Monthly oceanic rainfall from TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) data

Alfred T. C. Chang; Long S. Chiu

doi:10.1117/12.410599

21 December 2000 Monthly oceanic rainfall from TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) data

Alfred T. C. Chang, Long S. Chiu

Proceedings Volume 4152, Microwave Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere and Environment II; (2000) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.410599
Event: Second International Asia-Pacific Symposium on Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere, Environment, and Space, 2000, Sendai, Japan

Abstract

We evaluated the performance of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) at-launch algorithm for monthly oceanic rain rate using two years (January 1998-December 1999) of TMI data. The TMI at-launch algorithm is based on Wilheit et al.'s technique for estimating monthly oceanic rainfall that relies on histograms of multichannel microwave measurements. Comparisons with oeanic monthly rain rated derived from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F-13 and F- 14 Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) data show the average rain rates over the TRMM region (between 40 degree(s)S and 40 degree(s)N) are 3.0, 2.85 and 2.89 mm/day, respectively for F-13, F-14 and TMI. Based on the latest version of TB data (version 5), both rain rate and freezing height derived from TMI are similar to those from the F-13 and F-14 SSM/I data. However, regionally the differences are statistically significant at the 95% confidence. Three hourly monthly rain rates are also computed from 3-hourly TB histograms to examine the diurnal cycle of precipitation. Over most of the oceanic TRMM area, a distinct early morning rainfall peak is found. A harmonic analysis shows that the amplitude of the 12h harmonic is significant and comparable to that of the 24h harmonic.

Citation Download Citation

Alfred T. C. Chang and Long S. Chiu "Monthly oceanic rainfall from TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) data", Proc. SPIE 4152, Microwave Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere and Environment II, (21 December 2000); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.410599

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