Toyoshi Shimomai

Observations and modeling of 630 nm airglow and total electron content associated with traveling ionospheric disturbances over Shigaraki, Japan

Southwestward-propagating medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) observed over Shigaraki (34.85°N, 136.10°E) in Japan on the night of May 22, 1998 are analyzed in detail. The MSTIDs were detected with a 630.0 nm (OI) all-sky imager at Shigaraki and a large number of GPS (Global Positioning System) receivers distributed around Shigaraki. Each GPS receiver provided total electron content (TEC) between the GPS altitude (20,200 km) and the ground. MSTID amplitudes varied in space and time, and showed decay and enhancement during the southwestward propagation, suggesting that amplitudes of atmospheric gravity waves and the interaction process between gravity waves and F region plasma were highly variable. It is found that spatial and temporal fluctuations of the 630 nm intensity are well correlated with those of GPS-TEC except for a certain period of time. The Scheffield University Plasmasphere Ionosphere Model (SUPIM) is used to obtain theoretical relationships between the 630 nm airglow intensity and GPS-TEC and between their fluctuation amplitudes. The results indicate that the fluctuation amplitudes observed in weak airglow regions are caused by an electron density fluctuation of about ±20% occurring around an altitude of 250 km, where the 630 nm emission rate reaches a maximum, below the F layer peak altitude. Highly enhanced 630 nm intensity and GPS-TEC within a bright airglow region are due to an electron density enhancement of about 150% occurring at altitudes below 300 km.

Multiscale Aspects of Convective Systems Associated with an Intraseasonal Oscillation over the Indonesian Maritime Continent

Abstract Multiscale aspects of convective systems over the Indonesian Maritime Continent in the convectively active phase of an intraseasonal oscillation (ISO) during November 2002 are studied using Geostationary Meteorological Satellite infrared data and ground-based observational data from X-band rain radar, equatorial atmosphere radar, L-band boundary layer radar, and upper-air soundings at Koto Tabang (KT; 0.20°S, 100.32°E; 865 m above mean sea level), West Sumatera, Indonesia. In the analysis period, four super cloud clusters (SCCs; horizontal scale of 2000–4000 km), associated with an ISO, are seen to propagate eastward from the eastern Indian Ocean to the Indonesian Maritime Continent. The SCCs are recognized as envelopes of convection, composed of meso-α-scale cloud clusters (MαCCs; horizontal scale of 500–1000 km) propagating westward. When SCCs reach the Indonesian Maritime Continent, the envelopes disappear but MαCCs are clearly observed. Over Sumatera, the evolution and structure of a distinct...

Diurnal Variation of Rain Attenuation Obtained From Measurement of Raindrop Size Distribution in Equatorial Indonesia

The measured rain rate, raindrop size distribution (DSD), and the ITU-R model over the frequency range from 1-100 GHz have been used to elucidate the cumulative rainfall rate and the variability of rain attenuation at Kototabang. Rain rate and DSD are recorded from ground-based optical rain gauge and disdrometer measurements, respectively. Considerable differences between the recorded data and the ITU-R model are observed at small time percentage. The specific rain attenuation obtained from the DSD measurement shows diurnal variation with the largest attenuation observed in the morning hours. This characteristic is due to the raindrop spectra of rain events in this period containing more small-sized drops (<2 mm) than at others as described by the largest contribution of these drops on the specific rain attenuation. The diurnal variation is serious for frequencies higher than 60 GHz especially in very extreme rain.

Inertio-gravity waves and subtropical multiple tropopauses: Vertical wavenumber spectra of wind and temperature observed by the MU radar, radiosondes and operational rawinsonde network

Abstract We have carried out continuous observations of the tropopause region over Japan for three weeks during the Baiu (early summer rain “in Japan”) season in 1991, by using a VHF Doppler radar (the MU radar), radiosondes launched at the radar site and operational rawinsondes at five meteorological stations. Based on these observations, we try to examine the hypothesis that the multiple tropopauses and the dominant inertio-gravity waves are one and the same feature, and obtain some interesting results that are not inconsistent with this hypothesis. First, vertical wavenumber spectra and hodographs analyzed from the radar wind data in the tropopause region suggest that inertio-gravity waves with vertical wavelengths of ∼ 2 km are quasi-monochromatically dominant (with 2–3 day scale variabilities of 10–20%), and are in accordance with activities of the subtropical jet stream and mesoscale cyclone-front system activities observed by the operational network. Second, striking (potential) temperature fluctuations are detected simultaneously by the radiosondes and rawinsondes, which appear as multiple tropopauses in meridional cross-section analysis. Third, vertical wavenumber spectra analyzed from the radiosonde temperature data are consistent with the radar wind spectrum, if we assume that both wind and temperature fluctuations are mainly induced by the dominant inertio-gravity waves. Finally, we confirm that the dominant interio-gravity waves can be barely detected also from routine rawinsonde (1.5-km running-mean) wind data if the amplitude is larger than 1.5 m/s. However, the monochromatic wave structures are generally quite localized in space and time.

Fine Structure of Vertical Motion in the Stratiform Precipitation Region Observed by a VHF Doppler Radar Installed in Sumatra, Indonesia

Abstract Vertical motion W profiles in the stratiform precipitation region of mesoscale cloud clusters were investigated using wind data observed by VHF Doppler radar installed in western Sumatra Island (0.2°S, 100.32°E). A special mode for W observations was introduced in November 2003, and W data with high accuracy were obtained during most of the period, with fine resolutions of 3 min in time and 150 m in vertical direction. The typical fine structure of W within the nimbostratus in the stratiform precipitation region was investigated by the case study of 6, 8, and 20 November 2003. In the later 2 or 3 h of the stratiform precipitation period, gentle upward motions with small time and height fluctuations were observed over a several-kilometer height range from the middle to upper troposphere. Values of W were weakly positive (0–40 cm s−1) continuously, with little strong upward motion greater than 40 cm s−1 and downward motion.

Raindrop size distribution modeling from a statistical rain parameter relation and its application to the TRMM Precipitation Radar rain retrieval algorithm

Abstract A generalized method is presented to derive a “two scale” raindrop size distribution (DSD) model over a spatial or temporal domain in which a statistical rain parameter relation exists. The two-scale model is generally defined as a model in which one DSD parameter is allowed to vary rapidly and the other is constant over a certain space or time domain. The existence of a rain parameter relation such as the radar reflectivity–rainfall rate (Z–R) relation over a spatial or temporal domain is an example of such a two-scale DSD model. A procedure is described that employs a statistical rain parameter relation with an assumption of the gamma DSD model. An example using Z–R relations obtained at Kototabang, West Sumatra, is presented. The result shows that the resulting two-scale DSD model expressed by conventional DSD parameters depends on the assumed value of parameter μ while rain parameter relations such as k–Ze relations from those models using different μ values are very close to each other, indi...

Raindrop Size Distribution Parameters of Distrometer Data With Different Bin Sizes

A 2D video distrometer (2DVD) provides raindrop size distribution (DSD) at nominal drop diameters that correspond to the mean of the bin sizes. Selection of bin width may influence the shape of DSD. Therefore, we investigated the effect of binning on the DSD parameter estimates. First, we studied the effect of binning by examining their ability to recover known parameters of simulated DSD. Second, real DSD data collected in the equatorial region by 2DVD were analyzed. We compared the DSD parameters calculated from binned DSD with those calculated from a drop-by-drop data basis. Both simulated and real DSDs were binned at 0.20, 0.25, 0.30, 0.35, 0.40, 0.45, and 0.50 mm. In general, the DSD parameters increased with increasing bin width. With very large number of raindrop which should be accompanied by heavy rain, the bias due to bin width selection is small. However, the bias is significant in the opposite case. The average fractional error between a mass-weighted mean diameter (Dm) calculated from DSD and that derived from drop-by-drop data was relatively small for all rainfall rates. A rather high error was observed in the median volume diameter (D0) which may be due to moment method and interpolation error. Finally, using small bin widths (0.20-0.30 mm) may be the best choice because the DSD parameters of these bin widths were very close to those obtained from drop-by-drop data.

Development of airglow temperature photometers with cooled-CCD detectors

We have developed three airglow temperature photometers with cooled-CCD detectors. The photometers measure rotational temperatures using the airglow emissions of OH and O2 near the mesopause region (altitude: 80s-100 km). The photometers also measure six other airglow and auroral lines at wavelengths of 557.7, 630.0, 777.4, 589.3, 427.8, and 486.1 nm. The CCD detectors are used to distinguish the emission lines in these airglow bands, similarly to those used by the Spectral Airglow Temperature Imagers (SATI). In this paper, we describe the configuration of the photometers, their calibration, the data processing to extract rotational temperatures and emission intensities from the measured airglow spectra, as well as the initial deployment at Platteville, Colorado (40.2°N, 255.3°E), when their observations were compared with the concurrent and nearly collocated observations by a sodium lidar. We obtain a good correlation and some systematic difference of temperatures from the photometers and the lidar, and discuss possible causes of the temperature difference.

Application of wavelet analysis to wind disturbances observed with MST radar techniques

Abstract A computer program following the orthonormal wavelet analysis algorithm developed by Yamada and Ohkitani (1991) is applied to an analysis of local and transient behaviours of internal gravity waves from a finite-length, discrete data record of the vertical profile of wind velocity provided by the MST radar technique. The functionality of this program has been confirmed by simultaneously simulating well-known spectral and monochromatic features (such as the −3 power law of a vertical wave-number spectrum and the upward increase of predominant vertical wavelength) by a summation of several wavelet components corresponding to localized gravity waves. This simulation is used also to study the reliability of the wavelet analysis program. It is shown that, by adding 64 null data at each end of the profiles, all the wavelet coefficients can be obtained by this program, apart from those at each end. We have applied this program to about 1000 vertical profiles of zonal and meridional winds in the troposphere and the lower stratosphere (2–20 km altitude) which are obtained from 30 min averages of three weeks of continuous observation data with an MST radar (the MU radar in Japan) during June–July 1991. We find from the wavelet analysis that quasi-monochromatic waves with vertical wavelength ≈ 2 km are dominant above the tropopause, and that activities of the shorter or longer waves have different vertical distributions. Striking temporal variations of vertical distributions of wave activity are also clearly found by the wavelet analysis.

Estimation of N*0 for the Two-Scale Gamma Raindrop Size Distribution Model and Its Statistical Properties at Several Locations in Asia

Abstract An automatic estimation method is developed to detect stepwise changes in the amplitude parameter of the normalized raindrop size distribution (DSD) N*0. To estimate N*0, it is also assumed that the variation of three DSD parameters follows the two-scale gamma DSD model; this is defined as a DSD model in which one DSD parameter is fixed, the second is allowed to vary rapidly, and the third is constant over a certain space or time domain and sometimes exhibits stepwise transitions. For this study, it is assumed that N*0 is the third DSD parameter. To estimate this stepwise-varying parameter automatically, a non-Gaussian state-space model is used for the time series of log10N*0. The smoothed time series of log10N*0 fit well to the stepwise transition of log10N*0 when it was assumed that the state transition probability follows a Cauchy distribution. By analyzing the long-term disdrometer data using this state-space model, statistical properties for log10N*0 are obtained at several Asian locations. ...