Abstract:In order to ensure a successful opening ceremony of the Youth Olympic Games in the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center on August 16, 2014, the meteorological department carried out the artificial rain reduction. Combined with the time and place of the rocket rain reduction operation, the observational data of OTT raindrop spectrometer, air sounding data, ground precipitation and radar data were used to estimate the effect of artificial rain reduction operation through analyzing the impact of artificial rain reduction operation on raindrop spectrum. Firstly, the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center was taken as the target area, and the air sounding data was used to evaluate the best operation height and the optimal distance between the operating point and the Olympic Center. The calculated results are consistent with the actual values. Then, the raindrop spectrum profile is fitted by the measured raindrop spectrum, and the average diameter and median diameter of raindrops were calculated to find the changes of raindrop spectrum before and after the artificial rain reduction operation; further, the total concentration and spectral parameters γ (reflecting the size distribution of raindrops) of raindrops at each time were fitted to compare and analyze the raindrop spectrums of Nanjing station and Wuhu station at the same time after artificial rain reduction operation. It turns out that after the artificial rain reduction operation, the width of raindrop spectrum at Nanjing station becomes narrower; the number of small droplets with the diameter less than 1mm increases; the number of large droplets with the diameter greater than 1 mm reduces; the diameters of all raindrops after the artificial rain reduction are smaller than those before the operation. At the same time, the total concentration and mass weighted average diameter of raindrops in Nanjing station are both less than those in Wuhu station in the period affected by the rain reduction operation, but the spectral parameter γ of raindrops in Nanjing station is larger than that in Wuhu station, and the trend of change with time is opposite to that of Wuhu station. These features indicate that the artificial rain reduction operation obviously changed the raindrop spectrum distribution, and effectively reduced the large raindrops, thus mitigating the rain tendency and reducing the rainfall.