Climatology of precipitation and clouds over Eastern_Sahara_Desert
Eastern Sahara Desert

General info Precipitation System properties Cloud Seasonal variation Diurnal variation Vertical Structure Extreme events Time series

Precipitation vertical structure Here the precipitation means the precipitable hydrometeors (raindrops, snow flakes, graupel and hails) that detected by TRMM precipitation radar. Following figure shows the vertical profiles of 20, 30 and 40 dBZ fractional occurrence over Eastern_Sahara_Desert in different seasons. The seasonal and diurnal variations of precipitation (20 dBZ) fractional occurrence at different altitudes are shown below: The seasonal and diurnal variations of INTENSIVE precipitation (40 dBZ) fractional occurrence at different altitudes are shown below: Cloud vertical structure Clouds are consisted of small hydrometeors that undetectable by TRMM precipitation radar (Ku band). CloudSat (W band radar) provides the much great details of clouds. Following figure shows the vertical structure of the thin and thick clouds over Eastern_Sahara_Desert. Note that high reflectivity at low levels are less frequent due to the attenuation. The seasonal variation of thin (-20 dBZ) and thick (0 dBZ) cloud over Eastern_Sahara_Desert are shown below: