On the distinctiveness of oceanic raindrop regimes

Abstract

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Representation of the drop size distribution (DSD) of rainfall is a key element of characterizing precipitation in models and retrievals, with a functional form necessary to calculate the precipitation flux and the drops' interaction with radiation. With newly available oceanic disdrometer measurements, this study investigates the validity of commonly used DSDs, potentially useful a priori constraints for retrievals, and the forward model errors caused by DSD variability. These data are also compared to leading satellite-based estimates of oceanic DSDs. Forward model errors due to DSD variability are shown to be significant for both active and passive sensors. The modified gamma distribution is found to be generally adequate to describe rain DSDs, but may cause systematic errors for high latitude or stratocumulus rain retrievals; depending on the application, an exponential or generalized gamma function may be preferable for representing oceanic DSDs. An unsupervised classification algorithm finds a variety of DSD shapes that differ from commonly used DSDs, but does not find a singular set that best describes the global variability. Finally, DSD shapes are found to be not particularly distinctive of regional or large-scale environments, but rather occur at varying frequencies over the global oceans.</p>