Record Details
A study of the relation between radar and raingage indicated rainfall over northern California
ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | A study of the relation between radar and raingage indicated rainfall over northern California |
| Names |
Strem, Eric Thomas
(creator) Decker, Fred W. (advisor) |
| Date Issued | 1975-06-30 (iso8601) |
| Note | Graduation date: 1976 |
| Abstract | The WSR-57 weather radar operated by the National Weather Service at Sacramento, California, plus a network of precipitation gages provided data for this comparison of radar reflectivity with precipitation rates. Located in a valley with mountains within range of the radar on three sides, this radar has varying sensitivity for precipitation rates as a result of the terrain effects. Variation in the terrain surrounding the radar has led to a very wide scatter in precipitation rates associated with any particular radar reflectivity. The radar failed to detect precipitation up to 77% of the time over the Coast Range at ranges greater than 100 nm. Linear regression analyses revealed very poor correlation between the raingage indicated precipitation rate and the radar reflectivity. These analyses resulted in values of (R²), the coefficient of determination, ranging from zero as a minimum to only 0.502 as a maximum. Such results are generally much poorer than results obtained by others. The poor correlations and both overestimation and underestimation of rainfall resulted from factors such as range, terrain blocking, windward or leeward exposure, freezing level height, beam height and width, and the distribution of water vapor in the vertical. |
| Genre | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Topic | Rain and rainfall -- California |
| Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/1957/29370 |
