Statistical Characteristics of Raindrop Size Distribution in Southwest Monsoon Season

Raindrop size distribution (DSD) parameters are retrieved from dual-frequency (UHF and VHF) wind profiler measurements made at Gadanki, India, in a summer monsoon season. The convoluted UHF spectra are first corrected for vertical air motion and spectral broadening (using VHF measurements) and later are used for deriving DSD parameters. Two distinctly different case studies, a mesoscale convective system and a pure stratiform precipitation system, have been considered for a detailed study. DSD parameters obtained in these case studies reveal systematic variations of DSD from case to case and also from one rain regime to another within the same precipitating system. A statistical study has been carried out using the profiler data collected during the passage of 16 rain events. The retrieved DSD profiles are divided into separate rain regimes (stratiform and convection), based on reflectivity, to examine salient microphysical characteristics and the vertical variability of DSD in different precipitation regimes. The distribution of DSD parameters is, in general, wider in the convective rain regime than in the stratiform regime, particularly below 2.4 km. The vertical variation of the gamma parameter distribution in the stratiform rain regime is minimal, indicating that the microphysical processes (growth and decay), which alter the rain DSD, may be in equilibrium. On the other hand, the distribution in the convective rain regime appears to be more complex, with the mean profile of the shape parameter varying significantly with height. The observed vertical variability of the gamma parameters and the median volume diameter in the convective rain regime is attributed to two major microphysical processes: evaporation and breakup. The role of other processes, like drop sorting and collision–coalescence, in altering the DSD parameters is also discussed. The present statistics, representing continental monsoon rainfall, are compared with the existing statistics at Darwin, Australia, and the results are discussed in light of DSD differences in oceanic and continental monsoon precipitation.