Precipitation

Definition
• Precipitation: All forms of water that reach the earth surface from the

atmosphere

• Usual forms are rainfall, snowfall, hail, frost and dew

• Natural starting point for the hydrologic cycle

• Main input to the hydrologic systems

Precipitation Process
• Some mechanism is required to cool the air sufficiently to bring it to or
near saturation
• Large scale cooling is achieved by lifting the air
• When the right temperature and pressure conditions exist, water vapour in
the atmosphere will condense to water droplets
• Water droplets accumulate to large enough size
• Gravity pulls the droplets to the earth surface as precipitation

• Saturation however does not necessarily lead to precipitation.

• Similarly, atmospheric moisture is a necessary but not sufficient condition
for precipitation
Precipitation Process
Necessary steps involved in precipitation formation are

1) Presence of moisture in the atmosphere

2) Cooling of the air to the dew point temperature by air lifting mechanism

3) Condensation on nuclei to form cloud droplets

4) Growth of droplets into raindrops under favourable weather conditions

5) Importation of water vapour to sustain the process.

(i) Presence of moisture in atmosphere
• Precipitation is derived from atmospheric water

• Water vapor in air (or moisture content) is also significant for local

evaporation processes

• Extremely important to quantify the water vapor in atmosphere

Precipitable water
• Amount of moisture in an atmosphere column

• Total mass of precipitable water in the column between elevations z1 and z2

is z2
m p   qv  a A dz
z1

• Incremental mass of precipitable water for a height Δz is m p  qv  a A z

(ii) Cooling of Air by Air Lifting Mechanism
• Decrease in pressure with decrease in temperature and density (and vice

versa)

• When a parcel of air is lifted up, the surrounding pressure decreases and the

parcel expand

• Temperature will also decrease

• Rate of change in temperature with altitude is known as Lapse rate

• Actual lapse rate for a given location/time is called Environmental lapse

rate

• Average rate of temperature change in the troposphere is 6.5 °C/1000m

(ii) Cooling of Air by Air Lifting Mechanism
(ii) Cooling of Air by Air Lifting Mechanism
• Air mass may be lifted in the atmosphere by (1) Orographic lifting, (2)
Frontal lifting, (3) Convergence, and (4) Convective lifting mechanisms
(ii) Cooling of Air by Air Lifting Mechanism
• Air mass may be lifted in the atmosphere by (1) Orographic lifting, (2)
Frontal lifting, (3) Convergence, and (4) Convective lifting mechanisms
Orographic precipitation

Windward
Convective precipitation
The small packet of air warmer
than the surrounding rises due to
localized warming

<10 km of Diameter
Cyclonic precipitation
(Frontal precipitation)
(iii) Condensation on nuclei
• Condensation requires a seed called a condensation nucleus around which

the water molecules attach or nucleate themselves

• Nuclei are small particles of various substances usually ranging

• 10-3 to 10 m (aerosols),

• products of combustion,

• oxides of nitrogen,

• salt particles,

• clay/dust minerals.
(iv) Growth of droplets into raindrops
Forms of Precipitation
• Rain
• Drizzle
• Glaze or freezing rain
• Snow
• Hail
• Sleet
• Dew

• Precipitation always starts out within the cloud as either liquid drops or
snow crystals
• It is the temperature and winds beneath the cloud that will determine
whether this precipitation will change into one of many forms
Forms of Precipitation: Rainfall

• Liquid water drops that have a diameter of at least 0.5 mm is defined as rain

• > 6mm tends to break up into drops of smaller sizes during its fall

• On the basis of intensity rainfall is classified as:

• Light rain: trace to 2.5 mm/hr

• Moderate : 2.5 to 7.5 mm/hr

• Heavy: >7.5 mm/hr

Forms of Precipitation: Drizzle

• A fine sprinkle of numerous tiny water droplets

• Rainfall drops smaller than 0.5mm are considered drizzle

• Drops are so small that they appear to float in the air

• Intensity <1mm/h
Forms of Precipitation: Snow

• Much of all middle and higher

latitude precipitation starts out as

snow crystals

• They may also leave the cloud as

snowflakes, which are aggregates

of a number of crystals stuck
together, sometimes glued together
by rime ice
Forms of Precipitation: Hail

• Hail is produced inside storm

clouds and is made of solid ice

• Hailstones can grow to big sizes

before they fall and have size more

than 8 mm

• Hails occur in violent

thunderstorms in which vertical

currents are VERY strong
Forms of Precipitation: Hail

Hailstone measuring 21 centimeters in

diameter
Forms of Precipitation: Sleet

• Ice pellets or sleet are transparent or translucent bits of frozen water with a diameter
less than 5 millimeters
• These pellets require an environment where raindrops develop in an atmosphere
where the temperature is above freezing and then fall into a lower layer of air with
temperatures below freezing
• In the lower layer of cold air the raindrops freeze into small ice pellets
Distribution of Rainfall - India
• Tropical monsoon climate

• Two monsoon seasons – Southwest and Northeast

• Southwest – June to September

• Northeast – October to November

• 80% of total annual rain is from southwest monsoon

• Tamil Nadu gets rain from northeast monsoon

Onset and withdrawal of SW monsoon
 Spatial Variation

• Spatial varying

• Western Rajasthan

- 15cm

• Cherrapunji (Meghalaya)

- >250 cm
Rainfall Measurement
 Precipitation is expressed as a vertical
depth of liquid water, rather than by volume

 Rainfall amount is the depth of water that

would accumulate on the surface if all the
rain remained where it had fallen

 Snowfall measurement usefully described

in water equivalent depth (the depth of
water that would be present if the snow is
melted)
Rainfall Measurement
• Instrument for measuring rainfall is called a ‘rain gauge’ also known as
pluviometer, ombrometer, and hyetometer.

• Non-recording Raingauge
Symon’s type

• Recording Raingauge

Tipping bucket type

Weighing-bucket type

Natural-syphon type
Non-recording type: Symon’s type Raingauge

• When snow is expected, the

funnel and bottle are removed.
• Snow is directly allowed to
collect in the outer metal
container
• Snow is melted and the depth of
resulting water is measured
• Drawback: In case of heavy
rainfall, frequent measurement
are needed
• Measurement is taken everyday
at a fixed time
Recording type: Tipping bucket gauge
When 0.25 mm rain collects in one
bucket, it tips and brings other one
in position

Tipping actuates an electricity

driven pen to trace a record
Recording type: Weighing Bucket type rain gauge
Recording type: Float-type/Natural-Syphon type rain gauge

Adopted as the standard

recording-type raingauge in
India
Location of Rain
Gauges across
India: IMD
IMD automatic
weather stations
Meteorological Radar

• Limited spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall by rain gauge networks

• Finer spatio-temporal measurement of rainfall (continuous measurement of
rainfall)  Weather Radars

Weather radar detects rain in the

atmosphere by emitting pulses of
microwave and measuring the reflected
signals from the raindrops.
The more intense the reflected signals, the
higher will be the rain intensity.
Distance of the rain is determined from the
time it takes for the microwave to travel to
and from the rain.
Meteorological Radar

Difference between rain gauge (RG) and radar measurements

• Measuring range of RG is very small
• Radar scans from a height from the surface and RG measures from the
surface
• Temporal scale of RG is usually > 5 min, while radar gives continuous
measurements
Meteorological Radar
• Doppler weather radar is capable of measuring the approach (or departing)
speed of raindrops, utilizing the Doppler principle.
• Faster the raindrops move towards the radar, the higher will be the
frequency (i.e. pitch) of the microwave reflected from raindrops.

• Raindrops' approach speed is determined by the

frequency shift, and provides a good estimation
of the winds, which carry the raindrops.
http://www.imd.gov.in/pages/radar_main.php
DOPPLER PRODUCT(SRI)-DELHI
(Rainfall Accumulation)
http://www.imd.gov.in/section/dwr/img/Animation/dop_ani_main.htm
Disdrometers

• Rain drop size distribution

• These are usually combined with weather Radars

• Can be used as stand-alone instruments also

• Method:

• Transform the vertical momentum of an impacting drop into an electric

pulse, whose amplitude is a function of the drop diameter. With calibration,
the size of each pulse is interpreted as the diameter of the observed drop.
Space Measurements: Satellites
• Sun synchronous

• Approx. inclination of 98.6°

• Provide readings at same local time of a day

• Mid-inclination

• 35 °- 70 °inclination  short revisit intervals

• Polar regions may not be covered

• Low-inclination

• 25°- 30°inclination  Revisit intervals over tropics much satisfactory

Precipitation Missions
TRMM (https://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/)
• Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) is a joint mission between
NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration (JAXA) Agency to study rainfall
for weather and climate research.
• The TRMM satellite expected to end by April 15, 2015 (see
http://pmm.nasa.gov/trmm/mission-end ). - But still continuing !!!
• Launched in late November 1997, with a design lifetime of 3 years, the
TRMM satellite produced over 17 years of valuable scientific data.
• Tropical cyclone structure and evolution, convective system properties,
lightning-storm relationships, climate and weather modeling, and human
impacts on rainfall. Operational applications such as flood and drought
monitoring and weather forecasting.
From TRMM to GPM
• https://earthdata.nasa.gov/trmm-to-gpm
• The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is a partnership co-led
by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
• Launched on February 27th, 2014
• https://pmm.nasa.gov/gpm
• Comprises a consortium of international space agencies, including the Centre
National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), the Indian Space Research Organization
(ISRO), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the
European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites
(EUMETSAT), and others.
• GPM Core Observatory carry two instruments: the GPM Microwave Imager
(GMI) and Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR).