Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

Effects of Degraded Sensor Resolution upon Passive Microwave Precipitation Retrievals of Tropical Rainfall

J. Turk Marine Meteorology Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Monterey, California

Search for other papers by J. Turk in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
,
F. S. Marzano Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettronica, Universita “La Sapienza” di Roma, Rome, Italy

Search for other papers by F. S. Marzano in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
, and
A. Mugnai Istituto di Fisica dell’Atmosfera, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Frascati, Italy

Search for other papers by A. Mugnai in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
Print Publication:
01 May 1998
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1998)055<1689:EODSRU>2.0.CO;2
Page(s):
1689–1706
Restricted access

Abstract

Based on the fundamental relationship involving the interaction of microwave radiation with precipitation, microwave-based satellite precipitation estimates hold the most promise for quantitative rain estimation from space. At present, the low-resolution channels onboard the DMSP Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) are sampled with a spatial resolution several times larger than the scale at which rainfall is generated in typical convective rainbands. Aircraft-based instruments can provide views of the detailed microwave radiometric characteristics of precipitating clouds.

In this manuscript, the authors present coincident finescale (1–3-km resolution) collocated aircraft radiometric and aircraft precipitation radar measurements collected during the 1993 Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment in the western Pacific Ocean. By intentionally degrading the resolution of the aircraft datasets from their native resolution to that of current and future spaceborne sensors, the impact of sensor resolution upon a combined radiometer–radar vertical profiling rain-retrieval algorithm (developed and utilized for the Precipitation Intercomparison Program 2) was examined. Retrieved values of the columnar graupel content were more influenced by the addition of the radar profile than was the columnar rain content. The retrieved values of columnar graupel were also significantly smaller than previously published results for land-based rainfall. The results show that the general trend of the rain structure is maintained but finescale details are lost once the observations are reduced to resolutions of 15 km.

Corresponding author address: Dr. F. Joseph Turk, Marine Meteorology Division, Naval Research Laboratory, 7 Grace Hopper Avenue, Monterey, CA 93943-5502.

Email: turk@nrlmry.navy.mil

Abstract

Based on the fundamental relationship involving the interaction of microwave radiation with precipitation, microwave-based satellite precipitation estimates hold the most promise for quantitative rain estimation from space. At present, the low-resolution channels onboard the DMSP Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) are sampled with a spatial resolution several times larger than the scale at which rainfall is generated in typical convective rainbands. Aircraft-based instruments can provide views of the detailed microwave radiometric characteristics of precipitating clouds.

In this manuscript, the authors present coincident finescale (1–3-km resolution) collocated aircraft radiometric and aircraft precipitation radar measurements collected during the 1993 Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment in the western Pacific Ocean. By intentionally degrading the resolution of the aircraft datasets from their native resolution to that of current and future spaceborne sensors, the impact of sensor resolution upon a combined radiometer–radar vertical profiling rain-retrieval algorithm (developed and utilized for the Precipitation Intercomparison Program 2) was examined. Retrieved values of the columnar graupel content were more influenced by the addition of the radar profile than was the columnar rain content. The retrieved values of columnar graupel were also significantly smaller than previously published results for land-based rainfall. The results show that the general trend of the rain structure is maintained but finescale details are lost once the observations are reduced to resolutions of 15 km.

Corresponding author address: Dr. F. Joseph Turk, Marine Meteorology Division, Naval Research Laboratory, 7 Grace Hopper Avenue, Monterey, CA 93943-5502.

Email: turk@nrlmry.navy.mil

Save
Cover Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences

  • Arkin, P. A., R. Joyce, and J. E. Janowiak, 1994: The estimation of global monthly mean rainfall using infrared satellite data: The GOES Precipitation Index (GPI). Remote Sens. Rev.,11, 107–124.

  • Bauer, P., and N. C. Grody, 1995: The potential of combining SSM/I and SSM/T2 measurements to improve the identification of snowcover and precipitation. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens.,33, 252–261.

  • Caylor, I. J., G. M. Heymsfield, S. W. Bidwell, and S. S. Ameen, 1995: Estimating the rain rate profile in the presence of attenuation using EDOP airborne radar observations. Preprints, 27th Conf. on Radar Meteorology, Vail, CO, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 783–785.

  • Durden, S. L., E. Im, F. K. Li, W. Ricketts, A. Tanner, and W. Wilson, 1994: ARMAR: An airborne rain mapping radar. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol.,11, 727–737.

  • Evans, K. F., J. Turk, T. Wong, and G. L. Stephens, 1995: A Bayesian approach to microwave precipitation profile retrieval. J. Appl. Meteor.,34, 260–279.

  • Falcone, V. J., and Coauthors, 1992: DMSP F-11 SSM/T2 calibration and validation data analysis. Philips Laboratory Rep. PL-TR-92-2293, Hanscom AFB, 108 pp.

  • Haddad, Z. S., E. Im, S. L. Durden, and S. Hensley, 1996: Stochastic filtering of rain profiles using radar, surface-referenced radar, or combined radar–radiometer measurements. J. Appl. Meteor.,35, 229–242.

  • Herzegh, P. H., and A. R. Jameson, 1992: Observing precipitation through dual-polarization radar measurements. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc.,73, 1365–1374.

  • Heymsfield, G. M., and R. Fulton, 1994: Passive microwave and infrared structure of mesoscale convective systems. Meteor. Atmos. Phys.,54, 123–139.

  • ——, J. M. Shepard, and J. Spinhirne, 1995: Vertical precipitation structure obtained from ER-2 remote sensing observations for the COARE 22 February 1993 case. Preprints, 21st Conf. on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, Miami, FL, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 289–291.

  • Johnson, D. B., P. Flament, and R. L. Bernstein, 1994: High-resolution satellite imagery for mesoscale meteorological studies. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc.,75, 5–33.

  • Kozu, T., and T. Iguchi, 1995: Non-uniform beam filling correction for spaceborne radar rainfall retrieval. Preprints, 27th Int. Conf. on Radar Meteorology, Vail, CO, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 797–799.

  • Kummerow, C., and L. Giglio, 1994: A passive microwave technique for estimating rainfall and vertical structure information from space. Part I: Algorithm description. J. Appl. Meteor.,33, 3–18.

  • Marzano, F. S., A. Mugnai, E. A. Smith, X. Xiang, J. Turk, and J. Vivekanandan, 1994: Active and passive microwave remote sensing of precipitating storms during CaPE. Part II: Intercomparison of precipitation retrievals over land from AMPR radiometer and CP-2 radar. Meteor. Atmos. Phys.,54, 29–51.

  • ——, J. Turk, S. Dietrich, A. Mugnai, G. Panegrossi, N. Pierdicca, and E. A. Smith, 1995: Microwave multisensor rainfall retrieval applied to TOGA-COARE observations. Proc. IGARSS-95 Florence, Italy, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 1895–1897.

  • ——, A. Mugnai, J. Turk, and E. A. Smith, 1996: Development of a combined radiometer-radar retrieval algorithm in the perspective of TRMM future applications. IFA-CNR, Tech. Rep. 25/96, 40 pp. [Available from Istituto di Fisica dell Atmosfera, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, P. le Sturzo 31, 00144 Rome, Italy.].

  • McGaughey, G., E. J. Zipser, R. W. Spencer, and R. E. Hood, 1996:High-resolution passive microwave observations of convective systems over the tropical Pacific Ocean. J. Appl. Meteor.,35, 1921–1947.

  • Meneghini, R., K. Nakamura, C. W. Ulbrich, and D. Atlas, 1989: Experimental tests of methods for the measurement of rainfall rate using an airborne dual-wavelength radar. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol.,6, 637–651.

  • ——, J. Wang, H. Kumagai, and T. Iguchi, 1994: Description of a radar-radiometer method and its application to airborne measurements over stratiform rain. Proc. IGARSS-94, Pasadena, CA, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 1773–1775.

  • Mugnai, A., E. A. Smith, and G. J. Tripoli, 1993: Foundations for statistical–physical precipitation retrieval from passive microwave satellite measurements. Part II: Emission-source and generalized weighting-function properties of a time-dependent cloud-radiation model. J. Appl. Meteor.,32, 17–39.

  • Olson, W. S., and C. D. Kummerow, 1996: Simulated retrieval of precipitation profiles from TRMM Microwave Imager and Precipitation Radar data. Preprints, Eighth Conf. on Satellite Meteorology and Oceanography, Atlanta, GA, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 248–251.

  • ——, ——, G. M. Heymsfield, and L. Giglio, 1996: A method for combined passive-active microwave retrievals of cloud and precipitation profile. J. Appl. Meteor.,35, 1763–1789.

  • Panegrossi, G., S. Dietrich, F. S. Marzano, A. Mugnai, E. A. Smith, X. Xiang, G. J. Tripoli, P. K. Wang, and P. Baptista, 1998: Use of cloud model microphysics for passive microwave-based precipitation retrieval: Significance of consistency in model-measurement manifolds. J. Atmos. Sci.,55, 1644–1673.

  • Pierdicca, N., F. S. Marzano, G. d’Auria, P. Basili, and P. Ciotti, 1996:Precipitation retrieval from spaceborne microwave radiometers based on maximum a-posteriori probability estimation. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens.,34, 831–845.

  • Savage, R. C., E. A. Smith, and A. Mugnai, 1994: Concepts for ageostationary microwave imaging sounder (GeoMIS). Preprints, Seventh Conf. on Satellite Meteorology and Oceanography, Monterey, CA, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 516–519.

  • Skofronik-Jackson, G. M., and A. J. Gasiewski, 1995: Nonlinear statistical retrievals of ice content and rain rate from passive microwave observations of a simulated convective storm. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens.,33, 957–970.

  • Smith, E. A., and G. J. Tripoli, 1994: Design of an inversion-based precipitation profile retrieval algorithm using an explicit cloud model for initial guess microphysics. Meteor. Atmos. Phys.,54, 53–78.

  • ——, X. Xiang, A. Mugnai, R. E. Hood, and R. W. Spencer, 1994: Behavior of an inversion-based precipitation retrieval algorithm with high-resolution AMPR measurements including a low-frequency 10.7-GHz channel. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol.,11, 858–873.

  • ——, J. Turk, M. R. Farrar, A. Mugnai, and X. Xiang, 1997: Estimating 13.8-GHz path-integrated attenuation from 10.7-GHz brightness temperatures for TRMM combined PR–TMI precipitation algorithm. J. Appl. Meteor.,36, 365–388.

  • Spencer, R. W., R. E. Hood, F. J. LaFontaine, E. A. Smith, R. Platt, J. Galliano, V. L. Griffin, and E. Lobl, 1994: High-resolution imaging of rain systems with the advanced microwave precipitation radiometer. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol.,11, 849–857.

  • Turk, J., and J. Vivekanandan, 1995: Effects of hydrometeor shape and orientation upon passive microwave brightness temperature measurements. Specialists Meeting on Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing of the Environment, D. Solomini, Ed., VSP Press, 187–196.

  • ——, F. S. Marzano, R. E. Hood, R. W. Spencer, and F. J. LaFontaine, 1994: Active and passive microwave remote sensing of precipitating storms during CaPE. Part I: Advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer and polarimetric radar measurements and models. Meteor. Atmos. Phys.,54, 3–27.

  • ——, ——, E. A. Smith, M. R. Farrar, and A. Mugnai, 1995: Radar and radiometric measurements from TOGA COARE: Application to a combined TRMM rainfall algorithm. Preprints, 27th Int. Conf. on Radar Meteorology, Vail, CO, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 786–788.

  • Vivekanandan, J., J. Turk, and V. N. Bringi, 1993: Advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer (AMPR) and multiparameter radar comparisons of precipitation. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens.,31, 860–870.

  • Yeh, H.-Y. M., N. Prasad, R. Meneghini, W.-K. Tao, J. A. Jones, and R. F. Adler, 1995: Cloud model-based simulations of spaceborne radar observations. J. Appl. Meteor.,34, 175–197.

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 0 0 0
Full Text Views 154 29 1
PDF Downloads 23 6 0