A Census of Precipitation Features in the Tropics Using TRMM: Radar, Ice Scattering, and Lightning Observations

Nesbitt, Stephen W.; Zipser, Edward J.; Cecil, Daniel J.

doi:10.1175/1520-0442(2000)013<4087:acopfi>2.0.co;2

Cited by 374 publications

(428 citation statements)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

403

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Consistent with past literature [e.g., Nesbitt et al, 2000;Liu, 2011], precipitation systems tend to be larger over the ocean than over land (Figure 4a). However, organized convective regions (CFs) tend to be larger over land than over the ocean (Figure 4b).…”

Section: Global Distribution and Morphologysupporting

confidence: 90%

“…[10] During 1998-2011, more than 28 million RPFs and 21 million CFs are identified from the TRMM PR observations over 36 S-36 N, most of which are over the ocean ( Table 1 RPFs and CFs are similar to and consistent with past studies [Nesbitt et al, 2000;Liu et al 2008] and are not shown here. We mainly focus on describing the properties of the CFs with large areas in the following sections.…”

Section: Global Distribution Of Organized Convectionsupporting

confidence: 75%

“…In recent years, an increasing quantity of satellite observations provides opportunities to describe MCSs from a global perspective [Laing and Fritsch, 1997;Nesbitt et al, 2000;Schumacher et al, 2004]. The structures of MCSs are found to have important differences with stronger convection over land, but a relatively larger stratiform region over ocean [e.g., Houze, 2003a, 2003b;Robinson et al, 2011].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The instrument suite is described in Kummerow et al [1998]. These measurements not only are invaluable for global precipitation estimates [Adler et al, 2000;Houze, 2003a, 2003b;Hirose and Nakamura, 2004;Liu, 2011], but also have provided a unique opportunity to study the properties of precipitating cloud systems [Nesbitt et al, 2000;Peterson and Rutledge, 2001;Toracinta et al, 2002;Houze, 2003a, 2003b;Liu and Zipser, 2009;Romatcshke and Houze, 2011]. Furthermore, the high vertical resolution of the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR) permits quantification of the vertical and horizontal structure of MCSs in the tropics and subtropics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Regional variation of morphology of organized convection in the tropics and subtropics

Liu

Zipser

2013

JGR Atmospheres

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

[1] Properties of organized convection with large horizontal area (> 1000 km 2 ) and with different horizontal structures in the tropics and subtropics are investigated by using 14 years of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission observations. First, the convective features (CFs) are defined as contiguous areas of convective precipitation detected by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission precipitation radar. Using the minor and major axes of fitted ellipses, the morphology of the CFs are described as closer to a circular or a line shape. Regional variations and the properties of organized convection are examined with CFs with area > 1000 km 2 after categorizing them by their shapes. Organized convection tends to have larger extent and a higher fraction of near-circular shapes over land than over ocean. Shallow organized convection with maximum radar echo top height below 4.5 km is found mainly over ocean and some coastal regions. Of all tropical oceans, most shallow organized convection is found over the east Pacific. The fraction of line shaped organized convection is higher over the ocean than over land, and is higher in the subtropics than in the tropics. More convective lines are found in winter than in summer over oceans, but more in summer over land. Organized convective lines are slightly less convectively intense indicated by lower 30 dBZ echo top heights and warmer 37 GHz brightness temperatures than those with near-circular shapes. Orientations of organized convective lines are often aligned with fronts, dry lines, warm ocean currents, coastlines, and mountain slopes. Over the subtropics, organized convective lines are tilted more east-west over land, and more north-south over oceans. The largest and the most intense convective lines are found over central Africa, Argentina, and southeast U.S. over land, and over several warm currents in subtropical oceans.

show abstract

Section: Global Distribution and Morphologysupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Global Distribution Of Organized Convectionsupporting

confidence: 75%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Regional variation of morphology of organized convection in the tropics and subtropics

Liu

Zipser

2013

JGR Atmospheres

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…[13] This study is based on precipitating features (storm scale), using the 11 years long TRMM precipitation feature (PF) database [Nesbitt et al, 2000;Liu et al, 2008]. Lightning data are from observations by the TRMM LIS, while thunderstorm parameters are based on measurements from the TRMM precipitation radar (PR) and microwave imager (TMI).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the relationships between lightning frequency and thundercloud parameters of regional precipitation systems

Zipser

Liu

et al. 2010

J. Geophys. Res.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

[1] Seasonal variations on lightning activity of precipitation systems over south China and Taiwan before and after the onset of Mei-Yu have been observed by the lightning imager sensor (LIS) on board the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. Lightning storms before Mei-Yu onset show higher probability of lightning, higher flash rate, and larger radar reflectivity in the mixed-phase region than the Mei-Yu regime. However, the probability of lightning occurrence with the same threshold of maximum radar reflectivity or ice scattering signature is similar for land systems before and during Mei-Yu season. Oceanic systems show slightly lower probability of lightning even with the same thresholds. Relationships between a set of TRMM-observed parameters and LIS lightning frequency are further examined. For lightning systems over land, the total area of radar echo above 35 dBZ has a closer relationship with lightning flash rate at the temperature between −5°C and −15°C than other parameters. Area of lower radar reflectivity at colder temperature, e.g., area of 20 dBZ at −40°C, is also highly correlated with lightning frequency. The highest correlation between area of specific radar reflectivity and lightning frequency is found at lower temperatures when the oceanic lightning systems are examined.

show abstract

Refining the relationship between lightning and convective rainfall over the ocean

Stolz

Terpstra

2014

JGR Atmospheres

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The lightning stroke density observed by Vaisala's Global Lightning Dataset (GLD360) was compared to maximum reflectivity in the upper and lower troposphere observed by NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Precipitation Radar over remote oceanic regions. We found that GLD360 stroke density is strongly correlated with maximum reflectivity above 0°C and the height of the 30 dBZ isopleth in two ocean basins (best represented by a logarithmic least squares regression). The maximum reflectivity above 0°C increases~8-10 dBZ and the maximum height of the 30 dBZ isopleth increases~2.8-3.8 km across the domain of stroke density. Stroke density and the maximum near-surface reflectivity are also correlated, but the range of the resulting logarithmic relationship is less than that found for maximum reflectivity above 0°C. There is high confidence in the logarithmic regressions as R 2 values are generally above 0.9 during the study. A bootstrap resampling approach confirms that the lightning versus rainfall relationship is statistically significant. Vertical profiles of radar reflectivity show that progressively larger values of stroke density are associated with higher reflectivity at most altitudes (most pronounced near 6.5 km mean sea level) and less rapid decreases in reflectivity with increasing height above 0°C. The logarithmic relationships between lightning and rainfall defined in this study have significant utility in creating proxy data sets, such as pseudoreflectivity, for weather analysis and assimilation in numerical weather prediction.

show abstract

A Census of Precipitation Features in the Tropics Using TRMM: Radar, Ice Scattering, and Lightning Observations

Cited by 374 publications

References 30 publications

Regional variation of morphology of organized convection in the tropics and subtropics

Regional variation of morphology of organized convection in the tropics and subtropics

On the relationships between lightning frequency and thundercloud parameters of regional precipitation systems

Refining the relationship between lightning and convective rainfall over the ocean

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About