Events / Media
Data Assimilation Seminar Series
Dr. Toshio Iguchi (Jun. 26, 2017, 15:30-)
| Affiliation | National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) |
|---|---|
| Title | Radar Measurement of Precipitation from Space: TRMM/PR and GPM/DPR rain retrieval algorithms |
| Abstract | The Precipitation Radar (PR) onboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite realized the radar measurement of precipitation from space for the first time. The TRMM satellite survived 17 years and brought many fruitful scientific results. In particular, three dimensional data obtained with the PR have expanded our knowledge of precipitation structure at various locations and climate regimes over the globe. The Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) on the core satellite of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission succeeds the PR's legacy and continues to provide us with radar echoes of precipitation with higher sensitivity and better accuracy than the PR. This seminar is concerned with the characteristics of the PR and DPR and the rain retrieval algorithms for them. Because of the size constraints, both PR and DPR use higher frequencies than general ground-based weather radars. Since high frequency electromagnetic waves suffer from attenuation due to precipitation itself, the attenuation correction is essential in the retrieval algorithms. The surface reference technique (SRT), which uses the difference in the apparent surface echoes between the raining area in question and non-raining areas, give a reliable constraint for the attenuation correction. However, there are several other factors that are entangled in a complicated way to affect the attenuation. The seminar will mention some of these factors and other peculiarities of space-borne radar data that may help data assimilators to use PR and DPR data properly. |
| Link to PDF file |
