Uncertainties in the rain retrieval algorithm for the GPM dual-frequency precipitation radar

Author(s):  
T. Iguchi ◽  
S. Seto ◽  
N. Takahashi ◽  
H. Hanado
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 4565
Author(s):  
Maria Panfilova ◽  
Vladimir Karaev

The algorithm to retrieve wind speed in a wide swath from the normalized radar cross section (NRCS) was developed for the data of Dual Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) operating in scanning mode installed onboard a Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite. The data for Ku-band radar were used. Equivalent NRCS values at nadir were estimated in a wide swath under the geometrical optics approximation from off-nadir observations. Using these equivalent NRCS nadir values and the sea buoys data, the new parameterization of dependence between NRCS at nadir and the wind speed was obtained. The algorithm was validated using ASCAT (Advanced Scatterometer) data and revealed good accuracy. DPR data are promising for determining wind speed in coastal areas.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 3051-3070 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clément Guilloteau ◽  
Efi Foufoula-Georgiou ◽  
Christian D. Kummerow

Abstract The constellation of spaceborne passive microwave (MW) sensors, coordinated under the framework of the Precipitation Measurement Missions international agreement, continuously produces observations of clouds and precipitation all over the globe. The Goddard profiling algorithm (GPROF) is designed to infer the instantaneous surface precipitation rate from the measured MW radiances. The last version of the algorithm (GPROF-2014)—the product of more than 20 years of algorithmic development, validation, and improvement—is currently used to estimate precipitation rates from the microwave imager GMI on board the GPM core satellite. The previous version of the algorithm (GPROF-2010) was used with the microwave imager TMI on board TRMM. In this paper, TMI-GPROF-2010 estimates and GMI-GPROF-2014 estimates are compared with coincident active measurements from the Precipitation Radar on board TRMM and the Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar on board GPM, considered as reference products. The objective is to assess the improvement of the GPM-era microwave estimates relative to the TRMM-era estimates and diagnose regions where continuous improvement is needed. The assessment is oriented toward estimating the “effective resolution” of the MW estimates, that is, the finest scale at which the retrieval is able to accurately reproduce the spatial variability of precipitation. A wavelet-based multiscale decomposition of the radar and passive microwave precipitation fields is used to formally define and assess the effective resolution. It is found that the GPM-era MW retrieval can resolve finer-scale spatial variability over oceans than the TRMM-era retrieval. Over land, significant challenges exist, and this analysis provides useful diagnostics and a benchmark against which future retrieval algorithm improvement can be assessed.


2006 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 19-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Torricella ◽  
E. Cattani ◽  
V. Levizzani

Abstract. Rainfall intensity estimates by passive microwave (PMW) measurements from space perform generally better over the sea surface with respect to land, due to the problems in separating true rain signatures from those produced by surfaces having similar spectral behaviour (e.g. snow, ice, desert and semiarid grounds). The screening procedure aimed at recognizing the various surface types and delimit precipitation is based on tests that rely on PMW measurements only and global thresholds. The shortcoming is that the approach tries to discard spurious precipitating features (often detected over the land-sea border) thus leading to no-rain conservative tests and thresholds. The TRMM mission, with its long record of simultaneous data from the Visible and Infrared Radiometer System (VIRS), the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) and rain profiles from the Precipitation Radar (PR) allows for unambiguous testing of the usefulness of cloud top characterization in rain detection. An intense precipitation event over the North Africa is analysed exploiting a night microphysical RGB scheme applied to VIRS measurements to classify and characterize the components of the observed scenario and to discriminate the various types of clouds. This classification is compared to the rain intensity maps derived from TMI by means of the Goddard profiling algorithm and to the near-surface rain intensities derived from PR. The comparison allows to quantify the difference between the two rain retrievals and to assess the usefulness of RGB analysis in identifying areas of precipitation.


2011 ◽  
Vol 50 (7) ◽  
pp. 1543-1557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mircea Grecu ◽  
Lin Tian ◽  
William S. Olson ◽  
Simone Tanelli

AbstractIn this study, an algorithm to retrieve precipitation from spaceborne dual-frequency (13.8 and 35.6 GHz, or Ku/Ka band) radar observations is formulated and investigated. Such algorithms will be of paramount importance in deriving radar-based and combined radar–radiometer precipitation estimates from observations provided by the forthcoming NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. In GPM, dual-frequency Ku-/Ka-band radar observations will be available only within a narrow swath (approximately one-half of the width of the Ku-band radar swath) over the earth’s surface. Therefore, a particular challenge is to develop a flexible radar retrieval algorithm that can be used to derive physically consistent precipitation profile estimates across the radar swath irrespective of the availability of Ka-band radar observations at any specific location inside that swath, in other words, an algorithm capable of exploiting the information provided by dual-frequency measurements but robust in the absence of Ka-band channel. In the present study, a unified, robust precipitation retrieval algorithm able to interpret either Ku-only or dual-frequency Ku-/Ka-band radar observations in a manner consistent with the information content of the observations is formulated. The formulation is based on 1) a generalized Hitschfeld–Bordan attenuation correction method that yields generic Ku-only precipitation profile estimates and 2) an optimization procedure that adjusts the Ku-band estimates to be physically consistent with coincident Ka-band reflectivity observations and surface reference technique–based path-integrated attenuation estimates at both Ku and Ka bands. The algorithm is investigated using synthetic and actual airborne radar observations collected in the NASA Tropical Composition, Cloud, and Climate Coupling (TC4) campaign. In the synthetic data investigation, the dual-frequency algorithm performed significantly better than a single-frequency algorithm; dual-frequency estimates, however, are still sensitive to various assumptions such as the particle size distribution shape, vertical and cloud water distributions, and scattering properties of the ice-phase precipitation.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document