Collaborative Research: The Relationship of the Spatial/Temporal Variability of Rain to Scaling

几十年来，科学家们一直在研究降雨的不均衡性。简单地说，雨滴在到达地面的过程中相互碰撞，破裂，聚集，并扩散开来。这引入了各种不同的降速、雨滴大小和瞬时降雨强度，对从洪水预报到侵蚀再到通信系统可用性的广泛主题产生了重大影响。这项研究项目将利用新开发的降雨传感器网络来进行大量关于降雨特征的研究。主要的社会影响属于公共安全和生产力的范畴。降雨特征对于天气雷达和用于洪水预报的天气预报模型以及对沿陆地链路和卫星的通信中断的预测是重要的。本科生将参与这项研究，以便培养下一代科学家。研究小组将继续研究降雨量的时空变化，并加强对尺度的关注。该小组将通过在新配置的网络上收集和分析时间序列降雨观测来执行降雨的结构和统计探索，该网络由两个2D视频光盘(2DVD)、6个一维光学光盘(1DVD)和21个激光降水监测器(LPM)组成。在工作期间要处理的目标包括：探索各种气象条件下降雨统计异质性的频率，将2DVD观测与通过LPM小网插入的观测进行比较，将1DVD估计与不同邻近仪器的估计进行比较，使用2DVD数据探测具有与降水的雷达布拉格散射相关的尺度的结构，扩大我们对统计均匀条件下和各种不同气象条件下DSD及其综合参数尺度的理解，开始对地面不同高度测量的影响进行初步观察，并结合来自两个仪器的2DVD观察结果进行独特的同时研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Scientists have been studying the non-homogeneity of rainfall for decades. Simply put, raindrops collide, break apart, cluster, and spread out on their way to the ground. This introduces a variety of fall speeds, drop sizes, and instantaneous rainfall intensities that have significant impacts on a wide range of topics from flood forecasting to erosion to communications system availability. This research project will take advantage of a newly developed network of rain sensors to conduct a multitude of studies on rainfall characteristics. The main societal impacts fall under the umbrella of public safety and productivity. Rainfall characteristics are important for weather radars and weather forecast models for flood prediction, and for the prediction of communications drop-outs along land links and satellites. Undergraduate students will participate in the research, allowing for development of the next generation of scientists.The research team will continue their studies into the spatial and temporal variability of rainfall with an enhanced focus on scaling. The team will perform structural and statistical exploration of rain by collecting and analyzing time series rain observations over a newly configured network that consists of two 2D video disdrometers (2DVD), six 1D optical disdrometers (1DVD), and 21 Laser Precipitation Monitors (LPM). The objectives to be addressed during the work period include: exploring the frequency of the statistical heterogeneity of rain in a wider variety of meteorological conditions, comparing 2DVD observations to those interpolated over a small network of LPMs, characterizing the 1DVD estimates with those of different neighboring instruments, using 2DVD data to detect structures having scales relevant to radar Bragg scatter from precipitation, expanding our understanding of the scaling of DSD and their integrated parameters in statistically homogeneous conditions and in a variety of different meteorological conditions, beginning preliminary observations of the effect of measurements at different heights above ground, and combining 2DVD observations from two instruments for unique simultaneity studies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.