Abstract:
In remote areas with steep topography, such as the Tropical Andes, reliable precipitation
data with a high temporal resolution are scarce. Therefore, studies focusing on the diurnal properties
of precipitation are hampered. In this paper, we investigated two years of data from Micro-Rain
Radars (MRR) in Cuenca, Ecuador, and Huaraz, Peru, from February 2017 to January 2019. This data
allowed for a detailed study on the temporal precipitation characteristics, such as event occurrences
and durations at these two locations. Our results showed that the majority of precipitation events
had durations of less than 3 h. In Huaraz, precipitation has a distinct annual and diurnal cycle where
precipitation in the rainy season occurred predominantly in the afternoon. These annual and diurnal
cycles were less pronounced at the site in Cuenca, especially due to increased nocturnal precipitation
events compared to Huaraz. Furthermore, we used a fuzzy logic classification of fall velocities and
rainfall intensities to distinguish different precipitation types. This classification showed that nightly
precipitation at both locations was predominantly stratiform, whereas (thermally induced) convection
occurred almost exclusively during the daytime hours