Rain drop size distribution over the Tibetan Plateau

• For the first time DSD over the Tibetan Plateau is reported.
• DSD characteristics are studied by high-resolution temporal evolution.
• Z–R relationships are derived after convective/stratiform discrimination.

Over the last decade, interest in measuring and studying rain drop size distribution (DSD) has grown due to applications in cloud physics, in calibration of space-borne and ground-based microwave active precipitation sensors and in soil science and agriculture. Such studies are of particular interest over remote areas, where knowledge of clouds and precipitation processes is lacking while the need for remote sensing based precipitation estimates is growing in global water cycle and climate trend studies.Disdrometric data over the Tibetan Plateau were collected during the 2010 monsoon season using the Pludix disdrometer, a vertically pointing, continuous wave, X-band, low power radar. Three experimental sites were set up at altitudes greater than 3300 m a.s.l., and a total number of 37 rain events were measured at two of the three sites.The analysis focuses on 2-min and 5-min DSD data for selected convective and stratiform events and the results are discussed in comparison with previous studies performed at lower altitudes. The time evolution of DSDs shows a regular behavior with respect to rain intensity: they change concavity and show a breakup signature in cases of the highest rain rates. Collisional breakup takes place for relatively lower rain rates, compared to the low-altitude measurements, and the size of the largest drops is also relatively smaller. An overall rainfall characteristic evaluation is also performed on the whole data set, deriving DSD integral parameters in order to compute a relationship between reflectivity and rain rate, resulting in A = 214 (A = 247) and b = 1.25 (b = 1.15) for convective (stratiform) precipitation.