TU Delft optical disdrometer data - Thies010 at Kigali in Rwanda
Domaine:
climateType de record:
dataset
Créateur:
MarRobBasJos
Éditeur:
TU
Éditeur:
4TU
Hôte:
Description:In-situ measurements of raindrop size distributions, fall velocities, drop number concentrations and surface rain rates recorded by a Thies Clima optical disdrometer named "Thies010" at the headquarters of Rwanda's Meteorological Agency in Kigali (KN 96 St, Kigali City, Nyarugenge District, Rwanda). The disdrometer is installed on the grounds of the Gitega meteorological monitoring site (i.e., a grass field of approximately 8x10 meters inside Meteo Rwanda's compound). The disdrometer is installed at a height of approximately 1.5 meters, roughly 2 meters away from a weather station and a rain gauge. To the South/East of the site, there is an (urban) valley. To the North/West of the instrument, there is a retaining wall with a height of approximately 2.5 meters. To the North and South of the site, there are a few trees up to 10 meters high.
This dataset is part of a larger collection of datasets published by the Dept. of Geoscience and Remote Sensing (GRS) at TU Delft within the framework of the Ruisdael Observatory (ruisdael-observatory.nl).
The Thies Clima optical disdrometer is a precipitation sensor which measures the size and velocity of raindrops as they pass through a horizontal laser beam. These measurements are aggregated over fixed intervals (typically 60 seconds) to produce a matrix of drop counts across 22 size and 20 velocity classes, which is then used to approximate the raindrop size distribution (DSD) per unit volume of air. At the Ruisdael observatory, all Thies disdrometers are operated with a temporal resolution of 60 seconds.
List of variables:Please note: The Thies disdrometer records almost 80 different variables. For publication purposes, only the most useful of these variables were kept. The list of variables includes:
* latitude, longitude and altitude of measurement site* liquid and solid precipitation intensities* weather codes (synop 4677, synop 4680, metar 4678)* visibility* radar reflectivity* number of detected hydrometeors per minute, grouped according to 22 diameter and 20 velocity classes* total number of detected hydrometeors per minute* measurement quality* ambient and interior temperatures
Please reach out to the authors if you wish to access additional variables described in the user manual, such as sensor diagnostics, power, voltage and status flags.
Relevance:Optical disdrometer data are useful for studying the type, dynamics and microphysics of precipitation from the perspective of a fixed observer on the ground. The data can be used to help calibrate weather radars, improve quantitative precipitation estimates, calculate the absorption/attenuation/propagation of electromagnetic signals through the atmosphere, and quantify important physical quantities such as liquid water content, rain amount, intensity and kinetic energy.
This dataset is part of a larger collection of datasets published by the Dept. of Geoscience and Remote Sensing (GRS) at TU Delft within the framework of the Ruisdael Observatory (ruisdael-observatory.nl).
The Thies Clima optical disdrometer is a precipitation sensor which measures the size and velocity of raindrops as they pass through a horizontal laser beam. These measurements are aggregated over fixed intervals (typically 60 seconds) to produce a matrix of drop counts across 22 size and 20 velocity classes, which is then used to approximate the raindrop size distribution (DSD) per unit volume of air. At the Ruisdael observatory, all Thies disdrometers are operated with a temporal resolution of 60 seconds.
List of variables:Please note: The Thies disdrometer records almost 80 different variables. For publication purposes, only the most useful of these variables were kept. The list of variables includes:
* latitude, longitude and altitude of measurement site* liquid and solid precipitation intensities* weather codes (synop 4677, synop 4680, metar 4678)* visibility* radar reflectivity* number of detected hydrometeors per minute, grouped according to 22 diameter and 20 velocity classes* total number of detected hydrometeors per minute* measurement quality* ambient and interior temperatures
Please reach out to the authors if you wish to access additional variables described in the user manual, such as sensor diagnostics, power, voltage and status flags.
Relevance:Optical disdrometer data are useful for studying the type, dynamics and microphysics of precipitation from the perspective of a fixed observer on the ground. The data can be used to help calibrate weather radars, improve quantitative precipitation estimates, calculate the absorption/attenuation/propagation of electromagnetic signals through the atmosphere, and quantify important physical quantities such as liquid water content, rain amount, intensity and kinetic energy.