[1] The diurnal cycles of surface rainfall, population of precipitation systems, deep intense convection reaching near the tropopause, lightning flash counts, cold clouds, and vertical structure of precipitation are analyzed over the tropics, using 9 years of TRMM Precipitation Radar, Visible and Infrared Scanner, and Lightning Imaging Sensor measurements. The diurnal cycles over land include a...

[1] Using 1 year of CloudSat level 2B Cloud Geometrical Profile product, the vertical structures, geographical distributions, and seasonal variations of cloud occurrence at the daytime (1330 LT) and the nighttime (0130 LT) overpasses and their differences over tropical land and ocean are presented separately. The differences between the cloud and precipitation occurrence at 0130 and 1330 LT and...

[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‐p...

[1] Quantifying the degree to which tectonic and erosive processes shape landscapes is key to understanding the evolution of tectonically active mountain belts. Here we explore the interplay of these two processes along the humid, eastern flank of the South American Andes. We use high-resolution Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) and SRTM data to characterize elevation, relief, and hi...

A novel algorithm for the detection of precipitation is described and tested. The algorithm is applicable to any modern passive microwave radiometer on board polar orbiting satellites independent of the observation geometry and channel frequency assortment. The algorithm is based on the application of canonical correlation analysis and on the definition of a threshold to be applied to the resul...

Distributed/semi-distributed models are considered to be sensitive to the spatial resolution of the data input. In this paper, we take a small catchment in high urbanized Yangtze River Delta, Qinhuai catchment as study area, to analyze the impact of spatial resolution of precipitation and the potential evapotranspiration (PET) on the long-term runoff and flood runoff process. The data source in...

Rainfall intensity estimates by passive microwave (PMW) measurements from space perform generally better over the sea surface with respect to land, due to the problems in separating true rain signatures from those produced by surfaces having similar spectral behaviour (e.g. snow, ice, desert and semiarid grounds). The screening procedure aimed at recognizing the various surface types and delimi...

Numerous studies conducted as part of the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) program have demonstrated the benefits of space-borne precipitation measurements. The NASA Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) is an outgrowth of TRMM that will provide improved precipitation measurements and extend those measurements to higher latitudes. GPM satellite will carry a microwave imager coupled wit...

[1] Spatiotemporal patterns in soil moisture and vegetation water content across mainland Australia were investigated from 1998 through 2005, using TRMM/TMI passive microwave observations. The Empirical Orthogonal Function technique was used to extract dominant spatial and temporal patterns in retrieved estimates of moisture content for the top 1-cm of soil (q) and vegetation moisture content (...

A simple method is presented for the inclusion of melting layer microwave radiative properties into cloud model simulations. These can be used for sensitivity studies of passive and active microwave signatures of rainclouds as well as for the generation of retrieval databases for aircraft and satellite radarrradiometer applications. Tables of bulk cloud cell microwave radiative Ž parameters ext...