ACPD Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions ACPD 1680-7375 Copernicus GmbH Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/acpd-11-30949-2011 Lidar and radar measurements of the melting layer in the frame of the Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study: observations of dark and bright band phenomena Di Girolamo P. 1 Summa D. 1 Bhawar R. 1 Di Iorio T. 2 Norton E. G. 3 Peters G. 4 Dufournet Y. 5 Dipartimento di Ingegneria e Fisica dell'Ambiente, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Potenza, Italy Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", Roma, Italy School of Earth, Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK Meteorologisches Institut, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands 21 11 2011 11 11 30949 30987 This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/11/30949/2011/acpd-11-30949-2011.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/11/30949/2011/acpd-11-30949-2011.pdf

During the Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study (COPS), lidar dark and bright bands were observed by the University of BASILicata Raman lidar system (<i>BASIL</i>) during several intensive (IOPs) and special (SOPs) observation periods (among others, 23 July, 15 August, and 17 August 2007). Lidar data were supported by measurements from the University of Hamburg cloud radar <i>MIRA 36</i> (36 GHz), the University of Hamburg dual-polarization micro rain radars (24.1 GHz) and the University of Manchester UHF wind profiler (1.29 GHz). Results from <i>BASIL</i> and the radars for 23 July 2007 are illustrated and discussed to support the comprehension of the microphysical and scattering processes responsible for the appearance of the lidar and radar dark and bright bands. Simulations of the lidar dark and bright band based on the application of concentric/eccentric sphere Lorentz-Mie codes and a melting layer model are also provided. Lidar and radar measurements and model results are also compared with measurements from a disdrometer on ground and a two-dimensional cloud (2DC) probe on-board the ATR42 SAFIRE.

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