TU Delft optical disdrometer data - PAR007 at Cabauw-Tower

<strong>Description:</strong>In-situ measurements of raindrop size distributions, fall velocities, drop number concentrations and surface rain rates recorded by a Parsivel2 optical disdrometer named "PAR007_Cabauw_Tower", placed at 180 meters in the meteorological tower of Cabauw in the Netherlands. This highly unusual location for a precipitation sensor was specifically chosen to study the effect of wind, turbulence and shielding on raindrop size distributions, as well as to quantify the vertical variability of rain near the surface. <br>This dataset is part of a larger collection of datasets published by the Dept. of Geoscience and Remote Sensing (GRS) at TU Delft within the framework of the Ruisdael Observatory (https://ruisdael-observatory.nl/).<br>The Parsivel2 optical disdrometer, manufactured by OTT Hydromet, is a widely used precipitation sensor which measures the size and velocity of raindrops as they pass through a horizontal laser beam. These measurements are aggregated over fixed intervals (typically 60 seconds) to produce a matrix of drop counts across 32 size and velocity classes, which is then used to approximate the raindrop size distribution (DSD) per unit volume of air. At the Ruisdael observatory, all Parsivel2 disdrometers are operated with a temporal sampling resolution of 60 seconds.<br><strong>List of variables:</strong>* latitude, longitude and altitude of measurement site* time (in UTC), both in numeric and text format* rainfall intensity* weather codes (synop 4677, synop 4680, metar 4678, NWS)* meteorological optical range in precipitation* radar reflectivity* number of hydrometeors per minute at the surface, grouped according to 32 diameter and 32 velocity classes* number concentrations of raindrop sizes (for 32 diameter classes), per unit volume of air * total number of detected hydrometeors per minute* kinetic energy of hydrometeors* laser amplitude and laser status* internal temperature of sensor<br><strong>Relevance:</strong>Optical disdrometer data are useful for studying the type, dynamics and microphysics of precipitation from the perspective of a fixed observer on the ground. The data can be used to help calibrate weather radars, improve quantitative precipitation estimates, calculate the absorption/attenuation/propagation of electromagnetic signals through the atmosphere, and quantify important physical quantities such as liquid water content, rain amount, intensity and kinetic energy.