline case. These data were analyzed using the 2DVAR system developed specifically for the phase-change data. Two sets of experiments with the simulated observations were performed, one assuming a uniform target spacing of 250 m and one assuming nonuniform spacing between 250 m to 4 km. Several sources of observation error were considered, and their impacts were examined. They included errors due to ground target position uncertainty, typical random errors associated with radar measurements, and gross error due to phase wrapping. Without any additional information, the 2DVAR system was incapable of dealing with phase-wrapped data directly. When there was no phase wrapping in the data, the 2DVAR produced excellent analyses, even in the presence of both position uncertainty and random radar measurement errors. When a separate pre-processing step was applied to unwrap the phase-wrapped data, quality moisture analyses were again obtained, although the analyses were smoother due to the reduced effective resolution of the observations by interpolation and smoothing involved in the unwrapping procedure. The unwrapping procedure was effective even when significant differences existed between the analyzed state and the state at a reference time. The results affirm the promise of using radar refractivity phase-change measurements for near-surface moisture analysis.     

大气折射率起伏对雷达波的散射

研究大气折射率起伏对雷达波的散射时,得到的主要結果有以下两点: 1.在适当的大气条件下,折射率起伏构成的后向散射波能够超出一般雷达的灵敏度之上,它的量級正好和雷达观測到的气象“仙波”相同.根据这一結果和其他事实,作者认为起伏的后向散射可能是形成气象“仙波”的重要机制。 2.推导了表示雷达波在折射率有起伏的介貭中传播时,强度随距离变化的方程式,結果发現:一般情况下,散射效应不致引起波的强度的显著变化.但是,当大气折射率起伏的尺度长較小、輻度較大、并且雷达波瓣較窄时,散射效应会引起波瓣的加寬。     

GNSS反演资料在GRAPES_Meso三维变分中的应用

为了进一步提高GRAPES_Meso的分析和预报效果,该文在GRAPES_Meso三维变分同化系统中建立了同化GNSS/RO反演的大气资料的观测算子,实现了对GNSS/RO反演的大气资料的同化应用,并通过2013年7月1个月的同化和预报试验分析了GNSS/RO反演大气资料对GRAPES_Meso模式系统分析和预报的影响。结果表明:增加了GNSS/RO反演大气资料的同化后,GRAPES_Meso位势高度场的分析误差明显减小,平均分析误差减小约8%,预报误差略有减小,平均预报误差减小约1%;湿度场的分析误差和预报误差变化不明显,常规观测资料稀少的青藏高原地区的降水预报技巧有所提高,小雨到大雨的ETS (equitable threat score) 评分提高约0.01,对全国及其他分区的降水预报技巧总体上有正效果。     

Forecasting weather radar propagation conditions

Summary The increasing use of weather radar quantitative precipitation estimates, particularly in automatic applications such as operational hydrometeorological modelling or assimilation in numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, has promoted the development of quality control procedures on radar data. Anomalous propagation (AP) of the radar beam due to deviation from the standard refractivity vertical profile, is one of the factors that may affect seriously the quality of radar observations because of the increase in quantity and intensity of non-precipitating clutter echoes and consequent contamination of the estimated rainfall field. Another undesired effect of AP is the change in the expected radar echo height, which may be relevant when correcting for beam blockage in radar rainfall estimation in complex terrain. The aim of this paper is to study the use of NWP mesoscale forecasts to predict and monitor AP events. A nested 15-km grid resolution version of the MASS model has been used to retrieve refractivity profiles in the coastal area of Barcelona, near a weather radar and a radiosonde station. Using the refractivity profiles two different magnitudes were computed: the vertical refractivity profile of the lowest 1000 m layer and a ducting index which describes the existence and intensity of the most super-refractive layer contained in the lowest 3-km layer. A comparison between model forecasts and radiosonde diagnostics during a six-month period showed that the model tended to underestimate the degree of super-refraction, with a bias of 4 km⁻¹ and RMSE of 11 km⁻¹ in the 1-km vertical refractivity gradient. Further analysis of the data showed that a combination of previous observations and forecasts allowed to produce modified forecasts improving the original direct model output, decreasing substantially the bias, reducing the RMSE by 20% and improving the skill by 40%, beating also radiosonde observations persistence.     

Sensitivity of the hydrological cycle to increasing amounts of greenhouse gases and aerosols

The coupled atmosphere–ocean Climate Model of the Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques (CNRM) has been used to run a time-dependent climate change experiment to study the impact of increasing amounts of greenhouse gases and aerosols on the simulated water cycle. This simulation has been initialised with the oceanic temperature and salinity profiles and the atmospheric trace gas concentrations observed in the 1950s, and has been carried out for 150 years after a 20-year spin-up. The simulated climate change has been analysed as the difference between two 30-year time slices: 1970–2000 and 2070–2100 respectively. The model achieves a reasonable simulation of present-day climate and simulates a general increase in precipitation throughout the twenty first century. The main exceptions are the subtropics, where the enhanced Hadley circulation has a drying impact, and the mid-latitude continents, where the increased evaporation in spring and decreased moisture convergence in summer lead to a relative summer drying. Global and regional analyses suggest that the precipitation increase is generally limited by a decrease in the water vapour cycling rate and in the precipitation efficiency, which appear as key parameters of the simulated water cycle. In order to reduce the spread between climate scenarios, more efforts should be devoted to estimate these parameters from satellite observations and meteorological analyses, and their possible evolution over recent decades. In the present study, the impacts of global warming on the surface hydrology have been also investigated. The main findings are the amplification of the annual cycle of soil moisture in the mid-and-high latitudes, and the decrease in the Northern Hemisphere snow cover, at a rate that is consistent with recent satellite estimations and should increase during the twenty first century. The runoff simulated over the 1950–2100 period has been converted into river flow using a linear river routeing model. The trends simulated over recent decades are surprisingly consistent with the river flow measurements available from the Global Runoff Data Centre. These trends can differ from those estimated over the whole 150-year integration, thereby indicating that it is not safe to predict hydrological impacts just by extrapolating the trends found in the available observations. Our climate model seems likely to provide qualitative hydrological scenarios over large river basins, but it still shows serious biases in the simulation of present-day river flows. Regional hydrological projections remain a challenge for the global climate modelling community and downscaling techniques are still necessary for this purpose.     

Observation of Precipitating Systems over Complex Orography with Meteorological Doppler Radars: A Feasibility Study

Summary  This paper concerns the use of airborne or ground-based Doppler radars to observe precipitating systems over complex orography. As nearly all of the previous experiments involving Doppler radars were conducted over flat surfaces over the continents or the oceans, new techniques are needed firstly to separate ground clutter from meteorological signal and, in the case of airborne Doppler observations, to deduce navigational errors. Secondly, it is necessary to take the atmospheric circulation induced by orography into account in the three-dimensional wind field analysis. Variational techniques are presented to solve these problems. The proposed methods are tested with simulated ground-based and airborne Doppler radar observations for analytic flows over analytic terrains and for numerically simulated wind and reflectivity fields for the Brig event (22 September 1993) of heavy precipitation over the southern flank of the Alps (Cosma and Richard, 1998), and with actual airborne Doppler data relative to weak snow showers over the Rocky Mountains on 12 March 1995. Received March 22, 1999/Revised June 1, 1999     

The effects of earth partial specular reflection on the quantitative rainfall-rate measurements by radar

The equations for calculating the echo power from meteorological targets and the energy distribution within radar beam were derived, by taking the earth curvature, atmospheric refractivity gradient, reflection factor and the roughness of the earth's surface into consideration. The estimation based on these equations shows that the rain echo power may deviate from its normal value by a factor of －3 to +6 db depending on the radar height, antenna elevation, wave length, beam width, surface reflectivity and roughness.     

集合卡尔曼滤波同化多普勒雷达资料的数值试验

利用集合卡尔曼滤波(EnKF)在云数值模式中同化模拟多普勒雷达资料,并考察了不同条件下EnKF同化方法的性能.结果显示,经过几个同化周期后,EnKF分析结果非常接近真值.单多普勒雷达资料EnKF同化对雷达位置不太敏感,双雷达资料同化结果在同化的初期阶段比单雷达资料同化结果准确.同化由反射率导出的雨水比直接同化反射率资料更有效,联合同化径向速度和雨水有利于提高同化分析效果.协方差对EnKF同化效果起着非常重要的作用,考虑模式全部预报变量与径向速度协方差的同化效果比仅考虑速度场与径向速度协方差的同化效果好.雷达资料缺值降低了同化效果,此时增加地面常规观测资料的同化可以明显提高同化分析效果.EnKF同化技术对雷达观测资料误差不太敏感.初始集合对同化分析有较大影响.EnKF同化受集合大小和观测资料影响半径.同化对模式误差较敏感.利用EnKF同化双多普勒雷达资料,分析了一次梅雨锋暴雨过程的中尺度结构.结果表明,EnKF同化技术能够从双多普勒雷达资料反演暴雨中尺度系统的动力场、热力场和微物理场,反演的风场是较准确的,反演的热力场和微物理场分布也是基本合理的.中低层切变线是此次暴雨的主要动力特征,对流云表现为低层辐合、高层辐散并有垂直上升运动伴随,其热力特征表现为低层是低压区,高层为高压区,中部为暖区而上、下部为冷区,水汽、云水和雨水分别集中在对流云体内、上升气流区和强回波区.     

The impact of Global Positioning System data on the prediction of an extratropical cyclone: an observing system simulation experiment

In this paper, we report a series of observing system simulation experiments that we conducted to assess the potential impact of Global Positioning System/meteorology (GPS/MET) refractivity data on short-range numerical weather prediction. We first conducted a control experiment using the Penn State/NCAR mesoscale model MM5 at 90-km resolution on an extratropical cyclone known as the ERICA (Experiment on Rapidly Intensifying Cyclones over the Atlantic) IOP 4 storm. The results from the control experiment were then used to simulate GPS/MET refractivity observations with different spatial resolution and measurement characteristics. The simulated refractivity observations were assimilated into an 180-km model during a 6-h period, which was followed by a 48-h forecast integration. Key findings can be summarized as follows:

• The assimilation of refractivity data at the 180-km resolution can recover important atmospheric structures in temperature and moisture fields both in the upper and lower troposphere, and, through the internal model dynamical processes, also the wind fields. The assimilation of refractivity data led to a considerably more accurate prediction of the cyclone.

• Distributing the refractivity randomly in space and applying a line averaging did not alter the results significantly, while reducing the spatial resolution from 180 km to 360 km produced a moderately degraded result. Even at the 360-km resolution, the GPS-type refractivity data still have a notable positive impact on cyclone prediction.

• Restricting the refractivity data to altitude 3 km and above considerably degraded its impact on cyclone prediction. This degradation was greater than the combined effects of distributing the refractivity data randomly, performing line averaging, and reducing the resolution to 360 km.

These results showed that the GPS/MET refractivity data is likely to have a significant impact on short-range operational numerical weather prediction. The random distribution and line averaging associated with the inherent GPS occultation do not pose a problem for effective assimilation. On the other hand, these results also argue that we need to improve the GPS/MET retrieval algorithm in order to recover useful data in the lower troposphere, and to increase the number of low-earth-orbiting satellites carrying GPS receivers in order to increase the density of GPS soundings, so that the potential impact of GPS/MET refractivity data on numerical weather prediction can be fully realized.     

Retrieval of Vertical Distribution of Tropospheric Refractivity through Ground-Based GPS Observation简

In the present reported study, the vertical distributions of local atmospheric refractivity were retrieved from ground- based GPS observations at low elevation angles. An improved optimization method was implemented at altitudes of 0-10 km to search for a best-fit refractivity profile that resulted in atmospheric delays most similar to the delays calculated from the observations. A ray-tracing model was used to simulate neutral atmospheric delays corresponding to a given refractivity profile. We initially performed a ＂theoretical retrieval＂, in which no observation data were involved, to verify the optimization method. A statistical relative error of this ＂theoretical retrieval＂ （-2% to 2%） indicated that such a retrieval is effective. In a practical retrieval, observations were obtained using a dual-frequency GPS receiver, and its initial value was provided by CIRA86aQ_UoG data. The statistical relative errors of the practical retrieval range from -3% to 5% were compared with co-located radiosonde measurements, Results clearly revealed diurnal variations in local refractivity prc,files, The results also suggest that the general vertical distribution of refractivity can be derived with a high temporal resolution. However, further study is needed to describe the vertical refractivity gradient clearly.     

Generation and dissipation of microwave refractive-index fluctuations in the boundary layer

The index of refraction and its short-term variations have been measured on a 152-m meteorological tower at three fixed levels and on a moveable platform. Analysis of the data reveals that the time rates of production and dissipation of refractivity fluctuations are approximately in balance under a variety of meteorological conditions, and that changes in the rate of dissipation usually coincide with comparable changes in the rate of production. Under reasonably stationary conditions, terms corresponding to the rate of change and vertical diffusion of refractivity variance are found to be negligible. Power spectral densities of the variations increase when the rate of generation (and dissipation) increase, and conversely. Comparison of the results with simultaneous acoustic sounder returns provides a valuable insight into the mechanisms responsible for changes in the rates of production and dissipation.     

Application of a Three-dimensional Variational Method for Radar Reflectivity Data Correction in a Mudslide-inducing Rainstorm Simulation

Various types of radars with different horizontal and vertical detection ranges are deployed in China, particularly over complex terrain where radar blind zones are common. In this study, a new variational method is developed to correct threedimensional radar reflectivity data based on hourly ground precipitation observations. The aim of this method is to improve the quality of observations of various types of radar and effectively assimilate operational Doppler radar observations. A mudslide-inducing local rainstorm is simulated by the WRF model with assimilation of radar reflectivity and radial velocity data using LAPS(Local Analysis and Prediction System). Experiments with different radar data assimilated by LAPS are performed. It is found that when radar reflectivity data are corrected using this variational method and assimilated by LAPS,the atmospheric conditions and cloud physics processes are reasonably described. The temporal evolution of radar reflectivity corrected by the variational method corresponds well to observed rainfall. It can better describe the cloud water distribution over the rainfall area and improve the cloud water analysis results over the central rainfall region. The LAPS cloud analysis system can update cloud microphysical variables and represent the hydrometeors associated with strong convective activities over the rainfall area well. Model performance is improved and the simulation of the dynamical processes and moisture transport is more consistent with observation.     

集合卡尔曼滤波同化中雷达位置的敏感性研究

针对对流尺度集合卡尔曼滤波（EnKF）雷达资料同化中雷达位置对同化的影响进行研究。为了考察强对流出现在雷达不同方位时集合卡尔曼滤波同化雷达资料的能力,以一个理想风暴为例,设计了8个均匀分布在模拟区域周围的模拟雷达进行试验。单雷达同化试验中,初期同化对雷达位置较敏感,而十几个循环后对雷达方位的敏感性降低。造成初期同化效果较差的雷达观测位于模拟区域正南和正北方向,这两部雷达与模拟区域中心的连线垂直于风暴移动方向（即环境气流的方向）。双雷达试验的结果表明,正东、正南、正西和正北方向的雷达组合观测会使同化初期误差较大,这说明并不是所有与风暴连线成90°的雷达组合都能在短时同化中得到合理的分析结果,还需要都处于模拟区域对角线上（即与环境气流成45°夹角）,同化效果才较好。短时同化后的确定性预报结果表明,较大分析误差也会导致较大预报误差。这些分析误差主要是由于同化初期不准确的集合平均场驱动出的不合理的背景误差协方差造成的。当背景场随着同化循环得到改进后,驱动出的合理的背景误差协方差使得不同位置雷达同化造成的差异逐步减小。基于上述结果,引入迭代集合均方根滤波（iEnSRF）算法,结果显示使用该算法后,雷达位置对同化效果的影响减小,同化不同位置的雷达资料均能有效降低分析和预报误差。      

The Impact of Assimilating FY-3C GNOS GPS Radio Occultation Observations on GRAPES Forecasts

In the present study, a gross quality control (QC) procedure is proposed for the Global Navigation Satellite System Occultation Sounder (GNOS) Global Positioning System radio occultation (GPS RO) refractivity data to remove abnormal data before they are assimilated. It consists of a climate extreme check removing data outside the range of the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC) climate maxima and minima over approximately five years, and a vertical gradient check that rejects profiles containing super-refractions. These two QC steps were applied sequentially to identify outliers in GNOS GPS RO refractivity data during boreal winter 2013/2014. All of the abnormal refractivity profiles and the outliers at each level of the GNOS GPS RO observations were effectively removed by the proposed QC procedure. The post-QC GNOS GPS RO refractivity observations were then assimilated in the Global/ Regional Analysis and PrEdiction System (GRAPES) using the three-dimensional variational (3D-Var) system. The impacts of the GNOS refractivity observation on GRAPES analysis and forecasting were evaluated and analyzed using an observation system experiment run over one whole winter season of 2013 / 2014. The experiment results demonstrated a positive impact of GNOS GPS RO data on analysis and forecast quality. The root mean squared error of GRAPES analysis temperature was reduced by 1% in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) extratropics and in the tropics, and the anomaly correlation scores of the forecasted 500-hPa geopotential height over the SH increased significantly during days 1 to 5. Overall, the benefits of using GNOS GPS RO data are significant in the SH and tropics.     

Synchronization of Radar Observations with Multi-Scale Storm Tracking

The 3-D radar reflectivity data has become increasingly important for use in data assimilation towards convective scale numerical weather prediction as well as next generation precipitation estimation. Typically, reflectivity data from multiple radars are objectively analyzed and mosaiced onto a regional 3-D Cartesian grid prior to being assimilated into the models. One of the scientific issues associated with the mosaic of multi-radar observations is the synchronization of all the observations. Since radar data is usually rapidly updated (～every 5--10 min), it is common in current multi-radar mosaic techniques to combine multiple radar' observations within a time window by assuming that the storms are steady within the window. The assumption holds well for slow evolving precipitation systems, but for fast evolving convective storms, this assumption may be violated and the mosaic of radar observations at different times may result in inaccurate storm structure depictions. This study investigates the impact of synchronization on storm structures in multiple radar data analyses using a multi-scale storm tracking algorithm.     

Wet Refractivity Tomography with an hnproved Kalman-Filter Method

An improved retrieval method, which uses the solution with a Gaussian constraint as the initial state variables for the Kalman Filtering (KF) method, was developed to retrieve the wet refractivity profiles from slant wet delays (SWD) extracted by the double-differenced (DD) GPS method. The accuracy of the GPS-derived SWDs is also tested in this study against the measurements of a water vapor radiometer (WVR) and a weather model. It is concluded that the GPS-derived SWDs have similar accuracy to those measured with WVR and are much higher in quality than those derived from the weather model used. The developed method is used to retrieve the 3D wet refractivity distribution in the Hong Kong region. The retrieved profiles agree well with the radiosonde observations, with a difference of about 4 mm km-1 in the low levels. The accurate profiles obtained with this method are applicable in a number of meteorological applications.     

Wet Refractivity Tomography with an Improved Kalman-Filter Method

An improved retrieval method, which uses the solution with a Gaussian constraint as the initial state variables for the Kalman Filtering （KF） method, was developed to retrieve the wet refractivity profiles from slant wet delays （SWD） extracted by the double-differenced （DD） GPS method. The accuracy of the GPS-derived SWDs is also tested in this study against the measurements of a water vapor radiometer （WVR） and a weather model. It is concluded that the GPS-derived SWDs have similar accuracy to those measured with WVR and are much higher in quality than those derived from the weather model used. The developed method is used to retrieve the 3D wet refractivity distribution in the Hong Kong region. The retrieved profiles agree well with the radiosonde observations, with a difference of about 4 mm km^- 1 in the low levels. The accurate profiles obtained with this method are applicable in a number of meteorological applications.     

Downscaling of general circulation model outputs: simulation of the snow climatology of the French Alps and sensitivity to climate change

A downscaling method was developed to simulate the seasonal snow cover of the French Alps from general circulation model outputs under various scenarios. It consists of an analogue procedure, which associates a real meteorological situation to a model output. It is based on the comparison between simulated upper air fields and meteorological analyses from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. The selection uses a nearest neighbour method at a daily time-step. In a second phase, the snow cover is simulated by the snow model CROCUS at several elevations and in the different regions of the French Alps by using data from the real meteorological situations. The method is tested with real data and applied to various ARPEGE/Climat simulations: the present climate and two climate change scenarios. Received: 26 September 1995 / Accepted: 7 August 1996     

青岛一次中到大雪过程的综合分析

2005年2月17～18日，受冷空气和较强暖湿气流共同影响，青岛发生中到大雪降雪过程。对这次过程的环流背景和雷达资料进行综合分析表明，低空暖平流、垂直风切变和高空西风急流提供了有利的动力条件，中空西南气流和近地层从黄渤海海面的水汽输送提供了降水所需的水汽。随着2．0～2．7km高度上，一个以青岛为中心的中尺度气旋性风场的出现，降雪强度迅速达到最强，该风场破坏，降雪强度也迅速减弱；雷达回波首先出现在3．0～5．5km的高度上，然后向上下扩展加强；降雪初期，0．8～3．2km高度上有弱回波区。