drop-size distribution

From Glossary of Meteorology
(Redirected from Droplet spectrum)
The frequency distribution of drop sizes (diameters, volumes) that is characteristic of a given cloud or of a given fall of rain.

Most natural clouds have unimodal (single maximum) distributions, but occasionally bimodal distributions are observed. In convective clouds, the drop-size distribution is found to change with time and to vary systematically with height, the modal size increasing and the number decreasing with height. For many purposes a useful single parameter representing a given distribution is the volume median diameter, that is, that diameter for which the total volume of all drops having greater diameters is just equal to the total volume of all drops having smaller diameters. The drop- size distribution is one of the primary factors involved in determining the radar reflectivity of any fall of precipitation, or of a cloud mass.


Copyright 2024 American Meteorological Society (AMS). For permission to reuse any portion of this work, please contact [email protected]. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S. Code § 107) or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S.Copyright Act (17 USC § 108) does not require AMS’s permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form, such as on a website or in a searchable database, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statement, require written permission or a license from AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policy statement.