Multifractal comparison of rainfall measurement with the help of a disdrometer and a mini vertically pointing Doppler radar

Local rainfall measurements include a wide range of methods with different concepts and assumptions. Understanding the differences enables researchers to determine the most reliable device for each rain condition. Here, we compare two such devices: Parsivel² (an optical disdrometer by OTT) and mini Doppler radar (part of the mini Meteorological Station by Thies). The performance assessment followed two foci: evaluating the scaling features using the framework of universal multifractals (UMs), and analysing the influence of physical parameters (drop size, wind velocity and rainfall rate). The devices were mounted on a meteorological mast, in Pays d’Othe wind farm, 110 km southeast of Paris. The mini Doppler radar returned very low rain measurements during conditions with bigger drops, and showed non-detection in light rain involving heavy wind. UM analysis revealed similar scaling behaviour for both devices, which extended to finer scales of mini Doppler radar data until 4 s beyond which white noise was detected.