Instantaneous vertical profiling of precipitation using passive microwave radiometers

Ziad S. Haddad; Kyung-Won Park

doi:10.1117/12.866075

13 November 2010 Instantaneous vertical profiling of precipitation using passive microwave radiometers

Ziad S. Haddad, Kyung-Won Park

Proceedings Volume 7856, Remote Sensing and Modeling of the Atmosphere, Oceans, and Interactions III; 785605 (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.866075
Event: SPIE Asia-Pacific Remote Sensing, 2010, Incheon, Korea, Republic of

Abstract

Several methods have been proposed to train microwave radiometers to retrieve precipitation rates estimated by a radar which observed the same location at the same time. These radar-trained passive-microwave algorithms differ in the quantities that are estimated: some estimate the vertically-integrated liquid water, while others estimate the near-surface precipitation. Since it is no more or less credible to estimate the rain rate at the surface than it is to estimate the rain rate at any discrete altitude, it is particularly interesting to quantify the accuracy with which vertical profiles of precipitation can be estimated from a passive microwave radiometer, what the obstacles are, and what vertical resolution would be achievable. To that end, we conducted several studies to 1) establish that the main impediment to the vertical profiling is the unknown signature of the sea surface in the non-precipitating portions of the field of view, and 2) use surfaceinsensitive principal components of the brightness temperatures to retrieve the vertical principal components of the precipitation. We report on the results of our studies in the case of mid-latitudes regions, in the case of the Atlantic Inter- Tropical Convergence Zone during May 2009 where we produced unique estimates that quantify the vertical structure of the convection in which flight AF447 disappeared, and in the case of polar precipitation where the dearth of instruments and the radiometrically cold frozen surface present additional challenges.

Citation Download Citation

Ziad S. Haddad and Kyung-Won Park "Instantaneous vertical profiling of precipitation using passive microwave radiometers", Proc. SPIE 7856, Remote Sensing and Modeling of the Atmosphere, Oceans, and Interactions III, 785605 (13 November 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.866075

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