Yukari N. Takayabu

Global Precipitation Map using Satelliteborne Microwave Radiometers by the GSMaP Project : Production and Validation

This paper documents the production and validation of retrieved rainfall data obtained from satellite-borne microwave radiometers by the Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP) Project. Using various attributes of precipitation derived from Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite data, the GSMaP has implemented hydrometeor profiles derived from Precipitation Radar (PR), statistical rain/no-rain classification, and scattering algorithms using polarization-corrected temperatures (PCTs) at 85.5 and 37 GHz. Combined scattering-based surface rainfalls are computed depending on rainfall intensities. PCT85 is not used for stronger rainfalls, because strong depressions of PCT85 are related to tall precipitation-top heights. Therefore, for stronger rainfalls, PCT37 is used, with PCT85 used for weaker rainfalls. With the suspiciously strong rainfalls retrieved from PCT85 deleted, the combined rainfalls correspond well to the PR rain rates over land. The GSMaP algorithm for the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) is validated using the TRMM PR, ground radar [Kwajalein (KWAJ) radar and COBRA], and Radar Automated Meteorological Data Acquisition System (AMeDAS) precipitation analysis (RA). Monthly surface rainfalls retrieved from six microwave radiometers (GSMaP_MWR) are compared with the gauge-based dataset. Rain rates retrieved from the TMI (GSMaP_TMI) are in better agreement with the PR estimates over land everywhere except over tropical Africa in the boreal summer. Validation results of the KWAJ radar and COBRA show a good linear relationship for instantaneous rainfall rates, while validation around Japan using the RA shows a good relationship in the warm season. Poor results, connected to weak-precipitation cases, are found in the cold season around Japan.

Diurnal Variations in Tropical Oceanic Cumulus Convection during TOGA COARE

Diurnal variations in atmospheric convection, dynamic/thermodynamic fields, and heat/moisture budgets over the equatorial Pacific warm pool region are analyzed based on data collected from different observation platforms during the Intensive Observation Period of the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean‐Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE). Results reveal that the diurnal variations in rainfall/convection over the TOGA COARE region can be classified into three distinct stages: warm morning cumulus, afternoon convective showers, and nocturnal convective systems. Afternoon rainfall comes mostly from convective cells, but the nocturnal rainfall is derived from deeper convective cells and large areas of stratiform clouds. Results further show that afternoon convective showers are more evident in the large-scale undisturbed periods when the diurnal SST cycle is strong, but the nocturnal convective systems and morning cumulus are more enhanced in the disturbed periods when more moisture is available. The primary cause of the nocturnal rainfall maximum is suggested to be associated with more (less) available precipitable water in the night (day) due to the diurnal radiative cooling/heating cycle and the resultant change in tropospheric relative humidity.

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.

Diurnal Cycle of Precipitation in the Tropics Simulated in a Global Cloud-Resolving Model

Abstract This study analyzes the diurnal cycle of precipitation simulated in a global cloud-resolving model (GCRM) named the Nonhydrostatic Icosahedral Atmospheric Model (NICAM). A 30-day integration of NICAM successfully simulates the precipitation diurnal cycle associated with the land–sea breeze and the thermally induced topographic circulations as well as the horizontal propagation of diurnal cycle signals. The first harmonic of the diurnal cycle of precipitation in the 7-km run agrees well with that from satellite observations in its geographical distributions although its amplitude is slightly overestimated. The NICAM simulation revealed that the precipitation diurnal cycle over the Maritime Continent is strongly coupled with the land–sea breeze that controls the convergence/divergence pattern in the lower troposphere around the islands. The analysis also suggests that the cold pool often forms over the open ocean where the precipitation intensity is high, and the propagation of the cold pool events...

Observation of a Quasi-2-Day Wave during TOGA COARE

Abstract Detailed structure of the quasi-2-day oscillation observed in the active phase of the Madden–Julian oscillations during the intensive observation period of Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE IOP) was described. A variety of observational platforms is used including high-resolution GMS infrared histogram, rain-rate estimate from TOGA and MIT radar measurements, upper-air soundings, and boundary layer profiler winds from the Integrated Sounding System and surface data from the IMET buoy. The quasi-2-day mode had a westward propagation speed of 12°–15° day −1, a horizontal wavelength of 25°–30° longitude. A coupling with the westward-propagating n = 1 inertio–gravity waves was hypothesized from the space–time power spectral distribution of the cloud field. The wind disturbance structure was consistent with the hypothesis. The vertical wave structure had an eastward phase tilt with height below 175 hPa and vice versa above, indicating the wav...

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...

Spectral Retrieval of Latent Heating Profiles from TRMM PR Data. Part I: Development of a Model-Based Algorithm

Abstract An algorithm, the spectral latent heating (SLH) algorithm, has been developed to estimate latent heating profiles for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission precipitation radar with a cloud-resolving model (CRM). Heating-profile lookup tables for the three rain types—convective, shallow stratiform, and anvil rain (deep stratiform with a melting level)—were produced with numerical simulations of tropical cloud systems in the Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment. For convective and shallow stratiform regions, the lookup table refers to the precipitation-top height (PTH). For the anvil region, on the other hand, the lookup table refers to the precipitation rate at the melting level instead of PTH. A consistency check of the SLH algorithm was also done with the CRM-simulated outputs. The first advantage of this algorithm is that differences of heating profiles between the shallow convective stage and the deep convective stage can be retrieved. This is a r...

Mismo field experiment in the equatorial Indian Ocean

The Mirai Indian Ocean cruise for the Study of the Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO)-convection Onset (MISMO) was a field experiment that took place in the central equatorial Indian Ocean during October–December 2006, using the research vessel Mirai, a moored buoy array, and landbased sites at the Maldive Islands. The aim of MISMO was to capture atmospheric and oceanic features in the equatorial Indian Ocean when convection in the MJO was initiated. This article describes details of the experiment as well as some selected early results. Intensive observations using Doppler radar, radiosonde, surface meteorological measurements, and other instruments were conducted at 0°, 80.5°E, after deploying an array of surface and subsurface moorings around this site. The Mirai stayed within this buoy array area from 24 October through 25 November. After a period of stationary observations, underway meteorological measurements were continued from the Maldives to the eastern Indian Ocean in early December. All observatio...

Spectral Retrieval of Latent Heating Profiles from TRMM PR Data. Part II: Algorithm Improvement and Heating Estimates over Tropical Ocean Regions

Abstract The spectral latent heating (SLH) algorithm was developed for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation radar (PR) in Part I of this study. The method uses PR information [precipitation-top height (PTH), precipitation rates at the surface and melting level, and rain type] to select heating profiles from lookup tables. Heating-profile lookup tables for the three rain types—convective, shallow stratiform, and anvil rain (deep stratiform with a melting level)—were derived from numerical simulations of tropical cloud systems from the Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE) utilizing a cloud-resolving model (CRM). To assess its global application to TRMM PR data, the universality of the lookup tables from the TOGA COARE simulations is examined in this paper. Heating profiles are reconstructed from CRM-simulated parameters (i.e., PTH, precipitation rates at the surface and melting level, and rain type) and are compared with the t...

Westerly Wind Bursts and Their Relationship with Intraseasonal Variations and ENSO. Part I: Statistics

Abstract Statistical features of the relationship among westerly wind bursts (WWBs), the El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and intraseasonal variations (ISVs) were examined using 40-yr European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Re-Analysis data (ERA-40) for the period of January 1979–August 2002. WWBs were detected over the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, but not over the Atlantic Ocean. WWB frequencies for each region were lag correlated with a sea surface temperature anomaly over the Nino-3 region. WWBs tended to occur in sequence, from the western to eastern Pacific, leading the El Nino peak by 9 months to 1 month, respectively, and after around 11 months, over the Indian Ocean. These results suggest that WWB occurrences are not random, but interactive with ENSO. Composite analysis revealed that most WWBs were associated with slowdowns of eastward-propagating convective regions like the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO), with the intensified Rossby wave response. However, seasonal ...