Usefulness of a network of disdrometers for hydrology in addition to operational radar and raingauge networks

BOUDEVILLAIN, BRICE; HACHANI, SAHAR; CALIANNO, MARTIN; GÉRARD, SIMON; DELRIEU, GUY

Washington

Simposio; International Weather Radar and Hydrology Symposium; 2014

DSD (Drop Size Distribution) may have a strong spatial and temporal variability.Several variables of hydrological interest (rainfall rate, kinetic energy) as well as observed spatial variables (radar reflectivity) are moments of the DSD.The variability of the DSD involves variability of its moments and of the relationships between its moments.At small spatial and temporal scale, these relationships - generally "static" - can lead to significant errors in the estimated variables.If DSD is locally measured, how it is able to improve our estimate of hydrological variables in addition to radar observations ? If so, under what conditions ? A method is proposed here to benefit from local DSD data. This poster presents the method and a first feasability study based on a dense network of disdrometers.