Radx2Grid Convective Stratiform

Overview

One important functionality of Radx2Grid is to apply a convective stratiform separation algorithm to gridded data. The algorithm is based on a modified version of the process described by Steiner et al. (1995). The separation is performed by analyzing the horizontal radar reflectivity field below the melting level. The separation is important due to the distinct profiles of vertical velocity, microphysical processes, and diabatic heating in convective and stratiform precipitation. This page will describe the basic methodology and point the user to the key parameters.

Separation Process

As in Steiner et al. (1995), the first step is to identify definite convection. This process is done by flagging all points that exceed a user-defined reflectivity threshold as convective (conv_strat_dbz_threshold_for_definite_convection; line 2491). Note that this threshold will vary in continental and tropical convection (e.g., 53 vs 40/45 dBZ).

Note: the algorithm is currently being rewrked and improved and will be included in a future version of LROSE, possibly in a standalone application instead of within Radx2Grid.

Example

An example from Taiwan is shown below.

References

Steiner, M., Houze , R. A., Jr., & Yuter, S. E. (1995). Climatological Characterization of Three-Dimensional Storm Structure from Operational Radar and Rain Gauge Data, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 34(9), 1978-2007. Link