Abstract

Measurements of rainfall parameters such as rain rates (R), Liquid water content (LWC), radar reflectivity (Z) and the corresponding fall velocities of drop (W) were carried out with the aid of a micro rain radar (MRR) located at the Federal University of Technology Akure (7o 15’N, 5o 15’E), South-west Nigeria. The equipment has the ability of measuring these parameters from the ground level to a certain height of about 4.8 km above the sea level, using a vertical resolution of about 0.16 km with 1 minute time integration. Estimation of rain rate with different height was done by classifying the type of precipitation to different rain types. Data for the rainy days in the years 2006 and 2008 were used for this research work. The change in the nature of rain which are classified on the amount of rain rates are also observed by the MRR. The result shows that bulk of the rain in this part of the world are stratiform and the controlled case results in the linear Z-R relation that was observed for steady and homogeneous rainfall conditions. A lot of the rainfall activities have a variable drop spectra that results in well-known power law Z-R relationship with coefficient a = 239.75 and b = 1.165. Comparing the results of the values a and b obtained across all heights with that obtained with other equipment like Disdrometer and MRR in other temperate regions shows good agreement and hence values obtained will assist in improved design and planning of terrestrial and satellite radio communication in this part of the world.