Rainfall Measurements at NASA Wallops Island

Ali Tokay (JCET/UMBC, NASA/GSFC) and John Gerlach

(NASA/WFF),
20
Annual precipitation = 98.65 cm
Annual precipitation days = 121.75

15

10

Dover NEXRAD = 110 km 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Wakefield NEXRAD =
165 km
Sterling NEXRAD = 215
 Wallops Island Precipitation Variability
40

74.07 cm (-24.58) 97.94 cm (-0.71) 122.20 cm (+23.54) 129.03 cm (+30.38)

30

20

10

0
2001 2002 2003 2004
 Wallops Island Precipitation Days

20
(110, 61, 18, 4) (118, 77, 28, 8) (143, 91, 38, 11) (116, 75, 30, 14)

15

10

0
2001 2002 2003 2004
 Wallops Island Snowfall

80
Annual snowfall = 19.88 cm
(0.20+3.33+7.64+7.87+0.84)

60

40

20

0
1994 2004
 Wallops Island Precipitation Type
• Frontal (Cold, warm,
stationary)
• Solar heating
• Coastal low
• Tropical cyclones
• Winter storms (dry and wet
snow)
104

102

1 )
-
m August 3, 2004 (23 spectra, 969 drops m-3, 1.12 g m-3, 23.6 mm h-1)
3 m
-
m
( 10
0 August 13, 2004 (5 spectra, 1065 drops m-3, 1.23 g m-3, 25.9 mm h-1)
n
io
ta July 18, 2004 (10 spectra, 438 drops m-3, 0.58 g m-3, 13.8 mm h-1)
rt
n
ec July 28, 2004 (21 spectra, 693 drops m-3, 0.73 g m-3, 16.5 mm h-1)
n
o 10-2
C
42 dBZ

10-4
0 2 4 6
Drop Diameter (mm)
 Wallops Island Precipitation Type
• Frontal (cold, warm,
stationary)
• Solar heating
• Coastal low
• Tropical cyclones
• Winter storms (dry and wet
snow)
104

102

August 3, 2004 (23 spectra, 969 drops m-3, 1.12 g m-3, 23.6 mm h-1)
August 13, 2004 (5 spectra, 1065 drops m-3, 1.23 g m-3, 25.9 mm h-1)
100
July 18, 2004 (10 spectra, 438 drops m-3, 0.58 g m-3, 13.8 mm h-1)

July 28, 2004 (21 spectra, 693 drops m-3, 0.73 g m-3, 16.5 mm h-1)

10-2 October 9-10, 2004 (79 spectra, 666 drops m-3, 1.09 g m-3, 23.3 mm h-1)

42 dBZ

10-4
0 2 4 6
Drop Diameter (mm)
 Wallops Island Precipitation Type
• Frontal (cold, warm,
stationary)
• Solar heating
• Coastal low
• Tropical cyclones
• Winter storms (dry and wet
snow)
104

Parsivel 1 (514 spectra)

Parsivel 2 (494 spectra)
102

100

10-2

December 26, 2004

10-4
0 5 10 15 20 25
Maximum Particle Width (mm)
 Wallops Island - Instruments (NASA)

• Radars
- S-band Polarimetric radar (NPOL)
- S-band Doppler radar (SPANDAR)
- C-band Doppler radar (TOGA)

- UHF reflector
- Dual frequency Microwave Link (R.
Rincon)

• Precipitation Gauges
- Met 1 tipping bucket gauges (14 unit)
- Qualimetrics tipping bucket gauges (11
unit)
- Geonor weighing bucket gauge
- Optical rain gauges (5 unit, R. Rincon)

• Disdrometers
- Joss-Waldvogel disdrometers (9 unit, 2
for R. Rincon)
- Optical (Parsivel) disdrometers (2
unit)
- 2-D video disdrometer (1 unit)
 Wallops Island - Instruments (Loan, past & present)

• Radars
- X-band polarimetric radar (NOAA-ETL, PI: S. Matrosov and
B. Martner)
- X-band polarimetric radar (Greek Met. Service, PI: E.
Anagnostou)

- S-band profiler (NOAA-AL, PI: K. Gage)

- 24.5 GHz profiler (Metek)

• Precipitation Gauges
- Hydrological services tipping bucket gauges (2 unit)
- Geonor weighing bucket gauge
- Drop counting gauge (RL, PI: C. Wilson)

• Disdrometers
- Pludix (Nubila, PI: F. Prodi)
- POSS (2 unit, Canadian Met. Service,
PI: P. Joe and B. Sheppard)
 Performance of Tipping Bucket Gauges
300 300 300
a b c
139 mm (Q2159)
242 mm (HS175) 232 mm (Q2192)
238 mm (D1984)
238 mm (Q2196)
238 mm (D1327) 236 mm (HS6218)
219 mm (Q2220)
200 200 200 446 mm (Q2855)
180 mm (Q2861)
198 mm (Q2862)
128 mm (Q2866)

100 100 100

214 mm (Q2881)
240 mm (Q2884)
0 0 0
120 140 160 180 120 140 160 180 120 140 160 180
Julian Day Julian Day Julian Day

50 50 50
a c
b

20 20 20

10 10 10

5 5 5

Q2196

2 Q2220
2 2
HS175 Q2855
20 rain events Q2884
HS6218
1 1 1
1 2 5 10 20 50 1 2 5 10 20 50 1 2 5 10 20 50
D1984 Rain Total (mm) D1984 Rain Total (mm) D1984 Rain Total (mm)
Performance of Impact-type, Laser-Optical, and Radar
Disdrometers

X1− X 2
bias = X1>X2
X1

bias (%) gauge1 JW1 JW2 Parsivel1 Parsivel2 POSS1 POSS2

gauge1 - 1.82 12.73 14.42 5.73 19.63 25.09 Excellent bias<5%
JW1 1.82 - 11.11 12.83 3.98 18.14 23.70 Very good 5% < bias < 10%
JW2 12.73 11.11 - 1.94 7.42 7.91 14.17 Good 10% < bias < 15%
Parsivel1 14.42 12.83 1.94 - 9.22 6.09 12.46 Reasonable 15% < bias < 20%
Parsivel2 5.73 3.98 7.42 9.22 - 14.74 20.53 Not acceptable bias > 20%
POSS1 19.63 18.14 7.91 6.09 14.74 - 6.79
POSS2 25.09 23.70 14.17 12.46 20.53 6.79 -
Performance of Impact-type, 2-D Video, and Laser-
Optical Disdrometers
104 40
a b

102 30

100 20

10-2 10

2DVD (4387 spectra) 15 rain events

JWD (4446 spectra)
10-4 0
0 2 4 6 8 0 10 20 30 40
Drop Diameter (mm) 2DVD Rain Total (mm)

104 40
c d
2DVD (2265 spectra)
JWD (2274 spectra)
102 Parsivel (2299 spectra) 30

100 20

10-2 10

10 rain events

10-4 0
0 2 4 6 8 0 10 20 30 40
Drop Diameter (mm) 2DVD Rain Total (mm)
 Wallops Island Data Acquisition Network: Phase I
N
X85 S
Master
Site W71
Y40

Microwave link
transmitter tower
Microwave link
receiver tower
650 m 1056 m

1704 m
ML optical rain gauge ML Joss-Waldvogel disdrometer
ML tipping bucket rain gauge TSVO Joss-Waldvogel disdrometer
TSVO tipping bucket rain gauge TSVO 2-D video disdrometer

TSVO Geonor precipitation gauge TSVO Parsivel disdrometer

Canadian POSS disdrometer
 Small-Scale Variability of Rainfall and
Reflectivity

6 105
a b
1 minute 1 minute
3 minutes 3 minutes
5
6 minutes 6 minutes
10 minutes 10 minutes
15 minutes 15 minutes
4 104

2 103

0 102
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
Distance (km) Distance (km)
 Wallops Island Data Acquisition Network: Phase II
TOGA/SPANDAR N

S
3109 3178
3624 6062
2964 X85
5072
Master W71
Site
Y40
Z65
V25 V50

Microwave link
Microwave link transmitter tower
receiver tower

369 m 650 m 1056 m 2000 m 1244 m

5072 m 1244 m

2048 m 3240 m

994 m 4296 m

369 m 4942 m

5288 m

ML optical rain gauge ML Joss-Waldvogel disdrometer TSVO Geonor precipitation gauge

ML tipping bucket rain gauge TSVO Joss-Waldvogel disdrometer TSVO Parsivel disdrometer
TSVO tipping bucket rain gauge TSVO 2-D video disdrometer Canadian POSS disdrometer
 Wallops Island - Instruments (NOAA)

• Radars
- S-band Doppler radar at Dover,
Delaware
- S-band Doppler radar at
Wakefield, Virginia

• Precipitation Gauges
- ASOS site
- CRN site at Oyster, Virginia

• US NLDN sensor site

• Upper air sounding site

 Doppler Radar Rain Gauge
Network
39˚N

Ocean City NPOL [3 + 8 + 9]

Salisbury

38˚N Pokomoke City NEXRAD [4 + 5 + 6]

Warsaw Wallops
Onley
Wallops Island SPANDAR [3 + 5 + 5]
Ashland Shacklefords
Milford Haven Painter
Richmond

Oyster
ASOS (7)
Williamsburg
Petersburg
37˚N Newport News Kiptopeke AWOS (1)
Wakefield
Norfolk
Back Bay Wildlife
Cooperative (6)
Holland
VAES (3)
Murfreesboro
Elizabeth City FMO (1)
36˚N NASA (5)
small scale network (1)

35˚N
79˚W 78˚W 77˚W 76˚W 75˚W 74˚W
longitude
 Monthly and Daily Rainfall
Statistics

• Monthly
rainfall bias
G 1− G 2
bias = where G1>G2
G1

• Standard deviation of daily rain total difference

(STRTD)

SDRTD = [Var(G1)+Var(G2)-2Cov(G1,G2)]1/2

• Pearson correlation coefficient of daily

rainfall

• Mean daily rain total difference and its

standard deviation
1 N G 1− G 2 where N - number of rainy days with
< ΔRT >= ∑
N i = 1 G1 rainfall > 1.2 mm
Oyster, Virginia Climate Reference Network (CRN) site

SDRTD = 2.88 mm
100 correlation = 0.991
<ΔRT > = 3.2%; 18.0%

)
m
m
(
la
to
T
n
ia
10
R
N
R
C
G

62 rain days

1
1 10 100
G04B Rain Total ( mm)

month Bias Bias Bias

G04A G04B GCRN (A,B) (A,CRN) (B,CRN)
mm mm mm % % %
March 04 49.276 --- 42.000 --- 14.77 ---
April 04 92.710 --- 82.000 --- 11.55 ---
May 04 62.992 --- 62.400 --- 0.94 ---
June04 128.778 --- 114.600 --- 11.01 ---
July04 257.048 --- 228.800 --- 10.99 ---
September04 52.324 53.086 51.400 1.46 1.77 3.18
October 04 128.778 124.714 129.000 3.15 0.17 3.44
November 04 95.758 97.790 113.800 2.12 18.84 16.37
December 04 69.088 66.802 65.600 3.31 5.05 1.80
Overall 936.752 --- 889.6 --- 5.03 ---
 Wakefield, Virginia Automated Surface Observing
System (ASOS) site
a b c
SDRTD = 1.35 mm SDRTD = 2.95 mm SDRTD = 2.87 mm
100 correlation = 0.998 100 correlation = 0.994 100 correlation = 0.992
<ΔRT > = -4.1%; 7.1% <ΔRT > = -15.3%; 27.6% <ΔRT > = -10.9%; 27.2%

) ) )
m m m
m m
(l m
(l
(l
at tao tao
o T T
T n n
in
a 10
ia 10 ia 10
R R R
B S S
1
0 W W
G N N
G G

64 rain days 64 rain days 64 rain days

1 1 1
1 10 100 1 10 100 1 10 100
G01A Rain Total ( mm) G01A Rain Total ( mm)
G01B Rain Total ( mm)

month Bias Bias Bias

G01A G01B GNWS (A,B) (A,NWS) (B,NWS)
mm mm mm % % %
May 04 42.672 42.926 53.848 0.59 26.19 25.44
June04 191.262 196.088 219.456 2.52 14.74 11.92
July04 181.356 186.690 197.358 2.94 8.82 5.71
August04 256.286 260.350 277.114 1.59 8.13 6.44
September04 109.474 113.030 121.666 3.47 11.14 7.64
October 04 90.424 97.028 97.282 7.30 7.58 0.26
November 04 79.502 90.170 89.154 13.42 12.14 -1.13
December 04 68.834 75.946 77.216 10.33 12.18 1.67
Overall 1019.810 1062.228 1133.094 4.16 11.11 6.67
 Gauge and 88-D Rainfall Totals in Tropical Storm
Guston

a b c
Z = 250 R 1.2 Z = 229 R 1.4
Z = 300 R 1.4
100 100 100
88
44
113
67
101 44
48
94 60
10 71 40 10 10
108

103
13 gauge sites

1 1 1
1 10 100 1 10 100 1 10 100
Gauge Rain Total (mm) Gauge Rain Total (mm) Gauge Rain Total (mm)

88-D rainfall products - 1.0,1.5, 2.0 km grid spacing,

1.0, 1.5, 2.0 CAPPI

Gauge sites - NASA, ASOS, AWOS, co-op, weather-bug,

state
 Proposed Wallops Island Triple Radar Rain Gauge
Network

41˚N
40˚N

40˚N
39˚N
Sterling
Easton
Georgetown
Baltimore
Ocean City
Sterling
Salisbury 39˚N BWI Annapolis
38˚N Easton
Wallops Washington
Wallops Island Georgetown
Ashland
Ocean City
Richmond
Salisbury
Oyster 38˚N
37˚N Newport News Wallops
Wallops Island
Wakefield
Norfolk Ashland

Oyster
37˚N Newport News
36˚N Elizabeth City
Wakefield
Norfolk

36˚N
35˚N 80˚W 79˚W 78˚W 77˚W 76˚W 75˚W 74˚W 73˚W
80˚W 79˚W 78˚W 77˚W 76˚W 75˚W 74˚W 73˚W longitude
longitude
Journal papers:

Tokay, A., R. Chamberlain, and M. Schoenhuber, 2000: Laboratory and field

measurements of raindrop oscillations. Phys. Chem. Earth (B), 25, 867-870.

Matrosov, S. Y., K. A. Clark, B. E. Martner, and A. Tokay, 2002: X-band

polarimetric radar measurements of rainfall. J. Appl. Meteor., 41, 941-952.

Rincon, R., and R. Lang, 2002: Microwave link dual-wavelength measurements of path-
average attenuation for the estimation of drop size distributions and rainfall.
IEEE Trans. Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 40, 760-769.

Gage, K.S., W.L. Clark, C.R. Williams and A. Tokay, 2004: Determining Reflectivity
Measurement Error from Serial Measurements Using Paired Disdrometers and Profilers.
Geo. Res. Lett., 31, doi:10.1029/020591.

Tokay, A., P. G. Bashor, and K. R. Wolff, 2005: Error Characteristics of Rainfall

measurements by collocated Joss-Waldvogel disdrometers. J. Atmos. Oceanic. Technol.,
22, 513-527.

Larsen, M. L., A. B. Kostinski, and A. Tokay, 2005: Observations and analysis of

steady rain. J. Atmos. Sci., (accepted for publication).

Tokay, A.,and P. G. Bashor, 2005: An experimental study of small-scale variability

of rainfall. J. Appl. Meteor. (submitted July 2005).

Goldhirsh, J., 1983: On modeled slant path attenuation distributions, IEEE Trans.
Antennas and Propagation, 31, 918-921.
Tokay, A., K. Chamberlain, P. Bashor, R. Rincon, and D. Wolff, 2000: Measurements
of Drop size distribution and drop shape at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, TRMM
science meeting, College Park, Maryland

Tokay, A., K. Chamberlain, P. Bashor, R. Rincon, and D. Wolff, 2001: Drop size
distribution measurements at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, GPM planning meeting,

College Park, Maryland

Tokay, A., K. Chamberlain, P. Bashor, R. Rincon, and D. Wolff, 2001: Precipitation

measurements at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility. Abstracts, 7 th International
Conference on Precipitation, Rockport, Maine, 2-2

Tokay, A., K. R. Wolff, P. Bashor, and R. Rincon, 2002: An overview of the

precipitation measurements at the NASA Wallops Island. Abstracts, 2 nd European
Radar Meteorology Conference, Delft, The Netherlands.

Tokay, A., R. Wolff, P. Bashor, and O. Dursun, 2003: On the measurement errors of
the Joss-Waldvogel disdrometer. Preprints, 31th International Conference on Radar
Meteorology. Seattle, WA, American Meteorological Society, 437-440.

Tokay, D. B. Wolff, P. Bashor, and R. Rincon, 2003: Wallops Island: Proposed

ground validation site for the NASA precipitation program, European Global
Precipitation Mission (EGPM) meeting in ESA/ESTEC, The Netherlands.

Tokay, A, D. B. Wolff, D. Marks, J. Gerlach, J. J. Wang, P. Bashor, and R. Wolff

2003: Greater Wallops Island: A proposed mid-latitudinal ground validation site

for NASA precipitation program. GPM Ground Validation (GV) meeting in Abingdon, UK.