Aspects of Rain Drop Size Distribution Characteristics from Measurements in Two Mid-Latitude Coastal Locations

Numerous studies relating to the characterization of rain drop size distributions (DSD) have been conducted in the past several decades. Data include measurements from disdrometers as well as those retrieved from dual polarization and/or dual frequency weather radars. In this paper, we examine several different features of DSDs based on data and observations from two mid-latitude coastal locations: (a) Delmarva peninsula, USA, and (b) Incheon, ROK. In each case, the full DSD spectra were obtained from two collocated disdrometers, namely, Meteorological Particle Spectrometer (MPS) and 2D video disdrometer (2DVD). Two events from location (a) and one event from location (b) will be presented. For (a), observations and retrievals from NASA’s S-band polarimetric radar will also be included in the analyses as well as retrieved DSD parameters from the dual-wavelength precipitation radar onboard the Global Precipitation Measurement satellite. For (b), the MPS and 2DVD based DSD data will be compared with measurements from a collocated Precipitation Observation Sensor System (POSS). In all cases, emphasis will be on the underlying shape of the DSDs and its representation by the generalized gamma model, including for DSDs which correspond to light-rain.