Vertical profiles of precipitating clouds in Monsoon Regions using the GPM satellite

The vertical structure of precipitating clouds plays a vital role in shaping the rainfall characteristics of the surrounding region. Based on the dual-frequency space-borne precipitation radar observation placed on the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite for the years 2014-2023, we examined the vertical profiles of precipitating clouds over three different regions of India (Western Ghats, Central India, and Arabian Sea), based on the dual-frequency space-borne precipitation radar observation placed on the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite for the years 2014-2023. Vertical distribution of radar reflectivity (Z), rain rate (R), mass-weighted mean diameter (Dm), and normalized intercept parameter (Nw) with altitude for the convective and stratiform clouds for each region is determined. The distribution shows considerable variation with altitude due to the difference in microphysical properties of precipitating clouds with cloud type and topography. Intense convective cloud formation is dominated over the Western Ghats region with high echo tops (>10 km), near-surface Z > 40 dBZ, large R and bigger rain droplets (high Dm) due to strong orographic lifting and enhanced collision-coalescence process in the precipitating clouds. Over the Central India region, deep convective precipitating clouds often form during the monsoon depression, exhibiting echo top above 12 km and considerable variation in rain droplet diameter due to intense updrafts with increased concentration of ice particles. However, relatively weak marine convective clouds were observed over the Arabian Sea, having echo tops of up to 8 km, small R, low near-surface Z, and significant concentrations of smaller rain droplets (low Dm). Stratiform cloud vertical profiles are uniform with little variation. Regional comparison showing the domination of different microphysical processes for stratiform and convective precipitation in all three regions.