Estimates of the statistical two-dimensional spatial structure in rain over a small network of disdrometers

Microphysical understanding of the variability in rain requires a statistical characterization of different drop sizes both in time and in all dimensions of space. Temporally, there have been several statistical characterizations of raindrop counts. However, temporal and spatial structures are neither equivalent nor readily translatable. While there are recent reports of the one-dimensional spatial correlation functions in rain, they can only be assumed to represent the two-dimensional (2D) correlation function under the assumption of spatial isotropy. To date, however, there are no actual observations of the (2D) spatial correlation function in rain over areas. Two reasons for this deficiency are the fiscal and the physical impossibilities of assembling a dense network of instruments over even hundreds of meters much less over kilometers. Consequently, all measurements over areas will necessarily be sparsely sampled. A dense network of data must then be estimated using interpolations from the available observations. In this work, a network of 19 optical disdrometers over a 100 m by 71 m area yield observations of drop spectra every minute. These are then interpolated to a 1 m resolution grid. Fourier techniques then yield estimates of the 2D spatial correlation functions. Preliminary examples using this technique found that steadier, light rain decorrelates spatially faster than does the convective rain, but in both cases the 2D spatial correlation functions are anisotropic, reflecting an asymmetry in the physical processes influencing the rain reaching the ground not accounted for in numerical microphysical models.