Microwave Simulations of a Tropical Rainfall System with a Three-Dimensional Cloud Model

Adler, Robert F.; Yeh, H.-Y. M.; Prasad, N. V.; Tao, Wei‐Kuo; Simpson, Joanne

doi:10.1175/1520-0450-30.7.924

Cited by 109 publications

(50 citation statements)

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“…In any given storm, these values may not be coincident. However, based on theory (Wilheit et al 1982;Mugnai et al 1990;Adler et al 1991;Vivekanandan et al 1991) and observations (Spencer 1986;Hakkarinen and Adler 1988;Rutledge and MacGorman 1988;Fulton 1988, 1994;Fulton and Heymsfield 1991;Keighton et al 1991;Toracinta et al 1996;Mohr et al 1996;Petersen et al 1996Petersen et al , 1999Carey and Rutledge 2000), including detailed examination of hundreds of individual precipitation features from this dataset, we are making an implicit assumption that the relationships between them are sufficiently robust for describing and comparing the relative strengths of the strongest convective events within convective systems and the relationship to lightning. Table 1 shows that precipitation features occur with greater frequency in the tropical ocean regions than in the tropical land regions even when normalized by the respective region areas.…”

Section: B Precipitation Feature Database and Study Domainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radar, Passive Microwave, and Lightning Characteristics of Precipitating Systems in the Tropics

Toracinta¹,

Cecil²,

Zipser³

et al. 2002

Mon. Wea. Rev.

146

137

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The bulk radar reflectivity structures, 85-and 37-GHz brightness temperatures, and lightning characteristics of precipitating systems in tropical Africa, South America, the east Pacific, and west Pacific are documented using data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite during August, September, and October of 1998. The particular focus is on precipitation features [defined as a contiguous area Ն75 km 2 with either a near-surface reflectivity Ն20 dBZ or an 85-GHz polarization-corrected temperature (PCT) Յ 250 K] with appreciable rainfall, which account for the bulk of the total rainfall and lightning flash density in their respective regions. Systems over the tropical continents typically have greater magnitudes of reflectivity extending to higher altitudes than tropical oceanic systems. This is consistent with the observation of stronger ice scattering signatures (lower 85-and 37-GHz PCT) in the systems over land. However, when normalized by reflectivity heights, tropical continental features consistently have higher 85-GHz PCT than tropical oceanic features. It is inferred that greater supercooled water contents aloft in the tropical continental systems contribute to this brightness temperature difference.Lightning (as detected by the Lightning Imaging Sensor) is much more likely in tropical continental features than tropical oceanic features with similar brightness temperatures or similar reflectivity heights. Vertical profiles of radar reflectivity add additional information to the nonunique lightning-brightness temperature relationships showing that features with lightning tend to have greater magnitudes of reflectivity and smaller decreases of reflectivity with height above the freezing level than systems without detected lightning.Regional comparisons of the lightning, radar, and microwave signatures of precipitating features show that, over the oceans, the west Pacific has the highest frequency of intense precipitation features (by minimum PCT or maximum reflectivity height). Over land, the intense precipitation features occur more frequently in Africa. These observations are consistent with the relative differences in lightning flash density between the land and ocean regions. The quantitative database of land and ocean features presented here provides a substantial observational framework against which cloud and radiative transfer model results can be tested.

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Section: B Precipitation Feature Database and Study Domainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radar, Passive Microwave, and Lightning Characteristics of Precipitating Systems in the Tropics

Toracinta¹,

Cecil²,

Zipser³

et al. 2002

Mon. Wea. Rev.

146

137

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Cloud resolving models (CRMs) with complicated cloud microphysical parameterizations explicitly predict various hydrometeors at high time and space resolution; therefore, CRMs serve as valuable tools for satellite remote sensing of precipitation for inferring information about precipitating clouds that cannot be directly observed (Adler et al 1991;Smith et al 1994;Kummerow et al 1996Kummerow et al , 2001Panegrossi et al 1998;Olson et al 2006). However, to use CRMs in precipitation remote sensing, their output must be verified with observational data to confirm that the information derived from them is reliable.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Verification of Hydrometeor Properties Simulated by a Cloud-Resolving Model Using a Passive Microwave Satellite and Ground-Based Radar Observations for a Rainfall System Associated with the Baiu Front

Eito

Aonashi

2009

Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan

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This paper compares satellite microwave radiometer and ground-based radar observations with the Japan Meteorological Agency nonhydrostatic model (JMA-NHM) simulations, using a bulk microphysical parameterization, for a typical rainfall system associated with the Baiu front around the Okinawa Islands, Japan, on 8 June 2004.The JMA-NHM correctly replicated the shape, location and intensity of the precipitation associated with the observed rainfall system. Radar reflectivities and microwave brightness temperatures (TBs) were simulated using output from the JMA-NHM simulations. They were then compared with concurrent corresponding observations by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), CRL Okinawa Bistatic Polarimetric Radar (COBRA), and Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E). Fairly good agreement was obtained between the simulated and observed reflectivities under the melting layer and TBs at low frequency (18.7 GHz), indicating that the JMA-NHM adequately simulated the amount of liquid hydrometeors. However, the intensity of scattering in the simulations was stronger than that in the COBRA observations above the melting layer and the AMSR-E observations at high frequencies (36.5 and 89.0 GHz). This was due to the fact that the JMA-NHM overestimated the amount and size of snow particles as a result of large depositional growth.The excessive snow contents were reduced by adjusting some of the microphysical processes in the JMA-NHM: the snowfall speeds were increased and a riming threshold for snow to graupel conversion was changed. These adjustments helped to reduce the amount and size of snow, resulting in further agreement with the COBRA observations. These adjustments also further improved the simulated TBs at high frequencies, especially at 36.5 GHz. However, differences still exist between the simulated and the observed TBs at high frequencies, suggesting that additional adjustment to and improvement of the snow microphysical processes are needed for the application of the model to microwave remote sensing of precipitation.

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“…Physical retrieval of the rainfall rate from satellite microwave measurements requires knowledge of the vertical distributions of hydrometeors because microwave brightness temperatures are very sensitive to these profiles (Smith and Mugnai 1988;Adler et al 1991;Fulton and Heymsfield 1991). In developing rainfall retrieval algorithms, one approach is to assume a typical pattern of hydrometeor profiles based on limited observations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Precipitation Characteristics in Mid-Latitude East Asia as Observed by TRMM PR and TMI

Liu

2003

Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan

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Precipitation radar and microwave radiometer data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite during the spring and summer months of 1998 are used to study the precipitation characteristics in the mid-latitude East Asia region (20 -40 N, 100 -140 E), with particular emphasis on comparing the differences between stratiform and convective rains, and between rains during spring and summer. The characteristics in the mid-latitude are also compared with those in the tropics. The two-season mean results for the mid-latitudes show that the mean rainfall rate for stratiform clouds is @2 mm h À1 , at least 6 times lower than its convective counterpart. The mean convective rainfall rate is higher over land than over ocean, and higher in the mid-latitude than in the tropics. Generally, convective clouds generate more rain total for both mid-latitudes and tropics although they cover less area than stratiform clouds. Comparing between mid-latitude and tropical regions, the contribution of stratiform rains is larger in the mid-latitudes than in the tropics.There are distinct differences between stratiform and convective precipitation profiles, as well as noticeable seasonal variations of these profiles. The mean vertical profiles showed that stratiform rains have a quasi-constant rainfall rate below freezing level and a sharp drop-off above. Convective profiles, on the other hand, often have a maximum rainfall rate somewhere below the freezing level. Above the freezing level, precipitation layer for convective rains is thicker than for stratiform rains. For convective rains, significant differences are found between profiles over land and ocean, with a significant deeper layer for land convections given the same surface rainfall rate. Consistently, microwave scattering signature over land, expressed by polarization-corrected temperature at 85 GHz, is nearly twice as strong as that over ocean for the same surface rainfall rate. Precipitation profiles are similar in shape and depth between mid-latitude and tropical regions during summer when the freezing level heights are also similar between the two regions. However, compared to being no noticeable variation in the tropics during a year, there is a significant seasonal change for the precipitation profiles in mid-latitudes. The seasonal difference of precipitation profiles arises from the deeper precipitation layer in the summer than in Corresponding Author: Guosheng Liu, Department of Meteorology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4520, USA. E-mail: liug@met.fsu.edu ( 2003, Meteorological Society of Japan the spring for a given surface rainfall rate, being in consistent with the seasonal variation of the freezing level height. This change in precipitation depth applies to both stratiform and convective rains, and to rains over both land and ocean. It should be mentioned that all the aforementioned results, except for the 85 GHz scattering signature, are derived from TRMM precipitation radar data.

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Microwave Simulations of a Tropical Rainfall System with a Three-Dimensional Cloud Model

Cited by 109 publications

References 0 publications

Radar, Passive Microwave, and Lightning Characteristics of Precipitating Systems in the Tropics

Radar, Passive Microwave, and Lightning Characteristics of Precipitating Systems in the Tropics

Verification of Hydrometeor Properties Simulated by a Cloud-Resolving Model Using a Passive Microwave Satellite and Ground-Based Radar Observations for a Rainfall System Associated with the Baiu Front

Precipitation Characteristics in Mid-Latitude East Asia as Observed by TRMM PR and TMI

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