Radar Detection of Turbulence in Precipitation Environments

Abstract

Imperfect particle tracer response is incorporated into the relations describing the turbulent air motion contribution to Doppler radar spectrum mean and variance. Tracer effects on radar estimates of the eddy dissipation rate (ϵ) increase with decreasing range, and decreasing turbulence outer scale (λ₀). Exclusion of imperfect tracer effects can lead to moderate underestimates (≤30%) of ϵ. These precipitation effects, however, may be dwarfed by the sensitivity of the ϵ estimate to the estimate of maximum eddy size. Nonetheless, good radar estimates of the turbulence severity index (ϵ^1/3) can be achieved with only a reasonable estimate of λ₀