An Eight-Year (1987–1994) Time Series of Rainfall, Clouds, Water Vapor, Snow Cover, and Sea Ice Derived from SSM/I Measurements

Abstract

The Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I), first placed into operation in July 1987, has been making measurements of earth-emitted radiation for over eight years. These data are used to estimate both atmospheric and surface hydrological parameters and to generate a time series of global monthly mean products averaged to a 1° lat x 1° long grid. Specifically, this includes monthly estimates of rainfall and its frequency, cloud liquid water and cloud frequency, water vapor, snow cover frequency, and sea ice frequency. This study uses seasonal mean values to demonstrate the spatial and temporal distributions of these hydrological variables. Examples of interannual variability such as the 1993 flooding in the Mississippi Valley and the 1992-93 snow cover changes over the United States are used to demonstrate the utility of these data for regional applications.

Uncertainty quantification and parameter tuning in the CAM5 Zhang‐McFarlane convection scheme and impact of improved convection on the global circulation and climate

“…Numbers denote rain rates at the 95th percentile. [Greenwald et al, 1993;Weng and Grody, 1994;Ferraro et al, 1996] and NVAP for the years 1988-1999 [Engelen and Stephens, 1999]. Both data are restricted to oceans.…”

Caracterização hidrográfica da plataforma continental do maranhão a partir de dados oceanográficos medidos, remotos e modelados

“…A metodologia utilizada pelo CPC para estimar as precipitações inclui a combinação das informações de estações meteorológicas (GTS stations ), dos valores de temperatura no topo das nuvens (geostationary infrared ) e de sensores dos satélites de precipitação (SSM/I e AMSU-B microwave sensor ) (Ferraro et al, 1996;Ferraro, 1997).…”

A Blended Satellite Total Precipitable Water Product for Operational Forecasting

“…The AMSU-A instrument scans in 30 steps (or scan positions), which results in 48 km ϫ 48 km resolution at nadir and about 79 km ϫ 148 km at the ends of the scan. TPW is retrieved (only over water) from the 23.8-and 31.4-GHz channels (Weng et al 2003;Ferraro et al 2005). SSM/I scans in a cone with the vertex at the satellite and the axis passing through nadir.…”

“…There are 64 scan positions on each SSM/I scan line for the frequencies used. TPW is retrieved (only over water) from the 19-, 22-, and 37-GHz vertically polarized channels in an algorithm that is quite different from that used for AMSU (Ferraro et al 1996). These differences result in differences in the statistical properties of the retrieved TPW values (see below), and if one simply plots the retrieved values on a map, artifacts appear in the data that have nothing to do with TPW, but are distracting for forecasters.…”