Toshio Iguchi

Rain profiling algorithm for the TRMM precipitation radar

Describes an outline of the algorithm that estimates the instantaneous profiles of the true radar reflectivity factor and rainfall rate from the radar reflectivity profiles observed by the precipitation radar (PR) onboard the TRMM satellite. The major challenge of the algorithm lies in the correction of rain attenuation with the non-uniform beam filling effect. The algorithm was tested with synthetic data and the result is shown.

The Global Precipitation Measurement Mission

Precipitation affects many aspects of our everyday life. It is the primary source of freshwater and has significant socioeconomic impacts resulting from natural hazards such as hurricanes, floods, droughts, and landslides. Fundamentally, precipitation is a critical component of the global water and energy cycle that governs the weather, climate, and ecological systems. Accurate and timely knowledge of when, where, and how much it rains or snows is essential for understanding how the Earth system functions and for improving the prediction of weather, climate, freshwater resources, and natural hazard events. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is an international satellite mission specifically designed to set a new standard for the measurement of precipitation from space and to provide a new generation of global rainfall and snowfall observations in all parts of the world every 3 h. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Japan Aerospace and Exploration Agency (JAXA) ...

Use of the Surface Reference Technique for Path Attenuation Estimates from the TRMM Precipitation Radar

Abstract Estimates of rain rate from the precipitation radar (PR) aboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite require a means by which the radar signal attenuation can be corrected. One of the methods available is the surface reference technique in which the radar surface return in rain-free areas is used as a reference against which the path-integrated attenuation is obtained. Despite the simplicity of the basic concept, an assessment of the reliability of the technique is difficult because the statistical properties of the surface return depend not only on surface type (land/ocean) and incidence angle, but on the detailed nature of the surface scattering. In this paper, a formulation of the technique and a description of several surface reference datasets that are used in the operational algorithm are presented. Applications of the method to measurements from the PR suggest that it performs relatively well over the ocean in moderate to heavy rains. An indication of the reliability of...

Intercomparison of Single-Frequency Methods for Retrieving a Vertical Rain Profile from Airborne or Spaceborne Radar Data

Abstract This paper briefly reviews several single-frequency rain profiling methods for an airborne or spaceborne radar. The authors describe the different methods from a unified point of view starting from the basic differential equation. This facilitates the comparisons between the methods and also provides a better understanding of the physical and mathematical basis of the methods. The application of several methods to airborne radar data taken during the Convective and Precipitation/Electrification Experiment is shown. Finally, the authors consider a hybrid method that provides a smooth transition between the Hitschfeld-Bordan method, which performs well at low attenuations, and the surface reference method, for which the relative error decreases with increasing path attenuation.

Abrupt termination of the 1997–98 El Niño in response to a Madden–Julian oscillation

The role of the Madden–Julian oscillation—a global atmospheric wave in the tropics that is associated with convective activity and propagates eastwards with a period of about 30–60 days (refs 1, 2)—in triggering El Niño events has been discussed before. But its possible connection with a termination of El Niño has yet to be investigated, despite the difficulty in explaining the timing of El Niño terminations by the basic wind-induced oceanic-wave processes. For the extreme 1997–98 event, the mechanism of both onset and termination have been investigated, but the reason for the abruptness of the termination has yet to be resolved. Here we present global data of precipitation, sea surface temperatures and wind speeds that show a precipitation system associated with an exceptionally strong Madden–Julian oscillation travelling around the Equator in May 1998. The propagation of this atmospheric system was associated with an abrupt intensification of the easterly trade winds over the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. Combined with the already shallow equatorial thermocline in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean at that time, these strong winds provided the triggering mechanism for the observed accelerated ending of the 1997–98 El Niño event.

Retrieval of Latent Heating from TRMM Measurements

Rainfall is a fundamental process within the Earths hydrological cycle because it represents a principal forcing term in surface water budgets, while its energetics corollary, latent heating, is the principal source of atmospheric diabatic heating well into the middle latitudes. Latent heat production itself is a consequence of phase changes between the vapor, liquid, and frozen states of water. The properties of the vertical distribution of latent heat release modulate large-scale meridional and zonal circulations within the Tropics, as well as modify the energetic efficiencies of midlatitude weather systems. This paper highlights the retrieval of latent heating from satellite measurements generated by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite observatory, which was launched in November 1997 as a joint American–Japanese space endeavor. Since then, TRMM measurements have been providing credible four-dimensional accounts of rainfall over the global Tropics and subtropics, information that c...

International Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Program and Mission: An Overview

Eric A. Smith , Ghassem Asrar , Yoji Furuhama , Amnon Ginati , Christian Kummerow , Vincenzo Levizzani , Alberto Mugnai , Kenji Nakamura , Robert Adler , Vincent Casse , Mary Cleave , Michele Debois , John Durning , Jared Entin , Paul Houser , Toshio Iguchi , Ramesh Kakar , Jack Kaye , Masahiro Kojima , Dennis Lettenmaier , Michael Luther , Amita Mehta , Pierre Morel , Tetsuo Nakazawa , Steven Neeck , Ken’ichi Okamoto , Riko Oki , Garudachar Raju , Marshall Shepherd , Erich Stocker , Jacques Testud , and Eric Wood 19

Rain type classification algorithm for TRMM precipitation radar

A TRMM precipitation radar (PR) standard algorithm for classifying precipitation types is designated as the algorithm 2A-23. This algorithm classifies precipitation type into three categories: stratiform, convective, and other. In the case of convective precipitation, a further examination is made to determine whether it is warm rain or not. The algorithm 2A-23 also detects bright band and determines the height of a bright band when it is detected.

Comparison of Rainfall Products Derived from TRMM Microwave Imager and Precipitation Radar

Satellite remote sensing is an indispensable means of measuring and monitoring precipitation on a global scale. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) is continuing to make significant progress in helping the global features of precipitation to be understood, particularly with the help of a pair of spaceborne microwave sensors, the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) and precipitation radar (PR). The TRMM version-5 standard products, however, are known to have a systematic inconsistency in mean monthly rainfall. To clarify the origin of this inconsistency, the authors investigate the zonal mean precipitation and the regional trends in the hydrometeor profiles in terms of the precipitation water content (PWC) and the precipitation water path (PWP) derived from the TMI profiling algorithm (2A12) and the PR profile (2A25). An excess of PR over TMI in near-surface PWC is identified in the midlatitudes (especially in winter), whereas PWP exhibits a striking excess of TMI over PR around the tropical rainfall maximum. It is shown that these inconsistencies arise from TMI underestimating the near-surface PWC in midlatitude winter and PR underestimating PWP in the Tropics. This conclusion is supported by the contoured-frequency-by-altitude diagrams as a function of PWC. Correlations between rain rate and PWC/ PWP indicate that the TMI profiling algorithm tends to provide a larger rain rate than the PR profile under a given PWC or PWP, which exaggerates the excess by TMI and cancels the excess by PR through the conversion from precipitation water to rain rate. As a consequence, the disagreement in the rainfall products between TMI and PR is a combined result of the intrinsic bias originating from the different physical principles between TMI and PR measurements and the purely algorithmic bias inherent in the conversion from precipitation water to rain rate.

Comparisons of Rain Rate and Reflectivity Factor Derived from the TRMM Precipitation Radar and the WSR-88D over the Melbourne, Florida, Site

Abstract Validating the results from the spaceborne Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation radar (PR) requires comparisons with well-calibrated ground-based radar measurements. At altitudes near the storm top, where effects of PR signal attenuation are small, the data are used to check the relative calibration accuracy of the radars. Near the surface, where attenuation effects at the PR frequency of 13.8 GHz can be significant, the data provide an assessment of the performance of the PR attenuation correction algorithm. The ground-based data are taken from the Doppler Weather Surveillance (WSR-88D) radar located at Melbourne, Florida. In 1998, 24 overpasses of the TRMM satellite over the Melbourne site occurred during times when significant precipitation was present in the overlap region of the PR and WSR-88D. Resampling the ground-based and spaceborne datasets to a common grid provides a means by which the radar reflectivity factors (dBZ) can be compared at different heights and for dif...