Studies of Synoptic and Microphysical Processes Associated with a Frontal System that Hit the Extreme South of Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul) and Uruguay

Abstract

The present paper analyses the microphysical and synoptic processes of a storm that hit the extreme south of Rio Grande do Sul and Uruguay in order to understand the dynamic, thermodynamic and microphysical mechanisms responsible for its occurrence and also to verify the large scale precursors that were determinant for the microphysical structure found in the storm. The microphysics analysis was performed using vertical profiles of different microphysics parameters derived from the high-precision radar on board CloudSat satellite. The results show that the storm region presenting the higher precipitation rate was associated with high content of ice and large ice crystals near to cloud top. This study has also verified that the observed Mesoscale Convective Complex (MCC) was mainly composed of ice crystals and its microphysics structure was highly influenced by large scale processes.