Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

Tropical Oceanic Precipitation Changes after the 1991 Pinatubo Eruption

Roy W. Spencer Global Hydrology and Climate Center, NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama

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Frank J. LaFontaine Hughes STX, Global Hydrology and Climate Center, Huntsville, Alabama

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Thomas DeFelice Department of Meteorology, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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Frank J. Wentz Remote Sensing Systems, Santa Rosa, California

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Print Publication:
01 May 1998
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1998)055<1707:TOPCAT>2.0.CO;2
Page(s):
1707–1713
Restricted access

Abstract

Passive microwave channels like those flown on the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) contain two primary types of information on oceanic precipitation: condensate below the freezing level and precipitation-size condensate above the freezing level. The authors explore the question of whether these two separate pieces of information might contain insight into climate processes during a perturbation in the climate system. In particular, the relative fluctuations of rain and ice signals could be related to precipitation efficiency, an important determinant of the equilibrium climate, and thus a potential feedback mechanism in climate change. As an example of this potential application, SSM/I-derived liquid and frozen precipitation signals are used to infer changes in tropical oceanic precipitation characteristics during the cool period following the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo. The need for an assessment of the temperature sensitivity of precipitation-retrieval algorithms is also discussed.

Corresponding author address: Dr. Roy W. Spencer, Global Hydrology and Climate Center, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, 977 Explorer Blvd., Huntsville, AL 35806.

Email: roy.spencer@msfc.nasa.gov

Abstract

Passive microwave channels like those flown on the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) contain two primary types of information on oceanic precipitation: condensate below the freezing level and precipitation-size condensate above the freezing level. The authors explore the question of whether these two separate pieces of information might contain insight into climate processes during a perturbation in the climate system. In particular, the relative fluctuations of rain and ice signals could be related to precipitation efficiency, an important determinant of the equilibrium climate, and thus a potential feedback mechanism in climate change. As an example of this potential application, SSM/I-derived liquid and frozen precipitation signals are used to infer changes in tropical oceanic precipitation characteristics during the cool period following the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo. The need for an assessment of the temperature sensitivity of precipitation-retrieval algorithms is also discussed.

Corresponding author address: Dr. Roy W. Spencer, Global Hydrology and Climate Center, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, 977 Explorer Blvd., Huntsville, AL 35806.

Email: roy.spencer@msfc.nasa.gov

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